Footnotes to Long Island History
Homan Town Clerk 42 Years
by
Thomas R. Bayles
The office of
town clerk of Brookhaven Town was held by Mordecai Homan of Yaphank for
42 years, from 1807 through 1848, the longest term of that office to be
held by one man in the history of Brookhaven Town.
Mr. Homan was
born in Middle Island November 5, 1770, worked on his father’s farm
during his early years and taught school. When he was 28 he married
Miss Polly Buckingham of Old Milford, Conn., and purchased his brother’s
interest in the old Homan estate at Yaphank. He moved there with his
bride and settled down to the active duties of a long and useful life.
He was
recognized as a leader in town affairs, and was soon elected a justice
of the peace and became familiarly known as Squire Homan. He was a
popular politician and a much-loved citizen of Yaphank. His greatest
service to the town was in the office of town clerk. He repeatedly
refused the nomination to the state assembly and as supervisor, but
continued to serve his town in a manner that has seldom been equaled, as
shown by his long years of service.
In Beecher
Homan’s book, “Yaphank as it was”, published in 1875, the following
quotation gives some idea of the high esteem with which the squire was
held by his neighbors: “When age laid its unrelated hand upon him and
forced him to lay aside his pen forever, it was a lamented period in
Brookhaven Town. Long years had he been the social friend and advisor
of public men, a faithful servant and honorable leader. During all the
years of public life not a word was spoken against him. No one doubted
Squire Homan’s veracity and honor, no one questioned his decisions.”
As was the
customs in those days the office of town clerk was located in the home
of whoever was clerk at the time, so it was Squire Homan that kept the
office in his home, which was located on the Middle-Island Yaphank Road,
almost on the borderline of the two village. His old homestead has in
later years has been known in the later years as the Vanderbilt farm,
and although still standing, has been badly gutted by fire.
When old age
compelled him to give up the office he held for so many years in 1848,
he bade farewell to a long and bust public life. He lived to see a
successor established, Benjamin T. Hutchinson of Middle Island, and died
March 8, 1854, at the age 84. He was laid to rest in the cemetery
across from Presbyterian Church in Middle Island, where for many years
he had been the clerk and leader of the music.