If checked, this site is within the Fire Place (Brookhaven Hamlet) Historic District

19-Initial Const Date: [Said to have been] Bought by Pierre Badetty [Badette] soon after the Civil War.

19-Architect:

19-Builder:

The following material was not included in the original 1975 survey form prepared by Stephanie S. Bigelow.

Map evidence:

• This site is not identified on the 1858 Chace map of Brookhaven Hamlet, nor the 1858 Town of Brookhaven Survey of Beaver Dam Road.  While not conclusive, the house was likely built after 1858.
• The site is identified on the 1873 Beers map of Brookhaven Hamlet as "res. P. Badetty."
• The site is identified on the 1888 Wendelken map of Brookhaven Hamlet as "P. Badetty."
• The site is identified on the 1915 Belcher-Hyde map as "Badette."

Stephanie Bigelow original 1975 survey identified "P. Badetty" as "Pierre Badetty" (see), and that he purchased the property soon after the Civil War.  There is some ambiguity about his early ownership (see property search information below).  However, Pierre Badetty is the first documented resident of a house on the property.

That P. Badetty was Pierre Badetty, and that  he resided specifically at the southwest corner of Beaver Dam and Bay Roads (this site), is confirmed by an entry in the records of the Town of Brookhaven -- he having applied to the Town Highway Commissioners for a survey of these two roads which was conducted 15 November 1872.  The record notes that the commissioners actual met in the Badetty house to deliberate.  Therefore there is little doubt that the house existed in 1872 with Pierre Badetty as its occupant..

The Badetty's sold there home on 49th Street in New York City in 1870, suggesting that 1870 was close to the time when they constructed their Brookhaven home.

An item in the 30 Oct 1875 issue of the South Side Signal, Babylon, NY noted: "Brookhaven. P. Badetty is building an extension to his neat little cottage, which improves its appearance very much."  While the note did not specifically identifying this site as the site referenced, it seems likely to have been so.

Documentation of a fire, said to have occurred in 1880, has not yet been found.  This fire is said to have required rebuilding of the "front" portion of the house.

By 1860 in New York City, Pierre Badetty had established a business as an importer.  He was likely the United States representatives of M. Badetty and Fils (sons), millers of nuts in Marseilles, France, principally West African peanuts, from which the oils were extracted.  For a while he was in a partnership with a Michael Badetty (born about 1818).  Marseilles was the principal center for this industry in Europe. Several ships with consignment to M. & P. Badetty are recorded.  Pierre was likely from Marseilles.  The Badetty family was prominent there; a well known Badetty mansion "Black Throat," found at Parc des Bruyeres (Heath Park), was built for a Bartholomew Badetty, a member of the nut milling family, in the 19th century and remained in the family until 1908.  The M. & P. Badetty partnership was dissolved about 1868.  Since no record of Michael in the United States has been found after that date, he perhaps returned to France.

Pierre Badetty has not been found in any United States census index. 

Pierre's business partner, Michael Badetty, seems not to be the same M. (or Michell) Badetty found contemporaneously in Brookhaven Hamlet, this Brookhaven M. Badetty being significantly younger and a farmer.

Other researchers have identified Frances Miriam Merrill (see), of Cortland County, New York to be Pierre's wife.  Independent evidence of their marriage has been found.  Pierre was likely her second husband.

A search of the deeds for this property filed with the Suffolk County Clerk has been conducted.  No record of a 19th century deed being granted to a Pierre or P-- Badetty (or name variation) has been found. 

A search on this particular property produced an ambiguity.  The search (see  below) clearly traces early ownership to Frances M. Badetty, Pierre's wife, with Stephen and Nancy Swezey being the grantors in 1882.  This date is ten years later than Pierre was known to be occupying the property.  No record of an earlier conveyance to Pierre Badetty has been found.   Frances died on 1 Jan 1899.  Pierre's death date has not been found.  No record of a conveyance earlier than 1882 for this property, such as to Stephen Swezey, has yet been found.

In 1906, the property was conveyed to Hubert Badetty in settlement of Frances M. Badetty's estate.  The amount of the sale was recorded as  $1950.  The relationship of Hubert Badetty to other Badetty's, including Pierre, has not been determined.  Hubert was born in Smyrna, Turkey about 1845, and emigrated to the United States in 1866.  He appears to have first settled for a short while in Maryland along with a Michell (sic) Badetty.   In 1880, both appear to be settled in the Brookhaven/South Haven hamlets, as farmers.  In 1879 Hubert married Elizabeth Rose Swezey, daughter of Charles Swezey (whose homestead was on the northeast corner of Fire Place Neck and Beaver Dam Roads).  Stephen Swezey (above) was only distantly related to Charles Swezey (4th cousins), Hubert Badetty's wife's father.  Charles Swezey was the the owner of the farm lots immediately to the south of this property, between Bay Road and Beaver Dam Creek.  In 1900 the Hubert Badetty family were living in Hempstead, New York as farmers.  By 1910, having purchase this property in 1906, they were back in Brookhaven, and operating the house as a guest/boarding house.  They also had a fruit farm.  In 1914, the family removed to Huntington, New York where they became prominent and apparently prosperous citizens  Their businesses included a hardware store, a automobile dealership, and a Dahlia farm.  They had two daughters and two sons, none of whom appear to have married.  Elizabeth died in 1915, and Hubert in 1923.

In 1914, the Hubert Badetty's sold the property to Joseph Fitch, a prominent magistrate of New York City; it was their summer residence.  The Fitch's divided the original six acres in half, and sold the southern three acre lot to James H. Post.  (Post appears to have been accumulating several parcels along the east side of Beaver Dam Creek, which was eventually to become the homestead of his daughter and husband, Elisabeth Post and Thomas Morrow; and is now the headquarters of the Post-Morrow Foundation.  The southern half-lot was to become the home of Hastings and Margaret Reddall.)  Joseph Fitch died in 1917.  He wife Annie eventually sold the northern three acre lot to Hastings and Janet Reddall in 1923. 

After the Reddalls took possession of the house in 1923, much of the original "gingerbread" was eliminated and the house was made to look "Colonial." (1n 1933, they also had a residence in Brooklyn, NY, at 164 Columbia Heights.) The Reddalls called their Brookhaven homestead "Red Alders."

In 1963, after forty years of residency, the Reddall's sold the their property to Dr. Arthur & Virginia Petretti of East Patchogue.  And the Reddalls purchased the southern lot, and built a new home, which is today the property of the Post Morrow Foundation.

Property Transaction History

This section last revised 10 Sep 2009.

Stephanie S. Bigelow, Bellport and Brookhaven: A Saga of the Sibling Hamlets of Old Purchase South. Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society. 1968. p. 44

A talk on the History of Brookhaven Hamlet, given by Janet Reddall and Alfred Nelson to the members of the Brookhaven Library Association on April 17, 1983 at the Annual Meeting of the Library Association.

Long Island Advance, Patchogue, NY, 2 October 2008. "From the Archives of the Long Island Advance, 75 Years Ago." Recorded occupant and house name.

[From Bigelow, p. 44, in a paragraph on boarding houses of note in Brookhaven Hamlet: "… There were about a dozen boarding houses in Brookhaven during the early 1900's. The Bedetty House on the corner of Bay and Beaver Dam Road was considered very fine …."]