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 62
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
A family tradition says that Christian Brown returned to his farm, after removing his family to the lower fort, to thresh some grain, and while busily engaged a bird flew in and perched itself upon his shoulder. Thinking nothing of the affair he continued threshing and the same bird repeated the act again and again, as if warning him of an impending danger. Like all the sturdy Germans, Brown was imbued with super- stitious omens and fears, and upon the bird's last appearance his fears were aroused, and upon reconnoitering through the chinks of the log barn, he saw a squad of Indians cautiously skulking along a brush fence, running at the edge of the woods along the side hill to the south. Being a Captain in the militia service his capture or scalp was a tempting trophy for the redskins to present to their king as a mark
.
389
TOWN OF COBLESKILL.
of prowess and loyalty. The Captain slyly re- treated and returned to the fort.
It was here the wedding took place, during the war, between Captain Brown's man and maid servant, while Brown and family were at the lower fort. The frequent invasions of the Indians required a company to be formed in the valley, of which Brown was Captain. They were held for duty regardless of any individual interest in agricultural or mechanical labors.
Protection was the watch-word, and from the battle fought by them in 1778 to the close of the struggle, they were kept in arms, and if upon foreign duty, others filled their places. It was at a time when the soldiers were quartered here that author Simms says a wedding was cele- brated. Pork, beans, and sour-krout were the viands and undoubtedly the "marriage bells" rang as merrily as if all the extravagances of modern weddings were indulged in. The militia were the invited guests and it was a gala day for the weary and hunted yeomen whose lives were but seasons of hardships and privations.
The first hostile invasion in the valley was on the 1st day of June, 1778, under the command of the Mohawk chieftain, Brant. His force was estimated to number about four hundred Tories and Indians, but probably it did not number more than half of that. The Indians were prin- cipally the Aquago's of the Susquehanna, as blood-thirsty and revengeful a race as could be found.
The battle being fought in the present terri- tory of Richmondville, we have there glven afull account of the transaction, and shall refer now only to such incidents as occurred upon that day within the present limits of the town. After the retreat was made by the patriots, and while the enemy were engaged at the Warner house, a messenger was dispatched on horseback down the valley to apprise the inhabitants of their (langer of being slain or captured. Lawrence Lawyer's house was the first from the west, and stood upon the south side of the stream between it and the present residence of Peter Tingue. Lawyer was in the engagement, and fled with the remaining militia to the fort, and on coming to his house found his family had been apprised of the defeat and had fled. Mrs. Lawyer was three days in the woods
secreted, not knowing the fate of her husband, or what to do with herself She finally returned to her home, but found nothing left but ashes ; house and out-buildings gone, and devastation on every hand. The dwelling of George Ferster. which stood where the Courter house now stands, that of John Bouck, John Schell, John King, Adam and Jacob Shafer, all within the immediate neighborhood, were but smoking ruins, and their occupants refugees in the cheerless forest. She, with others, broken- hearted, fled to the lower fort, and arrived there on the fourth day. Farther down the valley lived Henry Shafer, (the late Judge,) where his grandson, George Shafer, now resides, and the Borst family near by, also John and Peter Shafer, upon the opposite side of the creek.
For reasons unknown, the enemy did not move down to them, and they were the only buildings left standing from Zea's, above War- ner's, to the school-house east of the village, except the latter, and a log house of Warner's.
Flight of the Shafer and Brown Families"- The messenger apprised the women and chil- dren of Peter and John Shafer's families, who, in company with an aged German schoolmaster by the name of Paughoer, fled to Captain Brown's house, and taking Mrs. Brown and children with them, entered the forest to reach the fort. Without doubt, the messenger exaggerated the result of the conflict and the proximity of the savages. As these families were so frightened, they did not know which way to direct their course, although they had traveled over the ground many times. They became lost and lay beneath a hemlock tree over night.
The night being cold and the children timid a fire was built at a late hour and around it they knelt, while the teacher, with hushed voice, invoked the protection of the Friend of the troubled and helpless. As soon as daylight appeared, they started, and near noon arrived at "Sidney's " on the Schoharie creek and were taken by him in a lumber wagon to the fort, where they found their husbands and fathers, they having arrived the evening previous.
* From Mrs. John J. Borst, daughter of Jeremiah Brown.
390
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
Captain Brown and Henry Shafer (late Judge) were running together in the retreat, and were followed by a squad of Indians, that were anx- ious to obtain as valuable a prize as Captain Brown, whose scalp would bring eight, and body, alive, delivered at Niagara, twenty “cur- rent dollars of British money." As they were climbing over a brush fence Shafer was shot in the thigh, which paralyzed his limb so as to make it impossible for him to proceed. Brown turned to assist him, but the Indians being very near, Shafer told him "to run and not stop for him." The Captain bounded in the thicket and eluded his pursuers and reached the fort early in the evening, expecting Shafer to have been killed. As the Indians jumped over the fence they did so close by Shafer, and he said two of them looked him in the eye, but passed on to capture Brown, expecting, no doubt, to return and take his scalp.
The Judge, as he was familiarly known for many years after, was a rather tall, muscular man, with the nerve of a Spartan, and he crawled, rolled and tumbled along, to the thicket near, and secreted himself until danger passed.
J. R. Simms says of Shafer in his excellent "History of Schoharie and Border Wars :"-
" He directed his steps toward Schoharie, and on the way, fell in with Peter Snyder, his brother-in-law. They traveled together nearly to Punchkill, when Shafer, too weak to proceed, concealed himself and requested his comrade to inform his friends at the fort where he might be found, desiring them to come after him. His fellow traveler went to the fort, but instead of doing the errand as desired by his wounded relative, he reported hin dead. Shafer tarried beneath a shelving rock until Monday morning, when by great exertion, he arrived at the house of a friend in Kneiskern's dorf. As he was much exhausted, he was prudently fed gruel until he revived, when he was taken to the fort and cured of his wound."
The company that was formed in the valley early in the war was called the Cobleskill militia, and was not attached to the regiment of the Schoharie and Duanesburgh district as a com- pany, yet each of the members were enrolled
upon that "muster roll," as will be seen by con- sulting Chapter III of this work. The most of the company belonged to the present territory of Cobleskill, and consisted of nearly thirty members. Only twenty of them, however, were engaged in the conflict of June Ist.
They were as follows :---
Christian Brown,
Captain.
Jacob Borst,
Lieutenant.
Nicholas Warner, Ensign.
George Warner, Jr.,
Private.
John Frimire,
do
George Frimire, do
Jacob Frimire, do
John Shafer, do
John Zea, do
Leonard King, do
Johannes Bouck, Jr., do
John Schell, do
Martinus Ferster, (Fester)
do
George Ferster,
do
John Ferster, 66
do
Henry Shafer, do
Lawrence Lawyer, do
Jacob Shafer, do
Peter Shafer, do
William Snyder,
do
Those that were killed in the engagement and at the Warner house were :---
John Zea,
Jacob Frimire,
Jacob Shafer,
John Ferster,
Martinus Ferster.
Leonard King, Peter and Henry Shafer were wounded, and according to author Simms "the whole number killed, including Captain Patrick and his men, was about twenty-two, five or six of his men were also wounded and two were made prisoners."
Having written the name of John Schell, we cannot pass on, but relate an incident in the life of the firm old patriot that has not been told in print.
After the close of the Revolution the old sol- diers were venomous towards the Tories, and whenever an opportunity offered they handled them unmercifully.
391
TOWN OF COBLESKILI ..
While attending a horse-race at Lambert Lawyer's, two Tories from the " Rhinebeck set- tlement," whose record of brutality was bad, drank to excess and while under the influence of liquor boasted of some heinous crime during the war, and ended by hurrahing for King George.
Schell's ire was aroused, and procuring a rope and a " black snake" whip, he tied the two together, by their necks, and led them to the hitching post, and whipped their coats off their backs. Giving them a resting spell, he drove the pair through the streets, as cattle, taking particular pains to remind them of his presence by an occasional stroke. He filled their pockets with small stone and compelled them to rattle the same, and cry out, "King's money ! King's money !" as an offset to the derisive act of filling the mangled soldiers' mouths with Con- tinental money, at the Warner house ! As night drew near, he hitched them again to the post and gave them another severe chastise- ment, and let them go, declaring to them if they ever boasted of their crimes again he would kill them. It seems singular that many of the old Tories often boasted of committing crimes in which there was no truth, at least, so far as their having any complicity in them, except the principle of assent.
Building of a Fort .- Nothing of any impor- tance occurred in the valley after the battle, till the spring of 1781, except the building of houses and an occasional fright by the appear- ance of Tories and Indians in the neighbor- hoods that sympathized with them in the cause, as reported by the vigilant scouts.
The lower and middle forts being too small to accommodate the settlers of the surrounding country, many of the women and children were taken to the "Camps" upon the Hudson, where nearly all of them had relatives, with whom they could visit and be safe from the savage enemy; owing also to the distance the settlers of this section were compelled to travel daily, for protection, when invasions were threatened, beside, the hospitality of private families becoming wearied in quartering soldiers, the citizens applied to the committee of safety
for the building of a block-house at some point in the valley.
Captain De Boise, of the regular service, being stationed at the lower fort, was ordered to superintend its structure, which was commenced in the spring of 1781, and finished before the harvest, by the aid of soldiers and citizens. It was built nearly opposite the residence of Charles Hamilton, and was of sufficient capacity to accommodate the settlers in itself, without their being compelled to build tents or huts ·within the pickets, as at Schoharie, for the com- fort of those that resorted to it, Its shape and construction is not known, more than that a cupola or observatory was built, from which the valley could be seen for a long distance.
The house of Peter Shafer stood where Ham- ilton's now stands and was enclosed in the pickets. A moat surrounded the whole in which the water of the brook running near, was turned and from which the garrison was sup- plied. The brook was much larger than at the present time from the fact the one running through the western part of the village upon which Harder's shops are built, made a turn · near the residence of Mathew Burhans and ran east past Virgil Kling's into the channel of the brook now seen. Lambert Lawyer changed the course of the stream when he first settled upon the Courter place, for mill purpose.
Here the militia were stationed and obtained their supplies from the people gratuitously and we may imagine lived upon the " fat of the land." The henroosts and granaries of the Tories of " Rhinebeck " were often visited by the soldiers in their scouting expeditions and their "donations" thankfully and most agree- ably received. Nothing of a warlike character occurred here until the fall of 1781.
Invasion of 1781-As has been intimated the Cobleskill militia and citizens that remained in Fort DeBoise obtained many of their supplies from the Tories of New Rhinebeck. They said in substance :- "If your party destroy our crops and other means of subsistence, we will live upon you."
After thus helping themselves to their pro- ductions the Tories became greatly incensed and concluded to follow the adage of "diamond
392
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
cut diamond" and devastate the valley ; con- sequently in the latter part of September 1781 a party of Indians from the Mohawk appeared in the Karker neighborhood and were joined by a number of the Tories to carry out their de- signs.
The leader was from " New Rhinebeck " and full of vengeance as he had been stripped of his cattle by Willet and hunted by the Cobleskill scouts. They crept slyly to the valley unper- ceived and began the work of devastation in burning Lawrence Lawyer's, John Bouck's, George Ferster's and John King's house, that had been rudely rebuilt after the invasion of 1778. They passed down the valley and kept at too great distance from the fort to enable the few that were within it, to fire upon them with effect. They passed round to Judge Shafer's buildings, and applied the torch to the house, after plundering it of such goods as they could carry conveniently. They burned his log barn and stacks, and passed on to the Borst place below. That family was at the middle fort. The party here put up for the night, and held a pow-wow over their success. Mrs. Judge Shafer was in the fort, we are informed by Mrs. David Shank, a daughter, and saw the flames rising from her house. She went alone and ex- tinguished them, but the barn and stacks were laid in ashes. As she was returning to the fort she said the burning of property up the val- ley was a sad and discouraging sight.
Abram Bouck, then a lad, was at home and was captured as he was starting to return to the fort. George Frimire and brother John were at Ferster's and in making an attempt to escape, George was killed and scalped-John it was thought was a willing prisoner as he had fol- lowed the invaders of Vronman's Land to Canada the previous year, but stoutly denied the charge. George Ferster was also taken and rudely dealt with.
Early the following morning the invaders burnt the Borst buildings that sheltered them through the night and retraced their steps up the valley. They burnt Judge Shafer's house and drove his few cattle along, together with others they could collect, in all about thirty head. Every build- ng from Lawrence Lawyer's to the Borst place was burnt, except the fort and Peter Shafer's
(enclosed within the pickets) and Hans Shafer's, that stood where Mrs. Peter Lawyer's fine resi- dence now stands.
Hans lost nothing. His reticence throughout the struggle after the battle of 1778 was con- sidered suspicious, and caused the patriots to keep a watch over his movements.
The Ferster and Frimire families seemed to be the most unfortunate of any in the valley during the war. The former was stripped of all its male members, upon the capture of George the father, at this invasion, and the massacre of John and Martinus, the sons, in the conflict of 1778. John Frimire and his second son, Jacob, were killed in that memorable battle. One son fled to Canada with Zea as related in Charter XVIII, while George and John were taken pris- oners at this time. From those two families came the brightest examples of unselfish heroism and patriotic sacrifice that are to be found in the annals of our country.
The enemy passed up to the present village where the New Rhinebeck party separated from the Indians and skulked to their homes. That night they had a meeting at one of the clan's houses and two buxom Tory daughters enliv- ened the occasion by playing upon fites, while the Tories themselves refreshed their weary bodies by drinking Ferster's potato whiskey.
There could not have been many men in the little fort at the time, as it seems if there had been, an effort would have been made to check the savages' progress.
Undoubtedly the men were off upon duty as scouts, or in the Schoharie valley assisting their brethren in their fall work. Our Tory informant says "they watched their chance and did good service." Thus it was as the white-capped cloud suddenly arises in a clear sky, changing sunlight to darkness and bringing hail and Na- ture's other destructives, so those monsters "watched their chance" and when all seemed quiet and secure, they pounced upon unpro- tected settlements, and with the torch laid them in ashes and bathed the ruins with brothers' blood.
Lawrence Lawyer was on his way from Scho- harie the afternoon the buildings were burned, and when near the present hamlet of Punch- kill, he came suddenly upon three Indians, who
393
TOWN OF COBLESKILL.
were driving a few head of cattle, but they not seeing him, he crouched down by the side of a log and they passed on without noticing him, although they were within a few feet of him. Quite a number of cattle were driven from the valley by the invaders at this time.
Lawrence died in 1848, at the age of eighty- nine years and ten months.
First and Later School Houses .- While we are dwelling upon the incidents connected with this neighborhood, it may not be amiss to refer to the first school house in the town.
An old man whose head is silvered by the re- flection of eighty-seven years, well spent, and whose father and mother learned to read and write High Dutch correctly within its rude walls, pointed out the little knoll upon the north side of the road, east of M. W. Hearn's residence, and east of the gate-way, near the willow tree, as the spot upon which the first school house was built. It was a log building, and for the want of a "creaking door," a large blanket was pinned up in winter, under which the pupils were forced to crawl in going in and out. A small hole was made upon the south side for a window, over which the teacher's cloak was hung to keep out the wind. A large hole in the roof allowed the smoke to escape from the fireplace and through which light was admitted to enable the scholars to study. The teacher was a Mr. Paughoer, to whom we re- ferred in the flight of the Brown and Shafer families, and who taught as early as 1770. At the close of the war a frame building was erected upon the same spot, in which many of the oldest inhabitants, now living, well remem- ber attending school. Two buildings for that purpose have been erected and abandoned since, before the one at present in use was built ; each exhibiting the degree of prosperity and pride the people possessed. The present one marks the progress of the day and the deep interest taken by the citizens of the village in the cause of education.
We have before us the report of J. H. Sals- bury, Superintendent of Common Schools, made in 1845, in which he says, in referring to new school houses :-
"That of Cobleskill, (the third one built in the district) is a splendid building, reflecting credit upon the inhabitants of the district, and par- ticularly upon Messrs. C. Courter, Thomas Smith, D. Lawyer, M. Swart and others, by whose voluntary subscriptions a sum sufficient was raised to rear it. It has two rooms, with a portico in front, and a beautiful cupola upon it, and for comfort, convenience and elegance, it is perhaps surpassed by few, if any, in the State."
Upon the building of the present one, the former was abandoned, and was used for many years as the Index printing office, and of late as Dean's Marble Works.
Upon the building of the railroad, the village gave promise of becoming a thrifty business center, and there was an influx of settlers, which required more commodious school rooms.
In 1867, the present brick structure was built, and the schools soon adopted a graded course, which has now become equal to any school in Central New York, having three de- partments-Primary, Intermediate and Aca- demic-with an attendance of four hundred students.
The present Board of Education of the village is Charles H. Shaver, President; James W. Lawyer and Albert Baker, whose design is " to furnish to the youth a school equal to any of its kind in the State, and to afford to all who desire it, an opportunity to be fitted for college, for business, for teaching, and, above all, for the practical duties of life."
Additional Settlers .- Immediately after the Revolution closed, measures were taken to re- build, and other settlers, principally from Scho- harie and Middleburgh, made a choice of land near, and by the year 1800, the present limits of the town were entirely taken up, except those lands lying upon the precipitous hills, which were considered of little value. Prominent among the new settlers was Lambert Lawyer, a. son of Johannes Lawyer, 2d, of Schoharie, who purchased in 1752 the land upon which the village stands. Lambert settled in the log house rebuilt by Ferster, and in which the latter kept an inn after he was released. The old house was built of logs, and stood where the court
394
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
house now stands. Lawyer built on a frame addition, and continued the business up to the year 1802, when the house was burnt. There being quite an amount of travel of families from the Eastern States, to Otsego and other western counties, beside a good local trade, he built the present house, which was the largest in this section. The building was erected the same year, (1802). The road ran upon the south of the house at that time. The house was for many years the town house, where the hardy yeomen met to transact official business, hold law-suits, etc.
Here it was voted as late as 1802, "That stocks be built at the expense of the town," which appears as if they had "unwary ones " in those "good old times," as now.
Among the town records we find that in 1820, "by a vote at Lambert Lawyer's, the paupers of the town of Cobleskill shall be sold at auction annually, on the first Tuesday in May, when the licenses will be granted to retailers of spirit- uous liquors."
Lambert growing old, and very wealthy, for those days, wished to retire from the business, so in 1815 he built a brick house where the Hotel Augustan now stands, into which he moved with his son David S., while another son, Jacob L., took possession of the inn, and con- tinued the business many years. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, in Captain Kellogg's Company, and in November, 1828, was elected Sheriff of the County. He died July 30, 1850.
Mrs. Jacob L. Lawyer, is still living at the advanced age of eighty-five. She was a Dries- bach, of Schoharie, and when she came to Cobleskill the first time, there were but few houses, and the surrounding farms were nearly covered with heavy timber. Her father came from Pennsylvania in company with Jabez Kromer, and after a short stay in Albany, they came to Schoharie. The former located at that village as a mechanic, and the latter settled in Cobleskill as a physician, in 1793, both being progenitors of the families now living in the County bearing those names.
Jacob I .. Lawyer sold the property to John P. Bellinger, and Peter Van Patten, father of the late Abram Van Patten, continued the
hotel business to the year 1839, when Charles Courter purchased the property. Upon the building of the turnpike in 1810, the back of the house was made the front, and upon Mr. Courter purchasing the property he removed the horse-sheds, and upon the ground they occupied, he built a store, in which he kept a general assortment of merchandise up to the year 1864, when he sold his stock to Simeon Deyo, who was also in trade in the "Watson house," or present " Kilts Hotel." Mr. Deyo consolidated the two stores, and had the sole control of the trade in the village. Mr. Deyo was a practical business man, with a host of friends, and did as large a business here as he had done in Schoharie village, for eighteen years in succession. He closed his mercantile affairs in 1864, and purchased the " Mineral Springs," where we will again refer to him, in dwelling upon incidents and facts relating to that place.
Charles Courter* was born in the town of Schoharie on the 4th of June, 1808.
After the death of Lambert Lawyer, which occurred in 1832, David S. came in full pos- session of the brick house property, and in the course of a few years he sold the same to Mar- cus Sternbergh. It was kept as a hotel by him for a long series of years, when Le Roy Eldredge, of Sharon, purchased it, who in turn sold to A. C. Smith, in 1867. Perhaps it may be inter- esting to state that the property was sold by David S. Lawyer, for a trifle over six thousand dollars, while the consideration for the same between Smith and Eldredge was twenty-one thousand dollars, showing a gain of over four- teen thousand dollars, which must be placed to the credit of the railroad. Mr. Smith repaired the house at great expense, and made it as inviting to guests as any in the County.
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.