What's In A Name?

ABRAHAM'S PATH AND ABRAM'S LANDING ROAD

Both these Amagansett roads are named for Abraham Schellinger, a highly successful 18th-century merchant and the first person to hold the office of Supervisor in East Hampton (in the year 1700).

To the Boston and New York City ports he carried cattle, sheep, horses, hides, and whale oil, to be traded for lumber and products of the West Indies. His main sloop, Endeavor, docked at Abram's Landing, as well as in Northwest Harbor, where he had a wharf and a warehouse.

Abraham Schellinger was a son of Jacobus Schellinger and Cornelia Melyn, who were born in Holland. Various spellings of the name - Schellinx, Schellanks, and others - are on record. He was born on Feb. 11, 1659, possible in New Amsterdam, possibly in New Haven or New London, Conn. He was baptized in the New York Dutch Church on Sept. 20, 1662.

The family moved to East Hampton after the English took over New Amsterdam. In 1683, Abraham bought 64 acres north of Main Street, Amagansett, from East Hampton's Rev. Thomas James, and by 1690 he was living there, as was a brother, Jacob, and their sister Catherine. (Today, Miss Amelia's Cottage occupies a piece of that land. She was a Schellinger, too.)

Abraham Schellinger married Joanna Hedges; their children were Johanna, Rachel, William, Abraham, Isaac, Amy, and Zerviah.

A list of his possessions at the time of his death, on New Year's Day 1712, reflects what people were buying at the time. It includes pans, skillet, nails, guns, dyes, pewter items, books, spectacles, shoe buckles, earthenware, textiles, thimbles, gloves, metal and horn buttons, and knitting needles. He also owned 100 sheep, various farm tools, and two black servants, Bess and Jack.

The list can be found in the East Hampton Library's Long Island Collection, along with numerous other Schellinger family documents.

M.N.

End note: Sherrill Foster believes the Phebe Van Scoy who married Jesse Foster must have been a relative of the woman for whom Phebe Scoy Highway is named. That Phebe, according to her research, never married.