70 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • NOVEMBER 2020
REAR VIEW
HOLIDAY ORIGINS
LI’S FIRST THANKSGIVING
BY ANNIE WILKINSON
The history books have always told us
how the first official recognition of a
national Thanksgiving holiday came
about.
On Oct. 3, 1789, in New York City at
Congress’s request, President George
Washington issued the first formal
proclamation of Thanksgiving in the
United States, “President Washington’s
National Thanksgiving Proclamation.”
Henceforth, he said, the
country would celebrate an annual
day of public gratitude.
Not so fast, George: An Oyster Bay
schoolmaster living on Long Island’s
North Shore beat you to it. Thanks
to Zachariah Weekes’ 18th century
diary entry and a local historian’s modern
day sleuthing, we now know that
New Yorkers’ first annual observance
actually took place in 1759 — 30 years
before the president’s proclamation,
before there even was an American
president or a United States.
THE PROOF IS IN THE
PUBLISHING
The discovery in November 2018 of the
faded, ink-stained pages was a major
find for Claire Bellerjeau, director
of education at the Raynham Hall
Museum in Oyster Bay. The entry in
the sheepskin diary she discovered in
the museum’s archives was written by
hand in the flowing, ornate cursive of
the day, dated Sunday, Nov. 25, 1759,
and is the earliest known mention of
Thanksgiving in the state.
At a time when there was no standardization
of holiday dates, Weekes wrote that
the first Thanksgiving took place several
days earlier, on Nov. 22, as proclaimed by
New York State’s acting Governor James
DeLancey: “...Last Thursday being a day
set apart by our Governor for publick
Thanksgiving for the Success of his
Majesties Forces in America …”
Who was Zachariah Weekes? He was
Oyster Bay’s schoolmaster for 14 years.
He took lodging in the Underhill house
between Cove Road and Tiffany Road,
and was a keen observer of life around
him in Oyster Bay in Queens County,
An 18th century Thanksgiving in Oyster Bay. Image courtesy of Raynham
Hall Museum.
Weekes’ diary, courtesy of Raynham Hall Museum Director of Education
Claire Bellerjeau.
before Nassau County was created. He
wrote about the busy maritime activity,
the likelihood of smallpox spreading, the
Seven Years’ War between the British
and the French, religion, and the church.
And he wrote about his students and
their prominent LI families — the
Townsends, Underhills, Youngs, Mc-
Couns, and more — who paid for their
children’s tuition in goods including
hardware, food, clothing, and, of
course, “oisters,” rather than in coin.
Weekes’ diary was never published,
but there was other evidence
— published proof — of the date he
specified, according to Bellerjeau.
“I did find a corresponding record for
the Nov, 22, 1759 Thanksgiving date,”
she said, referring to an advertisement
published on Nov. 26, 1759 in the newspaper
The New York-Mercury. “Sadly,
it is a runaway slave ad.”
ON THE MENU
Why was it important for the British colony
of New York, an independent state,
to set aside an official date? Colonists
needed a morale booster, a respite from
news of the ongoing Seven Years’ War.
When the news that Quebec had fallen
reached New York City, it was seen as
one of the great victories of the conflict,
giving the colonists reason to celebrate.
The settlers of all 13 colonies, including
New York, were also enjoying a
robust economy, so an official holiday
gave them the chance to give thanks.
One observer wrote that by the 1770s,
the general standard of living in the
colonies was the highest in the world.
A 2018 Newsday article reported on
how the Universal Gazeteer, published
in Dublin, described the Long Island
of 1759: “The island principally produces
British and Indian corn, beef,
pork, fish, etc., which they send to
the sugar colonies,…they also have a
whale fishery, sending the oil and bone
to England, in exchange for cloths and
furniture. Their other fisheries here
are very considerable.’’
Those fisheries provided different
types of seafood that were likely on
the menu at the 1759 feast, along with
fruit from local apple orchards, and,
of course, oysters. The observance
also included a church service with a
sermon given by a minister.
HISTORIANS’ NIGHTMARE
While Weekes’ diary has survived as
the earliest known mention of Thanksgiving
in New York State, so many
proclamations of a so-called “official”
holiday were issued — throughout the
nation as well as in New York State —
that they could confuse even the nosiest
historian. History buffs who have gone
sniffing around undisturbed, dusty
archive drawers have found enough to
keep them awake at night. Starting in
October 1621 with the Pilgrims’ threeday
feast in Plymouth, Mass., multiple
proclamations were made. Between
1623 and 1775, at least six Thanksgiving
holiday observances were proclaimed
in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
and other colonies.
After Weekes died in 1772, his family
deeded his documents to the museum,
which gave history detectives
the proof they needed to rewrite
history.
New Yorkers’ first annual observance actually
took place in 1759 — 30 years before President
George Washington’s proclamation.
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
