Rev. Robert Fordham

In 1643, Robert Fordham was sent with John Carman to Long Island by the Reverend Richard Denton, who had tangled with the accepted belief in Weathersfield and Stamford.

On Long Island, a deal was apparently easily negotiated by Carman and Fordham for the purchase of Long Island from the Indians, including Tackapousha, Sachem of Marsapeag. Robert Fordham and John Carman were the heads of two of the 17 families that left Stamford to found Hempstead. Other prominent families to settle Hempstead included Denton, Raynor, Pettit, Wood, Smith, Thompson and Hicks.

The treaty, made in 1643 with the Indians, was shortly after confirmed by a patent with the Dutch. This was approximately 120,000 acres of what is now the Town of Hempstead and the South Shore of Long Island.