History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878, Part 147

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 932

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" I remained long in suspense before I could resolve iu what man- uer I should undertake the expedition, either with a sloop to Albany, then with a wagon to Schenectadi, and so ascend the Mohawk in a bateau, or with a chair to Schenectadi, or at once on horseback to Fort Stanwix ; ease pleaded for one of the former, my preference was given to a chair; but the impossibility to obtain one here in any way,

" This gentlemen was a distinguished scholar in several languages of Europe, but had only a small acquaintance with the English ; and due allowance must be made for the various incongruitics observable in these letters.

PHOTO. BY WILLIAMS.

D.A. CRANE,M. D.

LITH BY L.N EVERTS. PHILA. PA

RESIDENCE OF DR. D.A.CRANE, HOLLAND PATENT , ONEIDA Cº, N. Y.

ALEXANDER PIRNIE.

RESIDENCE OF ALEXANDER PIRNIE, TRENTON, ONEIDA CO. N.Y.

LITH BY L.H. EVERTS, PHILA. PA.

545

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

and the apprehension that the sloop and bateau would require a vast deal of time, more than I could have allotted to this excursion, made me at length resolve, although with reluetanee, to go on horseback. Since 1773, when I asked my dismission the Dutch cavalry, I had not rode a horse, except in 1778, from Alexandria to Mount Vernon, when I visited General Washington. Now it was a journey of nearly two hundred miles. But I was resolved; my good neighbor provided me with a saddle and other accoutrements of a cavalier,-I risked to take one of my own horses, an I proceeded slowly on. You are acquainted with all these parts so far as the house of the widow of Peter Schuy - ler, so that I cannot communleate anything deserving your attention. Now and then I ventured a few rods, but soon permitted the horse to resume his easy pace. About noon I had passed the Grooten Imbogt, about twenty miles from home, went on after dinner to Catskill, and took tea with Mr. Bogardus at the Landing, which is indeed a very agreeable spot. The increasing population of the western country gave birth to this little hamlet on the North River. Several mer- chants from New England and this State had established themselves ; last year their number was augmented to twenty, and this year sev- enteen new buildings, houses and stores, were finished. The situation is indeed delightful, on the banks of a large ereek, and not far distant from the North River, very well adapted for trading with the western country.

" The soil has nothing extraordinary to recommend it, neither was it chosen on this account hy the first settlers; their views were fur- ther extended ; they did foresee that even barren roeks, which hy no means is the ease, might, under the vivifying influence of eommeree, render these a comfortable habitation. The inhabitants were chiefly respectable men, while the family of Mr. Bogardus peculiarly might have tempted you and me to fix our residence on that spot, eould we have contemplated it, on our arrival from Europe, so as it now appears.

" Towards evening I rode on to Cough Sagie# and stopped at the house of John Bronk, persuaded, after having traveled forty miles at the first onset, that I could accomplish my purpose. My supper was but indifferent,-tea, bread and butter, with a bit of warmed mutton,-but in full compensation of it the mistress of the house was very eivil. Next morning I went to Albany, where I met with a cor- dial reception from Dr. Mareius, whose hospitality, frankness, and amiable character leave you searee time to do justice to his profes- sional merits. Every instant the decision of the election of a new Governor was expected, and as the city was pretty equally divided between the two illustrious candidates, Clinton and Jay, a painful anxiety was legible in every countenance. At 8 o'clock it was known with certainty that George Clinton was re-elected for the sixth time. The joy of his friends was more moderate than might been eon- jeeturel from the ardent zeal with which they had patrocinated this highly-respected statesman, while the friends of Mr. Jay, spurred hy the noblest motives in promoting his eleetion with all their strength, knew too well their interests and duty to disturb it. This is the gen- uine spirit of Republieanism, but, alas! too seldom listened to. In the morning the sound of guns proclaimed the Governor's election to the neighborhood.

"On Friday morning I rode on to Seheneetadi, where I spent a few hours with the Rev. Romeyn, one of the most learned and eminent divines of the Reformed Church in this State, beloved by his flock, respected by the most respectable in the State, as a man, a citizen, and a Christian preacher. He communicated to me many important observations with regard to the soil, the stupendously inereasing population of the western country, with its vast increasing strength. ' Without Alhany, without the eommeree of New York,' continued he, pleasantly, 'the south of the State might soon become an appendage to the west.' With a lively eestasy he expatiated on all its advan- tages, and gave me, with his usual aceuraey, a picturesque description of the various settlements of the Mohawk. He praised the luxuriant fields on this river; dwelt with delight on the towns of German Flatts and Herkimer ; but Schoharie he ealled a terrestrial paradise, and deseribed its farmers amongst the wealthiest and happiest inhabitants of New York State. He assured me that fifteen hundred families passed hy his house, during the winter of '91, to various parts of the western lands ; while I was afterwards informed hy another eredible witness that, during the winter of '90, within forty miles of the

river-point, where the rivers of Onondaga, Seneca, and Oswego are joined, had been counted 240 span oxen.

"I proceeded after dinner about twenty miles further ; stopped a few moments at the ancient residence of Sir William, t now occupied by Mr. Jacob Cuyler, and remained at night on Trip's Hill, at Mr. Putnam's, six miles from Caughwaga. On Saturday morning I hreakfastel at Simon Veeder's, Esq., rode on eight miles further to Bankert's Inn, and arrived about noon at the mansion of the respeet- able widow of Colonel Phil. Schuyler, in Palatine-town. There I met with a cordial reception. Mrs. Schuyler appeared most interested iu the welfare of Mrs. v. d. K. and our John, who with us, four years past, had been entertained under her hospitable roof. I was again mueh pleased with her animated, intelligent conversation, and gathered more real information from a desultory discourse than I might have received from an elaborate discussion of a philosopher who had never secu the country. She informed me, too, of the best houses on the road.

" After dinner I erossed the Mohawk, three miles above Palatine- town, and did see Canajohari, which name, although I cannot now interpret, yet I hope to have it in my power after a while. You recolleet that sample of Canadian song-

"'Cani-de-joure, cani-de-jouve, He, he, he, he, ha, heura, heura ou ce be.'

" In the Diction de Musique, if you can explain this, you too may give the etymology of this place. After a ride of seven miles further, I tarriel at a ci-devant Indian eastle, now a very recommendahle inn, kept hy Mr. Hudzon, to drink a dish of superior gool tea. It was my design to proceed to lerkimer, as I was informe 1 that I was to meet there a good reception, but my good horse was searee able to lift one foot b fore the other ; consider further, that this good beast, hy often going and returning to examine one or other object a little more eare- fully, by always paeing even on the roughest road, was thoroughly fatigued; that the sun was set ; that I was ignorant of the road, and, as you would say, not much to be trusted where I knew it; and that, above this all, Captain Bellinger, the landlord of a homely tavern, endeavored to persuade me that I ought to stay with him, because, he said, the horse could not proceed farther ; that to-morrow, if he might now reeruit, it would make it up with a double speed. And then, re- flesting that the cavalier longel for rest as much as his beast, you eannot be surprised that your friend yielded so soon to the urgent en- treaties of that noble captain. My supper was not above medlioerity ; my bed and sleep of the first-rate. The hope of repairing my loss of the evening by a good breakfast male me stir early, so that I arrived at eight at Mr. Aldritz, in former days another Indian eastle. The respectable appearance of the landlord and his lady, their dress, eoun- tenanee, manners, language, the furniture, the neatness of the house, the order and promptitude with which the commands were executed, soon convineed me that my conjecture would not dwindle away in an airy vision. Good bread and butter, excellent tea, fresh eggs, with a dish of salmon-trout-a sort of European sorrel-worthy to be pre- sented to the hest man in the State, were more than sufficient to satisfy a eraving hunger. Now was I in Herkimer; erossed again the Mohawk; paced slowly through the German Flatts, a beautiful plain, whose rich fertility must strike even the inattentive eye, fram the charming fiells covered with all sorts of grain,-here wheat, corn. potatoes; there oats, peas, harley ; there, again, another variety of the sime products, at intervals surroundedl or separate l with elover. These flatts, terminated from one side by the Mohawk. from the other by the rising hills, at whose bottom the farm-houses und churches were constructed, maintain many thousand descendants of native Germans, who, searching a refuge from infatuatel despotism in this land of liberty, have chiefly preserved the manners, language, and religion of their ancestors. The same is true with regard to their neighbors in German-town and Herkimer,-all of German origin, somewhat tempered with British, Dutch, and Atuerican blood.

" Colonel Staringht was the man hy whom I intended to dine if it was obtainable. Although his honor was at the same time a judge of the Common Pleas, thus high in eivil an I military gran leur, yet he kept a publie-house, and my imagination was soon highly inflamed when I glanced on his mansion and its appurtenanees. The colonel was gone to the meeting ; his barn was the place of worship. I went thither ; the assembled congregation was very numerous; our Lord's

# Now Coxsackie.

+ Sir William Johnson.

# Staring.

546

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Supper was celebrated with deceney, and, as it appears to me, by many with fervent devotion. Four children were baptized by the Rev. Rosekrantz, of the German Flatts, who made this pastoral visit to direct these religious solemnities. After serviec the flock crowded promiscuously in the colonel's house and used sparingly some refresh- ments. The large majority gloried at the renewed election of George Clinton, while the weighty principle of many was, 'Now, certainly the court-house should be fixed there, as they had generally given their votes for George, while very many on the German Flatts, with the same motive, with the same hope, had been lured to vote for Mr. John Jay.' So wantonly plays the multitude with that for every freeman so precious privilege of election : for traveling a mile, more or less, yca, for thousand times more pitiful if not for more contempt- ible motives, is nominal liberty transformed in actual slavery. I cannot see it, or I bewail the general state of mankind! How divine is the theory, how difficult, how unattainable, nearly, the solid prac- tice, of a pure, popular government, except among a poor, virtuous class, within its fainily of brothers, as in Switzerland ! We, my dear sir, paid dearly for our visionary schemes of perfection, and I do not yet regret it, as we found here liberty blended by laws, and so much aristocracy rendered constitutional that neither the one nor the many can do wrong for a long time, and so much democraey saved as to keep the remainder from degenerating and degrading herself; while I decm him a misereant who abuses this good by name, to spread a cloak over his nefarious, ambitious views, till he sees the road open to crush the few and the many together. May Adams' defense become a general school-book, and his lessons brought in practice !

"The presence of the Rev. Pastor; the solemnity of the sacred festival; the presence of the fathers of the baptized children, some of thein related to the colonel, procured me a good dinner. A very good soup, salad, roasted chickens, beef and pork, with bread and butter, were soon destroyed by fifteen or sixteen hungry guests. The Rev. Rosekrantz was born in the Duchy of the Paltz-Tweebruggen, from a respectable family of Swedish origin. Endowed with a learned education, he was not a stranger in elegant literature; a serious preacher, who knew the art to enliven society with a well-regulated hilarity.

" At nine miles' distance, near Old Fort Schuyler, I crossed the Mohawk River for the last time; took my tea at Mr. John Post's ;* reached Whitesborough about evening, and stopped at the house of Judge White, the father of this flourishing settlement, to whom and Mr. Jonas Platt his Excellency, George Clinton, had favored me with letters of introduction. I met on the road to Whitesborough a group of Oneida Indians, some of them horseback, others walking and jumping; the one with a bottle, another with a jug or small keg with rum ; for the most part merrily jolly ; some deeply soaked by the beverage distilled from the cane. Their numbers increased in pro- portion as I approached nearer Whitesborough. There I saw about two hundred, of every age and of both sexes, around their fires near the road, eating, drinking, smoking, singing, laughing, all of them in perfect harmony together, though many a little before had tried their strength and agility upon one another.

"The occasion of this unusual concourse was that they came to receive the corn from the State, which had been stipulated in one of the articles of the late treaty. But they soon changed this corn- certainly for a large part-by the merchants for moncy, which they changed again for chintzes, silk, handkerchiefs, linen, etc.

" How longer and oftener I contemplate these Indian tribes, how more I am confirmed in my conjecture, which was supported by Buf- fon, 'that the northerly inhabitants of America, as well as a large part of those in the south, chiefly have the blood of Tartar origin in their veins.' By this I will not say that none of the offspring of the aborigines of this country are remaining; neither that the inhabitants of some parts may not be the offspring of savage tribes, driven before these Tartarian hordes from their eastern seats on the confines of the northeastern Asiatic shores ; no more a's I would contest that a few islanders, even Norwegians, might have been induced or compelled to settle on the northern parts of the American continent. Manners, language, features, render it rather plausible; but to con- clude for these reasons with Grotius-that stupendous wonder of learning, of wbom might be asserted what Livius said of Cato, 'That his intellectual endowiuents were so extensive that he exeelled in what-

ever he undertook, and seemed to devote himself to that science'- that our country was colonized by Norwegians, and extort arguments from etymology, you might as well derive Alfana from Equus.t

" Michaelis may convince you that the ten tribes could not have searched here an asylum, and I dare assert that had this hypothesis been placed on a solid foundation there would yet exist incontrovert- ible proofs. Perhaps I may glance at this topic some future day, and then you will judge with what success.

" I doubt not, my dear Mappa, or I shall convince you of the plausibility of this cherished hypothesis when I have time to collect my arguments, as the Chancellor Livingston desired, and put these in battle array among my Philos. Res. or the theories of Buffon and Jefferson ; and if then I may be so successful as to render it prob- able that the Gauls, the Franeks, the Celts originated all from the same immensely prolific bee-hive, then nothing is wanting but correct genealogical tables to prove to the first fair squaw-and there are handsome ones, indeed, if you make some small allowances-that we are distant cousins.

"The greatest part of the Indians whom I have seen are tall and robust, with strong, well-shaped limbs, broad foreheads, the nose somewhat curved, the ears long and broad,-deformed by art.

"Several of the Oneidas speak the English language very correctly, as I am informed, and many, too, write it. Peter Otyageit, who, dele- gated to Congress, died this year on his journey, had been for some time in France with the Marquis Lafayette, and was in some respects highly civilized and master of the French language and politeness, although it was doubtful if his heart was improved as well as his head; at least he has been accused that he did learn to blend the viees of the savages with those of a polished nation. So true it appears with regard to those unhappy tribes, that if their fathers did eat sour grapes their children's teeth have become dull indecd; and it may be justly questioned if the vicinity of their white neighbors is to them not rather a curse than a blessing. How contrary is this with the genuine spirit of Christianity ! But what chemical operation is powerful enough to extract it from Indian traders and straggling borderers? Captain Jacob Reed speaks and writes with tolerable accuracy, shows a bold and courageous appearance, and dresses as a white man ; but now, too, I delineated his chief worth. Beech-tree, their chief, had the greatest influence on them.

"The cradles of their babes are of a curious workmanship, often lined with silver plates, ornamented with wings, and wrapt.in silk. Their principal merchandise are furs, with whose value they are thoroughly acquainted. The principal are those of Beavers (Fishers), Hespans, or Racoons, Martins, Minks, Muskrats, Bears, and Deer- skins.

" Judge White was commissioned to distribute among them the stip- ulated grain. He is a man between fifty and sixty years of age, of a middle stature, corpulent, and of a comely appearance. He enjoys now that exquisite gratification of being the creator of his own for- tune, and placing all his children in an independent situation. Judge White resided in Connecticut in the year 1785. He made a journey to the western part of this State; made a purchase of the land he now lives on ; moved thither in 1786į with his five sons; built a log house and barn; went the next year for his wife and remaining children, although there was not at that time one single white man in the nine miles around him. In 1788 he constructed a saw- and grist-mill ; possessed in the fourth year all which he wanted for his convenience, ease, and comfort in abundance; built in the fifth year a convenient frame house and substantial barn ; and is now encircled by a number of respectable families,-amongst these two of his married sons and Mr. Jonas Platt, son of Judge Zephaniah Platt, married with Miss K. Livingston, a sister of that eminent divine in New York, who yet recollected with a grateful remembrance the time he spent at the Dutch universities.

"I deem the acquaintance of this young man a real acquisition, for which I am again indebted to our friend George Clinton. I have often, indeed, been surprised with admiration at his knowledge of men, which is a distinguishing trait of his character, and in my opinion

+ " ' Alfana vient d'Equus, sans doute ; Mais il faut avoner anssi Qu'en venant de là jusqu'ici Il a bien changé sur la route.' " P. BONHOAR'S Man. de bien parler, Dial. ii. p. 173.

+ See history of Whitestown for correct statement.

# Utica.

547

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

one of the chief means of his political success. His Excellency had a high opinion of young Platt, and spoke of him in the most flatter- ing terms. This prompted me to observe him, and I was not disap- pointed. The little intercourse I could enjoy with Mrs. Platt-hoth being then in a state of anxiety about their only infant, which, in my opinion, shall never recover-prompts me to say little about her, except that I was highly pleased with her courteous and kind recep- tion. I am persuaded I could not do her full justice. It is quite otherwise with her husband. I presume to say I know him, how short our intercourse was, and dare assure that if ever thou art fav- ored with a similar opportunity thou wilt love and respeet him. So much ingenuousness and modesty without bashfulness, vanterie : such obliging manners without importunely obtruding his civilities; such a comprehensive mind; such an intuitive solid judgment; all this combined shewed him the man who, sooner or later, must become the pride of the bar, the glory of the bench, and a chief ornament of our State; so that I really consider the pitiful pittance of his present elergyship not as a reward, but a temporary station, in which he is to hoard up moro intellectual treasures, to develop these unexpectedly before his fellow-citizens, and prepare a most delicious repast hy his achievements for his aged and revered patron.

" The society here is already pleasing; so is the situation of this little village, moro adapted for the enjoyment of rural retirement than luring in a commercial point of view. The houses are more built for convenience than for show; the roads are daily improving, of which you may form a partial opinion from the fact that while I was here Mr. and Mrs. Livingston eame in their own carriage, in four days, from Poughkeep to Whitesborough.

" That I do not exaggerate to render you enamored with this charming country, one proof shall be sufficient. By the last census the number of souls in Whitestown was 5788,-a stupendous number, indeed, within the small eirele of five years. In Whitesborough itself there is searce an acre for sale. Dr. Moseley paid for three aeres, for a building-spot, £50 per acre.

" The soil is a rich, fertile loam ; from 30 to 45 bushels Indian corn per acre is an ordinary crop; often it gives 50, 60, and more. In some parts, by long droughts, the soil is apt to bake and rent, and requires thus more labor. Shall it he cultivated with propriety and success ? One of your fee-land farmers would not consider that as a formidable objection, well knowing that his exertions should bo doubly compensated. There are here, nevertheless, some, too, who are willing to reap, but not in the sweat of their brow.

" The artiele of fish is scarce ; firewood has already become an ob- ject of so much importanco that it is saved and sold to advantage; and salt cannot be obtained below a dollar the bushel.

"I crossed, about two miles from Whitesborough, the Oriskany Creck, where many of the Oneida Indians resided in former days. The actual proprietors of the soil did long decline the sale; the prieo was yet too low. At length it hath risen to their pitch. Several farms have already been taken up, and the woods resounded when I passed there from the strokes of the hardy axe-men. One year more, and the one farm shall be joined to the other, as here on the Esopus-Kill. I had only advaneed a few steps when my attention was fixed on a number of skulls, placed in a row on a log near the road. I was in- formed by the workmen that this place was tho fatal spot on which the murderous encounter happened between General Herkimer and his sturdy associates and the Indians, when this brave and gallant soldier did fall with a number of his men. He showed me a large tree, on which was coarsely earved something resembling a man's head, which should represent this intrepid warrior.

" On Monday, about noon, I arrived at Fort Stanwix. The Baron De Zeng, industriously employed in laying out a kiteheu-garden, had already seen me, and gave me a cordial welcome. IIe then introduced no to Colouel Colbreath, a Revolutionary soldier, who, finding him- self in the patronage of his old general, who resided on a part of the estate which tho governor possessed in this neighborhood, ho had offered the baron a part of his houso till that of De Zeng should be cleared of its present inhabitants. We partook of some refreshments; my horse was brought on a luxuriant pasture-ground. .

"Seo thero me, my dear sir, at the famous Fort Stanwix, whero Janzevoort# baffled the impetuous ardor of the British, and Colonel Willett eluded their vigilanec. Seo here we, in the centre of New

York State, the elevated spot from where the waters are flowing to the East and the West, chalked out, as it were, by nature, to become the seat of government of this mighty State, while Fort Schuyler must gradually rise to the rank of the emporium of the West. Ilere is the [retreat] from the bustle of business, while the opulence and wealth is through various channels condueted to this great reservoir, to repay the inhabitants of its neighborhood with those of the remot- est North and West with case and comfort ; there magnificent build- ings raised and a seat prepared for arts and sciences.

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History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878, Part 147

Author: Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss Number of Pages: 932

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 932