Barbados & Apawamis
1661
The histories of Mamaroneck and Rye, New York are inextricably linked to the Caribbean plantation system through the personal connections of a few individuals between 1640 and 1661 that drove the initial purchases of the lands of both towns. Mamaroneck itself was wholly purchased and created to be a provisioning source for Barbados. For 200 years, Caribbean production of sugar, molasses and rum, as well as the enslavement of Africans to support this production, were traded for European goods and the output of farms, shops and businesses built upon the Mamaroneck and Rye lands, as well as the rest of the Atlantic seaboard.
Within the timeline presented here are two parallel paths of individuals whose names come together in a single documented transaction in 1661. The first of these paths is that of John Budd and his Long Island connection to the Silvester family of Barbados. The second is that of John Richbell and his connection to Thomas Modyford of Barbados.
1624 – New Netherlands settled
1627 – Barbados settled
1638 – New Haven settled
1640 – Stamford & Greenwich purchased
1640 – Sugarcane introduced to Barbados
1640 – October 21, John Budd and others from New Haven settle Southold, Long Island, with Budd’s land on the Gardiner’s Bay side of the north fork directly across from Shelter Island
1647 – April 1, John Richbell purchases 21 enslaved Africans from Willem Kieft, Director of the Dutch West India Company in New Amsterdam, 19 of which Richbell took to sell in New England, as recorded in Boston by William Aspinwall
1649 – December 10, in Massachusetts, John Richbell acts as a witness to the charter of the ship, FORTUNE, bound from Boston to Africa’s “coast of Guiney” for slaves and then to “Barbados or any of the Leeward Islands.“
1650 – December 17, Nathaniel Silvester of Barbados appears before William Aspinwall in Massachusetts to notarize a demand for 15,812 pounds “of good merchantable well cured Mucavados Sugare” to be paid to him in Barbados
1651 – Nathaniel and Constant Silvester, along with two other Barbados planters – Thomas Middleton and Thomas Rouse – purchase Shelter Island for 1,600 pounds of sugar
1651 – September 25, in Southold, Constant Silvester and Thomas Middleton are indebted to Lieut. John Budd “three-score pounds sterling money” and promise to pay him in London through Edward Winslow at or upon Oct 1, 1652
1657 – February 3, John Budd is at Shelter Island in a transaction with Nathaniel Silvester regarding provisions for the ship GOLDEN PARROT bound for London
1657 – September 18, in Barbados, John Richbell is given instructions from Thomas Modyford & William Sharpe to purchase a New England supply plantation
1657 – December 15, “merchant” John Richbell “of Charles Towne in New England” owes William Browne, of Salem, 120 pounds sterling payable in “marchantable Sugar at three pence per pound to be paid & delivered in ye Barbados”
1658 – September 17, John Richbell appears as a witness to the purchase of Horse Neck in Oyster Bay, which he does again on October 3, and is the same land for which Nathaniel Silvester witnessed a sale of on May 14, 1658. Ann Richbell is a witness on February 1, 1659.
1660 – January 3, Peter Disbrow, John Coe, and Thomas Studwell, all of Greenwich, purchase Peningo Neck, south of the Westchester Path to the Mockquams (Blind Brook) on the West, and Rahononess (Byram River) on the East
1660 – June 29, Manussing Island (Manursing), off Peningo, purchased by Peter Disbrow, John Coe, and Thomas Studwell, all of Greenwich
1660 – August 15, Constant Silvester “of Barbados” appoints Thomas Revell “of the same island, merchant” to be his attorney and collect money in New England
1660 – September 5, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, Horse Neck in Oyster Bay is deeded to John Richbell “of Oysterbay merchant“
1661 – May 22, the Northern part of Peningo Neck between Blind Brook and Byram River is purchased by Peter Disbrow
1661 – August 6, Thomas Revell “of Barbados” and John Budd “of Southold” appear in a trade together to ship goods from Virginia to London with a merchant indebted to both, on the account of Revell and Constant Silvester “of Barbados” witnessed by John Richbell and Humphrey Hughes
1661 – September 23, John Richbell purchases the lands West of the Mamaroneck River to the East bounded by the Stony River at the border of Thomas Pell’s purchase
1661 – October 27, John Revell attempts to purchase same Mamaroneck lands from Wappaquewam already purchased by Richbell, as witnessed by John Budd, John Coe, Simon Cooper, Thomas Close, and Thomas Studwell
1661 – November 8, John Budd purchases “Apawammeis“, the land bounded on the east by Mockquams (Blind Brook), on the west by Pockcotessewake (Stony Brook/Beaver Meadow Brook/Guion Creek) and North to the Westchester Path, as witnessed by Thomas Revell, John Coe, Thomas Close, and Humphrey Hughes. A second version of the deed shows John Budd purchasing all the land “by the Blind Brook to West Chester Path” as witnessed by Cokoo and Peter Disbrow
1661* – January 5 (1661/2), John Budd acquires the islands South of his purchase, including Crane, Hen, Pine and Scotch Caps, witnessed by William Jones and Thomas Close. “I Shanorock Sachem have bargained sold and delivered unto John Budd the Islands Lying South from of Neck of Land the said John Budd bought of me and other Indians…”
1661* – January 12 (1661/2) John Budd acquires land between Stony Brook and Mamaroneck River, as witnessed by Thomas Close and William Jones. “I Shanorock…have bargained sold and delivered unto John Budd a neck of land bounded by a neck of land he bought of me and other Indians…with Merramack River on the West and with marked trees to the north…”
1662 – June 2, North of Budd’s individual purchases, lands north of the Westchester Path purchased by Peter Disbrow, John Coe, Thomas Studwell and John Budd.
1662 – December 19, John Richbell “of Oyster Bay in Long Island in New England Merchant” sells for 93 pounds sterling to “John Joyliffe of Boston in the Massachusetts Colonie of New England Merchant” all of “my Plantation upon the Island of St. Christophers, Which Lyeth in the devision of Kjon [Cayonne], which was formerly John Redmans deceased , and which the said Redman in his Last Will and Testament did Give & bequeath unto Ann, his then wife, now the wife of me, the said John Richbell…said Plantation being bounded, with the Land that is or Late was Capt. John Allens west, a gut Lying betweene.”
1664/5 – March 18, in Oyster Bay, Richbell gives an option to Horse Neck – “This day it is agreed one between Nathaniell Sylvester & John Richbell of Oysterbay that the said Nath Sylvester hath bought from the sayd John Richbell one neck of land called hors neck”
1664/5 – March 23, “I Nathaniel Silvester of Shelter Island attorney to Thomas Revell” received 700 hogshead staves and later on March 23, 1665 received 1,000 pipe staves, followed by 1,768 hogshead staves on March 23, 1665.
1666 – April 29, John Budd has the lands above the Westchester path from June 1662 given to him only, as documented in his original November 8, 1661 grant “as warrantied against all men – English, Dutch and Indians”
1666 – October 18, John Richbell “latte of oyster baye upon long island merchant & Ann his wife” sell Horse Neck (Lloyd Neck) to Nathaniel Sylvester as well as Latimor Sampson (of Oyster Bay) and Thomas Hartt (of Barbados), as witnessed by Isaac Arnold and John Youngs
1667 – November 1, John & Ann Richbell have permanently settled in Mamaroneck when John appears as an administrator of the estate of Samuel Andrews as “John Richbell of Momoronock Merchant.“
1671 – March 21, in Southold, John Budd sells one eighth part of a ketch, THOMAS & JOHN, to Isaac Arnold, 44 tons burden which had “gone…for Barbados”
1679 – May 28, Barbados, ticket granted to Robert Richbell to sail to Boston; July 1, Barbados, ticket granted to John Richbell to sail to Boston
1679 – Barbados census totals 3,311 “housekeepers & inhabitants” owning 84,233 acres of land with 2,193 white servants and 37,315 black slaves (87% of the population). As recorded on March 10, 1679/80, from December 1, 1678 to Decmber 1, 1679, “wee received by severall shipps from Guinny, One thousand four hundred twenty five negro slaves for accout of the Royall Affrican Comp. of England which were sold and disposed off to Sundry persons for mo[ney] and Sugar at sundry prizes, all amounting to (vallue Sugar at ten shillings p cent) Twenty thousand five hunderd and twenty pounds sterling. And of the fifth of January last we received more from Guinny, four hundred eighty four negro slaves for the acct. of the aforesayd Comp. which were and disposed off for Seven thousand and fifty pounds sterling….Negroes 1901, Price 27570“
* I have not yet seen the original deed dated November 8, 1661 that Baird gives in his transcription. The deed for the islands clearly shows the “11th month 5th Day 1661” and says this purchase came after the former: “…Lying South from a Neck of Land the sad John Budd bought off me and other Indians.” The final deed for the tract abutting the Mamaroneck River very clearly says “11th month 12 Day 1661” At this time, England and the colonies followed the Julian calendar. The Baird transcription (if correct) says “this day, being the 8th of November, 1661.” With the month of November written out like that means that, under the Julian calendar, it was the 9th month, not the 11th. In fact, the back of the parchment contains the wording “9ber 1661 Indian Deeds.” Putting shorthand text after numbers like that is quite common in period record books. If November is correct for the initial Apawamis purchase, then the subsequent deeds occurred two months later (not days as Baird says) in January, the eleventh (11th) month in the Julian calendar.
Budd
John Budd likely arrived in Boston in 1637 with his wife, Katherine Browne, and other London families under the leadership of minister John Davenport, later settling in New Haven in April 1638. Budd was a signer of the 1639 “Fundamental Agreement” to govern the New Haven settlement and had a relatively large lot adjacent to the town square. Budd and other New Haven settlers, perhaps disillusioned with New Haven’s theocracy, left to establish Southold on Long Island in 1640, on the South side of the North fork. Southold remained under New Haven’s jurisdiction, and records show Budd travelling back to New Haven, Hartford, and London. Eleven years later, some new neighbors – the Silvester family – moved onto Shelter Island, one mile across the water from Budd’s homestead in Southold, where Budd’s Pond is still on the map.
Silvester
Constant and Nathaniel Silvester owned two plantations on Barbados, Constant and Carmichael, respectively, in the parish of St. George, whose names remain in use to this day. Their focus on Barbados was in no small part due to their father, Giles, an English exile in Amsterdam who can be seen in Dutch manuscripts trading with Barbados in 1640. The family also had trading connections in Virginia, where Nathaniel had sailed to in 1644 on his ship, the SEEROBBE (“SEAL” in German) – which he also sailed to Africa in 1646 and took 330 slaves, of which only 264 disembarked on Barbados. As sugar cultivation consumed a growing proportion of Barbados land, sustenance crops were pushed aside and imports of food and supplies became increasingly important. Rather than rely strictly on the market, the Silvesters partnered with two other planters – Thomas Middleton & Thomas Rouse – in 1651 to purchase Shelter Island, on the East end of Long Island, to provision their Barbados operations. Nathaniel went to live on Shelter, while Constant remained on Barbados. A strong commercial link between the Caribbean, New England, New Amsterdam and European markets drove fluid family movement between these worlds, as seen with ancestors Edward Robinson and Richard Smith. Smith likely knew the Silversters in New England and his son, Richard Smith Jr., frequently corresponded with John Withrop describing visits to Shelter Island including, at Winthrop’s request, the transportation Constant’s wife and daughter. Robinson was a very early inhabitant of Barbados in 1634 and lived between there and Newport until his death on Barbados in 1690. He was a contemporary of, and almost certainly knew, Constant & Nathaniel Silvester, John Richbell, Thomas Modyford, and Thomas Revell, and likely knew of John Budd. Edward also served on multiple courts in Newport with William Coddington whose wife, Anne Brinley, was sister to Grissell Brinley, Nathaniel Silvestor’s wife. Coddington was a Quaker, as were the Silvesters, who hosted both Mary Dyer and George Fox on Shelter Island. Constant Silvester’s wife, Grace Walrond, was the daughter of Humphrey Walrond, who arrived in Barbados in 1649, was deeply involved in the turmoil following the death of King Charles II, and ultimately became Deputy Governor of the island.
The close physical proximity of John Budd to the Silvesters in New York, plus similar trading interests, brought them together. Budd and Constant appear in a 1651 trading record, the same year Shelter Island was purchased. The record is fascinating because it shows that both Constant Silvester, in Barbados, and notable planter Thomas Middleton (his partner in the purchase of Shelter Island), were indebted to Lieut. John Budd “three-score pounds sterling money” and promise to pay him in London through Edward Winslow at or upon October 1, 1652. This is MAYFLOWER passenger, Edward Winslow, who returned permanently to England in 1646 and died at sea near Jamaica in 1655. Later in Barbados, on April 6, 1659, a letter from Constant to John Winthrop, Jr, Governor of Connecticut, shows some of the goods being traded, including sugar and African palm oil brought from a slaving voyage: “Honored Sr…thancks for ye many civillities I received from ye when I was in New England. Sr be pleased to accept a case of such sugars as my plantation doth yeeld, & a little of our Barbados tarr, as they call it, & some plam oile, wch is brought us hither from Ginny….Yr frinde & servt.” Richard Ligon, in his history of Barbados, having visited the island from 1647-1650, mentions Constant when writing about the impacts of fires on plantations: “The year before I came away, there were two eminent Planters in the Island, that with such an accident as this, lost at least 10,000 l sterling, in the value of the Canes that were burnt; the one, Mr. James Holduppe [Holdip], the other, Mr. Constantine Silvester; and the latter had not only his Canes, but his house burnt down to the ground. This, and much more mischiefe has been done, by the negligence and wilfulness of servants. And yet some cruell Masters will provolke ther Servants so, by extream ill usage, and often and cruell beating them, as they grow desperate, and so joyne together to revenge themselves upon them.”
Richbell
Around this time, events were happening in Barbados that would bring another person into the relationship – John Richbell. He appears in the records trading slaves from New Amsterdam (directly from Director General Willem Kieft) to Boston in 1647. Although John Richbell is referred to as a “merchant,” slave trader is the only record of his activity, not an importer or exporter of goods. In 1649, Richbell was involved in the charter of a ship, FORTUNE, to the Guinea coast of Africa to procure slaves and deliver them to Barbados. That John Richbell’s primary activity in the records is as a slave trader was likely due to his very well-connected brother, Robert Richbell. Robert was elected a member of Parliament for Southampton, was on Charles II’s Council of Trade from 1660-1668, held various other government posts including commissioner of corporations, supplied the Portsmouth dockyard, and even housed King Charles at his home on a visit in 1669. The brother of King Charles II was made the head of the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading into Africa (later, Royal African Company) in 1660, and Robert Richbell was a business associate of two of the company’s directors, Sir John Moore and Sir Thomas Bludworth. The Royal African Company ultimately became the leading slave importer to the Americas. More relevantly, Robert owned land in Barbados and New England according to his will, as cited in the records of Parliament. He is also on the December 22, 1679 list of landowners in the parish of Christ Church, Barbados, with a relatively large plantation of 315 acres of land, 8 white servants, and 140 black slaves.
Robert is on the January 6, 1679 militia list as the first entry with six men under the company of Capt. John Adams, and he contributes three horses under Col. Samuel Newton’s Troop of Horse. Richard Ford’s c1675 map (below) of Barbados clearly shows Richbell’s plantation in Christ Church near the St. George border. The Richbell property was very close to the two Silvester plantations shown on the same map – a relationship that certainly influenced the later events in 1661 in Rye and Mamaroneck. Both are located in the “ten thousand acres” that belonged to the Merchants of London as shown in the 1684 Ligon map. Both Robert and John Richbell were granted tickets in Barbados to sail to Boston in the Spring of 1679, further highlighting John’s trading activities, which began when John Richbell was in Barbados in 1657 to meet with Thomas Modyford, an extremely influential planter.
Modyford
Thomas Modyford arrived in Barbados in 1647, became speaker of the house, then governor in 1660. Richard Ligon was Modyford’s manager when Ligon wrote, in 1657, “A True & Exact History of the Island of Barbados,” which incidentally mentions Constant Silvester by name. Modyford and his brother-in-law, Thomas Kendall, did not start from scratch – rather, they purchased 500 acres from William Hilliard’s plantation in St. John. Ligon’s map shows Hilliard correctly next to James Drax on his 1657 map, but wildly out of place to the west. Modyford, for political reasons, was appointed governor of, and moved to, Jamaica in 1664. He succeeded Edward Morgan, uncle to the pirate, Henry Morgan. It was Modyford that gave a privateering commission to Henry Morgan, whose exploits caused Modyford to lose his governorship in 1671 and spend two years in the Tower of London before returning to Jamaica, where he died in 1679, leaving behind an enormous plantation with over 600 enslaved Africans and white indentured servants. John Richbell’s 1657 meeting with Modyford was therefore near the peak of Modyford’s power on Barbados. Modyford was also a factor for the Royal African Company, suggesting that Robert Richbell had made the introduction, or that Modyford already knew John Richbell from life on the island. Regardless, as a merchant between Barbados and New England, John was perfect for the job that Modyford wanted. Just like the Silvesters, he was looking for a Northern property to supply the plantations with goods and to provide a market for plantation output. Modyford gave Richbell very specific orders regarding the ideal property.
Revell
Thomas Revell “of Barbados” appears in a 1660 record appointing Constant Silvester as his agent to collect money in New England. Revell was likely from the same family as Randall Revell, who was in Maryland by 1640, in the Virginia House of Burgesses, and appears in a June 30, 1660 letter to Peter Stuyvesant regarding trade with New Amsterdam. Revell’s connection with Constant, however made, leads him to appear in the 1661 convergence with John Budd, Constant Silvester, and John Richbell – with all four names together in the same record. On August 6, 1661, Thomas Revell “of Barbados” and John Budd “of Southold” appear in a document together with a Virginia merchant named James Mills. The transaction was done on the account of Revell and Constant Silvester “of Barbados.” This was witnessed by John Richbell and Humphrey Hughes. Mills owned Revell 100 pounds and owed Budd 80 pounds. The transaction was to ship Virginia tobacco or pork to London. As collateral, Mills mortgaged his James River, Virginia plantation to them. Mills called it “Tiptoe Bay” and names his neighbors – Jordan and Flood, which means that the bay was not “Tiptoe” but “Pipsico” which exists today and is directly across the river from the Jamestown settlement of 1609. This illustrates the link the Silvester family had to Virginia planters, and Revell also had a partial mortgage in Mills’ ship, the NATHANIEL, dated Dec 11, 1660. Thomas is back in Barbados in 1679 when he appears on the militia lists under Capt. James Ely.
The Land Purchases
Shortly thereafter, on September 23, 1661, John Richbell – per the instructions of Modyford and Sharpe – purchased the lands bounded on the East by the Mamaroneck River and on the West by the Stony River at the border of Thomas Pell’s purchase. With Peningo Neck having been sold that May, and Mamaroneck sold to Richbell, the pressure mounted on others looking for a foothold in the very narrow region between New Netherland and New England. The nature of Indian deeds, as differently understood by Native Americans and English colonists, is too broad a topic to cover here, but the fluid nature of the granting and taking of land could easily be exploited – which it was in this case. Immediately after Richbell’s September 23 purchase, Revell attempted on October 27, 1661 to purchase exactly same Mamaroneck lands from the same sachem, Wappaquewam. Budd was a witness to Revell’s deed. It was revealed later that Richbell had gone to see Revell on Manussing Island and “warned Mr. Revell not to buy the Land beyond Mammaraneck River of the Indyans, for that (hee said) hee had bought it already.” Revell appears in a letter from Giles Silvester (brother of Constant & Nathaniel) in Barbados to John Winthrop, Jr., where “Mr. Tho: Revell tould me yet Mr. Richbell was in election to gitt possession of Mr Revell’s lands for want of his presence, but I hope better of your country; for Mr. Richbell tould me yet Mr. Revell had bought ye land, and yet he had been in treate with ye Indians before Mr. Revell, and therefore desired Mr. Revell yet it might be between them. Mr. Revell denying him, he said he would seeke to surcomvent him, as now it seems he is about, if not accomplished. He tould me he would. I intreat you to prevent him & if he hath, to give Mr. Revell a new hearing, yet he may injoy his owne, as it is meete every man should. What I say I speake as in ye presence of God, and shall be ready at any time to depose ye same. What you doe in this, believe me, Sir I shall take as done to my. selfe. I am not in ye least concernd, further than I judge Mr. Revell an honest man.” This dispute went to court, and Richbell won.
John Budd, however, was not done. On November 8, 1661, he purchased Apawamis, the land bounded on the East by Mockquams (Blind Brook), on the west by Pockcotessewake (Stony Brook/Beaver Meadow Brook/Guion Creek) and North to, and beyond, the Westchester Path. For this purchase, Revell was a witness for Budd. Subsequently, in January, Budd acquired an additional piece of land to the West, bringing his ownership up to the Mamaroneck River against Richbell’s purchase. In the same month, Budd also acquired the islands off his mainland, including Crane, Hen, Pine (now part of the Jay estate) and Scotch Caps.
From their respective Barbados connections, years of trading, and common interests in a particular stretch of land on the Northern coast of Long Island Sound, John Budd and John Richbell were about to become neighbors.
Mamaroneck
Before the Mamaroneck purchase, Richbell had married Ann Parsons Redman, widow of St. Christophers plantation owner, John Redman (Rodman). Richbell most likely met Ann while traveling to and from Barbados, or in trade between the islands. Ann’s mother, Margary Parsons, advanced Richbell money for the Mamaroneck purchase. Richbell made Oyster Bay his home and purchased land on “Horse Neck” (now Lloyd’s Neck) in September 1660. The land was originally sold September 20, 1654 by the sachem Wyandance to Samuel Mayo, a Massachusetts merchant and mariner. Nathaniel Silvester witnessed that deed. After subsequent transfers, the land was sold back to Richbell by John Leverett on May 6, 1665. There also may have been a partition as indicated by conflicting records: i) January 1664 Richbell selling to Silvester and ii) John Scott purchasing from Richbell before Scott sold in August 1664 to Leverett. In any event, on October 18, 1666, Ann & John Richbell sold Horse Neck to Nathaniel Silvester, Thomas Hart, and Latimer Sampson (through which the land ultimately passed to family member James Lloyd). Nathaniel died on Shelter Island in 1680.
Around the time of the 1666 sale of Horse Neck, and before November 1, 1667 when he was referred to as “of Mamaroneck”, John Richbell moved his family residence to Mamaroneck, including Ann & John Richbell, Margary Parsons, and Mary Redman (Rodman) who was Ann’s daughter with her first husband, John Redman. John Richbell died July 10, 1682, and is buried in his family cemetery in Mamaroneck where one of the many field stones marks his grave within sight of the harbor whose waters led back to Oyster Bay, Barbados, and England.
Barbados
Constant died in Barbados and, in his will proven October 7, 1671, he divided his share of Shelter Island between his wife, Grace, and his children, and left all his Barbados property to Grace – which, in the 1679 St. George list, included 515 acres, 10 white servants, and 220 black slaves. “Madam Grace Silvester” is on the January 6, 1679 militia list of Capt. Stephen Brown sending 3 men with armes for one plantation, and “Mrs. Grace Silvester” sending 15 soldiers for her 510 acres in Capt. Richard Salter’s company, the largest contributor. She also contributes 5 horses to Maj. Roland Bulkeley’s troop, the second highest contribution after Col. Henry Drax (6). Oddly, the 1679 census list for Christ Church shows “Silvester..Madam” with 180 acres, 1 white servant, and 40 black slaves, but Constant & Carmichael were in the middle of St. George, so perhaps another estate was purchased, or this is another family member.
Budd’s Neck
Budd left Southold and settled on the Apawamis land with his family sometime shortly after the 1661 purchase, and it became known as Budd’s Neck. At the time of the initial Rye settlement, everyone lived on Manussing Island. Budd, however, wanted to be on his own land. Almost immediately, he built and operated a mill on Blind Brook on the western (Apawamis) side. Remains of the mill exist today where the bridge on Oakland Beach Avenue crosses Blind Brook to intersect with Milton Road. Budd later sold this mill to his son-in-law, Joseph Horton, also from Southold, who built another mill on Stony (Guion) Creek. Budd died before May 1673 when his will was proven. Although he had sold off pieces of his purchases, the bulk of the land stayed in the family through a royal patent obtained by Budd’s son, Joseph, in 1720. Joseph’s son, John, sold a significant portion in 1745 to Peter Jay, father of John Jay, who grew up on the land and, later in life, negotiated – along with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin – the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War. The land remains intact and unspoiled today, in its original form, as a national historic landmark and conservancy.
Even though Budd exercised a strong independence, he was respected by the small community and, on Jan 26, 1663, they wrote to the General Court in Hartford that “we have now made choyse of our nayghbar John Bud for a deputi and sent him up to your Corte to act for us as hee shall see good; it is our desiour to have settled way of government amongst us…” By calling him a neighbor, it indicates that Budd’s residence was in Apawamis, not amongst the cluster of homes in the growing town. The General Court in Hartford, on October 8, 1663, said “Lnt. John Bud makes his appearance, and is appoynted Commissioner for the Town of Hastings, and is invested with Magistraicall pwer within the limits of that Town.” A year later, on October 13, 1664, “This Court orders that Lnt. Budd continue in his place of Comr for Hasting and Rye, untill the Court order otherwise, or the Govnr and Gentn that goe to New Yorke.” These two statements capture the transition in the name of the settlement from, initially, Hastings, to Rye as it remains today. Budd’s Neck was not incorporated formally into the town of Rye until 1672, yet people living on Budd’s neck were still referred to as “inhabitants of the neck of Apawamis.” On October 8, 1668, Rye again sent John Budd as a deputy to Hartford.
Budd’s strong independence led him to leave England for Massachusetts, decamp from Massachusetts to Connecticut, leave Connecticut for a new life in Southold, and leave Southold for Rye. The common thread in this migration was growing discomfort with the rules of the theocracies that governed each settlement. While Budd did not leave writings behind, at least any that have been published, his frequent appearances in the records give an indication of his strong independence and preference for personal liberty. The New Haven records on May 27, 1661, referencing testimony in Southold on July 20, 1660, indicate that he was “friendly to the Quakers”, but he was not one himself. Budd, much like Roger Williams before him, “cast an aspersion on the governments” regarding their treatment of the Quakers. He “came into court at Southold & sayd we was very strict against Quakers, but we could suffer whoring & drinking, or drunkennes…. John Bud did soe highly comend of as saying that they were the honestest and most godly people that were now in the world, and did use many expressions by way of great dislike of the preceedings of all the governments in this country against them, and that they would one day have cause to repent thereof, and further did aske me this deponent, why they might not have there liberty here as well as in other countries, saying they were not the like abused noe where, where they came, as they were here” Budd did not like the mingling of Church and State, as his frequent moves showed. It’s fitting that his views, like those of Roger Williams, made their way into the later constitution through someone else who lived on Budd’s land – John Jay through the Federalist Papers. Even today, much of the original Apawamis purchase – particularly on the coast – remains quietly independent, tucked largely unobserved into Long Island Sound between more sizable towns to the West in New York and to the East in Connecticut. Budd’s Neck is even divided in government, with its land belonging to the Town of Rye, its services provided by the Village of Mamaroneck, and with its own school district – Rye Neck. Note, however, in the second map below from October 1797 (Charles Webb), what is now known as Milton Point was then, and had been, known as “Rye Neck.” Also in the 1797 map, John Budd’s original Apawamis has been sold off extensively, with the Jay estate clearly visible, and the Budd family still in possession of a portion of the neck, although with the mill pond owned by Samuel Deall and already dammed (Baird notes a 1790 request to do so).
