John Scott, Scoundrel

A Southampton tax official passes himself off as owner of nearly one-third of Long Island

By Molly McCarthy | Staff Writer

Long Island -- like the rest of the New World -- was a land of opportunity. And one of the most flamboyant of those pioneering opportunists was John Scott.

Though Scott lived less than 10 years here, his escapades proved so legendary that he is almost always immortalized in history books as ``Capt. John Scott of Long Island.'' By the age of 30, Scott claimed to own nearly a third of the Island and persuaded fellow English settlers to call him their president.

Historians have other names for him -- rogue, rascal, adventurer and swindler. Today, he'd be called a con artist.

Born in England in 1634, Scott was sent to the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a boy during the fallout of his mother country's civil war. After an apprenticeship with a Quaker family, he went to sea and acquired the respectable title of captain. In 1654, Scott arrived in Southampton, where he tried just about any occupation that would earn him the capital to buy land. He was a blacksmith, whaler, fur trader and sea merchant. Soon, he was making real estate deals with the famous sachem, Wyandanch, whom he referred to in a land deed as ``an ancient and great friend.''

In 1658, Scott -- by now a town tax commissioner of Southampton -- set up house on land he purchased along the southern shore of Peconic Bay, where North Sea is today. After a flurry of negotiations with the Indians and settlers, the would-be land tycoon claimed to own parts of what now encompasses the Town of Brookhaven in addition to holdings in Hempstead, Quogue, Southampton, East Hampton and Huntington.

But his new property wealth was in jeopardy. If the Dutch who had settled the western end of Long Island won their claim to the rest, his holdings would be lost. He also had to worry about whether Connecticut or another colony would claim it. Connecticut Gov. John Winthrop had long insisted that his colony's charter included Long Island.

So, in 1660, the English settlers sent Capt. John Scott to the court of Charles II to make a case for an independent colony. Little did they know that Scott would be making a case for himself.

In England, Scott secured the right introductions, bought elegant clothes and donned a light-colored curling wig in the fashion of the day. A contemporary described Scott's appearance:

A proper well-sett man in a great light coulered Periwigg, rough-visaged, haveing large haire on his eyebrows, hollow eyde, a little squintain or a cast with his Eye, full faced about ye cheekes, with a Black hatt & in a streight boddyed coate cloath colour with silver lace behind.

To assure an audience with the king, Scott claimed to be a Scott of Scot's Hall in Kent. Though many historians later doubted his claim, Dorothea Scott, the heiress to Scot's Hall, was so charmed by the man that she vouched for his lineage and later gave him 2,000 pounds for what she believed to be 20,000 acres along the southern shore of Long Island.

Dorothea never saw the money again, not to mention the land, which was never Scott's to sell.

In his plea to Charles II, Scott asked for no less than to be appointed governor of Long Island. And, even though the king was said to approve of the idea, the request was denied by the king's Council of Foreign Plantations. Nevertheless, the rumor had already spread across the sea that Scott had been named governor.

Upon his return, Scott met with Connecticut officials and agreed to head an expedition to push the Dutch off Long Island and annex it to Connecticut. Then he huddled with representatives of the English towns on Long Island and persuaded them to elect him president until the ``Duke of York, or His Majesty could establish a government among them.''

With these conflicting loyalties to Connecticut and Long Island, Scott assembled some men and rode into New Netherlands to confront the Dutch. ``This country you inhabit is unjustly occupied by your leaders,'' he shouted to Dutch settlers. ``It belongs to the king of England and not to the Dutch. If you acknowledge his Brittanic majesty's sovereignty you will be permitted to remain in your homes. Otherwise you will be forced to leave.''

In requesting a meeting with the Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant, Scott signed his missive, ``President John Scott.'' Stuyvesant, who had heard rumors that Scott had been appointed governor of a new English colony, eventually agreed to the meeting.

Back in Connecticut, Winthrop got word of Scott's actions, and immediately called for his arrest. Among the charges were forgery, sedition, treason and ``profanation of God's Holy Day.''

A band of Winthrop's men sailed to Scott's newly established estate in Setauket, which the captain had named ``Scot's Hall'' after the great English manor. They took him to jail in Hartford. Scott's arrest did draw protests from many settlers, who still believed he had their best interests at heart.

After three months in prison, Scott escaped, returning to his estate.

He did not stay long. In February, 1665, after the duke of York established his government in New York, Scott was asked to produce a deed verifying his claim to ``20 miles square in the heart of Long Island'' -- probably much of Brookhaven.

He didn't come up with the document. Instead, he skipped Long Island and headed for Barbados. His estate was sold, and his family left destitute.

Capt. John Scott of Long Island never returned.