USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie County, New York : with illusustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 10
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The secret doings of the committee of safety and protection alluded to in the fore part of
this chapter were occasionally whispered to the enemy, a strict watch was kept by the true patriots to find the source from which it came, but they failed in so doing. Each member was then sworn (1777) and required to enforce every resident of their district to swear allegiance to the Continental Congress or quit the territory. In case either order was not obeyed, they were arrested as "enemies to their country" and in- carcerated as prisoners of war. What eatables they had were also taken for their and the patriots support." In the Schoharie valley the order was enforced immediately after McDon- ald's retreat. The iron heel was placed upon the faltering ones and they were forced to sub- mit to Colonial orders through the stern address of Captain Hager. One of his near neighbors, with whom he had lived many years in friend- ship, showed the "white feather" in some trivial affair, and the fact being made known to the Captain, he sent an order for him to appear at the fort. Instead of so doing he secreted himself upon the opposite side of the creek. Hager kept a close watch upon the family movements and found that the Tory returned to his residence early in the morning, and upon a given signal he was admitted by the family. Hager was passing from his house to the fort one morning before day, and concluded to give his neighbor an opportunity to redeem his character. He approached the door yard cau- tiously and gave a whistle with the thumb and forefinger, imitating the Tory. The wife im- mediately came out and Hager asked where her husband was. She replied he was not at home and would not be for a long time. The Cap- tain then said he knew of his whereabouts and would give him six hours to appear at the fort. " If he did do so, a hair of his head should not be harmed, but if he did not, they would pro- claim him a Tory, hunt him down and hang him to the first tree." The Tory appeared and was kept under watch at the fort and made to perform the duty of a patriot .- [D. W. Hlager.]
After the flight of McDonald and his force, Captain Hager with a few of the militia that chanced to be at home, immediately joined Gates' army and was in the battle of Bemis Heights. John Merckley was a private under
* Committee's Proceedings.
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
the Captain, and when Arnold was ordered to relieve Gansevoort, he was drawn to serve under him. When passing over the Oriskany battle-ground the dead in their mangled con- dition presented a sickening sight, and so ap- palled the soldiers that not a word was spoken by them, but they marched carefully over them, each deep in solemn thought .- [F. M.]
CHAPTER IV.
FORMATION OF COUNTY-THE NAME OF SCHO- HARIE - POPULATION - BOUNDARIES -SUR- FACE-THE SCHOHARIE AND TRIBUTARIES- INUNDATIONS - LAKES - FORMATION OF TOWNS -FIRST COUNTY OFFICERS - FIRST COURT HOUSE -POORHOUSE - PAUPERS- COUNTY'S PROGRESS-WAR OF 1812-DELE- GATES TO STATE CONVENTION-POLITICAL -- SCHOHARIE DEMOCRATIC- Gov. BOUCK's MESSAGE - SOURKROUT MESSAGE -- ANTI- RENT WAR - RAILROADS-PLANK ROADS- SEMINARY MANIA - SUSQUEHANNA RAIL- ROAD - SCHOHARIE VALLEY-SHARON AND CHERRY VALLEY - HOWE'S CAVE ENTER- PRISES - MINERAL SPRINGS - EDUCATION- RELIGION-TEMPERANCE-SABBATH SCHOOL SOCIETIES-BIBLE SOCIETY --- MASONIC LODGES -AGRICULTURAL AND MEDICAL SOCIETIES- TELEPHONE LINES-NEWSPAPERS-CRIMINAL LIST-SUMMARY OF FACTS-POPULATION BY CENSUS OF 1880.
CHOHARIE County was formed on the S 6th of April 1795 from Albany and Otsego counties, and named Schoharie after the princi- pal stream that runs through the territory of which it is comprised. Schoharie is an Indian name, and signifies, Flocd Wood, according to the late Judge John M. Brown, who was the author of "A brief sketch of the first Settlement of Schoharie County," and to whom we are in- debted for transmitting to us much that would otherwise have been lost.
We find the word Schoharie, written in vari- ous ways,viz : Skochalie, Schorie, Shore, (proba- bly pronounced Sho-ree,) Schohare, Schoharry, Scorie and Schohary, and called by the Dutch, Shuck-ha-ry.
The Act of the Legislature in forming the County, gave to it the present orthoepy-Scho- har-ie, which we must adopt as the name of the County, a town and village-whose associa- tions are historical from the first tread of the white man upon the virgin soil, down to the present time, and with which are mingled the most glorious examples of patriotic devotion and endurance that adorn the annals of any history.
By an act passed April 3, 1801, to divide the State into counties, the boundaries of Schoharie were thus defined :-
"The county of Schoharie to contain all that part of the State bounded easterly by the county of Albany, northerly by part of the south bounds of the county of Montgomery, as hereafter described, westerly by a line beginning at the southwest corner of a tract of land formerly granted to John Lyne, and run- ning thence the following courses and distances as marked by order of the Surveyor General, south twenty-one degrees and forty-eight minutes west, two hundred and nineteen chains to the place where Joshua Tucker formerly resided, thence south seven degrees and forty-eight minutes west one hundred and ninety-three chains to the eastermost line of a tract of land known by the name of Belvidere Patent, thence south nine degrees east, six hundred and ninety- five chains to a certain hill, known by the name of Grover's hill, thence with a direct line from the most northwesterly corner of Stroughburgh Patent, thence with a direct line to the most northerly corner of Harpersfield, on the Char- lotte or Adegatangie branch of the Susquehan- nah river, thence southeastly along the north bounds of Harpersfield to the said lake Utsa- yantho and southerly by a line formerly run from the head of Kaater's creek, where the same issues out of the southerly side or end of a cer- tain lake or pond lying in the Blue Mountains to the said lake Utsayantho, and by part of the north bounds of the county of Greene."
In 1836 a portion of Greene county was an-
57
GEOLOGICAL, FORMATIONS.
nexed and at the present time the County con- sists of three hundred and seventy-five thousand, three hundred and thirty-five acres of land, and containing, according to the census of 1880, thirty-two thousand, nine hundred and thirty- nine inhabitants. The surface is an upland, broken by a northerly branch of the Catskills in the southern, and by hills of lime rock for- mation chiefly, in the central and northern parts. The rocks are those which belong to the Hud- son River, Clinton, Hamilton, Chemung, Onon- dlaga and Catskill groups and the Helleberg se- ries. Among them arc found many caverns in which mineralogists find interesting specimens, such as sulphate and carbonate of strontia, car- bonates of iron and arragonite, calcite, satin spar, stalactites-translucent and solid, sulphate of barytes, black oxide of manganese, calstron- baryte, agarie, mineral and bog ore, besides an endless variety of fossils peculiar to the forma- tions.
The Schoharie river flows a little to the east of the center of the County and empties in the Mohawk at Fort Hunter. Its tributaries are Fox's creek, Stony brook, Little Schoharie, Keyser's creek, Platner's and Manor Kill from the east, and Cripplebush, Cobleskill, Lime, Panther, West and Mine Kill from the west. The Cobleskill is the largest and rises in the town of Worcester, Otsego county. The pond from which it flows is on the height of land be- tween the Hudson and Susquehanna rivers, which is fourteen hundred and seventy-five feet above tide. The Schenevus, a tributary of the Susquehanna, also flows from the same source to the west, thereby joining the valleys of the two great rivers by a grade of which the genius of enterprise has taken advantage and laid the "iron rails" along the waters' paths and opened a line of transportation, long desired by the ag- riculturists of western Schoharie, southern Otse- go, Delaware and Chenango counties, besides giving the products of the coal fields of Penn- sylvania another and more direct outlet to the Eastern States, northern New York and the lower provinces of Canada.
The Schoharie river makes a somewhat cir- cuitous course. It flows from a small pond in the town of Hunter, Greene county, about twelve miles west of the Hudson, and taking a !
western coursc enters the northeastern corner of Delaware county and turns to the northwest, where it finds an opening between the hills of Gilboa, and runs nearly north through Blen- heim, Fulton and Middleburgh. Passing on through Schoharie in an cast-northeast direc- tion, it takes a sudden turn to the north and enters the town of Esperance where it again turns to the east-northeast and breaks through the southern watershed of the Mohawk and bears to the north to unite with the waters of that stream about nine miles from the county line, making a circuit of over one hundred miles, to swell the waters of the Hudson. From many elevations along its course the stream presents a picturesque appearance. Coming down from the lofty Catskills with rapid pacc, winding around the base of giant mountains, gorging deep ravines in the sides of rocky hills and plunging over shelving rocks to deeper paths it appears at last in the broad openings of Schoharie County. Then again its serpentine trail may be traced among the evergreen hills that many times seem to be placed as barriers to its on- ward course, but finding a windling path it pushes on to emerge again in broad intervals, whose beauty and productiveness are rarely equaled.
The river and tributaries have many times overflowed the flats along their courses and done a vast amount of damage in the destruction of crops, land and buildings. The first of which we have any definite knowledge was in the spring of 1784, the year following the Revolu- tion. The damage was so great the people pe- titioned to the Legislature to be exempt from taxation. The petition says :-
" The heavy rains caused the river to be stop- ped up with cakes of ice to the top of the banks which caused the river to flow over the flats and spoiled whole farms thereon."
Farther on it continues :-
" If you Don't believe us that we have suffered we pray your Honorable houses to send men who you may perhaps place confidence in, than in us, to take a View of our situation."
To make the petition more effective they re- fer to their losses in the war as follows :---
"Your petitioners have long endured the burden of a distressed war and are of the great- est sufferers in the State of New York. By
58
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
reason of living in the very frontier of the State, open to the Dayly incursions of a cruel enemy, & are destroyed to the utmost degree. The most of us not left with a building to go in to keep them and families dry from weather, and no money to erect buildings again. The In- habitants of Tryon county are exempted from paying taxes. We think it Right. But at the same time We claim an Equal right with them and Rather more."
The next great overflow was in the spring of 1858, when houses and hay stacks were carried away, and broad flats cut up by the strong cur- rent. In the fall of 1869 another overflow did a great amount of damage, but was followed in the spring of 1870 by one of greater proportions, that did an immense damage in the destruction of farms, especially in the towns of Fulton and Blenheim. Other lesser floods have occurred which in individual cases proved disastrous, but those through which the valleys suffered the worst, as a whole, were in the years given.
Perched upon the hills of Summit, is a placid sheet of water, covering nearly one hundred acres, at an altitude of two thousand feet above tide. A similar pond that can hardly bear the name of lake, lies upon the southern bounds of the County, bearing the Aboriginal appellation of " Utsayantha."
Near the former, the Charlotte creek, a tri- butary of the Susquehanna rises, while from the latter, the west or main branch of the Dela- ware river takes its rise.
Throughout the lime rock districts, subter- raneous streams are numerous, which appear at the surface, and after running a short distance, disappear to emerge again at some distant point. -
Upon the formation of the County it was divided into six towns, namely: Schoharie, Mid- dletown, Bristol, Blenheim, Cobleskill and Sharon. In 1801 Middletown was changed to Middleburgh, and in 1808, Bristol to Broome, in honor of Lieutenant-Governor Broome. There are at present, sixteen towns in the County, the names of which, with the date of their formation, together with the towns from which each was taken are as follows :--
Schoharie, formed March 17, 1797, from Schoharie, Albany county.
Broome as Bristol, formed March 17, 1797, from Schoharie.
Middleburgh, formed March 17, 1797, from Schoharie.
Blenheim, formed March 17, 1767, from Schoharie.
Cobleskill, formed March 17, 1797, from Schoharie.
Sharon, formed March 17, 1797, from Dor- loch, Otsego county.
Jefferson, formed February 12, 1803, from Blenlieim.
Carlisle, formed March 31, 1807, from Sharon and Cobleskill.
Summit, formed April 13, 1819, from Jeffer- son and Cobleskill.
Fulton, formed April 15, 1828, from Mid- dleburgh.
Conesville, formed March 3, 1836, from Broome and Durham, Greene county.
Seward, formed February 11, 1840, from Sharon.
Wright, formed April 4, 1846, from Scho- harie.
Esperance, formed April 4, 1846, from Scho- harie.
Richmondville, formed April 11, 1849, from Cobleskill and Seward.
The council of appointment, by whom nearly all officers were appointed, convened upon the sixth day of June, 1795, and appointed the fol- lowing as county officers :-
Joachim G. Staats, Clerk.
Jacob Lawyer, Jun., Sheriff. Stephen A. Becker, Surrogate. William Beekman, First Judge.
Adam B. Vroman, John M. Brown, David Sternburgh, Jonathan Danforth,
Assistant Judges.
Being established as a separate county, and not having any public buildings, according to the records, the first Court of General Sessions " was held at the house of Johannes Ingold, inn keeper" upon the 3 1st day of May, 1796. Upon the opening of the same, thirty-two rules were adopted and afterwards printed, which may be found in the County Library. The following presided upon their adoption :-
His Honor Wm. Beekman, First Judge.
59
FIRST COURT OF OYER AND TERMINER.
Adam B. Vroman, Jonathan Danforth, Peter Swart, Marcus Bellinger,
-
Assistant Judges.
John Bauch, John Ries, Peter Snyder,
Assistant Justices.
Upon the opening of the court the following Assistant Justices were added and an adjourn- ment made :-
Joseph Borst, Jun., George Richtmyer, Ja- cob Mann, Josias Swart and Storm A. Becker.
The first Court of Oyer and Terminer was held at the same place, the proceedings of which wc will copy verbatim from the records :-
"Court of Oyer and Terminer held in the house of Johannes Ingold Inn holder on the 26th day of June 1796 Present His Honor Mr. Justice Lansing.
" Adam B. Vroman
Jonathan Danforth
Peter Swart
Judges
John M. Brown Marcus Bellinger
j
"John Rie Peter Snyder Martines Zielie
Ass't Justices
"IO Ock A. M. Proclamation made and court opened. Proclamation made for the Sheriff to return, &c. Returns Precept to sum- mons Jurors. Gran Jurors summoned and sworn, viz :
" Josias Swart Foreman, George Warner, Peter Shafer, Lambert Lawyer, Henry Weaver, Jr., Wardwell Green, Abraham Becker, Ichabod Griffin, Henry S. Haper, Peter Bouck, Silas Grey, Geo. Richtmyer, Walter Briggs, Nicholas Lawyer, David Bauch, Wm. Simmons, Abra- hamn Lawyer, Jr. Grand Jury charged by his honor Judge Lansing.
" Proclamation made and constables called- Constables, Justices and defaulters excused by court from any fines at this time for their non- attendance.
" Proclamation made and Coroner called, appeared John Ingold, Jun., one of the Cor- oners. Returns an Inquisition dated 27th June 1796 by which it is found that Henry Parsons was found dead and came to his death by mis- chance by the act of God.
" The grand Jury returned into court and
presented the following bill of Indictment to wit :-
" The People VS
Indicted for Grand Larceny
James a negro man slave
" Prisoner arraigned. Pleads to the Indict- ment not guilty. On motion of Mr. Joseph C. Yates on behalf of Mr. Van Veghten assistant attorney general, Ordered that the Sheriff re- turn the precept. The Sheriff returned the precept with a pannel annexed and the follow- ing Pettit jurors appeared and were sworn to wit :--
"John 1. Lawyer Foreman, Jacob Becker, John Schafer, George Hiltz, Jacob Lawyer, Wm. Mann, Jeremialı Brown, George Snyder, l'eter P. N. Zeilie, Hendrick Schaeffer, Abraham Bergh, and Henry Bellinger.
" Witnesses for the people Jacob Lawyer Jun. Josias Clark.
"The prosecutors fail in proof of the fact. Jury charged to find the prisoner Not Guilty. They withdraw, and return and say, 'That the prisoner at the bar is not guilty of the felony, whereof he stands indicted.'"
In December of 1796, the Judges and Super- visors held a meeting to consider the building and location of a court-house and jail, but no legalized steps were taken until the Legislature by an act passed the 4th of April, 1798, authorized the Supervisors of the several towns " to raise by tax on the Freeholders and In- habitants of the said county the sum of two thousand dollars for the purpose of building a court house and Gaol in said county with the additional sum of four cents in the dollar for collecting the same."
It was also further enacted-
" That Jacob Lawyer Jun. Jost Borst Jun. Peter Snyder, John H. Shafer and Wm. Thrall shall be commissioned to superintend the build- ing the court house and gaol."
Something of a controversy arose as to the location of the buildings, many chose the present site, while others were anxious to have them placed nearly two miles up the valley. The Legislature appointed Abraham A. Post of On- tario, Alex. H. Buell of Herkimer, and William Duer of Oswego, as committee to locate and
60
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
who were influenced to decide upon the present site.
The appropriation not being sufficient to carry out the designs of the commissioners and Supervisors, an act of April 4, 1800, author- ized the latter to raise the sum of one thousand, five hundred dollars to complete tlie work. The same act required that-
" It shall be the duty of the Sheriff of the County of Albany to deliver over to the Sheriff of the said County of Schoharie, all prisoncrs in his custody belonging to said County of Scho- harie, whenever it shall be certified by the ma- jor part of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the County of Schoharie, that the gaol is in a fit condition for their confinement."
The fall of 1800 found the building occupied, but not completed, and an act was passed on the 21st of March, 1801, authorizing the further sum of one thousand, five hundred dollars to be raised for "completing the court house and gaol," making the total cost of the structure five thousand dollars.
In 1845 the building was burned by George Burton, a prisoner, and was replaced by a more commodious structure the year following, which was also burned in the month of January, 1870. The present building was erected the same year, and is calculated to be fire-proof. It is constructed of blue limestone, having galvanized cornices and pinacles, and a more neat and sub- stantial court-house, but few interior counties can pride themselves upon possessing. The jail is in the rear and was built in the fall of 1846, and escaped the conflagration of 1870.
In addition to the public buildings already mentioned, is the Poor House, a brick and stone structure, located nearly six miles to the south, upon the west side of the Schoharie river. In 1830 a farm of one hundred acres was purchased, and the building then standing upon it, though inferior, was used as the " Poor House." The present edifice was built in 1838, under the su- perintendence of the building committee, Cyrus Smith and Peter I. Borst.
Soon after the purchase of this farm, a por- tion of it was sold, and the proceeds of the sale invested in a wood lot, which leaves but a trifle over sixty acres of tillable land, which greatly assists in the subsistence of the inmates.
The first kcepcr was Joseph Beck, under the dictation of three superintendents, appointed yearly by the Board of Supervisors. At the present timc it is under the management of but one Superintendent, elected by the people trien- nially.
The average number of paupers, for the last five years, has been sixty-two, many of whom werc once energetic business men with ample means, and well bred and affable women by whom fate has dealt harshly. While the ma- jority of the remainder arc those who belong to a class, to use the parlance of the people, known as "Sloughters," whose morality was lost long years ago, and not inheriting any principle, they have failed to find it, and instead, are content to eke out a miserable existence in licentious habits, until the winter returns, or their physical condition is such as to make them objects of care.
The country having dearly felt the bitter of contention truly enjoyed the sweets of peace and made an onward progression which far ex- ceeded the expectation of the people of our own as well as those of foreign lands. Large acces- sions were made from Eastern States and Euro- pean countries and each gladly united to ad- vance and uphold the pleasing political and religious privileges they could here enjoy. The tide of immigration caused the borders to re- cede and far back in the wilderness and upon the broad prairies of the West the curling smoke of the enterprising pioneers' firesides shot up- ward as signals to lead others on to homes of peace, plenty and happiness. Within the limits of Schoharie County the same progression char- acterized every neighborhood in the beginning of the present century. Jealous of their free- dom, every male inhabitant between the ages of eighteen and forty-five was considered a soldier of the country and was required to meet his re- spective military officers at such times and places as designated by them to drill in the use of arms and military tactics, that in case of war the country would be in readiness.
Perhaps a people could not be found that bore a greater, or as great a hatred to England, as the people of the Schoharie settlements, as a mass. The price set upon their scalps by the officers of that government forever alienated
61
SCHOHARIE PATRIOTS IN THE WAR OF 1812.
them from recognizing a single redeeming qual- ity in the nation, and when she dared to over- haul our vessels upon free waters in 1811 and '12 and beneath the stars and stripes that had been bathed in the sweat and blood of their fathers for an existence, and take our citizens and force them to vindicate the British banner upon foreign shores, it but rekindled their hatred and each act against the supremacy of the Gov- ernment was taken as an insult upon them as individuals.
When the call was made to resist the English forces upon our Northern borders, Colonel Ef- ner's regiment was summoned to report at Schoharie and upon reading the proclamation of the President quite a controversy arose as to who would go, and when the roll was called and draft made from it, many that were not included stepped forward to take the places of those that were drafted. 'The record or muster-roll is very inaccurate, as it does not give the additions that were afterwards made to the regiment by enlist- ing as hostilities progressed.
Lieutenant William Elmandorf, as will be more definitely mentioned in Cobleskill, en- listed a company of artillery from Sharon, Cobleskill and Carlisle under Captain Josias Kellogg, and united with companies from Mont- gornery county, under Colonel Forsyth. They were at Oswego, Sackett's Harbor and Ogdens- burgh, and remained in service until the close of the war, returning with nearly all their num- ber, but bearing many wounds. They assisted in the destruction of British stores at Ganano- que in Canada, and repulsed the British forces at Ogdensburgh on the 2d of October, 1812, being in numbers only four hundred against a force of one thousand disciplined troops. Be- sides this engagement, Lieutenant Elmandorf's biographer mentions others in number ten as above referred.
The company's enrollment is lost, but as far as we have been able to glean, the following were the volunteers :- Josias Kellogg, Captain, Wm. Elmandorf, Lieutenant, Jacob L. Lawyer, Corporal, David Lawyer, Marcus Warner, John Mickel, William Young, John Hyney, Joshua Ward, David Fraats, John Fox, Daniel Brown, Elias and Aaron Malick, Charles Gordon, Ma- thias Young.
In the season of 1813 Deidrick Van Veghten, editor of the Schoharie Herald, being clothed with a captain's commission, recruited a com- pany at Schoharie village, and during the winter of that year was stationed at Schenectady to guard army supplies that were there stored. In the following spring, he joined Gen. VanRens- selaer's regiment and was promoted to Major. In an engagement upon the border he was sent forward with his company, by the General, to make an attack upon the enemy with the assur- ance of relief. But after a bloody fight the Major and force were taken prisoners without any effort upon the part of VanRensselaer to send relief. He and his men were incarcerated at Chambly in a stone building, whose windows were too high to be reached by the men, and after lying there a few months an escape was effected. VanVeghten being a tall man, or- «lered each of his men to climb upon his shoul- ders and escape through the window. They did so leaving only himself in prison.
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