USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie county, and border wars of New York > Part 10
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Mrs. Van Slyck related the following traditionary story, which serves to illustrate the Indian character. At a house which stood on the farm now owned by Henry Vrooman, and contiguous to Wilder Hook, about the year 1750, one Indian stabbed another on the threshold of the door to the entrance into the upper part of it. The deed was committed in the evening, and was the re- sult of a former quarrel. The tribe took little notice of the act, but when the corpse of the murdered man was about to be low- ered into the grave, the father of the murderer required his son to get into it to dig one end deeper. He did so, and while standing there, the father sunk a tomahawk into his brains. He was laid down in the narrow house with his implements of war beside him -the other victim placed upon the body of his murderer, and both
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buried together. Thus bodies which in life were rendered so hateful to each other by the savage spirits which controlled them, mingled into one common earth after death, by the fiendish act of a father ; who, by endeavoring to punish the believed wrong of a son, became himself the most guilty of the two. However un- natural an act like this may seem, it was by no means uncommon among the unlettered sons of the forest. The father often assumed the responsibility of punishing the son, and the son the father, for misdemeanors which might have a tendency to disgrace the avenger, even to the taking of life.
The following anecdote will show another peculiarity of the Indian character. One of the Schoharie Chiefs, named Lewis, is said to have gone to battle-probably in the French war,-scalped a squaw, taken her home as his prisoner, and afterwards made her his wife and the mother of his children.
The Indians were in the annual habit, to considerable extent, of taking up a temporary residence near corn fields-when the corn became eatable,-proving unprofitable neighbors to the whites.
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CHAPTER IV.
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It has been the intention of the writer, as expressed in the pre- face, not to confine this work to the limits of Schoharie county, but to garner up as much unpublished historic matter as possible. Tradition has preserved but few of the personal adventures origi- nated in the French war. The facts contained in the following sketch were narrated to the author in 1841, by John L. Groat.
In the year 1716, Philip Groat, of Rotterdam, made a purchase of land in the present town of Amsterdam. When removing to the latter place, Groat was drowned in the Mohawk near Sche- nectada, by breaking through the ice. He was in a sleigh accom- panied by a woman, who was also drowned. His widow and three sons, Simon, Jacob and Lewis, the last named being then only four years old, with several domestics, made the intended settlement. In 1730, the Groat brothers erected a grist-mill at their place, (now Crane's village,) thirteen miles west of Sche- nectada-the first ever erected on the north side of the Mohawk. This mill, when first erected, floured wheat for citizens who dwelt upon the German flats, some fifty miles distant. The first bolt- ing cloth in this mill, was put in by John Burns, a German, in 1772.
When hostilities commenced between England and France, in the war alluded to, Lewis Groat was living at the homestead. He was a widower at the time with five children ; and owning a farm and grist-mill, he was comparatively wealthy. In the af- ternoon of a summer's day in 1755, two hundred Highland troops, clad in rich tartans, passed up the valley on their way to Fort Johnson, six miles above-then the residence of Gen. William
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Johnson. Groat, observing the swing gate across the road had been left open by the troops, went, after sun down, to shut it. When returning home, it began to rain, and for temporary shelter he stepped under a large oak tree : while there, three Indians, a father and sons, approached him. He took them to be Mohawks, and extending his hand to the oldest, addressed him in a friendly manner. The hand was received and firmly held by the Indian, who claimed Groat as his prisoner. Finding they were in earn- est, and seeing them all armed with rifles, he surrendered himself. The captors belonged to the Owenagunga,* or River tribe of In- dians, whither they directed their steps. The object of their ex- pedition, which was to capture several negroes, they soon disclosed to the prisoner, who told them if they would let him go across the river to Philips', he would send them some. " Yes," said the old Indian, holding his thumb and finger together so as to show the size of a bullet, " you send Indian leetle round negar, he no like such."
They had proceeded but a few miles, when a pack was placed upon the back of the captive, after which he walked much slow- er than before. The old Indian threatened to kill him if he did not increase his speed. " What can you get for a scalp?" asked Groat. " Ten livres," was the reply. " And how much for a prisoner ?" he again asked. "Two hundred livres," replied the Indian. " Well," said Groat, "if ten livres are better than two hundred, kill me and take my scalp !" The Indian then told the prisoner that he would carry his own pack and the one apportioned him, if the latter would but keep up with the party. The propo- sition was acceded to, and they moved forward-the old Indian with two packs on. He took a dog trot and Groat kept near him. The feet of the savage often had not left the ground, when those of his captive claimed occupancy of it. The warrior exerted all his strength to outrun his prisoner, who kept constantly " bruising his heel :" until the former, exhausted and covered with perspira-
* The Owenagungas settled above Albany, on a branch of Hudson's river, that runs towards Canada, about the year 1672 .- Colden's History of the Five Nations.
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tion, fell upon the ground. They had run about a mile and were both greatly fatigued, but Groat had triumphed.
When the Indian had recovered from his exhaustion, he told Groat if he would carry one of the packs, he might travel as he pleased. After this adventure he was kindly treated, and often on the way did his captors give him plenty of food and go hungry themselves, saying that they were Indians and could endure hun- ger better than himself, because accustomed to it. Nights, his feet were tied to temporary stocks made by bending down stad- dles, but always secured so high that he could not reach the cord as he lay upon the ground. After journeying a day or two, the prisoner resolved on attempting his escape. One evening when unbound, he hoped to give his captors the slip, but suspecting his motives they cocked their rifles, and not being able to gain even tem- porary covert of a large tree, he abandoned the hazardous project.
Near Fort Edward, the party fell in with two Mohawk Indians, one of whom, being an old acquaintance, gave the prisoner a hat, of which he had been plundered by his captors. The Mo- hawks were on a hunting excursion, and remained in company with the party for a day or two, in the hope of affording the pri- soner an opportunity to escape. The captors were to be made drunk by liquor in possession of the Mohawks; but as the time for the expedient drew near, Groat fell sick, and had to see his friends depart without him. He, however, gave one of them his tobacco-box, and requested him to carry it to his family, and tell them when and where he had seen its owner, that they might know he was still alive. The Indian did return and deliver the box as requested : but the family were suspicious the Indian had killed him and fabricated the story ; which his protracted absence tended to confirm. When he got back, he presented the friendly Indian with a fine horse.
They proceeded some distance by water down Lake Champlain, and on landing at an Indian settlement, Groat had to run the gantlet. His captors had conceived quite an attachment for him, and offered before arriving at the village, to place a belt of wam- pum around his neck, which, according to the custom of their
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tribe, would have entitled him to the same privileges as them- selves; and exonerated him from the running ordeal. He thought the acceptance of the belt would be an acknowledgment of his willingness to adopt the Indian life, and refused the offer proffered in kindness, which he regretted when too late. As the lines of women and boys were drawn up through which he was to flee, and he was about to start, his captors, who had relieved him of his pack, buried their faces in their hands, and would not witness his sufferings. He was beaten considerably, and on arriving at the goal of freedom, the blood from some of his bruises ran down to his feet. A short time after, Groat was sold to a French Ca- nadian, named Lewis De Snow, who told him, on going to his house, that he was to be his future master, and his wife his mis- tress. The former replied that he had long known his master- " he dwells above," he added, pointing his finger upward. At first the Frenchman treated him unkindly. He was willing to work, but would not submit to imposition ; and on being severely treated one day, he assured his Canadian master, that sooner than put up with abuse, he would poison him and his wife, and make his escape. Learning his independent spirit, his owner ever af- ter treated him like a brother. The next summer, war was form- ally declared between Great Britain and France. Groat was claimed as a British prisoner previous to the capture of Quebec, and was for six months imprisoned at St. Francis'-way, near Mon- treal : where he suffered from short allowance of food. He was finally liberated and returned home, after an absence of four years and four months, to the surprise and joy of his family, which had considered him as lost forever-was again married, and my in- formant was a son by his second wife. John L. Groat died in January, 1845, aged about 90 years.
Early in the French war, Eve, the wife of Jacob Van Alstine, who resided in the Mohawk valley, not far from the Groat fami- ly, was proceeding along the road on horseback, with a little daughter in her arms; and while in the act of opening a swing- gate which obstructed the road, was fired upon by a party of hos- tile Indians, and wounded in one arm. The enemy then dispatched
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and scalped her, but sparing her child, carried it to Canada. Af- ter a long captivity, the child returned,-and now, (1843,) at the age of nearly a century, is still living with her nephew, J. C. Van Alstine, Esq., at Auriesville, Montgomery county.
The following particulars relating to Sir William Johnson and his family, which were mostly derived from Mr. Groat, will, I trust, prove interesting to the reader. Lewis Groat, his father, lived on terms of intimacy with the Baronet, from his first arrival in the Mohawk valley, to the day of his death.
Sir William Johnson was born in Ireland in 1714, and was de- scended from honorable parentage. His uncle, Admiral Warren, (Sir Peter Warren,) secured a title to some fifteen thousand acres of land, lying mostly within the present town of Florida: not long after which, Sir William became his agent for those lands. Young Johnson had been disappointed in a love affair in his na- tive country, and was possibly sent to America on that account. He arrived in the colony of New York between the years 1735 and 1740, and settled at a place then known as Warren's Bush, a few miles from the present village of Port Jackson. On his arrival, the Mohawk valley was mostly peopled by Indians. Small settlements had, indeed, been made by Germans at Canajo- harie, Stone Arabia and the German Flats; and the Dutch were tardily extending their settlements westward of Schenectada; but the white population in the valley was, comparatively speak- ing, very limited. He at once resolved on a permanent settle- ment-closely observed the habits and customs of the natives, and being an adept in the study of human nature, soon acquired their confidence and good will.
He had not been long in the valley before he became an agent of the British government, for the Six Indian Nations, possibly through the instrumentality of admiral Warren. Johnson had been only a few years at Warren's Bush, when his friend Lewis Groat, who lived but a short distance from his own residence, asked him in a familiar manner why he did not get married? He replied that he wanted to marry a girl in Ireland-that his parents were opposed to the match, and that since he could not
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marry the girl of his choice, he had resolved never to marry, but would multiply as much as he could. It is believed that he faith- fully observed this resolution for many years. Near the two canal locks below Port Jackson, some two miles from Johnson's residence, lived at that time, Alexander and Harman Philips, brothers. With those brothers, was living in the capacity of a servant girl, Miss Lana [Eleanor] Wallaslous, unless I am mis- taken in her name, of German parentage. She was a native of Madagascar, and on arriving at New York at an early age, was sold into servitude, to pay her passage. She was an uncommon- ly fair-wholesome looking maid. Groat, knowing his friend's determination not to marry, asked him why he did not go and get the pretty High Dutch girl at Philips's, for a housekeeper ? He replied, I will do it ! and they parted.
Not long after this interview, Groat was at Philips's on busi- ness, and not seeing her, enquired of one of the brothers where their High Dutch girl was ? Said Philips, "Johnson, that d-d Irishman came the other day and offered me five pounds for her, threatening to horse-whip me and steal her if I would not sell her. I thought five pounds better than a flogging, and took it, and he's got the gal." Johnson obtained the girl in the precise manner he had assured his friend he would proceed. This German girl was the mother of Sir John Johnson, and the wives of Col. Guy Johnson, an Irish relative of Sir William, and Col. Daniel Claus.
Henry Frey Yates, Esq., in a communication to his son, Ber- nard F., in which he notes several exceptions to sayings of Col. Stone, in the Life of Brant, which memoranda have been kindly placed in the hands of the writer by the son since the above was written, quotes from the first volume of that work, page 101, a re- mark that " the mother of Sir John Johnson was a German la- dy," and thus discourses :- " Mr. Stone has been misinformed as to the history of the mother of Sir John ; she was not a German lady. She was a German by birth." After naming William Harper, a former judge of Montgomery county, and his brother, Alexander, as authority for what he says, he thus continues :- " The facts with respect to the mother of Sir John are, that she
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was a poor German girl, who, on her arrival in New York, was sold for her passage over from Germany. That was then the uni- versal practice, and the only method that the poorer class of Ger- man emigrants had, when they wanted to emigrate to this coun- try. They were obliged, before they embarked on ship-board for America, to sign articles by which they bound themselves to the captain, that, on their arrival here, they should be sold for their passage money, for one, two, three, or four years, as the captain could make a bargain with the purchaser, the captain being ob- liged to board them, &c. Whenever a ship arrived, it was imme- diately advertised that she had brought so many male and female immigrants, who were to be sold for their passage."
They were usually sold into servitude, to such persons as would take them at the shortest period of services, and pay the captain, in advance, his charges for their passage and contingent expenses. Purchasers were bound, on their part, to treat those servants kind- ly, and release them at the expiration of their time. This custom continued for some twenty-five years after the close of the Ame- rican Revolution, and numbers who proved valuable citizens, avail- ed themselves of this method of crossing the Atlantic. When passengers were advertised for sale, says Mr. Yates-" The wealthy Germans and Low Dutch, from various parts of the country, would then repair to New York and make their purcha- ses. Sometimes one would purchase for a number of families. In this way it was, that the mother of Sir John was purchased for her passage across the Atlantic by a man named Philips, re- siding about twelve miles above Schenectada, on the south side of the Mohawk; and nearly opposite Crane's village on the north side of the river. Sir William, seeing the young woman at the house of Mr. Philips, and being pleased with her, bought her of him and took her to his dwelling at the old fort. Sir William had three children by her, Sir John, Mrs. Guy Johnson and Mrs. Col. Claus. Sir William never was married to her, until on her death bed, and then he did it only with a view to legitimize [legitimatise] his children by her. The ceremony was performed by Mr. Barkley, the Episcopal minister residing at Fort Hunter,
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where he officiated in a stone church built by Queen Anne for the Mohawk Indians."
At page 387, vol. 1, of Stone's Brant, Molly Brant, a sister of that chief, is spoken of as the wife of Sir William Johnson. With reference to this woman, says the memoranda of Yates-" It is true that Sir William was married to Molly according to the rites of the Episcopal church, but a few years before his death. The Baronet, feeling his life drawing to a close, and abhorring living longer in adultery, to quiet his conscience, privately married Molly to legitimize his children by her, as he had done those by the Ger- man girl, who was the mother of Sir John and his sisters."
Among the few who witnessed the ceremony of the Baronet's second marriage, the memoranda names Robert Adams, a mer- chant of Johnstown, and Mrs. Rebecca Van Sickler : to the last mentioned he accredits his authority. Mrs. V. S., as the manu- script continues, " was always received into all the respectable fa- milies in Johnstown as a welcome guest, and was very fond of re- lating anecdotes of Sir William. Molly was a very exemplary woman, and was a communicant of the Episcopal church. Among all the old inhabitants on the Mohawk, Molly was respected, as not only reputable, but as an exemplary, pious, christian woman. The care that she took of the education of her children, and the manner in which she brought them up, is at once a demonstration of the depth of the moral sense of duty that she owed her off- spring."
As early as the summer of 1746, Colden, in his Indian history, speaks of Mr. William Johnson (afterwards Sir William John- son) as " being indefatigable among the Mohawks." "He dressed himself," says that writer, " after the Indian manner, made frequent dances according to their custom when they excite to war, and used all the means he could think of, at a considerable expense, (which His Excellency, George Clinton, had promised to repay him,) in order to engage them heartily in the war against Cana- da. [The same writer, noticing the efforts made by Johnson to engage the Mohawk Nation in the British interest against the French, in a war then existing, says that with a part of the Mo-
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hawks then residing principally in the vicinity of the Lower Cas- tle, he went to Albany to attend a treaty.] " That when the In- dians came near the town of Albany, on the 8th of August, Mr. Johnson put himself at the head of the Mohawks, dressed and painted after the manner of an Indian war-captain; and the In- dians who followed him were likewise dressed and painted as is usual with them when they set out in war. The Indians saluted the Governor as they passed the fort, by a running fire, which his Excellency ordered to be answered by a discharge of some cannon from the Fort. He afterwards received the sachems in the fort- hall, bid them welcome, and treated them with a glass of wine."
Sir William was a military man of some distiction in the colony, and during the French war, held a general's commission. Soon after the signal defeat of Baron Dieskau, in 1755, by the troops under Gen. Johnson, in the northern wilds of New York, the title of baronet was conferred upon him, with a gift of parliament to make it set easy, of five thousand pounds sterling, nearly twenty thousand dollars-in consideration of his success. His fortune was now made, and he was the man to enjoy it. Previously, he erected Fort Johnson, a large stone mansion on the north side of the Mohawk, about three miles west of Amsterdam, where he resided for nearly twenty years. This building, which was a noble structure for the middle of the last century, is pleasantly situated near the hill on the west bank of a creek, on which the Baronet built a grist mill. This dwelling, which was finished in- side in a then fashionable style, is said to have been fortified from the time of its erection, until the conquest of Canada and termination of the French war.
This place, (now owned by Dr. Oliver Davidson,) is called Fort Johnson to this day. At a latter period he erected dwell- ings for his sons-in-law, Guy Johnson and Daniel Claus. That occupied by the first named, a large stone dwelling, is still stand- ing one mile above Amsterdam, and was formerly called Guy Park. Previous to its erection, he occupied a frame building standing upon the same site, which was struck by lightning and consumed.
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
A.V.L. Del.
SOUTH VIEW OF FORT JOHNSON.
The mansion of Col. Claus, which was about centrally distan between Fort Johnson and Guy Park, was also constructed of stone, and was large on the ground; but being only one and and a half stories high, it presented a less imposing appearance than did the other Johnson buildings. The cellar of the latter house is still to be seen. Each of those dwellings had a farm attached to it of one square mile, or six hundred and forty acres. About ten years before his death, Sir Wm. Johnson erected Johnson Hall, a large wood building with detached stone wings, situated one mile west from the village of Johnstown; and on his removal to that place, (at present owned and occupied by Mr. Eleazer Wells,)
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Fort Johnson became the residence of his son, who, during a visit to England, had also been gifted by royalty with a title to his name; and an annual stipend of five hundred pounds for the honors of knighthood. Sir John married a Miss Watts of New York city. He was also on terms of intimacy for several years with Miss Clara Putman of the Mohawk valley, by whom he had several children
EAST VIEW OF JOHNSON HALL.
The following notice of the Baronet is from the September No. (1755) of the London Gentleman's Magazine. The article was an extract from a journal written in America.
" Major General Johnson, (an Irish gentleman) is universally esteemed in our parts, for the part he sustains. Besides his skill and experience as an old officer, he is particularly happy in ma- king himself beloved by all sorts of people, and can conform to all companies and conversations. He is very much of the fine gen- tleman in genteel company. But as the inhabitants next him are mostly Dutch, he sits down with them, and smokes his tobacco, drinks flip, and talks of improvements, bears and beaver skins. Being surrounded with Indians, he speaks several of their lan- guages well, and has always some of them with him. His house is a safe and hospitable retreat for them from the enemy. He takes care of their wives and children when they go out on par- ties, and even wears their dress. In short, by his honest dealings with them in trade, and his courage, which has often been suc- cessfully tried with them, and his courteous behaviour, he has so endeared himself to them, that they chose him one of their chief sachems or princes, and esteem him as their common father."
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
Sir William Johnson lived in comparative opulence from the time of his knighthood to the day of his death, which occurred suddenly at Johnson Hall, on the 24th of June, 1774. He died at the age of nearly sixty years. It was supposed by many of his neighbors at that time, that he found means to shorten his days by the use of poison. Col. Stone, in his Life of Brant, ex- presses a different opinion ; but several old people still living, who resided at that time, and have ever since, but a few miles from Johnson Hall, believe to this day that he took the suicidal draught. There were certainly some very plausible reasons for such a conclusion. As the cloud of colonial difficulty was spreading from the capital of New England to the frontier Eng- lish settlements, Sir William Johnson was urged by the British crown to take sides with the parent country. He had been taken from comparative obscurity, and promoted by the government of England, to honors and wealth. Many wealthy and influential friends around him, were already numbered among the advocates of civil liberty. Should he raise his arm against that power which had thus signally honored him ? Should he take sides with the oppressor against many of his tried friends in a thousand perilous adventures ? These were serious questions, as we may reasonably suppose, which often occupied his mind. The Baronet declared to several of his valued friends, as the storm of civil dis- cord was gathering, that "England and her colonies were ap- proaching a terrible war, but that he should never live to witness it." Such assertions were not only made to Lewis Groat, but also to Daniel Campbell and John Baptist Van Eps, of Schenec- tada, and to some of them repeatedly. At the time of his death, a court was sitting in Johnstown, and while in the court house on the afternoon of the day of his death, a package from England, of a political nature, was handed him. He left the court house, went directly home, and in a few hours was a corpse. The fore- going particulars are corroborated by the researches of Giles F. Yates Esq. The excitement of the occasion may have produced his death without the aid of poison ; but as he died thus suddenly, his acquaintances believed he had hastened his death. The three
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