Nathaniel Conklin

Nathaniel Conklin served the Town of Islip in several positions over 33 years, sometimes holding more than one at a time. He was Supervisor for four years and also held roles including Fence Viewer, Commissioner of Schools, Commissioner of Highways, Overseer of Highways, a member of a commission to negotiate with Huntington over bay rights and islands, and a member of a committee to hire out grass on Captree Island.

The town's first minute book shows the arc of that service: an overseer of the roads by 1793, a fence viewer, one of the town's first three commissioners of schools in 1796, and supervisor in 1797 and again from 1799 to 1801. He was supervisor when he wrote the January 1798 description, and school money he helped oversee appears in the meeting's orders of 1799.

His 1798 "Description of the Town of Islip" was written to defend Islip's land claims and gives a rare view of the town near the end of the eighteenth century. The annotated publication notes that the letter was found in the New York State Archives and later transcribed and interpreted by Christopher Albergo and George Munkenbeck.