NINE GENERATIONS OF LESTERS

The Lester family has been a part of East Hampton's heritage for over 250 years.

The homestead and Round Swamp Farm are now owned and run by

grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren

(the ninth-generation descendants).

DIANNA LESTER CATOZZI

The original Lester property consisted of about 150 acres, which included areas of farmland, meadowland, woodland, and swampland on both Springy Banks Road and Three Mile Harbor Road, East Hampton. The homestead parcel was called the Round Swamp Lot; hence came the name "Round Swamp Lesters."

On Three Mile Harbor Road is the Round Swamp Cemetery, the family cemetery. The oldest grave recorded with a headstone is that of Amasa Lester, son of David and Lois Talmage Lester, who died on Dec. 25, 1815, at the age of 29 years. However, it is believed that John Lester, who died in East Hampton on Aug. 28, 1764, and his wife, along with his son and daughter-in-law, David and Lois, are buried here also, in unmarked graves.

As you walk around the small cemetery with its white fence, you will notice the members of the Lester family were no strangers to tragedy. Nathan W. and Emma Lester lost their son Elmer to an accidental drowning in Hook Pond, their son Lawrence to teething convulsions, and their son Edward to influenza while he was working in a munitions factory in New Jersey. Frank and Sallie Lester lost their daughter Lena to convulsions and their daughter Celia to infantile paralysis. Frederick and Winnifred lost their son Marshall to what old-timers called "army dysentery," believed to have been brought here by Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Rachel L. and Howell Reney lost their son Edward in the Korean War. Randolph B. and Ruth lost their son Randolph V. in France during World War II. As you continue to look around, you are saddened by the many tombstones belonging to young children.

Today, family members are still being laid to rest in the Round Swamp Cemetery. On Jan. 10, 1996, Emma Lester McClosky passed away. Her funeral was held in the old homestead where her grandfather, Nathan W. Lester, had been born.

The men and boys at Round Swamp would cut firewood from their Will Curl wood lot off Three Mile Harbor Road. This area is now part of Copeces Lane and Harbor View, where many of us present-day family members have homes. The trees were selected, marked, and cut down with a two-man saw. The logs were cut into 8 to 10-foot lengths and carted home by horse and wagon.

Following Frederick B. Lester's death on Dec. 26, 1946, the wood-sawing at Round Swamp became an annual event, held on a Sunday. Preston Lynch would arrive early in the morning with his wood-sawing rig and the day's work would begin. The men had to be very careful, otherwise they might lose an arm or a hand to the huge, whirling blade of the saw.

Sons, relatives, and friends came to help cut and stack the wood for "Aunt Winnie," my grandmother, the Widow Winnie Lester. When the work was finished, she would serve a delicious old-fashioned stewed chicken and dumpling dinner, with her famous lemon meringue pie for dessert.

Sunday evening was a special time for Winnie Lester. All her married children and their spouses would come for a visit. Her oldest son and his wife, Henry J. and Agnes, would walk from their home on Cedar Street early in the day to have dinner with their mother.

The men would talk about farming, hunting, fishing, clamming, and other matters. The women would generally talk about the Neighborhood House. Clarissa Lester Bennett, Phebe Lester Ott, and Frances Lester Miller were members of its Women's Service Club. The club started in 1920 and my grandmother Winnie was proud to be a founding member.

Many long winter nights were spent by my grandmother, her mother, and her daughters cutting and sewing carpet rags to make hooked rugs. Often the rags were cut from dresses discarded by wealthy summer residents who Grandma would clean house for. (She also took in laundry from wealthy estates such as the Bouviers'.) It would take many evenings of sewing strips of rags together and rolling them into balls before the actual making of the oval rugs could begin.

These rugs were a labor of love. They were given to special people at Christmas, or sold at the Neighborhood House rummage sale.

One day in the early 1900s, Winnie and Sallie Lester decided to take their children blackberry-picking. They hitched the horse to the buggy and drove to Northwest. They started picking berries in the warm afternoon sun. All of a sudden they heard a terrible roaring sound. Knowing that David Gardiner had acquired several buffalo that he sometimes pastured at Northwest, the women became frightened when the sound seemed to be coming closer. They ran through the bushes, hurried the children into the buggy, and raced the horse home. When they arrived, they discovered the ferocious noise they had heard was the buoy at Cedar Point.

Needless to say there were no blackberry pies for dessert that night.

Most of the Round Swampers attended St. Matthew's Chapel on Three Mile Harbor Road. The building was used for many years as a nondenominational chapel. When the Rev. Oscar Treder became rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, the parish took over the small white chapel and named it St. Matthew's.

In 1976, the building was purchased by Richard C. Sage and moved to the Maidstone Marina boatyard to be used as a chapel for mariners. The outside of the building remains the same today; however, the interior has been changed into a fitness center to accommodate guests.

The Round Swampers liked to hunt. Early-morning duck hunting would take place at the Salt Hole, a Lester property now part of Sammy's Beach. (This property was sold to the Town of East Hampton in 1974 by Frederick P. and Randolph B. Lester, sons of Fred B. and Winnie.)

One morning Frank Lester, the brother of Fred B., went ducking in a rainstorm with his fleece-lined underwear on. He was soaking wet and cold, and as a result almost died from pneumonia. He was laid up all winter with rheumatoid arthritis. Winnie helped Sallie take care of Frank. They massaged his legs, back, and arms. Frank had raised two hogs that year, both weighing between 250 and 300 pounds. Both hogs died of distemper. The neighbors got together and brought meat from their own hogs for Frank's family.

Some Round Swamp Lesters enjoyed fishing and clamming. Nathan W. Lester, another brother of Fred B., was one such person. Even in his 70s, Nathan would push his wheelbarrow from his house, opposite Round Swamp Cemetery, to Gardiner's Cove to go clamming.

However, clamming did not seem too profitable for Albert C. Lester. He told of receiving postage stamps instead of cash for the payment of clams he had shipped to the New York market.

Randolph B. and Ruth Lester fished their entire married lives on the local waters. The fish they caught were picked up at their Round Swamp home and delivered by truck to the Fulton Fish Market. Ruth was very concerned about protecting East Hampton's natural resources. She was a Town Trustee from 1978 to 1981. Their son Thomas, deceased husband of Town Supervisor Catherine H. Lester, also made a living by fishing the local waters. On Oct. 12, 1992, the day before he died, Tom sold some of his catch to Round Swamp Farm.

After my great-grandfather Henry L. Cullum's death in 1930, his wife, Frances Bennett Cullum, came to live with my grandmother Winnie at the old homestead. Aunt Fanny told this one particular story that always interested me. She told of William Jackson Bennett, her grandfather, who at age 9 was bound out to Colonel D. Parsons. (William J.'s mother had died and his father worked for Colonel Parsons.) William J. became best friends with Stephen Talkhouse, who was also bound to Colonel Parsons. The two boys worked for the Colonel for the next few years.

Upon a trip to Sag Harbor to deliver a load of hogs and other items to a whaling ship, William J. made plans with the captain for the two boys to return at midnight and ship out. They left on separate ships as cabin boys, and did not see each other again until they were grown men.

William J. for the next several years did not return to East Hampton, fearing Colonel Parsons would have him arrested and returned to his bondage. One night in May of 1839, he returned under cover of darkness to marry Phebe C. Miller. Because he was still under 21, he had to be very careful not to be caught by Colonel Parsons.

William J. made seven voyages around the world. On his last voyage he replaced his brother-in-law, also named William Bennett, who died of lockjaw while they were sailing. He was moved from second mate to first mate on the ship, the Italy, which later in this voyage was in a severe storm and presumed lost. After two years of no contact whatsoever with his family, who thought he was dead, William J. returned home.

Although the Lester family is the branch I have been primarily writing about, you can see how easy it is to get sidetracked to another family name. (John, David, Talmage, Jonathan T., Frederick B., Albert C., and I are the members of my genealogy chain.) The Lester family has been a part of East Hampton's heritage for over 250 years. It appears that John Lester came from Connecticut around 1727; he died in East Hampton on Aug. 28, 1764. However, the first documented Lester in East Hampton is noted in the East Hampton Town Trustee Records of 1747.

But after 250 years, the Round Swamp Lester name may be slowly disappearing. In East Hampton there are only four Round Swamp Lester males left to carry on the legacy. Frederick W. Lester lives on a parcel of land that used to be part of the wood lot at Copeces Lane. He has three daughters. Albert F. Lester lives on a parcel of land at the homestead. He has one daughter and two sons, Scott C. Lester and Jonathan A. Lester.

The homestead and Round Swamp Farm are now owned and run by grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren (the ninth-generation descendants) of these poor but compassionate and caring people. The family is proud of their heritage and has worked hard to preserve it. Its trademark, "Round Swamp Farm - Farmers of Land and Sea," was registered in September 1989, and the farm was recognized as a National Bicentennial Farm in October 1989.

At our next 50-year celebration of East Hampton Town in the year 2048, the Lester name may not be here, but Round Swamp will never be forgotten.

Dianna Lester Catozzi can usually be found at Round Swamp Farm on Three Mile Harbor Road.