Dorian this morning

Dorian is the most intense landfalling hurricane in history. While it technically tied the Great Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 when it smacked into Abaco, the 1935 hurricane was only approximately estimated, not measured.

The problem with that statement is that the comparisons of Dorion with the "Great Labor Day of 1935" or any storm prior to the satellite and radar era is hit or miss. Absent a measurement at the place where the storm came ashore -- purely by chance -- there is no real means of comparison of magnitudes -- e.g. the Saffir Simpson Scale

In the era post the invention of the telegraph and its global spread [say 1900] --- If you had a barometer at the place where the Hurricane made landfall or an anemometer an even rarer instrument --- you could get a measurement. Otherwise you just recorded the destruction post the event -- high water marks on the walls, ships sinking, trees cut down in their prime and of course human casualties. Most of the time the Hurricane made landfall where there was no official and formal means of recording the event. Prior to the Telegraph there might be a "Legend" where some old timers recalled this or that Great Blow.

Even the Great 1938 event -- can only be characterized roughly as even then [telephone and radio] the Coast of Long Island where it made landfall was not very populated and had few instruments directly in the path of the storm. After it made landfall a 2nd time on the Connecticut Shore and then raced up the Connecticut River Valley through Vt and NH there were reporting stations but it was somewhat weakened. Nevertheless -- the 1938 New England Hurricane:

1. leveled an estimated 2 billion trees in New York and New England

http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/19...
The Northern Kraft Paper Mill in Howland, Maine. In 1947, the mill still used wood cut from trees downed by the Great 1938 hurricane.

2. blew down part of the Cog Railway on Mount Washington with gusts of 163 mph at the Weather Observatory on the Summit
3. 937 mb pressure on the southern coast of Long Island
4. Storm Surge flooded the fanciest Hotel Ballroom in Providence to near the ceiling
   

   The tide was higher than usual because of the autumnal equinox and full moon, and the hurricane produced storm tides of 14 to 18 feet (5 m) along most of the Connecticut coast, with 18 to 25-foot (8 m) tides from New London, Connecticut east to Cape Cod—including the entire coastline of Rhode Island.

5. 10 to 17 inches of rain fell in the CT River Valley
6. washed away bridges on the Farmington River [near Hartford CT] and the Chickopee Falls Bridge on the Chickopee River [MA}
7. winds were reported above 100 MPH in both Boston and NYC essentially simultaneously
8. Blue Hill Observatory south of Boston @ 600 ft above sea level recorded a 186 mph gust
9. 50 ft Wave was recorded @ Gloucester
10. "Old Ironsides”–the U.S.S. Constitution–was torn from its moorings in Boston Navy Yard
11. 2,605 vessels were destroyed & additional 3,369 damaged

12. The storm entered Vermont as a Category 1 hurricane at approximately 6:00 pm EDT, reaching northern Vermont, Burlington, and Lake Champlain around 8:00 pm.

    Hurricane-force winds caused extensive damage to trees, buildings, and power lines. Over 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of public roads were blocked, and it took months for crews to reopen some of the roads.

    In Montpelier, 120 miles (190 km) from the nearest coast, salt spray was seen on windows. A train was derailed in Castleton. The storm killed five people in Vermont. Maple and sugar groves were damaged. The 1938 hurricane has been the only tropical cyclone to make a direct hit on Vermont in its recorded history; it remains the only one known to have struck Vermont as a hurricane.

[from Wiki [most of the quotes] and various other sources Google 1938 Hurricane]

Overall -- The lack of direct instrumental data for the vast majority of the period when westerners were hereabouts [1600+] let alone the pre-Columbus era's total lack of any information makes the statement "Xest in history" -- a far less significant statement.

Let's just say in the modern era of the past 40 years Dorion is one of the strongest landfalling hurricanes in the Atlantic