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 4
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In the spring of 1711 they commenced making tar and pitch, and in June following, three hundred of them joined the Canadian expedition. Here we will state that John Con- rad Weiser, Hartman Windecker and others, whom all writers agree were among the first settlers in the Schoharie valley-were on that expedition from June to October, which con- futes the statement of the Schoharie settle- ments being made in 1711.
During the winter of 1711 and 1712 many were sent to Albany to strengthen the garrison, while others were working "in the pines," where they remained "nearly two years " from the spring of 1711. That "nearly two years " extended to the winter of 1712 and 1713, when Gov. Hunter's supplies gave out as seen by his letter to Mr. Cast, of September, 1712, granting them permission to work for farmers, and inter- preted by the Germans in the petition to "shift for themselves."
The sending of their "chiefs" (List-masters,) to treat with the Indians, must have been in
22
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
the fall, and the arrival of the first party in the Schoharie valley must have been after the Ist day of January, 1713, as we find, that "the same year in March, did the remainder of the Ist people proceed on their journey," showing con- clusively, that all arrived in the same year, and not at an earlier date, than between the Ist of January and April, 1713. Then, we find the List-masters named here, at the Schoharie valley, where Middleburgh now stands, and then known as "Weisersdorf." The number that came is not known, but the fifty families that first sought the valley would number one hundred and seventy-five, according to the average of the whole, at the camps. But how many families came a short time after, or how many the "remainder that came in March" numbered, we are unable to say.
In 1718 a census was taken to obtain the number of inhabitants in the province of New York, and Joshua Kocherthal and John Fred- erick Hager were commissioned to report the number found along the Hudson, Mohawk and Schoharie. They reported seven villages or " dorfs " at Schoharie "consisting of 170 fam- ilies, containing six hundred and eighty souls."*
Being located at "Schorie, the promised land," in the midst of winter, we cannot conceive the amount of hardships they were compelled to endure. Their petition expresses in a manner their deep troubles, but words, we know, were inadequate to "tell the tale." Arriving, as they did when there were three feet of snow upon the ground, without shelter or food and undoubt- edly with but little clothing, in a desolate and unknown wilderness, with none to aid but a few half-starved savages, we, who enjoy ourselves so luxuriantly upon the broad acres they regen- erated from the wilderness, are unable to im- agine their critical condition. But with deter- mined purposes, they overcame all obstacles. They lived upon roots and herbs, found so plen- tifully near the Indian encampment. But when warm, and gentle spring came, melting the snow and ice from the hills and valleys, with what heart- felt gratitude they must have returned thanks to the Divine Head for their deliverance from the frosty chains of unmerciful winter !
Immediately they commenced planting, and the
richness of the soil soon furnished them with an abundance of eatables. Brown, in his Pamph- let History, says that the first settlers came from the camps, by way of Albany, and upon arriv- ing at the Helleberg, and enjoying ablutions by a creek, the lice washed off from their bodies floating down the stream, gave it the appella- tion of " Louse Creek." He also tells us of a free fight from some unknown cause between those pioneers. We do not wish to contradict so good an authority as Judge Brown nor will we deny that such proceedings were enacted ; but it does not look reasonable, that the settlers whom we have followed from the camps in the depth of winter would have come by the way of Albany as at that time there was a road upon the east side of the river from New York to Albany, which would have made it useless for them to have cut a road through the woods as the petition states. Besides, at the time these settlers " proceeded on their journey, with snow three feet deep," and nearly starved, we cannot think they would stop to take an out-door bath on the summit of the Helleberg. While we are perfectly willing, indeed anxious, to accord to every object, whether man, beast, or louse, all credit due for acts, especially endurance, we cannot think that either the Germans or lice, could "stand the test" upon that mountain, in mid-winter.
Without doubt, some of the Germans that were sent to Albany to strengthen the garrison, joined their countrymen at Weisers in the spring of 1713 or '14, and being disappointed in not having an opportunity of displaying their "mar- tial spirits" at the garrison by a conflict with "ye French and French Indians," concluded to have a private rough and tumble upon the mountain, and leave a mark of their "inroads," if not upon trees, stones and earth-upon ribs, shins and noses.
There was an Indian path leading to the Schoharie valley from the Hudson river near Catskill, over which the Stockbridge and Mohe- gan hunters and visitors travelled, that the first German settlers, no doubt, followed; as we believe they came direct from the camps, over hills and along valleys, without making the cir- cuitous route by the way of Albany, and the " three weeks cutting a way through the wil-
* Consult Chapter 16.
23
THE SCHOHARIE TRIBE OF INDIANS.
derness," was in making a road to intersect the Indian path at the nearest point froin the camps.
Upon the advent of the whites, a small tribe of Indians occupied the Schoharie valley, but at what particular time they congregated, as a dis- tinct tribe, or branch of the Mohawks, is not known. We can only conjecture and indefi- nitely date their organization from the time those tribes from which they came began to disband by the progressive march of the whites upon their possessions, or through repeated wars.
The " Schoharie Tribe" was a mongrel one, made up of different tribes, and numbering, ac- cording to Brown, about three hundred warriors.
The Mohegans, of the Thames and Yantic of Connecticut, were stationed in considerable numbers, near the present Middleburgh village.
The native tribe once numbered thousands, but by numerous wars with the Mohawks and Narragansetts, were reduced to a few hundreds.
At the death of Uncas, their venerated chief, in 1683, quite a number left the tribeand with- out doubt sought a home among the Mohawks, and were placed by them in the Schoharie valley.
Oweneco, the son of Uncas, succeeded his father as chief and with a few followers remained near the graves of their fathers, living upon the charity of the English, to whom their camps and hunting grounds were sold. In 1710, Oweneco died, and another scattering was made, and perhaps another addition to the Schoharie tribe.
A band of Stockbridge Indians, also, was here but could not have come as early as the Mohegans, unless they were refugees from the native tribe for misconduct or crimes, from the fact that the tribe remained nearly intact up to, or near, the year 1700. A squad of Tuscaroras, too, united with them, but at what time, tra- dition does not tell. In 1712, the Tuscaroras united with the Five Nations, but by a letter we read several years ago, written by an Indian trader in 1711, the tribe was represented in the valley at that time. There being a few of the Delaware Indians here mingled with the whole, perhaps the Tuscaroras came with them, led by the fascinating hunting-grounds, unless they were refugees from the council fires.
When we look over the hills and valleys of Schoharie, we cannot imagine but that they were once noble hunting and fishing grounds that would excite the envy of any Nimrod or Walton whether he were savage or civilized ; and pre- vious to the formation of the Schoharie tribe, we believe they were trodden by the Mohawk and Delaware hunters in quest of the abundance of deer, bears, foxes and panthers that were found here. For lovers of such sports to have built their wigwams upon such grounds, would not seem strange, but on the contrary very consis- tent. These different squads, with different dialects and perhaps customs, settled separately, but were subjects of Ka-rig-hon-don-tee, whom the Mohawks placed here as their chief. Tra- dition tells us that he was a captive Canadian Indian chief, and married a Mohawk squaw. Brown says, his "father-in-law sent him there, and gave him land, for fear that the Mohawks would kill him when they got drunk, as they bore a great enmity to the French." Allowing that the Mohegans came in 1683, the Stock- bridges, in 1700, and the Tuscaroras a few years later, we can but see that the "make up" of the tribe was but a few years previous to the settlement of the whites. Various places through the County bear the marks of Indian encampinents and burial places, that would lead us to think were far back of those dates. Un- doubtedly the whole territory of the present County, was occupied by the confederate tribes and the Delawares, Stockbridges, Mohegans, Narragansetts, and many others, as hunting- grounds as far back as any other portion of the country. When the whites settled along the Schoharie valley the Indians were marked as being a revengeful, murderous set, which gives us the impression that they were the scum, as it were, of the tribes from which they cane.
The Mohegans, as a tribe, were ever friends to the whites, but much to the discredit of the whites they many times proved traitors to the Indians' confidence in them.
The Stockbridge tribe, also, were a quiet and friendly people when used by the English with any degree of kindness and fairness, and the friendship of the Tuscaroras towards our strug- gling forefathers, through the Revolution, should suffice for us to think well of them.
24
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
In comparing the general characters of each tribe with their representatives in the valley, we cannot but believe that they were the out- casts from each, or, as termed by the white man's code, criminals.
To follow up traditionary tales of noble In- dian tribes is a pleasing and interesting task and to the competent, doubly pleasing it must be to reverberate, to after ages, their heroic deeds and valorous exploits. But to chronicle the characters and acts of the Schoharie tribe would prove to be no embellishment to the meagre history of the " untutored savage." We have before us a deed dated Oct. 7, 1722, given by Adamn Vroman to his son John, conveying a piece of land upon a part of which the chief resided. The writing states that, "I (Adam Vroman,) promised to several scachams when I bought the land of them, that Ca-ree-ah-dun-kah should be allowed to live where he now lives, as long as he chooses, and reserve for his use, where he lives." The land was sold for " twen- ty morgans of land," and without doubt was that lying by the " Dovegatt," in Vromansland where the castle was built. The writer of the deed was an excellent penman, and to judge by the lan- guage used, a fair scholar, that would be apt to write the chief's name as pronounced by the In- dians with whom he was conversant, with more accuracy than Judge Brown who came at a much later date, and wrote when at an advanced age.
After the Germans had been settled over one year and received many threatenings from the Governor and in fact had a few of their num- ber imprisoned, Gov. Hunter sold to Myndert Schuyler and others the land upon each side of the river from a point above Middleburgh down the stream, to one on the same river between the old ferry opposite Sloansville and Esperance bridge.
It was intended to take in all the " flats " but the stream being very crooked below Jacob Vro- man's-along the Lendrum farm and those ad- joining, the lines ran over the hill, instead of keeping with the stream, (the points of com- pass not being changed.) The line bore con- siderably to the east of north and if continued on in the same course would have met the stream again below Esperance, but at a point upon the hill back of Lendrum's the course was changed nearly to the northwest, and ran to the river as before mentioned.
From the point the course was changed upon the hill to the Schoharie stream or con- fluence of the Cobleskill, a wide space was left unclaimed. Simms says : " Morris and Coey- mans were sent to survey this tract, purchased by Schuyler and others, and finding this space not included in the grant, purchased the same themselves." But we find they did not take the whole of that space, but A. Van Cortlandt in 1753 upon a careful survey, found a tract lying between Schuyler's and Coeymans' not disposed of and purchased it .*
Hunter, knowing the fact of the promise of these lands in England to the Germans and that they were upon it and doing well-without cost to the government and it being unoccupied land, showed himself to be a very unjust and obstinate official.
* There appears to have been fourteen purchasers of the lands at Schoharie, among whom were several officials then acting, whose names did not appear in some of their transactions. We found an unpublished document in the office of the Secretary of State, under the charge of Mr. B. Fernow, (to whom we are in- debted for many favors,) which we here copy, and which determines at what time the troubles were brought to a close :-
"NEW YORK, Sept. 23d, 1722. Gentlemen :
Mr. Van Dam informs us that you want our accounts concerning Schohare, it may be so, but is it not as reasonable that we should have yours. We are of the opinion with you that the affair should be brot to a con- clusion, And the Lands Divided. We know no better way to do it, than for you to come down and bring all your accounts, yours *
* # interchangably delivered we may then finish that affair if there be Power from you all so to do. We consent to a division of the Lands in 14 Equal shares that James Livingston to be surveyor appointed to that work on the terms already agreed on with him, that he or you may hire chain Bearers but that if any of you think to be present it must be at his or your own expense. That when the Survey to be made and the place of division be furnished, it to be sent to us and when any of you come to York on your Private affairs we will then draw lots for we are desirous to Save Expense as much as possible. Lett the Chain bearers be some of the Inhabitants of Schohare of good understanding whom you may hire cheaper than it will be to cary them from Albany To We are Gentleman W. WASSENERS Your Humble Serv
MYNDERT SCHUYLER RIP VAN DAM
ROBT LIVINGSTON
GEORGE CLARK
P. O. BENYAR
JOHN SCHUYLER
PHIL LIVINGSTON "
25
NICHOLAS BAYARD'S VISIT TO SCHOHARIE.
In after years when questioned in regard to this act by the London Board of Trade, he wrote, "They went and took possession of the Lands, granted to several persons at New York and Albany, against repeated orders." While they "took possession of these lands against repeated orders," they were not sold to the New York and Albany gentlemen until the 3d of November, 1714; and he says-"in compassion to the innocent women and chil- dren, I prevailed with the proprietors of these lands to make them an offer of the lands free from all rent, or an acknowledgment for ten years, and ever after, at a very moderate quit- rent." It was these gentlemen, of whom the petition speaks, as trying to induce thein to become tenants here, as they were at home, in Germany. But the Germans were not to be moved by sweet songs of selfish sirens, or en- trapped by quit-rents for all time to come.
It was a short time previous to the sale of these lands that the Bayard, of whom Brown and Simms speak, came to offer free titles to all who would appear before his august presence with an ear of corn. Had such an offer been made, we think Gov. Hunter would have so stated to the Board of Trade, when he so faintly defended himself against the accusations brought forward by his enemies, as he called them. If Bayard did appear in the valley offering free titles, we believe he came without Royal Authority.
In Hunter's letter of July 24, 1710, we find that the surveyors were sent upon lands in Schorie, they being "resumed lands of Col. Bayard's grant." To explain the last quoted paragraph, we shall be obliged to call the atten- tion of the reader to the "Report of the Board of Trade to Her Majesty in Council," as copied in Chapter I, which says :-
" Your Majesty was pleased by your orders in Council of the 26th of June, 1708, to con- firm an act passed at New York the 2nd of March, 1693 and '9, for vacating several ex- travagant Grants, Whereby large tracts of Land have returned to your Majesty."
Farther on it speaks of lands "lying along the creek running into the Mohawk (Schoharie) which contains between 24 and 30 miles in length." This extravagant grant was given to
Colonel Nicholas Bayard, and taken from him, regardless of his official services, and un- doubtedly his feelings were not very charitable towards the Government for so doing, and thought that by giving the Palatines free titles they would cause the Government trouble in their removal. He must have come for himself and not the Government, and the shame that Judge Brown felt in writing the account of the affair might have been saved, had he searched records instead of listening to the plausible story of the Colonel's descendants. Many such family traditions are related to show the ances- tor's prominence, which, when stripped of the probabilities with which they are enwrapped, prove to be mere magic skeletons, "without form and voice." Not long after the purchase of the lands by Schuyler and others, Sheriff Adams of Albany was sent to dispossess the Germans and was rudely received and waited upon by the sturdy women of the settlements, as told by Brown in too plain English to be pub- lished here. In 1711, Adam Vroman, an Indian trader living at Schenectady, upon one of his expeditions purchased a tract of land of the na- tives now called " Vroman's Land." Not having the proper utensils for surveying it, he paced off the tract and called it four hundred acres, for which he gave one hundred and ten gallons of rum and a few blankets.
When the Germans came in 1713, they ac- quainted the Indians with the fact that the tract contained a larger number of acres, and that they had been cheated by Vroman. This caused them to possess an enmity towards him and to refuse to barter with him for his goods. For this act Vroman complained to the Gover- nor in a very plaintive manner, and “ desired him to attende to the seditious Palentines." He also applied for and obtained a grant of the land to him in 1714.
Instead of its being but four hundred acres, the grant gives the same tract an acreage of eleven hundred. In after years Vroman pro- cured another title from the Indians, perhaps to satisfy them of his honest intentions. In 1715 Vroman commenced building a house upon his land, and the Germans being jealous of his purchase, or, in truth believing he was sent to "hem them in," as they stated in the petition,
26
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
took the responsibility of trespassing upon his domains in a very riotous manner; as will be seen by Vroman's letter, written from Schenec- tady to Gov. Hunter bearing the date of "the 9th day of July, 1715."
" May it please Your Excellency-
"As in duty bound by my last to you, I give your Exc'y an acct How the Palintines threatened In a Rebellious manner, If I should build or manure the land at Schore that your Excell'ey. was pleased to Grant me a Patent for, and it Please your Excellency, I have manured a great part of the land, and sowed Consider- able grain thereon ; they still drove their horses on it by night. I then hired my sons to go with me, and build me a house. I was there and was making a stone house 23 foot squar, and had so high so that I had Layd the Beames for the Chamber. I, having at the same time an Indian house about 200 yards off, for myself, workmen, and negroe to sleep in, but on the 4th day of this Instant, In ye night, following, they had a contryvance to tie bells about horses necks, and drive them too and fro, In which time they pulled my House, Stones and all to the Ground. the next day I spok with some of them, and they used such Rebellious Expressions, that was never heard off; but they told me before now, when they done all they would run among the Indians. John Conradus Wiser has been the ring leader of all factions, for he has had his son some time to Live among the Indians, and now he is turned their Interpreter, so that this Wiser and his son talk with the Indians very often, and have made treates for them, and have been busy to buy land at many places, which is Con- trary to your Excellency's Proclamation, and has made the Indians drunk to that degree to go and mark off Land with them ; and I amno wayse secure of my life their, for after I came away, they went and pulled my son off of the waggon, and beat him, and said they would kill him, or his father or any body else that came their ; so that my son was forced to come away. Likewise they say they care for nobody. John Conradus Wiser, and 2 or 3 more has made their escape by way of Boston, and have said they would go for England, but has left his Son, which is their Interpreter, to the Indians, and every day tells the Indians many lies, whereby
much mischeife may Ensue, more than we now think off, and is much to be feared, for the time I have been their, I have made a diligent scru- tiny into all their actions, but I dont find a great many Concerned with this Wiser and his Son, in their disobedient, unlawful and Rebel- lious Proceedings. I am well Informed who are their cheifes ; for those that are good subjects among them, and will not Joyn with them, are afraid the others will burn their houses down by their threatening words. And please you I could Enlarge much more of their misdemeanors but for fear of trobling yr Excellency too much, I shall beg your Excellency's pardon all this time, and Ever Remain your Excellency's most Hum- ble and Obedient Servant to Command.
ADAM VROMAN.
Schenectady, July the 9th day 1715 In haste."
By this letter of Vroman's, we find him ac- cusing the Palatines of getting the Indians drunk, which was an accusation brought against Vroman in the petition.
Much obstinacy, as well as ignorance, is shown in such acts, for which we are not apt to have much compassion. But in their case we must remember, that they believed that the Queen had given "Schorie" to them, and that by machinations they had been deprived of their rights, and that an attempt was being made by Vroman's settlement near by, to take advantage in some way of them, Vroman acting for others.
We have the story of both parties but we will let the reader decide for himself as to which was in the right. We know that Vroman had this advantage-any request of his to Gov. Hunter, would be granted while the Palatines petitioned to that dignitary in vain.
Knowing this they took the matter in their own hands, and upon the night of the ever memorable Fourth of July, " Rebelliously pulled the house down, and trampled upon the grain."
Some spirit of " Rebellion " partial to the glorious Fourth seems to have been implanted in the Anglo-Saxon heart, years and years ago, that with just or unjust cause has given to monarchy -whether individually or collectively- a para- lytic stroke, that will, in a few more years, cause its whitened and brittle bones to be laid away in
27
WEISER CONFINED IN THE TOWER OF LONDON.
the seething pit which its avarice and cruelty have been constructing for ages to receive.
Living in these days of " official corruption, that stalks forth defiantly, even at noon's broad light," fearless of condemnation, as in its num- berless friends is its strength and security and knowing the conspiracies, formed by such, to control and obtain the "Almighty dollar," we can but think, that a speculation in the labors of the Palatines, at the camps, was fostered by the officials, and engendered by Robert Living- ston ; and when they could no longer hold them at that place, measures were taken to make them a poor tenantry at Schoharie. They believed this, and in order to avoid it, acted ac- cordingly, and when the "Council of His Ma- jesty " received the petition, they also believed it, as one of them had given his views to that effect, over six years before. Passing on to the 22nd of July, the same month in which the tres- passes were committed, the Governor having had ample time to receive Vroman's letter, issued the following warrant to arrest Conrad Weiser :-
" Gentlemen :- I am informed that one John Conradus Wiser, Covenanted Servant of His Majesty, who has been Guilty of Several Mutinous, Riotous, and other disobedient and Illegal practices, is now skulking in your county, to avoid punishment, you are therefore on sight, thereof, to issue your Warrant, for the Appre- hending the said Wiser, and to cause him to be sent down in safe Custody, to the City of New York, that he may be proceeded against, as the nature of his Crimes shall require, hereof fail not.
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