William Floyd

BORN - December 17, 1734, in Brookhaven, Long Island, NY.  Parents (Welsh and English ancestry) – Nicoll Floyd (b1705-d1755) and Tabitha Smith Floyd (b1704-d1755).  Nine Children – Ruth Floyd Woodhull (b1732-d1822), William Floyd (b1734-d1821), inherited the family farm. Tabitha Floyd Smith (b1736-d1792), Nicoll Floyd (b1736-___), Charles Floyd (b1738-d1774), Charity Floyd L’Hommedieu (b1744-d1785), Mary Floyd Smith (b1745___), Catherine Floyd Thomas (b1746-___), Ann Floyd Smith (b1748-d1792).   

DIED - August 4, 1821(1821-08-04) (aged 86) in Westernville, NY.  Religion – Presbyterian.  Buried – Westernville Cemetery, Westernville, Oneida County, NY. 

APPEARANCE - The picture above is the portrait of William Floyd (age 59) painted by Ralph Earl in 1793.  Medium height. 

FAMILY – Married – Hannah Jones (b1740-d1781) in 1760.  Three Children –  Nicoll Floyd II (b1762-d1852), Mary Floyd Tallmadge (b1764-d1805), Catherine Floyd Clarkson (b1767-d1832).  Wife Hannah died in 1781.  Married – Joanna Strong (b1747-d1826) in 1783.  Two Children – Hannah Floyd Varick (b1786-d1859), Elizabeth (Eliza) Floyd Platt (b1789-d1820).

OCCUPATION – FARMER, SOLDIER, LEGISLATOR.  Home schooled and self-taught.  Took over the family farm when his father died in 1755.  Member of the Continental Congress representing New York from 1774 to 1776, and 1778-1783.    U.S. Congressman from New York from 1789 to 1791.  Moved to the frontier region of New York near the headwaters of the Mohawk River in 1803, where he had family and previously bought land.    

AT SIGNING – Age 41 at signing.  First to sign the Declaration of the four member delegation from New York.

AFTER SIGNING – Continued to serve in Congress in Philadelphia, on and off, until 1783.  General in New York Militia in defense of Long Island in 1776.  In one skirmish he and his troops drove off the British who were trying to land on Long Island.  The British confiscated his home and turned it into a stable.  He and his family escaped across the Long Island Sound to Connecticut.  Lived as refugees for seven years with little income.   

HISTORIC SITES

Long Island Home – William Floyd House, Mastic Beach, Long Island, NY (1774).  Located at 245 Park Drive, Mastic Beach, NY 11951, Phone ­­­­­­­­ 631-399-2030, Website www.nps.gov/fiis.  Birthplace and home of William Floyd and his family from 1734 to 1803.  Now part of the Fire Island National Park.  

Westernville Home – General Floyd House, Westernville, NY (1803).  Located on the west side of Main Street, Westernville, NY.  Home of William Floyd from 1803 to his death in 1821.  Privately owned.    

Gravesite - Westernville Cemetery, Westernville, NY.  Located on Stokes-Westernville Road, Westernville, Oneida County, NY, next to the Westernville Presbyterian Church.    

Tavern – Roe Tavern, East Setauket, NY.  Located in East Setauket on the north side of Long Island, 25 miles north of Mastic Beach.  Center of the Culpeper Spy Ring (the George Washington Secret Six).  The roadside historical marker reads – “ROE TAVERN – Stood here.  1703 – 1936.  Washington spent the night here April 22, 1790.  Austin Roe, inn keeper, was one of Washington’s spies.”  The building was moved to its current location nearby in 1936.

William Floyd House, Mastic Beach, NY (1774). 

Located at 245 Park Drive, Mastic Beach, NY 11951, Phone ­­­­­­­­ 631-399-2030, Website www.nps.gov/fiis.   

The two William Floyd houses in Mastic Beach and Westernville are believed to be the only surviving homes of the four Signers from New York.   The Mastic home is believed to be the best preserved and oldest manor house in its part of Long Island.  The home was built by William’s father, Nicholl Floyd, and was later given by William to his son, also named Nicholl Floyd.  The house was visited by George Washington, the  Marquis de Lafayette and other Colonial dignataries.  The Westernville home is almost the same as the Mastic Beach home.