USA > New York > Herkimer County > History of Herkimer county, New York > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90
This name, like many others of the Palatines, has undergone numer- ous changes in spelling. In 1775 the family was numerous and influ- ential and generally friendly to the popular cause ; all, excepting the general, were residents of the German Flats district. The patentee, Jurgh (or George), left no descendants, unless Johan Jost and one or both of the females named were his children, or they left this part of the country before the Revolution. There is no information left of any persons of that name except those who trace their descent from Hanyost Herkimer, the elder.
General Nicholas Herkimer was the eldest son of Johan Jost Herkimer, who was one of the Burnetsfield patentees and drew lot No. 36, and also one of the patentees of the Fall Hill tract granted in 1752 to Johan Jost llerchkeimer and Hendrick Herchkeimer. Nicholas Herkimer was commissioned lieutenant in Capt. William Wormwood's company of the Schenectady battalion on the 5th of January, 1758. He commanded at Fort Herkimer in 1758, when the French and Indians attacked the settlement on the south side of the river. On the 5th of September, 1776, he was commissioned a brigadier general. At the commence- ment of the Revolution he lived in the Canajoharie district and repre- sented that district in the county committee of safety. He acted as chairman pro tem. of the Tryon county committee of safety in July and August, 1775. In 1760, while he resided in the Canajoharie district, his father conveyed to him 500 acres of land, portions of the Lindsay, Liv- ingston and Fall Hill patents, with a small island in the river. There
77
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
the family mansion was erected, substantially as it stands to-day. He was an early advocate of the rights of the colonists, with the others of his family, excepting his brother Hanyost, who was attainted under the act of 1779. General Herkimer's part in the military operations of the Revolution have already been described in a general way, and it only remains for us to allude to the charges of cowardice or inefficiency that were made against him on account of the battle of Oriskany. When General Herkimer was hastening by forced marches and with a small body of undisciplined militia, to the relief of Fort Schuyler, he sent a messenger to Colonel Gansevoort in the fort to arrange for co-opera- tion in the expected battle, a sally from the fort to be made upon a pre- concerted signal. The messenger failed to reach the fort in time. Gen- eral Herkimer's force was not sufficient to warrant him in bringing on a battle without support and aid ; but on the morning of August 6, while awaiting the signal of the sortie from the fort, several of the general's officers and some of the committee of safety urged an immediate advance. In deference to their continued entreaties he finally held a council of his principal officers, whom he warned of the folly of bringing on a battle with the force at their command. The officers would not listen and some of them went so far as to charge him with cowardice or toryism. Insulted beyond forbearance, General Herkimer told them that he was entrusted with the care of his soldiers as well as with their leadership, and that he could not place them in a position in which his judgment told him they would be uselessly slaughtered ; he also intimated that those who were now taunting him, would be the first to fly in action-a prophecy which was fulfilled. To end the clamor he at last gave the order to march. The consequences are well known and have been re- corded on the pages of every history of Revolutionary battles. The general was grievously wounded early in the engagement, but continued to command his men until the end, when he was carried from the field. His conduct after he received his wound was such as should, and it does, surround his name with a halo of honor and renown. General Herkimer died from hemorrhage following the amputation of his leg in his own home. When he became convinced that his hours on earth were numbered he called for his Bible and read to those around him the 38th Psalm. His loss was deeply deplored by the inhabitants of Tryon county. In October following his death the Continental Congress passed a reso-
78
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
lution appropriating $500 for the crection of a monument to his mem- ory, and in communicating this action to the governor of New York the Congress said : " Every mark of distinction shown to the memory of such illustrious men as offer up their lives for the liberty and happi- ness of this country, reflects real honor on those who pay the grateful tribute ; and by holding up to others the prospect of fame and immor- tality, will animate them to tread in the same path." The resolution passed by Congress has never been carried into effect. The Oneida Ilistorical Society, of U'tica, however, is making an effort to secure the passage of a bill by the State Legislature for an appropriation to im- prove the ground and erect a monument to mark the place where the body of General Herkimer is buried This is a matter which concerns every patriotic person, for General Herkimer won the pivotal battle of the Revolution. His body now lies in a pasture in the town of Danube, midway between Little Falls and Indian Castle. The surroundings are unfit, and the stone which marks the grave is not such as should grace the resting place of the hero of Oriskany.
On yonder well-remembered hill, Scarre i and neglected, old and grey, Rises the house, recalling still The story of that bloody day. Deep, clear and beautifully bright, Through fields of waving grass and grain,
Like shiver flashing in the light, The Mohawk flows across the plain.
H41, Mohawk winding through the dale ' Hail, fairest stream in lovely York ! The farms and homes in thy sweet vale Ring with the harvest song ! hush ! mark Yon close of hallowed ground ' there lies The hero Herki ner who gave
His brood for cherty ; there rise The nic un 1, the stone above his grave.
Into a deep an lark av ne, By the Oriskany, he led His band. Su lien from out the green Wood a arout upr ise the dread, Painted, red-In lian, yell on yell, And in the deadly ambuscade,
Like the mown grass, his cohorts fell Bleeding beneath the reeking blade.
Lo! lowering in the sulien sky, Black storm-clouds gathered, thick and fast. And Nightning flashes from on bigh Foretold the fury of the blast.
It broke ; the thunder, peal on peal, Roared high above the horrid din Of cannon and the clash of steel, Loud echoing through the blood-stained glen.'
Then thrice from out the dark morass, Above that fearful roar, the cheer Uprose ; but Herkimer, alas ! Fe l foremost fighting. He did hear
That shout of vietory where he lay Stretched death-white on the gory ground, His life's blood ebbing fast away. And, dying, knew what meant that sound.
On many another blood-red field, For truth and liberty, our brave Fathers did fight and never yield : They struck for freedom or the grave,
And freedom gained : Columbia 's free ; Her flag floats o'er her mountain heights, And on the land, and on the sea, Guards well a nation's dear-bought rights.
FRANK H. WILLARD.
I During the battle of Or'skany, when the utter annihilation of General Herkimer's troops seemed a most inevitable, a furious storm arose. The enemy fled for shelter, while the Americans, occupying a strong position, formed themselves so as to be able to hold victorious possession of the field.
79
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
General Herkimer was twice married.I His will was proved Octo- ber 4, 1783, with George Herkimer as administrator. The "home place " was devised to his younger brother George, and he was consti- tuted his residuary legatee. The latter lived until 1786, and left seven children. Various members of the families descended from the Herki- mers live in different parts of the country, but not one of the name is now resident in Herkimer county.
John Herkimer, son of George, inherited, with his brothers and sisters, the estate devised by General Herkimer and occupied the family mansion until about 1814. He was an active politician ; repre- sented Montgomery county in the State Assembly and after the town of Danube was annexed to Herkimer county, was appointed one of the county judges. He was major in a regiment of volunteers in the last war with England and served at Sackett's Harbor. He was elected to Congress in 1822 and was an efficient member of that body. He died at his residence in Danube at the age of seventy-three years, leaving no male descendants.
The Herter Family .- The lands allotted to Apolone and Lawrence Herter were on the south side of the river, but some of the family re- moved to the north side in early years Some of the family were at the Great Flats at the time of the French expedition in 1757, where one of the Herters was taken prisoner with his wife and children and carried to Canada, where they were kept about a year. A daughter born to Mrs. Herter while crossing the St. Lawrence river in a birch-bark canoe, afterwards became the wife of Michael Myers. Henry Herter was appointed first lieutenant in Capt. Frederick Bellinger's company of militia in 1775. Nicholas and Philip Herter settled in Deerfield, Oneida county, after the Revolution. Numerous descendants of this family are still residents of Herkimer county.
The Hess Family .- Augustine Hess was the patentee of lot No. 10 at Little Falls. Previous to and during the Revolutionary period the name was quite numerous in the Mohawk valley. Augustine Hess, a son of the patentee, was a member of the Tryon county committee of safety from the Kingsland and German Flats districts. The elder Au-
" The late Samuel Earl wrote of the general as follows ; "The general was a kind hearted and benevolent man and a good Christian neighbor. He was just such a character as would make him beloved by those who knew him. He was without guile or deceit, generous, brave and honest."
80
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
gustine was a patentee, also, of Staley's first and second tracts ; he was killed in July, 1782, by the Indians near Fort Herkimer, while on his way to the fort with his family.
The Kast Family -Johan Jurgh Kast and his son of the same name were patentees and each drew a small lot on the Great Flats and seventy acre lots on the uplands, in the Burnetsfield tract. In 1724 a grant of 1, 100 acres was made to the wife and children of the elder Kast, situ- ated in Schuyler and surrounded by Cosby's manor ; descendants of the family lived there many years. Besides Johan Jurgh, the elder Kast had a son Lodowick. Johan Jurgh, the younger, had two sons, Conrad and Frederick. The former was taken prisoner in 1757, carried to England, and after his exchange and return to New York, enlisted in the British army and never returned to the Mohawk valley. Descend - ants of Frederick still live in Herkimer county.
The Petrie Family .- Johan Jost Petrie was one of the Burnetsfield patentees and lands were allotted to him, to his wife, Gertrude, and to his son Mark (or Marks). The name occurs among those who volun- teered for Colonel Nicholson's expedition. The patentee came over with the second company of Palatines in 1710 and came to German Flats from Livingston's manor. He and Coenradt Rickert were the prominent and leading men of the little colony which first settled here. He was named first in the license given by Governor Burnet to purchase the Indian title to the lands afterwards granted, and also the first named in the patent. The eighty-six acre lot, long known as the Stone Ridge, was allotted to his wife. The present village of Herkimer is large- ly situated on this lot. Surrounded by rich flat lands subject to in- undations, settlers expressed their dissatisfaction when they learned that safe building lots could be had only on this ridge, and Mr. Petrie therefore generously divided the large lot into smaller parcels and gave them to the owners of the adjoining low lands. When the French and Indians destroyed the settlements on the north side of the river, November 11, 1757, all his property save the land was taken and destroyed and he and his family carried into captivity. He was the person named in the French account of that raid as " the mayor of the village of the Palatines." Mr. Petrie remained some time in captivity. He was one of the co- patentees with Philip Livingston and John De
81
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
Peyster of a grant of 6,000 acres of land made in 1740, comprising six lots in a tract called Henderson's or Petrie's purchase, lying in the pres- ent towns of Columbia and Warren. He died before the beginning of the Revolutionary War, leaving a large number of descendants, and nearly all of the people of this name in the county trace their lineage to him. John Petrie, a son of the patentee, was a member of the Tryon county committee from the German Flats and Kingsland districts which met in June, 1775. He was also appointed by the Tryon county committee August 16, 1779, one of the delegates from the county to a State convention called to consider measures " for appre- ciating the currency, restraining extortion, regulating prices, and other similar purposes." A commission is in existence issued to Ded'k Marcus Petrie, gentleman, dated October 13, 1768, by which Mr. Petrie was appointed " to be Ensign of a company of Militia Foot in a regi- ment in Albany county, of which company George Henry Bell esq. is captain." Mr. Petrie held this commission until the country changed rulers, when he was appointed a lieutenant in the Tryon county militia. He was killed in the battle of Oriskany while serving in Col. Peter Bell- inger's regiment. John M. Petrie, assemblyman in 1808-9, was a nephew of Lieutenant Petrie, the son of the patentee, Mark Petrie, and consequently grandson of the original settler, Johan Jost. John M. occupied for some time the Burnetsfield lot No. 46, and afterwards changed his residence to a farm on Glen's purchase a few miles north of Little Falls, where he died respected by the community. There were two brothers, sons of Ded'k Marcus Petrie, named Jost D. and John D., who were prosperous farmers and land owners and left their estates to their children. Daniel Petrie, a member of this family, was killed at the destruction of the Little Falls mill, in 1782, as before described. Many descendants of the Petrie family still reside in this county. (See history of the town of Herkimer.)
The Recle (or Reall) Family .- Lot No. 15, lowland (thirty acres), and lot No. 15, woodland (seventy acres) at the German Flats were granted to Godfrey Reele, jr. Christian Reall settled near Deerfield Corners, Oneida county, with several other Germans, before the Revolu- tion. In the second year of the war the settlement was destroyed, but the inhabitants escaped to a stockade near by. After the war Mr. Reall
11
82
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
returned to Deerfield. Not long afterward most or all of the survivors of the family removed to what is now Onondaga county. One member of the family afterward returned and lived in Little Falls. The name was never numerous in the county.
The Shoemakers -Ludolph (afterwards called Rudolph) and Thomas Shoemaker were patentees, and both of them were young and unmar - ried when they came to German Flats. Rudolph had several sons, one of whom, Johan Jost, married the daughter of an Englishman named Smith, the fame of whose eccentricities and devotion to the British crown still occupies considerable space in the unwritten history of the valley. Johan Jost had been one of his majesty's justices of the peace in Tryon county and was not friendly to the colonists ; but he was not molested in person or property, leading to the conclusion that he was a passive, rather than an active adherent to royalty. Judge Benton said : " With the exception of one member of the Herkimer family, I do not find any other name of note belonging to the Palatine emigrants or their descendants who faltered in their duty to their country and the cause of humanity." Rudolph L. Shoemaker, member of Assembly from this county in 1812-13, was a son of Johan Jost. He was a farmer and lived and died in the present town of German Flats, not far from the site of the village of Mohawk. He was a warm supporter of the War of 1812. Robert Shoemaker, a younger brother of Rudolph L., was ap- pointed sheriff of the county in 1817 and held the office several years ; he was a prompt and efficient officer. He also represented the county in the Assembly in 1822. Late in life he removed with his family to Illinois and died there. Thomas Shoemaker, the patentee, had a nu- merous family, among whom was a son of the same name, who partici- pated in the battle of Oriskany, and afterwards his wife and one of his children (Christopher) and a son of John Shoemaker, then quite young, were taken prisoners and carried to Canada. There are now many descendants of the Shoemaker families in Herkimer county.
The Smith Family .- The Schmidts were among the emigrants of 1710 and for a time remained at the camps on Livingston's manor. Four of the name came to the Great Flats, two of whom settled on the north side and two on the south side of the river. Adam Michael Schmidt was one of the volunteers with Colonel Nicholson in 1711.
83
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
Descendants of the patentees were for many years quite numerous in the county, but many removed to other localities. Colonel Nicholas Smith, a prominent resident of Utica in recent years, lost his parents at the hands of Indians and tories during the Revolution. In common with the other patentees of Burnetsfield, the family felt its share of suffering during that struggle.
The Starings .- There were six males and one married female of this name among the Burnetsfield patentees. The name was once numer- ous in the county. Hendrick Staring (who often wrote his name Henri) was a man of some note in the Revolution and subsequently. A native of the county, he lived and died within the limits of the present town of Schuyler. He was one of the few survivors of the Oriskany battle and from that time held prominent office in the militia of the dis- trict, soon attaining the rank of colonel. Late in the fall of 1781 he was so unfortunate as to be surrounded and captured near Fort Herkimer, with Abraham Wollever, by a party of Indians. Believing it was the intention of his captors to put him to death by torture, the colonel managed to effect his escape during the first night after he was taken and returned to the fort after an absence of two days and nights. He lived near the small stream known as Staring's Creek, in Schuyler, on which there was a grist- mill which, it will be remembered, was burned by the French and Indians in 1757, was rebuilt and again destroyed dur- ing the Revolution. Though of limited education, Colonel Staring was a man of thrift, became owner of large landed estates, and was conspic- uous for his general intelligence and good judgment. After the estab- lishment of peace, he was a member of the convention from Montgom- ery county, called in 1788, to consider the United States constitution, which had been submitted to the several States for ratification. He was an ardent friend of Governor Clinton, who, with a large majority of the convention when elected, were opposed to the ratification of the con- stitution, and it is supposed that he voted that way. Upon the organ- ization of Herkimer county in 1791 Colonel Staring was appointed first judge of the court of Common Pleas, and held the office many years. Many curious and amusing stories have been told of the methods of administering justice followed by Judge Staring ; but he was an honest, straightforward man and filled his position for the good of the com-
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
munity, if not always according to the acknowledged proprieties of the bench. The judge died in the town of Schuyler, leaving male and female descendants. His wife was a daughter of Johan Jurgh Kast, and through her he obtained title to about 600 acres of the Kast patent, which he left to his children.
The Temouth Family .- This name appears in the Palatine records as Demot and Demouth, and others not accustomed to the German method of spelling often wrote the name Damewood. John Jost parted with the lot of land granted him at Little Falls before the Revolution, and probably before 1757, as no trace of the family is found near that place. During the Revolution, the Demouths were in the vicinity of Herkimer. Captain Demouth was with John Adam Helmer in the dangerous service of carrying a message to Colonel Gansevoort during the siege of Fort Schuyler, as before related. After the close of the war some of the Demouths migrated to Onondaga county with the Realls. There are very few of the name now resident in this county.
The Welleven (or Wolleaver) Family .- This name is written Woll- eben and Wohleben in the list of heads of Palatine families on the west side of the Hudson in 1710. Nicholas W. was a patentee in Burnets- field and also in Staley's first and second tracts, and died in 1773, leaving six sons, Henry, Peter, Richard, John, Abraham and Jacob ; and six daughters, Catharine, wife of Frederick Shoemaker; Mary Sophia, wife of Peter Flagg; Elizabeth, wife of Frederick Schute ; Lany, wife of Frederick Bellinger; and Hannah, wife of John Emgie, or Empie, who was a tory and went with his family to Canada. Richard, John, Peter, and Abraham were in the battle at Oriskany; the two former were killed, the others returning, Peter with a slight wound. Peter was one of the party in the Little Falls mill when it was burned, and made his escape. Peter Wolleaver lived on the farm in Manheim afterward known as the Christy place, which he hired of Joseph Brant, the Mohawk chief. When the chief sent word to him in 1777 that he would come and tomahawk him if he did not immediately leave the farm, Wolleaver removed to Fort Herkimer with his family in the fall of that year, and remained there until the close of the war. He had three sons who reached manhood, Nicholas, John and Henry. His daughters were Elizabeth, wife of Frederick Shoemaker; Cath-
85
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
arine, wife of Garret Van Slyke; Susan, wife of Jacob Edick ; Han- nah, who married a Mr. Furman ; Mary, wife of Mr. White, and Eva who married Stanton Fox. Abraham Wolleaver, one of the patentee's sons, was taken prisoner in October, 1781, with Henry Staring near Fort Herkimer; was knocked down soon afterward, tomahawked and scalped by his captors and left, while they went on with their other prisoner towards Oneida. Abraham survived his terrible injuries; was out two nights, his feet being frozen, and near sunset of the third day was brought to the fort. He lived a number of years afterward.
The Wever (or Weaver) Family .- This name appears on the Living- ston's manor lists as Weber and Webber. Jacob and Nicholas were among the volunteers in the Montreal expedition of 1711. Peter J. Weaver was an ensign in 1775 in the Fourth battalion of militia of the county. Some of the family settled in Deerfield, Oneida county, in 1773. George L. Weaver was taken prisoner during the Revolution and held in captivity about two years, suffering much inhuman treat- ment. Four hundred acres of land were assigned to this family, two hundred on the north and two hundred on the south side of the river. Descendants of the family still reside in the county.
This chapter may be fittingly concluded with the words of the late Chancellor Haven in speaking of the men who fought the battle of Oriskany : "The men who fought this battle were good specimens of a peculiar people. They had been sifted out of Europe by a process of natural and gracious selection. They came across the ocean-or their fathers and mothers did-not for money, but for liberty and religion. They lived in log houses, but they went to log churches and their children to log school-houses. They ate from wooden dishes and were clad in homespun, but they read the Bible and gov- erned themselves. They had wooden plows and used sickles instead of reaping machines, and their only sewing machines were their mothers and wives and sweethearts ; but these could put a music into their rural life far better than the noise of the modern machine. There was not a pauper nor an ignoramus among them. They were the hap- piest and the best people on earth. Such a people fought the battle of Oriskany-nay, the battle of freedom for all mankind."
86
HISTORY OF HIERKIMER COUNTY.
CHAPTER V.
GROWTH AND PROGRESS.
ITH the dawn of peace and the return of prisoners and refugees, industry and resultant prosperity and contentment settled down upon the Mohawk valley. The same spirit of patriotic determination which had impelled the settlers to risk their lives and endure suffering and loss for the permanent establishment of homes in a free country, now enabled them to take up with renewed energy the tilling of their farms, the building of mills, the construction of roads and other labors for the development of their chosen valley.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.