Farmingdale Trivia Answer: Native American Clans

Last week's asked which clans Thomas Powell arranged a formal deed with, known as the Bethpage Purchase, to buy the land Farmingdale sits on today.

The clans were the Massapequas, the Matinecocks and the Secatogues, according the Farmingdale-Bethpage Historical Society.

The historical society reports that Thomas Powell, the area's first settler of European descent, arranged a formal deed with the three Native American clans in 1695. This agreement is known as the Bethpage Purchase. Powell and his family had moved into what is now Farmingdale eight years earlier, in 1687.

The place of the deed-signing was Broad Spring, at the present intersection of Quaker Meeting House Road and Merritts Road in  Farmingdale and a state historical marker marks the site. Powell was one of the founders of the area's first faith community, the Bethpage Friends Meeting, in 1698.

Come back to Patch on Thursday for the next Farmingdale Trivia installment.