Staten Island, Richmond County, New York in the 1720s
A rural island of farms, creeks, ferries, churches, courts, Dutch, English, French-descended families, and enslaved labor.
Looking around
You stand on an island still mostly rural, with farms raising cattle, pigs, grain, fruit, and vegetables4. At Richmond, roads meet: Fresh Kill Road, Richmond Road, the road to Stony Brook, and Old Mill Road4 draw travel toward the creek and the court. The village is small; by 1730 it has ten to twelve houses and at least one tavern4. Nearby is St. Andrew’s stone church, completed in 17122, and older Dutch worship has left the voorlezer’s house, used for teaching and church meetings1,4. To the north, the road leads toward Port Richmond’s Dutch Reformed meeting house and burial ground1. Along shore and creek, people fish and gather shellfish, while farm households include enslaved people doing farm, domestic, and fishing work4. Across the water are Bergen Point and New York1, reached by local boats rather than a public steam ferry.
Work
Farms, fish, and bondage
The main work was rural: cattle, pigs, grain, fruit, and vegetables4 on small farms, with fishing and shellfish harvesting4 along the creeks and shore. Enslaved people were part of that economy, doing farm labor, domestic chores, and work on fishing vessels4.
Faith
Dutch readers, Anglican stones
Dutch Reformed worship was led between ministerial visits by a voorlezer, a teacher and lay reader1,4. Anglican power was visible at St. Andrew’s stone church, completed in 1712 and chartered in 17132.
Law & power
Court moves to Richmond
Local authority gathered at road crossings: a county jail was built at Richmond about 17104, and the county court moved there in 17284. In 1729 Richmond became the county seat4.
What people feared
Law guarded enslavement
For Black residents, danger was written into law: New York’s 1702 slave law restricted trade with enslaved people and empowered enslavers to punish them. The county’s Black population was growing, from 73 people in 1698 toward 465 by 1756.
Home & table
Small village, mixed houses
Richmond was still tiny, with ten to twelve houses and at least one tavern4 by 1730. Building customs differed: French and Dutch settlers commonly built stone or brick houses, while English settlers preferred frame houses3.
Who lived here
Dutch, English, French, African
Staten Island’s European-descended communities had Dutch, English, and French-speaking roots, since the late seventeenth-century population was divided among those groups3. Enslaved African-descended people were not marginal; they made up about 10 percent of Richmond County in 1698 and a larger share later.
Roads & news
Roads and ferries carried news
News arrived by road and boat: four early roads passed through Richmond Town4, and a ferry linked the North Shore to Bergen Point1. The island was tied to wider New York by the same commerce that brought enslaved people from the West Indies and Africa into New York.
Money
Prices are hard to see
For ordinary Richmond County people in the 1720s, local wages and shop prices were not found in the online sources used here. A tavern existed by 1730, but the source names no prices for food, drink, lodging, or horse keeping4.
Year by year
- 1718The Dutch Reformed congregation on the North Shore completed its meeting house about this year. here1
- 1720The South Sea Bubble collapsed in Britain, a financial scandal that would have been known through Atlantic commercial news. the world
- 1721New York records counted 76 enslaved people imported from the West Indies and 117 from Africa. the country
- 1722Elias Neau, whose New York mission educated and instructed enslaved Africans, died. nearby
- 1725New York records counted 54 enslaved people imported from the West Indies and 59 from Africa. the country
- 1728The county court at Stony Brook closed and a new court building was constructed in Richmond Town. here4
- 1729Richmond was designated the county seat of Richmond County. here4
Pictures from the time
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What the sources say
- The map point lies in Richmond County, which in the 1720s was the same island commonly called Staten Island. from the sources4
- European-settled Richmond Town had earlier been called Coccle’s Town or Cocklestown, probably after shellfish in the creek. from the sources4
- In 1696 the Dutch church built a house in Richmond Town for a voorlezer, a teacher and lay reader who led worship between ministers’ visits. from the sources1,4
- By the early eighteenth century four roads passed through Richmond Town: Fresh Kill Road, Richmond Road, the road to Stony Brook, and Old Mill Road. from the sources4
- A county jail was built at Richmond about 1710 because the village sat at road junctions near navigable water. from the sources4
- By 1730 Richmond Town had ten to twelve houses and at least one tavern. from the sources4
- Anglicans began the Church of St. Andrew at the head of the Fresh Kills by 1709, completed a stone church in 1712, and received Queen Anne’s charter in 1713. from the sources2
- In 1728 the county court at Stony Brook closed and a new court building was constructed in Richmond Town; in 1729 Richmond became the county seat. from the sources
Sources
- Saint Andrew’s Church #41. Historic Richmond Town
- Huguenot Staten Island. Wagner College
- Richmond Town Historic District. LivingPlaces
- Richmond County, New York Guide. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society
Staten Island in other decades
Nearby, about the same time
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Researched by Yore’s AI historian (gpt-5.5) in October 2026 from the sources above. It is about the place and the time, not about any person. Statements marked “inferred” are conclusions drawn from the sources, not records. Also available as plain Markdown. To cite: Yore, “Staten Island, Richmond County, New York in the 1720s”, yorehistory.com/place/staten-island-richmond-county-new-york/1720s
