USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie county, and border wars of New York > Part 7
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of fumigating, and the opportunity to show their Indian neigh- bors their patience and skill in the art, as may be supposed, was heartily embraced. Nor is it improbable, that their countrymen at Weiser's dorf were guests on so important an occasion. The Indians were again compelled to accord to their (now) friends of the pipe, superior skill. The Virginia weed all burned, the par- ties dispersed. Well would it be if all battles ended, like the bat- tle of Hartman's dorf, in nothing worse than smoke.
Perhaps thou art amazed, kind reader, while perusing the sim- ple narrative of this battle, to find that the fire-arms of the In- dians did not discharge. The days of witchcraft are now happi- ly passed forever ; but the time has been, when it was no uncom- mon thing for a spell or enchantment to extend to the lock of a rifle : so says tradition .- George Warner.
We have seen how Bayard, the royal agent, was treated, when he visited Schoharie to execute deeds to the German land-holders ; that in consequence, the land was disposed of, and it now remains to be shown what effect that sale had on the tenant. Being called upon by the partners to lease or purchase, they declared they would do neither. Finding lenient measures of no avail, they re- solved to obtain justice by the strong arm of the law. Accord- ingly, a sheriff from Albany, by the name of Adams, was sent to apprehend some of the boldest of the trespassers, as they had now become, and frighten others into proper terms. The Albanians greatly underrated the character and bravery of those people, who had not only compelled an agent of the crown to flee, but had, in fair fight, victoriously battled their Indian neighbors. It is possi- ble they had never heard of that terrible conflict. Adams, con- scious of his own honorable intentions, passing through a part of the valley, made a halt at Weiser's dorf. He had no sooner discovered his business and attempted the arrest of an individu- al, than a mob was collected, and at that early day the lynch law was enforced, The women of that generation, as has been shown by their journeys to Schenectada, possessed Amazonian strength and constitutions, if not proportions ; nor, indeed, were they lack- ing in Spartan bravery. A part of those well-meaning dames,
6
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
remembering the promises of Queen Anne, and sharing with their husbands the belief that they were objects of oppression,- that the intention was to compel them to pay for lands they al- . ready considered their own; under the direction of Magdalene Zeh, a self appointed captain, took the sheriff into their own hands and dealt with him according to his deserts, of which the captain was judge. He was knocked down by a blow from the magistrate, and inducted into various places in that young village where the sow delighted to wallow. After receiving many in- dignities in the neighborhood of Weiser's dorf, some of which he was conscious of receiving and some not, he was placed upon a rail, and rode skimington through most of the settlements. He was exhibited at Hartman's, Bruna, Smith's and Fox's dorfs to his discomfiture ; and finally deposited on a small bridge, made of logs, that had been placed across a stream on the old Albany road, a distance from the starting point of between six and seven miles; no ordinary journey for such a conveyance. This stream was formerly called Mill brook,-why, remains to be seen,-and cross- es the road a short distance west of the residence of Peter Mann, in Fox's creek valley. The captain then seized a stake, which' she carelessly laid over his person, until two of his ribs made four, and his organs of vision were diminished one half. She then, with little ceremony and less modesty, bathed his temples in a very unusual, though simple manner, to the great annoyance of the uninjured eye-poor fellow, he could not resist the kindness- and called off her compatriots, leaving him for dead ; or rather to die if he chose. He saw fit to do no such act, in such a plight, and after such a nursing ; and as soon as consciousness returned, how long after Mistress Lynch had left him is unknown, he gath- ered himself together and departed for Albany. What strange thoughts must have occupied his mind, while homeward bound. He must have been conscious, when the faculties of his mind re- newed their action, that whether his knowledge had increased or not, his bumps assuredly had. His progress must necessarily have been very slow, thus bruised and maimed, and it was not until the third day after he had been on the rail-rode, that he reached Ver-
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re-berg, a hill seven miles west of Albany, from whence he was taken to the city in a wagon. As there were no public houses, and few Samaritans on the road at that time, he was exposed nights to the carnival of wild beasts, and by day, to danger of perishing with hunger. His arrival at Albany, wounded and half blind as he was, and maul-treated as he had been, prognosti- cated no good for the people of Schoharie. The leading facts in the foregoing statement, were published by Judge Brown, who" assured the author that he received them from Sheriff Adams, vi- va-voce-from his own lips.
The word berg, as we have shown, signifies a hill or mountain. At the period of which I write, before public houses were estab- lished between the two places, the people of Schoharie, who had occasion to go to Albany to make disposals and purchases, went in squads and encamped out over night. The most important bergs and creeks on the road, were then the guides by which they knew the route, distance, &c., and served the traveler in lieu of mile-stones. The first important stopping place, after leaving Schoharie, was at the Long-berg, cast of Gallupville. There, if the wayfarer left the valley late, he tarried over night : to it was therefore called the first day's journey. The Beaverkill, which is a branch of Fox's creek, was also a guide : then came the Feght- berg, Supawn-berg, Lice-berg, Helle-berg, Botte-Mentis-berg, and lastly Verre-berg. All these names had some significant meaning, which continued to remind the traveler of their origin, long after the road, which was then little more than a rough foot path, and hardly admissible for any kind of wagons, became a public one, properly laid out. Long-berg signified the long hill. Feght-berg, the fighting hill, the origin of which has previously been given. Supaan is the name among the Germans and Dutch, by which Indian pudding, usually called mush or hasty pudding among the Englishi, is known. Why that name attaches to a hill, the writer has not been informed. The origin of Lice-berg and Verre-berg are also among the mysteries. A hill was called Bot- te-Mentis-berg from the following circumstance. A man, whose given name was Botte Mace,-or Bartholomew in English-was
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
passing along in the evening and fell into a pit, where he was obliged to remain until morning : to the nearest hill was given his name, by which it was long after known.
As may be supposed, the people of Schoharie, after dealing with poor Adams in the manner they had, became cautious about visiting Albany, where several of the partners resided. There was, in fact, little intercourse between Schoharie and Albany for some time : the people of the former viewing those of the latter place, in a light of lively apprehension. In civilized life, it is happily ordered that one community shall not live entirely inde- pendent of all others. There were some necessaries which they must have, and which they could not well procure without going there. The men, therefore, sent their wives after salt ; which was one of the indispensables ; saying, in effect, they will rever- ence them : and if they did venture to Albany themselves, they were sure to do so on the Sabbath, and equally mindful of leav- ing the same evening. What a profanation of the Lord's day !- but let us not anticipate a judgment. By remaining silent in the mean time, and not appearing to heed their coming or going, the real owners of the Schoharie soil, lured the occupants into a be- lief, that all the malicious acts extended to Sheriff Adams, not forgetting the last act of Magdalene, were entirely forgotten : and that there was no longer any need of caution about entering that good city. It was indeed presuming much on the charity of the partners, whose agent had been so harshly treated: but no matter, such was the fact. With the vigilance of the sentinel crow, were the people of Schoharie watched, who began to be looked upon as being no better than they should be,-as women are wont to say of frail sisters,-and preparations were matured for seizing some of them. It was not long after suspicion was lulled, before quite a number of them entered the city for salt, when the partners, with Sheriff Adams and posse, arrested and committed them to jail. The most notorious of the party were placed in the dungeon, among whom was Conrad Weiser, jr., of running memory. As soon as news of this arrest and impri- sonment reached Schoharie, her citizens were horror stricken ?
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" What shall we do?"-was the interrogatory on the lips of one and all. How sadly, thought they, have we realized our Euro- pean dreams of American happiness. Desirous of remedying in future the evils to which they were subjected, it was, at a meet- ing of the citizens, resolved to get up a petition setting forth their grievances, persecutions, &c .; and delegate three of their number to lay it, with all due humility, at the feet of King George; praying, at the time, for his future protection against their ene- mies, the Albanians. This petition, which is said to have been drawn by John Newkirk, was entrusted to the elder Conrad Wei- ser, one Cassleman, and a third person, name not known, for pre- sentation.
Looking through grates and living on bread and water, had a wonderful effect on the spirits and temper of the incarcerated ci- tizens of Schoharie. They therefore made a virtue of necessity, and resolved to comply with the requisitions of the law, by taking leases and agreeing to pay rent for, or to purchase the land. Be- fore releasing the prisoners, the partners drew up a statement of the abuses to Bayard and Adams, when in the discharge of their official duties at Schoharie, and required them to be witnessed un- der hand and seal. This last requisition complied with, they were allowed to depart for their own homes.
The importance with which the colonists viewed this matter may be conceived by the delegation to England : for, surely, no trifling consideration would induce three men, who loved retire- ment, to make such a journey at such a time. We should look upon it at the present day, as being a great undertaking-saying nothing of locomotives, rail-roads and steam-packets, which were then unknown. No delay was allowed after procuring the duly attested evidence of the proceedings of Judge Lynch : it was for- warded immediately to the King. It is highly probable, that the same ship bore the Schoharie ambassadors and the swift witness against them, to the British throne. The petition was presented about the year 1714 or '15. The ship in due time arrived in Eng- land, and the Schoharie delegation, wishing to make a respecta- ble appearance among the foreign ambassadors, were subjected to
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
some little delay, in arranging their wardrobe, exchanging their buck-skin garments for cloth, &c .: in the mean time, the message of the partners was under the consideration of the King. On presenting their petition, how were Weiser and his friends as- tounded, to find the King and his ministry in possession of all the late transactions at Schoharie. Had the ghosts of Bayard and Adams appeared before them, they would hardly have been more horror-stricken, than they were to hear their own misdemeanors told them from such a source. Their confusion betrayed their guilt, and established, beyond a doubt, the truth of the charges prefered against them and their neighbors. The King and his advisers, supposing the evil deeds of the Schoharie people result- ed from bad hearts instead of ignorance, the real parent of all their difficulties, without listening to what they might say for themselves, ordered them to close confinement in the tower.
How much the present difficulty of these well meaning people argues in favor of an education, and a knowledge of the world and its transactions. Had they been better informed, they would have been less suspicious ; for suspicion and distrust are the hand- maids of ignorance. The liberal minded, is generally the well informed man. But, as already remarked, there were some good reasons for their not advancing rapidly in their knowledge of men and things. They spoke not the general language of the coun- try : which circumstance prevented, in a measure, that intercourse with the world, so necessary to the expansion of the human un- derstanding, and the removal of national or local prejudices. They were accustomed to transact most of their own business without pen, ink or paper ; and, agreeable to the knowledge they had, and their own method of doing business, they considered a promise made in good faith, as valid as a bond, for such in fact it was with them, and never dreamed of the possibility of their be- ing mistaken about the object of Bayard's mission ; or that any thing farther was necessary from the British crown to establish their legal title to the lands, than the mere promise of the Queen that they should, without money or price, possess them.
During the confinement of the disappointed trio, many of the
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people of Schoharie, convinced that they stood in their own light, and that they had wholly mistaken the intention of Bayard, too late indeed to obtain a legal title to their lands free of charge, be- gan to purchase of the partners, who granted them liberal terms. At length, Weiser and his comrades were discharged from the tower, and proceeded home with all possible haste : and had the former only been by name in the positive degree on his arrival in England, he assuredly would have been by nature in the compa- rative on his return to Schoharie ; as he had become in fact much wiser. The return of the embassy, whose mission had resulted in effecting nothing but disgrace for themselves ; and tended only to disclose the general ignorance of their constituents, created no little excitement in the valley. Conrad Weiser was, by nature, a proud, high-spirited man, and could not brook the mortification his own ignorance had originated. Soon after his return, he re- solved to leave Schoharie forever, and had little difficulty in per- suading many of his countrymen to join him. Accordingly, with as little delay as possible, about sixty families packed up and set forward with all they possessed for Pennsylvania. The want of horses and cows, which was so seriously felt by the Germans when they first located at Schoharie, was, at the time I now speak of, a source of little inconvenience, as they then owned a goodly num- ber. The disaffected party passed up the Schoharie river, piloted by an Indian. Brown says, they arrived, after a journey of five days, at the Cook-house,* where they made canoes, in which they went down the Susquehanna. Here is a trifling error in his
* I make the following extract from a letter from the Hon. Erastus Root, of the New York Senate, in answer to several inquiries, dated Albany, April 11th, 1843. " You ask whence originated the name of Cook House. Vari- ous derivations have been given, but the most natural and probable one is this-That on the large flat bearing the name, being on the way from Cochec- ton, by the Susquehanna and Chemung to Niagara, there was a hut erected, where some cooking utensils were found. It had probably been erected by some traveler who had made it his stopping place and had cooked his provi- sions there. It has been stated to me as a part of the tradition, that the hut remained many years as a resting place to the weary traveler, and that the rude cooking utensils were permitted to remain as consecrated to the use of succeeding sojourners." General Root went to reside in Delaware county in 1796.
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
pamphlet, as the Cook-house is on the Delaware river. As he says, they passed down the Susquehanna, preparing their canoes for that purpose, near the mouth of the Charlotte river. Nicho- las Warner, one of the oldest citizens of Schoharie county, in the fall of 1837, assured the author that he had seen the stumps of the trees on the Charlotte branch of the Susquehanna, which Weiser and his friends felled to make the canoes from, in which they floated down the river. Their cattle and horses were driven along the shore, and were frequently in sight of the water party, until the latter left their canoes. Weiser and his followers settled at a place called Tulpehocken, in Berks county, Pennsylvania, on the north side of a creek of that namne; where, it is said, he be- came a distinguished and useful citizen .* The party probably settled near their countrymen who emigrated from Germany at the time they did, and located in that State. Most of the fami- lies which followed the fortunes of Weiser, were from Weiser's and Hartman's dorfs. Hartman Winteker removed at the same time to Pennsylvania. Whether they had to purchase lands in Tulpehocken, I cannot say. Few of Weiser's party ever revisited Schoharie : several old men did, however, nearly fifty years after. A singular circumstance is said to have transpired, showing the instinct of the horses which accompanied the emigration to Penn- sylvania. Twelve of those noble animals left their master's cribs, and after an absence from them of a year and a half, ten of them, in good condition, arrived at Schoharie : a distance through the wilderness of over three hundred miles. It is possible they re- membered the sweet clovert of Weiser's dorf, and longed again to munch it.
Two instances of brute instinct, not dissimilar to the one rela-
* In 1744, one Conrad Weiser was Indian interpreter for the colony of Pennsylvania, who was, doubtless, the swift-footed son of the one named in the context.
t The land through which the little Schoharie kill, in Middleburgh, runs to the river, is to this day called the clauver wy, which signifies the clover pas- ture. When the Schoharie valley was first settled, the land along that stream was thickly covered with clover, which was seen in few other places about the Schoharie : hence the appropriate name.
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ted, were told the author by Mrs. Van Slyck. About the year 1770, the Bartholomews removed from New Jersey to the Char- lotte river. Soon after their arrival there, three of their horses disappeared, and after much unsuccessful searching for them, it was concluded they had strayed away and become a prey to wild beasts. Judge the surprise of the owners to learn after some time, that one of them had been taken up within two, and another with- in five miles of their former residence. The third was found by them near Catskill.
The other story is perhaps the most singular of the two, as the horse has given numberless instances of remarkable sagacity. Not many years from the period above cited, Ephraim Morehouse removed in the spring from Dutchess county to the vicinity of the Charlotte river. He passed through the Schoharie valley on his way, and tarried over night with Samuel Vrooman, father of my informant, with whom he was acquainted. He drove with his cattle a large sow with a bell on. As Morehouse approached the end of his journey, the sow disappeared. After considerable delay in a fruitless search for her, he proceeded on his way. In the following autumn he revisited the place of his former resi- dence, and on his return again tarried over night with Vrooman. He then related the circumstance of losing his sow, and again finding her. She had returned to the old stye in due time, to the great surprise of the neighborhood. Whether she retraced her way by the same path or not is unknown ; but to reach her for- mer place, had been compelled to swim the Hudson, and perform a solitary journey of one hundred miles.
About the time Weiser and his friends left Schoharie, there were others among the dissatisfied, who, not choosing to follow his fortunes, sought a future residence in the Mohawk valley. Elias Garlock, the founder of Garlock's dorf, removed to the Mo- hawk, accompanied by several of his neighbors. Some of the party had relatives or friends there who located at the time the Schoharie settlements were begun, which induced them to remove thither. They settled in and about Canajoharie, at Stone Ara- bia, or upon the German Flats.
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
Tradition has preserved but little in the life of Justice Garlock, the most noted of the Schoharie Germans, who removed to the Mohawk valley. He is said, while there, to have been the only justice of the peace in the Schoharie valley. The name of the shrewd constable who aided him in administering the few laws by which they were governed, has been lost. Only one important decision of this sage justice is known to the author. His sum- mons was usually delivered to the constable viva voce, and thus by him to the transgressor of the law. If the justice wished to bring a culprit before him, he gave his jack-knife to the constable, who carried it to the accused, and required him at the appointed time to appear with it before the justice. What it meant he well understood. If two were to be summoned at the same time, to the second he gave the tobacco-box of the justice, and as that usually contained a liberal supply of the delectable narcotic, the consequences of a failure to return it in person to the justice, in due time, were dangerous in the extreme. The decision of Justice Garlock alluded to, terminated so happily for those most interested, that I cannot withhold it from the reader. A com- plaint having been entered before him, the knife. was issued, and the parties assembled forthwith. The plaintiff told his story, which appeared simple and true. The defendant, with more zeal and eloquence, plead his cause-quoting, if I mistake not, some previous decisions of his honor-and made out, as he thought, an equally good case. After giving the parties a patient hearing, the justice gave the following very important decision. " Der blandif an derfendur bote hash reght; zo I dezides, an pe dunder, der knonshtopple moosh bay de kosht."
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CHAPTER III.
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After the removal of Weiser and others from Schoharie, the difficulties to which the ignorance and suspicions of the people had subjected them, were soon quieted, and they once more be- came a happy community. They were careful afterwards to se- cure legal titles to their lands, and thereby remove the danger of troubles in future, from a cause which had already tended greatly to decrease their numbers, and harrass their feelings.
There were, as I have been informed, several apple trees stand- ing on the flats near the present dwelling of John Ingold, at the time the Germans arrived, supposed to have been planted by the Indians. One of these antiquated trees, at least 140 years old, was still standing in 1842, and very fruitful. Other trees of the same planting were yet bearing fruit in 1837. The trees from which the first apple orchards in Schoharie were derived, were procured, as Judge Brown assured me, in the following manner. One Campbell and several other individuals went from the Scho- harie valley to New York, to be naturalized, a few years after the settlement was commenced. Their business accomplished, they started for home on board of a sloop; but not having money enough to pay their passage to Albany, they were landed at or near Rhinebeck, and traveled from thence on foot. Crossing the Rhinebeck flats, each pulled up a bundle of small apple trees in the nurseries they passed, from which the first orchards in Scho- harie were planted.
The second season after the murder of his agent Truax, in Vrooman's Land, Peter Vrooman returned to that place and es- tablished a permanent residence. He planted an apple orchard,
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which is yet standing, near the dwelling of Harmanus Vrooman. Some of the Swarts, Eckers, Zielleys, Haggidorns, Feecks, and Beckers, with perhaps some other Dutch families, settled in that vicinity about the same time.
There were few regular mechanics among the first settlers, on which account the native genius of all was more or less taxed. We have seen to what inconvenience and labor they were sub- jected for the want of mills. The first grist mill in the county was erected by Simeon Laraway, on the small stream called Mill brook, from that circumstance, which runs into Fox's creek near Waterbury's mills. Upon a bridge which crossed this brook, Sheriff Adams was left, after having had occular demonstration of the prowess of Magdalene Zeh, in the first anti-rent war. Some part of the race-way of this mill is still to be seen. Before the erection of Simeon's mill, as usually called, several hand mills, like the one at Weiser's dorf, were in frequent use. In the course of twenty or thirty years after Weiser and his friends left, several other mills were established in and about Schoharie. One Cobel erected two of those .* One of them was built on a small brook in a ravine on the south side of the road, a few rods distant from the river bridge, one mile from the Court House. The other mill he erected about the same time on Cobelskill, which took its name from that circumstance. It stood near the mouth of the kill. It was not until about the near 1760, that bolting cloths were used in Schoharie. Henry Weaver, who owned a mill near where Becker's now stands, on Foxes creek, was the first who introduced them.
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