Skip to main content

Item of the Week: Nathan Tinker’s 1844 Pew Deed

Thu, 04/07/2022 - 09:16

From the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection

In the 18th and 19th centuries, churches here allowed parishioners to rent or buy pews, often charging more for those closest to the pulpit. The money helped in church maintenance. Pew deeds or titles could be passed down to heirs as families grew, but during the 20th century the practice disappeared.

This document, belonging to Sag Harbor's First Presbyterian Church, shows a pew deed recognizing payments by Nathan Tinker from May 16, 1844. Tinker bought pew number 118 in the west aisle for $130. This sum is equivalent to about $4,917 today.

Born in Connecticut on Sept. 30, 1792, to Nathan Tinker and the former Mehetable Beckwith, he married Hannah P. Woodward (1791-1852) on Sept. 27, 1818, in Sag Harbor, according to the records of the Old Whalers Church. Tinker was a skilled furniture maker who specialized in cabinets. In 1825, he built his shop in the bustling seaport, on the site where James Howell (1731-1808) ran an inn during the Revolutionary War period.

Tinker's cabinet shop burned down during a fierce fire that swept through Sag Harbor in 1845. He rebuilt a brick structure, which he planned to split into two dwellings to be shared with his son, Samuel W. Tinker (1820-1862). Samuel followed his father's profession, as he is listed as a cabinetmaker in the 1850 census.

Nathan Tinker died only a few years later, on March 18, 1849, before he completed his half of the building. David B. Wiggins (1830-1904), who married Mary E. Tinker (1830-1904), Tinker's daughter, took over the building and turned the commercial floor into a garment shop for a time.

In 1876, Addison M. Youngs (1851-1921) and his father-in-law, Capt. William Freeman (1818-1890), bought the building and turned it into the American Hotel, which still stands today.


Mayra Scanlon is a librarian and archivist in the East Hampton Library's Long Island Collection.

Villages

Countdown to the Three Mile Harbor Fireworks

The Clamshell Foundation's Great Bonac Fireworks Show over Three Mile Harbor is scheduled for Saturday at 9 p.m. with a rain date of Sunday. Because of the increase in boat traffic expected, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has announced the closure of Three Mile Harbor to shellfishing starting at sunrise on Saturday. 

Jul 10, 2025

A ‘Good Trouble’ Protest Up Next

Weeks after the “No Kings” rally brought an estimated 1,200 people to East Hampton Town Hall, another demonstration to protest the Trump administration will happen next Thursday, with a nod to the late civil rights icon John Lewis.

Jul 10, 2025

Item of the Week: On the F.H. Warner Bakery

This photo from The Star archive shows the F.H. Warner Bakery, built in 1893 and sometimes known as the Montauk Bakery, when it stood next to the Methodist Church, near Hook Mill.

Jul 10, 2025

 

Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. We value you for being part of The Star family.

Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. It makes everything we do possible.