USA > New York > Schenectady County > Schenectady County, New York : its history to the close of the nineteenth century > Part 35
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On July 20th an order was received for the regiment to proceed to Fernandina, but owing to the difficulty in obtaining transportation the movement was not begun until the 26th. On July 24th the regiment was transferred to the First Brigade, commanded by Briga- dier-General J. W. Cline in the Third Division, commanded by Brigadier-General Louis H. Carpenter of the Fourth Army Corps under General Coppinger. On August 21st, orders were received releasing the regiment from duty in the Third Division, Fourth Army Corps, and transferring it to the Department of the East, and directing it to proceed to Troy, N. Y. The movement began on August 24th, and on reaching Troy the regiment was quartered in Camp Hardin on the bank of Sand Lake.
On October 26th, the mustering out of the regiment began, and on the 31st of that month, Companies E and F were inustered out. Following is the list of officers and men from Schenectady who were members of the Second Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry :
ROLL OF COMPANY E,
36TH. SEPARATE COMPANY OF SCHENECTADY. SCHENECTADY CITIZENS CORPS.
James M. Andrews, Captain
George De B. Greene, First Lieutenant
Transferred to Battalion Adjutant May 23, 1898.
27
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SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
Donald J. Hutton, First Lieutenant Promoted from Second Lieutenant June 22, 1898.
Charles E. Parsons, - Second Lieutenant Promoted from Sergeant. Commissioned July 2, 1898. Thomas Carney, First Sergeant
William E. Walker - Quartermaster-Sergeant
SERGEANTS
Charles M. Robinson,
Henry Y. Lighthall,
Frank Hoppman, Roy E. Brizee.
CORPORALS
E. W. Schermerhorn,
A. C. Jackson, Philip A. B. Bellin,
Franklin P. Jackson,
Paul M. Pelletreau,
George E. Williams,
William M. Purman,
Winfred H. Larkin,
Augustus C. Smith,
Edward E. Yelverton,
Fred L. Eisenmenger, James McDonald,
ยท Albert F. Dillman. Charles H. Smith, Musician,
Frederick W. Sherman, Musician, William H. Reed, Musician, Aaron Bradt, Wagoner.
James Roach, Artificer,
PRIVATES
Alden, Clarence T.
Hussong, Georg'e
Amsler, Jacob
Kelly, Patrick H.
Ayquoroyd, George
Killian, John
Bates, Arthur O.
Knopka, Fred
Bernhard, David H.
Lambert, James E.
Blauel, Theodore C.
Lippman, Edward G.
Blood, John C.
McCormick, James F.
Bradt, Ira V.
McMullen, John J.
Brandow, Charles F.
Messmer, Ernest
Brickner, Conrad
Metzger, Charles E.
Bronk, William J.
Metzger, William W.
Burhans, William N.
Maloney, Joseph F.
Carpenter, William Clark, Walter G.
Moran, John Henry
Collette, George F.
Miller, William W.
Conlon, Charles E.
Myers, Charles L.
Cowles, John T., Jr.
Nolan, James M.
Moore, Augustus Andrew
407
SOLDIERS OF AMERICAN-SPANISH WAR.
Craig, Frederick M.
O'Rourke, John F.
Crane, Peter
Orr, Harry R.
Crippen, Charles G.
Page, Charles J.
Cunningham, William J.
Peek, James
Daniels, Charles H.
Peters, De Witt C.
Daniels, Frank H.
Pfender, Philip
Day, Frank H., Jr.
Seekins. Thomas E.
DeReamer, Albert E.
Sheldon, Jerry
Dickson, Peter J.
Shook, Clarence
Duck, Thomas
Singhouse, Philip
Dunbar, Garrett B.
Smith, Abel
Eberle, Frank A.
Snyder, Christopher N.
Eggleston, Edward
Speers, William J.
Ellers, Edward S.
Stafford, Abraham
Fitzpatrick, Joseph J.
Steinert, Edward E.
Flanagan, George H.
Stevens, Henry W.
Fuller, Edward D.
Still, Edwin Floyd
Gardiner, Herbert
Strobel, Conrad J.
Glaser, Frederick
Toy, E. G.
Glennon, Michael
Vedder, Clyde J.
Gregory, Alfred
Vedder, Henry S.
Guiltinan, James M.
Vedder, Leonard
Herron, James H.
Wagner, David J.
Hoppman, Henry
Waldron, Charles E.
Horan, Jeremiah
Walker, LeRoy E.
Hulbert, Charles N.
Wortman, Howard P.
ROLL OF COMPANY F,
37TH SEPARATE COMPANY OF SCHENECTADY. WASHINGTON CONTINENTALS.
Frank Bauder, George W. Crippen, Albert Wells, Wayne R. Brown, William C. Yates, -
Captain First Lieutenant Second Lieutenant
First Sergeant
Quartermaster-Sergeant
SERGEANTS
Aubrey A. Ross, Fritz R. Champion,
William Leedom, Roger G. Kinns.
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SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
CORPORALS
Jesse S. Button,
William S. Barriger,
Ray Rowe,
Edward Williams,
Franciscus J. Baumler, George Boldt,
William K. Wands, Musician,
John H. Cross, Artificer,
George C. Caw,
Martin Hodges,
Walter H. Todd,
William Herzog,
John W. Healey, Cyrus W. Rexford.
Frank Reha, Musician, George J. Sells, Wagoner.
PRIVATES
Allen, John W.
Bancroft, Fred S.
Banker. William
Barry, George
Mawson, George H.
Berger, Henry E.
McChesney, Frank
Boldt, William
McCready, William H.
McDonald, Thomas W.
Boyle, John H.
Messmer, Charles P.
Boyle, Thomas
Monges, Richard F.
Bridgeman, Peter T.
Nivison, William D.
Burke, Clarence W.
Ogden, James
Castle, Willard A.
Penoyer, William H.
Chadsey, LeRoy
Clinton, Jacob S.
Powell, Albert A.
Clowe, Earl
Purcell, John A.
Dolzen, Charles
Quackenbush, George
Eagan, Joseph F.
Ralph, James
Enders, Charles L.
Fenton, William M.
Reed, Fred L.
Ford, Harry B.
Richardson, Edward C.
Gabel, Fred W.
Robinson, Rodman H.
Goetz, St. Elmo N.
Schermerhorn, Louis C.
Gould, Henry W.
Schneider, Henry C.
Hall, Frank E.
Shaw, John C.
Hanley, Patrick F.
Safford, Ward E.
Hallenbeck, Walter H.
Schiek, Frederick
Hambridge, Edward
Sheffold, Delbert
Sheffold, William A.
Henry, Harry
Lubking, Frederick W.
Luedemann, William F.
Mallery, Arlington H.
Broughton, Charles A.
Potter, William
Ragan, Lloyd E.
409
SOLDIERS OF AMERICAN-SPANISH WAR.
Huber, Adolf
Stevenson, Porter C.
Jones, Clinton Jones, John S. Jann, Victor
Taylor, John
Thorpe, James
Jandro, Elmer L.
Thornton, Edward A.
Juno, Duncan McD.
Tierney, James
Keating, Edward C.
Tushingham, George W.
Kerber, John
Van Vranken, Charles
Kleiner, Emil
Van Vranken, Stephen T.
Knowlton, Daniel H.
Warren, Clarence A.
Luckhurst, Judson B.
Warner, Frank M.
Lovett, Lewis L.
Whitmyre, Clarence
Lawyer, Otis
Whitstead, Edwin J.
Levey, Elmer E. Louder, Peter
Young, Roy
Smith William A.
The editor deeply regrets that he is unable to give the records of those who fought in the Philippines and in China. He has made every effort to ascertain who of Schenectady's sons engaged in two national contests, in which the United States won equal renown for bravery, humanity and the exercise not only of inilitary skill, but of military diplomacy that is unsurpassed in all its history. He has advertised in the daily papers of Schenectady for information as to those who fought or suffered or died in these wars, and has received no response, and has never been able to obtain any information. It would be idle to attempt a search among the names of 446,000 enrolled in the records of the War Department, to find the scattered few who did duty in the tropics. There are enough, however few, to deserve honorable mention in those two wars, but even the names of those few he has been unable to obtain.
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SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
CHAPTER XXVII.
TOWNS OF THE COUNTY.
DUANESBURGH is the most western town of Schenectady County, and is bounded on the north by Montgomery County, on the east by the town of Princetown, on the south by Schoharie and Albany Counties and on the west by Schoharie County. Duanesburgh has an area of about 42,000 acres. Its form is irregular, and its situation elevated from 400 to 500 feet above the level of the Hudson at Albany. Its surface consists of upland broken by the narrow valleys and gullies of small streams. Schoharie Creek forins a small por- tion of the western boundary and Norman's Kill flows through the south part, entering the Hudson further down at a point about two and one-half miles below Albany. The Bozen Kill, one of the branches of Norman's Kill, is a picturesque stream on which is a fall of seventy feet. Corry's Brook and Chuctanunda Creek also do their part in draining the town. The hills which border these streams are steep and in some places rocky. The soil is a stiff clay loam with some intermixture of gravel.
The products are various, but grass succeeds better than grain and the town is better adapted to pasturage than to tillage. During the late years, the principal crops cultivated have been hay, oats, pota- toes, buckwheat and rye. There are no fruits grown to speak of.
Maria Pond and Featherstonhaugh Lake are two small sheets of water in the northeastern part of the town, about 250 feet above the canal. Maria Pond is about two miles in circumference and is a very beautiful lake during the summer.
The Albany & Susquehanna Railroad extends through the southern part with a station at Quaker street.
Duanesburgh was erected into a township by patent March 13, 1765, but was first recognized as a town March 22, 1788.
The first large tracts in what is now Duanesburgh were purchased by different parties. In 1737 Timothy Bagley made a purchase and
4II
TOWNS OF THE COUNTY.
was followed in 1738 by A. P. and William Crosby, and in 1739 by Walter Butler. Jonathan Brewster purchased a tract in 1770. These included about 60,000 acres, which, with the exception of about 1,000 acres, known as Braine's Patent, came into the ownership of Hon. James Duane, either by inheritance from his father or by pur- chase.
Actual settlement of the town did not begin until 1765, when the town was organized and Judge Duane contracted with about twenty German families from Pennsylvania to begin a settlement. Of these, sixteen families came and located permanently. Fifteen dollars per annum for each one hundred acres, payable in gold and silver, was the price paid for the renting of these lands.
When Judge Duane withdrew from active life, he gave to the town a plot of ground ten acres in extent. This is called Center Square, and was designed as a common for the village of Duanes- burgh. Two churches, a school-house, and other buildings are situ- ated in the locality.
Hon. James Duane, from whom the town was named, was born in New York City, February 6, 1733, and was a lawyer by profession. It is, however, as a high-toned patriot in the early part of the Revolutionary struggle that he came into prominent notice. He was a member of the First Provincial Congress that inet at Philadelphia in 1774, and was associated with Patrick Henry, John Adams, John Jay, Richard Henry Franklin and other Revolutionary leaders. He was again elected to Congress in 1775, but in 1776 returned home to. attend the New York Congress, of which he had been chosen a mem- ber from New York City. The object of this congress was to forin a state government.
In 1784 he was elected Mayor of New York City, which office he held for several years, and in March, 1789, he welcomed to that city the first Congress under the present Constitution, and General Wash- ington, as President of the Republic. In the same year President Washington appointed him United State Judge of the District of New York, which position he held until March, 1794, when he retired and removed to Schenectady. He intended to take up his
412
SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
residence in Duanesburgh, where he had already erected a church, but died suddenly on the morning of February 1, 1797. He was buried under Christ's Church, Duanesburgh.
NISKAYUNA was formed from Watervliet, Albany County, N. Y., March 7, 1809, with a population of 681, and a part of Schenectady was annexed in 1853. Niskayuna contains 10,471 acres.
The name of this town is derived from the term Nis-ti-go-wo-ne or Co-nis-ti-glo-no, the name by which it is known on the old maps. When the first white settlers arrived in the town, this place was occupied by a tribe of Indians known as Conistigione.
Niskayuna lies on the Mohawk in the eastern part of the county. Its surface is mostly upland, terminating in steep bluffs upon the river valley. The intervales are very rich and productive. A strip of land about a mile west, extending back from the summits of the bluffs, has a hard clay soil, and a considerable portion of it is swampy and unfit for cultivation. Farther south the soil is sandy.
Tradition has preserved a few of the following names of the chiefs of the Connestigiune tribe who inhabited this section of the country: Ron-warrigh-woh-go-wa, (signifying in English, the great fault finder or grumbler), Ka-na-da-rokh-go-wa, (signifying a great eater), Rc-ya-na, (a chief), As-sa-ve-go, (big knife), and A-voon-ta-go-wa, (big tree). Of these, the first mnade the greatest objection to alienating lands to the whites and in each deed he was careful to have a cove- nant inserted by which the rights of hunting and fishing were pre- served to thein. It was a common saying of his that "after the whites had taken possession of our lands, they will make Kaut-sore (literally spoon-food or soup) of our bodies." Yet he was on the most friendly terins with the whites and was never backward in ex- tending to them his powerful influence and personal aid during their expedition against the Canadians in the French War. He took great delight in instructing the boys of the settlers in the arts of war and was constantly complaining that the government did not prosecute the war against the French with sufficient vigor. The council fire of the Connestigiune band was held about a mile south of the vil- lage.
2
413
TOWNS OF THE CONNTY.
In 1687, Niskayuna was visited by a spy from the Adirondack tribe, which was an ally of the French. Hunger drove him to the house of a Dutchman by the name of Van Brakle, where he de- voured an enormous quantity of the food set before him, which hap- pened to be pork and peas. Although his movements had been made with unusual caution, the eagle eye of the "Grumbler " detected him. He waylaid him on leaving the house of his enter- tainer and after a short conflict, killed him. Having severed the head of the corpse from the body, he repaired to the house of Van Brakle and threw the head into the window, exclaiming to the owner : " Behold the head of your pea eater."
The first settlers of this town were an independent class of Hol- landers who located outside the manor line to avoid the conflicting exactions of the patrons and the trading government of the New Netherlands. It was settled at about the same time as was Schenec- tady.
Among the early settlers were the Clutes, Van Vrankens, Vedders, Groots, Tymersons, Consauls, Pearses, Van Brookhovens, Claas, Jan- sen and Kriegers.
From an old document it appears that Harmon Vedder obtained a patent for some land here in 1664.
Captain Martin Kriegier, who was the first burgomaster of New Amsterdam, finally settled in Niskayuna, on the banks of the Mohawk, " where the Indians carry their canoes across the stones." In this retired and romantic spot, this brave soldier and just magis- trate died in the year 1712.
GLENVILLE was named after Sanders Leenderste Glen, the original patentee. It was formed from the fourth ward of Schenectady, April 14, 1820, and is the only town in the county north of the Mohawk River. The country around Scotia was granted in 1665 to Glen, a native of Scotland, who moved to Holland in 1645, 011 account of religious persecution, and from there migrated to the New Netherlands.
The greater part of the surface of the town is covered with a thick deposit of drift which consists principally of clay, with some
414
SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
outcrop of slate with hard pan in the southern and western parts and loam in the eastern. Generally, the underlying rock is the shale of the Hudson River group, which crops out in the valleys and the bottoin of the rivers.
The central and western parts are occupied by rugged and wooded hills rising abruptly from the valley of the river to a height of three hundred feet. The eastern part of the town is nearly level. The Mohawk intervales have been devoted to the culture of brooin corn and are very fertile.
The principal streams are : Crabskill, Chaugh-ta-noon-da, Alphlaata and Jan Wemp's Creeks and Verf Kill. Sander's Lake in Scotia is about a mile in circumference.
On November 13, 1662, Van Slyck's Island was granted to Jacques Van Slyck and later a new grant was made to Jacques Cornelise and Jan Barentse Wemp.
Hoffinan's Ferry was established about 1790 by Harmanus Vedder and called Vedder's Ferry until 1835, when it was bought by John Hoffman, from whom it took its present name.
Among the first settlers were the Glens, Sanderses, Veiles, Van Eppses, Ostrands, Tolls, Barhydts, Browns, Johnsons and Carpenters.
The village of West Glenville is situated ten miles from Schenec- tady. It is in the northeast part of the town. East Glenville con- tains a Methodist Episcopal church and a lodge of Good Templars.
High Mills is situated in the northeastern part of the town. At this place the town built a fine iron bridge across the Alplaat Creek.
The village of Scotia lies between the Mohawk River and San- der's Lake and is about one-half mile from Schenectady. Reesville was a suburb of Scotia, but the two places have grown together and are now known only as Scotia. Scotia, the ancient name of Scot- land, was the name given by its first settler. This village coin- mences at a point nearly opposite the eastern extremity of the city and extends westward about two miles along the north side of the Mohawk.
On November 3, 1865, the first patent was granted by Governor Richard Niccols to Sanders Leendertse Glen.
415
TOWNS OF THE COUNTY.
PRINCETOWN was formed March 20, 1798, from a portion of the patent of Schenectady, and from lands originally patented to George Ingoldsby and Aaron Bradt in 1737. This was subsequently sold to William Corry, who formed a settlement which was long known as Corry's Bush. Afterwards Corry sold his interest to John Duncan. The town itself was named after John Prince of Schenectady, who was in the Assembly as a member from Albany County. Its surface consists of a broken upland gently descending towards the south- east, with a stiff argillaceous mould resting on a compact of ponder- ous hard-pan, with ledges of limestone, calcereous and silicious sand- stone argillite.
The streams are Norman's Kill in the south, Platt's Kill in the center, and Zantzee Kill in the northwest. Upon this stream is a cascade sixty feet high, and from this point to the Mohawk are numerous falls and cascades.
The town contains 15,450 acres, and is an oblong square, ten and one-half miles long north and south, by two and one-half miles wide. It is located about seven miles northwest of Schenectady and six- teen miles from Albany. It lies between the towns of Duanesburgh on the south and Rotterdam on the north, and is a little west from the center of the county.
Kelly's Station is a small hamlet in the southeast corner of the town, eight miles south from Schenectady and three miles east from Duanesburgh's four corners. Giffords is a small hamlet about three miles northeast of Kelly's Station. Rynex Corners is eight miles west of Schenectady and on the line of the towns of Rotterdam and Princetown.
ROTTERDAM was formed from Schenectady on April 14, 1820, and was formerly the Third Ward. Another part of the city was annexed in 1853, and a part taken from the town and added to the city in 1865.
The town contains 24,422 I-2 acres, and lies near the center of the county upon the south bank of the Mohawk. The surface consists of a broken hilly region in the northwest, a level intervale extend- ing from the center towards the south, and a high plain on the east.
416
SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
Part of the soil upon the west hills is a tough clay underlaid by shale. The central valley or plain, five miles in extent, was named by the Dutch the bouwlandts, or farm lands. The soil is a deep alluvial. The east plateau is sandy and has formerly been regarded as barren, but of late years has shown itself adapted for orchards and especially for small fruits.
In the summer of 1661, Arant Van Curler, leader of the first settlement, made application to Governor Stuyvesant for permission to settle upon the great flats lying west of Schenectady.
Broom corn was first introduced into this town by the Shakers of Watervliet and Niskayuna, and is now one of the most extensive products of the soil. Mr. Martin De Forrest of Schenectady says he well remembers the first piece of broom corn planted in Rotterdam, near the city of Schenectady by the Shakers from Watervliet. It attracted much attention and its peculiar adaption to this alluvial soil soon brought it into general cultivation. Mr. Sanders Van Eps, then an extensive farmer in Rotterdam, was one of the first to raise it in large quantities and to manufacture it into brooms.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE HISTORY OF UNION COLLEGE.
[ Written especially for this work by Rev. Andrew V. V. Raymond, D. D., President of the College.]
Education was one of the accepted and fundamental principles of the new civilization which began with the planting of the American colonies. With the early struggle for subsistence, in the face of dis- couragements and dangers, one college after another was founded in the then wilderness. These institutions nourished the spirit of liberty which came to final expression in American independence.
The valleys of the Mohawk and Hudson were settled for the most part by immigrants from Holland, and it may seem strange, know-
417
HISTORY OF UNION COLLEGE.
ing as we do the devotion of the Dutch to sound learning, that their colonies were not among the first to establish a school of higher education. Why is there not a college in this vicinity as old, at least, as Harvard ? A single fact will account for this.
The American college began as a training school for Christian ministers. It may be doubted if one of the earlier colleges would have been founded but for the pressure of this necessity. Puritanism liad broken with the church of England, and so with the great English universities, and therefore it must train its own religious teachers.
No such necessity was laid upon the Dutch colonists, and for at least a hundred years after the founding of New Amsterdam and Fort Orange it was the settled policy of the Dutch either to bring their ministers directly from Holland, or to send their youth to Hol- land to be educated. The Dutch church in America was a compo- nent part of the church of the inother country ; and when at last it became independent under the leadership of Dr. John Livingston, it at once established its own "School of the Prophets," Queen's Col- lege, now Rutger's, at New Brunswick, N. J. This one institution, almost synchronous in its origin with King's College, now Columbia, in New York City, was for years abundantly sufficient for all the needs of the Dutch colonists. But while the War of the Revolution was still in progress, a movement was begun by the people of Northern and Eastern New York, looking to the establishment of a higher institution of learning, which should meet the needs of the growing settlements along the Hudson and Mohawk; not the needs represented supremely by the church, but by the new national life just awakening. It is worthy of emphasis that this was the distin- guishing feature of the movement that led at last to the founding of Union College. We need not hesitate to say that Union College was more than any other institution in our land, the outgrowth of national life and national feeling, and, to a very marked degree, the college has been true in all her history to this national spirit. The movement to which reference has been made began in 1779, with a petition to the governor and legislature of the state, signed by 850 citizens of Albany and Tryon Counties, and 140 citizens of Charlotte
418
SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
County, now Washington, to found a college in Schenectady, to be called Clinton College in honor of George Clinton, the governor.
The preamble of the charter as then proposed reads as follows :
"Whereas a great number of respectable inhabitants of Albany, Tryon and Charlotte, taking into consideration the great benefit of a good education, the disadvantages they now labor under for want of the means of acquiring it, and the loud call there now is and no doubt will be in a future day for men of learning to fill the various offices of church and state ; and looking upon the town of Schenec- tady in every respect the most suitable and commodious seat for a seininary of learning in this state, or perhaps in America, have pre- sented their humble petition to the governor and legislature of this state, earnestly requesting that a number of gentlemen may be in- corporated in a body politic, who shall be empowered to erect an academy or college in the place aforesaid, to hold sufficient funds for its support, to make proper laws for its government, and to confer degrees."
The legislature was then in session at Kingston, and the petitions were referred to a committee, which reported favorably about two months later, October 20th, 1779, and recommended that the peti- tioners be allowed to bring in a bill at the next session. This was not done, however, for the reason, doubtless, that the emergencies of the war diverted attention from the project.
But three years later, or in 1782, another petition, signed by 1,200 was presented to the legislature, still sitting at Kingston. It was the closing year of the war, when all was confusion, and no decisive action was taken by the legislature.
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