Greenville

The area around Greenville, Oakdale, and Sayville on Long Island was originally inhabited by Native Americans, who saw it as a land of rich sea grasses, with abundant hunting, fishing, and clamming grounds. They were called the Algonquin, Secatogue, Connectquot, and other Native American tribes. They lived in loosely grouped communities. They fished and clammed in the bay and were whaling in the ocean. They hunted deer and farmed the land. They also developed a path system throughout the island that would later become the roads of the early settlers, some we still use today.
The Europeans who arrived in the area had a vastly different perspective on land ownership and property rights, which often clashed with the Native Americans’ view of the land as a living entity to be used, rather than owned. Despite these differences, the Europeans negotiated land deals with the Native American peoples, often under false pretenses, and began to establish settlements in the area.
In 1684, William Nicholl received his first land patent for the area, followed by four more that would eventually control more than 50,000 acres, the largest patent on Long Island. The Nicoll family passed these patents down through generations, but as their debts increased, they were forced to sell off property to pay them off. Many settlers came to the area to rent land first, before eventually buying it from the Nicoll family.
Scores of settlers leased land from the Nicolls, mostly farmers and baymen who settled along South Country Road. Some of the early Dutch settlers rented land in Oakdale before they began purchasing land from the Greens in Greenville (West Sayville).
John Green, one of the early settlers in West Sayville, purchased land from the Nicolls estate in 1786 for 800 British pounds (about $3 per acre) and divided it between his sons, William, Thomas, and John. William Green built the first Green house in West Sayville, which still stands today. In 1875, Samuel Terry Green, William’s son, built a general store at Cherry and Main St. in West Sayville and inherited land from his father, which he sold off as well.
The four original Dutch settlers who settled around Greenville were-Cornelius Hage(Haige), Bastian Broere, Henry Hiddink and Cornelius DeWaal they arrived in the area in 1848. Their reports of the opportunities in the area prompted many more Dutch settlers to migrate to the area. The 1850 U.S. census showed only 9 families of a Dutch descendant in the Town of Islip (Peter Hanson, Anthony Verway, Henry Hiddink, William Conley, Herman Asman, Cornelius Dewall, Bastian Broere, Cornelius Hage and Henry Yellow). By 1880, it was estimated over 1500 Dutch settlers had settled in West Sayville.
Many Dutch settlers purchased land from the Greens in the late -1800s, some moved their homes from Oakdale to West Sayville. Starting in 1865, William Tucker was the first with an acre on the east side of Atlantic Ave. Bastian Broere had set up an oyster house in Oakdale, and Henrick Ocker and many others followed. The oyster plants were forced out of Oakdale to West Sayville by the new rich landowners, who were building their estates. As the area grew and expanded, they changed the Greenville name to West Sayville after they discovered that another Greenville existed in New York State.
Today, West Sayville is a thriving community with a rich history of growth, family heritage, and economic success. Many people from many places have discovered the natural beauty and opportunities of the area, just as the Native Americans did for hundreds of years.