USA > New York > Fulton County > History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents > Part 36
USA > New York > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents > Part 36
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peace or war upon savage and civilized life over a wide extent. Went- worth Greenhalgh, describing the Mohawk villages in 1677, says of thi, one: "Tionondogue is double stockadoed around; has four ports, four foot wide apiece; contains abt 30 houses; is situated on a hill a bow shott from ye River." This Indian village was destroyed by the French in 1667, and again 1693; the inhabitants in each case escaping and returning to the spot.
MISSIONS AMONG THE MOHAWKS.
As early as 1642, certain French Jesuits undertook missionary work among the Mohawks, but their efforts did not result in their obtaining any permanent foothold among the swarthy natives. The Rev. Isaac Jogues, the first intrepid missionary of this society, fell a martyr to his zeal and devotion, as has been elsewhere related. Not daunted by his fate, through the following years there were found courageous men to take their lives in their hands for their Master's sake-Francois Joseph Bressaue, in 1644, Simon Le Moyne, 1655-7; Jacques Fremin, 1667-72 ; Jean Pierron, 1667-8; Francois Boniface, 1668-73; Francois Valliant De Gueslis, 167 1; and Jacques De Lamberville, 1675-8.
Doubtless the prominence of this village as an Indian stronghold and centre of influence had weight in directing thither. also, English mission- ary zeal, and the pious anxiety of her Majesty Queen Anne to exert her divine prerogative as defender and propagator of the faith. An Episcop.il society in England was incorporated by royal charter from King William 111., June 16, 1701, known as the " Society for the Propagation of the Gov- pel in Foreign Parts." It had as one of its objects the conversion of the Indians, and attracted the careful attention of "Good Queen Anne " from the first of her reign. In 1702, or 1703, the Rev. Mr. Talbot came a> 1 missionary to the Mohawks. He was the first clergyman of the English Church in these parts. His stay was short, and he was succeeded by the Rev. Thoroughgood Moore, who arrived in New York in 1704, and pro. ceeded thence to Albany to act as a missionary to the Indians. Owing to the influence of the fur traders, or some others, he was unsuccessful and returned to New York.
Rev. Thomas Barclay was chaplain to the fort at Albany in 1708, and acted also as missionary to the Mohawks until November, 1712, when the Rev. William Andrews was sent out by the society as a successor to Mr Moore. By order of the Queen, a fort was built for his security in the discharge of his duty, and as a protection for the Mohawks against the French. it was called Fort Hunter after the governor of the colony, and had a garrison of twenty men. The liberality of the Queen also caused the erection and endowment of a chapel and manse The manse is still standing in sturdy strength. It is a two-story stone building, about as hiv 35 feet, and is, perhaps, the oldest structure in the Mohawk valley, west (1 Schenectady. A glebie of goo aures was also attached to it. There is yet many undimmed eyes that might have seen the chapel destroyed a 1820. Mr. David Cady, of Amsterdam, speaks of having heard with interest his grandmother, long a dweller near it, des ribe her attending; Christmas services in that church; its quaint arrangement and appoint- ments; and the wondrous dignity of an old colored man, in a sort of livery of scarlet coat, ett., who was the chief official, pew -opener and organ-blower It is matter of great regret that this church, so vivid a memento ol the past, was not spared, as it might well have been by a slight and unmm portant divergence of the line of the Fire Canal, which was cut directly through its site. It had a bell, which now does service daily in the academy at
109
QUEEN ANNE'S CHAPEL-MISSIONARIES AT FORT HUNTER.
Johnstown village. The entrance to the chapel was on the north side. The pulpit stood at the west end, and was provided with a sounding board. Directly opposite were two pews with elevated floors; one of which, with a wooden canopy, in later times was Sir William Johnson's; the other was for the minister's family. The rest of the congregation had movable benches for seats.
This chapel contained a veritable organ, the very Christopher Columbus of its kind; in all probability the first instrument of music of such dignity in all the wilderness west of Albany. It was over fifty years earlier than the erection of the Episcopal Church at Johnstown, which had an organ brought from England, of very respectable size and great sweetness of tone, which continued in use up to the destruction of the church by fire in 1836.
Queen Anne in 1712 sent as furniture for the chapel a communion table cloth, two damask napkins, a "carpet for the communion tahle," an altar cloth, a pulpit cloth, a large tasseled cushion for the pulpit, and a small one for the desk; a Holland surplice, a large Bible, two Common Prayer Books, one of them for the clerk ; a Book of Homilies, a large silver salver, two large silver flaggons, a "Silver dish." a silver chalice, four paint- ings of her Majesty's arms on canvas, one for the chapel and three for the different Mohawk castles; twelve large octavo Bibles, very finely bound, for the use of the chapels among the Mohawks and Onondagas, with two paint- ed tables containing the Lord's Prayer, Creed and Ten Commandments, "at more than 20 guineas expense." To which the society having charge of the mission added a table of their seal finely painted in proper colors, to be fixed likewise in the chapel of the Mohawks ; all of which safely arrived with Mr. Andrews in the fall. On the 15th of Nov., 1712, Rev. Wm. An- drews was officially received at Albany by the Commissioners of Indian af- fairs and the Mohawk sachems. The commissioners promised to procure "men, slees, and horses for conveying the goods of the Rev. Wm. Andrews to the Mohawks country." Mr. Andrews was no more successful than his predecessors, and in 1719 abandoned his mission.
The Reformed Dutch Church at Albany had sent its ministers occasion- ally to instruct the Indians in the Christian faith, the Rev. Godefridus Dellius being the first, who was succeeded by the Rev. Johannis Lydius. A petition to "his Excellency, Edward Lord Viscount Cornbury, her Ma;e's. Cap'n Gen'l and Gov'r in Chief, &c., &c," dated Albany, Dec. 30, 1703, signed Johannis Lydius, asks for an order on the Collector or Receiver General for £60, " one year's salary in ye service as aforesaid, which is expired November Ist, 1703." Mr. Lydius continued his mission- ary labors until his death, March 1, 1710. His successor, representing the same church, was the Rev. Petrus Van Driesen, who was still with the mission in 1722.
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The most cordial relations existed between the ministers of the Reformed Dutch and Episcopal churches in their Indian mission work. After the Rev. Wm. Andrews had abandoned his mission, the Church of England had no resident missionary among the Mohawks until the Rev. Henry Bar- clay came in 1735, being appointed catechist to the Indians at Fort Hunter. His stay with them was made very uncomfortable by the French war and the attitude of his neighbors. He had no interpreter, and but a poor sup- port, and his life was frequently in danger. In 1745 he was obliged to leave Fort Hunter, and in 1746 was appointed rector of Trinity Church, New York, where he died.
Lieutenant Governor Clarke, in 1736, directed the attention of the As- sembly to the dilapidated condition of the military works at Fort Hunter, and suggested that a new fort be built at the carrying place between the Mohawk river and Wood creek, afterwards the site of Fort Stanwix, and the garrison transferred from Fort Hunter to this new position. The car- rying out of this project was not acceptable to the Mohawks, for in 1739 they demanded that the defences of Fort Hunter be rebuilt and a garrison continued there, under a threat that they would leave their own country and remove to Canada. The post had become an important one to them. The historian Colden says : " An officer of the regular troops told me that while he was commandant of Fort Hunter. the Mohawks on one of these nceasions fa war dance] told him that they expected the usual mili- tary honors as they passed the garrison. The men presented their pieces as the Indians passed, and the drum beat a march ; and with less respect the officer said they would have been dissatisfied. The Indians passed in ungle row, one after the other, with great gravity and profound silence, and every one of them, as he passed the officer, took his gun from his shoulder. and fired into the ground near the officer's foot. They marched in this
manner three or four miles from their castle. The women, on these occa- sions, follow them with their old clothes, and they send back by them their finery in which they marched from the castle."
Sir Wm. Johnson, writing to Lieutenant-Governor De Lancey, under date of " Mount Johnson, 6 June. 1755," speaks as follows :
"I returned last night from the Conogohery Indian Castle, having first been at the Mohock Castle. At both Settlements I have fixt on Places to build them Forts. At the hither Castle I propose it to be nearly on a Line with Fort Hunter, to take in the Church as a Bastion & to have a com- munication Pallisado between the two Forts, whichwill be a small expence & in case of an Attack may be of great Service by mutually assisting each other, and if drove to the necessity of quiting the One they may still main- tain the other."
Eleven days later Johnson writes De Lancey :
" I have last Night with much Difficulty agreed with three Men, to build the two Forts at the Mohawk Castles ; As wood fitt for that Purpose is very scarse thereabouts, I could hardly get them to undertake the work for yt. Sum."
Rev. John Ogilvie was Dr. Barclay's successor in this mission. He com- menced his work in March, 1749, and succeeded Dr. Barclay also at Trinity Church, New York, after the latter's death in 1764. An effort was next made to introduce converted Indians as missionaries and school teachers, to reclaim the natives from their savage life. In August, 1769, there was an Indian school in operation at Fort Hunter, and a list of the scholars may be found in the Documentary History of New York.
Sir W'm. Johnson, writing to Lord Hillsborough from Johnson Hall, August 14, 1770, says : "The Mohocks have had Missionaries of the Church of England amongst them from the Reign of Queen Anne till within these few years, they are now without any, & from the scarcity of Clergymen or some other cause, the Society cannot procure them on the Sallary which their small funds have limitted them to, whilst at the same time the Ind'. find that their Brother- in Canada &", who were our Enemies, are regu- larly supplied, & one lately appointed in Nova Scotia at the Expence of Government as tis said, I therefore cannot help at the Intreaty of the Ind'. humbly recommend to his Majesty's consideration the afford" some al- lowances for the Mohock Mission which has always been under the im- mediate protection of the Crown, declaring it as my belief that if any far- ther provision could be made to employ others in so good a work it would increase their reverence for the Crown, and their attachment to the British Interest."
Pursuant to this appeal, the last missionary to the Mohawks was ap- pointed, namely, the Rev. John Stuart, who arrived at Fort Hunter Dec. 2, 1770. He prepared, with the assistance of the celebrated Joseph Brant, a Mohawk translation of the Gospel of St. Mark. At the breaking out of the Revolution he made himself obnoxious to the yeomanry of the Mohawk valley by his relations to the Johnson family and the Indians, and his un- compromising loyalty to the crown. It is said his house was attacked and plundered. his church turned into a tavern, and, in ridicule and contempt, a barrel of rum placed on the reading desk. Mr. Stuart was thus nerewi- tated to remove, and in June, 1778, was reported to be in Schenectady
At the opening of the Revolution Fort Hunter was in a state of delapi- dation. The remains of its walls were then pulled down and a palisade thrown about the chapel, which was also defended by block houses mount- ing cannon. A garrison was stationed here toward the close of the war.
OTHER EARLY CHURCHES.
Next to Queen Anne's Chapel, so historic, the first house of worship in Warrensburgh appears to have been a log church standing near what is known as Snook's Corners. AAll trace of it is now gone. Faithful itiner. ant ministers occasionally held services in barns and dwellings. At one such service a lad of eight or ten years was to receive the ordinance of baptism, but when the time for the rite arrived the frightened and truant candidate had to be pursued among the rafters of the barn. where he had sought refuge. In the log church Rev. James Dempster officiated some time: no record of his ministry can now be found He left a character for sterling piety, coupled with : ctivity and no little eccentricity.
In 1769 a German named Lawrence Shuler, originally from Wurtem- burgh, but for some years a resident of Catskill, located upon a fertile farm of three hundred acres, now one mile east of Minaville. He reared
110
THE HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
a family of sixteen children. "A man distinguished for good sense, tem- pered by a spirit of piety and benevolence, and diffusing an influence of goodness and liberality through his family circle as well as in the neigh- borhood. The first Reformed Dutch church in the town was erected upon his lands, as was also the neighborhood school-house, he contributing lib- erally towards the erection and sopport of both." To this church the Rev. Thomas Romeyn, of Caughnawaga, was called to minister in 1784, and he served it acceptably some years. This church continued in use until 1808, when another was erected at the "street," one mile west, and only occasionally was service held in the old church thereafter, until the frame was sold and removed from its site. The burial ground around had become populous, and it now contains many ancient head-stones, with quaint inscriptions.
ORIGINAL OWNERSHIP OF THE SOIL.
Maps illustrating this topic will be found on the page with the outline map of Montgomery and Fulton counties. In 1703 the land about Fort Hunter and extending across the Schoharie creek was granted to John Peterson Maibee. This was the first grant in Tryon county.
October 16th, 1753, Walter Butler purchased from the Indians a tract of 86,000 acres, which began on the south side of the Mohawk river, " at the land in possession of one David Cavill, and running thence along said river to the flats or lowlands of Tienonderogo ; thence around said flats to Tienonderogo creek; thence along said creek to Schoharie; thence along said Schoharie as they run southerly and easterly; thence to the bounds of Schenectady, and around other patented lands to beginning." This was divided into six tracts, one of which was transferred to Charles Wil- liams and others, August 29th, 1735, and comprised the principal portion of what is now the town of Florida. It began at a certain marked tree standing "on the east side of Schoharie river, opposite the dwelling house of Wm. Bowne, and running thence north, 40° 30' east, 277 chains, to Mohawk's river; then down the stream, as it runs, to a certain place on the south bank of said river, which is 461 chains, measured on a straight line, distant from the end of the line running north, 40° 30' east; then south, 62° 30' west, 612 chains, to Schoharie river; then down said river, as it runs, to the place where said 14,000 acres began; excepting out of said tract the lands formerly granted to Henry Huff and the lands called the village lands." All trees 24 inches in diameter and upwards, at 12 inches from the ground, were to be reserved for masts for the Royal Navy. The parties taking possession of this tract were to pay the yearly rent of 2 shillings, 6 pence for each 100 acres at the Custom House in New York, and agreed to settle and cultivate at least 3 acres out of every 50 within the next three years.
This was the tract afterward owned by Sir Peter Warren, and known as Warrensbush, probably purchased by him in 1737: as a petition to be al- lowed to purchase 6,000 acres of land is filed by him in the Secretary of State's office, dated May 5th, 1737. This land remained in the Warren family for nearly sixty years. Peter Warren was born in Ireland in 1704. and was trained to the nautical profession. In 1727 he was appointed to the command of the "Grafton," and, after a brilliant career, was made admiral in 1747. During part of this time he lived in New York, where he built the house No. I Broadway, afterwards known as the Washington Hotel, and married Susannah, eldest sister of Hon. James Delancey.
After the death of Sir l'eter Warren, Warrensbush, as he had named it, was divided into three parts : one part was conveyed to Charles Fitzroy. otherwise called Lord Southampton, a grandson of Gov. Cosby, and Ann, his wife ; one part to the Earl of Abingdon, and the third to Henry Gage and Susannah, his wife. Fitzroy conveyed his part to Col. MacGregor, a merchant of the city of New York, May 29, 1795, who had a survey made July 6, 1795 by Lawrence Vrooman, and he to Leonard Gansevoort of Albany, April 8, 1796. The Earl of Abingdon and Henry and Susannah Gage conveyed their two shares to John Watts, of New York, who was formerly their attorney, and was also a brother-in-law to Sir Peter Warren, they having married sisters, daughters of James Delancy. David Cady was agent for John Watts in Warrensbush.
The same year ( 1735 that Charles Williams received his grant of 14,000 arres, patents were given to Edward and Phillas Harrison, Anne Willnot, Maynard and Elizabeth Guerin, Hemy Cosby and Wm. Coshy, jr., which comprised, with those before mentioned, all the land of the town of Florida.
In the spring of 1738, W'm. Johnson, then a young man 23 years of age. was sent by his uncle, Sir Peter Warren, to take charge of and form settle- ments upon the tract he Warren had lately purchased. He first located on the south bank of the Mohawk, on what is now known as the Blood farm, about a mile below the village of Port Jackson. Here he opened a little country store, his uncle furnishing the money to the amount of {200. Goods were purchased in New York, and included everything that would sell well on the frontier, not forgetting rum. Johnson's customers were both whites and Indians, and the trade in furs was considerable. Sir Peter attended to the shipping of them to England. The means of both at this time were limited, and Sir Peter saw the advantage to be gained by settling his lands as rapidly as possible. In a letter to young Johnson, from Boston, dated Nov. 20, 1738, commencing, " Dear Billy," he recom- mends planting a large orchard in the following spring, and girdling trees for clearing. "In doing which," he says, "I would be regular and do it in square fields, leaving hedge rows at each side, which will keep the land warm, be very beautiful, and subject you to no more expense than doing it in a slovenly, irregular manner." In 1742 Johnson began to make preparations to move to the north side of the river, which coming to his uncle's knowledge, quite displeased him, as he supposed his own lands would be neglected. However, the young trader did move, and in 1744 built the stone house in the town of Amsterdamn known as Fort Johnson.
The first settlements in the town of Florida are supposed to have been made by Germans from Schoharie, in the reign of Queen Anne.
RECORDS OF OLD MOHAWK.
The clerk's office of the town of Florida has an ancient looking, parch- ment-bound volume of somewhat coarsish paper, upon each leaf of which is a large watermark representing in a circle a sitting figure holding in the. left hand a lance and in the right a plant, the circle surmounted by the regal crown. The first record in this book is of a town meeting, held in and for the town of Mohawk, on the first Tuesday in April, 1788, about a month after the town was formed. The entries are quaint and the verbiage and spelling often quite original. "Opened the poll," says the record, " and adjourned to the church. After reading the laws, proceeded to choose town officers." At this election were chosen a supervisor, two collectors, five assessors, five constables, three overseers of the poor, eight fence-viewers, four pound-keepers and eleven path-masters. The next election was "ordered at the house of John Visscher, town clerk, Fort Hunter." Thirty-une path-masters were this year elected. It was "concluded by majority of votes in the town of Mohawk, that hogs shall be confined in pastures." Then follow the oaths of officials.
That of the supervisors might well be commended for use in these later days: "I do solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, that I will in all things, to the best of my knowledge and ability, faithfully and impartially execute and perform the trust reposed in me as Supervisor of the Town of Mohawk; that I will not pass any account or any article thereof where- with I shall think the said county is not chargeable, nor will I disallow any account or article thereof wherewith 1 think the said county is justły chargeable." The town clerk and overseer of the poor took similar oaths. Minute descriptions of marks upon horses, cattle, sheep and hogs, are numerous in the records, as "horses branded on the left thigh, letters C. D. The mark of cattle, sheep and hogs, a square crop of left ear, and a slit in the right;" "a crop of the left air, and a squar hoel in the wright."
We find here the undertaking of a certain person by way of public aur- tion " to maintain one of the poor of Mohawk town, for the term of one year," the consideration being in this case "the sum of eight pounds nineteen shilling:" and in another, "eleven pounds fourteen shilling" This last named party was the next year undertaken for the sum of "nine pounds, seventeen shulings and sixpence."
Notice is given for holding an " Election for the Mohawk Town, 2;ch April, 1790, of one Representative to the Congress of the United States from the counties of Montgomery and Ontario, and that part of the county of Alhany which lies at the west side of Hudson river; three senators for the western district of the State of New York, and six members to repre- sent the county of Montgomery in the House of Assembly."
September 19. 1790, the commissioners of highways ordered the sum of ten pound, to be raised by tax for the expense of three-inch plank "for the use of the bridges on public highways in said town, to wit, the Tugh- 1
111
EARLY RECORDS OF THE TOWN OF FLORIDA.
tenando bridge, and the high bridge at the upper side of Mr. Elliot's." The varied spelling of the names of the "twin sisters" creeks, running through the towns of Amsterdam and Florida -"Ouctenunda," " Tinten- unda," " Tughtenando," "Chuctenunda "-will have been noticed, and is easily traced to the difficulty of fixing the guttural Indian tones in our less flexible orthography.
In the year 1791, we find a list of licenses and permits given, thirty- three in numher, amounting to £64 105. The entry quite innocently omits to say for what such permits were given. Perhaps tradition may help us to conjecture. In 1787, we find entered, in extenso : " Received June 4th, 1787, of Mr. Paschal N. Smith, thirty-three pounds in full for the commutation of quit rent on two thousand acres of land in a patent granted the 12th of November, 1737, to James De Laney, Paschal Nelson, Jacob Glen, and others, the aforesaid two thousand acres being the original patentee right of Paschal Nelson, and lays on Aurieskill near the Mohawk river, formerly Albany county, now Montgomery county." Signed, Peter Curtenius, R. Q. R.
Other entries of similar character testify to the early anxiety to get rid of the vexatious ground rents. But the lease system was well entrenched, and the owners knew well their value ; only slowly and gradually was the right to the soil obtained. A lease, dated "20th Feb., 1789," represents the lessee as obtaining from "the Right Honorable the Earl of Abingdon, of the Kingdom of Great Britain, for the consideration of five hillings, Int sixty-five in a map of Warrensburgh, made by John R. Bleeker, 1766, con- taining one hundred acres, yielding and paying the yearly rent of one pepper corn if demanded." It bears the signature of Willoughby, Earl of Abingdon, and is sealed with wax, with the impress apparently of an in- taglio ring. The paper has the regal water mark
Here also may be cited a quit-claim of certain leaseholds of which we have spoken : " Whereas, John Watts of the city of New York, and Jane, his wife, did purchase from the Earl of Abingdon, of Great Britian, and from Henry Gage and Susanna, his wife, and others their trustees, two tracts or parcels of land situated at a place called Warrensburgh, in the town of Mohawk, county of Montgomery, State of New York, formerly part of the estate of Sir Peter Warren, and being two-thirds which, on a partition thereof, fell to and were severally conveyed to the said Earl of Abingdon, and to said Henry and Susanna Gage; and whereas, since such purchase, said John Watts hath sold and conveyed sundry lots thereof to David Cady, Nathan Stanton, Ezra Murray, Phillip and Peter Frederick, William and Peter Youngs, George and Jacob Staleys, John Van Derveer, Peter and Jacob Houck, Elisha Cady, George, Christian and Peter Service, Rooleiffe Covenhoven, Asa Waterman, John Quackenboss, Ephraim Brockway, Lewis Phillip, Phillip Doty, and sundry others, with covenants on the part of said John Watts to convey the same in full to them on pay- ment of certain sums in the said demises mentioned. And, whereas, it was intended, and it is just and reasonable, that the said several persons and their heirs and assigns, to whom such conveyances have been already made, should hold the same free, clear and discharged of dower, or claim of dower of said Jane Watts in the same : Now, in consideration of the premises, and to carry the same into effect, and also for and in considera- tion of the sum of ten shillings, with which the said Jane doth acknowledge herself satisfied and paid, she the said Jane, by and with the consent of her said husband, signified by his being a party hereto, hath remised, released, and forever quit-claimed untn the said David Cady, and the several others above named, the said lands and premises, free and clear of all dower and claim of dower of her, said Jane Watts, of and in the same."
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