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Continued: Thomas came from London, England, so it is said, and is supposed to have landed in Virginia, between 1640 and 1645, as in 1645 he had a suit in New Haven, Connecticut, against the goods of a Mr. Lewis, then in London, to whom he had sold a boat in Virginia, taking in pay a mare to be delivered to him in Massachusetts, which he failed to obtain. He next appears in the Indian wars in Connecticut. In January 1643-4, Captain Patrick was shot by a Dutchman in the house of Captain John Underhill, in Stamford. The Dutchman was placed as a prisoner in an upper room and, in turn, Thomas Stevenson and George Slowson were set to watch him, but they both fell asleep and the prisoner escaped.
The same year [1644], Thomas Stevenson was one of the colonists with Capt. John Underhill, who emigrated from Stamford to Southold, Long Island. This was the first English colony to locate permanently among the Dutch. The reason for making this grant is believed to have been the desire of the authorities of New Amsterdam to secure the services of Capt. Underhill and his men in the war against the Indians. Thomas Stevenson located a lot of land along side of Capt. Underhill, in Southold, which remained in his possession for many years. He seems to have served with Capt. Underhill in the campaign in Westchester County, New York, where, with his Englishmen and the Dutch troops placed under his command by the Director General, he annihilated the Indians.
Thomas settled in Long Island the year before his marriage to widow Bernard.
Capt. John Underhill and Thomas Hall, a prominent Englishman in the Dutch service, were witnesses to his marriage. (note Thomas Hall was also a sponsor for the twins by Marie Barrents husband William Barnard/Barrents.)
Thomas Stevenson appears to have spent part of his time in New Amsterdam--at Hempstead, Long Island, where he was a freeholder in 1647; in Brooklyn, where he and Thomas Hall were appointed, in 1652, by the Director General, arbitrators in a land suit between two Hollanders; and in Flushing, until he permanently located on his bowery, [plantation], on Flushing Bay in Newtown, L. I., about 1654. He had obtained a patent for this in 1651, from the Dutch Government. This made him one of the earliest settlers there, as the place was not permanently settled until the succeeding year, 1652. This is shown in a dispute between Thomas Stevenson and the magistrates of Newtown in 1656, about the opening of a road and the fencing in of some meadow land. The difference having been referred to arbitrators, they made a report to Stuyvesant, the Dutch Governor, on September 22, 1656, and say in regard to the fourth and last complaint, The magistrates at New Middleburgh, [Newtown], complained that the said Stevenson has, against the general rule of the said village, fenced in all his meadow with an enclosure which they maintained should have been divided into three equal parts, of which one was to remain in his possession, while the two others were to be used by the community generally, and he should recceive for the two, equally large shares in the large meadows. Then Stevenson answered that he owned and claimed the said meadow by virtue of his patent, which being produced, it was found that the Honorable Director General of the New Netherlands had granted it to the said Stevenson in question, containing 20 morgans. The said magistrates replied that Stevenson had obtained the said patent by trickery, as he had not stated that the meadow belonged to Middleburgh territory, which seems reasonable as the Director General had promised that no patents should predjudice their rules, and as we could find no decision on the controversy we were inclined to submit to his honor, the Directer General, as being the best exponent of his promises. The Director General decided "On the 4th and last it is understood that the above mentioned patent has been obtained by misrepresentation and false report; that the proper intentions and promise of the Director General in every respect was and shall remain in force to the effect that no private property shall predjudice a village community; it is further notoriously evident that a mistake has been made either by the clerk or the surveyor in measuring or reporting the same and bounderies of meadow land, and that further dispute may result therefrom. The Director General and the Council order that the patent of Thomas Stevenson shall be amended, but so that in place of a third part of the meadow allowed by the magistrates to him as to others, he shall keep one half of it near his fields, because he has been hitherto the oldest and first owner of it, and in regard to the other half it shall be considered in the allotment with the other inhabitants of Middleburgh."
Page 25--Robert Coe and Daniel Denton, of Jamaica, Long Island, are appointed Administrators of the estate of THOMAS STEVENSON, and guardians of his children. July 9, 1668.
Page 26.--Robert Coe resigns his appointment as Administrator of estate of THOMAS STEVENSON July 9,
Note: 1668, and Anthony Waters, of Jamaica, is appointed in his place. August 15, 1668.
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