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day would paint the tracks with
the grease so that the east bound
trains could not make the incline
in front of her house. It was not
long after this that the railroad paid
her for her cow.”
Another story is about two
Smiths, “Capt. Edmund Thomas
Smith (Ed Oby) and Richard Smith
(Dick Nezer)” who “owned a small
skiff jointly. When they would
meet at the Post Office, Dick
Nezer would ask Ed Oby how
their boat was. Apparently Ed Oby
was doing all the ‘looking after the
boat’ and getting tired of doing it.
So one day Ed Oby took a saw
with him and proceeded to cut the
boat in half and took his half
home. The next time Dick and Ed
met, Dick asked the same old
question” and must have been a
little surprised when “Ed replied, I
don’t know how your half is, I took
– 12–
H I S T O R I C A L L Y S P E A K I N G
Lives, loves and Laments of the People of St. James
my half home.”
One final story that provides a
unique glimpse into the past concerns
Hiram Benjamin Howell.
Hiram was the “son of Samuel
Howell of Mattituck and Charity
Davis, the daughter of Phineas
Davis 2nd. He was born on May
21, 1820” and he “married Sarah
Jewell,” the “sister of Barney Jewell.”
Hiram Howell was elected
Justice of the Peace for the Town of
Smithtown and served from August
30, 1863 to April 6, 1869 and then
again from April 2, 1872 until April
7, 1885. He lived in a house that
used to stand “opposite the St.
James Fire House.” The house was
torn down when the medical office
building was built on the southeast
corner of Lake Avenue and North
Country Road. Justice Howell used
to “hold court in his house” that
just happened to be “less than a
hundred feet from the saloon” that
was in the St. James Hotel. It was
said that “a certain jury trial lasted
many weeks because of adjournments
that had to be made before
they could get the judge and the
jury sober at the same time.”
Note: These stories and others can
be found in Norman O’Berry’s Notebook,
on file in the Long Island
room of the Smithtown Library.
Editor’s Note:
Brad Harris is the Town of Smithtown’s
official Historian. Brad was a
High School Social Studies teacher
who spent 30 years teaching in
Commack. As Historian he has written
many newspaper articles on the
history of our town, he has published
pamphlets and written histories
of Commack, Nesconset, St.
James, Kings Park, Hauppauge and
Smithtown Branch. He resides in
St. James.
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OUR TOWN • FEBRUARY 2011