USA > New York > Schenectady County > Schenectady > A history of the Schenectady patent in the Dutch and English times : being contributions toward a history of the lower Mohawk Valley > Part 2
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It would be indelicate in a sketch published during the life time of Pro- fessor Pearson to refer to those incidents which belong more especially to his private and domestic life, or to those qualities which have endeared him to his more intimate personal friends. He has been for many years a faithful and active member of the Baptist church, trusted and revered by all. As a son, a husband and a father, his relations have been too tender and sacred to permit of comment here. Those who may survive him and have shared and prized his friendship will wonder that they did not prize it more, when the genial and unobtrusive presence lives only in memory or immortal hope.
INTRODUCTION.
Early in the seventeenth century, North America east of the Mississippi was claimed by right of discovery by four European nations : France, England, Spain and Holland. Although for fifty years there were but few colonists sent over, the whole continent was too small to hold them in peace. Jealousies and bickerings were rife ; the French crowded the English, and the English crowded the Dutch, until finally the latter disap- peared altogether and the rivalry between the former continued one hun- dred years longer. It was as plain then as it is now, that rival nations could not exist in the Mississippi Valley.
The last great struggle for supremacy commenced on the Ohio in 1754, and ended on the plains of Abraham, in 1759. Henceforward there was but one nation between the Atlantic and the Mississippi.
The French commenced the settlement of Canada in 1603. Their object was two-fold : the conversion of the natives to the Christian faith, and trade. The missionary and the trader, therefore, went forth together visiting every tribe in the valleys of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, and rendering to each other mutual aid and assistance.
No nation was ever more successful in winning the esteem and respect of the natives. The flexibility of the French character and the indomitable patience of their missionaries, were the secrets of their success. One nation alone resisted their influence ; all their efforts to coax or to drive the Iroquois or Five Nations into an alliance or even to remain long neutral, were unavailing. They were not unwilling to receive the French religion, but they preferred English strouds and gun powder .* Their friendship
[* Champlain, with a few of his men accompanied by a large number of Algonquins, met and defeated a body of Mohawks near Crown Point on Lake Champlain. The Algonquins were an inferior and subject race, but the discharge of French muskets with the accompanying flash, report and death by invisible bullets, carried terror to the Mo- hawks and they were nearly destroyed by an enemy for whom they had hitherto only felt contempt. When the Dutch, the declared enemy of the French, came into the Mohawk country from the south, offering fire arms and vengeance against the French and Algonquins, they secured the firm and abiding friendship of the Six Nations .- Jesuit Relations ; Champlain's Acct. ; Parkman, etc. M'M. ]
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History of the Schenectady Patent.
was the salvation of the Province of New York. They claimed all the territory lying between the Hudson and the Maumee rivers, so that the French of Canada could never aim a blow at Albany or Schenectady with- out striking over the heads of the Five Nations. This celebrated confed- eracy, the terror of all surrounding tribes, was made up of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas, five allied tribes, who acted as one nation ; herein lay their influence.
During the long contest for dominion on this continent, between the French and English, they held the balance of power, and were assiduously courted by both parties.
But after 1760, when the French influence ceased, their importance declined ; rum and gun powder had diminished their numbers and the once powerful Mohawks had almost ceased to exist as a separate tribe.
During the Revolutionary war, large portions of the Oneidas and Tusca- roras favored the colonies and for safety were transferred to Schenectady,* whilst most of the Onondagas, Cayugas and the Senecas, the most numerous and westerly tribes, adhered to Great Britain and became an awful scourge to the frontier settlements in the Schoharie and Mohawk valleys.
At no time between 1660 and 1760 could not the English colonies by combined action have crushed the French power in Canada and driven it from the country. During that long period the English population was from fifteen to twenty times that of the French. Thus in 1690, when Schen- ectady was burned, the white population of Canada was but 12,000, that of the English colonies more than 200,000 or nearly eighteen to one. In 1754
* Mr. Nicholas Veeder has seen " 2,000 or 3,000 Indians in the Poor Pasture when Schuyler made a treaty with them.
The Mohawks went to Canada and half of the Oneidas, in the Revolutionary war, the other half fought for us. They camped in the Pines on " Albany Hill," near McChes- neys. After the war was over the rest of the Oneidas came back from Canada to claim their lands.
The Indian houses at Schenectady were made of bark, they were here about three years.
The Mohawks before the Revolution were plenty ; could be seen in the roads in parties of fifteen or twenty ; made splint brooms and baskets. The town was full of them on New Years day-Nic : Veeder."
Has seen the Onondaga tribe, 600 in number, marching thro' Niskayuna street to Albany as prisoners of war, they having been in the King's service .- N. V.
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Introduction.
the population of Canada was 80,000, and about 1,500,000 in the colonies, the ratio being nearly the same as in the other case. Yet, in spite of this disparity of numbers, the French were usually the aggressive party; they seldom waited to be attacked but boldly carried the torch and tomahawk into the enemy's country. There is hardly a valley between the Penobscot and the Mohawk that has not echoed the cries of murdered victims, the midnight work of the French and their allied savages. In 1731 they boldly advanced a hun- dred miles into the province of New York and at the head of Lake Cham- plain built a fort on Crown Point, which they held twenty-eight years in spite of protest and menace.
The apathy exhibited on the part of the colonies in view of such a danger- ous encroachment as this, was amazing, and in the end cost some of the best blood and treasure of the country. It is true several attempts were made to humble the French power, but divided councils, incompetent leaders and failure of the mother country to afford promised aid, rendered these expensive expeditions disgraceful failures. The chief cause of this ill success, however, was the want of union and cooperation among the colonies. Those immedi- ately threatened were ready to contribute more than their proportion of men and money to meet the danger, the others would do little or nothing. The New England states had early formed a confederacy for mutual support and assistance, but this association was neither long maintained nor extended beyond their borders. Each colony was an independent state, jealous of its rights and privileges ; it would yield little or nothing for the common good, but sat isolated and apart from its neighbors, cherishing the selfish doctrine of colonial sovereignty and provincial rights. This spirit was favored by the mother country from fear of the formidable strength which a united people might exhibit. At the beginning of the last French war in 1754, Franklin with his accustomed forcthought and practical wisdom, prof- fered to the colonial delegates assembled at Albany, a plan of union. It was discussed and favorably received, yet it bore no fruit until twenty years later.
The north-west passage to India was the fascinating day dream of the ad- venturers of the seventeenth century, and to this we owe the discovery by Hudson of the river which bears his name. This, his third voyage to America, was made in 1609 under the patronage of the Dutch East India Company. After coasting as far south as Chesapeake Bay, he returned and spent nearly a month in exploring the river to the head of navigation. This fortunate voy-
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History of the Schenectady Patent.
age gave him immortality and a new empire in the West to the Dutch nation.
By priority of discovery they claimed the coast from Cape Cod to Dela- ware Bay and inland north to the lake and river of Canada (St Lawrence), and west as far as the hitherto unexplored wilderness could be opened up by the trader and trapper. Trading adventures were at once fitted out from Holland for the new country, and the coast and rivers were carefully searched for peltries. Manhattan was made the chief port and headquarters of these enterprising traders and to prevent competition they procured from the States General in 1614, exclusive privileges under the name of the " United Nether- land Company "and afterwards in 1621 as the "Privileged West India Com- pany." The latter was a gigantic armed trading association, endowed with all the powers and sovereignty of an independent state. Its directors resided in Amsterdam, its authority was wielded in New Netherland by a director, who was at the same time the fountain of laws, the executive head and the chief of the judiciary. In a word he was supreme autocrat ; it is true he had a council but it was a mere cipher.
The sole object of this company was trade, of which it had a complete monopoly. It is true indeed, by the second section of their charter the company was bound to "advance the peopling of these fruitful and un- settled parts," and to encourage colonization, but in this they utterly failed of their duty. The greed for gain swallowed up all other interests. At length the evil became so apparent and was so forcibly presented to the notice of the directors in Amsterdam, that they were obliged to seek a remedy.
On the 7th day of June 1629, under the title of "Freedoms and Exemp- tions," concession was made to Patroons to plant colonies in New Nether- land. Thus it was attempted to transfer to the new world, the objectionable features of the feudal system of the old. It burthened trade and agricul- ture with unnecessary restrictions and introduced at the same time aristoc- racy and slavery ; it prohibited manufactures and discouraged the settlement of the country by private persons. From the haste with which the directors in Holland proceeded to avail themselves of the privilege thus granted, one might almost suspect this charter was granted for their special profit and grat- ification. From the head waters of the Hudson around to the Delaware, immense tracts of the best lands were at once taken up, and instead of confin- ing themselves to the colonizing and cultivation of these lands, the Patroons engaged in trade contrary to the terms of their charter, as the directors
5
Introduction.
claimed and to the ruin of the Company's interests. Hence arose quarrels between the officers and servants of the two opposing parties, and in the end the company was forced to remove the evil by purchasing back the great manors already granted, Rensselaerswyck alone excepted. The failure of the West Indian Company and Patroons to fulfill the re- quisitions of their charters relating to the colonization of the New Province and the encouragement of agriculture, became so apparent in 1638, as to call for the interference of the States General, and after the agitation and rejec- tion of many projects, the directors were induced to proclaim free trade and free lands to private persons under what they conceived necessary restrictions. This measure had a happy effect in increasing immigration not only from the mother country, but also from New England and Virginia, where reli- gious toleration was not so fully recognized in practice as in New Nether- land. The population of New Netherland at the beginning of Stuyvesant's administration in 1647, is variously estimated at 1,000 to 3,000; at its close in 1664, it was about 10,000. The Dutch had held the Province fifty years and this was the result of their attempts to colonize it. Its natu- ral advantages both for trade and agriculture, were unequalled by any like . portion of the continent. The nation which had redeemed its own country from the ocean, that had conquered its freedom from the Spanish yoke and lead all the European nations in foreign trade, was just the people to found a new empire on these shores. The Dutch character was not wanting in the requisite energy, perseverance and pluck, but it was the system of govern- ment that was chiefly in fault, persevered in against protests and petitions.
RENSSELAERSWYCK.
In 1614 Albany was occupied as a post for the fur trade, of which Man- hattan became the headquarters. Until 1630 the population of both places consisted of few more than the officers and servants of the West India Company, in which was vested the monopoly of trade. This year the Patroon of Rensselaerswyck sent over the first little company of settlers to his manor, a vast tract extending from the mouth of the Mohawk river twenty-four miles down the Hudson and twenty-four miles on each side of it, and comprising more than 700,000 acres. The lands along the river and upon the islands, were gradually leased with the usual reservations of rents,
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History of the Schenectady Patent.
service, fowls and quarter salcs. Few conveyances were made in fee. Both the foreign and domestic trade was claimed by the Patroon. Under such heavy disabilities the population increased slowly. But the proclamation of free trade and cultivation of the soil, in 1638, gave an impulse to the prosperity of the Colonie. Every man who could purchase a piece of duffels and strouds and an anker of brandy, became an Indian trader ; indeed, there were almost as many traders in Beverwyck as there were men. So keen did competition run in beaver skins, that bosloopers* or runners, were employed to penetrate the wilderness west of the village and meet the natives on their way down with peltries. The population of Beverwyck at this early period cannot be exactly known ; that it was small may be justly inferred from several facts. First : The church built in 1643 was thirty-four feet by nineteen feet in size, and contained but nine bancken (benches) for the worshippers, yet this house served the little community until 1656. Secondly : The number of colonists shown by the Van Rensselaer papers, as having been sent over to the Colonies up to 1646 is only 210t. It is not to be supposed that all those persons who were attracted to Beverwyck by its happy location for Indian traffic, were either tenants or servants of the Patroon, or were even under his manorial jurisdiction.
Fort Orange and the little hamlet which clustered around its walls for safety, were always claimed by the West India Company as under their exclusive authority. This claim, however, was strenuously resisted by the Patroon. Hence originated that memorable and almost bloody contest for power between those obstinate, hardheaded officials, Governor Stuyvesant and Commissioner Schlectenhorst.
The Dongan charter of 1686 however, quieted all further questions of jurisdiction ; Albany became a city one mile wide on the river and thirteen and one-half (13}) miles long. The land outside these limits belonged to the Colonie.
The early population of Beverwyck was changeable. After a few years spent in traffic with the Indians, some returned to Patria, some retired to New Amsterdam, whilst others passed beyond the limits of the Colonie and purchased lands at Kinderhook, Claverac, Cattskill, Niskayuna, Halvemaan and Schenectady.
* [ Woods runners. Couriers du bois in Canada .- M'M.] + O'Callaghan's History N. N.
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Introduction.
SCHENECTADY.
The ancient township of Schenectady embraced a territory of 128 square miles, a portion of the Mohawk valley sixteen miles long and eight miles wide. The western half is an irregular plateau elevated 400 or 500 feet above the Mohawk, a spur of the Helderberg, passing north into Saratoga county, the eastern half is a sandy plain, whose general level is 300 or 400 feet lower. The river running through the middle of this tract in a south- easterly direction, forms the most beautiful and striking natural object in its landscape. At the westerly boundary where it enters the town, it flows through a narrow valley, whose sides though covered with foliage, are too steep for cultivation. From the hill Towereune, the valley widens gradually to Poversen and Maalwyck where the hills sink down into the great sand plain. Until the river reaches the city of Schenectady, it is a constant succession of rapids, and its general course is south-east, here it makes a great bend and flows with a deep, sluggish current north-eastward to the Aal Plaats, the eastern boundary of the town. The tributaries of the Mohawk within the town are small and unimportant streams ; those at the west end flowing from the slates, are nearly or quite dry in summer, whilst those at the opposite end, fed from the sand, are constant spring brooks. On the north side of the river are the following brooks : Chucktenunda* at Tower- eune, and coming east in succession are Van Eps Kil, Droyberg, Verf, or color ( paint ) creek, called by the natives Tequatsera, Jan Mebic's Kil Creek of the lake in Scotia, Cromme Kil and Aal Plaats Kil. On the south side are Zandige Kil, the sloot, Rigel brugse Kil, Platte Kil, Poenties Kil, Willem Tellers Killetje, Zand Kil, Coehorn Kil and Symon Groots Kil. But of these streams, few are of sufficient size and constancy now to serve as motive power.
With the exception of a little limestone in the extreme western limits of the town, all the rocks found in place belong to Hudson shales and consist of alternate layers of blue slate and sandstones, some of which are used for building purposes.
In the west half this geological formation is most abundant, and the soil there is a clayey loam, underlaid with clay or hard pan. The immediate
* This Mohawk word signifies Stone houses, overhanging rocks affording shelter. Several streams and localities have this name.
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History of the Schenectady Patent.
valley of the river where it breaks through the range of hills, is narrow and composed chiefly of drift of at least two elevations. The highest called the "stone flats," raised twenty to thirty feet above the water, consists of coarse gravel and bowlders and is chiefly found on the north side of the river. The opposite bank is a lower plain of sand and gravel.
The eastern half of the town has no hills worthy of the name ; its general level is perhaps 100 feet above the Mohawk, and the prevailing soil is a fine sand, underlaid with clay except in the extreme casterly limits where the clay loam again prevails.
Besides this there is found in the bends and eddys of the river and upon the low islands, an alluvial deposit which is constantly enriched by the annual floods. This constitutes the widely known "Mohawk Flats," which though cultivated by the white man for more than 200 years, have lost little of their unsurpassed fertility.
In the early period of the settlement no other land was tilled, hence they were called the land, arable land, or bouwlandt, all else being denominated woodland and little valued. In addition to their fertility, these flats pre- sented another advantage to the first settler, they were mainly free from wood and ready for the plough and seed. For ages they had been the native's corn land, whilst the adjacent forests and river furnished him with flesh and fish.
The great sand belt which passes across the town from south to north, was once covered with a heavy growth of pines, whilst the high lands lying north and west of it produced the usual varieties of hard woods. Nothing could have been more charming to the eye of the first white men travel- ing up the Mohawk to Tiononderoga (Fort Hunter ), than the flats skirt- ing the river banks, clothed in bright green of the Indian corn and other summer crops of the red man. In 1642, the kind hearted Arent Van Curler visited the Indian castles on an errand of mercy, to rescue some captive Frenchmen from the hands of the cruel Mohawks. On his return he wrote to the Patroon ( Kilian Van Rensselaer ) in Amsterdam, that a half day's journey from the Colonie, on the Mohawk river, there lies the most beautiful land that the eye of man ever beheld .* Who that has
* Daer leyt qualyck een halven daegh Van den Colonie op de Maquaas Kil, dat Schoonste landt dat men met oogen bezien mach .- O' Callaghan's Hist., N. N., I., 335, 456.
9
Introduction.
stood upon Niskayuna berg or Schuylerberg and looked west and north over the bouwlandt and the adjacent islands can wonder at the rapture of the enthusiastic Dutchman, or can fail to discern in his admiration, the budding of that idea which twenty years after blossomed into the settle- ment of which he was the leader.
The site of the village of Schenectady was admirably choseu. No other spot in the neighborhood of the bouwland offered such facilities for a village. From the eastern end of the "Great Flat" there makes out from the sandy bluff which surrounds it a low narrow spit, having upon the east, north and west sides the Mohawk river and Sand Kil. The extreme point only about 1,200 feet wide, was chosen for the site of the future city, a warm dry spot, easily fortified against an enemy and sufficiently elevated to be safe from the annual overflow of the Mohawk river. This little flat contains but 175 acres and it was the site of an earlier Indian village * whose numerous dead have been from time to time found buried along the Binné Kil.
FIRST SETTLEMENT OF SCHENECTADY.
If we may believe tradition, Schenectady had already been occupied by the white man many years when Van Curler first visited it in 1642, in fact it has been claimed to be little if any junior to Albany.
That a few fur traders and bostoopers early roved among the Mohawks, married and raised families of half breeds cannot be denied ; indeed there are respectable families in the valley to this day, whose pedigree may be traced back to these marriages. But that the white man made any perma- nent settlement on the Mohawk west of Albany before 1662, there is no good reason for believing, and in view of the opposition of Albany and the Colonie, improbable.
In the summer of 1661 Arent Van Curler the leader of the first settlement, made formal application to Governor Stuyvesant for permission to settle upon the " Great Flat " lying west of Schenectady.
The following is a translation of his letter :
"Right Honorable Sir, My Lord
When last at Manhatans I informed your honor that there were some friends and well wishers, who were well inclined with your Honor's knowl-
A tradition that it was a former seat or capital of the Mohawks.
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History of the Schenectady Patent.
edge and approbation to take possession of and till the Groote Vlachte (Great Flats) well known to your worship ; whereto six or eight families are already inclined, and for which your Honor promised me a warrant author- ising us to purchase said lands, but by reason of your Honor's daily occupa- tions nothing came of it. So then your Honor promised to send it later but I am persuaded the daily cares of your Honor's government have driven it from your Honor's remembrance.
Truly the way is now open, the savages being inclined to abandon the land for a moderate price, the more so as trade is so slack and meagre. Hence it is the wish of our friends to dispatch the bearer of this, Philip Hen- drickse Brouwer, to refresh your Honor's remembrance, for as much as it is high time, (if your Honor please) that the people provide themselves with hay and fodder for their beasts and like to lay out the road thither.
Please not, your Honor, distrust the people as is generally done here, by the common folks, nor doubt that one loaf will last till another be gained.
So then it will be better to provide betimes, to seize good fortune, for afterwards it may be too late. Doubtless as your Honor is likewise a lover of agriculture, your Honor will yield to the just request of the people ; the money for the purchase of the aforesaid land they themselves will furnish temporarily and until it shall be otherwise ordered by your Honor.
Finally I pray your Honor to be pleased to favor the people's good in- tention so far as possible, and conclude by commending your Honor to God's grace with the wish for a long and happy administration, and further I remain ever
Sir Your Honor's
most humble
Rensselaerswyck
Servant
The 18th June, 1661. 5 A. VAN CURLER.
P. S. If your Honor falls short three or four Muds of oats as feed for your Honor's horses, please command me to supply your Honor with the same from my small store.
Your Honor's servant
A. V. CURLER. * June 23, 1661.
" The letter of Arent Van Curler being presented and read on the 18th June, containing in substance a request by him and a few other persons for the large plain situated to the back of Fort Orange toward the interior, for the purpose of cultivation, and consent to purchase the same from the original proprietors and make a settlement there, etc .; which being maturely considered, the Director General and Council resolved to consent to it ; pro- vided that the said lands on being purchased from the native proprietors be
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