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 21
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While in Schenectady, Quaynant, Indian Chief of the Maqua Nation, visited John Conrad Weiser, who agreed to send his son Conrad with Quaynant to learn the tribal language. It was in November 1713 that Conrad Weiser arrived in the Maqua Country and started his study of the American Indian languages. In July 1714, Conrad left the Indian village to live with his father who had moved into Schoharie, New York.
Conrad Weiser was married to Anna Eve, November 22 - 1720 in Schoharie, New York by the Reverend John Frederick Haeger. The maiden name of Anna Eve is not known. They resided in Schoharie (at that time located in Albany County, New York) where (4) four of their children were born, namely: Philip, Frederick, Anna Madlina and Maria.
In 1729 Conrad Weiser, with his family, moved to Tulpehocken, Berks County, Pennsylvania where (10) ten more children were born, namely: Peter, Chris- topher, Jacob, Elizabeth, Margaret, Samuel, Benjamin, Jabez, Hanna and Benjamin.
In 1732 Conrad Weiser was recognized as the official Provincial Interpreter of Pennsylvania and was employed in all transactions between the Six Nations and the Government of Pennsylvania for the purpose of negotiating the famous Indian Treaties. Later the Provinces of Virginia, Maryland and New York employed him in the same capacity. During the French and Indian War, Conrad Weiser was Superintendent of the Indian Department and as such was in close relationship to the famous Benjamin Franklin who occupied the central position in the Provincial Cabinet at that time.
The part played by Conrad Weiser in the Colonial history of our country was an important one and it should be noted that his training for that part was received in the Indian Villages in the Mohawk Valley.
Conrad Weiser died July 13 - 1760 in Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pennsyl- vania and is buried in his private burial ground, located about one half mile east of the town of Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
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(FACSIMILE LETTER)
Morris Scan Lan: 29 17
Dearfin Ihave no derall but that in the new apparatmach of artillary officers, you thought of Mit Machin in the manner. Le deserves - hex aven, esta is
is here, and has heard ho. them from your an this subject Scanner helpreminding yo of his as heappears for observation, and information, to be a fever of thenet .- He has also mantien) something de ma respectivo his hay which you ach cause de la enquenão cato - he has Secund rene teray, since The month of may.
NOTE
The above letter was written by General George Washington, Commande:Ca : the Continental Army, at his winter headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey. It was addressed to Emgather General Knox. Mr. Machin, mentioned in the letter, is Captain Thomas Machin, Engineer and Seagames Artillery oficer under General Knox.
Page 256
(FACSIMILE LETTER)
Toschuster aspect 2.7. 1846.
I have just recurrent your found of the 25' Bust, offering one the superintendance of the Female Department of your Chocadeny, I have' sided sefor the acceptance of your! firmy, andi will be at barajo havia in time to come mand school our the yes of theay next.
Joachim Rocadi Livingston fundas. (Livingston Spraker)
(George G. Johnson)
NOTE
SUSAN BROWNELL ANTHONY
The famous "Woman's Suffrage" advocate. Born on February 15 - 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts. Died on March 13 - 1906, in Rochester, New York. Buried Mt. Hope Cemetery, Rochester, New York
A bust of Susan Brownell Anthony is now exhibited in the Capitol Building, Washington, D. C., an honor and tribute to the achievements of this woman.
Page 257
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration fes frem mais States of America.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundations on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments, long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly. all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of the colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operations till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the repository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeuvored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws of naturalisation of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migration thither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to lawes for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harrass our .people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in time of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior, to the civil power.
He has combined, with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their aets of pretended legislation.
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:
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For cutting of our trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond scas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies:
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable lares, and altering, fundamentally, the forms of our governments :
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legis- late for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated- government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us.
He has plundered our scas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation,
He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undis- tinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of the attempts, by their legislature, to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our cmigration and, settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deuf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, encmics in war, in peace, friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the reciitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do. And, for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed, and signed by the following members :
Erich Bartels Il: Mainpeu
Ging. Smakter
John Adams
Site Marton
Levis Morris
Star Hopkins Williams Ellers Roger Sherman
GeorgeWhythe
Thomas Lyand get
Helena
Cesar Camión
itra Glantz.
Bouton Gaines Gestación.
Page 259
GENERAL
ELECTRIC
COMPANY GENERAL ELECTRIC BUILDING 570 LEXINGTON AVE. AT 51ST ST.,NEW YORK
GERARD SWOPE PRESIDENT
November 3, 1942
Mr. E. E. Brownell 1418 Walnut Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
My dear Mr. Brownell:
It is interesting to note in your letter of October 31st of your connection with the Thomson Houston Company way back before it became a part of the General Electric Company. I have also read with interest Dr. Fox's letter to you, in which he praises so highly the success you have attained in your hobby, that of writing, and I wish you a continuance of that success in your new effort on the history of the Mohawk Valley.
In answer to your question, although the General Electric Company was incorporated on April 15, 1892, we have considered October 15, 1878 as our birth date, for that was when the earliest predecessor company, founded by Thomas A. Edison, was incorporated. That company later combined with others to form the Edison General Electric Company which, in 1892, was merged with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company of Lynn to form the General Electric Company.
With cordial best wishes to you, I am
Sincerely yours,
CS:K
Page 260
BROWNELL - SIMMONS GENEALOGICAL LINES
Elijah Ellsworth Brownell (8); Elijah Hanchett Brownell (7); Frederick Brownell (6); (May Etta Leiter) (Sarah Ann Warman) (Ann Dawley)
Israel Brownell (5); Giles Brownell (4); George Brownell (3); Thomas Brownell (2); (Rachel (Simmons) Potter) (Elizabeth Shaw) (Mary Thurston ) (Mary Pearce)
Thomas Brownell (1). Thomas (1) and Anne (Bourne) Brownell were married (Anne Bourne)
March 20 - 1637 in St. Benet, Paul's Wharf, London, England.
-
Rachel (Simmons) (6) Potter; John Simmons (5); William Simmons (4);
(Israel Brownell) (Comfort Shaw)
(Abigail Church)
Mercy. Pabodie (3); Elizabeth Alden (2); John Alden (1), who came to America (John Simmons) (William Pabodie) (Priscilla Mullins) on the Mayflower in November -- 1620.
SIMMONS - PABODIE - ALDEN
The Descendants of Rachel Simmons5 (who married Eseck Potter) trace back to John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, in the following manner:
Rachel' was the daughter of John Simmons4 and Comfort Shaw.3 John Simmons4 was born August 14, 1704, and died March 8, 1774. His wife Comfort3 was born August 9, 1709, and died in 1785. She was the daughter of Israel Shaw? (Anthony1) and (Tallman) Shaw, who was the daughter of Peter Tallman, General Solicitor for the Colony of Rhode Island in 1661.
John Simmons4 and Comfort Shaw3 were married April 6, 1728. He was the son of William Simmons3 (1672 - 1765) and Abigail (Church) Simmons (she was a descendant of Richard Warren of the Mayflower).
William Simmons3 was the son of John? and Mercy (Pabodie) Simmons, and Mercy was the daughter of William Pabodie and Elizabeth (Alden) Pabodie, who was the daughter of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins. John Simmons? was the son of Moses Simmons,1 who came in the Fortune in 1621.
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Memorial
to ISRAEL BROWNELL
and his wife
RACHEL (SIMMONS) (POTTER) BROWNELL Great-grandparents of ELIJAH ELLSWORTH BROWNELL
ISRAEL BROWNELL (5)
Israel Brownell was a Revolutionary War Soldier serving from Rhode Island. He settled with his entire family in Johnstown, Montgomery County, New York in 1799.
BORN: In 1738, in Tiverton, Newport County, Rhode Island.
DIED: May 23 - 1808, Near Stump City, Montgomery County, New York. (now Gloversville, Fulton County, New York)
-
BURIED: In Kingsborough Colonial Cemetery, Gloversville, Montgomery County, New York, now Fulton County, New York.
MARRIED: Rachel (Simmons) Potter; April - 1780 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts Colony.
Born: November 30 - 1751, in Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island Colony.
Died: July 14 - 1824, near Gloversville, Montgomery County, New York.
Buried: In Kingsborough Colonial Cemetery, Gloversville, Montgomery County, New York. Widow of Eseck Potter (5); Nathaniel (4); John (3); Nathaniel (2); Nathaniel Potter (1).
ISSUE . (BROWNELL): Anthony (6). Elizabeth (6). George Rex (6). Humphrey (6). Mahala (6). Ezekiel Milton (6). Delila (6). FREDERICK (6). James (6).
FREDERICK BROWNELL (6), enlisted in the War of 1812 from Johnstown, New York, and was shot in the foot at the Battle of Sackett's Harbor on May 29 - 1813. He was born in Washington County, New York, May 28 - 1794 and died on August 7- 1851 in Ballville Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. Buried
in McGormley Cemetery, Ballville Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. A cripple his entire adult life. He married Ann Dawley in Johnstown, New York, on December 22 - 1818.
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Genealogical Ancestry of
ELIJAH ELLSWORTH BROWNELL
whose early ancestors resided in the Mohawk Valley in New York.
ISRAEL BROWNELL (5), the great-grandfather of the compiler, was a Revolutionary War soldier serving from Rhode Island. He died on Monday, May 23- 1808 in Johnstown, Montgomery County, New York and is buried in the Kingsborough Colonial Cemetery now located in Gloversville, Fulton County, New York.
RACHEL (SIMMONS) (5) (POTTER) BROWNELL, the wife of Israel Brownell (5) and the great-grandmother of the compiler, was a descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins of Mayflower fame. She died on Wednesday, July 14- 1824 in Johnstown, Montgomery County, New York and is buried beside her husband in the Kingsborough Colonial Cemetery, Gloversville, New York.
ELISHA DAWLEY (4), the great-great-grandfather of the compiler was a Revolutionary War soldier serving from Massachusetts. He died in November 1825 in Johnstown, Montgomery County, New York and is buried with his wife, Sarah, in the Schoolhouse District Cemetery, near Meco, Fulton County, New York.
ELIAS DAWLEY (5), the great-grandfather of the compiler, died July 27- 1856 in Johnstown, Fulton County, New York and is buried in the Schoolhouse District Cemetery, near Meco, Fulton County, New York.
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DANIEL MEEKER, the great great-grandfather of the compiler, was a Revolutionary War soldier serving from New York. He died September 12- 1829 in Johnstown, Montgomery County, New York and is buried in the Old Prospect Hill Cemetery, Gloversville, New York.
FREDERICK BROWNELL (6), the grandfather of the compiler, was a soldier in the War of 1812 serving from Montgomery County, New York. He was shot through the foot during the Battle of Sacketts Harbor which occurred on May 29 - 1813.
ANN DAWLEY (6), the daughter of Elias (5) and Anna (Meeker) Dawley and grandmother of the compiler, married Frederick Brownell (6) on . December 22 - 1818 in Johnstown, Montgomery County, New York.
ELIJAH HANCHETT BROWNELL (7), the father of the com- piler, was born June 20- 1828 in Salisbury, Herkimer County, New York. The brothers and sisters of Elijah Hanchett Brownell (7) were born in Salis- bury, New York and Johnstown, New York and are named as follows :-- Phebe Ann Charles Potter Rhoda Jane Samantha Maria Berintha Clotilda Elizabeth James Humphrey Frederick Jesse John Roselle.
Compiled by
ELIJAH ELLSWORTH BROWNELL (8)
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Mohawk Valley Notes of Yester-Year Worth Reading About-Today
All things taken into careful consideration, the Erie Canal was the first major constructed water highway in the United States. It played an extremely important part in the development of the West, as a link between the Hudson River (an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean) and the Great Lakes, the greatest early route to the West.
The first commercial steam railroad in America was the Hudson and Mohawk Railroad, which went into operation on September 9 - 1831.
Susan Brownell Anthony spent her entire life in the Mohawk Valley. See separate sheet for details.
The first public inn west of Albany, New York, of importance, was run by Enoch Brownell, a Revolutionary soldier, in Schenectady, New York, just after the Revolutionary War. He was born in Rhode Island on January 1 - 1750 and died September 2 - 1818 and was buried somewhere in Schenectady, New York, with his wife Freelove (Wheeler) Brownell, with graves unmarked and forgotten. What an unpatriotic crime.
In the year 1800, Mr. John Maude, an Englishman, visited the United States, and in 1826, published an account of his travels, of which the following relates to our locality :--
WEDNESDAY, July 2, 1800, Albany, New York.
41/2 A. M. started in the stage for Utica, passed Miss Jay, the Governor's daughter, in the public stage wagon; passed General Oohout driving his own wagon. (71/2 A. M. Schenectady, Indian name signifies End of the woods) sixteen miles; BROWNELL'S & BEAL'S Inn; break- fast, - loin of veal, ham, strawberries, cheese, coffee, tea, tarts, preserved apples, etc., etc.
Noon. Dine at Warren Bush or Tripe Hill, 33 miles. 5 P. M., Canajoharie (Indian name signifies the Boiling Pot) 55 miles, etc.
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-Vụ Iốn ou là
UNCOMMON SPEED-The western stage (old line of Powell, Parker & Co.) left Utica at 12 o'clock on the morning of Saturday morning last, and arrived at Albany at ten minutes past 9 o'clock, of the same morning - having travelled ninety-six miles in nine hours and ten minutes! The distance from Schenectady to Albany, (16 miles,) was travelled in forty five minutes.
Reference: "The United States Gazette" of Saturday morning, Feb. 15, 1823.
Schenectady, July 1, 1823.
THE CANAL ... On Thursday morning last, the friends of this grandwork in this place, were highly grat- ified with a view of the water majestically moving along its bottom to within the bounds of this city, from the Schoharie creek. At about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the water had risen to a height that admitted the launch-
ing of a small boat into this artificial river. A horse was soon rigged to her bow, and a number of citizens entered the little bark with a band of music. The musicians immediately struck up a lively air, when the boat moved off, in fine style, amid the roar of cannon, and the oft repeated acclamations of hundreds, who lined the banks of the canal for some distance.
Reference: "The United States Gazette," of Wednesday morning, July 9, 1823.
George Westinghouse, the third son of George and Emeline (Vedder) Westinghouse, was born at Central Bridge, Schoharie County, New York, October 6- 1846. He removed to Schenectady, New York in 1856 and afterward to East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and founded the great plant of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. He died March 12- 1914, in Pittsburgh, Penna.
Respectfully submitted,
Dayton, Ohio and Philadelphia, Penna. 1943
E. E. BROWNELL, B. E. E.
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CUGO
5563
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