USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie county, and border wars of New York > Part 12
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
At the close of the above speech, Abraham, a brother of Hen- drick, rose up and said :
" Brethren, We should let you know what was our desire three years ago, when Col. Johnson [he was promoted to Major General in 1754] laid down the management of Indian affairs, which gave us great uneasiness ; the governor then told us, (governor of New York) it was in his power to continue him, but that he would con- sult the council of New York ; that he was going over to England, and promised to recommend our desire, that Col. Johnson should have the management of Indian affairs, to the king, that the new governor might have power to reinstate him. We long waited in expectation of this being done, but hearing no more of it, we em- brace this opportunity of laying this belt [and gave a belt] before all our brethren here present, and desire that Col. Johnson may be reinstated and have the management of Indian affairs ; for we all lived happy whilst under his management ; for we love him, and he us ; and he has always been our good and trusty friend.
" Brethren, I forgot something ; we think our request about Col. Johnson, which governor Clinton promised to carry to the king our father, is drowned in the sea; the fire here is burnt out; and turning his face to the New York commissioners for Indian affairs in Albany there present, desired them to notice what he said."
On the same day, Hendrick, in the name of the Mohawks of the Upper Castle (Connejohary) in a private audience, delivered the following speech-in the presence of several sachems of each of the other nations, to the governor of New York :
" Brother, We had a message some time since to meet you at his place when the fire burns ; we of Connejohary, met the mes- senger you sent with a letter at Col. Johnson's ; and as soon as we received it we came running down, and the Six Nations are now here complete."
129
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
The Governor replied --
" Brethren of the Six Nations, you are welcome. I take this op- portunity, now you are all together, to condole the loss in the death of your friends and relations since you last met here ; and with this string of wampum I wipe away your tears, and take sor- row from your hearts, that you may open your minds and speak freely." [a string of wampum.
Hendrick continued-
" Brother, We thank you for condoling our loss ; for wiping away our tears that we may speak freely ; and as we do not doubt but you have lost some of your great men and friends, we give you this string of condolence in return, that it may remove your sor- rows, that we may both speak freely : [gave a string.] (Then Hen- drick, addressing himself to the Six Nations, said,) "That last year he attended Col. Johnson to Onondago to do service to the king and their people ; that Col. Johnson told them, another gov- ernor was expected soon, and they would then have an opportu- nity of seeing him, and laying their grievances before him .- That the new governor arrived soon after, and scarcely had they heard of his arrival, but they had an account of his death: and that now he was glad to see his honor, to whom he would declare his grievances.
"Brother, We thought you would wonder why we of Connejo- hary staid so long ; we shall now give you the reason. Last sum- mer we of Connejohary were at New York to make our complaint, and we thought then the covenant chain was broken, because we were neglected ; and when you neglect business, the French take advantage of it; for they are never quiet .- It seemed so to us, that the governor had turned his back upon the Five Nations, as if they were no more; whereas the French are doing all in their power to draw us over to them. We told the governor last sum- mer, we blamed him for the neglect of the Five Nations; and at the same time we told him the French were drawing the Five Na- tions away to Oswegechie, owing to that neglect which might have been prevented, if proper use had been made of that warning ; but now we are afraid it is too late. We remember how it was in former times, when we were a strong and powerful people: Col. Schuyler used frequently to come among us, and by this means we kept together.
" Brother, We, the Mohawks, are in very difficult circumsran- ces, and are blamed for things behind our backs which we do not deserve. Last summer, when we went up with Col. Johnson to Onondago, and he made his speech to the Five Nations, the Five Nations said they liked the speech, but that the Mohawks had made it. We are looked upon by the other nations as Col. Johnson's counsellors, and supposed to hear all the news from him, which is not the case ; for Col. Johnson does not receive from, or impart much news to us. This is our reason for staying behind, for if we had come first, the other nations would have said that we made the
130
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
Governor's speech; and therefore, though we were resolved to come, we intended the other nations should be before us, that they might hear the Governor's speech, which we could hear afterwards.
" There are some of our people who have large open ears, and talk a little broken English and Dutch, so that they hear what is said by the Christian settlers near them, and by this means we come to understand that we are looked upon to be a proud nation, and therefore stayed behind. "Tis true and known we are so; and that we, the Mohawks, are the head of all the other nations. Here they are, and must own it. But it was not out of pride we Conne- joharies stayed behind ; but for the reason we have already given."
A speaker followed Hendrick, in behalf of all the Six Nations. After expressing his joy at the renewal of the ancient covenant- chain between all his Majesty's governments on the continent and the Six Nations; for the promises on the part of the New York Governor of future protection ; and the danger he thought they would be in, if Col. Johnson left off the management of Indian af- fairs,-observing, if he fail us, we die,-he alluded to what the Governor of Pennsylvania, through Mr. Weiser, his interpreter, had said on the day before, respecting a new road from Pennsylvania to Ohio. " We thank the Governor of Virginia," said he, " for assisting the Indians at the Ohio, who are our relations and allies ; and we approve of the Governor of Pennsylvania not having hitherto intermeddled in this affair. He is a wise and prudent man, and will know his own time." He closed as follows :---
" Brethren, We put you in mind in our former speech of the de- fenceless state of our frontiers, particularly of the country of Che- nectady, and of the country of the Five Nations. You told us yes- terday you were consulting about securing both yourselves and us. We beg you will contrive something speedily: you are not safe from danger one day. The French have their hatchet in their hands both at the Ohio and in two places in New England. We don't know but this very night they may attack us. One of the principal reasons why we desire you to be speedy in this matter is, that since Col. Johnson has been in this city, there has been a French Indian at his house, who took measure of the wall round it, and made a very narrow observation of every thing thereabouts. We think him (Col. Johnson) in very great danger, because the French will take more than ordinary pains either to kill him or take him a prisoner, upon account of his great interest among us, being also one of the Five Nation." (Col. Johnson is one of their Sachems.) [Gave four strings of wampum.
131
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
The Governor replied-
" I have now done speaking to you; but before I cover up the fire I must recommend to you to behave quietly and peaceably to all your brethren and their cattle, in your return home."
Hendrick responded-
" Your honor told us you now covered up the fires, and we are all highly pleased that all things have been so amicably settled ; and hope that all that has passed between us may be strictly ob- served on both sides.
" Brethren of the several governments, We hope that you will not fail in the covenant-chain, wherewith we are mutually bound, and have now so solemnly renewed and strengthened ; if we do not hold fast by this chain of friendship our enemies will laugh us to scorn.
" Brethren, We wish you would all contribute to make some provision for us in our return home, which will effectually prevent our people from killing the inhabitants' cattle; and we desire you will provide some wagons for us to go to Chenectady. We think this expense will fall too heavy upon our province, as we have the presents from all to carry up. We beg we may take all care of the fire of friendship, and preserve it, by our mutual attention, from further injuries. We will take care of it on our sides, and hope our brethren will do so on theirs. We wish the tree of friendship may grow up to a great height, and then we shall be a powerful people.
"We, the United Six Nations, shall rejoice in the increase of our strength, so that all other nations may stand in awe of us.
" Brethren, I will just tell you what a people we were formerly. If any enemies rose against us, we had no occasion to lift our whole hand against them, for our little finger was sufficient ; and as we have now made so strong a confederacy, if we are truly earnest therein, we may retrieve the ancient glory of the Five Nations.
" Brethren, We have now done. But one word more must we add : If the French continue their hostilities, the interpreter will want assistance-three or four to be joined with him; but this matter we submit to the Governor. We have now fully finished all we have to say."
The following speech, delivered at the same convention by one of the River or Stockbridge Indians, is too full of figure and me- lancholy truth to be omitted in this place :
"Fathers, We are greatly rejoiced to see you all here ; it is by the will of Heaven that we are met here, and we thank you for this opportunity of seeing you all together, as it is a long while since we had such a one.
132
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
" Fathers, who are here present, We will give you a short rela- tion of the long friendship which has subsisted between the white people of this country and us. Our forefathers had a castle - on the river : as one of them walked out he saw something on the river, but was at a loss to know what it was; he took it at first for a great fish ; he run into the castle and gave notice to the other Indians ; two of our forefathers went to see what it was, and found it a vessel with men in it; they immediately joined hands with the people in the vessel, and became friends. The white people told them they should not come up the river any further at that time, and said to them they would return back from whence they came, and come again in a year's time, and come as far up the river as where the old fort stood. Our fathers invited them ashore, and said to them "Here we will give you a place to make you a town ; it shall be from this place up to such a stream, (meaning where the petteroon mill now stands,) and from the river back up to the hill. Our forefathers told them, though they were now a small people, they would in time multiply, and fill up the land they had given them. After they were ashore some time, some other Indians, who had not seen them before, looked fiercely at them ; and our forefathers observing it, and seeing the white peo- ple so few in number, lest they should be destroyed, took and shel- tered them under their arms; but it turned out that those Indians did not desire to destroy them, but wished also to have the same white people for their friends. At this time which we have now spoken of, the white people were small, but we were very numer- ous and strong ; we defended them in that low state : But now the case is altered ; you are numerous and strong, but we are few and weak; therefore we expect that you will act by us in these cir- cumstances, as we did by you in those we have just now related. We view you now as a very large tree, which has taken deep root in the ground, whose branches are spread very wide. We stand by the body of the tree, and we look round to see if there be any one who endeavors to hurt it, and if it should so happen, that any are powerful enough to destroy it, we are ready to fall with it.
[gave a belt.
" Fathers, you see how early we made friendship with you ; we tied each other in a strong chain : That chain has not yet been broken : We now clean and rub that chain to make it brighter and stronger ; and we determine on our parts that it shall never be broken ; and we hope that you will take care, that neither you nor any one else shall break it; and we are greatly rejoiced, that peace and friendship have so long subsisted between us."-Gen- tlemen's Magazine.
The three Castles of the Mohawk Nation, says Colden, were all surprised and captured by a party of six or seven hundred French and Indians, on the 8th of March, 1693. The Lower
133
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
Castle was bravely defended by the few warriors who chanced to be in it, until they were overpowered by numbers.
In the reign of Queen Anne of England, and about the year 1710, a frontier military post was established at the junction of the Schoharie and Mohawk rivers, on the east bank of the form- er, and near the eastern Mohawk Castle. Captain John Scott, an English officer, erected a small fort of hewn timber at this place, and called it Fort Hunter, in honor of Robert Hunter, then governor of the colony ; which fort was intended to protect the natives against the hostile French, and secure their trade. About the same time a small church was built near the fort, and called Queen Anne's Chapel. It was erected by the Queen, whose mu- nificence endowed it, says Colden, " with furniture, and a valuable set of plate for the communion table." It was a substantial stone edifice, somewhat resembling in appearance the one afterwards erected at Caughnawaga, and was for a great length of time un- der the management of an Episcopal Society in England, for propagating the gospel in foreign parts, which society supported a minister at this place as a missionary among the Mohawk In- dians. The entrance to the chapel was on its north side near the centre. The pulpit, which was provided with a sounding board, stood at the west end, and directly opposite were two pews fin- ished for the occupancy of Sir William Johnson and the minister's family ; the floor of which was elevated. Johnson's pew was also furnished with a wooden canopy. Moveable benches served the rest of the congregation with seats.
Fort Hunter was a place of no little importance in the early history of the Mohawk valley ; and at that post were doubtless planned some important enterprises against the Canadas. Speak- ing of the Indian " war dances," Colden says :
" An officer of the regular troops told me, that while he was commandant of Fort Hunter, the Mohawks on one of these occa- sions, (that of a war dance,) told him, that they (the Indians) ex- pected the usual military honors as they passed the garrison. The men presented their pieces as the Indians passed, and the drum beat a march ; and with less respect, the officer said, they would have been dissatisfied. The Indians passed in single row one af-
10
134
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
ter another, with great gravity and profound silence; and every one of them, as he passed the officer, took his gun from his should- er, and fired into the ground near the officer's foot : They marched in this manner three or four miles from their Castle. The women on these occasions follow them with their old clothes, and they send back by them their finery in which they marched from the Castle."
The ruins of old Fort Hunter were torn down at the beginning of the Revolution, and the chapel enclosed by heavy palisades. In the corners of the yard were small block houses mounting can- non. This place, which continued to be called Fort Hunter, was garrisoned in the latter part of the war, and Capt. Tremper, from below Albany, was its commandant. The chapel was torn down about the year 1820, to make room for the Erie canal.
J.FRASER So.
QUEEN ANNE'S CHAPEL PARSONAGE.
Queen Anne's chapel was early provided with a small bell, which is now in use on the Academy in Johnstown. A glebe or farm of three hundred acres of good land was attached to it, which was conveyed at some period by the natives to Dr. Bar- clay, and by him to the society alluded to, on their reimbursing
135
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
him moneys expended upon it. The parsonage house, said to have been built about the time the chapel was, is still standing in Flo- rida, half a mile below the Schoharie, and a few rods south of the canal, from which it is visible. It is a stone building, some twenty-five by thirty-five feet on the ground, two stories high, with a quadrangular roof, presents a very ancient appearance, and is possibly the oldest house west of Schenectada in the Mo- hawk valley. The chapel farm was disposed of some years ago, and part of the proceeds, nearly fifteen hundred dollars, were laid out in erecting the Episcopal Church at Port Jackson, in the same town ; and the residue, an equal sum, invested in the Epis- copal Church of Johnstown .- Spufford's Gazetteer, Peter Put- man, J. L. Groat, A. J. Comrie, and others.
The chapel parsonage at Fort Hunter, is now owned and oc- cupied by Nicholas Reese. The last occupant under the patron- age of the Missionary Society, was the Rev. John Stuart, who was officiating there at the beginning of the revolution. He re- moved, with the Indians under his charge, to Canada-they choos- ing to follow the fortunes of the Johnsons and Butlers. I have in my possession a bill of sale from Mr. Stuart to John Conyn, who returned to the Mohawk after the revolution, of a male slave called Tom Doe, who went from Fort Hunter with his master to Canada. The sale was for $275 in specie, and was dated at Montreal, November 19, 1783. At the close of the war, Mr. Stuart settled on Grand river, and resumed his ministerial labors.
In 1720, Captain Scott took a patent for the lands extending from Aurie's creek to the Yates and Fonda line, near the present village of Fultonville. Aurie is the Dutch of Aaron, and the creek was so called after an old Indian warrior named Aaron, who lived many years in a hut which stood on the flats now owned by J. C. Yost, on the east side of the creek. The adjoin- ing village was named after the stream.
Early in the eighteenth century, three brothers named Quack- enboss emigrated from Holland to the colony of New York; one of them locating at New York city, and the other two at Albany. Peter, one of the latter, settled on Scott's patent, only two or
136
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
three years after it was secured. He resided near Aurie's creek at the now Leslie Voorhees' place. Mr. Quackenboss had several children grown up when he arrived in the country, and David, his elder son, after a somewhat romantic courtship, married Miss Ann, a daughter of Captain Scott, and settled on Scott's Patent, where the Montgomery county poor house now stands. A young officer under the command of Captain Scott, requested young Quackenboss, then in the employ of the captain, to speak a good word for him to Miss Ann, which he readily promised to do. While extolling the good qualities of her admirer, he took occa- sion to suggest his partiality for herself. The maiden, who had conceived an attachment for Quackenboss instead of the young subaltern, shrewedly asked him why he did not make advances on his own account. He had not presumed on so advantageous a match; but the hint was sufficient to secure his fortune and happiness. His son John, a fruit of this connection, born about the year 1725, was the first white child born on the south side of the Mohawk-west of Fort Hunter, and east of the German settle- ments some distance above. Captain Scott had one son who be- came a general officer .- John Scott Quackenboss.
About the year 1740, a small colony consisting of sixteen families of Irish immigrants was planted, under the patronage of Wm. Johnson, afterwards baronet, on lands now owned by Henry Shelp, a few miles south-west of Fort Hunter, in the pre- sent town of Glen. Several years after they had built them- selves rude dwellings, cleared lands, planted orchards, and com- menced their agricultural labors, a disturbance arose between the Indian Confederacy of New York and the Canadian Indians, which the colonists conceived endangered their domestic tranquili- ty ; in consequence of which the settlement was broken up, and the chicken-hearted pioneers, then numbering eighteen or twenty families, returned to the Emerald Isle. Traces of their residence are visible at the present day .- John Hughes and Peter Putman.
The first merchant in the Mohawk valley west of Schenectada, was Maj. Jelles (Giles) Fonda, a son of Douw Fonda, an early settler at Caughnawaga. For many years he carried on an ex-
137
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
tensive business for the times, at the latter place-trading with the white citizens of the valley, and the natives of western New York ; the latter trade being carried on at old Fort Schuyler, now Utica; Fort Stanwix, (called in the revolution Fort Schuyler,) now Rome, and Forts Oswego, Niagara and Schlosser. An ab- stract from his ledger shows an indebtedness of his customers at one time just before the revolution, amounting to over ten thou- sand dollars. Many of his good he imported directly from Lon- don. To his Indian customers he sold blankets, trinkets, ammu- nition and rum ; and received in return, peltries and ginseng root. The latter was at that time an important item among the ex- ports of what was then, Western New York; and the two named added to the article of pot-ash, almost the only commodities pur- chased in a foreign market.
The following anecdote is believed to be true. In the employ of Sir William Johnson a few years before his death, was an Irishman named McCarthy, by reputation the most noted pugil- ist in Western New York. The baronet offered to pit his fellow countryman against any man who could be produced for a fist fight. Major Fonda, tired of hearing the challenge, and learning that a very muscular Dutchman named John Van Loan, was living near Brakabeen, in the Schoharie valley, made a journey of some forty or fifty miles, to secure his professional sevices, for he, too, was reputed a bully. Van Loan readily agreed to flog the son of Erin, for a ten pound note. At a time appointed, numbers were assembled at Caughnawaga to witness the contest between the pugilists. After McCarthy had been swaggering about in the crowed for a while, and greatly excited public expectation by his boasting, inducing numbers to bet on his head, his competi- tor appeared ready for the contest-clad for the occasion in a shirt and breeches of dressed deer-skin fitted tight to his person. A ring was formed and the battle commenced. The bully did his best, but it was soon evident that he was not a match for his Dutch adversary, who slipped through his fingers like an eel, and parried his blows with the greatest ease. Completely ex- hausted and almost bruised to a jelly, Sir William's gamester was
138
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
removed, looking if not expressing-peccavi .- Abraham A. Van Horne, who obtained the facts from a son of Van Loan.
I have spoken in the preceding chaper, of the custom of pro- viding refreshments at funerals; a practice which continued in vogue in some degree for at least one hundred years, and until about the year 1825. Smoking was an attendant on the prevail- ing habit, as the following order from Col. DI. Claus, will show.
" SIR-I have sent the bearer for four dozen of Pipes and a few pounds of Tobacco, for the burial of Mr. Raworth's child wh please to charge to me.
" Monday, 27th Aug., 1770.
" To Maj'r Jelles Fonda."
D. CLAUS."
The trade with the Indians along the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence, was carried on by the aid of boats propelled from Schenectada up the Mohawk at great personal labor, in con- sequence of their being several rifts or rapids in the stream. The first obstruction of the kind was met with six miles above Schenectada, and was called Six Flats' rift ; proceeding west came in course similar obstructions known as Fort Hunter rift ; Caughnawaga rift ; Keator's rift, at Spraker's, the greatest on the river, having a fall of ten feet ; Brandywine rift, at Cana- joharie, short but rapid ; Ehle's rift near Fort Plain ; Kneiskern's rift, a small rapid near the upper Indian castle, a little above the river dam ; and the Little falls*, so called as compared with the Cahoes on the same stream near its mouth. At the Little Falls, a descent in the river of forty feet in half a mile, boats could not be forced up the current, and it became a carrying place for them and merchandise, which were transported around the rapids on wagons with small wide rimmed wheels, the water craft re-
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.