USA > New York > Montgomery County > St Johnsville > Mohawk Valley genealogy and history : [a compilation of clippings, 1947] > Part 39
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
3rd Tryon Co. Regt .:
Thomas Shoemaker
Rudolph Shoemaker
Oriskany Roster:
Philip Herkimer, Regt. not known
Christian Scheil, Jr., served under
Col. Wiliett a part of his five years
of service.
4th Tryon Co. Regt .:
Quartermaster Peter Beliinger, Jr.
Lieut. Jacob' Foits
Eniisted men :
G. Henry Bell (6) wounded
Nicolaus Bell (5)
'*"Conrad Folts (5-6)
Jacob Fols
Jost Herchmer
Abraham Herchmer
John Herkemer
George Herkimer (5)
Nicholas Herkimer Joseph Herkimer (5) Henrich Herkimer (5)
Nicholas Kesler
Jacob Kessier (5)
Thomas Shoemaker (5) .
Nicolaus Rosekrantz Christian Scheli (5) (N. Y. in the Rev. page 297). Battalion of Minute Men:#
Col. George Herkheimer
Rangers. .
Johannes Kessler
' Col. John Harper's Regt. of Levies was in active service of the U. S. from May 11 to Nov. 30, 1780. Be- sides the officers given on page 256 (N. Y. in the Rev.) others are men- tioned in Audited Accounts A page 43. No Petries nor names of allied families are found in list given.
An interesting item from the 17th century follows: "Rudolphus Petri was a minister in Holland since 1612." (See letter to consistory "Col. lonial N. Y." Voi. II-770.
. (To be continued)
affidavits by Delia Rankin which | ROYAL FLAVOR It's that full bodied, heartier flav. gave much of the detail recited above and by Catherine (Bellinger) . Petrie or that makes Utica Club Oid Eng. saying she was a sister of Jost and |lish Brand Ale an all time favorite that Marcus Casler lived with her in | Costs more . . . worth it .- Adv.
Morgan's Riflemen at the Middle Fort
(Continued from last week.)
James Parr became a major on October 9, 1778, about two months after coming to the Middle Fort. He commanded the advance guard of Riflemen in the movement of Gen. Clinton's brigade southward from Canajoharie to meet Gen. Sullivan with the main body at Tioga Point, Pa. After the union with Gen. Suili- van, Major Parr with Riflemen, at- tached Scouts and Indian guides were transferred to Gen. Hand's bri- gade but they again led the advance. It was Parr and his men who dis- covered the hidden ambush on the left bank of the Chemung river that enabled Sullivan's army to deliver a smashing blow to Col. John Butler's British, Tories and Indians at New- town on August 29, 1779 that left the Seneoa and Cayuga Indian vil- lages to the mercy of the Continen- tal invaders.
Rare indeed has there been such an exhibition of the functioning of an advance guard as the Riflemen under Major Parr led the way against a watchful enemy ready to strike at the slightest lack of pre- caution through the densely wooded timber . land, heavy under brush, swale and swamps into the heart of the Iroquois country. Diary after diary of the officers of Suliivan's army tell the same story of the careful reconnaisance and the speed with which important information was relayed back to Gen. Suilivan's headquarters.
Major Posey in his first return of strength from the Middie Fort to Governor George Clinton for the month of August 1778 reported that there were then one hundred and twenty-two rifiemen stationed at the fort. The following June, according to the original pay roll on file at the Archives Building in Washington, there were a hhndred and seventeen Riflemen at the Middie Fort. At this time Major Posey, Captain Long and Lieut. Stephens had left. Private Alexander Porter, a fifer, was hos- pitalized in Albany. And there may have been other transfers and re- placements but there is no record of them on file.
The following list of names is a copy of the original pay roll of Captain Gabriel Long's company for the month of June 1779 on file in the Archives Building in Washing- ton:
Lieutenants:
Elijah Evens
Benjamine Ashby
Ensign:
Reuben Long
Sergeant-Major: John Howe
Rowland Jacobs
John Gazaway (gave an exhibition of marksmanship to the citizens of
Albany)
William Suddith, Vincent Howell, Elijah Hendricks, Duncan McDonald, William Lloyd, Reuben Long, Thom- as Wright.
Privates .
David Ellison
(Elerson),
Jacob
Smith, James Willson, James Harris, Jesse Wilhite, Patrick Howracan, | (killed in action at Groveland in
Henry Holdaway, Charles Morgan, | 1779) . John King Robert MirDonnal
Andrustown-a Page from Herkimer County's Past
(Continued from last week)
Indian raids had as yet not returned The story of this massacre is too to rebuild their cabins. While digging well known 'to give further repeti- a cellar he found the charred bonea tion. There were many who wander- ed for days in the woods and fields
of a man. It was thought the remains were those of Paul Grimm's son-in- before they reached the forts. Tra-| law, Frederick Pell. Still the Andrus- town men and women did not leave the ahelter of the peaceful valley for the uncertainties of life on the freak Helderbergs. Oft from out the forest bush would suddenly appear a flock of half-starved guinea hens belong- ing to a former settler. They would fly to the top of some tall chimney which, sentinel-like, guarded the de- 'serted border town, or perch upon the bleached bones of slaughtered cattle and utter their shrill cackle, "Come back! come back! come back!"
At last a day of freedom came, and the human vipers who had raid- A ed, pilfered and murdered broadcast throughout the border and the valley were crushed out of existence. year elapsed before the settlers left the river's brink passing over the old trail road, now grass-grown and rough, to the summit on the great bluffs. Back to the former sites of their old homesteads with the fixed determination to re-establish fire- sides once more. They had dwelt dur- ing an uninterrupted career in many cabins in the valley and though many of the settlers had reached life's autumn, they knew the Indian summer stili remained, and one of the great missions left for them was to found a home again. For,
"A house is built of bricks and stone, Of sills and posts and piers;
But a home is built of loving deeds,
That stands a thousand years." Near the close of the eighteenth century Paul Grimm built the first frame house, followed shortly by George Hoyer. Grimm's is still stand- ing on the original tract. The Tory rose pianted before the 'battle of Oriskany blooms and blossoms and the breeze sweeps.its petals from the marks of the old doorsteps of the Tory cabin to the ashy sepulchre of Brantz. And a olne tree guards the grave of Passage, and each summer and autumn the petals of the pink rose and the red leaves of that soli- tary maple scatter their symbols
about the ruins of the Tory cabin
and the grave of the martyred
Brantz as if to blot out the past with their beautiful emblems.
Gone are the sons of the bow and arrow by the banks of the once ma- jestic Mohawk, and from the depth of the thinned primeval forest the name of Andrustown is but an echo of the past. Many of its inhabitants sleep the eternal slumber in un-
known and unmarked graves in the valley and on the hill, under the green grass and the blue skies of the land adjoining the tract on which the great republic for which they fought early settiers had built the hamlet of | and won in the days of '75.
Hendersonton. The survivors of the
went into camip.
Timothy Murphy, Isaac Hesilton,
On the following Saturday morni-
began scouting the road to Spring-
James Crage, John Irwin, Zedediah Tuffs, William Robb, John Mc- Greery, John Mckinney, John Willi- ber (Wilber), Benjamine Wheeler,
field at the head of Otsego Lake and clearing the area of the enemy for the passage of the wagon train with
supplies, provisions and batteaux. That same afternoon they went into
dition gives some fifteen or more among the slain. Frederick Lepper and his wife were with their neigh- bors at Fort Herkimer when it chanced one day Mrs. Lepper went out to pick fruit from a nearby tree and a savage lurking nigh grabbed her by her braided hair and with her young babe she was taken to Canada. Days and months flew by, but oft the settlers' memory gates would op- en wide and a current of sad thoughts carry . them back to the diabolic scenes of that blood reeking settlement on the hill, where beneath the long grass many a butchered matron, man, maid and babe lay. The wild flowers bloomed and spread a pail of petals over the rough mounds. The tall green sward waved over their tombs, and the black snake would often glide through the nodding grass and then vanish under the stump monuments. The scream of the hawk and the howl of the wolf frequently echoed through the de- serted, fire-swept hamlet, but the silent inhabitants heard it not. A. year later, as several Andrustown pioneers were in the woods near the ruined settlement, Paul Grimm chanced to find the German Bible he had left on a stump in the woods when he fled on that fatal night to the vailey. Autumn leaves had pro- tected the sacred volume from the elements and he carried it back to the fort. The snows of five winters and had melted when three of the former families, the Osterhout, Hoyer Frank, returned and built their cab- ins, only to flee again. Then the great war drew to a close and a few of the prisoners that survived their ten years' captivity were brought back. Among the few were Mrs. Lep- per, Margaret Grimm Passage and Richard Pell. Frederick Lepper had now recovered his wife with his strangely dressed semi-civilized lit- tle boy, and he sold his lands on the hills of Andrustown and reparted for Amsterdam. Richard Pell did not long survive his freedom and the hardships of his boyhood, and he was laid to rest beside his friends. Mrs. Passage and Mrs. Lepper both lived to reach nearly the century mark, but their lives were sort of shattered and family links had been broken during the ten long years spent on the Indian reservation.
Early in the spring of 1786 Samuel Ciealand journeyed hither from the. New England States with the inten- tion of purchasing a farm in the vi- cinity of Andrustown. He bought
THE END
land in 1779); Robert Shepherd,
fort. The following June, according to the original pay roll on file at the Archives Building in Washington, { of the prisoners that survived their
there were a hhndred and seventeen Riflemen at the Middle Fort. At this time Major Posey, Captain Long and Lieut. Stephens had left. Private Alexander Porter, a fifer, was hos- pitalized In Albany. And there may have been other transfers and re- placements but there is no record of them on file.
The following list of names is a copy of the original pay roll of Captain Gabriel Long's company for the month of June 1779 on file in the Archives Building in Washing- ton:
Lieutenants:
Elijah Evens
Benjamine Ashby
Ensign:
Reuben Long
Sergeant-Major:
John Howe
Rowland Jacobs
John Gazaway (gave an exhibition
of marksmanship to the citizens of
Albany)
William Suddith, Vincent Howell, Elijah Hendricks, Duncan McDonald, William Lloyd, Reuben Long, Thom- as Wright.
Privates .
David Ellison (Elerson), Jacob
Smith, James Willson, James Harris, Jesse Wilhite, Patrick Howracan, Henry Holdaway, Charles Morgan, Daniel Grant, Mack Robinson, John Straughan, John Grant, Thomas Dermont, John Golman, John Mc-
Johnston, Moses Spencer, Samuel Davis, Richard Skaggs, Benjamine McKnight, William' Castel, Christo- pher Roney; Joseph Vance, John Smith, John Lyon, William Jacobs, Daniel Davis, John Robinson, John Austin, William Bartlett, Samuel Middleton, Richard Rounswier, Jas. Jiles, John Adams, William Heddle, William Barbey, Andrew Elder, Jas. McGuire, "Daniel Dunnigan, Charles Witt, John Hopewell
Morgains raiders 2
The following list of names is a
copy of the original pay roll of Cap- tain Michael Simpson's Company for the month of June 1779. on file in the Archives Building in Washing- ton :
Lieutenants. .
Thomas Boyd (wounded, captured to guard their equipment and records
and tortured to death near Grove- land in 1779)
William Stephens Sergeants:
Stephen Sims, John Armstrong, John McMahon, John Watson, Ben- jamine Custard (killed in action at Groveland in 1779).
Corporals:
John Ray, Thomas Benston, John Kelly, John Ryan, Michael Parker, (captured and tortured to death near Groveland in 1779); Albright Weav- er, Willian Linn, William Kerr, An- thony Granad (killed in action at Groveland in 1779;) Nicholas Cocker,, John Clark, Alexander Thompson,
Peter Condon, David Davis, James Ellott (killed in action at Grove- land in 1779); Patrick McGaw, Felix Hover, Peter Felix, · John Yost
( Youse), John Solomon. Privates:
Samuel Parker, James Hambleton, Edward Lee, John Gasper, Edward evening June the 17th and immedi- Hegilton (killed in action at Grove- ately unloaded their batteatx and
land in 1779); Robert Shepherd,
Timothy Murphy, Isaac Hesilton,
James Crage, John Irwin, Zedediah
Tuffs, William Robb, John Mc- Greery, John Mckinney, John Willi- ber (Wilber), Benjamine Wheeler, (killed in action at Groveland in 1779); John King, Robert MicDonnal, Daniel Hiddon, William English, John Tidd, Daniel McMullen, John Allen (deserted June 16, 1779);
Thomas Bush (deserted June 16, 1779); Samuel Felling and Thomas, (both deserted June 16, 1779).
Total 54.
'Other original monthly pay rolls for other months in 1777, 1778 and 1779 of the Rifle Corps are on the in the Archives Building in Washing- ton to a considerable extent dupli- cate the names on the above lists.
while gathering green outside of
camp was forced into the woods by Indians, twice wounded, escaped 'and reached safety in the Cobleskill set- tlements twenty-five miles away. Soldiers who left the camp singly or in small groups rarely failed to re- turn. Major Parr, Captain Simpson and Lieutenants Evans and Boyd were continually on scout and patrol
duty.
(To be continued)
Genealogy and Research Mrs. Vera Hamilton Albany, N. Y. 148 Clinton Avenue
8-7-14-21
NEW! NEW! COLI Rub. DEAR
1 robin egg canary. irdinat dark
blue, orange. ormv : #10le1 -- 10 blotters. 19 inches )y 24 inches.
Pink ' light green. moss green,
cento. Enterprise and News
WHEN GOOD FRIENDS GET TOGETHER
Utica Lib XXX CREAM ALE
PILSNER
WEST END
LAGER "BREWING CO.
UTICA, N.Y.
1
ins, only to flee again. Then the George Hoyer. Grimm's is still stand- great war drew to a close and a few ing on the original tract. The Tory rose planted before the 'battle of ten years' captivity were brought back. Among the few were Mrs. Lep- Oriskany blooms and blossoms and the breeze sweeps.its petals from the per, Margaret Grimm Passage and Richard Pell. Frederick Lepper had now recovered his wife with his marks of the old doorsteps of the Tory cabin to the ashy sepulchre of Brantz. And a oine tree guards the grave of Passage, and each summer and autumn the petals of the pink rose and the red leaves of that soll- tary maple scatter their symbols about the ruins of the Tory cabin
strangely dressed semi-civilized lit- tle boy, and he sold hls lands on the hills of Andrustown and reparted for Amsterdam. Richard Pell did not long survive his freedom and the hardships of his boyhood, and he was laid to rest beside his friends. Mrs. Passage and Mrs. Lepper both lived to reach nearly the century mark,
Early in the spring of 1786 Samuel Clealand journeyed hither from the New England States with the inten- tion of purchasing a farm in the vi- cinity of Andrustown. He bought
land adjoining the tract on which the early settlers had built the hamlet of Hendersonton. The survivors of the
and the grave of the martyred Brantz as if to blot out the past with their beautiful emblems.
Gone are the sons of the bow and but their lives were sort of shattered arrow by the banks of the once ma- and family links had been broken during the ten long years spent on the Indian reservation.
jestic Mohawk, and from the depth of the thinned primeval forest the name of Andrustown is but an echo of the past. Many of Its inhabitants sleep the eternal slumber ín un-
known and unmarked graves in the valley and on the hill, under the green grass and the blue skies of the great republic for which they fought and won in the days of '75.
THE END
On the following Saturday morni- began scouting the road to Spring- field at the head of Otsego Lake and clearing the area of the enemy for the passage of the wagon train with supplies, provisions and batteaux. That same afternoon they went into camp at Otsego Lake. While in this area they had several clashes with the Seneca Indians. Several Conti- nental soldiers were tried for deser- tion and shot In the presence of
the entire brigade. Lt. Hare and Sergt. Newberry, formerly Mohawk Valley residents, were captured, tried and convicted of being spies and hung. Riflemen . Ellison (Elerson)
.. The Rifle Corps detachment marched through the main, south gate, of the Middle Fort for the last time at eight o'clock on the morning of June 11, 1779. All Weiserdorf and the surrounding area were there to see them off and to wish them "good luck" and among the. maidens there were a few heart aches. Fifteen Ri- flemen were left at the Middle Fort
and to assist the Schoharie militia. That evening at sundown they reach- ed Schenectady and went into camp. They were en route to Canajoharie to join Clinton's brigade.
On Sunday they began loading the
thirty-six batteau assigned them with provisions, equipment and tent- age. Batteaux were flat bottomed
boats from twenty to twenty-five feet long, three and one half feet wide, made of white pine boards and plank at Schenectady. The ends were raised and tapered. They were propelled by long setting poles on shallow streams like the Mohawk and Susquehanna rivers and by oars and calls on larger bodies of water. Batteaux were adaptable to the
moving of merchandise. On Monday afternoon they, began the ascent of the Mohawk river but on account of the rain and high Water did not reach Canajoharie until Thursday
went into camp.
-
Explosion Kills Editor Of St. Johnsville Paper
Stanley K. Iverson, 35, editor and publisher of the St. Johnsville Enterprise and News, died at Little Falls hospital yesterday of burns received when an explosion wrecked the; newspaper plant on West Main street, St. Johnsville Sat- urday. .
.
IVERSON, attended by Dr. Ray- mond Wytrwal of St. Johnsville was said to have suffered first and third degree burns of the entire body except the soies of his feet. The explosion which bulged the walls of the building six inches,, tore stone blocks from the founda- tion and hurled a worker on the first floor out the front door and . 1 into the street, occurred when Iver- aon struck a match to light his pipe while working In the base- ment, according to report.
Actual cause of the explosion was not known but other workers at the plant said they belleved gas used in melting lead in the base- ment had escaped and Ignited when the match was lighted.
THE STAIRWAY leading to the basement waa blown out and paper files were scattered across the street. Plaster was ripped from the; celiings and walls In the apartment of the bullding owner on the sec- ond floor.
A building next door owned by Edgerton Hough and occupied as the newspaper office and engrav- ing plant was damaged by the ter- rific explosion.
The windows in the building were blown out and presses were over- turned. A flat press In the base- ment was covered with debris which had not been removed yesterday.
4
NO ESTIMATE of damages was available last night.
Fire, which broke out In the base- ment 'after the explosion, was quickly subdued by local firemen. The fire caused very little damage it was reported by Raymond Smith,! owner of the building.
Iverson was rescued from the basement of the building by fire-i man Roland Swartz who crawled through a small basement window and lifted Iverson to other fire -! men. Swartz auffered a cut on the knee which was not considered serious.
Clifton Luft, working on the first floor was blown through the front door by the concussion but was unharmed.
Mrs. Smith, who was sitting in her apartment over the printing establishment, said her apartment was practically ruined. She also' escaped uninjured.
The St. Johnsville weekly will be; printed In Fort Plain by the Courler-Standard, It was announced last night. * * *
IVERSON WAS BORN in Apple- ton, Minn., where he received his early education. He attended the University of Minnesota school of journalism. After working on sev- erat papers he assumed the editor and publishership of the Enterprise Towns' association and a member and News In 1941.
of the National Editors' association. He was active in community af- . . fairs and was a member of the . HE IS SURVIVED by his par- Maaonic lodge, a deacon of St. ents, Sever and Hannah Beck 1ver- John's Reformed church, vice presi- son of Appleton; his wife, Luclle of dent of the Rotary club, a member of the St. Johnsville grange, chair-
1
St. Johnsville; a sister, Mra. Lloyd Hollingsworth of St. Peters, Minn., man for two years of the American and a brother, Ingwald, of Madison, Red Cross fund committee, former Minn.
Private funeral services will be secretary of the St. Johnsville Re- tall Merchants' association, pub-
conducted from his home today at licity secretary of the Mohawk 2 p.m. The body wili be sent to Valley Historical association, a Appleton for funeral services and member of the Mohawk Valley burial.
Stanley K. Iverson, our editor and author of the weekly col- umn "The Stan-byer" died early Sunday morning at the Little Falis Hospital of third degree burns suffered in an explosion in the cellar of the Enterprise and News bullding Saturday after- noon.
The tragic accident befeil him as he was busy with the work he loved best. He was printing a booklet which, typically, had to do with the early history of our Vaiiey. About 4 o'clock he went downstairs to the cellar to prepare the press. The explosion foliow- ed.
It turned the entire building into a shambles. The celiar stairway was wrecked and with It the job presses, the furniture and other machinery on the main floor. Clifford Luft was wash- Ing up at the time and the sink was tipped over against the wall whiic he stumbicd into the street. The windows were broken and paper stock, bound booklets and lead type were scattered over the floor and the street outside. The neighbor on the top floor, Mrs. Ray Smith, was battered by the up-ended floor and the falilng plaster; the waiis of, the building bulged outward and the east wail was.moved Inches from its foundation.
Yet when Roland Swartz, manager of the local A & P ran to the door and calied, the editor answered and when Swartz crept down into the debris strewn cellar he found him trying in vain to climb up through the destroyed stair-weil. They dragged him through the cellar window to the street and he stood in front of the bank until the ambulance came to take him to Dr. Raymond E. Wytrwal's office and then to the Little Falls hospital. When they arrived he was able to heip himself from the cot to the bed and as the doctor ministered to him and gave him blood plasma he continued to talk and reminded us to be sure to get a certain printing job out on time. He was more the comforter than the comforted until he died at 3:10 Sunday morning.
The editor was born December 10, 1911, In Appleton, Minn., the son of Sever and Hannah Beck Iverson. He attended the School of Journalism of the University of Minnesota for several years and then entered the printing and newspaper field. He worked for a time in Kentucky, in FlushIng, Long Island, and in the Pine Bush area of New York before he. came to St. Johns- viile in 1941, first as editor, then as editor-publisher of the Enter- prise and News.
He was very active in our village life. He taught a class of boys at St. John's Reformed Church and served as deacon and clerk of consistory. He was senior warden of St. Johnsville Lodge 611, F. & A. M .; a member of the local Grange, and vice-president of the Rotary Club. He served as chairman of the local Red Cross drive for the past two years and was also an active and generous supporter of the Community Chest. He was secretary of the Re- tail Merchants Association for a time; was a member of the Mo- hawk Valley Towns Association and the National Editorial Asso- clation, and was recently elected publicity secretary of the Mo- hawk Valley Historical Association.
Surviving are hls wife, Luciiie, his parents in Appleton, his sister, Mrs. Lloyd Hollingsworth of St. Peter's, Minn., and his brother, Ingvald of Madison, Minn.
---
A family prayer service was heid Monday afternoon at the Iverson home on West Main street. His minister, the Rev. Nor- man E. Thomas, former pastor at St. John's church, officiated. The body was sent to Appleton, Minn., for a funeral service and burlai there.
The . many friends who called at the editor's home Sunday and Monday didn't find him at home. We missed his quick step and ready welcoming smile but we all know that wherever Heaven's newspaper office Is our editor Is "standing by."
STAFF OF ENTERPRISE AND NEWS
-
1
Result of St. Johnsville Explosion
THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 1947
Explosion Wrecks Enterprise and News Plant; Fatally Injures Stanley K. Iverson, Publisher
Disaster, which caused the death of Stanley K. Iver- son, publisher of the Saint Johnsville Enterprise and News, struck with tragic force Saturday afternoon, when a ter- rific explosion rocked and wrecked the newspaper and printing plant.
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.