USA > New York > Forts and firesides of the Mohawk country, New York : the stories and pictures of landmarks of the pre-Revolutionary War period throughout the Mohawk valley and the surrounding country side, including some historic and genealogical mention during the post-war period > Part 10
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In 1825 he built a hut on land owned by Abram V. Putman about a mile southeast of Auriesville and here he lived some fourteen years, happy and contented in his solitary existence. Yet to an Indian, himself a creature of the forest, he must have had rich companionships of which we could never know. The squirrels that played about his cabin, the red-winged blackbirds that chattered in the marsh close by, the speckled trout that flashed in the swift waters of the creek were all his companions. There could be no lonesomeness for him in the midst of this abundant life.
He earned a living making brooms, baskets and other simple articles and was known as an honest and respectable character. In his old age, weakened and crippled with rheumatism, he was taken to the County Home where his prophecy, laconically expressed, "Me soon die," came quickly true.
The newly constructed Erie Canal made of Auriesville quite a settlement, but another twenty five years or so saw a railroad completed on the North shore
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of the Mohawk and Auriesville soon dwindled to a few scattered houses clinging to a century old Dutch church. And so it appears today, while on the brow of the hill to the cast overlooking in either direction long reaches of the Valley, is the Auriesville Shrine, the site of the palisaded Castle of the Mohawks, "Osseruenon."
Within the palisades of Osseruenon were some 30 low cabins, framed with saplings bent to form a framework, and covered with bark. Their cabins were 25 to 30 fcet long, with an aisle or corridor down the center and along the sides compartments for living and sleeping. The cooking was done in the wide center aisle. The population of the village was normally about 600. This was the home of the Turtle Clan, a division of the Mohawk tribe, the most powerful among the Federation known as the Six Nations of the Iroquois.
It was to this Castle, in 1642, that Father Jogues was brought as a prisoner, together with Rene Goupil and some Huron Indians who, as guides, were conducting the Father on a missionary expedition to the Mohawks. But the Hurons and the French were enemies of the Mohawks and the little party was taken captive. Few if any, other than Father Jogues himself, survived, and he only through the faithful and whole hearted assistance of Arent Van Curler of Rensselaerwyck (Albany) which was then the nearest white man's settlement. The story remains to us, in letters written by Father Jogues, parts of which are quoted :---
"When we came down from the Hurons in July 1642, we asked Rev. Father Vimoul to let us take him (Goupil) with us . . . I cannot express the joy which this good young man felt when the Superior told him that he might make ready for the journey . . . On the 2nd, we encountered the enemies .. . . Nearly all the Hurons had fled into the woods and . . . we were seized
While the enemies pursued the fugitives I heard his (Goupil's) confession and gave him absolution not knowing what might befall us after our capture. The enemies having returned from their hunt, fell upon us like mad dogs, with sharp teeth tearing out our nails, and crushing our fingers which he endured with much patience and courage . . . We still had this consolation during the journey that we made in going to the enemy's country, that we were together! On this journey I was witness to his many virtues . . .
Covered with wounds as he was, he dressed those of other persons -- the enemies who had received some blow in the fight as well as the prisoners themselves.
On the lake we met 200 Iroquois, who came to Richelieu while the French were beginning to build the Fort: these loaded us with blows and made us experience the rage of those who were possessed by a demon.
On approaching the first village where we were treated so cruelly, he showed the most uncommon patience and gentleness. Having fallen under
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the shower of blows from clubs and iron rods . . . as it were half dead . . . he was in so pitiful a condition that he would have inspired compassion in cruelty itself . . . and in his face one distinguished nothing but the whites of his eyes.
Hardly had he taken a little breath, as well as we, when they came to give him three blows on his shoulders with a heavy club, as they had done to us before. When they had cut off my thumb-as I was the most conscious- they turned to him and cut his right thumb at the first joint.
During the six days in which we were exposed to all those who wished to do us some harm, he showed an admirable gentleness; he had his whole breast burned by the coals and hot cinders which the young lads threw upon our bodies at night when we were bound flat on the earth.
After we had been in the country six weeks, . . . I had some presentment of what was to happen and said to him, 'My dearest brother, let us commend ourselves to our Lord and to our good mother the blessed Virgin; these people have some evil design as I think' . . We accordingly return toward the Village to see what they might say to us; one of those two Iroquois draws a hatchet, which he held concealed under his blanket and deals a blow with it on the head of Rene, who was before him. He falls motionless, his face to the ground, pronouncing the holy name of Jesus. . . . At the blow, I turn round and see a hatchet all bloody; I kneel down to receive the blow which was to unite me with my dear companion; but as they hesitate I rise again, and run to the dying man who was quite near. They dealt him two other blows with the hatchet on the head and despatched him, but not until I had first given him absolution.
It was the (29th) of September . . . when this angel in innocense · · · gave his life. . . . They ordered me to return to my cabin where I awaited the rest of the day and the next, the same treatment. . . . The next morning I nevertheless went out to enquire where they had thrown that blessed body, for I wished to bury it at whatever cost. . . . I go and seek, and with the aid of an Algonquin . . . I find him. The children, after he had been killed, had stripped him and had dragged him, with a rope about his neck, into a torrent which passes at the foot of their Village. . . . I took the body · · · put it beneath the water weighted with large stones, to the end that it might not be seen. It was my intention to come the next day . . . to make a grave and place the body therein. . . . It rained all night so that the torrent swelled uncommonly. . . . When I draw near the place I no longer find that Blessed deposit. I go into the water, which was already very cold; I go and come-I sound with my foot . . . I find nothing . . . The young men had taken away the body, and dragged it into a little wood nearby, -- where during the autumn and winter, the dogs, ravens and foxes fed upon it. In the spring, when they told me that it was there . . . I went several times without finding anything. At last the 4th time, I found the head and some half gnawed bones which I buried with the design of carrying
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them away, if I should be taken back to 3 Rivers as they spoke of doing. I kissed them very devoutly several times, as the bones of a martyr of Jesus Christ. . .
This ravine is on the west side of the hill, and down its course are appropriate markers and statuary in memory of Rene Goupil, the martyr.
After a long period of servitude as slave to a squaw, Father Jogues finally managed his escape aided by Van Curler and Do. Megapolensis in August following the year of his capture. He went to France where much was made of him. But feeling his work was not finished, he returned in 1646, and went again to the castle of the Mohawks. The following is an account of his journey and its fatal ending :-
"On the road from Montreal to the Indian castle, about two days march from the castle of Osseruenon, a band of Indians fell upon Jogues and his party, stripped them, insulted them and led them captive back to the town where Jogues had already spent so many long months of suffering and slavery.
They reached Osseruenon on October 17, 1646 and immediately they arrived were treated to fresh insults of every possible nature. Blows were rained upon them-savages sliced pieces of flesh from Jogues' back and arms and ate them before his eyes . . . Jogues replies, 'Why do you put me to death? I have come to your country to cement peace, make the earth solid, and teach you the way to Heaven and you treat me like a wild beast.'
A division of opinion arose among the savages as to Jogues' fate. One of the factions composed of the Wolf and Tortoies clans were for saving him but the Bear family insisted upon the death penalty. A council was called and fearing Jogues would be spared as a result of the confab, the Bears conspired to bring about his immediate death.
On the evening of Oct. 18th, 1646, Jogues was invited to the cabins of the Bear clan to partake of some food. Although Jogues had misgivings, he humbly followed where they led, prepared for a treacherous blow for he perceived their sullen attitude as they walked before and behind him.
As he was entering the cabin an Indian struck him with a tomahawk which split his skull and caused him to fall dead in his tracks."
Another name intimately associated with Auriesville is that of Kateri Tekakwitha, the "Lily of the Mohawks," whose life is briefly summarized as another light on the dimly lit picture of "Osseruenon."
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Her first name, pronounced "Kat eree," is the Indian for "Katherine" and the last name, "Teka queé-ta," as it is pronounced, is given as meaning "One who approached moving something before her." When four years old she narrowly escaped death from small pox. Thereafter, her eyes having been weakened by the disease, she found it necessary to grope her way by "pushing something before her."
The time and place of her birth is not definitely known but it is accepted as being within a mile's radius of Auriesville in 1656 -ten years following the death of Father Jogues. Her father was a Mohawk Indian and her mother a captive Christian Algonquin, brought up and baptized by the French in Canada. She had been captured there by a raiding party of Mohawk Indians and brought to the Valley. To save her life, a Mohawk brave married her.
To this marriage there were two children, a son who died of a devastating small pox plague that swept through the Indian nation. The other child was Kateri. Both of Kateri's parents were also victims of plague. The mother died with a prayer on her lips that her daughter might early be brought into Christianity.
As an orphan, Kateri was adopted by her Aunt and Uncle and taken to live with them, and by them raised in the greatest seclusion. Being naturally of a solitary nature, her friends first thought her unsociable but soon came to know that it was her modesty and shyness. The descriptions of her as given by the "Black- robes," or Priests, are of a maiden, sweet, patient, chaste, innocent and industrious.
When the French DeTracy marched up the Mohawk Valley in October of 1666 to destroy the Mohawk Castles, news of his coming preceeded him and Kateri and her family who were living at Auriesville, together with the other inhabitants fled to Andagaron Castle where after a consultation, it was decided to abandon this Castle as well. So the combined forces retreated further up the River to Tionnontogen, the Castle of the Wolves, hidden behind the "Nose," a sharp mountain spur that projects itself into the Valley at Yosts. Here they had abundant stores of food and water and made further and elaborate plans for its defense. However fire from the carefully placed cannon which the French had laboriously brought over lakes and rivers and through miles of wilderness was more than the Indians had reckoned on and they again fled, hiding the women and children in scattered spots through the forest. DeTracy burned the place, as he had the other two lower Castles and turned back down the Valley.
Following DeTracy's retreat Kateri's. adopted family again took up their residence at Auriesville through the coming winter, undergoing the most severe
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hardship and privation, due to the complete loss of their food stores and houses. When spring came the tribe moved to a newly built Castle at Caughnawage (Fonda) where Kateri lived until her flight to Canada. Here is the spring to which she came with her jugs and which is named in her memory.
Her devoutness brought her to the attention of the Fathers and she was finally baptized by Father DeLamberville in 1675. She had earnestly wished for this for many years but her Uncle and Aunt were not in sympathy. Kateri's baptism caused a deep rift between her and her family; also the younger members of the tribe stoned her and ridiculed her in many ways. This bitter animosity caused her the greatest unhappiness and she longed to escape to Canada. Her opportunity finally came in 1677. Her life in Canada was lived in the "new" Caughnawaga beside the St. Lawrence rapids near Montreal.
In March, 1679, she was allowed to take the vows. Following this she devoted herself more ardently to her prayers. She also subjected herself to self- inflicted punishment, even torture, in a spirit of penance and atonement for imagined sins. There is no question but that devotion to her prayers and an utter disregard of her physical well-being caused by these punishments, brought about her breakdown. One of the most serious and later tortures she chose to undergo was a night spent upon a bed of thorns which she, herself, had gathered in the forest and made into a mat upon the floor of her lodging. She was found in the morning, following this terrible night, in a dangerous and weakened condition.
Her last illness was brief. She died in the presence of her few intimates in Caughnawaga on April 17th, 1680 at the early age of twenty four. Part of her remains are kept in deepest reverence at the "new Caughnawaga."
There are portraits of her at St. Mary's in Albany and with the Jesuits in Troy as well as several others at the New Caughnawaga church. At the Auriesville Shrine her statue stands beside that of Father Jogues.
John J. Frooman-1942
The Dadanascara Fonda
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DADANASCARA
Dadanascara
HIS name, given their home by the Visscher family, was borrowed from the little stream that ripples along the foot of the slope east of the house. The word is, of course, Indian in origin and signifies "trees bearing fungus" or "mushroom growth" but the connection between the meaning of the word and any characteristic of the creck is no longer evident. The location of the home is about three miles east of Fonda on the north side of the Mohawk and at some little distance from the channel, being on the slope of the hill just above the river flats.
The Visschers were Hollanders, coming to Albany in 1649, and there Harman Visscher was born on August 24th, 1701. In 1739, he married Catherine, a daughter of William Brouwer of Schenectady. In 1750 he secured a patent for 1000 acres of land, of which this homestead is a part, paying for the tract £800. Here he lived for 22 years, dying just prior to the outbreak of the Revolution. His grave, shaded by beautiful old maples, is in the family cemetery at the crest of the hill behind the house. Four sons and three daughters survived him, the eldest being Frederick, born in Albany on February 22nd, 1741. His name, with that of his brothers, John and Harmon, occurs repeatedly throughout the story of the war.
Just prior to the opening of hostilities a meeting was held at Tribes Hill which was attended by some 300 men of the neighborhood. Colonel John Butler, then a justice under the English Crown, made a speech using every influence and argument to persuade his audience to remain loyal to England and after his closing remarks, formed them into lines and called upon all to step forward who upheld England's cause. At this time there was but one man who stood firm and he was Frederick Visscher. However, as time passed, and events shaped themselves, a majority of the others changed their attitude.
Frederick soon received a Colonel's commission from Congress. John and Harmon were both in his regiment, the former being promoted to the rank of Colonel at a later date.
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A few excerpts from the minutes of the Committee of Safety at Schenectady are interesting. The first are of the meeting held July 17th, 1774 :--
"Frederick Fisher applyed to this board for some ball for the use of the inhabitants of Tryon County. Having taken said request into Consideration- Resolved, to furnish him with two hundredweight of ball at the rate of forty shillings per hundred."
At the meeting of December 18th, 1775 :---
"a motion made,
Resolved that Hugh Mitchell is appointed to receive a payment of four pounds due to this board by Frederick Fisher and the Committee of Caughnawaga for Balls sould them and pay the same to Margaret Van Antwerp, from whom the ball was received."
These "Balls" were discovered hidden in the cellar of the Van Antwerp . Mebie House at Rotterdam and ordered seized, but to be paid for at the current value. Another payment was made on this account as shown by the minutes of the meeting held May 25th, 1776 :---
"Resolved, that Harmanus Wendle is appointed to receive four pounds from Frederick Visger for ball sold him last summer, and to pay the same to the aforesaid Margaret Van Antwerp."
Colonel Visscher's men composed the Mohawk Regiment acting as the rear guard in charge of the baggage train when it was ambushed at Oriskany, en route to the aid of besieged Fort Stanwix (Schuyler). They suffered severe losses but the Colonel escaped with his life and the baggage train was saved.
On May 22nd, 1780, the Visscher mansion was attacked by Tories and
Indians. Within were the Colonel, his mother, sisters, two brothers and the servants. The sisters fled, hiding themselves in the creek bed. The mother though fighting as best they could, were soon overpowered. John and Harmon
was too feeble to make her escape and was struck down. The three brothers, were murdered and all were scalped, the Colonel being left for dead. Fortunately he recovered in time to escape the flames (for the house had been set afire) and to carry the remains of his brothers outside. His mother, stunned by a severe blow on the head collapsed in a chair, and so she was when he found her and carried her, chair and all, to safety beyond the burning building. This chair, showing
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plainly the marks of the fire which so nearly consumed it, remains here in the possession of the descendants. Jacob Sammons who was taken captive during this same raid, left a written account in which he states he saw the Indians cure and comb out the scalps of Colonel Visscher and his brothers, painting the fleshy side red. The Indians were paid as high as $20.00 by the English for each enemy scalp! Sammons was taken to Canada and held for a considerable time but finally escaped and returned in safety.
Tom, a black slave belonging to Adam Zielie, a neighbor, was the first to arrive at the Visscher home, following the attack. He found the Colonel and inquired what he should do. Colonel Visscher could not speak but motioned for water which Tom quickly got from the creek, bringing it in his old hat. Thus revived, the Colonel was soon able to talk and was taken across the River to the home of Ephriam Wemple where every care was given him. But the case was beyond simple remedies for the flesh on his face sagged to such an extent as to make him almost unrecognizable, due of course to the loss of his scalp.
Seeing the necessity of proper care, the Colonel was sent down the Mohawk to Schenectady
"in a canoe where he arrived at dark of the same day as his misfortune."
There he received medical attention from Dr. Meade of Schenectady, as well as Dr. Stringer of Albany and two Army surgeons. His case was for a time critical and though he gradually improved, complete recovery was delayed for some unaccounted reason. Later this became obvious. A wound, inflicted by the scalping knife in the back of his neck had escaped the attention of his attendants and the flies getting into it and depositing their larvae had rendered it a deep seated and offensive sore. After being properly dressed, the patient recovered rapidly. Colonel Visscher was the only male survivor of his line and bore to the last this broad scar upon his head, which, on public occasions, was covered with a silver plate made for the purpose.
Colonel Frederick married Gazena De Graff of Schenectady on. May 22nd, 1768. He died June 9, 1809, his widow surviving him six years. The funeral was from the mansion he had rebuilt. He left four sons and two daughters. Frederick Herman Visscher, one of the sons, became the owner of the mansion, married Deborah Conyne and had one child, Gazena Catherine.
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Deborah died when the child was but six months old and the father survived her but a year longer. The orphan, Gazena Catherine, later married Judge De Graff. The Judge died August 4th, 1868 and his son, the only survivor of the family, then inherited the home.
The 1790 census lists the following Visschers at Schenectady and Schoharie:
Hermanus Visscher
Schenectady 1 male;
2 females; 0 slaves
Susannah Visscher
Schenectady
0 male;
4 females;
7 slaves
Teunis Visscher
Schenectady
1 male;
1 female; 0 slaves
William Visscher
Schoharie
1 male; 1 female; 0 slaves
The same census lists the following De Graff families under the Schenectady heading. As this included the De Graff neighborhood at old Cranesville, just east of Amsterdam some of these families were no doubt residents of that section :---
Jesse De Graff
4 males;
2 females;
0 slaves
Abraham De Graff
5 males;
3 females;
3 slaves
William De Graff
1 male;
0 females;
4 slaves
Andreas De Graff
3 males;
4 females; 0 slaves
Claus De Graff
7 males;
5 females; 3 slaves
Dadanascara has been described as the home of Douw Mauverensen, the hero of Harold Frederic's esteemed novel, "In the Valley." The Stuart home, described in the book was perhaps the first mansion, and all traces of it are gone. The old stone slave house, built into the side of the hill behind the site of the original Visscher house still remains in excellent repair.
The present home, erected in 1791, has been enlarged and improved through the years by the family who still occupy the home and who are lineal descendants of the Harman Visscher of 1701.
It is a satisfaction to know that out of respect and appreciation for his record as a Revolutionary officer, General Washington assigned Colonel Visscher the seat at his right when he and General Philip Schuyler were guests of the citizens of Schenectady at Robert Clench's hotel in 1782.
Fonda Butler Homestead
John J. V roman-1937
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BUTLERSBURY
Butlersbury
"Ringed by the ancient forests of the North, I saw the gray weather. beaten walls of the house. The lawns were overgrown; the great well-sweep shattered; the locust trees covered with grapevines-the cherry and apple trees to the south broken and neglected. Weeds smothered the flower gardens, whilst here and there a dull red poppy peered at me through withering tangles; lilac and locust had already shed foliage too early blighted, but the huge and forbid. ding maples were all aflame in their blood red autumn robes. . .
The shutters had been ripped off their hinges; all within was bare and dark; dimly, I made out the shadowy walls of a hallway which divided the house into halves . . . The clapboards were a foot wide, evidently fashioned with care and beaded on the edges. The outside doors all opened outward; and I noted, with a shudder of contempt, the 'witch's half moon' or lunette, in the bottom of each door, which betrays the cowardly superstition of the man who lived there. Such cat-holes are fashioned for haunted houses; the specter is believed to crawl out through these openings, and then to be kept out with a tarred rag stuffed into the hole-ghosts being unable to endure tar. Faugh!
If specters walk, the accursed house must be alive with them-ghosts of the victims of old John Butler, wraiths dripping red from Cherry Valley-children with throats cut; women with bleeding heads and butchered bodies, stabbed through and through-and perhaps the awful specter of Lieutenant Boyd with eyes and nails plucked out, and tongue cut off, bound to the stake and slowly roasting to death, while Walter Butler watched the agony curiously, interested and surprised to see a disembowled man live so long! . .
HE quotation is from Robert W. Chambers' novel, "The Reckoning" and the description is quite accurate today, with the exception of a shingled exterior. The Butlers fled the place with the prospects of War coming closer and the estate was confiscated and sold. It has been continuously occupied but many of its shutters are even now closely drawn and an uncanny atmosphere seems to envelop it, due perhaps to the mystery which surrounds it and the Butler men who occupied it.
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