It Was Quite A Learning Process

What started out as a childhood memoir, has turned into quite a project for me over most of 2001. Though I'm far from finished, I made a major breakthrough, recently when a 'crackerjack investigator' supplied me with some very valuable information and documents as to which members of the Knapp family are on deeds to the Mastic Beach, NY. Mansion along with a large part of the land that contributed to the development of the town. Living in Nashville, Tn. has put somewhat of a damper on my ability to gain accurate documents about a place, 1000 miles to my north, that no longer exists. So has the strange reluctance of The Diocese of Rockville Centre and their lawyers to supply no more than a brief aknowledgement, that they ever had any connection to it. Their parish of St. Judes R.C. Church in Mastic Beach was the mansions last custodian. It was reportedly a gift from the Knapp's. (IT WASN'T) They had Big Plans for it. It was Father Skelly who resided in it briefly, then turned out the lights and never locked the doors in the early 1950's.

As the old tried and true statement from All The Presidents Men goes, "follow the money", it has led me to Joseph Fairchild Knapp (1832-1891) as the major player in the story. Whether or not he ever lived long enough to see the mansion built at what is now known as Monroe Dr & Dogwood Rd, there is no doubt he built the fortune that his son Joseph Palmer Knapp (1864-1951) and his yet to be born grandson Joseph Fairchild Knapp (1892- 1952) would use to buy the land, build the home and sell the estate property off to Home Guardian so they (HG) could unify their development of Mastic Beach. The Knapp fortune would also furnish land tracts and large mansions in other places throughout the country, as well as provide many philanthropic acts. So here is a look at Mr. J. F. Knapp, and his family going all the way back to Suffolk, England in 1606.

Born in New York City on July 1, 1832 Joseph Fairchild Knapp was essentially raised by his mother as his father died when Joseph was a boy. He was sent to Massachusets for schooling, where it was discovered by his teachers he might prove to be an excellent student. One of his tutors Lyman Thompson would write, "At first I was discouraged with Knapp-- but in watching him closely, I discovered an inclination for mathametics, so I began to develop that talent in him: it seemed to impose just enough of concentration, strict system, and hard application to suit his bent: so I carried him from one arithmatic to another, through algebra upon algebra and finally into the classics, and stopped only when I could do no more. Now the way is paved, the track is laid, and you may send any train you please over the road. Mark me, wherever Knapp goes, you may be sure he will be heard from".

And the road went back to Brooklyn. At the age of 16 he went into the firm of Sarony and Major, lithographers in New York City. Sarony had come from the firm of Currier and Ive's.Within six years the firm became Sarony, Major and Knapp. Mr Sarony then withdrew to pursue the new art form of photography, and the firm became known as Major & Knapp where it rose to be one of the major printers in the United States.