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 46
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As we before stated, there were four girls in the Zea family, Sophronia, (afterwards Mrs. John Karker,) of whom Adam, Philip, and Peter William, are grandchildren, Miss Catha- rine, Lana, (Mrs. Luther Snyder,) and Mar- garet, (Mrs. Christopher Warner,) of Albany county.
Sophronia was the eldest, and was about six- teen, and upon arriving where Cobleskill village now stands, upon their way to the Schoharie fort, having missed her pocket, (a necessary appendage in those days,) in which a few family valuables were placed, she resolved to return to the house and procure it, bidding her sisters to flee direct to the fort and not wait for her return. After traveling back to the homestead and obtaining the article, she started alone for the fort, and upon her arrival, found that Cath- arine had strayed away from the rest and was not to be found. Three days passed without any tidings of her fate, and she was given up as killed or taken prisoner. Towards night of the third day, a couple of men were on their way to fish near the "Lime Kilns," in Middleburgh, when they were startled by a moaning in a rock hole a short distance off. Upon approaching, they found Catharine nearly dead with fright and cold. She refused to leave her retreat, fearful of being massacred by her rescuers, and they were obliged to carry her to the fort. Her mental powers were so shocked that she never recovered, although she lived to the age of eighty-three.
Sophronia received a visit from her brother, Nicholas, after she married, it being the first time he returned from Canada, where he fled after the battle, but her patriotism overcame
family affection, and she refused to extend even the courtesy of a chair for him to sit upon. She accused him of being in the battle and shooting his brother, John, which he did not deny. The brothers had made an agreement after the father's death to the effect that John should join the militia, and Nicholas remain at home and attend to the farm, and while thus engaged it was ascertained that he acted as a spy, and gave all the information he could obtain regard- ing the Patriots' movements to their enemy, without being suspected.
All of the buildings that stood within the present limits of the town were burned by the enemy, excepting the Zea buildings and the old log house first reared by George Warner, which it was thought was spared for the purpose of Warner to occupy, that they might return some future time and capture him. Warner was a "Committee man" and a bounty of twenty dollars was given by the British officers for any such officials as prisoners, and eight dollars for their scalp.
Twice this settlement was visited by the enemy for the purpose of taking George Warner, Sr., prisoner. Upon the 8th of July, 1782, Adam Crysler at the head of a small squad of Indians appeared at the log house, and not being fortu- nate in finding the father at home, took the son, George, Jr., prisoner, and held him as such at Niagara until peace was proclaimed, when with several others he ran away and returned home. His captivity was attended with less severity than many others, yet as often was the case, snakes, horseflesh and many other un- palatable eatables were resorted to, to sustain life while upon the march. The day before the taking of George, Jr., the same party ap- peared upon Fox's creek and committed murder, as will be seen by consulting the chapter on the town of Wright.
In December (18th,) following the capture of George, Jr., the renowned murderer, Seths Henry with a party of eight fellow savages ap- peared suddenly at the log house and took the father and son prisoners and left the neighbor- hood without being noticed. They staid the night previous with a Tory in the Rhinebeck settlement, expecting to capture John Philip
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Karker, but he being away from home they passed over to Warner's. The party directed their steps towards the Charlotte trail, through a new fallen snow and encamped for the night near Summit village.
Nicholas watched his opportunity late at night and made his escape, traveling the greater part of the distance with bare feet. The old gentleman was taken to Canada and received very good treatment considering the nature of his host. He was exchanged after an absence of eleven months and returned to his family.
We see at one time three of this family were held as prisoners by the unmerciful foe. Drear must have been the fireside the night following the capture of the husband and son. The fate of George, Jr. was unknown. The thousand phantoms which the imagination leads the terri- fied mind to view must have made the wife and mother's heart quiver in terror and dismay. We cannot wonder at the bitter hatred that filled the breasts of the patriotic women of the Revolution towards the Tories and Indians. The former were feared throughout the border settlements more than the latter, as their hearts seemed to be calloused, many times in tortur- ing, wliere the uncivilized Indians were merciful. It is a fact, that the most inhuman, more than brutish, acts that were committed during the war were by, or at, the instigation of those who were called civilized. The most wanton acts of cruelty were committed by them upon friends and even kinsmen, such as put the " untutored savage " to blush.
Nicholas Warner .- Undoubtedly there did not exist a man that bore a greater enmity to the Indians and Tories than Nicholas Warner. He was an inveterate enemy to them. While upon a scouting expedition he encountered an Indian in the woods, and both "took to trees." Warner peered out one side of the tree to see his " game," but drew back with his eyes' full of chips, from the bark which the Indian's bullet caused to fly as it whizzed past. After clearing his eyes, he ventured once more, and supposed he had a fair chance at the head of the redskin, and fired. Instead of the head, it was the Indian's hat placed upon the end of the ramrod to deceive Warner, and as soon as he fired, the
Indian jumped with tomahawk uplifted to dis- patch his unarmed neighbor. Before he reached him, Nicholas had reloaded, and with equal dexterity unloaded his trusty rifle in the head of the wily warrior. At another time, while hunting, he espied an Indian some distance up the creek, quietly fishing, and being a good marksman and fond of game, his rifle, he said, was pointed that way and it went off, but he never went to see if he hit him.
At the time Warner settled here in 1764, he built a "barrack," near the house, in which he stored hay and grain, as was the custom among the first settlers, they being too poor to build barns. They were constructed by placing four posts in the ground forming a square, and run- ning high enough to admit a good sized stack. Upon the top of the posts was placed a roof made of boards, or, in their absence poles, and thatched with straw or evergreen boughs. Many built the roof so as to be raised or lowered, at will, to give better protection to the products. This "barrack" was burned the day of the battle, and the unburned posts were left by the owner and his sons who followed him, as memorials of that disastrous day. After a lapse of one hundred and ten years, Mr. Isaac Mann, a great-grandson, cut a piece from one of those posts, which he now uses as a ruler. It is sound and lithe as a lately cut stick. Mr. Mann has also the Warner High Dutch Bible which George, Sr., brought over with him from Ger- many. The cover is of board and very heavy leather. It is well bound, neatly printed, and profusely illustrated. In comparing them with the fine steel cuts that embellish the Bibles of to-day, or of this work, one is struck with the advancement art has made. While the family were scattered hither and thither-now home- less-terror-stricken and despondent, so many times through their life-struggles-they clung to the old Bible and brought it through all calamities unhurt. As we turned its yellow, clumsy leaves, this thought struck us-of all the family relics, the "Old Bible " stands pre- eminent ! " It was grandfather's," or my "great-grandfather's," or, perhaps, it was " mother's, and she gave it to me!" Holy instructor-always bound to us by holy asso- ciations ! A brutish spirit indeed it must be,
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that would refuse to cling to it with deep reverence !
Capt. George W. Snyder .- Crossing over the valley we come to the grave of one to whom honor is due. Beneath a plain, yet substantial monument, lies the soldier, and upon it we read upon the west side :-
LIEUT. GEO. W. SNYDER, BORN AT COBLESKILL, . JULY 30, 1833. DIED AT WASHINGTON, D. C., Nov. 17, 1861.
And upon the east :-
ONE OF THE GALLANT DEFENDERS OF FORT SUMTER.
Upon the north :-
A GRADUATE OF UNION COLLEGE, ALSO OF THE MILITARY ACADEMY OF WEST POINT, WITH THE HIGHEST HONORS OF HIS CLASS.
And on the south :- AIDE-DE-CAMP OF GENERAL HEINTZELMAN, AT THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN.
George W. Snyder was the son of William Snyder, and great-grandson of the old patriot, Nicholas Warner.
He commenced attending the district school at Cobleskill village at the age of four years, and was so diligent in his studies and apt in learning, that within one week he learned his letters. The same characteristics were notice- able through his whole life, and placed him at the head of everything in which he enlisted his energies.
We scarce meet with one whose onward course was as progressive as George W. Snyder's, or with one whose demise draws upon our sym- pathies more, as in him we could but see a still greater and nobler career drawing towards him through his energetic, studious and amiable life. At the age of ten he was sent to the Schoharie Academy, and from there to Franklin, Delaware county, and Cherry Valley successively, and returned to Schoharie to prepare for Union
College, which he entered in the year 1850, at the age of seventeen.
Remaining there but two years, he received his diplomas as "Majistré " and " Baccalaurie," in July, 1852, and entered the military school at West Point a few months after, where he redoubled his energies and received his first recommendation from the officers of the school to the President, from whom he was honored by promotion as Brevet Second Lieutenant of the Corps of Engineers, on the Ist of July, 1856, signed by Franklin Pierce, and his secre- tary, Jefferson Davis. On the 21st of August following, he was raised in his class by the same to Second Lieutenant, and promoted by Presi- dent James Buchanan, to First Lieutenant, on on the Ist of July, 1860. His commission from President Lincoln, as Captain, was given on the 14th of April, 1861, and on the 21st of July following, he was honored by another certificate, signed by President Abraham Lincoln and his secretary, Simon Cameron, promoting him to the rank of Major, "For gallant and meritorious services in the Manassas campaign." A few days before he died he was honored by the appointment of Colonel, by President Lin- coln. While acting as First Lieutenant under Major Anderson, he was with the gallant com- pany that held Fort Sumter against the mis- guided Carolinians, and it was through exposure and the use of unwholesome food and water, that he was attacked with a diarrhoea which became chronic, and closed his life upon the 17th of November, 1861.
Upon the evacuation of Fort Sumter, Snyder reported at Washington, and immediately com- menced actual field services. He had charge of the landing of the first troops at Annapolis, and was in General Heintzelman's staff at the battle of Bull Run, and brought off the last of our troops from the field in good order.
The New York Times, in its issue of Novem- ber 22, said of him :- €
" Zealous and unflinching in the discharge of his duties-no matter how disagreeable they might be-he overtasked his body and fell an easy prey to the fever which ended his career. His former comrades in arms, mourn in him the loss of one of the brightest ornaments of
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
their profession, and his country has lost the services of an upright, fearless and devoted officer."
The progenitor of this Snyder family was William Snyder, who came from the Helleberg before the Revolution, and during that struggle acted as a militia man and home guard.
He married a daughter of George Warner, Sr., and settled upon the farm now owned and occupied by Sylvester McDonald, where he began in 1800 to " keep tavern," the main road to Schenevus running upon that side of the creek. Their children were Peter W., and Maria, the latter a wife of Henry Mann.
Peter W., married a daughter of Nicholas Warner, to whom one child was born, William, the father of Captain George W. Snyder.
WARNERVILLE.
This little hamlet was formerly and for many years known as "Mann's Valley," after the family of Captain George Mann, of Schoharie, who removed to this place in 1786. The Cap- tain had five sons and four daughters, who at one time lived near with families, and made quite a settlement of their own.
Their names were :-
Peter,
Henry,
Philip,
Jacob,
Abram, Betsy, (Mrs. Colyer.)
Catharine, Christina, (Mrs. Jacob Kromer,) . Lana, (Mrs. Adam A. Shaver.)
Peter's children were :-
Ex-Sheriff Henry Mann,
Isaac,
Abram,
George,
Mrs. Calkins.
Henry's children were :-
Alexander, William H., George L., David,
Mrs, Henry Mann,
Mrs. Ephraim Warner, Catharine.
Philip's children were :---
Tobias, Mrs. Jeremiah Richtmyer.
Abram's children were :-
Mrs. Peter Hilts,
Alexander,
David S.,
Mrs. Fuller, Abram,
George,
Judson,
William,
Miss Etta.
Peter was the oldest son and kept the first tav- ern west of Cobleskill, which stood nearly oppo- site of Alexander Larkin's residence. Here he catered to the wants of the community and travel- ing public for many years, and after closing up his business, his brother Henry opened quite an extensive establishment between Segar & Mann's store and the blacksmith shop, south, and followed the business a long time. But the whole has been cleared away and not a trace of the old familiar haunt remains. The name of the place was afterwards changed to Cobles- kill Centre, and still later to its present name of Warnerville. When the plank road was in operation and for some time before, the little hamlet presented a lively appearance as a farm- ers' business centre, but the railroad drew a veil over its prosperity and wafted the attractions, all down to the village of Cobleskill, leaving Warnerville quiet. The postoffice was estab- lished in 1831 as " Mann's Valley " and Abram Mann received the appointment as postmaster, and kept the office in Henry Mann's Inn.
The tannery that is now owned by Jarvis Peak was built about the year 1834, by Joseph W. Courter, and afterwards purchased by Henry Webb. It was quite an extensive con- cern for several years and added much to the business interest of the place.
There were for many years two hotels found here, but fire laid them in ashes, and at present a former private house is occupied as such, but
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TOWN OF RICHMONDVILLE.
the custom that for years made the business paying, ceased with the life of road travel.
Churches .- The present Methodist church was organized in 1840, and the edifice built in 1848. Its pastorate is connected with that of Cobleskill.
The Christian Church was organized in 1846 by the veteran John Ross, of Charlestown, with a membership of eleven. The house of wor- ship was built the same year and repaired in 1870. The pulpit has been supplied by other churches, until the organization of the Rich- mondville Christian Society, where one regular pastor officiates in both.
Seminary .- During the "Seminary epidemic" of 1850 and 1854 that swept over the country and excited.the usual steady minds of the peo- ple, and made sad havoc with the accumulation of years of economy and industry, the citizens of this place erected a fine edifice for the ac- commodation of two hundred boarding pupils.
It is very pleasantly situated and has all the conveniences necessary for a first-class institu- tion.
It was erected in 1853 at a cost of thirty thousand dollars, and was opened in the fall of that year with - Douglass as principal, and a corps of twelve assistants. Not proving successful the institution was closed and re- mained so until November, 1861, when a school was commenced with Chester C. Thorne as principal, under the title of Union Literary Institute. The course of instruction embraced the essential branches of a thorough and ac- complished English and classical education. The school continued one year and one-half and closed.
The building remained vacant until the year 1870, when Prof. Dean Smith refurnished it, and commenced the school as "Dean's College" but after a trial of eighteen months, Prof. Smith's efforts proved futile to make it a self- sustaining enterprise, and the building was once more abandoned for school purposes, and it has stood idle since. It is but a grim monument to inexperience and people's folly.
The first grist-mill in the town was built back of George M. Warner's residence, by
David Lawyer, immediately after the Revolu- tion. His son Lambert occupied the farm in after years, but was not the Lambert Lawyer of Cobleskill, as supposed by many. The lat- ter was an uncle of the former Lambert.
RICHMONDVILLE.
In drawing near Richmondville one is struck with the location of the village for manufactur- ing purposes. Perhaps the steady rumbling of mills and earnest hammer strokes awaken our mechanical genius, and lure the mind down to the massive reservoirs that obstruct the streams of lesser flow, throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts and hold back the water to en- able the largest mills to run incessantly the year round and give employment to thousands of laborers. There is not a more attractive spot in the County for such enterprises than is found here. There are at present one flour and two provender mills, two saw, one paper and two cider mills, a sash and blind factory, one woolen mill, a machine shop and foundry, one grain cradle and two cloth drier manufacturies, each and all doing a good business. There are also harness, blacksmith, cooper and shoe shops in abundance driven by the sinewy arms of the industrious people.
The Richmondville paper-mill was estab- lished in 1865 by Westover & Foster and is capable of running three tons of coarse straw paper per day.
The first grist-mill was built upon the site of John Weller's present mill, by Asa Bailey in 1807. The present one has three run of stone and is capable of grinding five hundred bushels per day.
Nearly eighty years ago, some one unknown to our informant, Mr. M. N. Bradley, built a small mill for fulling cloth upon the site of the present one. A few years after a carding ma- chine was attached. The cloth was fulled only, it being taken to a small log house near and sheared by hand. In 1837 it became the prop- erty of Milo Bradley, of Barnerville, and under his and sons' management it became an important enterprise of the place. In 1872 Mr. M. N. Bradley put in a full set of ma- chinery for manufacturing all kinds of domestic
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
goods, which has added still more to the value of the property as well as convenience for the rural surroundings. From eight thousand to ten thousand pounds of wool are carded yearly and nearly an equal number of yards of cloth · manufactured.
Richmondville Iron Works, -The foundry was first built by William Wood and for many years owned and managed by his son Henry Wood in the manufacture of plows and fixtures, stoves, scrapers, engine fixtures and all other articles common to a country foundry. It is at present under the management of A. B. Stevens and bids fair to reach a high standard among the shops of the valley.
The present business of the works will aver- age at least from twenty to twenty-five tons of castings yearly, employing from six to eight workmen.
The first hotel to accommodate the traveling public in the village was kept by George Dox, where the Westover house now stands, about the year 1795. Dox was a son of George Dox who came from Germany before the Revolution, and settled below the Hellebergh, and after the war closed, at Richmondville. His sons were George, Michael, John and Jacob. The family living at Beard's Hollow are those of Michael, who settled there in 1802. Following Dox in the inn was Ezra Ackley in 1804, upon the ground now occupied by the resi- dence of Mrs. Felton. The third keeper of the house was John Warner, son of George Warner, Jr., who was appointed the first post- master upon the establishment of the office at this place in 1825. Nearly one year ago we visited Mrs. John Warner,* at the residence of her son-in-law, James Harroway, and although eighty-seven long and eventful years had passed· over her head, we found her still active and communicative.
She was a daughter of the late John Spraker, of Palatine-on-the-Mohawk. We find the " boys " of those days would "a wooing go" away from home, as now, and to judge by the outlines of Mrs. Warner's face, her husband
had an eye to beauty as well as intelligence. We love to sit by such aged ones, whose lives have been busy and eventful, and listen to them, when their minds are as clear and strong as hers. We find many as old, but their memo- ries are but slender threads uniting the past with the present, and much worn by Time's vibra- tions and too weak to tell any but wandering tales.
First Justice of the Peace .- Mr. - Nor- cutt was the first justice of the peace in the old town of Cobleskill, and received his appoint- ment in 1805. He was succeeded by Asa Bailey in 1809. Norcutt and Bailey both died in that year, and Jonah Westover, who removed from Berkshire county, Mass., in 1808, was appointed to the office, and held it until the year 1829, when he was succeeded by his son, Hon. John Westover, who held the office to the year 1863. In 1834 he was honored by the appointment of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, which office he held thirteen years. He was associated with John C. Wright and Charles Goodyear. In 1835 he represented the town of Cobleskill in the Board of Supervisors, and in 1853 was elected to the Assembly, where his exertions were enlisted in giving birth to the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad project, in which he took a deep interest, and became one of the leaders of the enterprise. He has re- peatedly been chosen one of its directors, and in that position as elsewhere, has exhibited that strict business characteristic which has been prominent throughout his life, and made him one of the County's foremost men.
Mr. Westover was born in Berkshire county, Mass., in 1797, and still exhibits an unusually sagacious mind, and the same extraordinary vim for business as in younger years. We find very few, comparatively, that make life a suc- cess. We do not mean in accumulating wealth, butin making themselves useful and exemplary, doing much for the public good, and trustworthy. In every position, both public and private, Mr. Westover has shown the same indomitable energy to act wisely, and the present firm and substantial business of the place are the fruits of his spirit.
* She has since died.
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TOWN OF RICHMONDVILLE.
First Mail Carrier .- A man by the name of Webb living at West Richmondville was the first mail carrier to this place over ten years previous to the establishment of the postoffice. He brought the newspapers from Cobleskill on horseback, and at a late date carried the mail as far as Unadilla, and was known as Deacon Webb. Whether his strict religious life gave him the appellation, or it was " honorary," for his ease in calling so often upon his Maker, when behind time, as mail carriers usually do, we are unable to say. Poor horse-ridden Webb little thought as he sat perched upon his trusty charger with a small mail bag strapped “ on behind" that before he was forgotten, a screech- ing, puffing monster would wind along the sides of these hills, with a long snake-like train
"Singing through the forest Rattling over ridges, Shooting under arches Rumbling over bridges,"
appearing and disappearing in less time than he could seat himself in the saddle and chirp " gee up."
However, Webb caught the spirit of improve- ment and carried the mail in a one-horse wagon. He continued the business about twenty-five years, and gave up the reins to Oliver Bass, who put a coach upon the route through to Albany. Many who are now living, well remember as the old yellow and red " Rocking coach" drove up to the door, how perfect every arrangement seemed to be, and with what ease and comfort a trip to Albany or Binghamton could be made in the short space of ten or twelve hours.
Physicians .- In 1812 Dr. John Nichols settled in the village and was the first regular practicing physician. He died in 1819 and his remains lie in the Methodist cemetery. A vacancy being made upon his death, the people made a call on the Medical School of New York for a physician in March, 1820.
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