USA > New York > Ontario County > History of Ontario county, New York : with illustrations and family sketches of some of the prominent men and families > Part 4
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45
THE SENECAS.
tack. Although much disconcerted by the sudden onslaught, Denon- ville quickly rallied his forces, checked the Senecas, and having the su- perior force soon overcame the enemy, and compelled them to retreat. The successful French encamped on the battle field, and the next morn- ing marched on to the village, which they found in ashes, the Senecas themselves having applied the torch before they retreated from the neighborhood.
From the various accounts written concerning the expedition of De- nonville, we learn that the four principal Seneca villages in existence at that time were as follows : Gandagaro, situated one mile south of the village of Victor and otherwise known as St. James, Gandagan, and Gaen- sera. The second, Gandongarae, the St. Michael of the missionaries, and otherwise known as Canoenada and Onontague, peopled principally by captives from the Hurons, is thought by some to have been located on the south part of lot-13 in the northeast part of the present town of East Bloomfield, three miles southeast of Boughton Hill, near where the old Indian trail crossed the Ganargua or Mud Creek. Another site of an Indian village was a little over a mile to the west of this on the Steele farm on lot 16. The sites of other Indian towns are also to be found in that region of country, and perhaps further investigation may be requisite to locate the precise site of the town.
These two villages, after their destruction above noted, gradually drifted eastward, and a hundred years later were found by Sullivan near present Geneva. In 1720 they were two miles east of the foot of Can- andaigua Lake, and on the White Springs farm two miles southwest, and in 1750 on Burrell's, or Slate Rock Creek, five miles southwest of Geneva, and in 1756 at the Old Castle, two miles northwest of Geneva.
Sonnontonan, otherwise known as Totiacton, Tegaronhies, and also as La Conception, was located a mile and a half northwest of Honeoye Falls, on the northeastermost bend of Honeoye outlet, in the town of Mendon, Monroe county. It was about ten miles west of Gandagaro on Boughton Hill. A second location of this village, and the one prob- ably occupied by it when it was destroyed in 1687, was on the Ball farm, a mile west of Honeoye Falls village. This great village was for some time the western door of the Long House, and the residence of Tegar- onhies, and was therefore sometimes called Tegaronhies's town.
46
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
Gandachioragou, otherwise known as Gannounata and Keinthe, the western small town, was probably on the site of the present village of Lima, and four miles south of the great town when located near Honeoye Falls.
After destroying everything of value Denonville proceeded to the mouth of the Niagara River, where he erected a small fort on the east side. This was the origin of Fort Niagara, one of the most celebrated strongholds in America, which, though for a time abandoned, was after- ward for more than half a century considered the key of western New York, and of the whole upper lake country.
The principal eastern Seneca villages after the invasion by Denon- ville were those called Onnaghee and Ganechstage, both of which were between Canandaigua and Seneca Lakes. The location of the former is definitely settled as having been about two miles east of Canandaigua Lake, near the old Indian trail on which the turnpike was afterward sub- stantially laid. The name Onnaghee, with its variations in spelling, carries the idea that it was the old castle or village. The Seneca word " onagheh," meaning "head," would be an appropriate name for a set- tlement by people of the village which had been the head or capital of the tribe, as Gandagaro was when destroyed by Denonville. The lo- cation of the other principal Seneca village is definitely fixed as having been at the White Springs, about two miles southwest from Geneva, and which was called Ganechstage.
The precise date of the first settlement of these villages is unknown, but it must have been made as early, if not earlier, than the year 1700, from the fact that Colonel Romer was then sent by the Earl of Bello- mont to the Indian country with instructions " to go and view a well or spring which is eight miles beyond the Sineks furthest castle, which they have told me blazes up into a flame when a light coale or fire-brand is put into it." As the Burning Spring is only eight miles from the foot of Canandaigua Lake, it might be inferred that the settlement at that time was at Canandaigua ; however, there is nothing to confirm such an inference, and we must conclude that Onnaghee was the castle re- ferred to, and inasmuch as Indian settlements are known to have ex- tended over a large territory, we may well suppose that from the lake to the place of principal habitation, two miles further east, might be
47
THE SENECAS.
within the limits of the castle proper. However, the settlement at On- naghee was abandoned previous to 1750. Canandaigua was undoubt- edly an off-shoot or branch from it, as the name signifies that it was not only " a place selected for a new settlement," or " the chosen spot or city," but that it was a place chosen by a party separating from an- other.
The settlement at Ganechstage was broken up in 1732 by ravages of the small-pox, at which time a large number of the inhabitants died, and nearly all the others fled and settled in scattered fragments in the neighborhood of Slate Rock or Burrell creek, about three miles further southwest. Here they were found by the Moravian missionaries, Bishop Cammerhoff and Rev. David Zeisberger, in 1750, their settlement in that place being called New Ganechstage. The record in the journal of these Moravians is so minute that it positively establishes the fact that Ganechstage was the identical Gandagaro that was formerly located on Boughton Hill. In 1756, during the progress of the last French war, Sir William Johnson, in order to conciliate and attach the Iroquois to the British interest, erected palisade fortifications in the Indian coun- try, one of them being in the Seneca territory on Kanadesaga or Castle Brook, about two miles northwest from Seneca Lake, and about the same distance north of the former site of Ganechstage. At that time the scattered Indian settlements were brought more closely together on the new location, which was then and for many years afterward called Kan- adesaga, but now more familiarly known as the Old Castle. The Indian name of the place, according to Seneca dialect, was Ganundasaga, meaning "a new settlement village."
Sir William Johnson calls it Kanadasero, which means the grand village, not that it differed from others, but from the fact that is was a village of the Turtle clan, and the residence of the Smoke Bearer, who alone could light the council fire. The name Gaensera of Denonville and Kanadasera are identical but of different dialects. Gandagaro is another variation, the garo and sera carrying the idea of grand. This place being the capital of the Seneca nation, was by far the most important village of the tribe, and was wholly destroyed by General Sullivan in 1779.
The fortifications at Kanadesaga, as they were provided to be built, were one hundred feet square ; the stockades to be of pine or oak, fif-
48
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
teen feet long, at least three of which to be sunk in the ground, well pounded and rammed, and the two touching sides square so as to lay close ; loop-holes to be made four feet distant. There were also two block houses each twenty feet square below, the upper portion project- ing one and a half feet over the beams, both well roofed and shingled, and a good sentry-box on each; also a good gate of three-inch oak plank and iron hinges, and a small gate of oak plank of the same thick- ness.
The name Kanadesaga (Ganundasaga) was applied by the Indians also to the creek, the lake and its outlet, and at a subsequent day was transferred to Geneva. It has been found written and spelled in more than one hundred different ways, yet Kanadesaga has ever been the ac- cepted form, and carries quite fully the pronunciation as used by the early settlers. After the destruction of the village by Sullivan's army in 1779, there was no further permanent occupation of its site by the Indians. After the close of the Revolution, when traders and specula- tors were penetrating the whole Genesee country, the center of opera- tion was at Geneva, " under the hill," south of Cemetery Creek, or at and south of the east end of Seneca street in Geneva, as it had then be- come known. This locality then became known as Kanadesaga, while the old site was called the Old Castle.
Although all traces of the old fortification and its block-houses have long since been destroyed, the burial-mound of the Senecas is still in existence, and is in the lot on the southwest corner of North street, or the Old Castle road, and the old Pre-emption road. The center of this mound is 200 feet south of North street, and 190 feet west of the old Pre-emption road. The stockade was a short distance south of the mound, its northeast corner being ninety feet west of the Pre- emption road referred to, while toward its southeast end the distance to the road was about seventy feet. The farm of the State Agricultural Experi- ment Station is directly opposite, on the east side of the old Pre-emp- tion road.
In the present connection we may also briefly mention other Indian village sites than those already noted, but so far as known they were of very little importance. Some of them were in the immediate vicinity of Canandaigua. In the neighborhood of Geneva, and about seven
W
Artificial mouna
93 pa
Palisade Fortification AT GA-NUN-DA-SA-GA
Avillage of the Senacas near Geneva NY. It wasdestroyed by Geril Sullaan, in Sept. 1779. The Trenches are still visible as shown in the ground plan Nov 1845.
Greatest width 1
14Traces
4 presses
7 paces
3 preces
Indian Orchard Apple Trees.\
59 paces.
both of which arewithin the enclosure. Loose stones, the remains of a forgeor fire-place
4 Apple Tree still standing
in
nac a fire place or jorge.
Heap of stones formerly
64 paces.
Length of Side 12 puces of the feet cach.
spaces
12 paces
A
O Opening 9 paces
33 paces
JADA - SA- GA CREE
7
Orchard
Greatest length from front to rear 83paces or 2081/2 feet.
A stubof this cornerpost was above ground in
50
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
miles to the northwest and on the lake shore was Gothseunquean, or Kashong. This place was visited by Missionary Kirkland in 1765, and in 1779 was destroyed by a detachment from Sullivan's army. On the opposite shore of the lake and a little further south was Kendaia, or Appletown, which also was destroyed at the same time. The Cam- merhoff journal mentions a Cayuga town called Nuquiage, at the north- east corner of Seneca lake. In the center of lot 33, Fayette, Seneca county, was at one time a fortified Indian town of which but little is known. A short distance northwest of Geneva, in the southwestern part of lots 56 and 58, town of Seneca, were two Indian village sites. They were examined by E. G. Squier in 1848, and are figured and de- scribed in his " Antiquities of New York," that on lot 58 being a regu- lar fortified work, and on lot 56 a palisaded fortification, the latter being about one-half mile west of the former. They are undoubtedly ancient works, long antedating Kanadesaga, but nothing whatever is known about them. On lots 101 and 120 at Oaks Corners in the town of Phelps, was also an Indian village site, but of modern date.
CHAPTER V.
French and English Rivalry-The Iroquois destroy Montreal-The Treaty at Rys- wiek-Queen Anne's War -- The Five Nations Become the Six Nations-Joneaire's Trading-post -- Events Preceding the French and English War -- Attitude of the Iro- quois-Influence of Sir William Johnson-The Senecas Remain Neutral, but Favor the French-Final Overthrow of French Power in America.
T HE bold incursion of Denonville's army, and his allied Huron and Algonquin Indians, into the country of the Senecas, the strongest nation of the Iroquois, so alarmed the latter that they applied to Governor Dongan, of the colony of New York, for protection. It was promised them, of course, with advice that the Iroquois should not inake peace with the French. However, Denonville called a meeting of the chiefs of the Five Nations at Montreal to arrange a treaty, and they decided to send a representative ; but before the meeting was con- summated, and on account of alleged treachery on the part of Denon-
$1
THE FRENCH, THE ENGLISH, AND THE IROQUOIS.
ville, the Iroquois became deeply angered against the French and burned for revenge. The result was that in July, 1689, Montreal was sacked, plundered and burned; men, women and children massacred or carried into captivity. In October following the Iroquois made a simi- lar incursion at the lower end of the island, which was likewise dev- astated.
At this period the fortunes of France in North America were brought very low. The recent Iroquois invasions compelled the abandonment of Forts Frontenac and Niagara, and proved almost sufficient to over- throw the French dominion in Canada. Many of their former Indian allies, disgusted with De la Barre's successive failures, deserted the French standard and sought an alliance with the English. However, a welcome change was at hand for the French. The divided counsels of the English colonies, growing out of the revolution in the mother country, resulting in the accession of the Prince of Orange to the throne, gave a new aspect to affairs and was speedily followed by an- other open war with France. In 1689 Count de Frontenac, the same energetic old peer who had encouraged La Salle in his brilliant dis- coveries, and whose name was for a while borne by Lake Ontario, was sent out as governor of New France. This vigorous but cruel leader partially retrieved the desperate condition of the French colony. He, too, invaded the Iroquois, but accomplished no more than Denonville. The war continued with varying fortunes until 1697, the Five Nations being all that time the friends of the English, and a greater part of the time engaged in active hostility against the French. Their authority over the whole Genesee country and far up the south shore of Lake Erie, was unbroken, save when a detachment of French troops was actually marching along the border.
At the treaty of Ryswick in 1697, while the ownership of other lands was definitely conceded to France and England respectively, that of the Genesee country was left wholly unsettled. The English claimed sovereignty over all the lands of the Five Nations; the French with equal energy asserted the authority of King Louis over the same region as a part of New France, while the Iroquois themselves, when- ever they heard of the controversy, repudiated alike the pretensions of Yonnondio and Corlear, as they denominated the governors respectively of Canada and New York.
52
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
Scarcely had the echoes of battle died away after the peace of Rys- wick, when, in 1702, the rival nations became involved in the long conflict known as "Queen Anne's War." By this time, however, the Iroquois had grown wise and prudently maintained a neutrality, com- manding the respect of both French and English, the former being wary of again provoking the powerful confederates, while the Colonial government of New York was very willing that the Five Nations should remain neutral, as they thus furnished a shield against French attacks for the whole frontier of the colony.
Meanwhile, through all the western country, the French extended their influence. Detroit was founded in 1701. Other posts were es- tablished far and wide. Notwithstanding their alliance with the Hurons and other foes of the Iroquois, and notwithstanding the enmity aroused by the invasions of Champlain, Denonville and Frontenac, such was the subtle skill of the French that they rapidly acquired a strong in- fluence among the western tribes of the confederacy, especially the Senecas. Even the powerful socio-political system of the Hodenosau- nee weakened under the influence of European intrigue, and while the eastern Iroquois, though preserving their neutrality, were friendly to the English, the Senecas, and perhaps the Cayugas, were almost ready to take up arms for the French.
About 1712 an important event occurred in the history of the Iro- quois confederacy, the Five Nations then becoming the Six Nations. The Tuscarora's, a powerful tribe of North Carolina, had become in- volved in a war with the whites, growing out of a dispute about land. The colonists being aided by several other Indian tribes, the Tuscaroras were defeated, many of them killed, and a number of others captured and sold as slaves. The greater part of the remainder fled northward to the Iroquois, who immediately adopted them as one of their tribes of the confederacy, and assigned them a location near the Oneidas. The readiness of the haughty warriors of the Iroquois to extend the shelter of their Long House over a band of fleeing exiles was due to the fact that the latter had been the allies of the Five Nations against other southern Indians ; which would also account for the eagerness of the latter to join in the overthrow of the Tuscaroras.
Not long after this Chabert Joncaire, a Frenchman, who had been captured in youth by the Senecas, and who had been adopted into
53
THE FRENCH, THE ENGLISH, AND THE IROQUOIS.
their tribe and had married a Seneca wife, but who had been released at the treaty of peace, was employed by the French authorities to pro- mote peace among the Iroquois. Pleading his claims as an adopted child of the nation, he was allowed by the Seneca chiefs to build a cabin on the site of Lewiston, which soon became a center of French influence. All the efforts of the English were impotent either to dis- lodge him or to obtain a similar privilege for any of their own people. " Joncaire is a child of the nation," was the sole reply vouchsafed to every complaint. Though Fort Niagara was for the time abandoned, and no regular fort built at Lewiston, yet Joncaire's trading post em- braced a considerable group of cabins, and at least a part of the time a detachment of French soldiers was stationed there.
About 1725 they began rebuilding Fort Niagara on the site where Denonville had erected his fortress. They did so without opposition, though it seems strange that they could so easily have allayed the jealousy of the Six Nations. It may be presumed, however, that the very fact of the French being such poor colonizers worked to their ad- vantage in establishing a certain kind of influence among the Indians. Few of the Gallic adventurers being desirous of engaging in agriculture, they made very little effort to obtain land, while the English were con- stantly arousing the jealousy of the natives by obtaining enormous grants from some of the chiefs, often doubtless by very dubious methods. Moreover, the French always possessed a peculiar facility for assimilating with savage and half-civilized races, thus gaining an influence over them. Whatever the cause, the power of the French constantly increased among the Senecas. Fort Niagara was their stronghold, and the Genesee country was for more than thirty years to some extent under their control. The influence of Joncaire was main- tained and increased by his sons all through the second quarter of the eighteenth century.
In the war between England and France, begun in 1744 and closed in 1748, the Six Nations generally maintained their neutrality, though the Mohawks gave some aid to the English. During the eight years of nominal peace which succeeded the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, both the French and the English made every effort to extend their dominion beyond their frontier settlements, the former with greater success.
54
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
To Niagara, Detroit and other posts they added Presque Isle (now Erie, Pa.). Venango, and finally Fort Duquesne on the site of Pittsburg, designing to establish a line of forts from the lake to the Ohio, and thence to the Mississippi. Frequent detachments of troops passed through along this line. Gaily dressed French officers sped backward and forward, attended by the fierce warriors of their allied tribes, and not infrequently by the Senecas. Dark gowned Jesuits hastened to and fro, everywhere receiving the respect of the red men, and using all their art to magnify the power of both France and the Church of Rome.
It is possible that the whole Iroquois confederacy would have been induced to become active partisans of the French, had it not been for the influence of one man, the English superintendent of Indian affairs in America, he then being known as Colonel, afterward as General, and still later as Sir William Johnson. Colonel Johnson then dwelt at Mount Johnson, afterward known as Fort Johnson, on the banks of the Mohawk River, and in the very heart of the Mohawk Indian territory. Later on, in 1763, Sir William occupied Johnson Hall, a magnificent residence in the village of Johnstown, in this State. The hall is still standing, as al- so is his former dwelling at Mount Johnson, both being well preserved and retaining much of their original appearance.
William Johnson was of Irish birth and parentage, and came to Amer- ica in 1738 as the agent of his uncle, Sir Peter Warren, the latter hav- ing been the owner of an extensive tract of land in the Mohawk valley. Johnson located in the valley just below the present city of Amsterdam, where he acted as agent for his uncle in the development and sale of the lands, and at the same time opened a general store for trade with the Indians and the few whites then living in the region. By honesty and straightforward dealing among them, Johnson acquired a great in- fluence over the Mohawks, and his reputation soon spread throughout the whole Six Nations, and he gained an almost complete mastery over them. During the later French war, Johnson was elevated through vari- ous ranks to the generalship, but preferred to be in direct command of his faithful Iroquois rather than of the continental British soldiery. For distinguished services as soldier and as a diplomat, he was rewarded by the crown with a baronetcy and made sole superintendent of Indian affairs in North America.
55
THE FRENCH, THE ENGLISH, AND THE IROQUOIS.
Just preceding the last great struggle in America between England and France, Johnson, in fulfillment of promises made to the Iroquois, built strong fortifications in the territory of each of the nations, where- ever the same was most desirable and would afford the greatest protec- tion to the neighboring Indians One of these defences was built under his direction on the site of the Seneca village, Kanadesaga, near the corporate limits of Geneva, and which has been more fully described in the preceding chapter.
Johnson witnessed the successes of the last French and English war ; in fact he was an important factor in accomplishing the grand results of that struggle, gained distinction for himself therein, but viewed with alarm and apprehension the gradual separation of the American colo- nies from the mother country. He did not live to see the final over- throw of the British power in America, having died in 1774, after which his office of Indian superintendent, but never his grand influence, de- scended to his son, Sir John Johnson, and to his nephew, Col. Guy Johnson, the latter being deputy-superintendent in Canada. Soon after the outbreak of the Revolution, Sir John and Col. Guy Johnson fled from Johnstown and " Guy Park " and took up their residence in Cana- da, being followed there by nearly all of the Mohawks, many of the Onondagas and Cayugas, some of the Senecas, and a few of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras.
Returning from this digression to the general narrative, we find in 1756, after two years of open hostilities in America, war was again declared between England and France, being their last great struggle for supremacy in the New World. The ferment in the then wilderness of Western New York grew more earnest, and more frequently were seen the gaily dressed French officers and soldiers of King Louis, speed- ing from Montreal, Quebec and Frontenac to Niagara, Venango, Du- quesne and other French posts in the extreme west, all passing along the western border of old Ontario county ; staying perchance to hold brief counsel with the Seneca sachems and chiefs, then hurrying for- ward to strengthen the line of posts on which so much depended. In this war the Mohawks took the field in favor of the English under John- son, but the Senecas were friendly to the French and were only restrained from taking up arms for them by unwillingness to fight against their Iroquois brethren farther east.
56
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
At first the French were everywhere victorious. Braddock, almost at the gates of Fort Duquesne, was slain, and his army cut in pieces by a force very small in comparison with his own. Montcalm captured the little British post at Oswego, and the French lines up the lakes and across to the Ohio were stronger than ever. However, in 1758 the British government entered more earnestly into the contest Fort Duquesne was captured by the English and Provincial army, Fort Fron- tenac was seized by Col. Bradstreet, and other victories prepared the way for still greater successes in 1759. The cordon was broken, but Fort Niagara still held out for France, and still the western Senecas strongly declared their friendship for that power.
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