USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie county, and border wars of New York > Part 8
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At almost as late a period as the revolution, the colonists pro-
ยท This creek took its name after the paternal name of the mill-wright, as Judge Brown assured me. I find the name written Cobels kill in many of the old conveyances, and ia all the carly Session laws, of the state. It is, in truth, the correct orthography of the word. In writing Fox's and Cobel's kill, I shall in future omit the apostrophe and hyphen, for reasons obvious to the reader.
The Indians called Cobelskill the Ots ga-ra-gee which signified the hemp creek. When first settled by the whites, an abundance of wild hemp grew along its banks. The natives often visited them to procure it, making from it fish nets, and ropes to aid them in transporting their portable wealth.
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cured most of their shoes at Albany, or East Camp ; and one pair was the yearly allowance for each member of the family. They were repaired by traveling cobblers.
Those unaffected Germans were not votaries to fashion, of course they were not very particular about receiving their male fashions from England, or their female from France. The good wife and daughters generally cut and made the rude apparel of the family, and thought it no disgrace. The settlers manufactured most of their own buttons, and often the same garment had on those of very different sizes, of wood, horn, bone or lead.
Not having been accustomed to luxuries from childhood, they were contented with simple fare and uncouth fashions. Their clothes, as may be supposed, did not set out a good form to very fascinating advantage. Those useless bipeds denominated dan- dies, noted for their mustaches, idleness and empty pockets, were unknown in the Schoharie valley at that day ; indeed, they are strangers there at the present time. Of course, other considera- tions than mere dress, or a display of jewelry, could create, influ- enced their choice of a partner for life. They had little to be proud of, consequently many of the men did not shave oftener than once or twice a month. A Dow or a Matthias would hard- ly have been distinguished from them, had they appeared at that day. Habituating themselves to do men's work, many of the wo- men were, from exposure, sun-burnt and coarse featured, and in some instances it became necessary for them to clip an exuberant growth of beard, which was done with scissors.
Lawrence Schoolcraft, one of the first settlers in Schoharie, at the residence of Peter Vrooman, made the first cider in the coun- ty. The manner of making it being unique, was as follows. The apples were first pounded in a stamper similar to the Indian corn stamper before mentioned. After being thus bruised, the pumice was placed in a large Indian basket previously suspended to a tree, beneath which was inserted a trough, made by fastening to- gether the edges of two planks, which served to catch and carry the juice compressed by weights in the basket, into some vessel placed for its reception. In the year 1752, one Brown, the father
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
of Judge Brown, removed from West Camp to Schoharie. He was then a widower, and soon after his arrival married a widow, who possessed ten acres of land and about one hundred and ten pounds in cash ; which enabled him to establish and carry on his trade successfully. He was a wheel-wright, and the first who prosecuted that business in the county. The people had manu- factured a kind of rude wagon before his arrival, with which they transported light loads to and from Albany, performing the journey in about five days. This Brown, in 1753, made the first cider-press ever used in the county. The same process which pre- pared the pumice for Schoolcraft did for Brown, as he purchased the same pounder. The press was first used at Hartman's dorf, where he resided.
John Mattice Junk, or Young in English, the grand-father of Judge Brown, on the Mother's side, is said to have taught the first German school at the Camps, ever taught in America. This was about the year 1740. Schools began to be taught in the Schoharie settlements shortly after ; one Spease kept the first, and one Keller the next. German teachers were employed in the German settlements, while at Vrooman's land a school was taught in Dutch. About the year 1760, English instruction was introduced into those schools, and in some instances the English, German and Dutch languages were all taught by one teacher, in the same school. Little attention was then paid to the convenience or comfort of the scholars. Barns, in some instances, became school-houses as well as churches, in the summer ; and if schools were continued in the winter, some rude log dwelling be- came a witness to the child's improvement. Stoves, in those days, were unknown. The settlers had mammoth fire-places, however, and plenty of wood ; and in numberless instances, a fearful pro- portion of a cord was seen ignited in the same fire.
Few horses were shod for many years after the settlement be- gan ; and those persons, who required any kind of smith-work their own igenuity could not create, were obliged to go to Alba- ny or Schenectada to get it done. John Ecker is said to have
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been the first black-smith in the Schoharie valley, and he was a self instructed one.
The Germans formerly brewed a kind of domestic strong beer, and most of those in Schoharic brewed their own.
From the fact, that the Dutch, who settled in Vrooman's Land, were more wealthy than their German neighbors located below them, a kind of pride or distant formality, was manifested by the former towards the latter for many years. When prejudices of any kind are allowed to gain a place in the human breast, it often requires generations to eradicate them. The prejudices alluded to as having existed between the Dutch and Germans, tended for many years almost wholly to prevent inter-marriages between them. The former, therefore, who did not choose to marry cous- ins-most of those settlers being related-went to Schenectada or Albany for wives. As Cupid is now and then a very mischievous boy, there may have been individual instances, in which the irre- sistible passion of love, aided by stratagem, trampled paternal prejudices under foot, and united the sturdy German and amorous Dutch maiden. But we must suppose such cases extremely rare, as the law which still requires in some parts of New England, the publishing of the bans for several Sabbaths preceding the nuptials, was then in force in New York.
The Germans, when they located at Schoharie, owned no slaves, nor, indeed, did they for several years; but these accompanied the Dutch on their arrival as a part of their gear. By industry, and a proper husbanding of what the earth produced, the wealth of the former increased rapidly, and it was not long before they, too, possessed them.
The manner in which the slaves of Schoharie were generally treated by their masters, is not inaptly described by Mrs. Grant, in her Memoirs of Albany. They were allowed freedom of speech, and indulged in many things, which other members of the family were, whose ages corresponded to their own ; and to a superficial spectator, had the color not interfered, they would have seemed on an equality. Individual instances may now be cited where blacks would be much better off under a good master than they now
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are, or, indeed, than thousands of the operatives of England are- still, no one can from moral principle, although he may from motives of expediency, advocate the continuance of the evil as just and proper in any country. The existence of slavery in the United States, is the greatest stain upon their national escutcheon. This I believe to be a fact generally conceded, by all the good and virtuous in the land. The question then, which naturally arises, is, or rather it should be, what is the best and most proper man- ner of obliterating the stain ? Let reason and common sense, not fanaticism and malice, reply.
Many of the tools used in husbandry in former days, were both clumsy and uncouth. Rakes used in Schoharie, were made with teeth on both sides. Hay forks were made of wood, from a stick having a suitable crotch for tines, or by splitting one end of a straight stick and inserting a wedge. The improvement made in plows since that time, is perhaps as great as that made on any one implement of the cultivator. The wagons seen in Schoharie before the year 1760, had no tire upon the wheels.
Grain was then thrashed, as it is at the present day by the de- scendants of those people who have no machines for the purpose, by the feet of horses. The process is simple, and as it is fast giv- ing place to the buzzing of machines, it may be well to relate it. In the center of the barn floor, which is roomy, an upright bar is placed, previously rendered a pivot at each end, to enter a hole in the floor below, and a corresponding one in a beam or plank over head. Through this shaft, at a suitable height from the floor, a pole is passed, to which several horses are fastened so as to travel abreast. Sometimes a number are fastened to each end of the pole, and in some instances, a second pole is passed through the shaft at right angles with the first, to which horses are also at- tached. A quantity of sheaves being opened and spread upon the floor, the horses are started at a round trot, thus trampling the grain from the straw. The upright, when the horses move, turns upon its own pivots. Persons in attendance, are constantly em- ployed in turning and shaking the straw with a fork, keeping the horses in motion, removing any uncleanness, &c. The outside
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horse travels, as may be supposed, much farther in his circuits than the inside one, for which reason they are occasionally shift- ed. Grain is broken less if thrashed with unshod horses. Some use a roller to aid in the process. This is a heavy, rounded tim- ber, worked much smaller at one end than the other, with square pins of hard wood inserted at proper distances the whole length. The smallest end of this roller is so fastened to the shaft as to pre- serve the horizontal motion of one, and the perpendicular motion of the other, at the same time. To the heavy end of the roller, horses are fastened, drawing it on the same principle, that the stone wheel in an ancient bark mill was drawn. In threshing with horses, the roller is a great assistance. Fanning-mills, for cleaning grain, were unknown in former times, it being separated from its chaff by fans, or shoveling it in the wind.
As I have already stated, much prejudice existed at Schoharie in former days, between the Germans and Dutch. These nation- al antipathies were manifested in nothing more clearly at first, than in matters of religion. The early Germans were, almost without exception, disciples to the doctrines of Martin Luther ; while the Dutch, collectively, subscribed the Calvinistic, or Dutch Reformed creed. Time, however, the great healer of dissensions, aided by intelligence, the champion of liberality, by degrees less- ened, and has now almost entirely removed those prejudices. While they existed, they tended to prevent that friendly inter- change of good feeling-that reciprocity of kindness, so necessa- ry to the, prosperity and happiness of an isolated people. As Judge Brown remarked, at our interview, "the Low Dutch girls formerly thought but little of the High Dutch boys," and the young people of both settlements kept separate companies for many years. In a few instances, elopement took place, but they were rare, as distant ministers were cautious about uniting a cou- ple who could not produce a certificate of publication, although occular demonstration might convince them of the genuineness of their affection, and demand their union.
Among the first shoemakers who worked at the trade in Scho- harie, was one William Dietz. Few, if any, boots were then
7
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worn. Men wore low, and women high heeled (called French heeled) shoes. A specimen of the latter may now be seen in the Cabinet of John Gebhard, jr. Esq., at Schoharie Court House. Shoes were then fastened with buckles, which, like those worn at the knees, were made of silver, brass or pewter. Caleb Cosput and John Russeau were the first tailors. They worked, as did the first shoemakers, by whipping the cat-from house to house. Breeches and even coats were made of deer-skins, and in some instances, of blankets, in their day : the former being fastened to striped hose at the knees with huge buckles, of silver, if attain- able, if not, of brass or pewter.
One Delavergne was the first hatter, and is said to have been well patronized. Cocked, or three cornered hats were then the tip of fashion.
To see an exquisite of the present, dressed in the costume of that day, with hair long-cramped before, and terminating at the neck in a braided cue, or if not braided, wound with black rib- bon or an eel-skin, the whole head being finely powdered and sur- mounted with a cocked hat; with a blanket coat on, of no ordi- nary dimensions, ornamented with various kinds of buttons ; breeches of deer-skin, too tight for comfort, and kept up without braces by a tight band above the hips, allowing the nether gar- ment to appear between them and the vest, and fastened at the knee with large bright buckles to a pair of striped silk hose; the whole of the fabric described, resting upon a pair of pedestals cased in pen-knife pointed shoes clasped with daring buckles ; the hero with a pipe in his mouth, the bowl as large as a tea-cup- would be worth far more to the spectator, than to visit a menage- ry and see half a dozen country girls mounted upon the back of an elephant, or a fool-hardy keeper enter a cage with the most ferocious animals.
Fish are said to have been very plenty formerly in most of the streams in Schoharie county. For many years after the Revolu- tion, trout were numerous in Foxes creek, where now there are few, if any at all. From a combination of causes, fish are now becoming scarce throughout the county. In many small streams,
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they have been nearly or quite exterminated by throwing in lime. This cruel system of taking the larger, destroys with more cer- tainty all the smaller fish. Such a mode of fishing cannot be too severely censured. The accumulation of dams on the larger streams, proves unfavorable to their multiplication. Fine pike are now occasionally caught in the Schoharie, as are also suckers and eels. Some eighty years ago, a mess of fish could have been taken, in any mill-stream in the county, in a few minutes.
Wild animals of almost every kind found in the same climate, were numerous in and about Schoharie, for a great length of time after the whites arrived. Bears and wolves, the more gregarious kinds, often appeared in droves numbering scores, and in some in- stances, hundreds ; and were to the pioneer a source of constant anxiety and alarm. Deer, which were then very numerous, the mountainous parts affording them, as all other animals, a safe re- treat, are still killed some winters in considerable numbers, in the south part of the county. But few incidents, worthy of notice, relating to wild animals, have come to my knowledge. One of the first German settlers was killed by a bear, between the resi- dence of the late Cyrus Swart (near the stone church,) and the hill east of it. He had wounded the animal with a gun, when it turned upon, and literally tore him in pieces. The Indians hunt- ed them for. food, and not unfrequently had an encounter with them. Nicholas Warner assured the author, that when a boy, he saw an Indian, called Bellows, returning from a hunt, holding in his own bowels with his hands. He had, after wounding a large bear, met it in personal combat, and although so terribly lacerated he slew it. Jacob Becker informed me, that there was an Indian about Foxes creek in his younger days, called The-bear-catcher, who received his name from the following circumstance. He was hunting-treed a large bear and fired upon it. The beast fell and a personal rencounter ensued. The Indian, in the contest, seized with an iron grasp the lower jaw of Bruin, and a back-hug was the consequence. He succeeded in holding his adversary so firm- ly that the latter could not draw his paws between their bodies. Bruin had, however, in the outset, succeeded in drawing one of
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them obliquely across the breast of the red man, scarifying it in a fearful manner. While thus situated, holding his adversary at bay, he called to a son, who was hunting in the woods not far off, for his assistance. The latter repaired hastily to the spot, and al- though he might at times have approved of a fair fight, in the present instance paternal affection demanded his immediate inter- ference. Placing the muzzle of his rifle between the extended jaws of the bear, he discharged it, to the great relief of his father, who had been so affectionately embraced. The followingadven- ture was related by Andrew Loucks. One Warner, who was among the first settlers at Punch- kill, went out towards evening
to seek his cows. He met in his path a large bear, having cubs, which instantly pursued him. He ran for safety behind a large tree ; round which himself and madam Bruin played bo-peep for some time-neither gaining any advantage. At length Warner seized a hemlock knot, and with it, Sampson like, slew his shaggy pursuer. The following story was also told me by Jacob Becker, the scene in which is said to have been enacted near Foxes creek. John Shaeffer and George Schell went hunting. Shaeffer had a dog which treed a bear, and he being near at the time, instantly fired upon it. Bruin fell, though not passively to yield life. The dog attacked him, but was so lovingly hugged, that his eyes seemed starting from their sockets, and he cried piteously. Shaef- fer thought too much of his canine friend to see him fall a vic- tim to such affection, and endeavored to loosen one of the bear's paws : but as he seized it, it was relaxed and quicker than thought thrown round again, so as to include in the embrace his own arm. Shaeffer might as easily have withdrawn his hand from a vise. When he found he had caught a tartar, or, rather, that the bear had, he hallooed like a loon for his companion to come to his as- sistance and reach him his tomahawk. Many of the white hunt- ers, in former times, were as careful to wear tomahawks as their Indian neighbors. The missile was handed very cautiously at arms' length, and Shaeffer buried the blade of it in the brains of his game, to the relief of his other arm and the resuscitation of the dog. Bruin, as may be supposed, did not relish the interfer-
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ence of the master, when he was evincing so much of the world's genuine love for Carlo.
The three most prominent hills east of Middleburgh village, are] called the Fire-berg, the Amos-berg, and the Clipper-berg. The first named is the most southern, and took its name (as Geo. Warner informed the author) from the following circumstance. A tar barrel having been raised to the top of a tall tree on that hill, it was, at a particular hour of a certain night, set on fire, to ascertain if the light could be seen from the residence of Sir William Johnson, in Johnstown, at whose instigation it was done. Whether it was seen there or not, tradition does not inform us, but the circumstance was sufficient to originate a name for the hill. Amos-berg, the next one north, signifies the ant-hill, or hill of ants; it having been, in former times, literally covered with those insect mounds. Clipper-berg, directly north of Amos- berg, signifies the rocky-hill, or hill scantily covered with vegeta- tion.
The following story was related to me by Maria Teabout. She with several other individuals, was on the Fire-berg before the revolution, when a loud scream like that of a child was heard some distance off, to which she made answer by a similar one. She was told by the men to keep still, that it was a painter, and by answering it they would be in great danger. "A painter !" she exclaimed, "what then is a painter ?" Being young and heedless, she continued to answer its cries, until her companions, alarmed for their own safety, had taken to flight, and she found herself alone. As she was part native she felt little fear, until the near approach of the animal struck terror upon her mind. She had not time enough left her to secure a safe retreat, but in- stantly concealed herself in a hollow tree. The animal approach- ed so near that she saw it from her concealment, but as that did not see her, it went back in the direction from whence it came. In the meantime, those who had fled on the panther's approach, went home and reported Maria as slain in an awful manner. A party, consisting of Col. Zielie, with half a dozen of his neighbors, and a few Indians, all mounted on horseback and armed with
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guns, set out to seek and bring whatever of Maria might be left, after the panther had satiated his appetite. Leaving their horses near the entrance, they went into the woods and began to call to her. She heard the voice of Col. Zielie, and came out from her hiding place. The Indians then declared they would soon have the panther. After fixing a blanket on a tree so as to present a tolerable effigy of one. of their party, they all fell back and con- cealed themselves behind trees. An Indian then began to call, and was soon answered by the animal, which approached stealth- ily. When it came in sight, it fixed its eye on the effigy, and crawling along with the stillness of a cat, it approached within a few paces, from whence, after moving its tail briskly for a few seconds, it bounded upon it with the speed of an arrow. In an instant the blanket was torn into strings, and as the disappointed animal stood lashing its sides furiously with its tail, looking for the cause of the voice, (panthers having no knowledge or belief in ghosts) and its deception, a volley of rifle balls laid it dead on the spot. The skin was taken off, and some slices of the critter, as Natty Bumpo would call it, were taken home by several of the Indians to broil. Thus ended the panther, and thus did not end my informant. Few panthers have been killed in the county since the remembrance of any one living in it. One of the last was shot near the residence of John Enders, on Foxes creek.
The sagacious beaver was a resident of this county on the ar- rival of the Germans. They were numerous along Foxes creek, and at a place called the Beaver-dam, on that stream, which is now in the town of Berne, Albany county, they had several strong dams.
Wild-cats were numerous in Schoharie formerly. The follow- ing anecdote is related of old Doctor Moulter, a sort of physician who lived on Foxes creek, and flourished about the time of the Revolution. He awoke one night from pleasant dreams, to hear an unusual noise among his setting geese. Without waiting to dress, or seize upon any weapon, he ran out to learn the cause of alarm. On arriving at the scene of action, although his prospect was yet sombre, he discovered the cause of disturbance in the ap-
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pearance of an unwelcome animal, that was paying its devoirs to the comely neck of the mistress of a polluted bee-hive. He ran up and seized it by the neck and hind legs, and although it strug- gled hard to regain its liberty, he succeeded in holding it until his boys, to whom he called for assistance, came and killed it. The reader may judge his surprize as well as that of his family, when, on taking it to the light, it proved to be a good sized wild-cat. Had he caught hold of it otherwise than he did, it is highly pro- bable that in his state of almost native nudity, he would have re- pented his grasp, if not lost his life. Many anecdotes are told of this same Dr. Moulter. When he located at Schoharie, he was afraid to ride on horseback, unless some one led his horse by the bridle. Those who led his nag for him, grew tired of gratifying his whims, and would occasionally let go his reins, and leave him to shift for himself. This kind of treatment soon taught the old Doctor the skill of horsemanship. He is said to have doc- tored for witches, and promulged the superstitious doctrine of witchcraft. Nor was he wanting in believers, as no dogmas, however doggish they may be, need much preaching to gain prose- lytes.
Francis Otto, who is said to have established the first distillery in the county, (which was for cider-brandy, and stood perhaps half a mile east of the present site of the Court House) was also a kind of doctor. In fact, he was one of that useful class, who can turn their hand to almost anything; being a brandy-maker, a doctor, a phlebotomist, a barber, a fortune-teller, etc., as occa- sion required. He too, believed in witchcraft. His death took place just before the Revolution, in the following manner. He had spent the evening at the house of Ingold, where now stands the dwelling of John Ingold; and left there to go home, with the bosom of his shirt, his general traveling store-house, filled with apples. He may, to have kept off the chill of the evening, and increase his courage, tasted a potation of his own distilling, of which he was very fond. On the following morning he was found in a bruised state, having fallen off the rocks not far from his own dwelling. He was alive when found, but died soon af-
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