Appendix 2: How Many Candles for Hicksville's Cake?
In 1648, Robert Williams purchased a large piece of land from the Matinecock, land which today includes all or parts of Hicksville, Plainview, Jericho, Woodbury, and Syosset. Because of this, the year 1648 has become enshrined in the minds of Hicksvillians, so much so that significant anniversaries of it have been celebrated over the years (e.g., the ceremonies held in 1948 and 1998), as if they actually marked the village's age. While commemorating the purchase is a worthy thing, it may lead people to think that Hicksville now is 371 years old (especially since the 1948 celebration was referred to as Hicksville's Tercentennial).
The British and Dutch had explored much of Long Island before the purchase; Williams knew first-hand what he was buying. Villages were ready to congeal, especially where there were springs or ponds (e.g., Jericho) - villages that soon would add churches and inns to their houses. Footpaths (later widened into roads) crisscrossed the area, connecting places that were populated. Today, many of those old routes are still important, and some of the towns they connect boast of landmarks preserved since the 17th and 18th centuries - but not every town that today occupies the land which Williams purchased had been settled by 1648.
I am not aware of any remnants of an organized 17th century village on the site of today's Hicksville. I have read that early residents of Jericho used the barren grasslands to the south as pasture, but that's part of Jericho's history. It is possible that in the early decades, cabins or houses were sometimes built within the borders of today's Hicksville, but what of it? An isolated family home, especially one that fell into ruin and left the surrounding area devoid of settlers, certainly was not the beginning of a village. I am not aware of any continuity between people who might have lived on the land in that manner in the 17th century, and the people who settled where the roads intersected c. 1837, thereby starting a thriving community that persists today.
Respected local "historians Richard and Anne Evers' book refers to the Williams Purchase as the start of "Hicksville's documentary history" (emphasis added) - that is, the purchase is not the start of the village's history, but part of the prequel. As noted earlier, the same book calls 19th century "Hicksville an emerging railroad community," acknowledging that what prompted its initial settlement was the railroad, which arrived in the area in 1836 or 1837. Together, these statements seem to make clear that the date of the Williams Purchase should not be confused with the birth of Hicksville.
Sorry Hicksville; you're only about half as old as some people might think.
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See you in September
