DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

that Johnson, who was so willing to defy public
opinion in certain matters, was sufficiently con-
ventional in others, as we learn from a descrip-
tion of the daily life of the legitimate daughters of
the house. While Mohawk chiefs, Oneida braves,
Englishmen of title, and distinguished guests of
every kind thronged the mansion, and while the
little half-breed children, played about the lawns
and disported themselves on the shores of Kaya-
derosseras Creek close at hand, "the young ladies5*
lived in almost conventual seclusion.

The grim baronial mansion where this mixed
household made its dwelling for many years, was
called variously Mount Johnson, Castle Johnson,
and Port Johnson. It was built in 1742 with such
massive walls that the house is still standing in the
toWn of Amsterdam. In 1755, when the Indian
peril loomed large on the horizon, the original
defenses were strengthened, a stockade was built
as a further protection, and from this time on it
was called Fort Johnson.

Owing perhaps to Johnson's precautions and
the Indian's knowledge of his character, the fort
was not attacked and its owner continued to dwell
in the house until 1762, when, having become one
of the richest men in the colony, he built on a tract