Abraham Dayton, Brookhaven Pastor?

As I continue online research, I am a little surprised to find that there are still a few websites listing Abraham Dayton as “pastor.” Abraham was the son of Samuel Dayton and grandson of Ralph Dayton.

Twenty-five or thirty years ago, we were quite interested to learn that Abraham Dayton, among his other occupations, served as pastor in Brookhaven, at Setauket Presbyterian Church. We held on to that claim for years, until we got around to examine the record.

Looking back, it didn’t require much effort to eliminate such a possibility but it seems that, for a little while, we were misled by someone else’s enthusiasm. I guess that’s one way we progress in our research—by investigating claims in order to either verify them or to theorize how the false claim may have originated.

Actually on April 30, 1697, Abraham Dayton joined with 32 others of the town of Brookhaven to sign a voluntary subscription of payment (instead of by a tax) for a call to Mr. George Phillips of Jamaica to minister at what would later become the Setauket Presbyterian Church.

I guess you can understand how someone might have first misinterpreted “his name was attached to the call for pastor.”