GARDINER, Lion [1599-1663] -- American engineer

In 1639 he purchased from the Montaukett tribe an island called by them Manchonat, which he renamed the Isle of Wight, but which has since been known as Gardiners Island which is located between the North Fork, Suffolk County, New York and South Fork, Suffolk County, New York. The original grant by which Gardiner acquired proprietary rights in the island made it an entirely separate and independent "plantation," in no way connected either with New England or New York. He was thus empowered to draft laws for Church and state. WIKI

Gardiner's Island has been in the family some 400 years, and is said to be the largest privately-owned island in America. (But this is not true.)

His son, David Gardiner, was the first white child born in Connecticut (in 1636) at Saybrook.  
 

1639