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 9
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The War took him to Fort Niagara and in 1780 he was living there. He is described by one of the prisoners as
"a short pussy man about 40 years of age of stern countenance and haughty demeanor dressed in a British uniform with powdered locks and a cocked hat. His voice was harsh and his tongue bore evidence of his Irish extraction."
In 1783, being replaced by Sir John as Inspector General of Indian Affairs, he returned to England and in London urged his claims in lieu of his lost estates along the Mohawk. But his wife (Sir William's daughter) was dead, as was Sir William, and Sir John was abundantly occupied in taking care of his own troubles. Thus Colonel Guy's pleadings, lacking the necessary "backing" were in vain. He died in poverty in Haymarket on March 5th, 1788.
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John J. Vroomun-1951
Fort Johnson Amsterdam
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Page 93
SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON
Sir William Johnson
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OLUMES have been written about this man and more will be written. What follows here serves only to introduce to you Sir William Johnson of Fort Johnson and Johnson Hall.
William Johnson, born in Ireland in 1715, came to America in 1738 when but a lad 23 years old to manage an estate of some several thousand acres that had come into the possession of his uncle, Admiral Peter Warren of the Royal Navy. This land lay along the south bank of the Mohawk in the township of Florida, opposite the present Amsterdam. Here he made his first home at what was called Warren's Bush or Johnson's Settlement. Sir Peter Warren was a brother-in-law of Oliver De Lancy, an important man of his time and it was largely through his aid that Admiral Peter came into possession of this enormous grant of some 16,000 acres which approximated the present Florida Township.
To understand young William's immediate success in this undertaking, it is necessary to understand the man. It is said he was sent to America to break up an attachment he had already formed for a sweet Irish lass. But if this be so, it was not long before she was well out of his mind, or at least comfortably stowed away at the back of it. Honest and fair dealings won him the immediate friendship of all with whom he had transactions and especially so with the Indians, who were so often the victims of crafty traders. The Mohawks said of him after long acquaintance: "He never deceived us." He was most democratic in his manner of living. This side of his nature perhaps paid him bigger dividends in the way of material gain than any other trait he possessed.
His intimacies with the squaws and daughters of the chiefs and for which he has been so severely criticized was simply the continuance of an old custom the Indians granted any distinguished guest among them - the visitor's choice of squaw or maiden. Sir William had a rich scarlet blanket bound with gold lace. This he wore when transacting business with the Indians; and being a partial adoption of their own style of dress, it flattered and pleased them very much. To his intimates he often boasted of the scenes to which that blanket had been a silent witness. The fact that he was able to live among them, speak their language, paint, dress, and dance their dances, play their games, hunt and fish with them, gained for him a power over them that was never equalled by any other white man.
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FORTS AND FIRESIDES OF THE MOHAWK COUNTRY
And if Johnson lived with the Indians, it is equally certain they lived with him! His later houses were filled to overflowing with the Indians; and throughout his long and active career we find Johnson mentioning this fact in his correspondence and complaining that his entertainment of the Indians was a heavy burden on his private purse. He was continually receiving supplies from the Governor to be used as gifts to the Indians, to "keep the peace chain bright" for he was soon appointed Commissioner in charge of Indian affairs for the Crown.
He lived at Warren's Bush some five years and succeeded in disposing of about two-thirds of his uncle's land. About 1740 he bought a large tract of land himself, on the north side of the River -- extending westerly from present Amsterdam.
Johnson's first "wife" was a German immigrant named Catherine Weisenberg, a Palatine orphan, who made the passage over, binding herself to the captain of the vessel for a term sufficient to pay this indebtedness, which was then a common custom. The captain would assist the immigrant to find a position, and the employer reimbursed the captain for the immigrant's passage in lieu of wages, until the debt had been paid.
In this case Catherine secured a position with a Mr. Phillips, two miles east of Johnson's home. Here Johnson met the girl, bought her for 25 and took her to his home. From this union there were three children, John, Anna, and Mary, all baptized in the Fort Hunter Chapel in the name of Weisenberg, and no mention of Sir William's name was made then, nor subsequently, nor was the marriage recorded in any church record, though it is said he married Catherine on her death bed. Her first two children, John (later Sir John), and Anna (commonly called Nancy and later Col. Claus' wife) were born on the south side of the River. Mary, the second daughter, became the wife of Guy Johnson. Nothing remains of the house and little or nothing is known of the manner of its construction though the site is marked.
Mount Johnson was Sir William's first house, located north of the River on his own personal property. It was a stone house, built about 1742 and stood a mile east of the present Fort Johnson which he built later on the west bank of that tumbling little stream known as Kayderosseras Creek.
Catherine Weisenberg died at the Mount Johnson home about 1745 and was buried in the garden of the new home, Fort Johnson, then building, so the legend goes. A more recent addition to the story is to the effect that one of the subsequent owners of the property, in searching for her grave, raised à stone now used in the walk at the south entrance of the house and beneath it found the
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SIR WILLIAM. JOHNSON
remains of a burial. The stone is identical with others which were brought to this vicinity and used as tombstones. It is cut in a similar shape, about four feet by six, its edges rounded and, in fact, lacking nothing but the inscription, leads one to believe that this was quite possibly the grave of Catherine Weisenberg.
It was in Mount Johnson that Sir William and Catherine lived while Fort Johnson was being built and it is something of a tragedy that Catherine died at the early age of twenty-five after a life that, no doubt, held some happiness but certainly much that was downright hard toil and unhappiness. Of all Sir William's children by his several wives, hers were the ones of greatest prominence in later life yet she knew them only as infants. Nor did she share the prominence which Sir William's success brought him. Hers were the lean years on which were based his later glories.
The present Fort Johnson was built in 1749 and in it dwelt Mollie Brant. She was his Indian "wife," cared for his household and lived with him until his death. She is known in history as the "Brown Lady of Johnson Hall" and by him she had many children. She died at Kingston, Ontario, Canada, April 16, 1796, after rendering valuable aid to the English from her home at Indian Castle, to which she retired after war broke out and the Johnson estates were confiscated.
Sir William, then a Colonel, attended a military conference held in Albany in June 1754 in the hope of uniting the efforts of the colonists against the French who dominated the land west of the Alleghenies. The Six Nations were also in attendance and its terms were made satisfactory to them. King Hendrick, chief sachem of the Mohawks, was present and his speech has been preserved. He urged speedy action to fortify the outlying settlements, and in his speech can be seen the friendship and esteem in which Colonel Johnson was held by his Indian neighbors.
"We beg you will resolve upon something speedily. You are not safe from
danger one day. The French have their hatchets in their hands both at Ohio and at two places in New England. We don't know but this very night they may attack us. Since Colonel Johnson has been in the city there has been a French Indian at his home (Ft. Johnson) who took measure of the wall around it, and made very narrow abservations on everything thereabouts. We think Colonel Johnson in very great danger, because the French will take more than ordinary pains to kill him or take him prisoner both on account of his great interest among us and because he is one of our Sachems.
Brethern there is an affair about which our hearts tremble and our minds are deeply concerned. We refer to the selling of rum in our Castles. It destroys many, both of our old and young people. We are in great fear
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FORTS AND FIRESIDES OF THE MOHAWK COUNTRY
about this rum. It may cause murder on both sides. We, the Mohawks of both Castles request that the people who are settled about us may not be suffered to sell our people rum. It keeps them all poor and makes them
idle and wicked. If they have any money or goods, they lay all out in rum. It destroys virtue and the progress of religion among us."
In closing his speech he flayed the English for their lack of energy and accomplishment. Said he:
"We would have gone and taken Crown Point but you hindered us. Look at the French; they are men. They are fortifying everywhere. But you, and we are ashamed to say it, you are like women-bare and open without any fortifications."
Colonel William Johnson became "Sir William" following the victorious Battle of Lake George in 1755, in recognition of his distinguished services. In this same year, at a congress of governors at Alexandria, General Braddock urged and secured the appointment of Colonel William Johnson as Superintendent of Indian affairs. Braddock immediately advanced Johnson 2,000 Pounds to pursue the work. Johnson was in attendance at the meeting. To live in a style befitting a titled gentleman, he built Johnson Hall at Johnstown in 1762. In this house he died in July 1774.
Sir William was public-spirited, open-handed and cooperative in promoting any worthy project, and in his official capacity, was an outstanding success, par- ticularly so in his commanding influence over the Indians. As a military leader he was successful at the Battle of Lake George, at the capture of Fort Niagara, and again at the capture of Montreal.
With masterly strategy and diplomacy Sir William brought about peace with Pontiac at Oswego, averting what would have been a far-flung Indian uprising with its fearful consequences to the English. This peace treaty is the highlight of his control over the Indians.
His death was dramatic in its suddenness. He had been in council with the Indians in spite of illness; the day had been hot (it was July 11th, 1774). But the situation would bear no delay; 600 Indians were gathered at the Hall. After two hours of most emphatic speaking, he was seized with spasms of pain and was carried indoors. He died two hours later, "of a suffocation" wrote Guy Johnson, though the report of the Council at Albany called it "a fit of some kind."
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John J. Vrooman-1931
Drawing Room, Fort Johnson
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SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON
His physician diagnosed it as a "stoppage of the gall-duct." His last words were to Joseph Brant, the famous Indian, who was plausibly his own son, "Joseph, control thy people, I am going away."
He was buried, at his own request, beneath the altar of the Stone Church at Johnstown which he had erected in 1771.
The body was placed in a mahogany casket, all being within a lead
container. A fire destroyed the church in 1836 and as the place of burial was outside the wall of the new church, for a time the grave was lost. It was finally discovered and within the decayed casket was the well preserved skeleton and a gold ring inscribed "June 1739 , 16," the significance of which is still unexplained. The remains were re-interred just south of the present Church entrance, the grave being marked by simple stones.
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John J. Vrooman-19.4x
Front Entrance, Fort Johnson
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FORT JOHNSON
Fort Johnson
HIS building, just west of Amsterdam, as well as Johnson Hall at Johnstown, which was the later residence of Sir William Johnson, are perhaps the two most interesting pre-Revolutionary residences in the Mohawk Valley. Here, at Fort Johnson, Sir William lived some fourteen years from 1749 to 1763 when he removed to his newly completed home at Johnstown.
Of the two, Fort Johnson is perhaps the more interesting. It is earlier and its construction evidences the fact. It was the home of a man whose star was in its ascendancy. Before he left this home he personally controlled the Indian population inhabiting the eastern section of the continental forest, which formed the hazy boundary of Colonial America.
Sir William built his house strongly, of fieldstone, to serve as a fortress in the wilderness. It is of two stories, surmounted by an attic and was covered by a lead roof which the Colonists removed and moulded into bullets after confiscating the estate at the outbreak of the Revolution. Its simple rectangular dimensions are 64 feet by 34 feet with a hall through the center. To the right, on entering,
is the oak staircase leading to the second floor. Much of the woodwork and panelling on the first floor is of black walnut now painted white, while that on the second floor is of cherry, similarly painted. On each side of the halls of both floors are equal rooms to right and left, warmed by simple fireplaces. To the rear of these rooms are long narrow rooms on either side, the arrangement being the same on both floors. These smaller rooms, hardly more than halls, were no doubt used as living quarters for the family.
On the ground floor at the left is what probably served as a reception room. To the right was the dining rocm. Together with the broad hall which separates them they form a perfect suite and must have been an admirable setting for the affairs, both formal and informal, for which Sir William was noted.
A basement underlies the entire house and almost the entire eastern half of it served as the kitchen. This room was separated from the remainder of the space by a heavy stone wall beyond which was no doubt storage space for food and drink. In the kitchen there was a massive brick fireplace with built-in ovens.
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FORTS AND FIRESIDES OF THE MOHAWK COUNTRY
Entrance to this room was gained by a very steep stairway leading from the ground floor just behind the dining room. There was also an outside cellarway leading up from the kitchen.
The exterior, as it faces southerly along the highway, is impressive in its simplicity and is immediately recognized by anyone as a building of significance. The unique triangular placement of its three dormer windows, the massive appearance of its obviously heavy stone walls and the beautifully proportioned portico all command immediate attention. The heavily panelled shutters were made to cover and protect its equally spaced windows.
Following Sir William's departure the home was occupied by his son, Sir John, until Sir William's death in 1774, at which time he moved to the more recently completed house known as Johnson Hall where his father had died.
Then came the Revolution and with it the confiscation of Tory estates. Aaron Burr visited Fort Johnson soon after his marriage in 1782 with an idea of purchasing it. His description of the property, in a letter to his wife, is interesting; the conclusion, reached in his last sentence, is because she had vetoed the idea :--
"I should have told you that I am speaking of Fort Johnson where I have spent the day. From this amiable bower you ascend a gentle declivity by a winding path to a cluster of lofty oaks and locusts. Here Nature assumes a more august appearance. 1. e gentle brook which murmers soft below, here bursts into a cataract. Here you behold the stately Mohawk roll its majestic wave along the lofty Appalachians. Here the mind assumes a nobler tone and is occupied by sublimer objects. What there was of tenderness here swells to rapture. It is truly charming. .
In short then, my Theo, the beauty of this same Fort Johnson, the fertility of the soil, the commodiousness and elegance of the buildings, the great value of the mills, and the very unconsiderable price which was asked for the whole have not induced me to purchase it and never will."
The old home has had many owners but is now owned and occupied by the Montgomery County Historical Society and is used also as a museum, open to the public. It was purchased and presented to the Society by Brigadier General John Watts DePeyster, a lineal descendant of Major Stephen Watts, a brother-in-law of Sir John Johnson. Its furnishings are in taste and of the period but make no pretense of having been the property of the Johnson family.
The weathering of two centuries and perhaps the "heap o' living" the old house has known have permeated it with an atmosphere which must be felt by anyone in tune with its storied past.
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40ــ حعلاقة معاهـ
John J. Frooman-1931
Queen Anne Parsonage Fort Hunter .
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QUEEN ANNE'S CHAPEL PARSONAGE
Queen Anne's Chapel Parsonage
OR a considerable period of time prior to its fulfillment, the Mohawk Indians had been making urgent requests through their friend and representative, William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Crown, that further fortifications be built in their country as a protection against the French and their allied Indians.
Possibly Peter Schuyler of Albany did more than any other white man to secure the building of the first of these posts at Fort Hunter. He appeared in London in 1709 with five of the chief Sachems of the Indians. The Queen became interested in them and directed that each of them should sit individually for his portrait. This created at once a tremendous interest in Court circles and focused the attention of all London on the affairs of the Colony.
As a result a Fort was built at the mouth of the Schoharie Creek. Another, farther up the Mohawk, was considered but never begun. The contract for the building of the Fort on the Schoharie was signed October 11th, 1711 by Governor Hunter and the Fort named in his honor. The contract ran as follows :--
"Ye said Garet Symonce, Barent Vrooman, Hendrick Vrooman, John Wemp and Arent Van Petten shall and will forthwith repare into the Mochoques country and there build a Fort one hundred and fifty foot square the curtains made with Loggs of a foot square laid one upon another and pined together till they reach a height of twelve foot; at each corner a block-house twenty four foot square. Two storyes high, duble loopholes the rofe to be covered with boards and then shingled, the undermost part or ground room to be nine foot high the upper eight foot, both well floured with boards, the logs of ye block house to be nine inches square and bedsteads and benches in each blockhouse for twenty men and in each blockhouse a chemney towards ye inside of ye said fort with scaffolds five foot wide along each curtain from one blockhouse to another and also a chaple in middle of the fort of twenty four foot square one storye ten foot high with a garret over it well covered with boards shingled and well flowrd; a seller of fifteen foot square under it covered with loggs and then with earth. The whole chaple to be well floured."
Hendrick Vrooman of Schenectady was the architect and boss carpenter. He had been a prisoner in Canada and while there learned the trade under the eye of a distinguished French architect. The contract price was £1000. The
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FORTS AND FIRESIDES OF THE MOHAWK COUNTRY
ruins of this old wooden fort were torn down at the opening of the Revolution, at which time the chapel was palisaded and served as the Fort.
The Chapel was named for Queen Anne, who furnished the communion set, altar cloth and other needful articles. It was built as per the contract at the same time as the Fort, occupying a central position within the palisades. It was of limestone, 24 x 24 feet and remained standing until its site fell within the route of the first of the Clinton canals. Contractors tore it down in 1826 and the stone from its walls went into the construction of the canal locks.
In this bygone chapel of quaint arrangements and appointments a colored man served as chief usher and caretaker and during the days of worship wore a livery consisting in principal part of a gorgeous scarlet coat. He also manned the organ bellows. The organ was said to have been a very fine instrument, famed for its beautiful tone. It was later removed to the Episcopal Church at Johnstown where it was destroyed when the building burned. This organ was said to have been a source of never-ending wonderment to the Indians.
One of the carly ministers in the district was the Reverend Thomas Barclay of Fort Orange (Albany) whose zeal carried him far out into the Indian country beyond Schenectady, where in the absence of a full time minister, he conducted services for a period of years. But the task at Fort Hunter required someone's entire attention.
In 1734 the manse was built and occupied by the Reverend William Adams who was assigned to the parish. Trinity Church in New York had supervision over the affairs of the little chapel, and strangely enough several of the ministers who occupied this pulpit later became rectors of Trinity.
The manse is very substantially constructed of stone, about 25 x 35 feet, and two stories high. A small frame addition has been placed at the east end in recent years. The thickness of the walls, the window arrangement, with their small 6 x 8 inch panes of glass, the loop-holes and the cellar arches are all of great interest as examples of carly architecture. In the basement, on an arch at the east end of the building, the numerals 1.7.1.2 are still visible. During the Revolution the building was barricaded, garrisoned and served as a fort.
Following the war, the Mohawks, deprived of their former hunting grounds, took up their residence in Canada. Some of them settled around Brantford in 1788. Largely through the efforts of Joseph Brant, the Mohawk Chief, a grant
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QUEEN ANNE'S CHAPEL PARSONAGE
of land was given them on March 20th, 1795 which lay twelve miles wide along the course of the Grand River, from its source to its mouth at Lake Erie. It is here at Brantford that Joseph Brant lies buried. Another group settled on the Bay of Quinte, and strangely enough both settlements were served by one of their { !3 ministers, the Reverend John Stuart, D.D. who had preached to them at Fort Hunter. The "Little Gentleman" as the Indians called Reverend Stuart, was a man well over six feet in height and of great strength.
When the War broke out, the Indians took the Communion Service from the chapel and buried it. They later recovered it and took it to Canada where it was divided between their two settlements. It is to be hoped the Mohawks found some comfort in these pieces for they were all that remains to them of their former associations and possessions.
The old manse, all that remains of this early outpost, is the oldest building in the Valley west of the Mabie house at Rotterdam Junction. The thorough overhauling that was given it in 1888 has destroyed much of its originality. The roof was covered with slate; a door cut through the opposite (south) wall to face the re-located roadway, and the old chimney, originally built of Holland brick was taken down and reconstructed. Some of these old bricks were given to St. Anne's Church in Amsterdam.
Having survived the vicissitudes of more than two centuries, during which time it was unfortunate enough to have undergone "modernization," it seems in a fair way to stand indefinitely against the elements. But against the hand of man - who knows?
John J. Vrooman-1937
Martyr's Ravine Auriesville
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AURIESVILLE
Auriesville
IKE a boom town of the west, here today and gone tomorrow, Auriesville is another ghost town or remnant of what was once a populous and busy Dutch village snugly tucked away in its narrow little valley.
An old Indian lived here, one of the last of his race, in his cabin on the bank of the little stream where it leaves the hills in its last lap across the flats to the Mohawk. The Mohawks had been gone for many years when "Old Aurie," as the Dutch called him, was called to the Happy Hunting Ground. But the creek which murmured at his cabin door was so reminiscent of him that it came to be known as Auries Creek and as their settlement grew, the Dutch named it "Auriesville."
Elijah Pie was another Indian inhabitant here whom only the Grim Reaper could remove. He had been a Chief of the Stockbridge tribe of Indians but as a Chief was too peacefully inclined to suit his warriors so he left his New England home and came to the Mohawk Valley where his mother was born and brought up and where she was buried. "Me want to be near mother's grave," he said.
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