News of Long Ago - "The Great Grandsons Of Judge J. Lawrence Smith Become Leaders In The Smithtown Community"

News of Long Ago by Bradley Harris, Smithtown Historian

(I have been writing about the descendants of Judge John Lawrence Smith and the impact they had upon the course of history in Smithtown.  This article takes a look at the children of Susan Butler and the role they played in shaping Smithtown’s history.)

“The great grandsons of Judge J. Lawrence Smith become leaders in the Smithtown community….” 

Judge John Lawrence Smith’s eldest daughter, Cornelia Stewart Smith, married a prominent New York City lawyer named Prescott Hall Butler and the Butlers had three children – Lawrence, Charles, and Susan.  Susan Butler married Francis Huntington, also a prominent New York City lawyer, and the Huntingtons had three children – Prescott, William and Christopher.  Each of these boys shared the conviction and belief of their grandmother, Cornelia Smith Butler, that as Smith family descendants, they were obligated to help others in need and should strive to make Smithtown a better place to live.  And each of the Huntington boys, the great grandsons of Judge J. Lawrence Smith, would strive to do just that.

Following Francis Huntington’s death at 51 on March 16, 1916, 36 year old Susan Butler Huntington became a widow with three small children – Prescott (10), William (8) and Christopher (5).  Susan opted to remain a single parent and raised the three boys on her own.  In their teens, Susan sent her boys to the boarding school known as St. Mark’s in Southborough, Massachusetts. After boarding school, the boys attended Harvard College from which all three boys graduated.  Prescott graduated in the Class of 1926, William in 1928, and Christopher in 1931.  Each of the boys continued their schooling with post-graduate work.  Prescott decided to pursue a law career and attended Harvard Law School graduating in 1929.  William attended the University of Virginia where he studied architecture and became an architect.  And Christopher attended Northwestern University where he got a Master’s degree in German.  He taught German at Harvard until World War II began.  The coming of World War II in 1941 was to have a profound impact on the careers that the Huntington sons had chosen.

Shortly after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1929, Prescott Huntington began practicing law with Wilson M. Powell, Jr., in New York City.  He subsequently joined his father’s law firm, Choate, Reynolds, Huntington, and Hollister, where he became a partner in the firm.  In 1930, Prescott Huntington married Sarah Powell Huntington and the young couple moved into the house at Rassapeague that Prescott’s grandmother, Cornelia Stewart Smith, had purchased for him on his first birthday on July 26, 1906.  The house was built in 1865 by Thomas Shepard Seabury, a nephew of William Sidney Mount who wanted to start a plantation business on the 96 acres of property in Nissequogue.  The plantation business he started on the property was a vineyard.  A subsequent owner, John Ruszits “bought the estate in 1881, and improved the vineyard by creating a winery, noted for its Rassapeague claret.”   By the time Cornelia Butler purchased the house and property in 1906, the vineyard was long gone.  In 1915, Lawrence Butler did some renovations of the house, adding a wing on the Victorian house and creating a large home with 22 rooms.  This large home with its magnificent views of Stony Brook Harbor became Prescott and Sarah Huntington’s home throughout their lives and became the “homestead” of the Huntington family for the generations that followed.  It was in this house off Long Beach Road in Nissequogue that Prescott and Sarah would have and raise five children, three sons – Francis, Lawrence and Samuel – and two daughters – Sarah and Susan.  It was also from this house that “Mr. Huntington commuted daily by train” from the St. James Railroad Station into New York City, “often driving the five miles to the station in the winter in an open jeep.”  (Brittany Wait, “History, up in Flames,” Times of Smithtown, January 12, 2012, p. A5.)   Prescott made this daily commute until World War II intervened.

  In 1942, Prescott Huntington joined the Navy “to teach seamanship and navigation to officer candidates.”  Since sailing in the open ocean was “one of Mr. Huntington’s favorite pastimes,” it is not surprising that he joined the Navy.  Later in the war, Prescott “served the combined chiefs of staff in Washington, D.C.”  When the war ended, Prescott received his honorable discharge and returned home to Rassapeague in 1946.  He went back to his law firm and once again made his daily commute to New York City.  It was after the war that Prescott Huntington began to play an active role in politics. (“Prescott B. Huntington, Long-Time Assemblyman,” newspaper obituary of March 31, 1988, on file in the Long Island Room names file, Smithtown Library.)

World War II disrupted the lives of William and Christopher Huntington as well.  Christopher also went into the Navy.  His experiences during the war led him to reconsider his teaching career and he decided to convert to Catholicism and become a priest.  This decision really upset his mother who was a devout Episcopalian and Susan never could understand why he converted.  When he returned to St. James after the war, he attended a Catholic seminary, took his vows, became a priest – Father Christopher – and helped out locally in the Catholic Church in St. James.  Christopher committed his life to helping the less fortunate and making life better for others.      

William Huntington believed so strongly that war was morally wrong and inherently evil that he became a Conscientious Objector during the war and was confined in a Conscientious Objector camp in Elmira, New York.  It was while there that he “first became involved with the Quakers” and following the end of the war and his release from the CO Camp, William “went to Europe as a Commissioner for the Friends Service Committee to provide post-war on-the-scene information to that organization from 1947 to 1949.”  When he returned to Long Island, he “worked as an architect, while serving on the Board of Directors of the Friends Service Committee,” and he made a “commitment to actually join the Quaker faith.”  This commitment was to shape his future in many ways.  (Therese Madonia, “Anti-War Activist Speaks Here April 11 ,” Smithtown News, April 7, 1983, pg. 24.)

Quakers firmly believe in the Biblical recommendation of “turning the other cheek” and are pacifists.  As a Quaker convert, William Huntington quickly adopted the belief that international questions would never be resolved by fighting and they “should be solved without arms and without war, peacefully.”  William was adamantly opposed to the use of nuclear weapons and soon “found himself in the middle of one” of “the best known pacifist actions of the late 1950’s.”  When the United States government decided to test the hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific, William Huntington and three other like-minded Quakers determined to stop the testing.  Armed with the locations of the test sites in the Pacific, they set sail aboard a yacht named the “Golden Rule” and sailed for the test site locations.  Their intent was to sail their ship into the area where the bombs were to be dropped, thereby forcing the government to stop the test. (Therese Madonia, op. cit., p.24.) 

In an effort to stop the “Golden Rule,” the federal government imposed a regulation banning ships from sailing in the atomic testing zone.  The “Golden Rule” was intercepted by the Coast Guard, the crew members were issued summonses, the four men had to appear in court in Hawaii to explain what they were doing, and the judge “enjoined them from sailing again.”  The four men ignored the ban and set sail for the testing sites.  Again they were stopped, brought back into court, reprimanded and put on probation.  As soon as they were released, the four men sailed once again for the testing sites.  This time they got three miles off shore when they were stopped for the third time, brought back to court and “jailed for 60 days.”   The ”Golden Rule“ never did make it to the test sites, and the hydrogen bombs were dropped anyway, but the Quakers had made their point and it wasn’t long before the federal government gave up any further testing of above ground nuclear weapons.  (Therese Madonia, op. cit., p. 24.)

William Huntington returned to New York City and went to work as “the host for Quaker House in New York City, a gathering place for UN delegates.”  Here he was able to get UN delegates to meet face-to-face, over dinners, so they could “speak off-the-record without worrying about protocol with anyone.”  He really had an opportunity to serve as a peacemaker in the world and who knows what agreements and understandings came from these dinner conversations.  William Huntington did his best to help others in need and to improve living conditions worldwide.  He left one other legacy to the people of St. James in 1960.   Working with other Quakers, he founded the Conscience Bay Quaker Meeting House off Moriches Road in Nissequogue.  The meeting house, created from a barn that stood on property that William Huntington inherited from his mother, is still standing today and provides a refuge and a place of worship for all those who wish to learn about the Society of Friends and their principles.  (Therese Madonia, op. cit., p. 24.)

Prescott Huntington’s efforts on behalf of his fellow citizens stemmed from “his abiding interest in civic affairs.”  Prescott Huntington was a staunch Republican and served as a Republican County Committeeman almost from the date he registered to vote.  He became involved in local politics, was elected Mayor of the Village of Nissequogue, and was then elected a Justice of the Peace in Smithtown becoming a member of the Smithtown Town Board.  In 1956, Prescott Huntington was elected New York State Assemblyman from Suffolk County’s Second Assembly District, an elected office he held for 14 years.  In 1959, he even made a run for Supervisor of Smithtown, losing out to the Democratic candidate from Kings Park, Robert Brady.   (“Prescott B. Huntington, Long-Time Assemblyman,” obituary, March 31, 1988, op. cit.)  

In Albany he became “chairman of the Codes Committee where he was known for his independence and integrity.”  He kept tabs for his constituents on any proposed legislation that came before the Assembly.  His “Reports from Albany” mailed directly to his constituents are full of information about bills being proposed and acted upon, but he never divulged how he intended to vote on an issue.  One issue on which he did make his views known was the Long Island Railroad.  “In the Assembly he fought vigorously for legislation supporting the railroad” and in gratitude, the LIRR made him “an honorary engineer.”  Perhaps it was the 40 years he spent commuting from St. James to New York City that made him such a loyal supporter of the railroad.  In 1970, Prescott Huntington retired from his New York City law practice with the firm of Choate, Reynolds, Huntington and Hollister and at the same time he ended his political career as a State Assemblyman.  At 64, Prescott Huntington wanted to enjoy life with his wife Sarah and to do some things he never had time to do, like sailing across the Atlantic Ocean which they did twice when they both were in their 60’s.  (St. James Episcopal Church bulletin on the occasion of Prescott Butler Huntington’s memorial service and burial, in the Huntington files of the Long Island Room, Smithtown Library.)  

When he died at his home after a bout with lung cancer on March 24, 1988, Prescott Huntington passed away knowing that he had done his best to help his fellow man and to make Smithtown a better place to live.