Long before Islip/New York became a political entity as a minute part of the British Empire in 1683 there was an established community also known as Islip in Northamptonshire/England and its origin can be traced as far back as the 16th Century. At Westminster Abbey in London, where English kings and queens have been crowned since the Middle Ages, there is a sacred section known as the Islip Chapel. This Chapel was constructed under the direction of John of Islip while he was the Abbot of the Abbey from 1500 to 1532. In addition to the Islip Chapel, Abbot John also completed the Nave of Westminster Abbey and constructed its King Henry VIIth Chapel, its Oak Gallery Pew, and also its Chantry Chapel where he is buried. Abbot John came from the village in Northamptonshire known as Islip. Interestingly enough, in the Islip Chapel of Westminster Abbey you will find curious little drawings in two forms which represent John Islip’s name.

This sketch depicts the frieze that runs along the inner and outer walls of the Islip Chapel. One is an eye with a hand holding a branch or a slip: I slip. The other is an eye with a man slipping from a tree branch: I slip.

The 17th Century was a troubled time for England as well as for the Church of England. More than a few Englishmen thought the Church of England had become onerous, oppressive, and demanding. Roman Catholic rites and practices which had been abolished by Queen Elizabeth I were once again imposed with no little harshness. By 1633 dissenters – and they were many – started fleeing England. They settled temporarily in The Netherlands from whence they embarked for the New World where in 1635 they established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Before long they spread into what is now Rhode Island and Connecticut. Soon after that they crossed Long Island Sound to establish settlements in Sag Harbor, Southold, and East Hampton.

At this same time turmoil abounded in England. Civil war broke out between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers. King Charles I was beheaded in 1649 and Oliver Cromwell ruled England until his death in 1658. Two years later the English crown was restored to Charles II and – quoting Harry Havemeyer – “. . . a new age of prosperity and overseas settlement began . . .”

But not without difficulty . . . Quoting again from Harry Havemeyer, “ . . .early in his reign Charles II had aggravated the worsening relations between England and Holland by granting to his brother James, the Duke of York, the Dutch colony at the mouth of the Hudson River called New Netherland. The grant was accompanied by 4,000 English pounds for its conquest. War erupted at sea and it went badly for the British at first. James, however, was made head of the English Navy and showed himself extraordinarily able at developing English sea power . . . James also decided to secure possession of his newly granted territory in the New World and in 1664 he commissioned an expedition to do so.”

James, the Duke of York, appointed Matthias Nicoll II to serve as secretary of that expedition. Matthias’ father, a clergyman in the Church of England lived in that Islip village of Northamptonshire as had seven previous generations of the Nicoll family. This was the same Islip where John, the Abbot of Westminster, had been reared. Matthias II’s son, William Nicoll, was also born in Islip/Northamptonshire in 1657 and it was he – William Nicoll – who was to acquire the land now known as Islip/New York. The historic intertwining of the Nicoll family, the Church of England, and the Northamptonshire village of Islip is a fitting prelude to this account of the Village of Islip/New York and our Parish of Saint Mark’s.

In his comprehensive history of this area, “Along the Great South Bay,” Harry Havemeyer relates that Matthias Nicoll II and his family departed for New England in 1664. Religious refugees they definitely were not. The Nicoll family came here as privileged members of the English establishment to further the interests of the British Crown. William Nicoll did return to England to prepare for a legal career. He also served in the English army and almost died in Flanders. After recovering he returned to America and began his career in law and public service.

By 1683 William Nicoll began accumulating land from the Secatogue Indians along the Great South Bay. He received his first patent in 1684. Two more patents followed which increased his holdings to 50,000 acres – approximately 10 square miles – along the bay from what is now Bayport to East Islip as well as all the islands in the bay between Fire Island Inlet and the Connetquot River. William Nicoll is rightly recognized as the ‘father of Islip’, the last of eight English towns settled on Long Island. It was only natural that he would bestow the name of Islip, his ancestral home in England, upon his extensive holdings along the Great South Bay. And so he did . . . .

For many years William Nicoll was the Assemblyman for Suffolk County and he held the Speakership for fifteen successive terms. Although William Nicoll was the first and by far the largest of the patentees of what is today the Town of Islip there were five other lesser patentees: Andrew Gibb, Thomas and Richard Willets, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, and John Moubray. Andrew Gibb, whose patent consisted of the land between Orowoc and Champlain Creeks, like his colleague William Nicoll was also a lawyer and a public servant. Andrew Gibb succeeded William Nicoll as the County Clerk of Queens and later as Town Clerk of Brookhaven.

In these early days many settlers of the new towns did not lavish affection unto the Church of England. Far from it. . . One of the earliest accounts of the Church of England here in Suffolk County is a vigorous objection to the use of The Book of Common Prayer. In 1685 at a Brookhaven town meeting Samuel Eburn was requested to discontinue using The Prayer Book in worship services “. . . in regard to some tender consciences.”

However, by 1702 The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel had appointed the Reverend George Keith to evangelize the huge area from Boston/Massachusetts to Charleston/South Carolina. The Society had been formed in England to help the Church of England give assistance to the Church in the American Colonies and elsewhere. The Society had three aims. First, native Americans were to be won over to the Christian Faith forming a political alliance with the British colonial power. Second, the colonial settlers were to be re-evangelized and reclaimed for orthodox Christianity as understood by High Church Anglicans. Third, the increasing number of African slaves being brought to work in North America and the Caribbean were to be instructed and baptized, affirming their humanity if not their freedom.

But there was very little progress . . . In 1704 the Rector of Trinity Church/New York reported that in Suffolk County there was “. . . neither a Church of England minister, nor any provision for one . . the people generally being independent and upheld in their separation (from the Church of England) by New England ministers.” This is hardly surprising inasmuch as the early settlers in Suffolk County were for the most part New England Puritans deeply prejudiced against the Church of England. Ever persevering, the Society sent the Reverend James Wetmore to Setauket in 1723 where he remained for two years. A regular succession of ministers, funded by the Society, followed him and this support by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel continued until the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.

By 1730 the present Episcopal Church in Setauket was erected. At first it was called Christ Church but early on this was changed to Caroline Church to honor the Queen of George II. Accordingly, Caroline Episcopal Church/Setauket is recognized as being not only our Mother Church of Suffolk County but also the oldest building still being used for Episcopal services in the county.

The establishment of Caroline Church/Setauket in 1730 was followed by Saint John’s Episcopal Church/Huntington which was founded in 1745 and in 1765 Saint John’s Episcopal Church/Oakdale was erected. As a rule, one clergyman was believed to be in charge of all three Churches: Caroline Church/Setauket, Saint John’s Church/Huntington, and Saint John’s Church/Oakdale. According to Harry Havemeyer’s “Along the Great South Bay,” Saint John’s Church/Oakdale was built “. . . largely at the expense of the Nicoll family.”

In 1710 the colonial legislature authorized the organization of the Town of Islip. Its inhabitants were few and not until 1720 is there any record of a town meeting. Eighty years later -–in 1790 – the Islip census lists only 106 heads of family for the entire town and in 1808 our hamlet had but a single store. More from Harry Havemeyer’s “Along the Great South Bay”: “. . . the census of 1810 showed that there were just 855 people in the entire township. Farming and lumbering were the major activities. Those who did settle had to be almost self sufficient. There were few shops, only one church, and very modest local government.

A soft cover booklet, “Picturesque Bay Shore, Babylon, and Islip”, published in 1894 and available at the Islip Public Library, states on page 69 that an Episcopal Church was organized in Islip in the 1660’s and that a fine church edifice was erected in 1766 which was destroyed by fire in the early 1800’s. Be that as it may, by all accounts the year 1847 marked the beginnings of our Parish of Saint Mark’s.

At this very location our Church building was located but the only record found so far of when it was constructed is the corner stone bearing the date of July 4, 1847 which is now preserved on top of the 1879 corner stone of our Church building.

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