Carpenter and Coles Ancestors: Founders of Musketa Cove (Glen Cove), New York

Glen Cove, New York - Formerly Musketa Cove

My last several articles have featured immigrant ancestors who helped found Rhode Island in the 1630s, including Samuel Gorton and Mary Maplet, Robert Coles and Mary Hawkhurst, and William Carpenter and Elizabeth Arnold. They all had children who moved from Rhode Island to Oyster Bay, on Long Island in New York, in the mid-1600s. Several of my family lines converge here, and would move around New York in the following centuries, leading to my second great-grandfather, John Thorne Griffin. John was born into a family of carpenters and ship builders in 1838. His early New York ancestors founded the community of Musketa Cove (now called Glen Cove) and the saw mill at the heart of that town in 1668.

Founders of Musketa Cove

On May 24, 1668 Joseph Carpenter of Warwick Rhode Island purchased about 2,000 acres of land to the northwest of the Town of Oyster Bay from the Matinecock Indians. Later in that year he admitted four co-partners into the project – three brothers, Nathaniel, Daniel, and Robert Coles, and Nicholas Simkins, all residents of Oyster Bay. The five young men named the settlement “Musketa Cove,” which in the Matinecock language means “this place of rushes.” These settlers have been known forever after as the five original proprietors of Musketa Cove. [Source: Glen Cove Public Library]

Glen Cove, New York today

The Descendants of William Carpenter and Elizabeth Arnold

In my last post, I wrote about my immigrant ancestors William Carpenter and Elizabeth Arnold. After emigrating to the American Colonies in 1630 with the Winthrop Fleet, my 9th great-grandparents helped found Providence, Rhode Island. Their eldest son, Joseph Carpenter, is considered a founder of Musketa Cove (now called Glen Cove) on Long Island. 

Joseph Carpenter (my 8th great-grandfather) was born about 1636 in Providence, Rhode Island. Upon reaching maturity, Joseph moved to nearby Warwick and established a corn mill. In 1659, he married Hannah Carpenter, the daughter of William Carpenter and Abigail Briant. Hannah's father, William Carpenter, was unrelated to Joseph Carpenter's family, and the identical surnames are simply a coincidence.

Warwick town records show that Joseph Carpenter ran a corn mill adjacent to his home on the south side of the Pawtuxet River. By 1662, however, he was visiting Oyster Bay, on Long Island in New York, and negotiating with the native Matinecock people to buy land there. Oyster Bay lies south of Warwick, and would take about 3 hours to reach via car or 2.5 hours to reach via boat today. It's not clear how Joseph traveled between those two locations, but it would have been a longer journey in the 1660s. 

Dutch explorers named Oyster Bay in 1615 for its abundance of shellfish. The well-protected bay provided food for the Matinecock Indians and then became a magnet for traders, fishermen, shipbuilders, and sailors. The bay was the boundary between the Dutch New Amsterdam colony and the English New England colonies. [Source: Advisory Council on Historic Preservation]

Joseph's intent was to purchase of several hundred acres of land on either side of the stream that flowed along what is now Glen Street, where he planned to construct both a saw mill and a grist mill. This process took several years, and it's possible Joseph and his family did not actually move to New York until 1667/1668.

On May 24, 1668 Joseph Carpenter of Warwick Rhode Island purchased about 2,000 acres of land to the northwest of the Town of Oyster Bay from the Matinecock Indians. Later in that year he admitted four co-partners into the project – three brothers, Nathaniel, Daniel, and Robert Coles, and Nicholas Simkins, all residents of Oyster Bay. The five young men named the settlement “Musketa Cove,” which in the Matinecock language means “this place of rushes.” These settlers have been known forever after as the five original proprietors of Musketa Cove Plantation. [Source: Glen Cove Public Library]

A colonial map of Musketa Cove

Joseph Carpenter and Hannah Carpenter had five children together:

1. Hannah Carpenter (b. 1659; d. 1720; m. William Thorneycraft)
2. Tamsin Carpenter (b. 1660; d. 1706; m. John Williams)
3. Joseph Carpenter (b. abt. 1662; d. abt. 1692; m. Ann Thorneycraft)
4. William Carpenter (b. 1666; d. 1749; m. Elizabeth)
5. Nathaniel Carpenter (b. 1668; d. 1730; m. Tamar Coles)

In 1670, Hannah Carpenter died at the age of 30. Before her death, Hannah had inherited property in Pawtuxet from her father, William Carpenter, upon his death. In 1673, her widower, Joseph, deeded that property to her brother, Abiah Carpenter, keeping that parcel in William's Carpenter's family. In exchange, Abiah transferred some property he had obtained in Musketa Cove to Joseph, enlarging his holdings.  

Joseph remarried in 1674, to Anna Weeks. Anna was born in Oyster Bay in July 1651. She was the daughter of Francis Weeks, an English immigrant to New York, and his wife Elizabeth. Anna was 23 at the time of her marriage, 16 years younger than her husband, who was 39. Joseph and Anna had three children together:

1. Benjamin Carpenter (b. abt 1676; d. 1746; m. Mercy Coles)
2. Ann Carpenter (b. abt 1676; m. Samuel Weeks)
3. John Carpenter (b. 1683; d. 1760; m. Martha Feake)

Tamar and Mercy Coles, who married half-brothers Nathaniel Carpenter and Benjamin Carpenter, were sisters. They were granddaughters of my 9th great-grandparents Robert Coles and Mary Hawkhurst. Martha Feake, who married John Carpenter, was the granddaughter of my 10th great-grandparents, Robert Feake and Elizabeth Fones Winthrop, the founders of Greenwich, Connecticut. A lot of my family lines collide in Musketa Cove.

Glen Cove, New York

The Descendants of Robert Coles and Mary Hawkhurst

My 9th great-grandfather, Robert Coles, also arrived in America in 1630 with the Winthrop Fleet. Like William Carpenter, he was a founding father of Rhode Island. His second marriage, to Mary Hawkhurst Coles, produced five children, including sons, Daniel, Nathaniel, and Robert Coles, Jr. After Robert's death, Mary married Matthias Harvye. In 1662/1663, Mary and Matthias moved to Oyster Bay, on Long Island, in New York. Mary's three sons went with them.

On April 3, 1663 he [Matthias] sold his share of the Mill property (he was part owner) for L150 as well as his dwelling house, 18 acres (12 of which had belonged to Robert Coles). Sometime before December 10, 1663, he along with his wife and her children by Robert Coles, as well as several of their Warwick neighbors moved to Oyster Bay, Long Island. He purchased twenty acres of land from John Richbell on October 29, 1664. Through the years he continued to acquire property through grants and purchases. [Source: Matthias Harvye, a Very Public Man." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record Vol. 123 (1997) pp 11-16]

Daniel Coles, my 8th great-grandfather, was born in 1637 in Ipswich, Massachusetts. In 1662, at the age of 25, he married Mahashalalhasbaz Gorton, daughter of the infamous Samuel Gorton. It was around this time that he moved to Oyster Bay, where he served as constable for a couple of years.

Nathaniel Coles married Martha Jackson, daughter of Robert Jackson, on August 30, 1667. Martha gave birth to their son, Nathaniel Coles, Jr. in Oyster Bay on August 24, 1668. 22-year old Martha died just weeks later, on September 17. As Nathaniel worked with his brothers to establish Musketa Cove, he was grieving the very recent death of his young wife and caring for a newborn baby. Nathaniel later married Deborah Wright, the sister of his brother Robert's wife, Mercy Wright. 

Robert Coles, the youngest Coles brother, was about 20 in 1668, the year Musketa Cove was settled. In 1670 he married Mercy Wright of Oyster Bay, the daughter of Nicholas Wright, and they went on to have nine children together. Later, in 1700, Captain Robert Coles served as Oyster Bay’s Company Commander in John Jackson’s militia regiment.

Arriving in Oyster Bay with their mother and stepfather in 1662/1663, the three Coles brothers decided to forge their own path. They connected with Joseph Carpenter and Nicholas Simkins, both of whom had also come to Oyster Bay from Rhode Island, and founded a new community and milling operation. They purchased about 2,000 acres of land from the Matinecock Indians and built a saw mill and homes, calling the fledgling town Musketa Cove.

The five proprietors built their homes along a narrow dirt road on a hill overlooking the saw mill. The street would become known as “The Place." The western-most home lot was that of Daniel Coles; the eastern-most of the five originals was of his brother Robert Coles. [Source: Glen Cove Heritage]

All three Coles brothers played critical roles in the early years of Musketa Cove, but Robert's contributions are the best documented.

Robert Coles served as informal “keeper” of the “Musketa Cove Proprietors’ Book”, a large, vellum-covered record book containing manuscript copies of the land transfers and legal agreements of the “Five Proprietors.” In addition to these official documents, Coles used the book to record his personal household accounts as well as the accounts pertaining to his one-fifth interest in the saw mill. These accounts have shed considerable light on the day-to-day life in Glen Cove in the 1670’s and 1680’s. Thousands of feet of boards and planks were exported to New York City by sloop for use in new construction as well as export to lumber-hungry colonies (like the sugar plantations of the Barbados) elsewhere. In addition, wainscoting, tile laths, roofing tile laths, ship timbers, “feather-edged boards” and custom-cutting of walnut and cedar were available from the Musketa Cove saw mill.

The coastal trading ships which carried Musketa Cove’s lumber to market in Manhattan gave local residents ready access to consumer goods from one of the largest cities in North America. If one needed a new hat, “Christian the boatman” would procure one and deliver it on his return trip to Musketa Cove. In this era, 7 shillings would by a pair of good quality shoes, or a pair of men’s stockings, or two and a half bushels of corn. A pound of tobacco cost a mere 6 pence, and clay pipes were a penny a piece. Rum appears regularly in the accounts. [Source: Glen Cove Heritage]

Robert Coles' house still stands at 34 The Place. It has been much revised since it was initially built, when it measured a modest 20x30'. The original building remains and forms the portion of the house to the right in the photo below. It is the oldest home in Glen Cove.

The Robert Coles homestead in Glen Cove, circa 2020.

The founders of Musketa Cove set aside space for a cemetery, which is in poor condition today but still exists at 82-92 McLoughlin Street in Glen Cove. It is unmarked and tucked between the Dickson Garden Apartments and McLouglin Street. The land was originally part of Joseph Carpenter's home lot, and it is believed that he, and perhaps some of the other original five proprietors of Musketa Cove, are buried there, along with their families and descendants.

The Carpenter and Coles families set the stage for a group of New York-based ancestors who were absolutely fascinating. I plan to share more about them in future posts.