History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents, Part 12

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 664

USA > New York > Fulton County > History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents > Part 12
USA > New York > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents > Part 12

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).

For the last half century of the tribal existence of the Mohawks in their own beautiful valley they had but two villages designated as castles. Of these the Canajoharie, or upper castle, was situated in the present town of Danube, and the lower on the east bank of the Schoharie creek, at its junction with the Mohawk. The latter bore the Indian name of Dyion- darogon.

CHAPTER III. .

CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE PAINTINE IMMO. RATION-THE GERMAN +TTLE- MENTS ON THE HUDSON AND THE MOHAWK.

The wars in Europe in the latter part of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth, were waged principally on religious grounds. Most of the European powers still adhered to the Catholic faith, and supported the vigorous efforts of the Roman see for the extinction of Protestantism. The lower Palatinate in Germany was for many years the scene of the rapine and ravages so eminently incidental to religious wars, until the remnant of the population holding the tenets of the Protestant faith could no longer find a hiding place from their implacable enemies, the French, and, fleeing from their native land, took refuge in England. under the protection of a power which had then assumed its historic posi- tion as the chief bulwark of Protestantism.

Queen Anne, upon the recommendation of her board of trade, granted the petition of Joshua Kockerthal, a Lutheran minister, in behalf of him- self and fifty -one of his suffering co-religionists, that they might be trans- ported to her Majesty's American colonies. The immigrants are supposed to have arrived at New York in the latter part of 1708, as in August of that year Lord Lovelace, governor of the colony of New York, was directed to provide for their subsistence. They were naturalized before leaving England, and sent over at the expense of the government. In June, 1710. three thousand more of the Palatines, as they were called, from the name of their native land, arrived in charge of Gos Hunter. Over four hun- dred had perished by sickness during the voyage. The British Govern- ment not only transported the immigrants free of charge, but was to sup- port them for a year, when, it was expected, they wonkl have become self-sustaining. In a report of the board of trade to Queen Anne, dated December 9, 1709, it was suggested that they might be located along the Mohawk river, where they could be employed in making tar and turpentine from the abundant pine trees ; and would serve as a protection to the colony from the French in Canada, and the Indians in their interest.

In pointing out a place as most suitable for the settlement of the Pala- tines, the board of trade designated a tract on the Mohawk, about fifty miles in length and four in breadth ; and another about thirty miles in length, upon a creek flowing into the Mohawk, referring to the Schohane. the land around which, though claimed by the Mohawk Indians, could easily be purchased of them. It was also proposed that the settlers be employed for a limited time in making naval stores, and be naturalized in the province, free of charge. The English Attorney-General reported a contract, which was executed by them, granting them forty acres of land for each person, and exemption from taxes and quit rents for seven years.

Governor Hunter came over at the same time with this last body of the Palatines, having particular directions where to settle them, according to the suggestions of the lords of trade. Upon a survey being made, how - ever, of the lands indicated, they were found destitute of pine timber, and hence, though highly fertile, unfitted for the design entertained. Governor Hunter, therefore, bought of Robert Livingston a tract of six thousand acres on the east side of the Hudson, which he describes as good soil ; and in December, 1710, he settled a large portion of the Germans upon it. Some, however, preferred to remain in New York city, and others found their way into Pennsylvania, and settled there.

Having removed to the lands purchased by Hunter, the immigrant- erected temporary huts, settling in seven squads, each with a commissary, through whom they received their supplies from an agent of the Queen. The man Livingston, from whom the land was bought, obtained a contract for furnishing these supplies, and is said to have cheated the settlers in the quantity of flour delivered by making the tare of the barrels less than their actual weight. Governor Hunter, who exercised a supervision over the settlement, recommended that five families work in partnership. hold- ing their property in common, thinking such an arrangement would greatly facilitate the manufacture of tar and turpentine, for which purpose he bought a neighboring tract of pine timber. The newcomers were com- pelled to work under the direction of government agents, and found the business very distasteful. They justly complained to the government officials. Some of their children had been bound out to the earlier in- habitants of the colony, and the conditions on which they came to New York had been disregarded. Governor Hunter's course in settling them on lands where they were employed in improving the estates of others. instead of in the fertile precincts of the Mohawk, sorely aggrieved them. and led to what was called " unruly conduct." A member of the British Government, in a letter to one of his colleagues, doubtless with too good reason, says :

"I think it unhappy that Col. Hunter at his first arrival in his gov. ernment, fell into ill hands, for this Livingston has been known many years in that province for a very ill man; he formerly virtualled the forces at Albany, in which he was guilty of the most notorious frauds, by which he greatly improved his estate; he has a mill and a brew-house upon hi- land, and if he can get the victualling of those Palatines, who are conven- iently posted for his purpose, he will make a very good addition to his estate, and I am persuaded the hopes he has of such a subsistence to be allowed were the chief if not the only inducement> that prevailed with him to propose to Col. Hunter to settle them upon his land."

In May, 1711, the number of Palatines on the Hudson was reported to be 1.761 They had no idea, however, of remaining in their condition of mitigated slavery, and relinquishing the region designated for them They sent some of their number to view the " promised land," and select a good location for a settlement.

Early in the summer of 1;11, the lords of trade were informed by the Colonial Secretary that the Palatines would not work at making tar, not remain on the land- where they were settled, but were intent on going to St hohanie and settling upon the tract which had been pronnsed them by Queen Anne. They were disposed to force their way, if necessary, and Governor Hunter was obliged to bring a body of troops to the settlement to disarm them and compel them to resume their labors. In the expe- dition of l'ol. Nicholson for the reduction of Canada, in the fall of 1711. about three hundred of the Palatines . heerfully enlisted, glad to escape from their hated tool, and to pay some part of their debt of vengeance to the detested French. But they had never given up their longing for the rich soil to the westward, and Governor Hunter found it no easy task to restrain them. In September, 1712, he wrote Mr. Cast, the superin- tendent, that he had exhausted all the money and credit he was master of, and thereby embarrassed himself with difficulties which he knew not

1704858

HARDSHIPS OF EARLY IMMIGRANTS-DISSATISFACTION AMONG THE PALATINES

how to surmount; and directed him to communicate to the Germans the state of affairs, and instruct them to seek employment for themselves. The tar manufacture, however, was not to be abandoned, but they must return to it when required.

Some of the leading Palatines embraced this opportunity for an emigra- tion to the banks of the Schoharie, where they had obtained permission of the Indians to settle. They threaded on foot an intricate Indian trail, bearing upon their backs their worldly possessions, consisting of "a few rude tools, a scanty supply of provisions, a meagre wardrobe, a small number of rusty fire-arms ; they had to manufacture their own furniture, if the apology for it merited such a name." They had not been very long in possession of the Schoharie valley before Nicholas Bayard, who had been commissioned as an agent of the Crown, appeared at their settlement and offered deeds from the Sovereign to those who had taken up land, if they would define its boundaries. The poor settlers, however, had been so long wasused to fair treatment that they regarded this excellent offer as a snare, and drove the agent from the community. From Schenectady he sent a message, repeating his proposition, but it was disregarded, and he sold the lands on which these Palatines had settled to a party of five men in Albany. A patent was taken by the purchasers, who called upon the occupants in the spring of 1715, and requested them to take a lease, buy or remove. To none of these terms would the latter consent, declaring that the Queen had given them the lands, and they wanted no better title. Legal proceedings were resorted to by the patentees, and a sheriff sent to arrest some of the leading Palatines. No sooner was the officer in their midst and his business known than a mob gathered and fell upon him, beating him unmercifully and inflicting other indignities, equally annoying. Some of the offenders were afterward arrested and confined in jail. Con- sidering themselves sorely oppressed, the Palatines had a petition drawn up, setting forth their grievances, and commissioned three of their number to present the memorial to the proper authorities in England.

In 1720, Hunter was succeeded by Wm. Burnet in the governorship of the province, and in consequence of the troubles with the Palatines both at Schoharie and at the original settlement on the Hudson, was specially in- structed to remove such of the latter as might desire to other localities. In October, 1722, another company of Palatines arrived at New York from Holland, having lost many of their number on the vogage. The progress made by Burnet in settling the Palatines in the Mohawk valley, will ap- pear in his letter to the board of trade, dated Nov. 21, 1722, in which he says :

"When I was at Albany I expected to have fixed the Palatines in their new Settlement which I had obtained from the Indians for them at a very easy purchase, but I found them very much divided into Parties and the cunningest of them fomenting their Divisions on purpose that the greatest number might leave the Province and then the great Tract of Land lately purchased would make so many considerable estates to the few Family's that should remain, and with this view they told me that they found the land was far short of what the Indians had represented it to them and that not above twenty Familys could subsist there which 1 shewed them was a mere pretence by naming a Tract where 130 Familys live and flourish, which by their own confession was less and no better soil than theirs how- ever since I found it was their humor to undervalue what had been done for them I thought it best to wait till they should of themselves be forward to settle this new Tract rather than to show too much earnestness in press- ing them to it. But as about sixty family's desired to be in a distinct Tract from the rest & were those who had all along been most hearty for the tiovernment I have given them leave to purchase land from the Indians. he ween the present English settlements near Fort Hunter & part of Can- adla on a Creek called Canada Creek where they will be still more inmedi- ately a Barrier against the sudden incursions of the French, who made this their Road when they last attacked & burned the Frontier Town called henectady .- The other Palatines have since my return to New York, ent some of their body to desire a warrant of survey for ye New Tract already pun hased, which convinces me that I had done right, in not being tin ernest in that atfair when I was at Albany. And indeed in my deal- ings with those people I find very little gratitude for favors done them, & particularly that those who were best taken care of & settled on good Land- Is my Predecessor are the most apt to misrepresent him and this managed bsy a few cunning persons among them that lead the rest as they please. who are fer the generality a laborious and honest but a headstrong ignor- ant people."

As the Palatines began to discover that all their troubles proceeded from their own ignorance and stubborness some of them purchased the lands on which they had settled, but a large portion of them in the spring of 1723 removed to Pennsylvania. Others moved up the Mohawk valley and set- tled in and about the present towns of Canajoharie and Palatine and to the westward along the river. These dissatisfied Palatines from Schoharie were, with but few exceptions, the earliest known white settlers in this part of the Mohawk valley. The agents of the Germans had doubtless travers- ed this region a number of years earlier to spy out the most desirable places for settlement ; and that some of them were in occupancy prior to 1723 clearly appears from the fact that Governor Burnet in November, 1722, in- formed the Board of Trade that he had permitted some to purchase lands from the Indians between the English settlements near Fort Hunter and "part of Canada " on Canada Creek, in which location they would be a bar rier against the sudden incursions of the French.

On the 19th of October, 1723, the Stone Arabia Patent was granted to twenty-seven Palatines, who with their families numbered one hundred and twenty-seven persons. The tract conveyed by this patent contained 12,- 700 acres and was divided into twenty-eight equal parts. Fifty-one lots of fifty acres each were laid out on the tract, and each twenty-eighth part con- sisted of one or more of these lots together with a portion of the undivided land, except that two of the patentees, Lodowick Casselman and Gerhart Shaeffer took their entire twenty-eighths from the undivided portion. Bar- tholomew Picard took with his four lots enough of the undivided land to make two twenty-eighths of the grant. With these exceptions each paten- tee's portion included enough of the undivided land to make one twenty- eighth of the grant when added to his lot or lots; " these lots being," in the language of the patent, set out and granted in severalty as follows, viz :

" Lots Nos. 1 and 47 to Warner Digert ; lots Nos. 2, 44, 8 and 48 to Bartholomew Picard ; lots Nos. 3 and 36 to Johannes Schell ; lots Nos. 4 and 17 to Jacob Schell ; lots Nos. 5 and 25 to Johannes Cremse ; lots Nos. 6 and 46 to Johannes Emiger ; lot No. 7 to Wm. Vocks; lots Nos. 9 and 24 to John Christian Garlack ; lots Nos. 10 and 19 to Mardan Dil- linbeck ; lots Nos. 11 and 14 to Adam Emiger ; lots Nos. 12 and 41 to John Lawyer ; lots Nos. 13 and 38 to Andries Feink ; lots Nos. 15 and 45 to Hendrick Frey ; lots Nos. 16 and 40 to Theobald Garlack ; lots Nos. 18 and 28 to Sufferimas Diegert ; lots Nos. 20 and 34 to Wm. Coppernoll ; lots Nos. 21 and 37 to Andries Peiper ; lots Nos. 22 and 50 to Mardan Seibert ; lots Nos. 23 and 39 to Hans Deterick Casselman ; lots Nos. 26 and 33 to Christian Fink ; lots Nos. 27 and 49 to Johannes Ingolt ; lots Nos. 29 and 51 to Elias Garlack ; lots Nos. 30 and 43 to Simon Erchart ; lots Nos. 31 and 35 to John Joost Schell ; lots Nos. 32 and 42 to William Nelse."

CHAPTER IV.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF FORT HUNTER-FIRST SETTLEMENTS-SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON'S CAREER-THE. BURNETSFIELD MASSACRE.

Fort Hunter was built early in the last century at the junction of the Mohawk and Schoharie creek to serve as a frontier military post. The contract with Governor Hunter for its construction, dated October 11, 1711, provided that it should be one hundred and fifty feet square with a wall twelve feet high made of logs a foot square and pinned together at the corners. Within this inclosure there were to be a two-story block house with double loop holes and a chapel twenty-four feet square and one story high. The work was to be completed by the following July for £1,000. The contract was taken by Garret Symonce, Barent and Hendrick Vroo: man, John Wemp and Arent Van Petten of Schenectady. The fort was afterward enlarged and strengthened. The house of worship within its walls, built of stone, was called Queen Anne's chapel, being furnished by the queen shortly after its completion and provided by her with a com- minion service of silver. Attached to it was a glebe of three hundred acres of good land on which stood a two-story stone parsonage. It was under the management of an Episcopal society in England " for propagating the gospel in foreign part .. "

Fort Hunter was placed under the command of Lient, John Scott, who, having purchased a large tract of land from the Indians on the zoth of October, 1722, took a patent for fifteen hundred acres extending westward from Nuriestreck along the south bank of the Mohawk ; and on the 33d of June, 1725, his son took a patent for eleven hundred acres lying im- mediately west and extending to the site of the village of Fultonville.

THE HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

€

Hendrick and Hans Hansen in 1713 took a patent for two thousand acres near Tribes Hill, upon which they afterward settled ; and it is claimed that Henry, a son of one of them, was the first white child born north of the Mohawk between Schenectady and Palatine Bridge. In 1714 a patent for two thousand acres on the north side of the Mohawk at Caughnawaga was granted to John, Margaret and Edward Collins, who subsequently conveyed it to Myndert Wemple, Douw Fonda and Hendrick A. Vrooman, descen- dants of whom are numerous in the valley. Among the early settlers were a family named Groat who located at what is now Crane's Village. The Groat brothers in 1730 erected the pioneer gristmill west of Schenectady. The latter place had previously furnished flour to the Palatines in the Mo- hawk valley as far up as the German Flats.

About this time appeared upon the scene of pioneer labors in this region a young man destined during the course of an active and ambitious life to far outrank his neighbors in social position and in the extent of his influ- ence and possessions ; to fill the largest place in the local annals of his time and to found a community which will perpetuate his name in its own to the remotest future. William Johnson was sent into the Mohawk valley in 1738 to superintend a large estate, the title to which had been acquired by his uncle, Sir Peter Warren, a British Admiral. This tract, containing some fifteen thousand acres, lay along the south bank of the Mohawk near the mouth of Schoharie creek and mostly within the present town of Flori- da. It was called from its proprietor Warrensbush. Johnson was born at Warrentown in the county of Down, Ireland, in 1715, and was therefore twenty-three years old when he took charge of his uncle's wilderness do- main. He was to promote Captain Warren's interests by the sale of small farms in Warrensbush ; his own interests by cultivating land for himself, and their joint interests by keeping a store in which they were partners. In 1743 he became connected with the fur trade at Oswego and derived a great revenue from this and his other dealings with the Indians. Having early resolved to remain in the Mohawk valley, he applied himself earnestly . to the study of the character and language of the natives. By freely ming- ling with them and adopting their habits when it suited his interests he soon gained their good will and confidence, and gradually acquired an as- cendancy over them never possessed by any other European.

A few years after Johnson's arrival on the Mohawk he purchased a tract of land on the north side of the river. In 1744 he built a gristmill on a small stream flowing into the Mohawk from the north about three miles west of the site of Amsterdam. He also erected a stone mansion at this place for his own residence, calling it Fort Johnson. The building still stands and bears its old name. Johnson also bought from time to time great tracts of land north of the Mohawk, and at some distance from it, mostly within the present limits of Fulton county.

The Mohawk river early became the great thoroughfare toward Lake Ontario for the English colonists in prosecuting their trade with the In- dians. Governor Burnet realized the importance of controlling the lake for the purposes of commerce and of resistance to the encroachments of the French, and accordingly established in 1722 a trading post, and in 1727, a fort at Oswego. The French met this measure by the construction of defences at Niagara to intercept the trade from the upper lakes. This movement was ineffectually opposed by the Iroquois, who, to obtain assis- tance from the English, gave a deed of their territory to the King of Eng- land, who was to protect them in the possession of it.

To defend the frontier, which was exposed to invasions by the French, especially after their erection of the fortification of Crown Point, it was proposed to people the territory in that direction with Scotch Highlanders. Captain Campbell, a Highland chief, came over in 1737 to view the lands offered, which, to the amount of thirty thousand acres, it is said, Governor Clarke promised to grant free of charges, except the cost of survey and the King's qit-rent. Satisfied with the lands, and with the assurances given him, Captain Campbell transported, at his expense, trom Scotland more than four hundred adults, with their children ; but on their arrival they were prevented by the intrigues of interested officer- from setthing in the tract indicated, and suffered great hardships before they could establish and support themselves elsewhere. Many of them settled in and about Saratoga, becoming the pioneers in that quarter, as the Palatines were on the Mohawk England and France being at war, in consequence of the latter espoousing the cause of "the popish Pretender," the Chevaher St. George, the Scotch settlement was surprised on the morning of Nov 17th, 1745, Is over wy hundred French and indians, who over ame the garrison, burned all the settlers' buildings, and either killed or carried into captivity almost the whole population Thirty families were masse red.

The village of Hoosie having been similarly destroyed, no obstacle remained to the enemy's advance, and consternation prevailed in the out- lying settlements, leading many of their inhabitants to flee to Albany. The environs of that city were harrassed by parties of French and Canadian Indians, and the Six Nations wavered in their attachment to the English. At this juncture William Johnson was entrusted with the sole manage- ment of the Iroquois. It is his services in this most important and deli- cate position, wherein he stood for a large part of his life as the mediator between two races, whose positions and aims made them almost inevitably hostile, that constitutes his strongest claim to lasting and favorable remem- brance. His knowledge of the manners, customs, and language of the Indians, and the complete confidence which they always reposed in him, qualified him for this position. A high officer of his government, he was also in 1746 formally invested by the Mohawks with the rank of a chief in that nation, to whom he was thereafter known as Warraghigagey. In Indian costume he shortly after led the tribe to a council at Albany. He was appointed a colonel in the British service about this time, and by his direction of the colonial troops and the Iroquois warriors, the frontier settlements were to a great extent saved from devastation by the French and their Indian allies, the settlements north of Albany being an un- happy exception, while occasional murders and scalpings occurred even along the Mohawk.

Johnson's influence with the Indians was increased by his having a Mo- hawk woman, Molly Brant, sister of the famous chief Joseph Brant, living with him in the relation of a wife during the latter part of his life. The savages regarded the connection with great complacency, as they did the pale faced chief's intimacy with their wives and daughters generally. Johnson's first wife is understood to have been a German girl, purchased by him from a Mr. Philips, living on the south side of the Mohawk, nearly opposite Crane's Village, to whom she had been sold for payment of her passage across the ocean-a common custom for twenty-five years after the Revolution. She lived with Mr. Johnson but a few years before her death. Their children were subsequently sir John Johnson, Mrs. Guy johnson, and Mrs. Col. Claus. The generally received account is, that Johnson and his German wife were not married until during her fatal illness.

Peace nominally existed between France and England from 1748 tn 1756, but hostilities between their American colonies broke out as early as 1754. In the following year Col. Johnson was appointed a Major-General and led the expedition against Crown Point, which resulted in the disas- trous defeat of the French near Lake George. At the same time with his military promotion he was re-appointed superintendent of Indian affairs. having resigned that office in 1750, on account of the neglect of the govern- ment to pay certain claims for services. On resuming the superintendency General Johnson held a council with the Iroquois at his house, which resulted in about two hundred and fifty of their warriors following him to Lake George. The victory there gained was the only one in a generally disastrous year, and General Johnson's services were rewarded by a baronetcy and the sum of £5,000, voted by Parliament. He was also thereafter paid £600 annually as the salary of his office over the Indians. The poor Irish trader had become the wealthy baronet, Str William Johnson.

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.

History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents, Part 12

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub Publication date: 1878 Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 664

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 664