The Abraham Manee homestead, at Seguine’s Point, Prince’s Bay,
is one of the oldest buildings on Staten Island. There is reason to believe that it was erected as far back as 1689, and was the home of a Huguenot that settled on Staten Island. It belonged to the Seguine
estate, and by many residing here today is confounded with the original Seguine homestead. We find indisputable proof of this error in the Richmond County Free Press of 1835, which gives an account of
the burning of the old Seguine homestead, and adds that ” the building was totally destroyed.” There was a post at Seguine’s
Point during the Revolution, and [Manee’s] house was occupied as headquarters for a time by General Vaughan, the British commander. There was a spirited skirmish between the Americans and the British near this house [in 1778], and an officer on Sir William Howe’s staff, who was bearing a message from the Commander-in-chief to General Vaughan, was fatally wounded and died in this old house.
Lieutenant Colonel Edward Vaughn Dongan, commander of the 3rd Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers in Skinner’s Loyalist brigade was mortally wounded in a skirmish, midway between the Old Blazing Star Ferry and Prince’s Bay. He was taken to a local farm (which I have yet to identify). It may very well be The Abraham Manee homestead in Prince’s Bay, where British redoubts have been discovered nearby.
SIGN THE PETITION URGING THE MAYOR OF NYC TO ACQUIRE THE HOMESTEAD!
Quoted from: Morris’s memorial history of Staten Island, New York. New York: Memorial Publishing Co. 1898.
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