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 57
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82
He died in the town of Sharon in the year 1795, aged eighty-five years, and after many years he was re-interred by the St. Paul's Society but a few rods from the site of the original church. During the Revolutionary war the enemies of our country, of whom so much reverence was not expected, spared the church and parsonage, while nearly all other buildings fell by the British and maddened Mohawk torch.
As that struggle ceased and prosperity dawned upon the once desolated settlement contributions of money and material were made, for the building of a new edifice, and, as the ancient figures upon the belfry tell us, the present brick church was erected in 1796.
In the foundation lie many of the stones of the old church, and upon them are inscribed the names of several of the donors.
The pastors of the church and the date of locating are as follows :--
Rev. P. N. Sommers, 1743.
Rev. Anthony T. Braun, 1791.
Rev. Frederick H. Quitman, 1795.
Rev. Anthony T. Braun, 1799.
Rev. Augustus Wackenhagen, 1805.
Rev. John Molther, 1816.
Rev. George A. Lintner, 1819.
Rev. J. R. Keiser, 1850.
Rev. E. Belfour, 1857.
Rev. J. H. Heck (present pastor), 1868.
We were pleased to find among the papers of the antiquarian, John Gebhard, Jr., a receipt given by Rev. Peter N. Sommers for his yearly salary. The very affable article was written in German, and upon translating it reads :--
" I gratefully acknowledge to have received
for my yearly Salary from my church Elders and Deacons, Forty Pounds properly and duly paid. Schoharie the 29th of May, 1745.
PETER N. SOMMERS, Pastor."
Perhaps it would be safe to say no minister of this or any other church in the County, en- deared himself to the people and churches of all persuasions as did Dr. Lintner, whose pas- torate, as will be observed, extended from 1819 to 1849. He was born in the town of Minden, Montgomery county, N. Y., February 15, 1796, and spent his early childhood at the homestead, when at the age of ten years, he was sent to Cooperstown to attend school. He early entered Union College, and after graduating in that institution commenced the study of theology under the direction of Rev. Mr. Domeger, and was licensed to preach by the Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of New York in Sep- tember, 1818. In January, 1819, he accepted a call from this church, and was installed June 16th, of that year. Rev. Edward Belfour, in a memorial published soon after Dr. Lintner's death, says :--
" He was the recognized leader of the young men of his Synod, including Rev. Frederick Schaeffer and H. N. Pohlman, in their manly opposition to what he was wont to call the Quitman Dynasty of Rationalism. But after a time he and others became so dissatisfied with the character of the old Synod, that he initiated measures for the organization of a new Synod. A convention was called at Schoharie in 1830, and the result was the formation of the Hart- wick Synod, of which he was chosen the first president, an office which he often held and graced in after years.
"In 1837, certain members of this Synod withdrew and formed the Franckean Synod on the widest latitudinarian basis. The movement was thoroughly revolutionary, and led to vigor- ous controversies, and even to contests in the courts. Dr. Lintner led the Hartwick Synod and successfully defended himself and associates.
* * *
" From the time of his resignation in 1849, he was engaged in promoting the work of foreign missions, of the American Bible Society, and of any other good cause which afforded him
357
TOWN OF SCHOHARIE.
an opportunity to do something for his Master. He was editor of the Lutheran Magazine from 1827 to 1831, and contributed to various religious publications, in which he was especially earnest, and as in his sermons, almost bitter in his opposition to the use of all intoxicating liquors and wines.
" He was a man of strong and determined character ; he seldom relinquished any purpose, but clung to it most tenaciously until it was accomplished, when that was possible. He closed his cyes for the last time on the scenes of this world, at two o'clock on the afternoon of December 21, 1871."
In the Lutheran Magazine of April, 1827; we find, up to that cate, 3,691 baptisms had been performed, 778 marriages, and 722 confirma- tions in the church since its organization. In the year 1753, Rev. Gideon Hawley, the Indian missionary, passed through this place, and in his account of the journey, says :-
" In regard to Schoharry, it is fine land, and settled by Palatines, brought over at the expense of the nation, in Queen Anne's reign. Here are three decent meeting houses and two Dominies, the one a Calvinean, and the other a Lutheran. The language of the people is German or High Dutch, and they are husbandmen."
It has been supposed that the three meeting houses referred to, were the parsonage, (which had been used as such for eight years), the church built in 1750, and the Calvinian, of Weiser's dorf, or Middleburgh.
In speaking of Schoharie in those days, and even down through and after the Revolution, all the settlements in nearly the whole of the County's present territory were included, as there was not a special hamlet bearing the name.
Carrying the idea that the Reformed church of Schoharie village was not built at that time, it might be easily conjectured that the Weiser church was included. But here lies a mistake ; the Reformed church of this place stood at Fox's dorf and was built at a much earlier date. The first records were supposed to be lost or de- stroyed by the burning of the old parsonage, but they were not. The records comprised three volumes ; the second was lost, and the first and third are in existence.
We find upon the map of 1750, the church pictured upon it, and find it stood cast of the Stone Fort, at the point of the second bend of the creek above the iron bridge, upon a knoll where two or three apple trees may now be seen. The organization was effected about 1728, and we believe the church was erected in 1736.
The general history of this church we have studied, and cannot give it in any better or more truthful light than the Rev. Sanford H. Cobb did in a communication published in the Scho- harie Union, February 9, 1871. He says :- * * * * One * * thing which inquiry shows us will be looked on by most as a discovery, is the fact that the organization of the church as a society, ante- dates the building of the Stone church nearly fifty years. That building was erected in 1772, as appears in numerous inscriptions on the walls of the church. The church as an organized body, with officers and members, was in exis- tence in the year 1730. The last date is the earliest found in the records of the consistorial minutes. In that year, under date of December 3d, is recorded the appointment of Church offi- cers, whose names may be here copied :-
Elders :-
Johannes Vedder, Johannes Bekker.
Deacons :- Samuel Hagedoorn, Pietre Ziele.
" It would seem probable that the formation or the church was a few years previous to that date. In the first Treasurer's book an entry is found under date of 1728.
"It is certain that, whether to a regularly organized congregation or not, the gospel was preached in this place and vicinity by ministers connected with the Classis of Amsterdam, the Holland Classis which had special charge over the Dutch churches in America. Corwin's Manual mentions Hendrik Hager as preaching at East and West Camp, and at Schoharie between 1711 and 1717. The same book also mentions a John Fredrich Hager who officiated * in 1720.
358
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
.* * * The labors of Hager * were evidently of a missionary character, and were succeeded by those of John Jacob Ehle, whose field embraced Scholarie and the valley of the Mohawk, from 1720 to 1750, and was, subsequent to 1750, a missionary to the Mohawk Indians. It is improbable that either of the men mentioned above was actually a settled pastor over the Schoharie Church.
"The work of Hager commenced the year after the settlement of Schoharie, and the pres- ence here of the two in a missionary capacity, may account for the early establishment of the Reformed Church in the Schoharie valley. The name of the church organized probably between 1720 and 1730, was the Protestant Reformed High Dutch Church of Schoharie.
*
" The first name which has a probable right to be placed on the pastoral record of the church, is that of Reinhardt Erickson. It is signed at the bottom of a consistorial minute as President of Consistory. His pastorate lasted only one year, (1730-31). He was a man of con- siderable prominence in his day in the church, and very successful in his ministry at Schenec- tady. * * * He was suc- ceeded in the Schoharie pastorate by George Michael Weiss, or Weitzins, who was a native of the Palatinate. His diploma from the University of Heidelberg, and certificate of ordination are engrossed in Latin on the Records of the Scho- harie Church, together with the call made upon him by the church, which is written in German. He came to this country in 1725, and preached in Pennsylvania to the Germans, and in 1731, came to Schoharie, after a visit of a year in Holland. He remained here until 1736, labor- ing also in adjoining counties, and afterwards re- turned to Pennsylvania, in which State he died in 1762.
" Weiss was followed at Schoharie in 1736 by Johannes Schuyler. Dominie Schuyler was the first Dutch minister ordained in this country. Previous to this date all ordinations had been performed in Holland, but by express permission of the Classis of Amsterdam, Dominies Erick- son and Haeghoort were appointed to ordain Schuyler. Schuyler immediately settled in Scho-
harie, and continued in the pastorate until 1755. Under this pastorate the church formally ranged itself with the Dutch Reformed Church -- Dominie Schuyler, with his elders, taking active part in those efforts to form an American Ecclesiastical Judicatory, which afterwards re- sulted in the formation of the General Synod. Schuyler was twice pastor of this church.
" The first pastorate of nineteen years was be- tween the dates just mentioned. From 1755 to 1766 he was settled over the churchies of Hackensack and Scraalenburgh, and in 1766 returned to Schoharie, joining to his second pastorate here the ministry of Beaver Dam.
" This second pastorate lasted until his death in 1778. It was during the last settlement of Dominie Schuyler that the Old Stone Fort was built. * *
" Dominie Schuyler's name is cut in large let- ters on the east wall of the old church, together with the date, 1772, and his body was buried beneath the pulpit. Thus, if tradition says cor- rectly, the bones of Schoharie's best known pas- tor have lain for a century, and their resting place has, in these last years, been desecrated by most profane uses. As the remains at once of a pastor faithful and beloved, and of a patriot animating his brethren in the Revolutionary struggles, they have deserved a better treatment.
" The interval between the two pastorates of Dominie Schuyler was nearly filled by the min- istry of two others. The first of these was Jo- hannes Mauritinus Goetchius, who labored here from 1757 to 1760. His field here extended over thirty miles. He was educated as a physi- cian and afterward prepared for the ministry. He left Schoharie for Shawangunk and New Paltz, and died in 1771.
"He was succeeded in Schoharie in 1760 by Abraham Rosenkrantz, about whom little can be learned, save the dates of his various pastorates. He remained here until 1765, when he settled at Canajoharie, at which place he probably died in 1794.
" The second pastorate of Dominie Schuyler ended in 1779, and the church, owing doubtless to the political disturbance and war, remained vacant until 1785. In that year the church called one William Schneyder, a student, to be
-
359
TOWN OF SCHOHARIE.
their pastor. He appeared before the General Synod for examination and ordination, but fail- ing to sustain a creditable examination, he was not ordained, and requested and obtained per- mission to study another year, and be examined at the next meeting of Synod. Instead, how- ever, of doing this, he solicited and obtained or- clination from the German Reformed Church in Pennsylvania, and settled in Schoharie. In the next meeting of the Synod this irregular conduct was noticed, and the Synod instructed the Classis at Albany, to which the Schoharie church be- longed, to call the church to account for settling a minister disapproved by the Synod.
" The answer of the church was exceedingly contumacious, in effect telling the Classis that the church at Schoharie was competent to take care of itself, did not desire any interference, and wanted to have nothing further to do with either Classis or Synod !
"From that date (1785) until 1820 the church maintained itself entirely independent unless indeed it may have had some quasi relation to the German Coetus. It is impossible to answer this and many other questions which spring up, because of the loss of the consistorial minutes between 1785 and 1820. The book which contained them was destroyed by fire in the kitchen of the second parsonage. The parish register, however, is preserved, and gives a com- plete record of marriages and births from 1731, together with many historical notes interspersed in the records. From this register most of the dates in this paper are obtained. The pages of the register covered by the pen of this Dominie Schneyder are truly elegant specimens of pen- man's skill. Schneyder remained but three years, leaving Schoharie in 1788. He was suc- ceeded by J. L. Bræffle, who preached both in Schoharie and Canajoharie, terminating his min- istry in the former charge about 1798. There is difficulty in ascertaining the exact dates of Bræffle's giving up the charge here and the in- stituting of his successor. The more probable solution is the date just given and the speedy installation of J. D. Schæffer.
" It is possible that the church was ministered to by Rynier Van Ness for a while, though the labors of that mnan were mainly at Middleburgh.
He may also have filled the vacancy from 1780 to 1785, though no mention is made of him in the Schoharie church books. Under date of 1799 there occurs in the register a rather amus- ing solitary note by a minister named J. J. Eyermann, whether settled or not does not ap- pear. Beneath this entry is written in Latin, and evidently in the handwriting of Dominie Schæffer, 'A vagabond unworthy of the name of preacher or pastor.'
"Dominie Schæffer's pastorate commenced about 1798 or 1800, and continued until 1820, within the memory of many now living among us. At the conclusion of his ministry the church was glad to give up its independent position, and connect itself with the Classis of Montgom- ery, from which and the Classis of Albany those churches were afterwards set off, which consti- tuted the Classis of Schoharie.
"The ministry of Paul Weidman com- menced in 1820 and continued to 1836, fol- lowed by that of J. M. Scribner, 1836-1839; Samuel Robertson, 1839-1843 ; Ransford Wells, 1844-1857 ; E. Crispell, 1857-1863 ; S. H. Cobb, 1863-1871 ; Edwin Vedder, 1871-1873 ; William C. Handy, present pastor.
"The eastern portion of the congregation was set apart in 1844 to form the church of Gallupville.
" In the same year the Schoharie church oc- cupied the new brick building in the Court House village, and ceased to worship in the Old Stone Church."
The land upon which the church was built has been sold from the original "church lot," which contained fifteen acres.
There have been three different buildings used as parsonages. The first stood near the creek above the first bend, and the second where the third was built and which is now occupied by William Vroman.
Johannes Eckerson, brother of Major Ecker- son, of Weiser's dorf, purchased the land of Myndert Schuyler and conveyed it to the " High Dutch Reformed Church" in 1752. We find within the Old Fort the fact of his giving the land, as also by the deed, to be found in the hands of Henry Cady. Within the walls of the old
360
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
church a daughter of Joseph Brant or Thayen- danegea was christened "Gersina." In all probability the chief and his squaw were on a visit to the valley where the child was born, and falling in with the customs of the whites, the child was christened as soon as the mother could attend church.
In. 1772 the old church was razed to the ground upon the completion of building the one . now called the "Stone Fort." The control of the church was wafted to the hands of the Low Dutch soon after the Revolution, but at present the descend- ants of each unite as one around the altar reared so long ago by their forefathers, and we trust, with the same honest, earnest simplicity as charac- terized them in their worship of their God.
A new church was built in the year 1845, and the stone build- ing was purchased by the State, and for a number of years used as an arsenal, but not being necessary for that purpose, through the efforts of Peter Couchman, at that time Member of As- sembly, the State deeded the property to the County in 1872, and by a small appropriation by the board of supervisors yearly, it is kept in repair.
We would here say further upon the subject of the organization of the two churches here, that both, in their time, suddenly appeared here as a meteor in the heavens, full fledged, without the usual church formalities of organi- zation, and it is not at all probable there were any. From vague sources we are led to think the Lutherans organized at Hartman's dorf before settling here, but he have not any proof that could be relied upon.
THE OLD STONE FORT.
As hostilities between the Colonies and the mother country became more desperate, and the safety of the people in this section more uncertain, in the fall of 1777 small block- houses were built in the southeast and northeast corners of the stone church, and the whole in. closed by pickets, and the house of God be- came a fortress. Beneath its roof the inhabi- tants of the surrounding country found safety from the invasions of the Indians and Tories. Many, many anxious nights were here passed by those worried yet determined patriots, expecting each mo- ment to look abroad over these beautiful flats and see their homes fall by the Mohawk's torch, and hear the dying strug- gles of their kinsmen who dared to remain upon their own hearthstones.
As we approach the Old Fort we can but feel we are upon hallowed ground - ground bathed by mothers tears, fath- ers sweat and priva- tion, and the blood of noble sons, that bespeak grandeur and sublimity of character which will resound to succeed- ing generations. Even these rough walls display that beauty which polished marble fails to show, as the patriotic deeds here enacted are reflected upon each rough layer, making them emeralds in Freedom's structure. Near by to the east lived Dr. Budd, the delegate to the secret meeting in Albany in 1774, whose ashes lie in the Lutheran Cemetery, beneath a marble slab bearing the inscription :- "In memory of Doct. Daniel Budd, who departed this life March 20th, A. D. 1815, aged 65 years, 2 months and 18 days." Dr. Budd was a native of New Jersey, and settled here about the year
361
TOWN OF SCHOHARIE.
1770, and was, we believe, the first American read physician in the County. He was a sur- geon in the French war, and came to Schoharie with the Schoharie company, under Captain Hager, fronı Lake George. Some years previ- ous to his death he built the house now occupied by Paul Dietz, where he died, respected by all who knew him as a skillful physician, enter- prising inhabitant and true patriot.
Here within the yard in which the old fort stands, lie many patriots. A small red sand stone marks the spot that contains the ashes of Colonel Peter Vroman and exhibits the "ingrat- itude of Republics" in a manner too noticeable. The graves of such unflinching soldiers should be honored by more imposing looking monu- ments. And here lie also the remains of David Williams, one of the captors of Major Andre, beneath an appropriate monument erected by the State at an expense of two thousand dollars, in 1876.
The remains were brought from Rensselaer- ville, on the 19th of July, escorted by a large procession, and on the 23d of September, the 96th anniversary of Andre's capture, the corner stone of the monument was placed and an address delivered by Grenville Tremain, of Albany, before an audience of several thousand people.
Dr. Daniel Knower, whose energies were ex- cited in the enterprise as a State Commissioner to erect the monument, conceived the inscrip- tions upon it which are on the east side, writ- ten on a shield :--
"HERE RESTS THE REMAINS OF DAVID WILLIAMS, ONE OF THE CAPTORS OF MAJOR ANDRE. DIED IN SCHOHARIE COUNTY, AUGUST 2D, 1831, AGED 76 YEARS, 6 MOS., 8 DAYS."
Underneath :--
"He with his compatriots, John Paulding and Isaac Van Wart, on the 23d of September, 1780, arrested Major John Andre, and found on his person treasonable papers in the hand- writing of Gen. Benedict Arnold, who sought by treachery to surrender the military post of
West Point into the hands of the enemy. In resisting the great bribes of their prisoner for his liberty, they showed their incorruptible Pa- triotism, the American Army was saved, and our beloved Country became free."
Upon the marhle base is " David Williams," upon the north side a monogram of David Will- iams; within a circle below is, "Vincit Amor Patria," and beneath :-
"Gen. Washington's letter to the President of Congress, October, 1780: 'The party that took Major Andre acted in such a manner as does them the highest honor and proves them to be men of great virtue.'"
On the south side upon a shield is "Fidelity," and below :-
"By authority of Congress, in 1780, a silver medal was voted to them, and presented to the captors by Gen. Washington, at a dinner to which he invited them while the army was encamped near Ver Planck's Point."
Upon the west side is engraved upon a plain shield :----
"NANCY BENEDICT, WIFE OF . DAVID WILLIAMS. DIED AUGUST 5, 1844, AGED 87 YRS., 6 MOS., 8 D'YS.
And beneath :--
"This monument was erected by the State of New York from an appropriation made in the Centennial Year of 1876, by a bill intro- duced by Senator W. C. Lamont under the fol- lowing State Commissioners :
"DANIEL KNOWER, "RALPH BREWSTER, "CHARLES HOLMES."
The monument is of Massachusetts marble, having a granite base, upon which is placed a marble block, the base of a shaft thirteen teet in height-the whole being twenty-three feet nine inches high.
Near by, to the northwest corner of the Fort, is a plain, yet neat monument, to the memory of Simon Hoosick Mix, who fell at the battle of Petersburgh, on the 15th of June, 1864. Mr.
362
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
Mix was born in Johnstown, N. Y., February 25, 1825, and was the son of Peter Mix, long known as the editor and proprietor of the Scho- harie Patriot. At the age of thirteen Mr. Mix published, in the office of his father, a sınall paper called The Star, and in after years he followed his parent in the publication of the Patriot, which was subsequently changed to the Schoharie Union. His natural taste was for literature, and the many productions from his pen were able and pleasing, exhibiting a finer expression of sentiment than is usually found in the columns of the majority of country period- icals. When the Rebellion commenced, Mr. Mix volunteered his services to raise a regiment of cavalry, but was opposed by the Secretary as being a useless appendage to the army, but through his plausible reasoning Mr. Mix was commissioned to organize the regiment which was called Van Allen's regiment, in honor of Gen- eral Van Allen, a friend of Mr. Mix. Mr. Van Al- len was commissioned Colonel, and Mr. Mix, Lieutenant-Colonel. The regiment afterwards was changed to the Third New York Cavalry, and was in reality the first volunteer regiment of Cavalry in service. Mix was promoted to Col- onel, and was offered higher honors, but refused them.
During 1862 and 1863, his regiment was the only cavalry regiment at Newbern, and was active in all skirmishes in that vicinity. He participated in the actions at Little Wash- ington, Goldsborough, Kingston, and Blantz Mills, and drove the guerrillas from Hyde county, during which act fifteen of a squad of thirty-five men were slain in a swamp at the first fire.
In the fall of 1863 they were called to For- tress Monroe, and were in the siege of Suffolk by Longstreet, and as the Army of the James advanced in the spring of 1864, his regiment was sent to the front of Petersburgh, where they arrived on the 11th of May, under the com- mand of General A. V. Kautz. The Army of the Potomac arrived, and the advance upon the rebel works was made on the 14th of June, and lasted during the 15th and 16th.
The rebels had three lines of defense, the first was taken, and upon the charge of the second, on the 15th, Mix fell mortally wounded, at the
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.