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HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY,
ixcr.nniNO
THE UPPER MOHAWK VALLEY,
FPOM TIIK
EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME :
BRIEF NOTICE OF THE IROQUOIS INDIANS. THE EARLY GERMAN TRIBES,
THE PALATINE IMMIGRATIONS INTO THE COLONY OF NEW YORK.
AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE PALATINE FAMILIES,
THE PATENTEES OF BURNETSFIELD IN THE YEAR 1725.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE MOST PROMINENT
PUBLICjMEN OF THE COUNTY :
IMPORTANT STATISTICAL INFORMATION.
BY NATHANIEL S. BENTON.
ALBANY:
J. MUNSELL, 78 STATE STREET.
1850.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six,
BY NATHANIEL S. BENTON,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of
New York.
\^h
TO THE PEOPLE OF HERKIMER COUNTY
I dedicate this humble and unpretending volume.
If the manuscript sheets, which have been pre-
pared with some labor, and a scrupulous regard to
the best authenticated facts, shall assume the form
of a readable book, it will be through their gene-
rous appreciation of the writer's efforts.
And, if my labors to condense and illustrate the
annals of what has hitherto been and now is an
interesting portion of one of the largest and most
populous states of the American Union, in the des-
tinies of which the citizens of Herkimer county
have hitherto so largely participated, shall merit
and receive the approval of those so well qualified
to form just conceptions of their value and import-
ance, I shall have no hope or ambition left unsatis-
fied. THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS,
Face.
Introductory Chapter 5
CHAPTER I.
Notice of the Mohawk Indians — King Hendrik, 15
CHAPTER II.
Early History of the German Tribes, 25
CHAPTER III.
Immigration of the Palatines and Events from 1709 to 1722, 32
CHAPTER IV.
Settlement of the German Flats — Events from 1722 to 1772, 50
CHAPTER V.
Historical events from 1772 to 1783, i 65
CHAPTER VI.
Miscellaneous Incidents from 1783 to the present time, 109
CHAPTER VII.
Forfeited Estates — Attainder Act of 1779 — Treaties of 1783 and 1794,. . 1 19
CHAPTER VIII.
Biographical Sketches of the Palatine families, 129
CHAPTER IX
Erection of the County in 1 79 1 — Statute Boundaries — Titles to Lands —
Colonial and State Grants — Attainders — Actual Boundaries —
Roads, Canals and Turnpikes — Newspaper Press — Colleges and
Academies — County Medical Society — Poor House Establish-
ment — Agricultural Society, 198
CHAPTER X.
Political History from 1783 to 1S55, 267
CONTENTS. T
CHAPTER XI.
Criminal Convictions and Acquittals in Capital and other Cases from 1791
to 1855, 2S6
CHAPTER XII.
Biographical Sketches of the Lives of Prominent Wen of the County, 293
CHAPTER XUI.
List of Towns — when erected — Boundaries — Local Historical Inci-
dents — Biographical Notices of first Settlers — Villages and popu-
lation, 388
APPENDIX.
No. 1. Petition of Palatines, Indian deed and order of Council for Bur-
netsfield grant or patent, 473
No. 2. List of patents and gran's of land in the county, 475
No. 3. Sir William Johnson's petition to purchase the Royal Grant, 479
No. 4. Names of Members of Herkimer County Medical Society, 481
No. 5. List of Sheriffs. Surrogates, Clerks and County Judges, and Attor-
neys and Counselors, 483
No. 6. Names of Electors of President and Vice President. United States,
Members of Congress, State Conventions, State Senate and Assem-
bly, 486
ERRATA.
The reader is requested to note the following corrections :
Page 25, line 3, after the word of there should be a — .
" 25, 5th line from top, for Thcidclburgh read Heidetburgh.
" 31, last line, for navigated read immigrated.
" 40, 3d line from bottom, for interest read influence.
" 121, 2d par., line 6, for affairs read offences.
" 124, 2d par. line 7, for retaining read exerting.
" 161, 162 and 193, Col. Gansevoort's name is misprinted.
" 204, 5th par. line 2, read law of attainder.
" 246, 14th line from bottom, for portion read fraction.
" 271, 12th line from bottom, for states read state.
" 320, 2d par. line 11, for county read country.
" 361, 3d par. 1st line, for cause read care.
" 369, 2d par. for Edward read Edmund.
" 377, 2d par. 12th line, for Mcrray read Merry.
" 407, note, for John Spinner read John P. Spinner.
" 437, first line, for Klacks read Klocks.
The letter J frequently occurs in proper names for I ; the reader familiar
with the names will be able to make the correction.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
It is now one hundred and thirty-three years since the
German emigrants from the Lower Palatinate of the Rhine,
to escape from the iron workings of a colonial vassalage
more stern, cruel and crushing, than European serfdom in
its baldest and most naked form, planted themselves in the
upper Mohawk valley, under the benevolent auspices of
Governor William Burnet. They came to seek for themselves
and their posterity homes and abiding places, where they
could enjoy the fruits of their labor and eat the bread of
toil, unmolested by imperial hirelings and intrusive task-
masters, and to worship the God of the living and the dead
in accordance with a lowly and approving conscience : it is
now nearly ninety-eight years since that portion of these
people, who had seated themselves on the north side of the
Mohawk, at " the German flats," now Herkimer, were unex-
pectedly assailed by a numerous body of French and Indians,
many of them killed, their dwellings and well stored barns
plundered and burned, their stock of various kinds also killed
or driven off, and finally the survivors carried into captivity :
it is now seventy-eight years since the Oriskany battle was
fought, or, I might with propriety say, the Oriskany
massacre was perpetrated, which disastrous event convert-
ed the whole valley into a house of mourning : seventy-tAvo
years since peace restored hope, quiet and safety to the
desponding husbandman; small consolation to the mourning
widow and the homeless orphan: sixty-four years since the
county was organized, when peace with all its concomitant
2
6 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
blessings had resumed its sway: and no one had yet been
found bold or patient enough, to undertake the labor of
writing out the annals of Herkimer county.
It was too late by forty years to collect and arrange the
early traditional history of the valley, when the writer
turned his attention to a subject he had often discussed with
others, and with them regretted that the matter had been so
long postponed or neglected. I have pursued my original plan
and object, projected two years ago, as rapidly as other
pursuits and urgent calls in other directions would allow.
I have not acomplished in extenso all I designed, and it
would be invidious in me to state wherein and why, I have
failed. The reader familiar with the history of this state,
will at once perceive, I have consulted without stint the
Annals of Tryon County, Stone's Life of Brant, Schoharie
County and the Border Wars of New York, the Documentary
History of New York, Documents relating to the Colonial
History of this state, Journals of the New York Provincial
Congress, Schoolcraft's Beports on the Iroquois, Hammond's
Political History of New York, and Muhsell's Typographical
Miscellany.
One of the strongest inducements that led me to undertake
the task which I have now completed, was to correct as far
as I could, some of the grave, and it seemed to me manifest
errors or mistakes, which found their way into published
works of supposed authenticity, in regard to General
Nicholas Herkimer and his family. No author ever spoke
of him, to my knowledge, as a brilliantly great man, and no
one can with justice or propriety deny that he was a brave
and good man ; firmly devoted to the provincial cause and
American freedom. If a cloud appeared in the distance to
hang over him, growing out of the fact that some members
of the family were hostile to the movements of the colonists,
could it be any fault of his, unless he had the ability to
control them, and failed to exert it? But let it be remem-
bered that other members of the same family who survived
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 7
the General, devoted themselves in the future progress of
the war, with zeal and courage in defense of the country.
Another motive prompted me to the undertaking. Herki-
mer county was one of the first erected after the revolution,
and while the surrounding counties, and some of them
carved from the territory it once embraced, were esteemed
worthy of elaborate historical notice which had been
liberally patronized by the populations of those counties, it
seemed strange indeed that she should so long have remained
neglected and forgotten, like the illustrious individual whose
name she bears, and no one of her sons, native or adopted,
would venture to place her in a just position. All that por-
tion of the book compiled from public works and documents,
such as the origin of the titles to lands, the description and
boundaries of the county and the towns, and the statistical
and other information derived from the recent census, may
be relied upon as strictly and critically accurate.
Heretofore, several, if I may not say many, of the political
men of the county, have held not only reputable, but high
positions in the councils of the state, and some of those, who
are now dead, have left an enduring impress of their talents
and exertions upon the political institutions of the state. The
somewhat peculiar political characteristics, which have
heretofore marked the action of a considerable majority of
the voting population of the county, seemed to me a matter
worth}7 of elaborate consideration. Why two peoples,
distinct in their origin, dissimilar in tastes, habits and
customs, should harmonize on a great political problem for
a period of more than fifty years, and in numbers to carry
almost every popular election, j)resented a question worthy
of inquiry and solution. Animated witli a strong desire to
arrive at a just and proper conclusion in respect to this
question, I have given, in the sequel of the book, a full
statement of the facts which are believed to have drawn the
German and English or New England populations into
harmony.
8 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
A brief allusion to the aboriginal inhabitants of the
country, found roaming over its extended surface and
almost impenetrable wilds, at the first advent of the Euro-
pean emigrant, was appropriate to the subject in hand as
a necessary starting point from which to trace the authentic
events of history, intended to be developed in the subsequent
pages of the work. This is not the place to make an effort
to reach the origin and follow the progress of a proud and
brave, but a barbarous and illiterate people, whose annals
can only be traced through a dark cloud of traditional
mysticism, highly figurative, unnatural, and entirely impro-
bable, when examined and compared with the providences
of God, as given to us and illustrated by the written history
of other branches of the human race ; it has not therefore
been attempted.
Although a history of the upper Mohawk valley does not
necessarily embrace that of any other country or state, I
have not considered a brief elucidation of German history
as out of place, inasmuch as the first European settlements
in the valley were made up entirely of a people of purely
German origin, whose recent immigration into the colony had
given no opportunity of change in habits, manners and
customs, if any such change could have been effected in the
adult emigrant, even if he had been a whole life time in
reaching the land of promise, and had meanwhile sojourned
with divers nations and people.
The particulars of this Palatine or German immigration,
so far as they can now be given, are interesting, and seemed
worthy of extended notice. The events which produced
the movement in the heart of an old and polished European
nation, and the causes which prompted these people to seek
a refuge and home on the western continent, are quite as
legitimate a subject of local American history, as the oft-
repeated relation of the exodus of the pilgrim fathers from
Europe, and their landing at Plymouth rock.
Persecution and religious intolerance drove the Puritans
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 9
to seek an asylum from civil and ecclesiastical oppression,
and to fix themselves as the planters of a new colony, on a lone
and desolate shore, surrounded by an unbroken wilderness,
while the same illegitimate emanations from the religion of
the cross compelled the German Palatines to plant themselves
in an exposed and wilderness frontier, as an out-post and
van-guard, to protect and cover the older settlements in
their rear from Indian assaults and depredations, and the
not much less refined warfare carried on by a neighboring
European colony, whoso relentless cruelties, unmitigated
barbarities and bigoted intolerance, they and their fathers
had so often before seen, suffered and tasted.
We are not only able to name the first European settlers,
the pioneers of the upper valley, but we can trace the
descendants of most of them, as being still inhabitants of
the county, while some of those families, from emigration
or other causes have become entirely extinct, and the name
is no longer known among us. Although there now are
numerous descendants of the female branch of the Herkimer
family in the county, it is believed there is not, at this time,
one inhabitant in it bearing that name. With perhaps two
or three exceptions, the chapter of biographies of the
Palatine families, will attract but little interest out of or
beyond a confined locality. As a whole the subject is
worthy the attention and labor bestowed in getting it up.
It will be noticed that several individuals of these families
have held prominent official stations in the county. From
the first settlement of the valley, under the Burnetsfield
patent, to the outbreak of the revolution, many German
settlers came into the upper valley, some from Schoharie
county, and the lower valley, now Montgomery county,
others from New York and the shores of the Hudson
river, a few from New Jersey, and probably several of the
third emigration of the Palatines, who arrived in New York
in 1722. I have not been able, as yet, to learn the names
of a single family of English descent, settled in the German-
10 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
flats district, previous to the revolution, except that of
Thompson on Cosby's manor. There may have been two
or three others. Much care and attention has been given
to the biographical sketches of the official personages, who
have been residents of and who died in the county. These
sketches are not all I intended they should be in the outset
nor all I would now wish them to be. I took what I
believed proper measures, at an early day, to obtain precise
and accurate information in regard to this subject. I did
not anticipate any difficulty, and much less a failure. But
my motives and objects were misconceived, or not approved
of, or some of the parties to whom my circulars were
addressed have exhibited an ignorance or indifference
painful to think of.
I am compelled, reluctantly, to make an apology for a
seeming neglect of the religious institutions of the county.
I did hope to have been able to lay before the readers of this
unpretending volume, a brief historical outline of the various
religious organizations in the county, their foundation,
progress and present condition ; and took such measures at
an early day, as would, I believed, secure this most desirable
object. I care not to indulge in a single remark further on
this topic. The statistical results, taken from the late state
census, which will be found in a subsequent chapter, with
some extracts from the journals of two missionaries who
visited the county more than fifty years ago, must content
the reader on this head. I should have been most happy to
have folloAved them with a record of the names and the
results of the labors of those who then and afterwards
occupied this ground and ministered to our fathers in
spiritual things, and should have done it, if I could have
accomplished it by any other means than the course adopted,
which entirely failed.
The reader unacquainted with our localities, should not
conclude that the people of Herkimer county are indifferent
to the grave subject which relates to their future welfare,
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 11
because they find no elaborate display of churches, missionary
and Bible societies organized within the county. As one
reason of my failure in this respect, it may have been sup-
posed, I was engaged in a work, the profits of which would
amply repay me for the trouble and expense of collecting
all the information needful to make the book perfect, inter-
esting and valuable.
The writer, compiler and publisher of a local history, is in
a condition somewhat like the Connecticut parson, whose
congregation gave him a call and fixed the salary at one
hundred dollars a year, one half to be paid in grain and
such other necessary articles of living as they might have
to spare and he might want. When he called for the pay-
ment of the balance of his salary, he was modestly told, he
owed the parish fifty dollars for the rent of the parsonage
and glebe. A local historian must be willing to perform
any amount of labor required to make his book what he
knows and wishes it should be, but if he hazards a large out-
lay, merely for the glory of publishing a book, his ambition
will cost him dear.
The author who writes for extended glory or large profit,
must bestow his talents and labor on subjects quite different
from those I now have in hand. Nevertheless, if I shall be
so fortunate as to meet the reasonable expectations of the
people of the county, I shall have achieved all that my ambi-
tion can crave, or my most sanguine hopes have ever antici-
pated.
The chapter embracing the history of the several towns
in the county will be found interesting, on account of the
local historical matters there collected, and the statistical
information condensed and arranged which will render the
work highly useful as a manual. The brief notices of the
early New England settlers are necessary links to conduct
the reader through the early history of the county. The
annals of the county would not be complete without the
condensed view embraced in the chapter comprehending
12 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
its political history. Whatever may have been and are the
author's predilections on the questions discussed in that
chapter, he would not feel this a proper occasion to give
them any undue prominence, and he is confident a candid
public will acquit him of indulging in any partisanship, or
the least departure from a liberal and candid recital of facts
connected with the party politics of the times. I am aware
that local historians have hitherto given but small space in
their works to the political histories of the counties. The
reasons for this omission do not seem to me quite obvious,
nor is it in any respect important now to make them a sub-
ject of discussion or inquiry. The intelligent reader will,
I think, find himself amply repaid for his time by a perusal
of the chapter.
The historical works relating to the Mohawk valley,
heretofore published, have necessarily been confined to the
prominent and leading events of the old French and the
Revolutionary wars. The minor events and leading inci-
dents, which have marked the progress of the country, have
attracted but little or no attention, and consequently have no
place in the works alluded to. The author's object has been,
so far as relates to the upper Mohawk valley, to supply
this desideratum. The upper valley being only an out-
skirt of civilization and a frontier during the whole period
of these two wars, would not of course attract the particular
attention of writers, not familiar with all its localities, its
legends and its traditions, and the character of its popula-
tion ; hence we must not be surprised to observe the little
regard bestowed upon the eventful transactions of that
locality. The author has endeavored to cover the whole
ground, and fill up all chasms.
The attainder by the state government of the adherents
to the British crown, and the consequent forfeiture and
confiscation of their estates, has been incidentally mentioned
by former writers of our history, drawn out by the fact that
a large tract of valuable lands in the county had escheated
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 13
to the state, by the statute attainder of Sir John Johnson.
In consequence of the misapprehension of the facts in regard
to the extent of this escheat, the author, in connection with
the history of the land titles, has deemed it proper not only
to elucidate the subject fully and minutely, but to attempt,
not an apology merely, but defense, ample and elaborate, of
the revolutionary patriots and fathers, who adopted and
rigidly enforced the attainder act of 1779. My countrymen
have more than once been charged with illiberality and
cruelty in exacting the " pound of flesh," after the British
king had yielded the point and confirmed the independence
of his rebellious colonies. These advocates for republican
munificence and generosity, seem to have forgotten the
lives immolated on the altar of oppression, and the millions
of money expended in defending the country against the
aggressive acts of many of these same attainted adherents
of loyalty; and that, if stern and inexorable justice was
exacted, it was only in observance of a rule of public law
sanctioned by the most refined civilization. The emanci-
pated colonists should have been willing to mete out exact
and even-handed justice, but they were not in any view
which could be taken of this question, in a condition to be
generous.
Although this may be quite a proper subject for general
history, and elaborate discussion by statesmen, it finds a
suitable place in the humbler annals of the upper Mohawk
valley, where the forfeitures have been incurred, and the
law of reprisal has been enforced. While the advocates of
restoration of forfeited estates are zealously engaged in
finding condemnatory arguments against the Americans for
not yielding the forfeiture, let them bear in mind not only
the circumstances that provoked the action of the colonial
authorities, but the hostile attitude of the British authorities
long after the peace of 1783 was inaugurated. The frontier
posts were long held, in despite of the energetic remonstrances
of the United States, and in violation of the treaty of peace ;
14 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
the western Indian tribes were instigated to acts of hostility,
and rumored threats of a renewal of the war, and a speedy
subjugation of the rebel colonists, did not and could not
fail to influence the state governments in their action upon
this question.
I take great pleasure in tendering my acknowledgments to
the present Secretary of State, of this state, and A. G. John-
son, Esq., his deputy; the Hon. Abijah Beckwith, of Columbia;
Hon. F. E. Spinner, of Mohawk ; Hon. E. P. Hurlbutt, of
Newport; Jonas Cleland, Esq., of Warren ; Doct. William
Mather, of Fairfield ; Lauren Ford, Esq., Little Falls; Samuel
Earl, Esq., Herkimer ; D. C. Henderson, of Norway ; E. T.
Cleland, Esq., county clerk ; to whom I am indebted for
facilities afforded in obtaining useful information, and for
timely assistance in collecting materials and furnishing
valuable documents. I am under obligations to several
other individuals for suggestions and information, for which
they have my thanks.
In committing this work to the public, the author admits,
it might have been better executed by an abler pen than
his, at an earlier period of the country, but he confidently
hopes, however, it will be found an interesting and useful
addition to our local history.
N. S. BENTON.
Little Falls, 1855.
CHAPTER I.
The Mohawk Indians — The Iroquois — Extent of Country — Confederation —
Probable Period when it took Place — Not a Perfect Union — Popular As-
pect of the System — Presiding Officer in General Council — War Chief —
Tuscaroras — Territory Claimed by the Mohawks — St. Regis Colony —
Indians Treated as Owners of the Soil — The Hostility of the Mohawks to
the French — Friendship to the English — Sir William Johnson's Influ-
ence — They Join the English and Abandon their Country — The Oneidas —
Bravery and Cruelty of the Mohawks — Upper Castle in Danube — Fighting
Men in 1G77 — Same in 1763 — Hereditary Descent in Female Line —
Council of Nations — Marriage — Wife's Right of Property — Witchcraft —
Hendrik — Little Abraham — Garangula.
The aboriginal inhabitants of the territory whose history
is intended to be delineated in the subsequent pages of this
work, were the Maquaes, or Mohawk Indians, one of the
five confederated tribes or cantons of the Konoshioni or
Iroquois, found in that part of the state extending from
Albany north to lake Charaplain and the river St. Lawrence,
south-westerly to the head waters of the Susquehanna and
Delaware rivers, and westerly to lakes Ontario and Erie, and
even to the valley of the Ohio, when the Dutch made their
appearance on the waters of the Hudson, in 1609.
The period when this confederacy was formed is quite as
much involved in the mists of tradition as any other remote
event of Indian origin. Some fix the epoch a short time
prior to the occupation by the Dutch, while others extend it
back to A. D. 1414. This confederation seems to have been
established for the common purposes of defense and offense
in war. It was not a perfect union whereby each tribe or
canton surrendered to the council any portion of the internal
policy of the tribe. Each was perfectly independent of all
16 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
control by the other members of the confederacy, except
when the united cantons in council had resolved unani-
mously to go upon the war path, and even then, that ques-
tion had to be referred to the warriors of each tribe assem-
bled in council, where also a unanimous decision was required.
Thus every resolve carried with it the full popular will, and
hence the success which always attended the war parties of
the Iroquois against the other American tribes. Each tribe
was governed by its own civil and war chiefs. In the gene-
ral council of the confederacy, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onon-
dagas and Cayugas were each represented by one delegate,
and the Senecas by two, the latter being much more numerous
than either of the other tribes. The presiding oflicer in this
congress of ambassadors was always assigned to the Onon-
dagas, and the principal war chief was taken from the
Mohawks.
The Tuscaroras, who were always admitted as off-shoots
of the New York Iroquois tribes, retired from North Carolina
in 1714, after being severely chastised by the whites and a
party of southern Indians, for several cruel massacres, and
joined the Five Nations, and thereafter became one of the
members of the confederacy. The Oneidas assigned lands to
them within their cantonal limits. Each tribe claimed
dominion over territory having general boundaries, and that
of the Mohawks embraced all that part of the state included
within a line running from the Hudson river to the head
waters of the Susquehanna and Delaware, and extending
thence to the St. Lawrence near Ogdensburgh, and embracing
all the lands between Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence,
as well as those about Lake George. Their northern limits
were not fixed in 1771, and they probably claimed as hunting
grounds all the lands between the St. Lawrence and St.
John's rivers to Montreal. This probability is much strength-
ened by the fact that an off-shoot of the Mohawks, the St.
Regis colony, was seated on the south side of the St.
Lawrence as early as 1650, or about that period.
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 17
The Dutch and English colonial governments, although
they treated the Indians within their respective juris-
dictions as subjects, would not make any grants of the
ultimate lee until the Indian titles had been extinguished by
purchase. The Mohawks were always on terms of amity
with the English, but exercised the most bitter hostility
against the French in Canada and their Indian allies, even
when France and England were at peace. Sir William
Johnson's influence over these people was unbounded, and
at his death they transferred all their deep-seated savage
affections to his family.
Under the influence of the Johnson family, they early
attached themselves to the ro}7al cause in the revolutionary
war, emigrated to Canada, and but few, if any, ever returned.
The Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, were also hostile to
the colonists during the whole period of the war. The
Oneidas promised to remain neutral, but towards its close,
they with some of the Tuscaroras joined the American forces,
and performed good service in punishing marauding parties
of the enemy. In the preliminary articles and definitive
treaty signed at Paris, Great Britain abandoned their sable
allies, except those who emigrated to Canada, to the mercy
of the Americans.
The Oneidas were driven from their towns by the enemy
for their attachment to the cause of the colonists, and were
compelled to seek a home for their old men, women and
children, near Schenectady.
The Mohawks distinguished themselves on many occasions
by acts of bravery and devotion, so striking and peculiar as
to elicit from those whom they served, the highest commen-
dations, while their deeds of cruelty in war have been long
remembered and deeply execrated by those who were so
unfortunate as to be numbered among their enemies.
The Upper Mohawks' castle was erected in the present
town of Danube, on a beautiful flat east of the Xowadaga
creek, and here a mission was established and a small church
18 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
built for them before the revolution. The spot on which
the first church was erected, has always been consecrated to
pious uses, and a small church is now standing on the site of
the old mission building, called in the language of the
inhabitants of the country the Indian Castle Church. The
principal Christian mission establishment of this tribe was
at Fort Hunter, near Amsterdam, in Montgomery county.
Wentworth Greenhalgh, in 1677, describes the Maquaes or
Mohawks, as possessing four towns, besides one small village
one hundred and ten miles west of Albany, and that they
had in all about three hundred fighting men.
Sir William Johnson, in 1763, states there were one
hundred and sixty men of the Mohawks, that they had two
villages on the river which bore that name, and a few
emigrants at Schoharie, about sixteen miles from Fort
Hunter.
An extended notice of these people is not designed, but
it will not be out of place to present a few of their peculiari-
ties. Hereditary descent was confined to the female line,
and thus the son of a chief's daughter would inherit a
chieftainship to the exclusion of his uncle, and a chief's
brother would succeed him, and not his male children, pro-
vided there wrere no descendants through the female line.
Another peculiarity marked these people. The matrons
of the tribe, in council, could always propose a cessation of
hostilities, and this could be done without compromising the
warriors and chiefs. For this purpose a male functionary,
the messenger of the matrons, who was a good speaker, was
designated to perform an office which was deemed unsuita-
ble to the female. When the proposition to drop the war
club was resolved upon, the message was delivered to this
officer, and he was bound to enforce it with all the powers
of eloquence he possessed.
Marriage among the Iroquois was a mere personal agree-
ment between the parties, requiring no particular sanction
and in no respect affected the rights of property, if the wife
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 19
bad any. Whatever goods, effects or valuables of any kind
the wife bad before marriage, she continued to hold abso-
lutely, and if a separation took place, the wife was entitled
to take with her all her property.
These people, like all others in the rude and savage state,
were sturdy believers in witchcraft. Their ancient religious
system or mode of worship no doubt contributed to strengthen
this belief. The worship of a good and an evil spirit, must
of necessity have produced such results ; and dreams were
considered the revelation of inspiration too sacred to be
neglected or disregarded, and hence the effects oi" this belief
upon the prosperity and population of these tribes must have
been, at times, most disastrous.
This is a brief and by no means a perfect outline of the
characteristics of a people who occupied the Mohawk
valley when first visited by the Europeans.
After the death of Hendrik, the celebrated Mohawk chief,
Little Abraham, his brother, became by the laws of the tribe
the war chief of this branch of the Iroquois confederacy,
and consequently was the leader of the confederate forces,
when upon the war path, unless degraded in accordance with
Indian usages. I shall in a subsequent part of this work
again allude to Little Abraham's situation, and give the
reasons why he was probably superseded as the war chief of
the Six Nations, at the commencement of the revolutionary
war through the influence of British officials.*
* I can not forbear to give, in this place, a speech delivered by Garangula,
an Onondaga chief, in the presence of De La Barre, the governor of Canada, in
1684. He speaks as the representative of tbe five confederate tribes, and no
doubt in accordance with the usages of these people, which conferred on the
chief of his tribe the office of enunciating or declaring the sentiments and
wishes of the general council of the cantons.
This speech is found in Colden's History of the Five Nations, and the historian
may not have done any injustice to the native orator — at any rate the point
and sarcasm of the language, spoken in the slow and measured cadence of
Indian oratory, must have touched his auditor to the quick, and can not but
interest the general reader. It shows a noble specimen of native independ-
20 history of herkimer county.
King Hendrik.
This celebrated sachem of the Mohawk canton of the
Iroquois confederacy and distinguished war chief of the Six
Nations, was born during the latter part of the 17th century,
ence and self-reliance. The sachem, standing in front of the governor who
was seated, addressed him as follows:
" Yonnondio, I honor yon, and the warriors that are with me honor you —
your interpreter has finished your speech. I now begin mine. My words
make haste to reach your ears ; harken to them, Yonnondio. You must
have believed, when you left Quebec, that the sun had burnt up all the
forests which render our country inaccessible to the French, or that the lakes
had so overflown their banks that they had surrounded our castles, and that it
was impossible for us to get out of them ; yes, truly, you must have dreamed
so, and the curiosity of seeing so great a wonder has brought you so far. Now you
are undeceived, since that I, and the warriors here present, are come to assure
you, that the Cayugas, Senecas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mohawks, are 3ret
alive. I thank you, in their name, for bringing back into their country
the calumet, which your predecessors received from their hands. It was
happy for you that you left under ground that murdering hatchet, that has
so often been dyed with the blood of the French. Hear ! Yonnondio ; J do
not sleep ! I have my eyes open, and the sun which enlightens me, discovers
to me a great captain at the head of a company of soldiers, who speaks as if
he were dreaming. He says that he only came to the lakes to smoke on the
great calumet, with the Onondagas. But Garangula says he sees the con-
trary ; that it was to knock them on the head, if sickness had not weakened
the arms of the French. I see Yonnondio roving in a camp of sick men,
whose hairs the great spirit has saved by inflicting this sickness upon them.
Hear, Yonnondio ! our women had taken their clubs ; our children and old
men had carried their bows and arrrows into the heart of your camps, if our
warriors had not disarmed them, and kept them back, when your messengers
came to our castles. It is done ; I have said it.
" Hear, Yonnondio ! we plundered none of the French, but those that
carried guns, powder and balls to the Twightwies and Chictagicks, because
those arms might have cost us our lives. Herein we follow the example of
the Jesuits, who break all the kegs of rum brought to our castles, lest the
drunken Indians should knock them on the head. Our warriors have not
beavers enough to pay for all those arms they have taken, and our old men
are not afraid of war.
" This belt preserves my words.
" We carried the English into our lakes , to trade with the Utawawas and
Quatoghies, as the Adirondacks brought the French to our castles, to carry
on a trade which the English say is theirs. We are born free; we neither
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 21
not very near the close of it, however, as he was called " old
King Hendrik," at the time of the old French war. He
was in the vigor of manhood and at the hight of power
depend on Yonnondio or Corlear ; we may go when we please, and carry with
us what we please, and buy and sell what we please. If your allies be your
slaves, use thern as such ; command them to receive no others but your people.
" This belt preserves my words.
"We knock the Twightwies and Chicagicks on the head, because they
had cut down the trees of peace, which were the limits of our country. They
have hunted beaver on our lands, they have acted contrary to the customs
of the Indians, for they have left none of the beavers alive ; they killed both
male and female ; they brought the Satanas into their country, to take part
with them after they had concerted ill designs against us. We have done less
than either the English or French, that have usurped the lands of so many
Indian nations, and chased them from their own country.
" This belt preserves my words.
" Hear, Yonnondio, what I say is the voice of all the Five Nations. Hear
what they answer — open your ears to what they speak. The Senecas, Onon-
dagas, Cayugas, Oneidas and Mohawks, say that when they buried the hatchet
at Cadaraqui, in the presence of your predecessors, in the middle of the fort,
they planted the tree of peace in the same place, to be there carefully pre-
served ; that in the place of arms and ammunition of war, beavers and mer-
chandise only should enter there.
" Hear, Yonnondio ! take care, for the future, that so great a number of
soldiers as appear there, do not choke the tree of peace, planted in so small
a fort. It will be a great loss, if after it had so easily taken root, you should
stop its growth, and prevent its covering your country and ours with its
branches. I assure you in the name of the Five Nations, that our warriors
shall dance to the calumet of peace under its leaves, and shall remain quiet
on their mats, and shall never dig up the hatchet till their brother Yonnon-
dio, or Corlear, shall either jointly or separately endeavor to attack the coun-
try which the Great Spirit has given to our ancestors.
" This belt preserves my words, and this other the authority which the
Five Nations have given me."
Then addressing himself to the interpreter, he said :
"Take courage, you have spirit, speak, explain my words, forget nothing,
tell all that your friends and brethren say to Yonnondio, your governor, by
the mouth of Garangula, who loves you and desires you to accept this present
of beaver, and take part with me in my feast, to which I invite you. This
present of beaver is sent to Yonnondio, on the part of the Five Nations."
The Indian orator in using the name Corlear, in his address, intends to
designate the English or colonial governor of New York.
3
90
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
when the upper section of the Mohawk valley was opened
for settlement.
From his long association with the Europeans and parti-
cularly with Sir William Johnson, whom he highly regarded,
and who found but little difficulty in directing the actions
of the chief as he thought best, Hendrik had adopted and
wore the English costume, and become accustomed to live in
KING HENDRIK.
a house. He resided much of the time at the upper Mohawk
castle, in the town of Danube, his dwelling being located
upon the elevated ground not far from the Indian Castle
Church, commanding an extended view of the surrounding
country. He is spoken of as a man of great sagacity and
vigor of mind, inflexibly brave and of " immovable integrity.' '
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 23
The French authorities of Canada, with all their intrigues,
were never able to move him and his faithful Mohawks from
their allegiance to the British crown. Dr. Dwight says, " a
gentleman of very reputable character, who was present at
a council held with the Six Nations by the governor of Now
York and several agents of distinction from New-England
[this was in 1754], informed me that his figure and counten-
ance were singularly impressive and commanding; that his
eloquence was of the same superior order, and that he
appeared as if born to control other men, and possessed an
air of majesty unrivaled within his knowledge." He fell
at the battle of Lake George, on the 8th of September, 1755,
winning glory, a fortune and a title for his friend, Major
General William Johnson.
The anecdote illustrated by the following dialogue between
.Sir William, before he was knighted, and the old king, should
be repeated, although quite as unreal as most dreams are.
Scene. — Sir William's parlor; the knight seated in deep
thought. Enter King Hendrik giving a searching glance
round the room as he approached and saluted his friend.
King Hendrik (addressing Sir William), " I dream."
Sir William. " Well, what did you dream?"
King Hendrik. " I dream you give me one suit of clothes."
Sir William. " Well, I suppose you must have it."
The scene changes, and Sir William and Hendrik meet
in their sylvan excursions.
Sir William (addressing Hendrik with a bland smile on
his face). " I dreamed last night."
King Hendrik. "Did you? What you dream?"
Sir William. "I dreamed you gave me such a tract of
land" (describing the outlines of it).
King Hendrik (pausing). "I suppose you must have it,
but" (raising and shaking his finger significantly), "you
must not dream again."
The petition of Sir William and thirty-nine other persons
for a license to purchase the Indian title to 40,000 acres of
24 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
land lying between the two Canada creeks, was presented
to the governor and council on the 8th of July, 1761, six
years after Hendrik's death. This was the first step taken
to obtain the title to the royal grant.
Although a stern and rigorous warrior, Hendrik was
kind to the white population of the valley, and was highly
regarded by them. He well understood the extent of his
mission — that he must guard and protect the liege subjects
of his sovereign to the extent of his power against the
attacks of the hostile French and Indians, and he did not
fail to execute it. If he was not the most distinguished for
courage and strategy of all the native war chiefs, known
to the Europeans, after the settlement by them of the
country, history has dealt too favorably with his fame, and
he still wears an undeserved crown of immortality.
Note. — I have collected the following notices of Hendrik from the
"Documents relating to the Colonial History" of this state. July 8, 1697, he
is recognized as a chief of the Mohawk canton. In 1698, he is described as
a chief, a " convert to the Christian faith, of eight years' standing," and as
being of full age. In 1699, he was examined before the mayor, recorder
and justices at Albany, in regard to what he had said about Dom.
Dellius's going away, and is spoken of as a married man. 1710, he visited
England. 1711, October 9th, at a conference with Gov. Hunter, he gave the
governor a letter addressed by the chiefs to the Archbishop of Canterbury,
and desired him to thank the Queen of Great Britain for the care taken by
her to convert the Indians to the Christian religion. September 3d, 1720,
Hendrik, the Maquaes, having been suspended four years before from being
a sachem in the tribe, was restored and installed as a chief, at the request and
in presence of the commissioners of Indian affairs. In 1753, he attended a
conference between Sir William Johnson and the Mohawks, and in 1754 he was
at the Congress of the Commissioners from the six northern provinces, held
at Albany, to consult on Indian affairs. He was the chief speaker at both of
these conferences. Judge Harring, now living, who came to Johnstown in
1795, and at an early day was quite familiar with the inhabitants, old and
young, then on the stage, says, that Sir William dreamed for the land known
as the Kingsborough patent, where he built his own family mansion, and not
for the royal grant.
CHAPTER II.
Early History of the German Tribes — This Name lirst Applied by Julius Caesar
— Their Authentic History commences with the Christian Era — Early Habits
and Stature — Confederation of Tribes — Severe Laws of Conversion to
Christianity — The Reformation — Luther and Dr. Eck — Lower Palatinate
of the Rhine — Religious Wars — Frederick Prince Palatine — Theidelburgh
Library — The Palatinate Devastated — Continental Wars of Europe —
Manheim — Characteristics of these People — A Legend.
The reader having been introduced to the aboriginal
possessors of the soil of Herkimer county, so far as can now
be defined, will have the goodness to indulge me a few
moments, while I give a brief historical outline of a people
of known European origin, who first planted themselves in
the upper Mohawk valley. Indeed, the Anglo-Saxon race
are of German descent, and whoever claims a Teutonic
ancestry, traced through an English channel, will have some
of the blood of a Saxon or Dane on which to rest that claim.
Our design in this chapter is to set out, as far as needful,
the origin of a race who are losing every distinct national
characteristic, which they maintained more than one
hundred years upon the American continent.
The Germans were believed, by the Romans, to be an
aboriginal, pure and unmixed race of people. The primitive
language of the inhabitants of Germany is the Teutonic,
called High Dutch, and has no affinity with the Celtic
tongue. The name Germanum, when applied to the tribes
collectively, was first used, it is said, by Julius Caesar ; but
German historians assert the aboriginal name of these people
is what they bear at this time. It can not be veryremarka-
26 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
ble that the original collective name of a people inhabiting
a particular district of country, so much divided into tribes
or septs as was the territory embraced in and now known as
Germany, should be familiar to strangers coming from Rome
or middle and southern Gaul. A Teutscher, or Deutscher,
according to the method of pronunciation, was a person
belonging to the nation. Some would no doubt translate
this as meaning Dutchman. The first intercourse the origi-
nal barbaric tribes of Germany had with a people practiced
in historical writing, was in the year 113 before the Christian
era, 1968 years ago, when the Cimbrians and Teutonians
made an incursion into the Roman territories ; but this must
have been too transitory to have permitted the Romans to
take any particular note of the origin or historical anteced-
ents of their invaders. When Julius Cajsar, about fifty years
before the birth of Christ, advanced to the frontiers of Avhat
might then be considered Germany proper^ and hence was
brought into more immediate contact with its people, he is
enabled to speak with certainty. Any thing like authentic
German history commences with the Christian era, and it
ripens with the progress of civilization and learning, and
light comes to us through the darkness and gloom of the
middle ages.
Historians describe the early German race as having " but
one determined and equal form of body. Their chests were
wide and strong ; their hair yellow, and with young child-
ren of a dazzling white. Their skin was also white, their
eyes blue, and their glance bold and piercing." Some
ancient writers say their usual height was seven feet. It is
also said that " from their earliest youth upward they hard-
ened their bodies by all devisable means. New-born infants
were dipped in cold water, and the cold bath was continued
during their whole lives as the strengthening renovator, by
both boys and girls, men and women." It is not intended to
give an extended and detailed view of the habits, manners,
regulations, and institutions of these people. But it is
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTT. 27
proper to note some points in their History down to the period
of the immigration of the Palal ines to this western continent.
It must be apparent to all, that in order to provide against
assaults from -without, there must have been a confederation
of the German tribes at some period. The laws relating
to these confederations were very severe, and their principle
was, " one for all and all for one, for life and death." The
most perfect of these alliances among the tribes took
place about the year A. D. 235, in order to form a barrier
against the Roman armies. The great migration of the
Mongolian Huns from Asia and the irruption of the western
tribes into Italy between the years 375 and 476 after Christ,
changed materially the aspect of things among the German
confederates, and subsequently produced changes in their
customs and institutions. It was not until about the close of
the eighth century, in the time of Charlemagne, that all
the German tribes, or rather nations, were converted to
Christianity.
The outbreak of the reformation in 1517 under the conduct
of Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar, and professor of
theology in the University of Wittenberg, Saxony, is the first
great event to which our attention is directed ; that being
the epoch from which we can trace the causes that drove
the Palatines of the Lower Rhine to seek a home in the then
province of New York nearly two hundred years afterwards.
It is worthy of note here, that in the celebrated contro-
versy at Leipsic in 1519, which formed an interesting event
in the development of the history of those times, two
peasants' sons, Martin Luther and Dr. John Mayer of Eck,
represented the antagonistic ideas that characterized the
times, and whose unity or further division could not fail to
produce consequences of the greatest importance in the civil-
ized world. Luther was the descendant of a peasant-
family living at the foot of the Thuringian forest in Moravia,
and Eck was the son of Michael Mayor of Eck, a peasant.
The princes of the Lower Palatinate of the Rhine early
28 HISTOBY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
embraced the tenets of the Reformation, vibrating between
the doctrines of Luther and Calvin, as suited the inclina-
tions and peculiar notions of the individual reigning princes ;
and the great body of their people usually changed with
their sovereigns. It once or twice occurred, in the course
of one hundred and fifty years, that the reigning prince
embraced the old religion, as it was then called ; but
this happened only when the Palatinate was bestowed upon
some new family or house, or when political motives dictated
a return to the Romish doctrines ; but the great mass of the
people rigidly adhered to the Protestant faith.
The final adjustment of the religious questions in the Ger-
man empire and the conclusion of the treaty of Westphalia,
took place in 1648, but this did not put an end to the reli-
gious wars in Europe. During the whole of the seventeenth
century, and before and since that period, up to the extin-
guishment of the title, the emperors of Germany adhered to
the Roman Catholic faith, and many of the princes of the
empire were devoted to the same tenets ; and while multi-
tudes of the peasantry and middle classes embraced the
doctrines of the Reformation, there was but small hope of
toleration until Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, con-
quered a peace for them.
There were, perhaps, two motives that induced the people
of the Palatinate to look to England for succor, at the com-
mencement of the eighteenth century. Frederick, then
Prince Palatine, who had married Elizabeth, daughter of
James I, king of England, was in 1619 elected king of the
states of Bohemia ; but in the year following he was signally
defeated at the battle of Weissenberg by the emperor of
Germany, driven into exile, and all his estates were confis-
cated. This was during the thirty years' religious war in
Germany. By the treaty of Westphalia the eldest son of the
banished Frederick was restored to his patrimonial estates
of the Lower Palatinate. This prince was cousin to Anne,
daughter of James II, who ascended the British throne in
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 29
1702, on the death of William III. The Palatinate was
occupied by the imperial armies in 1623, when the magnifi-
cent library of Heidelburg was seized and presented to the
Pope of Rome. It was restored in 1815. The lower Pala-
tinate was invaded by the French in 1689, many of its towns
were burnt and the country devastated, while the defense-
less inhabitants, who begged for mercy on their knees, were
stripped naked and driven into the fields, then covered with
snow, where many of them perished. One historian, in
speaking of the cruelties committed by the French on this
occasion, states that " the elector beheld from his castle, at
Manheim, two cities and twenty-five towns in flames, and
where lust and rapine walked hand in hand with fire and
sword." Thus for nearly seventy -five years was this fair
country, described as one of the most beautiful in Germany,
the theater of wars and the scene of rapine, ravages and
desolations, until the remnant of its population could no
longer find a hiding place in fatherland. The Catholic rulers
of France for a time sided with the Protestant league in
Germany during the thirty years' war, and soon afterwards
cut the throats of their Huguenot subjects at home.
The continental wars of Europe, at the close of the seven-
teenth and commencement of the eighteenth centuries, seem to
have been promoted very much by religious considerations.
The see of Rome was determined to "crush out" heresy,
and exerted all its spiritual and temporal powers to accom-
plish it, and well did the Catholic powers and princes of
Europe second the papal injunctions, except when great
reasons of state intervened to prevent. The majority of
Europe adhered to the Romish faith.
From the proximity of the Lower Palatinate to France and
the Netherlands, it is very probable that it received acces-
sions of population from both of those countries during the
religious wars ; and Manheim, a strong and well-built city
at that day. was in the year 1576 appointed as the place of
retreat for the families of the reformed religion, at that time
30 HlSTORi* OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
driven from the Spanish Netherlands, which considerably
enriched this electorate. A historian of the last century
describes the people of the Palatinate as " the most civilized
and polite of any in Germany ; extremely open and hospita-
ble to strangers, and generally well informed."
Although some of the characteristics of these people may
hove been modified by their intercourse with their southern
and more civilized neighbors, commencing nearly fifty years
before Julius Cresar invaded Gaul, it is not supposed that
this intercourse was so marked or extensive as to change
materially the habits, manners and customs of the inhabit-
ants of the Palatinate from those of their German country-
men, or that they lost any of the primitive High-Dutch
tongue.
It is not remarkable that a people so strongly attached to
the nomadic life as the early Germans were, and being
divided into tribes or septs, should vary in their dialects in
the different provinces, all however emanating from the same
original language.
This brief outline of the origin and persecutions of a
people whose exodus from Europe to America it is designed
to notice, will doubtless be excused, if not approved of, in a
work so entirely local as the one in hand. A more extended
recapitulation of European history in respect to the events
to which the writer has aimed to give prominence, seems
not to be required or desirable. He has brought forward
historical evidence of the facts he presents to the reader's
consideration ; concurrent historical evidence, and that is
the best testimony he can produce after the lapse of more
than three hundred years since some of those events hap-
pened, and one hundred and fifty years since the latest of
those events transpired. The reader who desires to see more
on this head, is referred to Kohlrausch's History of Ger-
many.
There is an historical legend connected with German his-
tory to this effect, but which is variously related by German
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 31
historians. Dtusus, the Roman general, had made three
campaigns into Germany, and while progressing on the
fourth, in the 9th year before the Christian era, he was
standing alone on the banks of the Elbe, ruminating no doubt
on the events and fortunes of war, when a supernatural
figure in the form of a gigantic woman of stern and threat-
ening appearance stood before him and addressed him in the
following language : " How much further wilt thou advance,
insatiable Drusus ? It is not appointed for thee to behold
all these countries. Depart hence ! the term of thy deeds
and thy life is at hand."
Drusus retired from his position on the Elbe, whether
from fright and dismay at hearing words which in that age
might be deemed prophetic, is not certain, and in a few
weeks fell from his horse and died in consequence. In a
superstitious age an ardent imagination might have conjured
up spectres quite as appalling as this, but it is probable this
was a device of some of the prophetic women of the county.
Note — Approved authors assert that the early German tribes navigated from
central Asia into Europe.
CHAPTER III.
1709 to 1722.
The Immigration of the Palatines — Joshua Kockerthal and his Company —
Arrive at New York in 1708-9 — Naturalized in England — Settle in Ulster
County — Second Arrival in 1710 — Sickness and Deaths on the Passage
— Governor Hunter — Board of Trade and Plantations — Lands on the
Mohaks River and Skohare to be Surveyed — Hunter buys Lands of Living-
ston— Complaints of the People — Their Children taken from them and
Bound Out — John Peter Zenger the Printer — They Volunteer to go to
Canada under Col. Nicholson in 1711 — Refuse to Stay Longer on the Manor
and Insist on going to Scohary — Party Migrate to Schoharie Creek in 1712-
13 — Reason why placed on Frontiers — Character of Robert Livingston by
a Minister of the Crown — Gov. Burnet's arrival — His Instructions — John
Conrad Weiser — Third Arrival of Palatines, 1722 — Burnet to Board of
Trade — Indian Deed to Palatines — Their Desire to Remove — Object of the
Home Government — Results not foreseen.
The origin or cause of the first immigrations from the
Lower Palatinate of the Rhine to America, as we have seen,
was religious persecution, and the devastations of the country
consequent upon the religious wars of Europe, of which
Germany was the battlefield nearly one hundred years. The
affinity existing between the sovereigns of England and the
Palatinate, and the deep sympathy felt by Protestant Eng-
lishmen for their suffering brethren in Germany, produced
the application to Queen Anne, in 1708, to send the Pala-
tines to her then colony of New York.
Immigration of the Palatines.
In the first quarter of the eighteenth century, three bodies
of these people arrived in New York, having been sent over
at the expense of the British government. By an order in
council made at Whitehall, England, May 10, 1708, it appears
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 33
that Joshua Kockerthal, evangelical minister, and several
poor Lutherans, had come to England from the Lower Pala-
tinate- in Germany, being forty-one persons, ten men, ten
women and twenty-one children. They are described as
having been reduced to want by the ravages of the French
in their country, and are represented as being of good
character. This paper states they would have been sent to
Jamaica or Antigua, but it was feared the hot climate of
those islands would prove injurious to their constitutions.
It was finally concluded to send them to the colony of New
York, Avhere they could be employed in obtaining naval
stores after being seated on the frontiers as a barrier against
the French and their Indians ; and on the 10th of August
following, the provincial governor was directed to provide
subsistence for Joshua Kockerthal and fifty-two German
Protestants, and " to grant him 500 acres of land for a glebe
with liberty to sell a suitable portion thereof for his better
maintenance till he shall be able to live by the produce of
the remainder."
An order was made in the provincial council at New York,
May 26, 1709, to continue the relief promised by the queen
until the expiration of twelve months from the date of their
arrival, and this relief was to include clothes, mechanical
tools and materials to work with. This was the vanguard
which was to be planted in advance of the population then
in the province as a barrier against the common enenry.
This company probably arrived at New York about the close
of the year 1708, and did not leave England before the
month of August of that year. They were naturalized by
the crown before they started. In the year 1714, we find a
Lutheran minister, Joshua Kockerthal, settled in Ulster
county, and hence it will be inferred that most if not all of
the first company which came over, followed their spiritual
teacher and remained with him.
The second and more numerous company of Palatines
arrived at New York, some of them in the ship Lyon, a short
34 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
time before June 13, 1710, and in consequence of sickness
during the voyage they were directed to remain at quaran-
tine at Nutten island, now called Governor's island, where
huts were erected for them and provisions furnished at the
public expense. More than three thousand emigrants
came over about this time. It was asserted by Governor
Hunter that over four hundred and seventy died on the
passage, and ten vessels were employed in bringing them to
their future and long wished for homes.
It should be noticed here for reasons that will be suffi-
ciently obvious by and by, that this company came over in
special charge of Hunter, who had particular directions
where to settle them, for in the report of the board of trade
and plantations, dated December 5th, 1709, approved Janu-
ary 7th, 1710, on the settlement of an additional number of
Palatines in New York, the commissioners assert that these
settlements would be a protection against the French of
Canada and the Indians scattered over the continent. In
pointing out the place most suitable for seating the Pala-
tines, the commissioners designate " a tract of land lying on
the Mohaques river, containing about fifty miles in length,
and four miles in breadth, and a tract of land lying upon a
creek [evidently the Schoharie] which runs into said river,
containing between twenty-four and thirty miles in length.
This last mentioned land is claimed by the Mohaques, but
that claim may be satisfied on very easy terms." They
notice the obstruction to water navigation on the river by
the Cohoes falls, but think this should be no hindrance, as
there would be only a short land-carriage. In the spring
of 1710, Hunter directed the survey of lands on the
" Mohaks " river, and particularly in the " Skohare to which
the Indians had no pretence." But these lands, although
very good, he thought unfit for the design in hand, as they
Lay remote and there were no pines, and after admitting
that pine lands were unfit tor farming purposes, he says, " I
am in terms with some who have lands on the Hudson's river
HISTORY OP HERKIMKR COUXTY. 35
fitt for that purpose which I intend to view next week."
In October of the same year he says, "I have been obliged
to purchase a tract of land on Hudson's river from Mr.
Livingston, consisting of 6000 acres, for .£400 of this country
money, for planting of the greatest division of the Palatines."
He remarks that the soil is good, adjacent to pines which
he had also purchased, and convenient to vessels of fifty foot
water. He also informs the board of trade he had found an
ungranted tract near by on the west side of the river where
he had planted the remainder of the Palatines or intended
to do so sOOll.
Mr. Robert Livingston, who sold the 6000 acres to Hunter,
obtained a contract from the governor to victual the Pala-
tines, and cheated them in the quantity of flour delivered,
by marking the tare of the barrels less than the actual weight
of them. The Palatines on Livingston's manor and on the
opposite side of the Hudson river, in 1711, numbered about
1800 in all, according to the subsistence accounts rendered
to the government by Livingston and his agents, and it is
not probable they would make the number less than they
should be. There appears to have been much complaint
among these people in respect to their treatment by the
government officials, and they no doubt felt themselves
sorely aggrieved, and did not hesitate to present their case
to the home government in strong but respectful language,
boldly asserting that the conditions on which they agreed to
come to New York had not been kept with them. A very
considerable number of their children were taken from
them by the governor and bound out to the inhabitants of
the colony, and among these were two sons of John Conrad
Weiser, who afterwards became somewhat conspicuous
among the Schoharie settlers ; and also John Peter Zenger,
the son of a poor widow, who was bound to William Brad-
ford, a printer in New York. Zenger, it is said, afterwards
became the proprietor of a newspaper in that city, and
having indulged rather freely in some strictures on the
36 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
government, his paper was burned by the common hangman,
and the patriotic and fearless Palatine was indicted for a
libel in 1734. He was however acquitted on the traverse
of the indictment, to the great gratification of the people
assembled to hear the trial. Zenger was then about thirty
years old.
In the year 1711, about three hundred Palatines accom-
panied Col. Nicholson in the expedition into Canada, and
among these volunteers the following names are found :
Hen. Hoffman, Warner Dirchest, Fred. Bellinger, Hen.
Wederwachs, Frantz Finck, Martin Dillenback, Jacob Web-
ber, William Nellis, George Dachstader, Christian Bauch,
Mich, lttick, Melch. Folts, Niclaus Loux, Hartman Windecker,
Hans Hen. Zeller, Jno. Wm. Finck, Jno. Hen. Arendorfl',
Johan Schneider, Henry Feling, Joh. Jost Petry and Lud.
W. Schmit, names familiar in the Mohawk valley, if they
did not compose some of the first settlers at the German
Flats.
Mr. Clark, the colonial secretary, under the date of May 30,
1711, informed the board of trade that the Palatines would
not work at making pitch and tar, nor remain on the lands
where they had been seated, on the Hudson river, but were
intent on going to Schohary and settle on the lands the queen
had ordered for them. In 1712 the insubordination had
become so great that troops were called into the Palatine
settlements to reduce the people to order. But Gov.
Hunter failed in compelling an entire submission to his will,
for in the fall of that year some of their leading men were
sent to the Indians on the Schoharie creek to crave permis-
sion to settle among them, and this being granted, a Palatine
migration to the Schoharie valley took place in the winter
of 1712-13, comprising some forty or fifty families. Others
followed, no doubt, soon after. This seems to be the first
ofi-shoot of the first two emigrations in the direction of the
Mohawk valley.
While the French retained Canada, it was no doubt a wise
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 37
policy on the part of the mother country to strengthen the
northern and western frontiers of this colony, and the Pala-
tines having tasted the bitter cup of persecution in their
own country, and suffered all the horrors that savage and
relentless war could inflict, but death, which to many would
have been a blessing, were the fittest people on the European
continent to be placed where the home government designed
they should be. They had not forgotten the names of the
nations, the armies and religionists which had sacked and
burned their towns and hamlets and driven them from loved
homes and revered fatherland, nor would they soon dis-
remember them.
\ In a letter written in March, 1711, by a member of the
British government to one of his colleagues, the writer says :
" I think it unhappy that Colo. Hunter at his first arrival in
his government fell into ill hands, for this Livingston has
been known many years in that province for a very ill man,
he formerly victualled the forces at Albany, in which he
was guilty of most notorious frauds by which he greatly
improved his estate ; he has a mill and a brew-house upon
his land, and if he can get the victualling of those Palatines
who are conveniently posted for his purpose, he will make
a very good addition to his estate, and I am persuaded the
hopes he has of such a subsistence to be allowed, were the
chief, if not the only inducements that prevailed with him
to propose to Colo. Hunter to settle them upon his land."
Hunter was no doubt the willing dupe of, or sadly over-
reached by Livingston, and his folly or imbecility had come
to the knowledge of his superiors. His bills were protested
and the adjustment of his accounts suspended for further
examination and vouchers.
A biographical notice of this Robert Livingston shows
him to have been a native of Scotland — that he came to
this country in 1674, settled at Albany, and filled several
important offices in the course of a long and pretty success-
ful life. That at one time he had some connection with the
4
38 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
world-renowned and "most abandoned villain," Capt. Kidd,
whom he had introduced to the notice of Lord Bellomont,
when colonial governor, and that all three were in some
way concerned in fitting out a privateer of which Kidd was
to take charge on joint account. Livingston's biographer
acquits him and Lord Bellomont of being cognizant of Kidd's
felonies on the high seas, but thinks he was possessed of
large acquisitiveness. He no doubt acquired a good deal of
wealth from his connection with the Palatines, not alone by
means of his contract with the government for victualing
them, but in appropriating their labor to improving his lands.
Governor Burnet came out in the year 1720, and in con-
sequence of the preceding troubles had with the Palatines
and the difficulties attendant on the coercive efforts to retain
them on the Hudson river, he was specially instructed to
remove such of them as might desire it, to lands more suit-
able for them. The action of the home government was, no
doubt, accelerated by the presentation of a strong memorial
from the commissioners of the Palatines at Schoharie, who
went to England in 1718 to present the condition, grievances
and oppressions of the Germans in the province of New
York to the proper authorities there. John Conrad Weiser,
a captain of one of the companies in the expedition against
Montreal in the year 1711, was at the head of this commis-
sion. Their petitions or memorials were presented to the
board of trade only sixteen days before the above instruc-
tions were given.
The object has been, in this examination, to fix the date
of the first settlement of the Palatines at German Flats, and
since it is known that these people came over at different
times, to ascertain which three bodies of immigrants, or
what portions of them finally seated themselves in the wil-
derness frontier of the upper Mohawk valley.
The third company of Palatine immigrants arrived at
New York from Holland in October, 1722, having touched
at England on the passage ; and the ship in which they came
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 39
had lost many of its passengers during the voyage. The
exodus of the Palatines from Schoharie to Pennsylvania and
the lower valley of the Mohawk had not taken place before
this period.
On the 21st November, 1722, Gov. Burnet informed the
board of trade, &c, that he had expected when he was at
Albany, to have fixed the Palatines in their new settlement
which lie had obtained of the Indians for them at a very
easy purchase, but in consequence of the divisions among
them, and their complaints about the quality of the lands in
the new purchase, he concluded not to show any earnestness
in pressing them to go on to the lands. But he says there
were about sixty families who desired to have a distinct
tract by themselves, and being those who had all along been
most hearty for the government, he had given them leave
to purchase lands from the Indians between the English
settlements near Fort Hunter and part of Canada, on a crock
called Canada creek, where they will be more immediately
a barrier against the sudden incursions of the French, who
made this their road when they last attacked and burned
the frontier town called Schonectady. The Indian deed
for the lands at and west of Little Falls, covered in part by
the so called Burnetsfield patent, is dated July 9th, 1722,
anterior to the arrival of the third company of Palatine
immigrants, and this fact forces the conclusion that the
grantees of the patent were composed chiefly, if not entirely
of those Palatines who arrived in 1710, and were first seated
on the Hudson river ; and this view seems to be strength-
ened by Gov. Burnet's remarks to the board of trade. It is
quite certain that but few, if any, of the Schoharie people
were among the first settlers of the German Flats, unless
they straggled from below. But there is no such name as
Erghcmar, Herkemer or Herkimer in the lists of those who
came over in the two first companies of immigrants, nor
apparently any name from which Herkimer could be derived
or coined without violating all known rules of etymology.
40 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
The Erghemar family were not among the Palatines on
Hudson river in 1711, nor of those who remained in New
York. They probably arrived with the third company of
immigrants in 1722, from Holland, where they had sojourned
many years.
At what time these people actually settled upon the lands
patented to them by the crown, in the spring of 1725, is
perhaps problematical, and rests in tradition. They were
very urgent to remove to a part of the country where they
could pursue their avocations and indulge in their own
peculiar customs, unmolested by strangers and uncontrolled
by colonial task masters ; where the lands they tilled were
secured to them by all the sanctions of a public grant
emanating from the king. They had long felt and known
that "patience and hope made fools of those who fill their
hands with them." They and their ancestors, for three
quarters of a century nearly, had been afflicted with all the
worldly evils and miseries that an intolerant and tyrannical
hierarchy, supported by absolute despotic governments, could
bring upon them ; and they had looked to the future with
patient and hopeful emotions for a day of deliverance.
After twelve years of trial and privation incident to a new
climate and a wilderness country, during which time they
saw that strangers, and not their families after them, were
to be benefited by their labors, no lands had yet been set
out to them, by grant from the crown, well might they
exclaim that those who endure patiently present wrongs and
take no other means of relief only to hope for it, were unwise
and improvident.
The Dutch recaptured New York in 1673, but it was
restored to the English by treaty in 1674. At this time and
to the close of the seventeenth century, a very great majority
of the people of the province were Low Dutch or Hollanders,
and the French of Canada exerted much interest with all
the Iroquois Indians, through the agency of the Jesuits and
the control of the fur trade, except theMaquaes, Mohocks or
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 41
Mohawks. The whole country from Albany north to Lake
Champlain, and from Schenectady west to Lakes Ontario
and Erie was an unbroken wilderness, and it was therefore
important that England should strengthen her colony of
New York in both directions by planting settlements as
barriers against hostile approaches, but she had no people
to spare ; the continental wars in which she had been
long engaged and was then involved, more than decimated
her population, and she eagerly embraced the opportunity
of sending over the Palatines at the public expense. Gov.
Burnet, whose talents, learning and kindness commended
him to the well disposed colonists, seconded this policy of
his government with zeal and success. Little did the
governor or the home government then believe they were
planting a barrier of stout hearts and sinewy arms on this
frontier, which was soon to aid in obstructing the designs
of the mother country in one of her most deliberate and best
planned campaigns of the revolution. Nor could these then
homeless exiles put aside the curtain of futurity and behold
the terrific and tragic scenes which were so effectively and
relentlessly enacted upon the soil they had chosen for their
homes, and by the power through whose agency they had
obtained their promised land.
The precise time when the Palatines made their first lodg-
ment in the county is not ascertained. It was not later than
1725. Some who have speculated upon the subject suppose
they came up the Mohawk valley as far as the Little Falls and
to the Stone Ridge as early as the year 1720. Their agents,
sent to spy out the lands, may have traversed the valley to
the western bounds of the territory claimed by the Mohawk
Indians as early as 1720, and perhaps before that period ;
but Gov. Burnet had not fixed them in the new settlement
he had obtained for them of the Indians, at a very easy
purchase, as late as November, 1722, and he that year per-
mitted some of them to purchase lands of the Indians " on a
creek called Canada creek." They secured tin1 carrying
42 HISTOEY OF HEEKIMEE COUNTY.
place at the lesser falls as well as a long extent of wilder-
ness country above, by their Indian deed ; and the license
of the colonial government to make the purchase, may have
been considered by both parties, an authorization for them
to remove before the patent was made out, as it no doubt
was a solemn, irrevocable public pledge that the lands would
be granted by the crown as soon as they should be surveyed.
On this hypothesis it may be conjectured that settlements
were made at or near the present site of the Stone Church
in the town of German Flats, and at Herkimer village as early
as the years 1723-24, if not before. Owning the lands at
the carrying place, it is not likely that point was long
neglected or unimproved.
Burnetsfield patent, so called in popular parlance, is
a curious document, and well worthy of some special
notice. It was granted on the 30th of April, 1725. It
recites that " whereas our loving subjects, John Joost
Patri and Coenradt Bickert, in behalf of themselves and
other distressed Palatines, by their humble petition pre-
sented the 17th day of January, 1722, to our trusty and
well beloved William Burnet, Esq., Captain General and
Governor in chief of the province of New York, in council
have set forth that in" accordance with the governor's
license they had purchased " of the native Indians in the
Mohawks country " the tract of land on both sides of the
" Mohawks river " commencing at the " first carrying place
[Little Falls] , being the eastermost bounds called by the
natives Astourogon, running along on both sides of the said
river westerly unto a place called Gauondagaraon, or the
upper end of it," being " about twenty-four English miles
along on both sides of the said river." The Indian deed is
dated July 9th, 1722. That the council advised the governor
to " grant to each of the said persons, man, woman and child,
as are desirous to settle within the limits of the said tract
of land the quantity of one hundred acres."
The grantees were to hold the lands of the crown in free
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 43
and common socage, that being the usual tenure named in
the colonial grants at this time, as of the manor of East
Greenwich, in the county of Kent, in Great Britain, subject
to an annual quit-rent of two shillings and sixpence per
hundred acres, and on condition that the grantees, their
heirs and assigns, should within three years from the date,
plant, settle and effectually cultivate at least three acres of
land of every fifty acres" granted to them. This patent also
contains the usual reservation of gold and silver mines,
timber fit for the royal navy, and the right to enter upon the
lands and take and carry away the same.
Of the ninety-two persons named in the patent to whom
lands were granted, twenty-two appear to be females, by the
description, married, single or widowed. The paper does
not disclose the number of families or the heads of families
represented by males who settled on the»tract, or how many
one hundred acre lots went to any one family, husband,
wife and children. There are several Pellingers, Starings,
Wevers, Smiths, Edicks, Beermans, to whom grants were
made. Jurgh Erghemer, Johan Jost, Madalana and Catha-
rina Erghemar are separately named, but Nicholas Herkimer,
afterwards the General, was not a patentee.
One design of this work is to rescue the names of those
martyrs to posterity from the oblivion of old parchments
and musty records, and place them on the historic page,
from which, humble as their pretensions may be considered
by some, they have been too long excluded. Some of those
names will hardly be recognized, at this day, by their
descendants.
44
history of herkimer county.
List of Patentees.
Names of patentees arranged.
Remarks.
B.
100
1. Beerman, Mary,
2. Beerman, Johannes,*
3. Same, [26! "
4. Bowman, Jacob, 117 "
5. Bowman, Johan Adam, 14 30
Same, 14! 70
D.
6. Dacksteder, Anna, wife of
Jurgh Dacksteder,
7. Dacksteder, Jurgh,
Same,
E.
100
30
70
5 100
8. Edich, Elizabeth,
9. Edigh, Johan Michael, j33j
10. Edich, Jacob .' 121 "
11. Editch, Michael, J20, "
12. Erghemar, Jurgh, 44j "
13. Erghemar, Johan Jost, 36| "
14. Eighemar, Madalana, 24j 70
15. Erghemar, Catharina, 5 100
F.
16. Feller, Nicholas,
Same,
17. Feller, Mary, wife of Nicholas
Feller, 116100
18. Felmore, Coenradt, |l9| "
19. Felmore, Christiana, 18
20. Fols, Jacob, . .
21. Fols, Melgert,
Same,
3, <<
2 30
2 70
Fox, Christopher, 26 100
H.
23. Heger, Henry,
24. Helmer, Elizabeth, wife of
Lendert Helmer, 14
25. Helmer, Philip, 25
26. Helmer, Johan Adam, 6; 30
Same, 6 70
27. Helmer, Lendert, 21' 30
Same, |2ll 70
28. Helmer, Fredrick, j 1 100
29. Helmer, Anna Margaret, wife
of John Adam Helmer, .... 12 "
30. Herter, Apolone, I 7] "
North
At the Little Falls.
South
North' All the 30 acre lots were set
on what were called the
Great Flats, in and near
the present village of Her-
kimer. The 70 acre lots
South are described in the pa-
North tent as wood land.
South
Mohawk Village.
And large island in river.
North
it
South
(C
u
It
North
((
South
North
Mohawk Village.
South
East side of West Canada
Creek.
* Two lots of same number to Johannes Iiecrmnn.
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
45
Names of patentees arranged.
s a*
d c- = = -
S5 ^ O
31. Herter, Lowrens,. .
32. Hess, Augustines, .
33. Hoss, Johannes, . .
37 100
io; "
31 "
34. Keslaer, Johannes,
35. Keslaer, Nicholas,
36. Kust, Johan Jurgh, Jr.,
Same,
37. Kast, Johan Jurgh,
Same,
38. Koons, Mary Catharine, widow
Same,
39. Korsing, Rudolph,
40. Korsing, Belia,wife of Rudolph
Korsing,
41. Koues, Lodowick,
L.
42. Lant, Anna Catherine, widow,
Same,
30
70
30
70
30
70
100
M.
— i 43. Mayor, Hendrik 11
Same, ill
44. Mayor, Anna, j29
*} - 45. Miller, Johannes, 43
O.
46. Orendros, Conradt. .
47. Orendorf, Hendrik,
P.
48. Pears, Catharine,
49. Pears, Lodowick,
50. Pell, Frederick,
51. Pell, Anna Mary,
52. Pellinger, Johannes,
Same,
53. Pellinger, Peter,
Same,
54. Pellinger, Margaret, wife of
Peter Pellinger
55. Pellinger, Frederick,
56. Pellinger, Margaret, wife of
Johannes Pellinger,
57. Petri, Johan Joost,
Same,
58. Petri, Gurtruydt,wife of Johan
Joost Petri,
59. Petri, Mark,
60. Pouradt, Johannes,
61. Poenradt, Gurtruydt, wife of
Johannes Poenradt,
30
70
100
South |
North At the Little Falls.
South
North
South
90
100
30
70
30
70
100
30
70
86
100
Near Rankin's Lock.
North
South Opposite Great Flats.
" Opposite Great Flats.
North And 4 of an island.
" On east side of West Caua-
" Same. [da Creek.
South
Near Mohawk Village.
North
" Stone Ridge, Herkimer Vil-
South lage.
North Capt. Peter Klock.
46
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Names of patentees arranged.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
7U.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
S5.
86.
87.
R.
Reelle, Godfrey,
Same,
Reele, Godfrey, Jr.,*.
Reele, Godfrey,
Riekert, Lodowick, . . .
Same,
Riekert, Catharine, . . .
Riekert, Conradt,
Riekert, Mark,
S.
Shoemaker, Rudolph,
Shoemaker, Thomas,
Same,
Smith, Adam Michael, ....
Same,
Smith, Johan Jurgh,
Same,
Smith, Ephraini,
Smith, Marte,
Speis, Peter,
Speis, Elizabeth, wife of Peter
Speis,
Spoon, Hendrik,
Spoon, Hendrik, Jr.,
Staring, Mary Eva, wife of
John Adam Staring,
Staring, John Adam,
Staring, Frederick,
Same,
Staring, Johannes Velden,
Staring, Nicholas,
Staring, Joseph,
Staring, John Velde, Jr.,
T.
Temouth, John Jost,
Temouth, Fredrigh,.
Same,
30
70
100
100
30
70
100
30
70
30
70
30
70
100
94
30
70
100
12 "
17 30
17; 70
V.
88. Veldelent, John, 3 30
Same, 3 70
89. Veldelent, Anna, | 2 100
W.
90. Wever, Jacob, 10 30
Same, 10 70
91. Wever, Nicholas, 16 30
Same, 16 70
92. Wever, Andries, 11 100
93. Wever, Jacob, Jr., J15 "
94. Welleven, Nicholas, 30 "
North
it
Soutl
North
(i
K
South
North
c<
«i
ci
South
u
t(
(I
North
Ilion Village.
Ilion Village.
At the Little Falls.
And 3 of an island.
South
North At Little Falls.
South
Ft. Herkimer, Stone Church.
* Same lot to Godfrey Reele and Godfrey Hcele, Jr.
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 47
Note. — The emigration of the Palatines to the province of New York in
1709, was an interesting event in the history of the colony. John Conrad
Weiser, a man of note and influence among these people, and who went
to England to solicit relief for them, in his memorial to the government, of
August 2d, 1720, states their numbers when they left England, near the
close of 1709, at about 4000, and that 170C of them died on the passage or at
their landing in New York. His son Conrad Weiser, as appears from the
Collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, states that the number at
leaving was 4000. They came over with Gov. Hunter and under his charge.
They were sent out at the expense of the British government, not only for
their passage but for their subsistence one year after they arrived. In all
published documents, colonial and imperial, their numbers are stated at 3000
and no more.
Mr. Cast, who was placed over them as a superintendent, reported the whole
number on both sides of the Hudson river, May 1, 1711, at 1761, and Secretary
Clark, to the lords of trade, states there were 1803 in June 1711, still remaining
on Livingston manor, and on the west side of the river where they had been
planted by Gov. Hunter. And again, the number reported for subsistence in
the seven towns on the 24th of June, 1711, is 1874. A six months' voyage
across the Atlantic at that early day was a severe task upon human endurance,
but a loss of more than 2100 lives in eighteen months, or about 1100 out of
the 3000, shows a want of care on their part, or excessive remissness on the
part of those who had charge of them.
Gov. Hunter, as late as 1713, reported that all the Palatines were within
the province, and for the most part on the lands where he had planted them ;
and in May following, that " many have gone of their own heads to settle at
Scoharie and on the frontiers. In October, 1712, the governor told the
managers of the Palatines they must of themselves seek employment for the
winter, and upon this intimation some hundreds went to Scoharie, and that
he was the more easy under it because he could not prevent it. In 1715, he
says these people were dispersed by his orders.
It is quite evident the Earl of Clarendon, formerly Lord Combury, colonial
governor, understood his subject when he told Lord Dartmouth that Living-
ston was an " ill man," who would peculate upon the public by his subsist-
ence contract, and that Hunter should have planted the Palatines on the
Mohacks river.
Mr. John Cast wrote Gov. Hunter in March, 1711, that live of the Palatines
said to him, " We came to America to establish our families — to secure lands
for our children on which they will support themselves after we die ; and
that we can not do here." In December, 1709, the board of trade reported
to queen Anne in favor of settling 3000 Palatines on the Hudsons or Mohaques
rivers, or on the Score creek, each family to have forty acres of land as a
reward ; to be employed in making naval stores for a limited time, and to be
naturalized in the province free of charge ; and the attorney-general in Eng-
48 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
land reported a contract which was executed by them and by which they
were to have granted to them forty acres of land for each person forever, free
from taxes and quit rents for seven years. It was the non-fulfillment of this
contract, and planting them on lands where they were employed in improving
other men's estates, that caused their disquiet, and what was called unruly
conduct.
It was not until 1724, after Governor Burnett's arrival, that the 6000 acres
purchased by Gov. Hunter of Mr. Livingston fourteen years before, was
secured by patent to the Palatines remaining on Livingston's manor. Justice,
though slow, came with a liberal hand at last, for each of the sixty-three
families took what they had in possession improved, and the residue of the
6000 acres in common.
Johannus Wilhelm Schess, one of the agents of the Palatines in London,
on the 1st November, 1720, presented a petition to the lords commissioners
of trade and plantations, in which he asks to have the lands possessed by
the Palatines in Sckorie confirmed to them, and also that grants may be made
to those people residing in other parts of the province. He asks to have
Weiser's petition, presented the previous August, for a grant of land in Penn-
sylvania dismissed, as being contrary to the wishes of the people who sent
them to England. Weiser stated there were 3000 Germans in the Schoharie
valley. Schess rated them at about 1000 souls and 3000 more dispersed in
different parts of the province.
As all the colonial governments surrounding New York and New Jersey
were at this time proprietary and not royal, these agents understood very
well the policy of placing their numbers at a high figure. The whole number
reported to be in the province in 1718, exclusive of widows and orphans,
was only 1601. It was the object of the crown, as expressed by Gov. Hunter,
to retain these people in New York or New Jersey. Apprehending a failure
on this head by a further effort to carry out Hunter's plans, the whole policy
was changed when Governor Burnet came out. Although several of the
Schoharie settlers, and among them Captain Weiser, were parties to the peti-
tion to the governor and council in 1721, for a license to purchase the Indian
title, and also grantees named in the Indian deed made in 1722, they were
not, it seems, parties to the act of confirmation which took place January 17,
1723. Captain Weiser went to England in 1718, and did not return until
1723, and in the spring of that year he, with most of the Germans at Scho-
harie, went to Pennsylvania. Some of them remained at Schoharie and others
came over to the Mohawk river.
Governor Burnet at one time contemplated removing the whole mass of
the German population then under his government to the center of the state,
for in his letter of October 16, 1721, to the lords of trade, he says : " I did
intend to settle the Palatines as far as I could in the middle of our Indians,
but finding they could not be brought to that, I have granted their own
request, which was to have a license to purchase of the nearest Indians which
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 49
are on the Mohocks, which I have granted them with this condition, that they
be not nearer than a. fall in the Mohocks river, which is forty miles from Fort
Hunter, and four score from Albany, by which the frontier will be so much
extended, and those people seem very well pleased and satisfied with what I
have done."
The governor's first idea was, in conformity with instructions from the
home government, to plant all the Palatines together on one large tract, the
Indian title to which he had then obtained at a late purchase, but he
found them divided into parties, the cunningest among them fomenting
divisions in order to induce the most of them to leave the province, and they
expressing an unwillingness to take these lands, he abandoned that project
also ; and in his letter to the lords of trade, of November 21, 1722. " as about
sixty families desired to be in a distinct tract from the rest," he gave them
leave to purchase from the Indians on the Canada creek, where they woidd
be more immediately a barrier against the sudden incursions of the French.
The act of confirmation, January 17, 1723, as may be seen, required that
the names and number of all the persons to be concerned in the grant should
be certified to the surveyor-general before the survey was made, and as appears
by the patent issued, there were only thirty-nine families and ninety-four
persons reported, or who came forward and accepted the bounty of the
government.
CHAPTER IV.
1722 to 1772.
First settlement at the German Flats — License to Purchase of Indians —
Some notice of the Patent — Names of Patentees — Period of Rest — Fort at
Oswego built in 1726 — Defenses near Rome — Frontier Posts destroyed by
the French in 1756 — Palatine Settlement destroyed in 1757 — M. de Bel-
letre's account of it — Not credited by one of Ms Countrymen — Gov. de
Laney — Fort Harenieger — Alleged Apathy of the Inhabitants — Reasons for
Doubting — Indian Statements — Deputy Superintendent — Indian Fidelity
Questioned — Escape of the Minister — Another Attack in 1758 — Conduct
of Teamsters and the Rangers — Woman Scalped — Quiet Restored by the
Capture of Fort Frontenau in 175S and Quebec in 1759 — Colonial Wars —
Commerce Restricted — Complaints of Colonists — Lord Camden — Mr.
Pitt — Sir William Johnson — Attachment of the Palatines to the Cause of
the Colonists.
The settlements at the German Flats enjoyed nearly thirty-
five years of rest, and in that time had made rapid progress
in clearing their farms, building houses and barns, raising
stock and establishing defenses against attacks from any
hostile quarter. Governor Burnet had in 1726, although
violently opposed by the governor-general of Canada, erected
a fort at the mouth of the Oswego river, the good will of
the Iroquois had been secured in its defense, and the fur
trade with the Indians within the province, which had been
chiefly engrossed by the French of Canada, was principally
secured to the English. Besides the protection afforded by
the fort at Oswego, there were some defenses at or near
the present village of Rome ; and although other frontier
portions of the colony had been afflicted with the scourge
of barbarous and exterminating war, these Palatines had
enjoyed a long period of repose. In 1756, the English fort
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 51
at Oswego was captured, and the small fortifications on
Wood creek and the upper Mohawk were taken and demo-
lished by the French; and on the 12th of November, 1757,
an expedition under the command of M. de Belletre, com-
posed of about three hundred marines, Canadians and
Indians, which had traversed the wilderness by the way of
Black river, attacked and destroyed the Palatine settlements
on the north side of the Mohawk river at or near the present
village of Herkimer. A portion of the French narrative of
this expedition, with all its exaggerations and expletives, is
given verbatim as a specimen of colonial bragging and
French grandiloquence of that day:
"On the 11th November, at three o'clock in the afternoon,
M. de Belletre, preceded as was his custom by scouts, crossed
the river Corlaer [Mohawk] with his detachment, partly
swimming, partly in water up to the neck. He encamped
at nightfall in the woods a league and a half from the first
of the five forts that covered the Palatine settlements.
"The 12th, at three o'clock in the morning, he gave his
detachment the order of march and attack so as to surround
the said five forts and the entire Palatine village, consisting
of sixty houses.
" Though M. de Belletre knew that the English got notice
the day preceding, yet that the courage of the Indians may
not receive the least check, and to show them that he would
not rashly expose them, he liberated an Indian of the Five
Nations, whom he had until then detained under suspicion.
But this savage could not injure M. de Belletre, because he
commenced at the same time to attack the five forts and the
Palatines' houses.
"At sight of the first fort he decided to take it by assault.
The enemy kept up a most active fire of musketry, but the
intrepidity with which M. de Belletre, with all the officers
and Canadians of his detachment advanced, coupled with
the war whoop of the Indians, terrified the English to the
degree that the mayor of the village of the Palatines, who
52 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
commanded the said fort, opened the doors and asked for
quarters.
" M. de Belletre lost no time in repairing to the second,
the third, the fourth and fifth, which were not less intimi-
dated than the first, by his intrepidity and the cries of the
Indians. They all surrendered at discretion, and were
entirely burnt.
"During this time a party of Canadians and Indians
ravaged and burnt the said sixty houses of the Palatines,
their barns and other out buildings', as well as the water
mill.
"In all these expeditions about forty English perished —
killed or drowned. The number of prisoners is nearly one
hundred and fifty men, women and children, among whom
is the mayor of the village, the surgeon and some militia
officers. We had not a man killed; but M. de Lorimer,
officer, was wounded in the right side by a ball, and three
or four savages slightly.
" The damage inflicted on the enemy is estimated accord-
ing to the representations of the English themselves, to wit:
" In grain, of all sorts, a much larger quantity than the
island of Montreal has produced in years of abundance.
The same of hogs; 3000 horned cattle; 3000 sheep. All
these articles were to be sent in a few days to Corlaer
[Schenectady] ; 1500 horses, 300 of which were taken by the
Indians, and the greater number consumed for the support
of the detachment.
" The property in furniture, wearing apparel, merchandise
and liquor, might form a capital of 1,500,000 livres [$277,-
500]. The mayor of the village alone has lost 400,000
[$74,000]. The French and Indians have acquired as rich
a booty as t"hey could carry off. They have in specie, more
than 100,000 livres [$18,500]. One Indian alone has as
much as 30,000 [$5,550]. There was likewise plundered a
quantity of wampum, silver bracelets, &c, scarlet cloth and
other merchandise, which would form a capital of 80,000
rijiiuiiidl'folik'ollxoticnrlicdWorknniiKllIiiikcjricislKniscat v German Hats 1/5 1>
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 53
more. All this damage could not be done short of forty-
eight hours. M. de Belletre made provision to be always
able to resist the enemy, who, as has been observed, were to
the number of 350 men in the said Fort Kouari [Herkimer] ,
about a quarter of a league from the field of battle."
This is a most extraordinary narrative of a most barbarous
transaction, and is so characterized by one of M. de Belletre's
own countrymen, Mr. Daine, in his report to the French
minister, in which he says the injury inflicted " in horned
cattle, sheep and horses has been greatly exaggerated in the
relation of M. de Belletre's expedition. It must be dimin-
ished at least a good half. It is still more exaggerated in
regard to furniture, wearing apparel, merchandise and
liquors, which are carried up to fifteen hundred thousand
livres, as well as the loss of the Palatine village in Indian
corn." And Gov. De Lancy, in mentioning the destruction
of " a valuable settlement on the north side of the Mohawk's
river, opposite to Fort Hareniger, called the German Flats,"
says " the loss is estimated at twenty thousand pounds this
money," fifty thousand dollars, a pretty large discrepancy
from that given by the valorous Frenchman, who seemed
somewhat desirous that his achievement should begin to com-
pare with the martial deeds of his illustrious countryman,
Turrene, when he ravaged the German Palatinate about one
hundred years before.
The confidence inspired by a long exemption from hostile
visits, proved in this case extremely unfortunate. It is
asserted that these people were informed the day before, by
friendly Indians, of the contemplated attack of the French
and Indians, but being extremely incredulous, they gave no
heed to these admonitions. Their settlement was in sight
of a fort on the south side of the river, garrisoned by three
hundred and fifty men; so says the French account, and it
must be taken at considerable discount. But if this was
true in all its parts, these people had some grounds to sup-
pose, if they were attacked, that they would be aided by an
5
54 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
armed force so near at hand in repelling the assault; their
retirement to the fort with their families and effects could
not have preserved their houses and crops from destruction.
Militia forces from Albany had been ordered the year before
to repair to the German Flats ; and the fort mentioned in the
French account and by Gov. De Lancy is described as a
"stockaded work around the church and block-house, with
a ditch and a parapet pallisadoed, thrown up by Sir William
Johnson a year ago [in 1756] upon an alarm then given."
But there is another witness who must speak in relation
to this sad affair.. Sir William Johnson having been informed
that the Indians had not notified the Palatines of the enemy's
approach until the morning the attack was made, sent his
deputy agent and Indian interpreter, to inquire of the Oneida
and Tuscarora Indians, several of whom he was told were
assembled at the German Flats, respecting this affair, and
ask them to explain why they had not given more timely
notice of the designs and approach of the enemy.
The deputy agent, Mr. Croghan, did not arrive at the
scene of desolation until the Indians had left for home ; he
sent for them to return ; the narrative then proceeds :
" The aforesaid Indians returned, and on the 30th Novem
ber [1757], at Fort Harkeman, Conaghquieson, the chief Oneida
sachem, made the following speech to Mr. Croghan, having
first called in one Rudolph Shumaker, Hanjost Harkeman
and several other Germans, who understood the Indian
language, and desired them to sit down and hear what he
was going to say.
Conaghquieson then proceeded and said :
" Brother : I can't help telling you that we were very much
surprised to hear that our brethren, the English, suspect and
charge us with not giving them timely notice of the designs
of the French, as it is well known we have not neglected to
give them every piece of intelligence that came to our
knowledge.
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 55
"Brother: About fifteen days before the affair happened,
we sent the Germans word that some Swegatchi Indians told
us the French were determined to destroy the German Flats,
and desired them to be on their guard. About six days
after that we had a further account from the Swegatchi, that
the French were preparing to march.
"I then came down to the German flats, and in a meet-
ing with the Germans, told them what we had heard,
and desired them to collect themselves together in a body
at their fort, and secure their women, children and effects,
and make the best defense they could ; and at the same
time told them to write what I had said to our brother
Warraghiyagey [Meaning Sir William Johnson. The Pala-
tines never sent this intelligence.]. But they paid not the
least regard to what I told them, and laughed at me, saying
they did not value the enemy. Upon this I returned home
and sent one of our people to the lake [meaning the Oneida
lake] to find out whether the enemy were coming or not ;
and after he had staid there two days, the enemy arrived at
the carrying place, and sent word to the castle at the lake,
that they were there, and told them what they were going
to do; but charged them not to let us at the upper castle
know any thing of their design. As soon as the man I sent
there heard this, he came on to us with the account that
night, and as soon as we received it we sent a belt of wampum
to confirm the truth thereof, to the flats, which came here
the day before the enemy made their attack; but the people
would not give credit to the account even then, or they
might have saved their lives. This is the truth, and those
Germans here present know it to be so.
"The aforesaid Germans did acknowledge it to be so, and
that they had such intelligence.
"George Croghan."
In testing historical facts, all the circumstances of the
relations given must be examined with care, the position of
56 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
the narrators known, and all probabilities nicely and pro-
perly balanced. Hitherto these people, in their intercourse
with the colonial officials of the crown, had given no such
evidence of inanition and stolidity as is here charged upon
them. They did not lack shrewdness and a good degree of
intelligence in selecting their lands. This is evident to any
one who will take the trouble to examine into it. They had
every motive, the preservation of life, and the protection of
property, to induce them to be cautious and guarded in all
their actions ; they would not be likely in one short year to
have forgotten that all the frontier posts between them and
their habitual foes had been captured, and that an invasion
of their own homes had been feared.
De Lancy knew nothing of the facts stated, bearing upon
this particular subject, except what he derived from reports
or rumors, and M. de Belletre's narrative is a mere bagatelle,
discredited by one of his own countrymen ; besides, how
could he know the English had notice of his coming the day
preceding, except from rumor? The statements of the
narrative which has been partly transcribed, present the
gravest subject of reflection, touching the matter to be dis-
posed of. Sir William Johnson had, at this time, been
several years superintendent of Indian affairs under the
crown, possessing great shrewdness, much talent and an
untiring perseverance in the discharge of his duties; his
intercourse with the Indians was marked with uncommon
sagacity, and to carry into effect, fully, the policy of his
government in respect to the Indians, appeared to be the
end and aim of all his actions. He had already achieved a
standing with the home government, that could not be easily
assailed, and won for himself a title, to his posterity a for-
tune. His influence over and control of the native Indians
within his superintendency, was very great, and it seemed
their brother Warraghiyagey had only to express a desire,
to have it fulfilled, so far as it depended on their agency.
They could not forfeit his confidence in them with impunity;
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 57
and they well knew that every approach of the enemy, or
even rumor of it, through their country, towards the English
settlements, must in accordance with the conventional rela-
tions existing between him and them, be immediately com-
municated to the parties expected to he assailed. This
attack on the Palatine village was sudden, and no doubt
unexpected, to Sir William, and when the news reached him
his first thought seems to have been that his Indian outposts
had been negligent of their duty, for he despatched his
deputy and interpreter to the spot to inquire why they had
not given more timely notice of the designs and approach
of the enemy, he having been informed that no intelligence
had been given by the Indians until the morning the attack
was made. The affair was a very grave one, and might
create some embarrassments.
The blame of permitting this murderous assault, without
making any preparation to meet it, must fall upon Sir
William and his sub-agents, the Indians, or the German set-
tlers, and it is not very difficult to see what would be the
result of the inquiry, when the judge and witness were
interested parties, and it must be more agreeable to the sub-
agent to find the Indians blameless, than chargeable with a
neglect that must in some degree reflect discredit upon
the chief superintendent of Indian affairs. The document,
partly copied, was not found in the archives of the state,
either here or in England, nor among Sir William's papers,
and there is no evidence found, except the paper itself, that
the Palatines knew any thing of its contents or were present
on the occasion ; and what is quite remarkable, no paper
has been seen or found wherein Sir William alludes to this
invasion, but he was at the German Flats in 1756, in April,
1757, and in 1758. The fact is not improbable that the
deputy agent was better pleased to find the fault of being
unprepared attributable to the settlers, rather than the
Indians, for then there could be no cause for censure, how-
ever remote, against the Indian superintendency. The
58 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
reader has all the facts within the reach of the author, and
must form such conclusions as may seem just.
These people were then seated on as fertile a spot as any
in the state, had good buildings on their farms, and were
generally rich. Their buildings and crops were destroyed
by fire, and their horses, cattle, sheep and hogs were many
of them killed. Some of the people were slain by the
marauders and nearly one hundred carried into captivity.
The German minister and a majority of the inhabitants who
followed him, saved themselves by going to the fort on the
south side of the river, on the morning of the attack. The
enemy burned a gristmill, probably on what is now called
Starings's creek, and a sawmill within a few miles of the set-
tlement. There were about twenty houses between Fort
Kouari [Herkimer] and Fall Hill or Little Falls, on the south
side of the river at this time, and eight on the north side,
which were abandoned for a time when the settlement at
Herkimer was destroyed.
In the following spring, April 30th, 1758, a large party
of Indians and a small number of French attacked the Pala-
tine settlement on the south side of the river, near the fort.
About thirty of the inhabitants were killed, and one officer,
Lieut. Hair of the rangers, was wounded slightly in the
breast. The enemy were rather roughly treated when they
came in contact with the rangers, having had about fifteen
of their number killed and wounded. Captain Herchamer
commanded the fort at this time, and on the first intimation of
danger, collected within the fort all the inhabitants he could
gather, before the attack was made upon the settlements, but
there were several families who had fled from Henderson's
purchase that spring, and with them two Indian traders by
the name of Clock, and several teamsters, taking baggage to
the fort, who were not notified in time, or for some other
cause, did not retire to the fort before the enemy came upon
them, rushed into the houses, killing and scalping all they
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 59
could find. The teamsters being together in one of the
houses attacked, ran up stairs and made a brave defense
until the Indians were driven away by the rangers; one of
them, however, John Ehel, hearing the Indians threaten to
set fire to the house they were in, became frightened, jumped
out of the chamber window and was killed. A woman came
into the fort the next morning, who had been scalped, her
nose nearly cut off, and wounded in her breast and side ; and
she was even then, in that mutilated condition, supposed
likely to recover. She related all that happened to her until
scalped, and said there were Onondaga Indians with the
enemy. One or two facts are worthy of special notice.
The account given of this second disaster to the Palatines,
states that Capt. Herkimer or Herchamer, was notified by
an Oneida Indian, at 12 o'clock, that the Indians and French
were near the fort and would come down on the settlements
that day, and at four o'clock the attack was made, giving
only four hours to gather in the inhabitants from the differ-
ent localities in the neighborhood of the fort, and some of
the houses were some distance from it. Now, why was not
a more timely notice given, and why were any Onondaga
Indians found with the enemy making war upon this frontier
settlement ?
At this period of the history of the Mohawk valley, there
were nearly five hundred houses between the East Canada
creek and Sir William Johnson's residence near Amsterdam,
on both sides of the river, and the road or path usually tra-
veled from Utica as far clown as the East Canada creek was
on the south side of the river. There was no wagon or
carriage track between the two creeks at that early day.
The capture of Fort Frontenac, Kingston, C. W., by the
English in 1758, and the surrender of Quebec and Fort
Niagara in the following year, with a general pacification
with the Indian tribes, again secured to the inhabitants of
the German Flats the blessings of peace. Their surviving
friends returned from captivity, and with cheerfulness and
60 HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
hope rebuilt their homes, replenished their stocks and pre-
pared their fields for seed time, with a full anticipation of
once more reaping the plenteous harvest in quiet.
The gloom of the past now began to fade in the brighten-
ing prospects of the future, with this little band of frontier
pilgrims, whose more than fifty years of wanderings, since
they left their fatherland, had not been unattended by toils,
privations, sicknesses, devastations and deaths. And such
deaths too as were inflicted on some of their number!
Humanity, bowing in reverent submission, weeps in agony
at the recital, and asks when retributive justice will be
visited upon the perpetrators of such deeds ; and when and
how these tribulations shall have an end.
The repose and tranquility that succeeded the conquest
of Canada by the English, and the general Indian pacifica-
tion before alluded to, was only the calm that precedes the
earthquake. In 1763, Nova Scotia, Canada, Cape Breton
and other dependencies were ceded by France to the British
crown, and the two Floridas by Spain, and thus Great
Britain became mistress of the whole North American con-
tinent; a territory equal in extent to that of several European
kingdoms. From 1689 to 1760, a period of seventy-one
years, the colonies had been involved in four wars, which
lasted in all, twenty-seven years, but their population had
increased from two hundred thousand to nearly three mil-
lions. Agriculture had steadily advanced, and trade and
commerce had greatly increased ; but in arts and manufac-
tures little progress was made, the introduction of them
being opposed by the mother country. Hitherto the com-
mercial enterprise of the colonists had encountered but few
checks from the home government, and a direct trade with
several of the Spanish and French colonies had been per-
mitted, although contrary to the letter of the British
navigation laws. This trade was highly beneficial to the
colonists, as it enabled them to exchange their products for
gold and silver and other valuable commodities, whereby
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 61
they were enabled to make their remittances in payment of
British manufactures, which their necessities compelled
them to have, and could not be supplied from any other
country. Shortly after the treaty of Paris in 1763, the
spirit with which the colonists prosecuted their commercial
affairs, alarmed the mercantile and shipping interests in the
mother country, upon whose representations the government
imposed restrictions that annihilated this trade, to the serious
injury of the northern colonies. Although some modifica-
tion of former restrictions subsequently took place, they
were coupled with regulations and the exaction of duties to
raise a revenue in America, which the colonists considered
dangerous innovations. The people of the colonies were not
relieved and their fears were greatly excited in consequence
of the novel principles attempted to be engrafted upon the
British constitution by the enactment of laws of this descrip-
tion. The British national debt had become enormous for
that period, and it was found necessary to provide means
for diminishing the burthen, and the idea of raising a sub-
stantial revenue in the colonies from taxes imposed by
parliament was conceived, and laws to carry it into effect
were passed. The causes that produced collision with the
mother country and eventuated in the independence of the
American colonies, can not be minutely traced in a work of
this character. The colonies insisted they were members
of the British empire and could not be taxed without their
consent ; that representation and taxation were inseparable ;
and that this was a fundamental principle of the British
constitution.
Lord Camden, in a debate in the house of peers on one of
these tax bills, uttered the following emphatic and impres-
sive language: "My position," said he, "is this; I repeat it; I
will maintain it to my last hour : Taxation and representation
are inseparable. This position is founded on the laws of
nature. It is more, it is an eternal law of nature. For,
whatever is a man's own, no other man has a right to take
62 HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
from him without his consent, and whoever does it. commits
a robbery." And Mr. Pitt said in the house of commons :
" You have no right to tax America. I rejoice that America
has resisted. Three millions of our fellow subjects so lost
to every sense of virtue, as tamely to give up their liberties,
would be fit instruments to make slaves of the rest." These
sentiments, couched in language so bold and nervous, were
not slow in reaching the ears of a deeply interested audience.
The distinguished and liberal British statesmen who uttered
them, did not, perhaps, imagine they were speeding a ball
that was so soon to strike from the British crown one of its
brightest jewels.
It may not be out of place here to remark, that Sir William
Johnson was highly esteemed, and no doubt justly, by his
neighbors of the lower Mohawk valley, and exercised over
many of them an unbounded influence. On his death that
esteem and regard was transferred to his family, who did not
fail to exert their influence among their friends and depend-
ants, in all matters relating to the approaching conflict.
Quite a number of the people then living at and near Johns-
town, Fort Hunter and other parts of Tryon county, left it
with Sir John Johnson and Guy Johnson, and went to Canada ;
the descendants of some of them may now be found settled
on the shores of Lake Ontario, between Niagara and Bur-
lington Heights, Hamilton ; and others in different parts of
Upper Canada. These were followed by others, disaffected,
who left during the revolutionary war.
The Palatines at the German Flats, were seated at some
distance from Sir William, and had comparatively but little
intercourse with him. They knew him as an officer of the
government, and not as a neighbor and friend. They had
but few opportunities of intercourse with his family, and
consequently were not influenced by them in regard to the
difficulties between the colonies and the mother country.
If any efforts were made to detach them from their
allegiance to the country, those efforts were not attended
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 63
with any great success, as only a very few of them are
known to have abandoned their homes and followed the
fortunes of the Johnson family. They may have had
abundant reasons for doubting the disinterestedness of any
proffers that were made to them from that quarter, and they
chose not to put any further faith in promises which had to
their grief and sorrow been so often broken. They had not
in seventeen years forgotten the scenes of November, 1757,
and April, 1758, when they were left an unprotected and
exposed frontier, subject to attack by an enemy whose
trophy was the human scalp, and the record of whose war-
like achievements was found in the smouldering ruins of
destroyed hamlets, slaughtered cattle, and captive women
and children ; when, if any males were spared, these were
preserved to grace the triumph of victory, by running the
gauntlet between two lines of infuriated demons, whose
privilege and duty it was to inflict torments, and whose
greatest solace consisted in viewing the agonies of the
tortured victim.
But these people had other and loftier motives to guide
their actions and control them in the course they should
pursue in the contest, where even brother was to strive with
deadly weapons against brother, and the son with the father ;
a most unnatural conflict, provoked by kingly power. Tra-
dition, if they possessed no other means of information, had
unfolded to them all the miseries of serfdom, a concomitant
of regal power and the absolute rule of one man. They saw
and felt the justice of the sentiment, that man ought not to
be burdened without his consent ; but exposed as they were,
and suffer as they well knew they must, from the blows that
would be dealt upon them by their old foes, soon to be
leagued with former friends, they embraced with zeal, and
with a resolution not to be shaken, the cause of the colonies
against the mother country, and held out firmly to the end ;
thereby proving themselves unfit " instruments to make
slaves of the rest" of their fellow subjects.
64 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
This is plain, unembellished historic truth, respecting the
inhabitants of the country noAv embraced within the bounds
of the county, and of which the descendants of the Palatines
composed, by far, the greatest number.
From the close of the French war to the stirring events
that shortly preceded the commencement of the revolution-
ary contest, neither history nor oral tradition has given us
any marked or striking incidents worthy of notice. Until
1772, Albany county extended westward without any defined
limits, when Tryon county was erected, and the administra-
tion of justice must have been characterized by a patriarchal
simplicity, often silenced, no doubt, by military rule. The
white settlements were mostly confined to the Mohawk
valley and its vicinity, although some families were found
remote from the principal settlements along the river.
CHAPTER V.
1772 to 1783.
Events Preceding the Revolution — Tryon County — Territorial Divisions of
White Settlements before the War — General Congress in 1774 — Provin-
cial Convention in 1775 — Second General Congress in 1775 — Committees
of Safety — Meeting of in Tryon County — Conduct of Guy Johnson —
Indian Council at German Flats — Gloomy Prospects — Sir John Johnson —
Declaration of Independence — Preparations of the Enemy — Generals
Schuyler and Herkimer — Vigilance of the Foe — Fort Schuyler Invested
by St. Leger — Herkimer's Proclamation — Tryon County Militia assemble
at German Flats — Herkimer Marches to the Relief of Fort Schuyler — Col.
Gansevoort — St. Leger's Forces — Insubordinate Conduct of Herkimer's
Officers — Battle of Oriskany — Willett's Sortie — Sir John Johnson's Effort
to Detach the Inhabitants from the Patriot Cause — Walter N. Butler cap-
tured— Arnold arrives at Fort Dayton — His Proclamation — Honjost
Schuyler's Mission and Success — Situation of the Valley in the Winter
of 1777, 1778 — Andrus — Town destroyed by Brant — Retaliation on
Young's Settlement — German Flats destroyed by Brant — The Liberty
Pole — William Dygert — Fate of the Palatines — Mills burnt at the Little
Falls — Alexander Ellice — Enemy's Visit to Rhiemensnyder's Bush —
Mount Family in Jersyfield — Sir John Johnson's Retreat — Destruction of
Fort Schuyler — Solomon Woodworth — John Christian Shell — Donald
McDonald — Defeat of Ross — Death of W. N. Butler. — Losses and Suf-
ferings of the Enemy — Willett's Return from Pursuing the Enemy —
Resolution of British Commons — Failure of the Expedition against Oswego
— Close of the War — Conciliatory Proposals of Peace.
Upon the organization of Tryon County, the territory
was divided into four large districts of country, although
each contained but a comparatively small number of inhabit-
ants. These districts were subdivided into smaller precincts.
The Mohawk district was the easternmost, and lay in that
66 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
part of the county directly under the influence of the John-
son family; the Canajoharie lay above the Mohawk on the
south side of the river, and embraced all the territory south
and as far west as the Little falls; the Palatine district
embraced all the country on the north side of the river
between the Little falls and Mohawk district; and the
German Flats and Kingsland districts included all the ter-
ritories and settlements on both sides of the river westward
of the Palatine and Canajoharie districts. These comprised
the territorial divisions.
In those days, the exciting events that formed the topic
of conversation among the colonists, on the seaboard and
in the eastern provinces, were slow in reaching the seclud-
ed valley of the upper Mohawk. The Johnson family,
controlled a district of country lying between it and Albany,
and it was not without some hazard, that any one friendly
to the colonists could venture to convey intelligence of an
unfriendly bearing to the mother country into the upper dis-
tircts.
A congress, composed of delegates from most of the colo-
nies, met at Philadelphia, in September, 1774. In April,
1775, a provincial convention met at New York, and chose
delegates to the second congress, which convened in May
following, at Philadelphia; and, on the 22d May, 1775, a
provincial congress assembled at New York, at which neces-
sary measures were taken to defend the country. This
body delegated their powers, for one month, to a committee
of safety, consisting of three members from the city, and one
from each of the other counties.
It may be superfluous to remark that these organizations
were voluntary; but deriving all their authority from the
people, these bodies claimed to exercise, and did exercise all
necessary power, for the protection of their constituents, < in
the disruption of the royal governments. Local committees
of safety were appointed, in all the districts of Tryon county,
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 67
in accordance with the recommendations of the general and
provincial congresses. The committees of the Palatine and
Canajoharie districts seem to have taken the initiative in
these affairs and were active and zealous in their patriotic
efforts to present to their countrymen the true grounds of
difference between the colonies and the mother country.
The committee of the Palatine district, on 21st of May,
1775, in a letter sent by express to the Albany committee,
say : " We have just sent an express to the German Flats,
and Kingsland districts, desiring them to unite with us, and
give us their assistance ; which districts, or at least a great
majority of them, we are credibly informed, are very hearty
in the present struggle for American liberty." Mr. Camp-
bell, in his Annals of Tryon County, says the first united
meeting of the committee, for the whole county, was held
on the 2d day of June, 1775, and gives the following names
of members from the several districts.
From the Palatine district: Christopher P. Yates, John
Frey, Andrew Fink, Andrew Reiber, Peter Waggoner, Daniel
McDougal, Jacob Klock, George Ecker, Jun., Harmanus Van
Slvck, Christopher W. Fox, Anthony Van Veghten; 11.
From the Canajoharie district : Nicholas Herkimer, Eben-
ezer Cox, William Seeber, John Moore, Samuel Campbell,
Samuel Clyde, Thomas Henry, John Pickard ; 8.
From the Kingsland and German Flats districts : Edward
Wall, William Petry, John Petry, Augustine Hess, Frederick
Orendorf, George Wentz, Michael Ittig, Frederick Fox,
George Herkimer, Duncan McDougal, Frederick Helmer, and
John Frink ; 12.
From the Mohawk district: John Morlett, John Bliven,
Abraham Van Home, Adam Fonda, Frederick Fisher, Samp-
son Simmons, William Schuyler, Volkert Veeder, James
n McMaster and Daniel Lane ; 10. In all, 41,
The members from the Mohawk district had hitherto been
hindered from meeting with the delegates from the other
68 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
districts, by the Johnsons. Guy Johnson, finding the people
of the valley resolute in their determination, and becoming
more united, as correct information was circulated among
them of the true state of the controversy between the colonies
and mother country, had made up his mind to quit the country
and retire to Canada. Under the pretence of holding a
council with the Indians, he had left Guy Park, with his
family and dependants, and stopped at a Mr. Thompson's,
on Cosby's Manor, a few miles above German Flats, where
this committee addressed to him a spirited, but firm and
temperate letter, in which they placed before him their views
of the controversy between the two countries ; disabused
themselves of " false and malicious " charges that had been
injuriously circulated against them, and announced their reso-
lution of standing by the country until all grievances were
redressed. They besought him, as superintendent of the In-
dians, " to dissuade them from interfering in the dispute with
the mother country and the colonies." This letter was com-
municated to Johnson by Edward Wall and Gen. Nicholas
Herkimer, Avho waited upon him at Cosby's Manor. The
answer to the committee's letter, dated Cosby's Manor, June
6th, 1775, was characteristic of a man who had resolved on
what he would do ; but, in view of the great interests he
had at stake in the country, and the critical position of Sir
John Johnson, whom he had left behind, its asperity was
very much softened. Col. Johnson went to Fort Stanwix,
from the Manor, thence to Ontario and Oswego, and after
holding councils with the Indians of the Six Nations, and
attaching them firmly to the interests of the English,
by his promises and rewards, finally retired to Montreal,
where he continued, during the war, to discharge the duties
of his agency, with a fidelity to his government that inflicted
upon his former neighbors unutterable sorrows and sore
desolations.
The whole country was unprepared for the crisis then
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 69
fast approaching — destitute of arms, and without munitions
of war — no public treasury, nor organized governments — no
trained soldiery, or equipped navy; and without officers
versed in the science of war. Three millions of people,
scattered over a wide extent of country, reaching from Maine
to Georgia, and from the Atlantic ocean to the Alleghany
mountains, arc seen preparing for a contest in arms, with the
most powerful and wealthy nation in the civilized world ;
and who but the descendants of the resolute Anglo-Saxon
race could thus resolve and thus achieve a nation's freedom 1
No one of the twelve colonies afforded so many and influen-
tial adherents to the royal cause as New York ; and in no
other were the severities, that particularly characterized the
border warfare of the times, more effectually inflicted, for
years in succession, than upon her northern and western
frontiers; the inhabitants of the upper and lower Mohawk
valleys often drinking deep of the bitter cup.
The colonists, fully aware of their position, and of the
exposed condition of the inland border settlements to Indian
warfare, took early measures to dissuade the five nations,
inhabiting western New York, from taking any part in the
approaching contest between them and the mother country.
A council was held at German Flats, on the 28th of June,
1775, with the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, who were met by
the inhabitants of the district, and a deputation from Albany,
which resulted in a pledge of neutrality by most of the In-
dians present.
About this time, the supplies of provisions intended for
Col. Guy Johnson's journey had been stopped at Mr. Thomp-
son's, Cosby's Manor, by the inhabitants of the Kingsland
district, and by a note or memorandum of a council held
between the inhabitants and Oneidas, July 1st, 1775, in
which the reasons for doing so were fully explained, it
seems that the Indians were dissatisfied, claimed that the
stores were intended for the Five Nations, who might suffer
by being deprived of them, and insisted that Col. Johnson's
6
70 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
designs were not then known, but when they were found out
they would assemble and consider about them. The pro-
visions were sent forward to Johnson, then at Fort Stanwix.
On the 15th and 16th of August, 1775, a preliminary
council was held, at German Flats, attended by Messrs.
Turbot, Francis, and Volkert P. Douw, on behalf of the In-
dian commissioners of the northern department, and several
sachems of the Six Nations, and among them was Little
Abraham of the Mohawks. The object of this meeting was
to induce the Six Nations to send deputies to Albany to meet
the American commissioners, where it was proposed "to
kindle up a great council-fire." The people of the valley
were even then suspicious of the Indians, and gave some
indications of a resolution which created apprehensions
among the Indians that they might be molested on their
journey. They mentioned this to Col. Francis, who promised
them the road should " be open for them to go to Albany."
The councilat Albany commenced on the 23d, and closed
on the 31st of August. And although the Indians had been
kindly treated, furnished plentifully with provisions, during
the three weeks occupied at German Flats and Albany, and
on their departure manifesting much good will, being bounti-
fully supplied with presents, still this was the last time the
council-fire was opened with the Six Nations until after the
close of the war. The result of this conference, although
not fully attended by any but the Oneidas and the lower
Mohawk clan, was for a time beneficial to the country. The
engagements of peace and neutrality, then made, relieved
the frontier inhabitants from apprehensions of immediate
danger. It was not many months, however, before the great
body of the Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas
gave undoubted indications of attachment to the royal
cause.
The state of affairs in Tryon county strongly admonished
the county committee of safety to prepare for coming events;
that body therefore organized the militia of the county into
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 71
four battalions, one in each district, and transmitted the
return, through Nicholas Herkimer, the chairman, on the
26th August, 1775, to the general committee of safety, in
session in the city of New York, during the recess of the
provincial congress. This return was laid before the general
committee, on the 6th of September following, and approved.
To conform to the regulations established by the continental
congress, the nomination of four additional majors and four
quarter-masters, one for each battalion, was called for. The
names of only the field officers of the first three battalions
are here given.
First battalion, Canajoharie district. — Nicholas Herkheimer,
colonel ; Ebenezer Cox, lieutenant-colonel ; Robert Wells,
major ; Samuel Clyde, adjutant.
Second battalion, Palatine district. — Jacob Clock, colonel ;
Peter Waggoner, lieutenant-colonel ; Harmanus Van Slyck,
major ; Anthony V. Vechten, adjutant.
Third battalion, Mohawk district. — Frederick Fisher, colonel ;
Adam Fonda, lieutenant-colonel; John Bliven, major; Ro-
bert Yates, adjutant.
Fourth battalion, German Flats and Kingsland. — Hanyoost
Herkheimer, colonel; Peter Bellinger, lieutenant-colonel;
Hanyoost Shoemaker, major ; John Demooth, adjutant.
1st company. — John Eisenlord, captain; John Keyser, 1st
lieutenant ; Adam Bellinger, 2d lieutenant ; John Smith,
ensign.
2d company. — John Petry, captain ; Hanyoost Mx. Petry,
1st lieutenant ; Hanyoost H. Petry, 2d lieutenant ; William
Empie, ensign.
3d company. — Daniel Petry, captain ; Peter Yolts, 1st
lieutenant ; Marx Raspach, 2d lieutenant ; George Helmer,
ensign.
4th company. — Frederick Bellinger, captain ; Henry Her-
ter, 1st lieutenant ; John Demooth, 2d lieutenant ; Peter Ja.
Weaver, ensign.
5th company. — Peter Bellinger, captain ; Jacob Baschawn,
72 HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
1st lieutenant ; Nicholas Staring, 2d lieutenant ; John P.
Bellinger, ensign.
6th company. — Hanyoost Herkheimer, captain ; Frederick
Ahrendorf, 1st lieutenant ; Tinus Clapsaddle, 2d lieutenant.
7th company. — Rudolph Shoemaker, captain ; Deiterick
Stale, 1st lieutenant ; Frederick Shoemaker, 2d lieutenant.
8th company. — George Herkheimer, captain ; Frederick
Fox, 1st lieutenant ; Archibald Armstrong, 2d lieutenant ;
Hanyoost Tygert, ensign.
9th company. — William Tygert, captain ; Jacob Volts,
1st lieutenant ; George Wents, 2d lieutenant ; Frederick
Frank, ensign.
The county committee, at this time, seeing the necessity
of having some tribunal for the determination of petty
disputes and controversies, in civil matters, to the amount
of twelve and a half dollars, adopted a resolution, investing
its members with a sort of civil jurisdiction, and sent it to
the provincial congress for approval. The general committee
of safety in reply to it say:
"The congress of this colony have hitherto avoided inter-
fering in the administration of justice in civil matters, or
arresting the cognizance from the officers of justice. We
cannot, therefore, approve of the resolve by you entered
into, respecting the trial of civil causes in your county, and
find it highly expedient to recommend its repeal."
This was a serious detriment to the inhabitants of this
remote part of the colony, where there were only a few
officers of justice, and those few being strongly attached to
the interests of the crown, felt no inclination to hold the
scales of justice even, between a loyalist and a man he
deemed a rebel.
It was for a time doubtful, whether some marked demon-
stration unfavorable to the cause of the twelve provinces,
would not be made in the colony of New York. The
intrigues of the artful and menaces of power were not vainly
exerted and unfelt, and disaffection appeared openly in the
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 73
provincial congress. The Try on county committee of safety,
were at this time a noble body of men. Enthusiastically
devoted to the interests of their constituents, and the cause
of the colonists; their zeal was untiring, and they faltered
not in the important work before them. Supported by a
great majority of the inhabitants of the valley, they exercised
all the powers of government, for the time, executive,
legislative and judicial, and all their proceedings were
cheerfully acquiesced in, except by those attached to the
royal cause. Sir John Johnson, was still at Johnstown,
surrounded by his adherents, whom he had organized and
armed, waiting a favorable moment to strike a bold and
effectual blow against treason and disloyalty, which he
failed to achieve; and finally iled into Canada in the spring
of 1776, when he was commissioned a colonel in the British
service, and raised a regiment composed of men who accom-
panied him, which was known as the Royal C4reens.
No event of much interest has been noticed as having
transpired within the territory of the present county of
Herkimer, during the year 1776. The Declaration of
Independence was solemnly adopted on the 4th of July, an
event not originally anticipated by the great mass of the
colonists : and immediately proclaimed to the world, after a
state of war had existed fifteen months ; a conflict for a
redress of grievances, and not for the dismemberment of an
empire. The attitude thus assumed was solemn, and the
aspects of the future were ominous of woe to the inhabitants
of the western frontiers ; but the Palatines of the German
Flats who still survived, and their descendants, quailed no
before the coming storm. Their delegates in the county
committee had the year before assented to the principle of
separation, and they were not now backward in the cause,
but with their brethren in the lower Mohawk valley, wel-
comed the act which was to separate them and their country
from kingly power. The British ministry were by no means
idle. An aggregate of 55,000 men, it was contemplated,
74 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
should compose the invading forces, at the different ap-
proachable points, and with these the colonists were to be
crushed at a blow.
Congress directed General Schuyler, who then commanded
the northern department, to repair and strengthen Fort
Stanwix, afterwards known as Fort Schuyler, an important
post, and to erect other fortifications in the Mohawk valley.
Colonel Dayton, then stationed at German Flats with, a
detachment of regular troops, was charged with the works
at Fort Stanwix, in Avhich the Try on county militia par-
ticipated, but he seems to have made slow progress in com-
pleting the defenses, as they were incomplete when invested
by St. Leger the following year.
The interview between General Herkimer and Capt.
Joseph Brant, a Mohawk sachem, at Unadilla, in July, 1777,
will be noticed in another place, that interview partaking
more of personal character than of local historical interest.
The important event of this year must receive a passing
notice.
" Sad was the year, by proud oppression driven,
When transatlantic liberty arose ;
Not in the sunshine and the smile of heaven,
But rapt in whirlwinds and begirt with woes."
The untiring vigilance of the emissaries of the crown
began to unfold itself about midsummer of this year. The
news of the approach of the British armies and their savage
allies on the northern and western frontiers of the state,
had been industriously circulated throughout the whole
country, and the Mohawk valley was by no means neglected.
The people there were alarmed and became depressed and
desponding. They had cheerfully seconded all the move-
ments of the colonists, in asserting their rights against the
encroachments of the crown, and their situation was one of
exposure and hazard. Protected from the inroads of the
enemy only by light parties of regulars which could afford
but little security against the marauding tories and their
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 75
savage allies, they were incessantly harrasscd by alarms,
burthened with service, and worn down l>y fatigues; who
can feel surprise that the patriotic should despond and the
weak falter? Or why should a people so beset with foes
within and without be suspected of loyalty to the cause to
the support of which they had so recently pledged their
lives, fortunes and honor? The first outburst of patriotic
sentiment had doubtless stifled a lurking aspiration for the
success of the royal cause, which now began to show itself
in open disaffection to an alarming extent as the crisis
approached; but it may with truth be said, that few, very
lew, if any of the inhabitants of the upper valley of the
Mohawk, were found disloyal to the cause, or unwilling to
put their shoulders to the wheel at their country's call.
Fort Schuyler was invested by Colonel St. Leger, on the
3d of August, 1777, with a force of seventeen hundred men,
composed of British, Hessians, Johnson's Greens, Canadians
and Indians. It would be out of place to notice particularly
the events of this siege, or the disasters that befell the
besiegers.
Notice of the assembling of the hostile forces at Oswego,
for the purpose of invasion, contemporaneously with the
approach of General Burgoyne by the way of Lake Cham-
plain from the north, had been communicated by the Oneida
Indians, to Col. Gansevoort, at Fort Schuyler, and the
provincial authorities in Tryon county, and at Albany ; and
steps were immediately taken to meet the approaching
crisis and drive back the invaders. General Herkimer, who
commanded the Tryon county militia, issued a spirited and
patriotic proclamation to the people of the county, on the
17th of July, 1777, notifying them of the assembling of the
enemy at Oswego, and of their destination and objects, and
calling on the male population en masse, to repair to the field,
at a moment's warning, armed and equipped, to meet the
invading forces.
Those in health between the ages of 16 and 60, were re-
76 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
quired to take the field, and those above 60, as well as the
invalids, were directed to assemble, armed, at proper places,
for the defense of the women and children. The members
of the county committee of safety, and the exempts from
military duty, were invited to repair to the place to be ap-
pointed, to join in repulsing the common enemy.
The whole American force at Fort Schuyler, when invested
by the enemy, was seven hundred and fifty men. Col. Gan-
sevoort was joined by Lieutenant Col. Mellon, of Col.
Weston's regiment, with two hundred men, and two batteau
loads of provisions, and military stores, on the 2d day of
August. The deficiency of ammunition for the cannon was
very great — being an inadequate supply for a protracted
siege at a frontier post.
As soon as the approach of St. Leger to Fort Schuyler
was known in Tryon county, General Herkimer ordered
the militia of his brigade to rendezvous at Fort Dayton
(then called German Flats). This defense was erected in the
western part of Herkimer village, and the General soon
found himself at the head of about nine hundred men, com-
posed of the three militia regiments commanded by Colonels
Klock, Cox, Vischer and some others, with volunteers of
otficers and men from various parts of the country. The
published accounts of the forces collected under General
Herkimer on this occasion, do not designate the localities
from which the several regiments were drawn ; enough is
known, however, to warrant the assertion, that the militia
of the German Flats and Kingsland district were attached
to the regiment commanded by Col. Peter Bellinger, whose
lieut. colonel was Frederick Bellinger ; major, Enos Klep-
sattle. The militia of these districts participated in the
battle of Oriskany. The alacrity and zeal evinced on this
occasion should have entirely eradicated all impressions
unfavorable to the patriotic devotion of the inhabitants of
the valley, growing out of the expression of despondency in
the early part of the year. Surely after this, no one could
HISTORY OF HERKTMER COUNTY. 7/
complain of German disloyalty to the cause of the colonists.
General Herkimer left Fort Dayton on the 4th of August,
and encamped near the Oriskany on the 5th, crossing the
Mohawk river at old Fort Schuyler ( now Utica) on the
march up. At this point the General expressed his doubts
of the expediency of a forward movement, until reinforce-
ments should arrive, or the prearranged signal should he
given by Col. Gansevoort from the fort. An express, Adam
Helmer with two other men, had been dispatched to the
fort, informing the commandant of the General's approach,
and to arrange measures of cooperation. The messengers
did not reach the fort until ten or eleven o'clock in the
morning of the 6th. Three successive discharges of heavy
ordinance wras the signal agreed on, announcing the arrival
of the express ; the reports of which, it was assumed, could
be heard at Herkimer's encampment, eight miles distant
from the fort. Recriminatory and insubordinate language
was used on the occasion, and the General was denounced to
his face as a tory and cowTard ; who replied, that their safety
was in bis hands, and he desired to avoid all difficulties that
could not be surmounted by bravery and good conduct. On
this occasion the General told some of his subordinates, who
had been rather noisy and liberal in their accusations of his
fidelity and courage, that they would be the first to run on
the approach of the enemy ; which Avas soon verified to the
very letter.
All previous accounts had fixed St. Leger's forces at 2000
strong, nearly half of which wTere Indians led by Brant, a
brave, active and artful Mohawk sachem. Herkimer knew
this, and he no doubt believed, as well he might, that a force
superior to his own, could be sent against him, which would
select its own battle-field, without in any way interfering
with the investment of the fort. But noisy insubordination
prevailed, and precipitated the little band of patriots into
the jaws of death. Smarting under the repeated accusations
heaped upon him. and irritated no doubt, the General gave
78 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
orders to take up the line of march, which was received with
cheers by the men, who proceeded rapidly on their way, two
deep, having thrown out the usual advanced and flanking
parties.
At 10 o'clock, on the 6th, the main body of troops passed
over a causeway on a marshy ravine, the advance having
commenced an ascent of the westerly slope, when a well
directed fire from the enemy, in front and on both flanks,
accompanied with the dismal Indian war-whoop, unfolded
to the American general that his division had become involved
in an almost inextricable ambuscade. Retreat was impossible,
for the causeway over the marsh was already blocked up
with teams ; and the rear guard, just commencing the descent
of the eastern declivity, commanded by one of the officers
who in the morning had taunted his general Avith cowardice,
turned and fled on the first fire of the enemy. But flight did
not save them from the fate that awaited their comrades on
the west side of the ravine ; the enemy, knowing well the
ground, had gained the rear, and shot down the fugitives as
they ran away from their companions. As might well be
expected, the suddenness of the attack and the intensity of
the enemy's fire, not only produced great disorder among the
provincials, but annihilation seemed almost inevitable for a
time.
In this disorder, the conflict raged about half an hour,
when the Americans forming themselves into circular squads,
the more eifectually to repel the attacks of the enemy, who
were steadily approaching on all sides ; and, from this mo-
ment, resistance became more effective. The enemy then
charged with bayonet, but they were met by brave hearts
and strong arms, and thus the battle raged, until the parties
were compelled to desist, by a heavy shower of rain, which
raged with great fury more than an hour. The enemy sought
the best shelter they could find, at a good distance from the
provincials, when the latter, under the directions of their
general, occupied a favorable piece of ground, and then so
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 79
formed themselves as to be able to repel an attack from any
quarter. The light was renewed, but the Indians, sufi'ering
severely by the deadly fire of the militia, began to give
ground, when a detatchment of Johnson's Greens, composed
chiefly of loyalists who had fled from Tryon county, wore
brought into action face to face with many of their former
neighbors. Then mutual hate and revenge raged with un-
speakable intensity between the combatants, and the conflict
now became, if possible, more a death struggle than ever.
In the meantime, while the battle was the most fierce, a
firing was heard in the direction of the fort ; no unwelcome
sound, as may well be supposed, to the handful of surviving
provincials, nor very gratifying to the enemy. During the
conflict at the Oriskany, a well conducted sortie from the
fort, under the command of Col. Willett, was made upon the
forces under St. Leger, for the purpose of drawing the
enemy's attention to the preservation of their camp in that
direction. This was well understood by the provincials, and
in it they saw great hopes of deliverance. This was not a
fight suited to the taste of savages, who found their numbers
fast diminishing, nor could such a contest be long maintained
with much hope of survivorship, by either party. " Oonah"
the retreating cry of the Indians, was heard in the distance,
and their flight commenced with a salute of shouts and bullets
from the surviving provincials. The Greens and Rangers
soon followed the example of their illustrious allies, by a
precipitate retreat, abandoning their dead and wounded, and
the deeply crimsoned battle-field, in the undisputed posses-
sion of the Tryon county militia. Was this a victory, or a
defeat of the provincials? By all the laws of war, they are
victors who remain masters of the battle-ground. The
American report gave the number of provincial militia
killed, two hundred, besides the wounded and prisoners.
The British accounts state the killed at four hundred, and
two hundred prisoners, making in all six hundred, besides
the wounded. Now in modern warfare, and in the severest
80 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
battles, the wounded are more than two to one of the killed,
say nothing about prisoners. The British accounts do not
claim there was over one thousand militia on the march at
this time to raise the siege of Fort Schuyler. Surely four
hundred killed, eight hundred wounded and two hundred
prisoners, out of one thousand, is making said havoc in the
lighting line. But this is not so ; and St. Leger, when he
gave this statement of killed and prisoners to Gen. Burgoyne,
was indulging not a little in the M. de Belletre vein.
The battle was a severe one. The severest, perhaps, for
the number engaged, that took place during the whole revo-
lutionary war. And from the character of the combatants,
the surprise, and the disadvantages under which the provin-
cials labored during the whole six hours conflict, the pro-
portion of killed to the wounded must have been greatly
bevond what ordinarily occurs in the hardest actions, where
firearms are used as the principal weapon of assault, and
defense.
Leaving the personal incidents of this disaster to be noticed
in another place, the events of the year, subsequent to the
battle of Oriskany, must now be considered. Failing to
induce Col. Gansevoort to surrender Fort Schuyler on any
of the terms offered by Col. St. Leger, an effort was made by
Sir John Johnson, and Cols. Clausand John Butler, to detach
the inhabitants of the valley from the patriot cause, and for
this purpose emissaries were sent below with incendiary
proclamations, to induce the timid, terrified and disaffected
people to abandon the cause of the country, and to join the
British forces under St. Leger. Col. Weston was at Fort
Dayton, with his regiment, during the siege of Fort Schuyler,
and learning that a secret meeting of tories was to be held
at Mr. Shoemaker's, a loyalist residing a mile or two distant,
Weston sent a party of men, who surprised and captured
Lieut. Walter N. Butler, of St. Leger's army, and twenty-
eight soldiers and Indians, who had come clandestinely to
the German Flats on a mission from Sir John and others.
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 81
Butler was tried by a court martial as a spy, and received
sentence of death, but was reprieved, sent to Albany a pri-
soner, where he was detained some time, and finally making
his escape, afterwards exhibited his kindly feeling to the
land of his birth by becoming one of its severest scourges.
Humanity has no tears to shed over the subsequent fate of this
man, nor can the pretense that he came " on a truce to the
inhabitants of the county," be of any avail whatever. He
came on a secret mission and in a clandestine manner, and
was taken in the very act of attempting to alienate the inhabit-
ants from their allegiance to the country, and his reprieve
by the American general was an act of grace, favored by
many influential persons, who had previously known him at
Albany.
General Arnold arrived at Fort Dayton a short time before
the 21st of August, at which point troops were assembling
with a view of proceeding to the relief of Fort Schuyler,
still beleaguered by St. Leger's forces, and to counteract the
effect of the incendiary efforts of Johnson, Glaus and John
Butler, the American general on the 20th of August, issued
a proclamation stating that "whereas a certain Barry St.
Leger, a Brigadier-General in the service of George of Great
Britain, at the head of a banditti of robbers, murderers and
traitors, composed of savages of America and more savage
Britons ( among whom is the noted Sir John Johnson, John
Butler and Daniel Claus), have lately appeared in the fron-
tiers of this state, and threatened ruin and destruction to all
the inhabitants of the United States," urging the inhabitants
to continue their fidelity to the common cause, offering
pardon to all those who may have been misled by the artifice
and misrepresentation of the enemy, if they would in ten
days come in and lay down their arms, but denouncing "the
just vengeance of heaven and of this exasperated country"
against all who should persist in their wicked courses. On
the 23d of August Gen. Arnold left Fort Dayton, determined
to hazard a battle with forces inferior to the enemy before
82 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Fort Schuyler, rather than have the garrison surrender, and
had proceeded half a day's march, when he was met by an
express from Col. Gansevoort, with the cheering news that
the seige had been raised; but the cause of this sudden
movement on the part of the enemy was wholly unknown to
the gallant Colonel and his brave garrison ; not so however
with Arnold.
Hanyost Schuyler was the instrument made use of to
scatter the besieging forces surrounding Fort Schuyler, and
send them helter-skelter back to Canada in double quick time.
The home of this strange and singular being, was near the
upper Mohawk Indian castle in the present town of Danube,
where he resided with his mother and brother Nicholas, and
hence in early life had much intercourse with the Indians.
He is described as coarse and ignorant, and but little re-
moved from idiocy, and still possessing shrewdness enough
to be made the instrument of accomplishing an important
object. Hanyost was somewhat tainted with loyalty, and
had been captured at Shoemaker's with Walter N. Butler,
and others ; he was tried by a court martial and sentenced
to death. His mother and brother, on hearing this sad news,
of course hastened to headquarters to intercede for his life.
For a time their efforts were unavailing, but finally it was
proposed he should repair to St. Leger's camp with a friendly
Oneida Indian, and so manage to alarm the enemy as to
produce an abandonment of the siege.
Hanyost gladly embraced the alternative, leaving his
brother as a hostage for the faithful execution of his mission;
being assured that Nicholas should die if he faltered in the
enterprise. Schuyler having procured sundry shots through
his garments, that he might show he had run for dear life,
departed with his Indian comrade for the enemy's camp.
They had arranged between them to approach St. Leger's
position from opposite directions, and were not to appear
acquainted with each other, if they should meet. This
affair was wisely planned, and most skillfully and adroitly
HISTORY OF HEEKIMER COUNTY. 83
executed. The instrument was well chosen. lie was
well known as a loyalist, and the parties to whom he first
addressed himself were no unwillng auditors, nor in an
unfavoral >lo mood to be deeply impressed and even awed by
his ambiguous language and mysterious manner. The
native American Indians, like the followers of Mahomet,
were ever inspired with a peculiar respect and even rever-
ence for idiots and lunatics. Fraternal regard strongly
prompted Hanyost to apply all his energies and to leave
no effort untried to secure the complete success of his mis-
sion, and relieve his brother from the fate that was hanging
over him. He was completely successful, and having fol-
lowed the retreating enemy to Wood Creek, he there left
them, and returned to Fort Schuyler the same evening, and
gave Col. Gansevoort the first intimation of Arnold's ap-
proach. It was not until Schuyler's arrival at the fort, that
its commandant was able to solve the problem of St. Leger's
sudden departure and precipitate flight.
Hanyost returned to the German Flats when his brother-
was released from confinement, to the great gratification of
his mother and relatives, but he was too strongly imbued
with sentiments of loyalism, to resist giving a permanent
adherence to the interests of the crown, and in the fall of
the same year went to Canada and remained there until
the close of the war, when he returned to the Mohawk
valley, where he died about forty-five years since.
The project of sending Schuyler in advance to announce
Gen. Arnold's approach to the besieging forces, has been
attributed to that officer. Such an idea however is not
characteristic of the man. The forces on the march were
not ecpial to the enemy then before Fort Schuyler, in point
of numbers, but they were chiefly composed of continental
light troops, enured to service and accustomed to obey, and
the patriotic militia of the country had again rallied to the
defense of their homes and families, eager for the strife and
determined on revenge. Under such circumstances, know-
84 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
ing the strength of the garrison, and being, without doubt,
well advised of the position and numbers of the enemy, the
American forces all told were a match for their opponents
in the neighborhood of the fort, and it was by no means
likely St. Leger would again attempt to interrupt the
approach of the provincials by offering battle on any other
field, and by dividing the strength hazard the safety of his
camp in another sortie, be flections somewhat like these
would be presented to the mind of the American commander,
who was brave and intenrperately rash, and who would
delight in scourging the men he had denounced as a
" banditti of robbers, murderers and traitors," and therefore
would be less likely to suggest a stratagem to avoid a battle
than some one possessing a different temperament. The
probability is that this project did not originate with Arnold,
although on reflection, while impatiently waiting at Fort
Dayton for reinforcements and supplies, he acquiesced in
the measure, at the same time, perhaps, doubting its success.
Nothing further occurred during the residue of the year
1777, within the present confines of the county, worthy of
particular notice. Death had visited almost every dwelling
in the upper valley, and mourning and lamentations were
heard in every hamlet ; but hope cheered the survivors, and
the alliance with France, brought to a successful issue by the
favorable aspect of American affairs at the close of the year,
caused universal rejoicing throughout the whole country.
Unmolested by the enemy in the fall of 1777 and the spring
of 1778, the inhabitants had planted their fields, expecting
to reap an abundant harvest in due season ; but in this they
were sorely disappointed. Fort Schuyler, an important
post, commanding the western entrance, by water communi-
cation, to the Mohawk valley, was thirty miles distant from
the principal settlements at the German Flats, and presented
no barrier against sudden irruptions of the enemy, who could
easily avoid that fortress, and fall upon the inhabitants
below, from almost every direction ; and during the summer
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 85
of this year the work of devastation was vigorously prose-
cuted.
June 25th, 1778. — The following appointments were this
day made by the governor and council, to the regiment of
local militia in the German Flats and Kingsland districts :
Field officers and Regimental staff. — Peter Bellinger, colonel ;
Frederick Bellinger, lieutenant-colonel; George Demoth,
adjutant ; Rudolph Steel, quartermaster.
Michael Ittig, captain; Jacob Baulcom, 1st lieutenant;
Frederick Frank, 2d lieutenant ; Patrick Campbell, ensign.
• Henry Harter, captain ; John Demoth, 1st lieutenant ;
Peter Ja. Weaver, 2d lieutenant ; John F. Bellinger, ensign.
Jacob Small, captain ; George F. Helmer, 2d lieutenant ;
Jacob D. Petrie, ensign.
Henry Staring, captain ; Theobald Baker, 1st lieutenant ;
George Weaver, 2d lieutenant.
Soverenus Cassleman, captain ; Henry Huber, 1st lieuten-
ant ; Jacob G. Klock, 2d lieutenant.
Frederick Getman, captain ; Jacob Meyer, 2d lieutenant ;
John Meyer, ensign.
Henry Eckler, captain ; Conrad Orendorft", 1st lieutenant ;
Timothy Frank, 2d lieutenant ; Adam A. Staring, ensign.
The nine companies organized in August, 1775, were reduced
to seven in about eighteen months of active war. The most
of this loss was sustained at Oriskany. The names of Her-
kimer, and Shoemaker have entirely disappeared from the
rolls, and the Petries have but one representative left.
The Mohawk chief, Brant, with a small party of Indians,
attacked a settlement of seven families, called Andrustown,
in the present town of Warren, in the month of July, plundered
the inhabitants, burned up all the buildings, killed four per-
sons, among whom was an aged man by the name of Bell,
and his two sons. One other man perished in the flames of
his own house. The rest of the inhabitants were carried
away captives, and all the property that could be removed
was taken by the Indians.
7
86 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
This achievement was perpetrated for the purposes of the
plunder, as Brant was then collecting a large force at Ogh-
kwaga, or Unadilla, for a more important and far more serious
expedition, in its effects, which he led in the following month.
Brant wanted provisions, and took this method of replenish-
ing his stock. The Indians made a hasty retreat, and were not
overtaken, although pursued by a party of Americans from
the German Flats. After reaching the scene of desolation,
the provincials interred the dead, and with several friendly
Indians followed the marauding party as far as the Little
lakes, in the south part of Warren, when finding the object
of their pursuit beyond their reach, they gave up the chase.
There were a few white families at the lakes, called Young's
settlement, and the principal man was Young, the patentee,
to whom the lands had been granted by the crown in 1752.
This man was a tory in feeling, but was not known to have
committed any open acts of violence against the country.
His nearest neighbor sympathized with him ; and when the
Americans found these people had been spared by Brant and
his party, they plundered and burned their houses, in retalia-
tion for the destruction of Andrustown. John Frank,
then one of the committee of safety of Tryon county, from
the German Flats district, and long known in this county as
Judge Frank, was one of the party who went in pursuit
of Brant.
The Palatine settlements at the German Flats were doomed
to suffer again under the scourge of Indian warfare, about
the last of August or the first of September of this year. At
this period there were two stockadoed defenses called forts,
midway these settlements east and west. Fort Herkimer,
near the south bank of the Mohawk river, containing the
stone church and the stone mansion of the Herkimer family,
and some other buildings, was surrounded by a ditch ; and
Fort Dayton, on a somewhat elevated spot of ground in the
westerly part of Herkimer village, a few rods from the site
of the present court house. Fort Herkimer, so called, was
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 87
inclosed with a ditch and stockades during the French war
in 1756, and Fort Dayton was constructed a year or two
previous to the time now under consideration. These de-
fenses, and others of like construction, erected in the Mo-
hawk valley, were intended to be used as places of refuge
for the inhabitants, in cases of sudden incursions by the
enemy in their plundering and murdering expeditions, and
to store public property when necessary. They were a
sufficient defense against the tories and Indians, who were
never incumbered with arms heavier than the musket and
rifle, and, with few exceptions, their armaments were small,
consisting of cannon used in firing signal guns to warn the
distant inhabitants of some impending danger. The first
liberty pole erected in the valley was raised at Fort Herkimer,
in the spring of 1775, and was cut down by White, sheriff of
Tryon county, who came from Johnstown with a body of
militia for that purpose ; and it was probably afterwards
burned by this common hangman.
There were then about seventy dwelling houses on both
sides of the river in the neighborhood of these forts, besides
barns, other out-buildings and mills, with a large population
for the number of dwellings. The earth had yielded an
abundant harvest and the crops had been mostly secured.
Brant's long stay at the Unadilla without striking a blow on
some one of the exposed points of the frontier, excited a
suspicion among the inhabitants that he might be meditat-
ing an attack upon them, and a party of four men were sent
to watch his movements, who falling in with the enemy three
of them were killed, and the fourth, John Helmer, saved
himself by flight, and returning to the Flats about sundown,
gave notice that Brant with a large force was approaching
and would be down on the settlements in a short time. Forts
Dayton and Herkimer now became the asylums for the
terror-stricken inhabitants, to which men, women and children
fled for safety, taking with them their most valuable effects,
such as could be moved; but their crops, cattle and buildings
88 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
were abandoned of course, to the disposal and tender mercies
of the enemy. There were many among them in whose
recollections the scenes of 1757 and 1758 were vividly fresh,
and the apprehension of the ruin that awaited them must
have been painfully severe.
Brant, at the head of three hundred tories and one hund-
red and fifty-two Indians, approached the confines of the
settlements just at nightfall, but the weather being unpro-
pitious and the night dark, he made a halt near Shoemaker's,
his tory friend, and remained there with his forces until
morning, unconscious that his approach had been notified
to the inhabitants in time to allow them to escape. The
untiring vigilance of the chief set him early afoot, and
in the gray of the morning the whole valley was illuminated
by an almost simultaneous blaze of houses, barns, stacks
and barracks of hay and grain and other combustible mate-
rials. A sorrowful sight, to the people in the forts, who
saw their houses and other buildings, with the produce of
the season's labor, entirely consumed by fire. But this was
not all, nor did the destroyer here stay his hand. As soon
as it was light enough to discern objects at a distance, the
tories and Indians collected all the stock that could be found,
and every thing that could be gathered was driven or carried
away.
Almon's Remembrancer states that there were 63 dwelling
houses, 57 barns, 3 grist-mills and 2 saw-mills burnt, with
most of the furniture and grain kept therein ; 235 horses,
229 horned-cattle, 269 sheep and 93 oxen taken and carried
away. Only two persons lost their lives in this affair. The
Indians were compelled to be content with their plunder,
such as it was ; they got neither scalps nor prisoners this
time, nor did they make any attack upon the forts. Soon
after the enemy left the valley with their booty, a party of
between three and four hundred militia followed in pursuit
as far as the Unadilla, but this expedition was fruitless,
except in finding and burying the bodies of the three scouts
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 89
who went out with Helmer to watch the movements of
Brant.
Shortly after the events above narrated, William Dygert,
who had been taken prisoner by Brant on Fall hill some
time in July or August, was recaptured by the Oneida and
Tuscarora Indians and restored to his friends. This aggres-
sion at the German Flats did not long go unpunished, and a
severe retribution soon overtook the Indians by the invasion
and destruction of two of their chief towns, Unadilla and
Oghwkaga, the particulars of which do not come within the
scope of this work.
Mavor, vicar of Hurley, in Berkshire, England, said therfe
was no race of people on earth save the Anglo-Saxon, who
to maintain and carry out a principle of civil government,
would submit to the ravages, devastations and destruction
of property, and bear the consequent destitution of all the
necessities of life, inflicted by the British armies during the
revolutionary war.
Is not the fate of the Palatines somewhat remarkable?
Twice during the latter half of the seventeenth century the
houses of their ancestors, on another continent, had been
visited by the severest calamities of cruel and exterminating
war, when the whole surviving population were driven by
a ruthless soldiery into the fields and forests to perish by
want or exposure ; and when a few thousand of the survivors
landed in this country most of them were compelled to endure
twelve years of serfdom under a corrupt and peculating
colonial government, and finally when seated by the kind
hearted and benevolent Burnet at the German Flats, their
land of promise, and the xdtima thule of all their hopes,
they were twice doomed in the last half of the eighteenth
century to see their fair fields laid waste, their divellings
and crops destroyed, their flocks and herds driven away
to slaughter and themselves reduced to destitution and want.
And on one of these occasions many of them were slain, but
more were dragged into captivity. Surely this last visitation
90 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
must have been extremely severe; but severe as it was
no thought of submission to the crown obtruded itself
upon their minds.
Although the lower portions of the Mohawk valley, and
the white settlements south and east, were repeatedly visited
by the enemy subsequent to the destruction of the German
Flats in September, 1778, and the year 1779, the Palatine
or German Flats settlements in the upper section of the
valley seem to have been exempted from invasion for more
than eighteen months, and the whole valley proper was
comparatively quiet during the winter of 1780.
On the 3d of April, 1780, a party of about sixty
tories and Indians fell upon the settlements in Rheimen-
synder's bush, a few miles north of the Little Falls, and
burnt a grist-mill in that place. A tory by the name of
Cassleman was with this party. They came and returned
by the way of Jerseyfield. They took John Garter and his
son John prisoners at the mill, and captured three men in
the road, one of whom was Joseph NeAvman ; at the same
time, or on the same day, John Windecker, Henry Shaver,
George Adle, Cobus Van Slyke and one Youker or Uker,
with several others, were taken at Windecker's father's
house, some distance north of the mill. The enemy carried
off nineteen prisoners, twelve of whom, collected in one
house, surrendered to less than half their number of strag-
gling Indians without making any resistance or an effort to
escape. All of these prisoners returned at the close of the
war, except John Garter, who died in Canada, and George
Adle, who escaped either on the way out or soon after he
got to Canada and returned before. John Garter and a man
named Espley, another prisoner, preferring colonial freedom,
beset as it then was with privations and dangers, to a
Canadian prison, agreed to make an effort to escape, and
hired an Indian to pilot them through the wilderness ; but
understanding they intended to blow up the magazine before
they left, or making that a pretense for his conduct, he dis-
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 91
closed their intentions to the British officers, when Garter
and Espley were punished severely for their temerity.
Espley got back, but Garter died in consequence of the
severity of the punishment inflicted upon him.
There was a blockhouse in this settlement called Rheimen-
snyder's Fort, to which the inhabitants resorted at night
for safety and protection. When the Indians made their
appearance on this occasion many of the inhabitants fled to
the woods, or otherwise secreted themselves. The objects
of this expedition seem to have been accomplished by burn-
ing the mill and the capture of a few prisoners.
After this visit in April, the inhabitants in that part of the
county, except two or three tory families in Salisbury, aban-
doned their farms and retired into the lower valley. Except
the retreat of Sir John Johnson through the county, near
the close of the year, after the battle at Klock's field, and the
arrival of Gen. Van Rensselaer at Fort Herkimer soon after,
in pursuit of the Greens and Rangers, whom he was very
careful not to overtake, there is no other event worthy of
notice. Johson's sable allies having deserted him and taken
to their heels, and the gallant knight having left his Greens
and Rangers to take care of themselves as they best could, he
did not feel that it would be very prudent to mark the pro-
gress of his retreat with the usual burnings and slaughter
which had hitherto betokened his visits to the valley.
The events of 1781 now claim the reader's attention.
The destruction of Fort Schuyler by flood and fire, in the
month of May, led to the abandonment of that post and
the withdrawal of the garrison to the German Flats. The
works had been materially injured by a heavy flow of
water produced by long and incessant rains, and on the
13th of May a fire broke out at mid-day, which rendered
the place indefensible. The fire was attributed to desie-n
and that suspicion was never removed.
While great Britain held her sway over the provinces,
controlled the western Indians and desired to command
92 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
the fur trade, defensive positions at the carrying place
from the Mohawk river to Wood creek were no doubt im-
portant. Old Fort Stanwix when first built was almost in
the heart of the Indian country, and commanded the ap-
proaches by water from Canada by the way of Oswego ; but
during the revolutionary war it was too far advanced into
the wilderness to afford any protection to the white settle-
ments below, against the predatory system of warfare carried
on by the enemy. That post was easily avoided whenever
the enemy came over by the way of Oswego, by passing to
the south of it from the Onondaga and Oneida lakes. Most
of the expeditions, however, sent against the Mohawk valley,
came by the way of the Unadilla, that being the most avail-
able point to strike the settlements in that valley, the
Schoharie creek, or on the west banks of the Hudson.
Several small parties, however, approached the settlements
on the Mohawk by the way of Black river.
Mr. Solomon Woodworth, commissioned May 11th, 1780,
a lieutenant in Col. John Harper's regiment of New York
levies, was afterwards, on the 8th March, 1781, appointed 1st
lieutenant in Col. Fisher's regiment of Tryon county militia,
" in the place of William Lard taken by or deserted to the
enemy." I do not find any record of Mr. Woodworth's
appointment as a captain. Acting under one of the above
appointments, he, with a company of forty rangers, was
stationed at Fort Dayton, for the purpose of scouring and
traversing the wilderness country north of the German Flats.
Woodworth was a brave man. Once during the war he
was taken prisoner, but made his escape, and returned suf-
fering very considerable hardships; at another time he
defended a blockhouse north of Johnstown, and single-
handed drove away the enemy. Lieut. Woodworth left
Fort Dayton with his company to reconnoitre the Royal
Grant. Having proceeded a few hours on the march, an
Indian was discovered who was immediately fired upon,
when the rangers found themselves involved in an inextrica-
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 93
ble ambuscade, and completely surrounded by an Indian
force double their own numbers. The conflict that followed
was severe and sanguinary, as might well have been expected
from the character of the combatants engaged, and a hand
to hand fight left but fifteen of the Americans, who escaped
to tell the sad fate of their brethren. Some of this party
were taken prisoners, but Woodworth and about half
of his men were killed on the spot.
This fatal encounter took place about three miles north
of Herkimer village, on the east side of the West Canada
creek, in a deep ravine, where now may be seen the mound
of earth, under which rest the remains of the gallant Wood-
worth and his brave companions. The killed, it appears,
were all collected and buried in one common grave, un-
shrouded and uncoffined, with no monument to tell where
rest the brave but unfortunate defenders of American liberty.
On the 6th of August, a German settlement called Shell's
Bush, three or four miles north of Fort Dayton, was visited
by a party of these formidable asserters of the rights of the
crown. Donald McDonald, a Scotch refugee from Johns-
town, with a party of about sixty Indians and tories, with
whom was Empie and Cassleman, two famous traitors, the
latter being the same man who was with the party that
attacked Kheimensnyder's bush in April, 1780, made their
appearance in the Shell settlement in the afternoon of the
above day, when most of the inhabitants had retired to Fort
Dayton, for protection. Some indications of this hostile
movement must have been previously discovered, or the
inhabitants would not have sought the protection of the
fort. There was, however, one man, John Christian Shell,
the husband of a brave and resolute wife, and the father
of six sons, who determined to brave out the storm, let
come what would. He had a strong blockhouse on his
farm, well constructed for purposes of defense against ma-
rauding parties of tories and Indians ; and he resolved to
fight rather than run. The first story of logs had no open-
94 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
ings except a doorway or entrance, well protected by a
massive door, and loopholes through which the besieged
could fire upon their assailants. The floor of the second
story projected over the lower part of the building, and had
apertures in the projecting floor, affording ample means of
annoying any enemy who might approach the building to
fire it or break open the door below. Shell had a good
supply of arms and ammunition to stand an ordinary siege.
When the enemy made their appearance, Shell and his sons
were in the field at work, but his two youngest, being twins
only eight years old, were so far off' he could not save them
when he retired to his blockhouse, and they were taken and
carried to Canada. Having gained his castle and secured
the entrance, Shell and his little garrison were resolute and
alert, and kept up a spirited fight from two o'clock until
dark. Some of the incidents are worthy of particular
notice. Shell's wife was active in loading the pieces fired
by her husband and four sons. McDonald several times
attempted to set fire to the building, but failed. His men
were several times compelled to retreat, in consequence of
the galling fire received from the party in the blockhouse.
McDonald made an effort to force the door with a crowbar,
but was wounded in the leg while so engaged, and none of
his party being near enough to rescue him, Shell did not
hesitate a moment to unbar the door and drag the wounded
tory leader into his fortress. This capture not only secured
Shell against being burnt out by the enemy, but afforded
an ample supply of ammunition to the little garrison, whose
stock was becoming rather short. To save his life, McDonald
gave up his cartridges to be used against his followers. A
short respite took place between the belligerents, but the
enemy returned and made a vigorous effort to take the
blockhouse by assault. They came up to the walls and
thrust the muzzles of their pieces through the loopholes,
when Madam Shell by a blow upon five of them with an
axe, rendered them useless ; this being followed by several
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 95
deliberate shots from the little garrison, compelled the
assailants to retire to a respectful distance. Just at dark,
Shell practised a little stratagem which induced the enemy
to suppose that troops were approaching from Fort Dayton,
whereupon they fled to the woods, taking with them Shell's
two little sons. After providing for the tory commander
in the best manner they could, the family started for the
fort, which they reached in safety. Some of McDonald's
Indians visited him, after the family went away, but finding
he could not be removed, they left him to the mercy of the
Americans, with a message to Shell that the welfare of his
little boys depended on the treatment bestowed on McDonald.
The wounded prisoner was taken to the fort the next day,
when his leg was amputated. The enemy's loss on the
ground was quite severe, eleven killed and six wounded.
The little boys, on their return after the war, stated that
nine out of twelve wounded which the enemy started with,
died before they reached Canada.
In the following year Shell and two of his sons, being at
work in the field not far from his block-house, were fired
upon by a party of Indians secreted in a wheat field, and
he was dangerously wounded. The sons remained with
their father until a party from the fort came to their relief.
One of the sons was, however, shot dead and the other
wounded, before the guard arrived. John Christian Shell
did not long survive his wounds, and thus closed the life of
a brave and resolute man and a pure and devout Christian.
During the short cessation in the attack on the block-house,
Shell addressed his Maker in a hymn of deliverance from
peril, used by the early German reformers.
The Shellsbush settlement is on what is usually called
Gens Purchase, embracing perhaps some portion of the
Royal Grant, and it will be observed that the name of Shell,
Schel or Shaul does not occur among the patentees of Bur-
nets field, nor is the name found in the list of Palatines
remaining in New York, or taken to Livingston Manor, of
96 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
the first two companies that emigrated. Enough is still
known of him to authorize the conclusion that he was a
German Lutheran, and he or his ancestors may have come
over with the third body of immigrants in 1722, or at a later
period. The singularly rude and unharmonious account
of Shell's conflict with the tories and Indians, contained in
Campbell's Annals of Try on county, has contributed very
much to keep that event fresh in the recollection of the
descendants of his German neighbors.
After the defeat of the expedition led by Major Ross,
aided by Walter N. Butler, and which fell upon the lower
valley on the 24th of October, like an avalanche of lava,
burning and destroying every thing in its course, the
enemy retreated in a northerly direction through Jersyfield.
Col. Willett having ordered the destruction of their bat-
teaux, left at the Oneida lake, arrived at the German Flats
by forced marches, in order to intercept Ross's retreat on
the west Canada creek, unless he should return to Buck's
island on the St. Lawrence river. On the morning of the
29th Willett with four hundred of his best troops with sixty
Oneida warriors, provisioned for five days, started in a
northerly direction from Fort Dayton along the West Canada
creek. The first day's march of the Americans through a
snow storm was severe, and at night they camped in a thick
forest on the Royal Grant. Here Col. Willett, having
ascertained during the night, by means of his scouts, the
locality, position and force of the enemy, remained until
the next morning when he started well prepared to give
battle to the foe, determined to inflict a justly merited and
suitable chastisement upon the marauders; but Ross being
equally alert, and quite as anxious to avoid the action as
his opponent was to bring it on, and being well advised of
the proximity of his antagonist, was in full retreat as early
as the Americans had started in the pursuit, and it was not
until afternoon that Willett came up with a party of the
enemy's rear. A smart skirmish ensued, when several of the
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 97
enemy were killed and taken prisoners, among the latter
was a tory, Lieutenant John Rykeman, and the remainder
fled. The Americans overtook the main body of Ross's
party soon after, when a running fight was kept up between
the pursuers and pursued until the latter crossed the creek
late in the day. Butler succeeded in rallying his men and
made a stand on the west bank, when a brisk action took
place between the parties on opposite sides of the creek,
during which the enemy had about twenty men killed, and
among them was "Walter N. Butler. The death of this
officer was followed by the immediate and confused flight
of his men, and Willett pursued his terror stricken foes
until compelled to desist by darkness and the fatigue of his
men, who had been on foot all day and more than half the
time fighting. The enemy continued the retreat all night
and marched thirty miles before they made a halt.
Col. Willett says, "strange as it may appear, it is never-
theless true, that notwithstanding the enemy had been four
days in the wilderness, with only half a pound of horse-
flesh per man per day, yet in this famished condition they
trotted thirty miles before they stopped. Many of them,
indeed, fell a sacrifice to such treatment." The British
had six hundred and seventy men in this expedition, which
closed the active offensive operations of the enemy at the
north for the year.
Walter N. Butler's Death.
According to the most authentic tradition we now have
of Butler's death, derived from Major Thornton, late of
Schenectady, who was a captain under Col. Willett, in the
pursuit of Ross and Butler, on their retreat from Johnstown,
there seems to be a somewhat different version given to
this affair, than that heretofore published. Thornton stated
that Ross and Butler, with their party, encamped on But-
ler's ridge in the town of Norway, on the night before the
Americans overtook them, having traversed the forest from
98 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Mayfield the day before. That Col. Willett was fearful the
enemy had escaped him in consequence of his having made
the detour to Fort Dayton, or that they might have gone
a more northern route than the one usually taken, to reach
the Black river or Oneida lake. A light autumnal snow
had fallen during the night. Thornton was sent out from
Willett's encampment as early in the morning as objects
were visible, with a few men, and among them was an
artilleryman, for the purpose of reconnoitring and finding
the enemy's trail, if there was one to be found. The party
separated into files of two for the purpose of examination,
moving towards the West Canada creek. The artilleryman
was with Capt. Thornton, and they had been sometime
afoot without discovering any traces of the enemy, when
they began to fear they were not on the right course ; they
continued on, however, until they reached Butler's ridge,
when, from their examinations, they were satisfied there
had been an encampment the night before, although the
snow on the ground rendered the question somewhat doubt-
ful. Having communicated this fact to Col. Willett, Thorn-
ton and his companion struck what they supposed was the
enemy's trail, and continued their course in pursuit, little
expecting to find the enemy near at hand. It was not long,
however, before they heard voices, and looking in the
direction of this noise they saw a small scouting party,
who had probably been on the lookout for Willett, coming
up in a direction partly from their rear. Thornton and his
comrade avoided this party by hiding in the underbrush.
After this scout had passed them long enough to allow an
advance with safety, as they believed, they struck the fresh
trail and continued the pursuit cautiously, expecting every
moment to be overtaken by Willett's advanced guard in
force.
The artilleryman was soon killed, by a volley from a
thicket in advance; and when hit by the ball he jumped
two or three feet into the air. Willett's forces followed the
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 99
enemy to the creek, the southerly bank being covered with
large hemlock trees and a thick undergrowth. A heavy,
dense fog hung over the creek, when the American advance
got into it for the purpose of crossing, which being suddenly
lifted by the wind, exposed them to the enemy on the op-
posite bank, who gave them so warm and unlooked-for a
reception that they retired momentarily up the creek bank,
behind the trees and into the bush, having some of the
party killed and wounded. The fog again settled upon the
creek and the parties fired four or five rounds, each at the
other, quite at random, as they could not see across the
stream at the time. The enemy's fire slackened, and the
Americans then went over and found Butler and five of the
enemy dead on the bank of the creek. Thornton stated he
was among the first who reached the opposite bank, but an
Indian was the first of their party who went to the spot
where Butler lay dead, near a tree, and looking at him a
moment turned and told Thornton who it was. Thornton
examined the lifeless body ; the hat, with a gold band around
it, was then on the head; he pulled it off, saw the bullet hole
in the head, and no other wound or fracture about it. When
Thornton started on the expedition he wore a thin pair of
summer pantaloons, which were pretty much gone when he
reached the creek. The Indian pulled off Butler's pants at
Thornton's request, and the latter put them on. Major
Thornton was confident no one knew or could tell who it
was that killed Butler, he being dead before any of his pur-
suers found him.
The enemy were pursued by Col. Willett, until hunger and
want of provisions compelled him to retrace his steps. On
their return to the creek crossing, our people heard the cry
of a child near the wayside ; some of them went in search
of it and found a female infant near a large fallen elm tree,
which had been abandoned by its stricken and toil-worn
mother to a far different fate from that which awaited it.
The child was brought away from its cold and comfortless
100 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
cradle by some hungered and weary rebel, whose heart may
have been sorely riven more than once by the hand of its
father. Thornton also stated that Willett's forces had a
smart brush with the enemy at Black Creek, in the pursuit
out.
After Willett's forces recrossed the Canada creek, they
turned off in the direction of Mount's place in Jerseyfield,
to bury some of their dead. At this time the party had a
British sub-officer, a prisoner, who seems to have been aban-
doned to the tender mercies of the Indians. This man was
a tory and had formerly lived in the valley. Anticipating
his fate, he inquired of the American officers whether they
intended to allow the Indians to massacre him. No direct
answer was given to the inquiry, and the officer disappeared
before the troops reached Fort Dayton.
This relation of the manner Butler was killed, corresponds
with that given by Col. Willet in his official account of the
affair. It is fully corroborated by several traditional state-
ments handed down from persons who were on the spot, and
who saw and knew all about it. In every published account
I have seen, from that of Marshall, in his Life of Washing-
ton, down to our own times, no two of them correspond in
the precise statement of facts. Col. Willett could not have
had any motive in withholding a full and true relation of
the facts attending Butler's death. If he had been wounded
and afterwards despatched, when discovered, by one of
Willett's men, or an Indian, why should not that fact have
been officially stated by the commander of the expedition ?
He had inquired into the matter; it was a subject too import-
ant to be omitted. When, therefore, the Colonel says, " he
was shot dead, at once, having no time to implore for
mercy," we are called upon to pause a little before we pro-
nounce the statement untrue. But, to use a legal phrase,
how stand the impeaching witnesses ? One says that Butler,
in fleeing from his pursuers, swam his horse across the
stream, and then turning round to them on the opposite
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 101
bank, defied them. An Indian discharged his rifle at him
and he fell wounded. The Indian then swam to the opposite
bank, found Butler alive and able to supplicate for mercy,
but who answered the supplication by burying his toma-
hawk in Butler's brains. This relation assumes the improba-
ble facts that Butler was entirely alone and unattended by
any of his men, otherwise, if only wounded and capable of
speech, having a horse at hand, he could and would have
been carried a long distance into the wood, while the Indian,
axe in hand, was swimming across the stream. Another
says he was sorely wounded while standing behind a tree
watching a brisk engagement between the hostile parties, on
opposite sides of the creek, and that when he fell, his troops
fled in great confusion, leaving him uncared for, whether
dead or alive, when they had full time to remove him, and
ample means at hand to do it. The Indian then crossed the
creek and finding Butler alive, shot him again, through the
eye. An Indian never loses a charge of powder and ball,
when his tomahawk, his never-failing and favorite weapon,
will answer his purpose. And yet another says the enemy
had passed the creek, when Butler stopped, dismounted from
his horse, and was in the act of drinking water from a tin
cup, in full view from the opposite bank, when he was fired
at by two of his enemy and fell. The Indian, a Mohawk,
immediately crossed the creek, and finding Butler wounded,
only, ended his life with a tomahawk. Now let us consider
a moment. Was it not quite remarkable that the command-
ing officer of an expedition, who had been three days strain-
ing every nerve to elude the pursuit of a superior, active
and vigilant foe, and whose rear guard had been skirmishing
nearly the whole day with his enemy's advance, should loiter
in his way, suffer all his men to proceed on their route with-
out him; nay, more, that he should deliberately dismount
and drink a tin cup of water, exposed to full view of his
pursuing enemy on the left bank of the creek. But opposed
to this, is Col. Willett's official declaration, that Butler " was
8
102 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
shot dead, at once, having no time to implore for mercy,"
when this last account makes him present when Butler was
scalped ; and when he, WiUett must have been informed, if
it was true, that Butler, in the first instance, had only been
wounded and afterwards tomahawked.
I have already given quite as much space to the subject as
its importance will justify. Many persons had expressed a
desire to know which of the several accounts describing the
manner and circumstances of Butler's death was the more
probable or true one. That is, whether he was shot dead in
the first instance, and nothing was known of his person until
the body was afterwards examined, or whether he was first
identified across the stream, then fired at, wounded, deserted
by his followers, and finally shot in the eye or tomahawked.
The scalping part of the tragedy was probably performed in
the best style of Indian execution.
I have elaborated Maj. Thornton's statement, and, in the
main fact, it seems to accord with the official report.
Although the memory of. the man has been and is still
regarded in our county with deep and unalleviated horror,
there are many who would still like to be informed of the
truth of history.
The route taken by Maj. Ross and the survivors of this
cruel expedition, after leaving the West Canada creek, is
spoken of by Stone as in the direction of Oneida lake,
where the batteaux had been left when the expedition came
from Canada, while other writers assume that Ross pro-
ceeded to the Genesee country. It is not probable that he
would have attempted the latter route in the destitute con-
dition of his men. He reached Granadier island in about
eight days after leaving the creek, in a most pitiable con-
dition, having suffered every thing but death by exposure
and want of food.
Thus ended the career of Walter N. Butler, a man of
enterprizing boldness, but whose heart was a compound of
ferocious hate, insatiable cruelty, and unappeasable revenge.
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 103
Even Brant himself denounced him as more unrelenting
than the savages themselves. It certainly can not excite
surprise and wonder that the news of his death should have
produced one universal shout of joy along the whole Mohawk
valley. The miserable man met a fate he but too well
deserved, and retributive justice was not robbed of a proper
subject.
The losses of the enemy during this expedition were very
severe, and the sufferings of the survivors -in traversing
eighty miles of wilderness, without food or blankets, in cold
and dreary weather, were intense. Willett abandoned the
pursuit and returned to Fort Dayton, having lost only one
man. The surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and other
unpropitious events during the year, had produced an
apathetic feeling on the part of the enemy.
In June, 1782, a party of the enemy, tories and Indians
as usual, appeared at the Little falls for the sole purpose
of destroying a grist-mill at that place, for they do not
seem to have achieved any other valorous exploit in that
way. The grist mill on the falls of the Mohawk became
quite important to the inhabitants of the upper valley, as
well as to the garrisons of Forts Herkimer and Dayton, after
the destruction of those at German Flats, by Brant, a year
and a half before. The enemy came upon the party at the
flouring mill at night, and accomplished their designs with-
out much difficulty.* At any rate, only a few shots were
fired, and one man, Daniel Petri, was killed. When the
Indians entered the mill, the occupants attempted to escape
the best way they could. Two of them, Cox and Skinner,
*The following persons wore at the mill when it was burned, and all of
them, except the millers and soldiers, had brought corn to the mill, and
were waiting for their grists. Peter Wolleaver, Christian Edick, Frederick
Getnmn, Murks Rasbaeh, John Rasbach, Thomas Shoemaker, Lawrence Hatter,
Jacob Petri, Daniel Petri, who was killed, Peter Orendorff; Gershom Skinner,
and F. Cox, millers; a sergeant and six men from Capt. McGregor's company
of continental troops. Two of the soldiers escaped, and five were taken pri-
soners.
104 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
secreted themselves in the raceway, under the water-wheel,
and escaped death and captivity ; but two others, Christian
Edic-k and Frederick Getman, jumped into the raceway,
above the mill, and there endeavored to conceal themselves,
but the burning mill disclosed their hiding place and they
were taken prisoners. After burning the mill the enemy
retired, taking with them several prisoners!
In Stone's life of Brant, the author states that these mills
were erected by Alexander Ellice, Esq., a Scotch merchant,
" who had, under the favor of Sir William Johnson, obtained
a patent of the wild mountain gorge, through which the
Mohawk leaps from the upper into the lower section of the
valley." This is not strictly accurate. The lands on the
north side of the river, from the upper to the lower end of
the falls, are embraced in the patent granted in 1725 to
Johan Joost Petri and other Palatines, and the lands on
the south side are covered by a patent granted in 1752 to
Johan Jost Herchkeemer and another person, known as the
Pall-Hill patent. Mr. Ellice, in his lifetime, and his family
in England after his death, held the title to two of the four
Burnetsfield lots on the north side of the river, and to the
whole of Vaughn's patent, granted to Col. John Vaughn
and others in 1770, the titles to which were derived through
Mr. John Porteous, who was many years a merchant at the
Little Falls, and died there. The names of the Burnetsfield
patentees are given in another chapter, and it is there shown
to whom the lots at the Little Falls were granted.
The upper Mohawk valley was not again visited by any
serious calamity during the remainder of the contest. The
war had not entirely ceased in other quarters, but there was
a general subsiding of hostilities, as if by common consent,
and the mother country had sickened of the effort to whip
her rebellious children into submission. Towards the close
of the year the British commander-in-chief directed that no
more Indian expeditions at the north should be sent out, and
those already on foot were recalled. The house of commons
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 105
passed a resolution, soon after the news of the surrender
of Cornwallis had reached England, declaring "that the
house would consider as enemies to his majesty and the
country, all who should advise or attempt the further pro-
ecution of offensive war on the continent of North America."
In conformity to the pacific sentiments expressed in the
above resolution, if a ministerial change should take place,
the American people might reasonably expect an entire
change in the policy hitherto pursued towards them. The
principal historical events of the war will be closed with this
chapter, and the compiler, in common with many others,
who like him have heard the oftentimes repeated traditional
tale of the suffering infltcted upon the frontier settlements
of the valley, must express his deep regret that some one
had not written out a particular history of the revolutionary
transactions within the county, while most of the surviving
actors and eye witnesses were living.
In February, 1783, the forces under the command of Col.
Willett, were concentrated at Fort Herkimer, the undeveloped
object being to surprise and capture the British fortress at
Oswego. The expedition failed in consequence of the small
number of troops employed, and the want of a proper arma-
ment to besiege the place, attended with the unfortunate
occurrence of the Indian guide having, when within a few
miles of the fort, lost his way, and conducted this little band
into a deep forest covered with snow, instead of directing
his course to the place of destination. Colonel Willett
returned to Albany in time to hear the gladsome news of
peace proclaimed, and to rejoice with his emancipated coun-
trymen in that welcome event.
Here closed the great drama of the revolution, which,
for almost six years, had presented to the inhabitants of
this, frontier, little else than one continued scene of
desolation, and blood. The enemy were too keen and
indefatigable to leave a single out-laying hamlet unvisited
at some period during the war, and probably not one in fifty
106 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
escaped destruction by fire. In the winter and spring of 1780
the inhabitants whose dwellings were not within the protec-
tion of forts and block-houses defended by provincial troops,
were compelled to abandon their farms and seek a shelter
within the armed defenses, so fierce and exterminating had
the Indian warfare become in retaliation of the exploits of
the Americans during Sullivan's expedition in 1779.
In 1781 it was supposed that one third of the population
of the whole Mohawk valley had gone over to the enemy,
and another third had been killed or driven from the
country, and that among those who remained were two
thousand orphan children and three hundred widows The
people of the upper valley suffered severly during the war
and from the militia organizations before and after the war
it would seem they lost nearly half their men capable of
bearing arms during that period. But it is not true that
one third of the population of the upper valley abandoned
their country and its cause and went over to the enemy,
nor is it probable that even one in twenty of them espoused
the interests of the crown.
My desire to record in this book an historical fact, which
illustrates, in a eminent degree, the spirit and bearing of the
leading men of the revolution, induces me to append it to
this otherwise long chapter, although it transpired at an
early period of the war.
Soon after the confirmation of the treaty of alliance and
commerce between the United States and France was re-
ceived in England in 1778, the ministry acting under the
authority of recent acts of parliament, sent out commis-
sioners to America to negotiate respecting the difficulties
between the two countries, and fully empowered them :
" To consent to a cessation of hostilities both by sea and
land.
" To restore free intercourse, to revive mutual affection,
and renew the common benefits of naturalization through
the several parts of this empire.
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 107
" To extend every freedom to trade that our respective
interests can require.
" To agree that no military forces shall be kept up in the
different states of North America, without the consent of
the general congress or particular assemblies.
" To concur in measures calculated to discharge the debts
of America, and to raise the credit and value of the paper
circulation.
" To perpetuate our union by a reciprocal deputation of
an agent or agents from the different states, who shall have
the privilege of a seat and voice in the parliament of Great
Britain ; or, if sent from Britain, in that case, to have a
seat and voice in the assemblies of the different states
to which they may be deputed respectively, in order to
attend to the several interests of those by whom they are
deputed.
" To establish the power of the respective legislatures in
each particular state, to settle its revenue, its civil and
military establishment, and to exercise a perfect freedom of
legislation and internal government, so that the British
states, throughout North America, acting with us in peace
and war, under one common sovereign, may have the
irrevocable enjoyment of every privilege that is short of
a total separation of interests, or consistent with that union
of force, on which the safety of our common religion and
liberty depends."
These terms were not acceptable to congress, nor was
that body in the least inclined to negotiate on any terms of
conciliation with the mother country in the then aspect of
affairs. Having thus far single-handed and alone stood up
against all adversities and weathered the storms of war,
congress and the people, with the aid of the French alliance,
now fancied the haven of peace to be full in view. Mr.
Laurens, in reply to certain inquiries put to him on the
subject, said the Americans would not enter into the con-
sideration of a treaty of peace, without a direct and open
108 HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
acknowledgment of the independence of the states, or the
withdrawal of the British fleets and armies. The terms
offered in these propositions look very much like a total
abandonment of all the antecedent arrogant pretensions of
the crown, and to present the case of a mere nominal con-
nection with and not subjection to the head of the British
empire. If the hopes of America were elated by the auspi-
cious events which had happened, the fears of Britain
checked her vaulting ambition and drove her to propose
an accommodation, which, if offered three years sooner,
might have produced a reconciliation.
CHAPTER VI.
Miscellaneous Incidents, from 1783 to the Present Time — Hostile Feelings
towards the Indians and Tories after Peace — Old England District — Justices
of the Peace Appointed in 1772 — 1784 — Immigration before the War —
New England Emigration — Character of the Population — Militia Officers —
Allusion to the Shay's War in Massachusetts — Justices Appointed in 1791
— Difficulty about the Stamps — Clerk's Office Burnt in 1804 — War of 1812
— Militia of the County — Bounty Lands — State of the County after the
War — Cholera — Jail — Court House — Clerk's Office.
The restoration of peace between the former colonies and
the crown did not restore internal tranquility within the
borders of the upper valley. The surviving inhabitants
awoke, not as from a pleasing dream, whose thought, if so
it may be called, had run riot in elysium, but to the sad and
woeful reality of slaughtered relatives, ruined habitations,
wasted fields, and a devastated country. When they first
went abroad from the blockhouses, forts and places of refuge,
would they not remember the hand which had inflicted
the wrong and been made the instrument of a cruel and
tyrannous chastisement? The Indians, those who were
known to belong to the hostile clans of the Iroquois, could
not safely pass through or sojourn in the country. Not a
few of them, who ventured upon the hazardous exploit,
forfeited their lives. The men who had been almost aban-
doned by the country, during the whole war ; and particu-
larly during the harrassing campaign of 1780, to their own
resources and exertions, felt it to be no wrong to shoot an
Indian, when and wherever they met him, in peace or
war.
110 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
But the most sore trial the survivors were put to, and the
greatest cause of irritation they had to suffer, was the re-
turn of the tories after the peace, claiming a restoration of
their forfeited estates, and compensation for property des-
troyed and taken for public use during the war. A unani-
mous feeling of resistance to this claim pervaded the whole
valley, and, for several years after the war, he must have
been a bold and resolute man, who would visit the country
a second time on such a mission. If one of these Mohawk
tories got out of the country on his first visit after the
peace, without meeting with some disagreeable interviews
with the German population, he was a lucky man.
The " old England " district, embracing a small portion
of the territory in the south part of this county, and a por-
tion of Otsego and Madison counties, on the Unadilla river,
erected by the colonial government, was organized as a
part of Montgomery county in 1784, and officers appointed
by the court of general sessions. Rudolph Shoemaker and
Frederick Bellinger Avere appointed justices of the peace in
Tryon county, May 26th, 1772 ; and George Henry Bell and
Andrew Finck, Jr., were appointed to the same office in
Montgomery county, July 8, 1784. These persons then
lived within the present limits of this county.
The county had received a considerable accession to its
population, between 1725 and 1775, from the country below,
from Columbia county, New York and Germany, chiefly of
German extraction, with some Low Dutch or Hollanders
from the borders of the Hudson. The din of war had
scarcely ceased along the valley, ere the sturdy New Eng-
lander was seen wending his toilsome way along the valley,
with his face set towards the Royal Grant, or the woodland
regions of "Warren, Columbia, Litchfield and Winfield. The
earliest New England settlers found their way into the woods
north and south of the river, about the year 1785, and from
that time forward to 1800, the emigration from the south-
part of this state and the Eastern states was very rapid,
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. Ill
and exceeded ten thousand the first fifteen years after it
fairly set in. The foreign emigration was nothing during
this period. The Celt could not be spared, the loyal Scotch
and English would not come, and the wars in Germany were
consuming the population of that empire. No event of
sufficient importance to attract special attention occurred
from 1783 to 1791, except the organization of two towns
in 1788, which is noticed in another chapter.
I will notice here the first organization after the war, in
1786, October 2d, made in the regiment of local militia in
the German Flats and Kingsland districts, and arranged as
follows :
Field and Regimental staff. — Henry Staring, lieut. colonel ;
Peter "Weaver, major, 1st battalion ; Patrick Campbell, major,
2d battalion ; John Frank, adjutant ; Melchert Fols, pay-
master; William Petrie, surgeon.
1st company. — Jacob Petry, captain ; Pederick Petry,
lieutenant ; William Father, ensign.
2d company. — John Meyer, captain ; William Clapsaddle,
lieutenant ; Henry Frank, ensign.
3d company. — Adam Staring, captain ; Liutwick Campell,
lieutenant ; Lawrence Herter, ensign.
4th company. — Peter P. Bellinger, captain ; Joost Herc-
hinier, lieutenant; Peter Fox, ensign.
5th company. — Michael Meyer, captain ; Peter F. Bellin-
ger, lieutenant ; George Weatirce, ensign.
6th company, (light infantry). — William Colbreath, cap-
tain ; Daniel C. White, lieutenant ; George J. Weaver, ensign
These militia arrangements must indicate the numbers and
strength of the population capable of bearing arms ; and
although three years of peace had intervened in which there
had been a large influx of population, quite enough to make
up two companies, we have three organized companies less
at this time than there were in 1775. The names of the
officers are copied as found in the council minutes. Ensign
William Father, I think, represents William Feeter, and
George Weatirce, represents George Weaver.
112 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
The recuperative energies of the Teutonic race were not
long unseen or unfelt when left free to act, and the fields
that were laid waste by war for years, again waved with
golden harvests and the accomplished woodman's axe was
doing its work in the sturdy forest. 0! what a priceless
boon to man had grown from the stern calamities of a war
whose dirge had just been sung by mourning thousands.
A fact which to some extent illustrates the American
character has come to my notice while preparing this
work for the press. It is this. A considerable portion of
the New England emigration betAveen 1787 and 1793 was from
Massachusetts. Many of these people had been implicated
in or connected with the disturbances in that state which
terminated in what has been called Shay's rebellion. Now
the history of that affair is briefly this. During the contest
recently ended that state had contributed largely in men,
money and credit to the support of the common cause, its
commerce had been destroyed and its manufactories lan-
guished on the return of peace by the introduction of
foreign fabrics. The whole debt of the state, domestic and
due to the confederation was about $10,000,000, and in the
year 1785 a tax of one and a half millions of dollars
was levied on the people and property in the state, equal to
about four dollars for every man, woman and child in it. With
no money to meet this heavy excessive burden the commer-
cial and agricultural classes became more and more indebted
to the state. John Hancock resigned the office of governor,
and was succeeded by Mr. Bowdoin by a legislative appoint-
ment. Soon after his reelection in 1786, numerous symp-
toms of discontent were exhibited in different parts of the
state, and especially in the western towns, whose population
was confined to agricultural pursuits.
In August 1786 a convention of delegates from 50 towns
convened at Hatfield, Hampshire county " to consider and
provide for the grievances they suffered." In consequence
of the disorderly proceeding of the people in different parts
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 113
of the state; little attention was given to the petition for-
warded to the government by the convention. The legis-
lature met in September following, passed some stringent
laws against disorderly and riotous meetings of the people,
suspended the writ of habeas corpus eight months, and
took some measures to relieve the public burthens. The
disturbances continued and several of the leaders were
arrested and confined in Boston jail. The main object of
these people seems to have been to prevent the sittings of
the courts of common pleas which they alleged imposed a
heavy burden on the public. About 1000 met at Worcester,
but committed no other offense than to place guards round
the houses where the judges put up, to prevent them from
holding the courts. While here, Daniel Shays urged them
to proceed to Boston and release by force the prisoners
confined in jail there.
The project was not carried out. They obstructed the
holding of the courts in some of the western counties in
the state. They afterwards made an attempt, in 1787, to
take the Springfield arsenal. They were met by Gen.
Shepard at the head of 1000 militia, and after having three
men killed the rest dispersed.
These rebels, as they were called, then petitioned for a
pardon for the offenses committed by them, but it was refused
because they stated they had reason to complain of the wrongs
and sufferings they endured. They had collected in a con-
siderable body at Petersham in the winter of 1787-8, when
they were surprised by General Lincoln, who took 150 pri-
soners, and the remainder returned home or left the state.
This was the last of the famous Shay's rebellion. No lives
were lost except on the part of these disaffected people.
They do not seem to have aimed at the overthrow of the
government, but sought relief from unbearable burthens.
They took an unwise course. The remedy did not lay in
that direction. John Hancock was again elected governor
in the spring of 1788. He was a moderate politician of the
114 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
federal school. The state was federal when the people
arranged themselves into parties. In the western part, the
seat of these disturbances, the anti-federalists or republicans
contended resolutely for victory at the first election under
the federal or national constitution, and in some places had
a majority. The head and front of this offending could not
have been very grievous. There were no executions for
treason. There can be no doubt the government of the
state was at that time very exacting and intolerant, and the
people had not then learned the true method of self-govern-
ment.
In resuming the history of the county, after the above
digression, it may be proper to state the following persons
were appointed justices of the peace ; ou the 27th March,
1790, George Henry Bell, John Frank, Henry Dygert, Michael
Myers and John Bowman, and on the 17th February, 1791,
Henry Staring, Michael Myers, John Frank, Patrick Camp-
bell, William Veeder, William Dygert, Jun., Moses Foot,
Benjamin Bowen, Hanyost Schoonmaker, Melchert Folts,
Lodowick Campbell, Johannes Finck and Abraham Harden-
burgh. These persons are believod to have then lived
within the limits of this count}7.
Soon after President Adams's famous stamp act went
into operation, and the agent for vending stamps had been
furnished with them to sell, the people in different parts of
the county became a good deal excited, and a combination
was set on foot to destroy the obnoxious stamps, or prevent
their being sold. At the fall musters or trainings, the people
marched down from the hills, north and south, and up from
the valleys, to Herkimer, "armed and equipped as the law
directed," to make war on the stamps, with field piece ready
charged. They tore down the agent's sign, demanded of him
a promise that he would not sell the paper eagles, and other-
wise behaved somewhat noisily, but committed no other act of
violence. It was a bloodless affair. A number of the lead-
ing men were indicted and taken to Albany under arrest,
HISTOKY OF HERKB1ER COUNTY. 115
when Governor Jay met them, and after giving them sound
and judicous advice sent them home. One can not help
thinking that the worthy governor was somewhat annoyed,
during the conference, with the reflection "that he, not long
before, had been in arms against his king and the mother
country on account of stamps and stamped paper."
In March or April, 1804, the county clerk's office was
consumed by fire with all the records and papers it con-
tained. Mr. Joab Griswold had held the office of county
clerk from March 19th, 1798, and Mr. Elihu Griswold was
appointed in his place April 6th, 1804. The office was
burned in the night, and it had been arranged previously
that the new incumbent should take possession of the office
the day after the fire occurred.
" In the war with Great Britain, declared by the United
States on the 18th day of June, 1812," the militia of Herki-
mer county behaved nobly. They claimed no exemption
from service when the governor ordered them to the frontier
to protect and defend the state from hostile aggression or
foreign invasion. It is no disparagement to the militia of
any other county, to say the Herkimer militia met these
calls and suffered the privations of the camp with a patriotic
devotion and zeal not excelled by any of them.
A detached regiment under Col. C. P. Bellinger, had been
ordered to Sacketts Harbor before war was declared, under
a six months' draft. Others followed soon after, and in
1813 and 1814, volunteers, detached, and the militia en mass,
were on the lake and St. Lawrence frontier nearly the whole
time. Companies and regiments succeeding others, whose
terms of service had expired. The pay granted by the
United States was no compensation to the farmer and
mechanic, and substituted service could only be afforded by
the wealthy. If the sacrifice was great, each man could
well console himself with the reflection that he had done
his duty to his country. Governor Tompkins bestowed high
116 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
praise upon the citizen soldiers of Herkimer county, and it
was well deserved.
It is now more than forty years since these events hap-
pened, and many farms have been and are being located
under the operation of the bounty land laws of 1850 and
1855, by the descendants and relatives of those who per-
formed the military service. Although a land recipient
under the former law, I can not admire a policy which is
dictated by a present expediency and not by a rule of equal
and exact justice. There are thousands who are excluded,
whose husbands and fathers performed service as meritorious
as any now living ; and there are other thousands, long since
laid in their graves, to whom this little pittance would have
been grateful ; whose hunger it would have assuaged, and
whose cold and palsied limbs it would have warmed. But
these can not vote now. They are tenants of the graveyard,
under an eternal lease ; an immovable fixture, and can not
swell the population of the illimitable west.
The restoration of peace with Great Britain in 1815, found
our population in a state of universal embarrassment, which
they did not recover from fully in ten years. The merchants
with large stocks of goods on hand, found themselves under-
sold by more than one-half on the new importations. A
series of cold and unproductive seasons, from 1816 to 1820,
had cut oft* the surplus of agricultural products. Farming
lands during the war had been sold at very high prices, and
were eagerly sought for at nearly four times the value they
bore from 1817 to 1825. The county did not produce
exportable commodities sufficient to balance the mercantile
imports, and shinplasters were the circulating medium.
Cheesman's plasters were a more sure remedy for the public
ailments than his balsams. Lands sold during the war at
such prices that the purchaser, who paid one-third of the
consideration money at the sale, and kept the interest on the
balance paid up, could not the first ten years after the peace
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 117
sell them for a price sufficient to pay the balance of principal
due. In other words he could not give them away and get
indemnity against his bond. The state expenditures in con-
structing the Erie canal gave some relief; but the comple-
tion and opening of that great work brought the grain-
growing regions of the west into direct competition with the
then staple agricultural product of the county, wheat. The
Mohawk valley had more than seventy-five years enjoyed,
without competition from the west, the advantages of the
Albany and eastern markets. The county recovered slowly
from its depressed and embarrassed condition. It lost, how-
ever, very considerable of its German population between
1818 and 1830.
The Asiatic cholera has never prevailed in the county to
much extent. On its first appearance in this countr}7 in
1832, when fright and apprehension nearly paralyzed the
whole community, a few cases occurred in several of the
villages, most of them fatal, and along the canal. Since that
time, however, the county has been nearly exempt from that
dreadful pestilence.
In the years 1833, 1834 and 1835, the legislature author-
ized the supervisors of the county to contract loans to the
amount of $10,300 to erect a new jail and purchase a site
for it. An annual tax was also levied to reimburse the
principal of these loans by installments and pay the interest.
The building is of stone, procured at Little Falls, strong
and permanent. The interior arrangements are such as
to afford comfort to and insure the safety of offenders.
Martin Easterbrooks contracted to complete the mason work,
and Edmund Varney, Cornelius T. E. Van Horn, Isaac S.
Ford, Jacob F. Christman, Warner Folts, Frederick P. Bel-
linger and Charles Gray, were the commissioners appointed
to superintend the erection of the jail.
On the night of January 25th, 1834, the old court house
and jail was destroyed by fire. This was an old two-story
structure of wood, and had been standing many years.
9
118 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
The jail on the ground floor had been found unsafe, and
besides the public buildings at that time did not reflect
much credit upon the county. On the 31st of March, 1834,
the legislature authorized the supervisors to borrow from
the common school fund, on the credit of the county, four
thousand six hundred dollars to build a new court house,
and directed a tax of five hundred dollars a year to be
levied on the county to refund the loan and pay the interest.
Francis E. Spinner, Arphaxed Loomis and Prentice Yeo-
mans were named in the act as commissioners to superintend
the erection of the building.
The court house is a handsome structure of brick, stand-
ing nearly in the center of the village of Herkimer. The
jail is on the opposite side of the street. The rooms on the
first floor of the courthouse are arranged to suit the public
convenience, but the interior arrangements of the court
room may be easily improved. Owing to some defect or
oversight in the construction, the long side walls of the
house began to give way and swell out, not long after the
house was completed. They were however soon secured
by iron rods extending across the building. These rods or
bars were inserted in their place when red with heat, and
being secured with proper fastenings at the ends on the
outside of the walls the contraction of the iron brought
them quite into place. The citizens of Little Falls did not
fail to make an effort at this time, to change the county
seat and bring it to them ; but with two-thirds or perhaps
three-fourths of the population of the county against them,
they " hardly made a ripple."
A new fire proof clerk's office, of brick, was erected in
1847. Mr. Aaron Hall, builder.
CHAPTER VII.
Forfeited Estates — Act of 1779 — Persons Attainted under George III — Treaty
of 1783 — Attainder of the Johnsons and Butler justified — Rules of Evidence
laid down — British Parliament — Further Provisions of the Act — Royal
Grant — Extent of Same — Guy Johnson Tract — Herkimer Estates — Motives
of the Johnsons — Sir William Johnson — Events of Revolution still Remem-
bered — Reception of Sir John in Canada — Guy Johnson's Conduct as In-
dian Agent — Judicial Tribunals always open — The Fifth Article of the Treaty
of 1782 — The 9th Article of the Treaty of 1794 — Motives of the Loyalists
in Embracing the Cause of the Crown — Congress Fulfilled Treaty Stipula-
tions — Its Messages not Well Received by the States — Present Law of Treason.
At the risk of repeating some of the facts contained in
the preceding chapter, and of being considered tedious, I
venture to submit some further remarks in reference to the
" forfeited estates " of British subjects, confiscated during
the war of the revolution. The subject is within the scope
of an historical research into the annals of the county,
because the title to large tracts of land within its limits has
been affected by the action of the legislature of the state.
Now, when more liberal sentiments seem not only to be enter-
tained by some governments, but by enlightened individuals,
in respect to the mode of conducting war, and of inflicting
punishment upon individuals, for acts of hostile aggression
in cases where, by the public law, no allegiance was due to
the injured state, the opinion has been expressed thac the
confiscated estates of individuals should have been restored
at the peace of 1783. This is a very grave question, and will
not meet with an affirmative response from any considerable
number of enlightened Americans, even at this day, and
120 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
they, 1 am sure, are quite as liberal as any other people in
the civilized world. The legislature of this state may have
laid down and enforced a rigid rule, and one to which there
should have been some exceptions. But the distracted state
of the country, and the circumstances of the times, called
for the exercise of the most stringent measures of defense
and protection. Subjugation, confiscation and the halter
was the punishment denounced against what was called an
unnatural rebellion. " Life, liberty and the pursuit of hap-
piness," was the prize contended for.
The act of October 22d, 1779, declared " Sir John Johnson,
late of the county of Tryon, knight and baronet, Guy John-
son, Daniel Claus and John Butler, now or late of said county,
esquires, and John Joost Herkemer, now or late of the said
county, yeoman," to be, ipso facto, convicted and attainted
of voluntarily adhering to the fleets and armies of the king
of Great Britain, in the cruel and unjust war then waged by
him against this state, and the other United States, with
the intent to subvert the government and liberties of this
state, and the other United States, and to bring the same
into subjection to the crown of Great Britain. Their estates
real and personal were declared forfeited to and vested in
the people of this state.
When George III, on the 3d day of September, 1783,
acknowledged the thirteen united states " to he free, sovereign
and independent states ; that he treated with them as such ;
and for himself, his heirs and successors, relinquished all
claims to the government, propriety and territorial rights of the
same, and every part thereof," no question could be raised
by the British crown, nor by its subjects, in regard to any
of the antecedent acts of these free, sovereign and independent
states.
When we examine the traces of blood, and fire, and deso-
lation that marked the footsteps of the two Johnsons, Claus
and Butler, through this state, and especially in the Mohawk
valley, from 1775 to the fall of 1779, who can justly say
this act of attainder, confiscation, and banishment was wan-
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 121
ton, cruel or oppressive towards them? Retributive justice
demanded the punishment and it was inflicted.
Other persons were convicted and attainted by the same
act, some of them civilians, and all the persons named in
the act were perpetually banished from the state, and their
return to it was denounced a fdony punishable with death,
without the benefit of clergy. Persons adhering to the pub-
lic enemy, and guilty of treason against the state, after the
9th day of July, 1776, were subjected to indictment and trial ;
and it is here worthy of notice, that the legislature were so
tender of the rights of those who might be complained of
and brought to trial, as to declare that the several matters
which, by the laws of England, were held to be evidence and
overt acts of high treason, in adhering to the king's enemies,
should be the rule in like cases when the parties were charged
with high treason against the people of this state, making-
some other provisions to meet the peculiar circumstances of
the times.
After exerting an act of high prerogative, which had been
done by the British parliament at various periods in the history
of that country, and for causes much less justifiable than
those which provoked the attainder we have been consider-
ing, all proceedings against other parties chargeable with
affairs of this character, against the state, were turned over
to the courts, where a conviction could only be had upon an
indictment and trial or outlawry.
By the attainder of Sir John Johnson it was supposed
the whole of the Royal Grant, so called from the fact that
the patent granted to Sir William received the sign manual
of the king in person, was forfieted. That tract comprises
all that part of the county lying between the East and West
Canada creeks, the Mohawk river on the south, and the
south line of Jerseyfield on the north, which runs from the
village of Devereaux at the northeast corner of the Grant,
on the East Canada creek in a northwesterly direction to
the West Canada creek, intersecting it north of Prospect in
122 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Oneida comity, with the exception of Glen's Purchase, a few
lots in Burnetsfield, and some few patents in Manheim. The
towns of Norway, Russia, Newport, Fairfield, Salisbury,
Manheim, Herkimer and Little Falls, contain portions of
this extensive domain. The tract of 2000 acres granted
to Guy Johnson in 1765, situated in the present towns of Ger-
man Flats and Little Falls, was forfeited by his attainder.
The Herkimer estates forfeited lay within the present
limits of German Flats and Herkimer, and are believed to
embrace portions of the Palatine grants; the only case of
attainder or forfeiture within the limits of the patent granted
to Johan Joost Petri and others.
Sir John Johnson and the wife of Guy Johnson, were the
children of Sir William, by a German woman, legitimated
a short time before the baronet's death by the solemniz-
ation of marriage with the mother. Johan Joost Herkemer
is the only instance of attainder and forfeiture by any of the
Palatines or their descendants in the upper Mohawk valley.
There may have been others who deserved it, and perhaps
there was one, but his case did not come within the letter
of the statute.
Those who are familiar with all the revolutionary events
of Tryon county, can not but be amazed at the infatuated
conduct of the Johnson family through the whole of that
eventful period. They must, on the outbreak of the struggle,
have concluded that all their princely estates in the country
were lost to them, and they would henceforth deal with
them and the property of their former neighbors as well
as trusty adherents, as belonging to the common enemy,
to be consigned to indiscriminate destruction; or they
must have resolved to act the part of marauders out
of mere wantonness and a spirit of revenge.
Sir William Johnson came to this country at an early
day, occupying no higher position than that of land agent.
By his zeal, ability, good conduct and attention to business,
he acquired large estates, and was promoted to the highest
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 123
honors ever bestowed by a confiding sovereign upon a colo-
nial subject. Many are the vague surmises in respect to the
cause of his death, which took place but a short time before
the colonists assumed their defiant attitude to the crown.
He was beloved and respected by his neighbors and depend-
ants, and he perhaps foresaw all the miseries in store for a
country he could not look upon in any other light than his
own. He might have died by his own hand, but facts do
not authorize this conclusion. There were, it must be ad-
mitted, many powerful considerations which should have
induced his family to adhere to the royal cause. They had
been bountiful recipients of their sovereign's favor. Honors
and Wealth had been literally showered upon them, and they
felt it would be forfeiting all claim to honorable distinction,
should they abandon the mother country in the eventful
emergency which had overtaken it. They mistook the
temper and feeling of their fellow subjects in the colonies,
and did not, probably, comprehend the final result of a
separation between the two countries. This family did not
embrace the cautious policy of having some one or more of
their number nominal adherents to the patriotic cause to
protect their possessions, which was adopted by others, and
some too of much less distinction and note.
The startling events of the revolution are yet remembered
by a few now living witnesses, and a more just estimate
of the rights and duties of nations, belligerent and neutral,
seem to be more generally entertained at this day than
during the last century. This no doubt has occasioned
the remark that the provincial governments had been too
stringent in enforcing a forfeiture against the adherents of
the crown, and that when the independence of the states
was acknowledged, restitution ought to have been made.
It should be remembered that the colonies never encouraged
but at all times deprecated the employment of the Indians
in the revolutionary war, or in any way making them parties
in that contest. They knew their situation ; that their own
124 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
country must be the battle field ; and that their own frontier
inhabitants would be subjected to a warfare and desolation
of the most unmitigated severity, not practiced by civilized
nations, and like that with which they too recently had been
afflicted, to be then disremembered. When these visitations
were renewed with a ten-fold severity by those who had
previously deprecated this mode of warfare, and when too,
the object seemed to be to kill, burn and plunder, and not to
subjugate and hold the conquered territory ; it was not the
surviving sufferer who could forgive or forget the authors
of his calamities or the instruments used in the infliction of
them.
To one member of this family, as soon as he was able to
reach Canada, a regiment was given, called the Johnson
Greens, principally composed of refugees, who made con-
tinual marauding expeditions into the Mohawk valley, during
the war, and the memory of whose deeds were not forgotten
at the close of the last century. The other, at the head of
the Indian agency at Montreal, retaining a great influence
over the western tribes, including most of the New York
Indians, was zealously and efficiently employed in retaining
them in the service of the crown, and encouraging and pro-
moting expeditions against the frontier colonists, in which
they were to be joined. This service was not performed by
a slack hand or an unwilling mind. In this work of mischief
and revenge he was but too well supported by that shrewd,
active, but stern and resolute Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant,
who displayed no more of the savage, in his hostile incur-
sions, than should have been expected, perhaps, when the
motives of his prompters were carefully scanned.
There may have been instances in which restitution might
have found a willing response in the heart of the country ;
but that was not the case in respect to this family ; where
was the point of discrimination ? That was the great diffi-
culty. Expatriation and adherence to the common enemy
were open acts of avowed hostility, so marked as not to be
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 125
mistaken. If the party left the country and remained out
of it until the close of the war, unless on business of an open,
pacific nature, and if he failed to return to it, after being
required to do so, these were taken as overt acts of hostility,
sufficient to authorize sequestration and forfeiture. There
could be but one rule prescribed, which must be broad
enough to embrace the whole class of offenders, and while
hostilities were being carried on, exceptions could not be
applied, and when a state of war no longer existed and the
country assumed regular and settled forms of government,
it so happened that the individual states retained the whole
power of remission, and these were not recognized in diplo-
matic relations, nor could they separately form treaties with
foreign governments, or even enter into negotiations. There
was no mode of remission or restitution except by individual
application to the states ; and here the fundamental rules of
government had been settled with so much precision and
exactness, as to prohibit the legislative department of the
governments from granting restitution of the forfeited
estates. The poverty of the states and the excited feelings
of the people on the subject of the war, rendered any appli-
cation for recompense entirely hopeless ; and it would have
been found very difficult to settle upon any rule for granting
relief except that of mere grace and favor, and no refugee
of that day could be found bold or craven enough to put
his loyalty to that severe test. There were cases in which
restitution, remission or recompense could not be asked for
with even a remote prospect of success, and which, certainly,
could not be granted without violating the plainest princi-
ples of justice.
The judicial tribunals of the country have always been
open to appeals for legal redress, and the legislative depart-
ment of the state governments has ne\*er interfered, and
indeed it could not have done so with any effect, being pro-
hibited by the fundamental law. The title to the lands in
one county and part of another, in this state, held under the
126 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
conmiissioners of forfeitures, has within twenty years been
declared invalid by the courts, on the ground of some
informality or irregularity, and not because the law itself
was unconstitutional. The constitutions of this state have
uniformly recognized the grants made by the king of Great
Britain, or persons acting under his authority before the
14th day of October, 1775 ; the constitution of the United
States prohibits the state legislatures from passing laws
impairing the obligation of contracts.
By the 5th article of the treaty of 1783, the United States
did not agree to recommend to the legislatures of the several
states to provide for restitution of confiscated estates to those
who had borne arms against them, but that treaty did provide
that there should be no further confiscations or prosecutions
against any one, and that instrument being the supreme law
of the land, was of course binding on all subordinate authori-
ties. No claim was set»up in behalf of those who had borne
arms, and this is enough to show that no violations of public
faith had been committed in respect to that class of adherents
to the interests of the British crown.
The treaty designated a class who should be recommended
to the favorable consideration of the states, but as before
remarked, the difficulty was this ; the legislatures could not,
or would not, discriminate between those who actually bore
arms, and others who counseled, promoted, set on foot and
directed a marauding expedition against their country, and
humanity will justify the deed. That treaty, it is true, did
secure to " persons of any other description," the right to go
into any part of the United States and remain unmolested
twelve months, to obtain restitution of their confiscated
estates. The congress were bound by that treaty to recom-
mend to the states a revision of all laws regarding the estates
of British subjects, to render them consistent with justice
and equity, and with that spirit of conciliation which ought
to prevail on the return of peace, and also to urge upon the
states to restore to those who had borne arms against the
HISTOEY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 127
colonies their properties and estates, on their refunding to
the persons in possession the bona fide price paid on the
purchase of the confiscated estates and lands. And it was
further agreed that all persons having any interest in con-
fiscated lands by debts, marriage settlements or otherwise,
should meet with no lawful impediment in the prosecution
of their just rights.
By the 9th article of the treaty of November 19th, 1794,
commonly called Jay's treaty, American citizens and British
subjects, holding lands in the territory of either party, were
secured in the exercise of the rights appertaining to them
in the same manner as if they were natives.
What just grounds can there be in view of all the facts
involved in the case of these forfeited estates, to charge
the state governments, and especially our own, with illibe-
rality and a desire to profit by a contingency brought about
by no act of its own seeking. The parties who abandoned
their homes and properties, acted from choice and not com-
pulsion, except that of duty and allegiance, which they
may have thought was due to the king of Great Britain.
They cast their bread upon the waters of strife; it returned
not to them again. If the colonists had been crushed in the
contest, these people would have returned to a wasted and
depopulated country, enriched by the spoils of attainted
rebels, and ennobled by a sovereign grateful for the service
of preserving the brightest jewel in his crown. This was
the fortune that awaited them in case of success, and they
knew it. They thought this a prize worth contending for,
but they misjudged in respect to the chances of success.
They had not yet fully experienced the energies of the men
whose motto was " one for all, and all for one," when banded
together in the great struggle for life, for home, and for
liberty. They did encounter those energies, and were over-
thrown ; they grasped for the prize and lost it, and thereby
forfeited all claims for restitution to abandoned houses and
estates.
128 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
The American congress fulfilled its treaty stipulations to
the letter, but its messages met with a cold and silent recep-
tion from the several states when they spoke of surrendering
up estates to those who had been active participators in what
was deemed an unjust and cruel war of aggression. While
the attainder act, before mentioned, was in full force in this
state, and the commissioners of forfeitures were executing
their office, the constitution of 1787 was ratified, which
declares that " no attainder of treason shall work corruption
of blood or forfeiture, except during the life of the person
attainted."
CHAPTER VIII.
Biographical Sketches of the Palatine Families ; Bell, Beerman, Bowman,
Bellinger, Barse, Casler, Dackstader, Editch, Fulmer, Feller, Fox, Folts,
Helmer, Herkimer, Herter, Hoss, Hess, Korsing, Kast, Koons, Kones,
Landt, Miller, Mayer, Ohrendorff, Petri, Pouradt, Reelle, Rickert, Shoe-
maker, Smith, Spies, Spohn, Starring, Teymouth, Veldelent, Welleven,
Weaver.
The descendants of the following Palatine families are yet
extant in the county : Bowman, Dacksteder, under the name
of Dockstader, Felniore, by that of Fulmer, Herter, Lant,
now known as Landt, Mayor changed to Moyer, Orendros
and Orendorf, now called Ohrendorff, Pears changed to
Barse, and Pell to Bell, Reckert and Spoon.
I should not omit to mention the name of Miller, or neglect
to say, in this place, that the descendants of Johannes, the
patentee, have until the year 1854, retained the ownership
of the whole or some portion of the lot granted to their
ancestor. But the last proprietor of the name parted with
the remnant of a patrimony held in the family more than
one hundred and twenty-five years ; where sire and grand-
sire had sported their youthful pastimes, and, when maturer
years had cast the burthen on them, where they had toiled
and endured in obedience to a high command. Earned by
a long and tedious pilgrimage in search of a " haven of rest,"
and consecrated by the sufferings endured through two long
and cruel wars, the title has now passed to a stranger, and
the " home-farm " is now divested of all the interesting
incidents that have been clustering around its hearth-stones
through five generations.
130 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
The following families soon became extinct, or removed
from the county, and no trace of the names, even, can now
be found, if they ever had any real existence :
The Beermans, Fellers, Hoss, Korsings, Pouradts, Spies,
and Veldelents. The title to the lots drawn to these names
passed into other hands before the revolution, and in some
instances can be traced back many years before that event.
Owing to the great abuses practiced at one period, under
the colonial governors, of granting large or extravagant
quantities of lands to individual applicants, in some instances
to the extent of fifty thousand acres, where there was no
pretence of colonization or settlement, the home government
directed that no more than one thousand acres should be
patented to one person at any one time, and within a limited
period after a grant had been made, and the colonial legis-
lature resumed many, if not all the previous extravagant
grants. This restriction was, however, materially, if not
completely evaded, when the leading families and influential
personages in the colony combined to accomplish by indirec-
tion, what the home government prohibited. A number of
names would be procured to a petition to the governor and
council for a license to purchase the Indian title to as many
thousand acres of land as there were names to the petition.
The license would, almost as a matter of course, be granted,
and the Indian deed being obtained, a patent would be issued.
When this was done, the real parties in interest, the affair
having been previously arranged and understood, would
invite their cograntees to a dinner party, and while the glass
circulated freely, and the generous wine had done its office,
the stool-pigeon men would execute releases of their interest
in the lands patented. In this way many thousand-acre
tracts were obtained at the cost of a dinner.
Some of the names which so suddenly disappeared from
the upper Mohawk valley are found on the Livingston manor
and New York lists. The Zellers may, by a clerical mistake,
have been written Fellers. Zoller and Zuller are familiar
names among the German population of the county. If any
THE BELL FAMILY. 131
of the original patentees gave a dinner for a hundred-acre
lot, in this then sequestered region, the consideration may
not have been inadequate, when compared with a metropo-
litan feast.
Great changes took place in the pronunciation and method
of spelling the original German names, when translated or
changed to English. This was unavoidable with a people
who did not comprehend the two alphabets.
The Bell (or Pell) Family.
Frederick and Anna Mary Pell each took one hundred
acres of land on the north side of the river, in the Burnets-
field grant, near Herkimer village. The family were never,
I believe, very numerous in the county, and before the
revolution seem to have been confined to farming, One of
this family, with his son, was killed by Brant and his Indians
in the attack upon the settlement on Henderson's patent in
July, 1778. The "aged man" may have been Frederick
himself. George Henry Bell, who married General Herki-
mer's sister Catharine, was a man of considerable note in the
valley during the revolution. He had been well educated
and wrote a neat, compact hand, with much rapidity.
Although not among the militia officers appointed in 1775,
he commanded a company at the Oriskany battle, was
wounded there, and afterwards placed on the invalid pension
roll. His disability continued through life. Capt. Bell had
two sons in the battle, Joseph and Nicholas; the former was
killed and the latter run away during the action, which was
always a subject of deep grief and mortification to the father
in after life. Nicholas was afterwards killed and scalped
by the Indians and tories, about a mile from his father's
house, on the road passing over Fall hill. Capt. Bell
remained on the battlefield with Gen. Herkimer until the
action was over, and took charge of the escort which car-
ried his wounded commander more than thirty miles on a
litter. He brought with him from Oriskany a gun which
132 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
he took in a hand-to -hand fight with a British officer, whom
he killed. This trophy was long retained in the family and
exhibited as evidence of military prowess. Capt. Bell lived
on Fall hill, within the limits of the patent granted to his
wife's father. His house, built of stone, was surrounded
with wooden pickets during the war, as a protection against
the enemy.
He was commissioned a justice of the peace of Tryon
county, February 2d, 1778, by the council of appointment,
again commissioned in Montgomery county, July 8th, 1784,
and reappointed March 27th, 1790. It is said of him that
he administered justice with great precision, and sometimes
with severity, when he had to deal with those who sympa-
thized with royalty. He had two sons and two daughters.
One of the daughters married Henry I. Walrad and the
other Peter Waggoner. The late Col. Joost Bell was the son
of Nicholas, whose strong attachment for his family is said
to be the cause of his leaving his post at Oriskany.
The Bellinger (or Pellinger) Family.
There appear to be five persons of this name, grantees of
Burnetsfield patent; two of them being married women.
During the first quarter of the present century, the descend-
ants of these families were considerably more numerous in
the county than they now are.
The name is found among those Palatines who volunteered
under Col. Nicholson, in 1711, for the expedition against
Montreal, then held by the French. On their arrival at New
York, they seem to have been sent by Governor Hunter to
the camps, so called, on Livingston's manor, under the pre-
tense of collecting naval stores ; and there is strong reasons
for believing they were originally seated on the east side of
the Hudson river. The emigration of the Palatines to
Schoharie appears to have been from the west side of the
Hudson, and consisted of those who had been the most
restless and unquiet under the hard treatment inflicted upon
THE BELLINGER FAMILY. 133
them, through the instrumentality of the colonial authorities,
and the apparent indisposition to conform to the engage-
ments made to them by Queen Anne, when they started for
their new homes. Indeed, most if not all the dii'ticulties en-
countered by the colonial officers originated with the Palatines
settled on the west side of the river.
These observations are drawn out in consequence of a
tradition, existing in the county, that this family, or some
members of it, came from the Schoharie into the Mohawk
valley, which seems not to be supported by the documentary
history of the times.
In November, 1722, Gov. Burnet, in a letter to the board
of trade and plantations, says, "but as about sixty families
desired to be in a distinct tract from the rest, and were of
those who had all along been most hearty for the government,
I have given them leave to purchase land from the Indians
on a creek called Canada creek."
From what had then taken place, Gov. Burnet would not
have said that the Palatines, who went to Schoharie in spite
of the efforts to prevent them, had been very hearty for the
government, while he censured those who had participated
in that exodus, though not in strong language. The simi-
larity of names found among the Palatines on the east side
of the Hudson river, and those contained in the patent, must
go far, in connection with Gov. Burnet's declarations, to
establish the conclusions now advanced.
This family seems to have held a prominent place in the
public regard, at the time of the revolution, and were unde-
viating and unflinching in their attachment and devotion to
the cause of the colonists, in the revolutionary struggle.
Col. Peter Bellinger, whose regiment was composed of the
militia of the German Flats and Kingsland district, and
Lieut. Col. Frederick Bellinger, of the same regiment, parti-
cipated in the bloody fight at Oriskany; the latter was taken
prisoner and carried to Canada. Col. John Bellinger, of this
family, was also in that battle, as a private. He removed
to, and settled at Utica, about the year 1791.
10
134 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Most, if not all the lands allotted to the patentees, have
been hold by their descendants down to the present time, in
spite of the diftusibility of our laws in regard to real estates.
This has probably been effected by means of wills and testa-
ments, for the statute of distributions, in the period of three
or four generations, even where the children of each are few
in number, would have divided a hundred-acre lot into very
small parcels. One branch of this family placed a high
estimate upon military titles, and we find the son succeeding
the father in military rank and title, with about as much
certainty as to an inheritable estate.
Gen. Christopher P. Bellinger.
In pursuing the plan marked out, of grouping the indi-
viduals of the stocks of the Palatine families under one head,
from their origin to the present time, great inconvenience
has been encountered for want of such accurate data as family
records would afford.
Gen. Bellinger was born in the town of German Flats, or
within the territory formerly embraced within its bound-
aries. In the prime of life he was a large farmer, and at-
tained considerable wealth. In 1828, when the town of
Little Falls was erected, a part of the eastern portion of
German Flats, in which was located Gen. Bellinger's home-
stead farm, was set off to the new town. His native town
contained a very large majority of inhabitants of German
extraction, among whom his family connections were quite
extensive and influential.
In the early division of political parties, he was a repub-
lican of Mr. Jefferson's school, and in this respect sympathiz ed
with a very large majority of the German population in his
town and in the county ; and, in the course of a long and active
life, enjoyed a large share of public confidence. He was often
elected a supervisor of his town, and to other minor town
offices; and, for many years, acted as a justice of the peace.
lie was diligent, careful and upright in the discharge of all
GEN. CHRISTOPHER P. BELLINGER. 135
his public duties, and bestowed the most watchful care to
the public interests committed to his charge. No stronger
illustration of this need be produced than the fact that for
many years he had no competitor in his town, for any public
favor his fellow citizens had to bestow, or to which they
could promote his interests or wishes. He was four times
elected member of assembly, in the period of fourteen years,
and once returned as elected, by the county clerk, when he
was not chosen by a plurality or majority of votes.
At the annual election in the spring of 1809, he succeeded
by a majority of five or six votes, and his two colleagues
were defeated. Thomas Manly and Rudolph Devendorff,
two federalists, were elected over the two republican can-
didates. It has been said that Gen. Bellinger owed his
election at this time to a partial belief entertained by some
portion of the federalists that he favored the political views
of that party. This was a mistake. He was the next year
elected on the same ticket with two other well known
republicans.
In 1821 he was again a candidate for the assembly, and
having a larger number of votes than either of the two other
republican candidates running with him, he obtained the
certificate upon an alleged informality in the return of the vote
from the town of Danube, when one of his competitors, the
lowest on the Clintonian ticket, had obtained a considerable
majority. At this time the county clerk alone, canvassed
the county vote for members of assembly. The constitution
of 1777 was still in force, and the political majority in the
assembly would determine the character of the council of
appointment, which then wielded an immense political
power, having nearly all the civil appointments in the state
within its gift.
For a time, after the election, it was doubtful which party
had secured the majority of the assembly; it was charged
against the clerk, who was a republican, or bucktail as then
called, and who held his office at the pleasure of the council
of appointment, that he had given the certificate to secure
136 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
the election of an anti-Clintonian speaker and four anti-
Clinton it m members of the council. The clerk of course
denied the charge, insisting he had no right to look behind
the returns, and he must take the certificate of the town
canvassers as it stood. And although an Irishman by birth,
and could talk high Dutch with the most glib-tongued Ger-
man in the valley, he said he could not make the word Tood
read, mean or spell Todd, and therefore he should give the
certificate to the candidate having the highest number of
votes, after placing those certified to Stephen Tood among
the scattering. The general was however unseated imme-
diately after the organization of the house, andDoct. Stephen
Todd of Salisbury, the party who had been chosen, took his
seat.
Gen. Bellinger in the party split of 1819 and 1820 acted
with the section called in that day bucktails; was an ardent
admirer of Daniel D. Tompkins, and in the presidental con-
test of 1824 adhered to the fortunes of William H. Crawford.
In the fall of 1823, he was again elected to the assembly
with John Graves, Esq., of Russia, and Dr. Caleb Budlong, of
Frankfort. It devolved on the legislature, which assembled
in January, 1824, to choose the electors of president and
vice president of the United States, or provide by law for
some other mode of appointment. A large majority of mem-
bers elected in 1823 were republicans or democrats, but very
much divided in respect to the candidates for the presidency,
and a new element of party strife was presented to the
assembly, soon after the election of speaker. The Clintonian
party had ceased to exist, and the old federal party had been
disbanded. At the election in 1823, a new party, called the
people's party, composed of Clintonians, federalists and re-
publicans, hostile to the election of Mr. Crawford, sprung up,
and, by the united action and votes of this political combina-
tion, a large number of members, hostile to Mr. Crawford,
were returned to the assembly. It is not my design to pre-
sent to the reader anything more of the political history of
the state than may be required to give a proper view of the
GEN. CHRISTOPHER P. BELLINGER. 137
position occupied by the individual whose biography is a
subject of consideration.
The speaker, Mr. Goodell, of Jefferson, was friendly to Mr.
Crawford. Gen. Bellinger was appointed one of the com-
mittee of nine members to which was referred the subject of
altering the law prescribing the mode of choosing presiden-
tial electors. The minorities had combined to defeat Mr.
Crawford; six of this committee, however, were supposed
to be his friends, and Gen. Bellinger was one of that number.
He assented to the report of the bill, by the select committee,
changing the mode of election, and voted for it on the final
passage. This bill was defeated in the senate, and in No-
vember, 1824, at the adjourned legislative session, he voted
for Crawford electors. This was the last time he represented
the county in the legislature.
When war was declared by the United States, against
Great Britain, in IS 12, the General had then attained the rank
of colonel in one of the militia regiments of Herkimer county.
Congress, anticipating that event, had, in April of that year,
authorized the raising of 100,000 men, to be drafted from
the militia of the several states; 13,500 of which number
was assigned to this state. Col. Bellinger was detached by
Gov. Tompkins, to take command of the regiment of militia
designed for the defense of the northern frontier, and re-
paired, with his command, to Sackett's Harbor, in May
following. The term of service fixed by congress, for these
troops, was three months. The object of the government
in thus placing a military force upon the frontier, at this
early period, was to watch the movements of any armed force
that might be collected in Canada, protect the public pro-
perty that should be collected at the various points designated
as military depots, and enforce a rigid execution of the non
intercourse law with Great Britain and her dependencies.
A good deal of illicit commerce had been carried on, along
the frontier; the laws of the United States had been openly
and extensively violated, and the authority of her revenue
officers contemned ; and, when needed, even an armed force,
138 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
from the other side, would sometimes be at hand, to aid the
evasion. A portion of the force, under Col. B.'s immediate
command, was stationed at points most suitable to assist the
civil officers of the United States in executing the laws of
the land.
A distinguished American statesman is reported to have
said, when delivering a political harrangue on the sabbath,
"there were no Sundays in revolutions." His Britannic
majesty's liege subjects, acting upon the principle that a
state of war abrogated the omnipotent behests of Jehovah,
approached Sackett's Harbor with five armed vessels on the
19th of July, 1812; which day, the calendar tells us, was
Sunday, with the view of capturing or destroying several
American armed vessels at that place. Col. Bellinger's
regiment with the crew of an eighteen gun brig, and a few
militia collected on that occasion, constituted the whole
American force at the harbor when the formidable expe-
dition made its appearance. Although Col. Bellinger was
at that time the commanding officer of the post, the arrange-
ment of the batteries for defense, and the direction of the
artillery, was supervised by the senior naval officers on that
station. The enemy abandoned the object of the visit, after
being somewhat crippled by American shot. Gen. Jacob
Brown, in a letter to Governor Tompkins, spoke in terms of
high commendation of Col. Bellinger's conduct on this
occasion. In other letters to the governor, the general
spoke of him as " a brave officer, and a worthy man" ; " he is
one of the best of men" ; "the more I have seen of Col. Bel-
linger, the more I am pleased with him. He is disposed to
do every thing for the best."
During a part of this term of service there seems from the
correspondence to have been some misunderstanding between
Gen. Brown and Col. Bellinger, in regard to the position of
the latter. When the colonel was ordered to the harbor
the command of the post was no doubt assigned to him, he
being the senior officer in service at that point; and it was
not until a brigadier's command was ordered out, and Brown
MAJOR FREDERICK BELLINGER. 139
assigned to it, that the latter could rightfully assume any
control over him.
At the expiration of three months the regiment was
mustered and discharged without being paid. In the sub-
sequent campaign of 1814, Col. Bellinger performed a tour of
military service on the frontier with the patriotic and de-
voted militia of the county. Being placed in defensive
positions, he had no opportunity of distinguishing himself,
except as a diligent officer, attentive to his duty, exacting
its performance from his subordinates, and exercising those
acts of kindness to the sick of his regiment, which rendered
him beloved and respected by his men. His experience in
military affairs was wholly limited to casual militia service,
and some years after the war closed he was promoted to the
rank of brigadier-general. Warm in his attachments, he
was confiding to a fault, and consequently was not wholly
exempt from the approaches of the artful and designing,
although he possessed a strong and vigorous mind. His
education was somewhat limited, being mostly confined to
the teachings of the German country schoolmaster. He
died at Little Falls about seventeen years ago, without male
issue, at an advanced age, leaving four married daughters.
He was twice married, and his second wife survived him.
Major Frederick Bellinger,
Being another descendent of the Palatine stock, was a
native of the county. He embarked in mercantile pursuits,
early in life, which he continued with some interruptions to
its close. He won the regard and confidence of his fellow-
citizens, which was frequently shown by expressions of pop-
ular favor on the part of the people of his native town,
Herkimer.
He represented the county in the assembly of this state
in 1836, with Stephen Ayres of Fairfield and Thomas Hawks
of Columbia.
140 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
Major Bellinger possessed many amiable qualities, and
was highly esteemed by all who kneAv him. He died at
Mohawk, German Flats, leaving descendants. He was twice
married and his last wife survived him.
His family, in common with every other inhabitant of the
valley, were visited by the scourge of Indian warfare.
During the revolutionary struggle, two brothers, descendants
of one of these Palatine families, had occasion during harvest
to go into the meadow after a load of hay, and as usual one
or both of them went armed. One of the brothers had
placed his gun against a stump in the field and commenced
pitching hay to the other on the wagon. They had not
been long engaged in this before they were fearfully warned
of danger at hand by the savage yell and the discharge of
muskets. The brother on the wagon after seeing the other
shot down and marking the man who did the act, succeeded,
by the fleetness of his horses and being partly protected by
the hay, in making his escape. The young man shot, was
killed while endeavoring to reach his gun, by a well known
tory, who had lived on Young's patent, in the south part
of the county. He had most likely recently joined the sable
allies of the king, and was out on a mission to reduce his
rebellious subjects to duty; and true to the instincts of his
nature and obedient to the orders of his masters, he could
shoot down the peaceful husbandman in the harvest field, or
drive the hatchet into the head of the unoffending mother
while nursing her infant offspring, and hang the scalp lock
of both to his belt with as much zest as the most proficient
of his nimble-footed compeers. Many long years had rolled
over the head of the surviving brother ; he had a family
and sons grown to manhood, but time had not obliterated
from his memory the recollection of a brother's death or the
face and form of the man who had done the foul deed. So
late even as when Henry S. Whiting kept the stage house
in Herkimer, and a line of passenger stages was running
between Utica and Albany, when large wood fires and
massive andirons were much in fashion, Mr. Bellinger went
MAJOR FREDERICK BELLINGER. 141
into the tavern, to see whether some friend or acquaintance
had not just then arrived in the stage, with no thought that
he should meet face to face the man who many years before
had slain his brother.
But there sat the slayer enjoying himself before a rousing
wood fire, which had imparted so much heat to the andirons
as to make them red-hot. Mr. Bellinger saw and knew the
man at once, and, no doubt, considering him a murderer,
seized one of the hot irons by the top, drew it from the fire
intending to inflict a blow upon the head of his tory ac-
quaintance, which must have greatly disfigured his scalp-
lock if the bystanders had not interfered and prevented
him. I very much doubt whether this man ever again
traveled through the Mohawk valley, or would venture
within reach of Bellinger's curling tongs. He rightfully
believed himself protected by the guaranties of the treaty
of peace, but Mr. Bellinger did not think so, and when pre-
vented from using the andiron, he sought for and loaded
his gun, declaring that he would take the life of his brother's
murderer. His son interfered, explained how matters stood
between Americans and their late enemies under the treaty
of peace, and finally took the gun and put it away.
There may be some who will look upon the outburst of
fraternal feeling with great disfavor, and overlook all miti-
gating circumstances which at the moment seemed to
justify Mr. Bellinger in his own mind for any act of retalia-
tion, however severe, or even fatal to the individual who had
thus unexpectedly and presumptuously made his appearance
upon the field of his former hostile exploits.
Let the scenes of the revolution enacted in the valley be
remembered ; let it be borne in mind too, that this family
with many, if not every other inhabiting the German Flats,
had been subjected to the severest calamities of an unnatural
and cruel warfare of seven jflBars' continuance, had looked
upon harvests and houses destroyed, fields desolated, and
cattle and horses shot down as if in sport, or driven away to
gorge the appetites of an unrelenting enemy, and last of all,
142 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
but by no means the least inconsiderable cause of irritation
and unappeasable bate, who had mourned some relative
slain, either in the field of battle, or by stealth and Indian
stratagem ; when these things are brought to memory, we
can not visit with stern rebuke an act, palliated, if not jus-
tified, by so many bold and indisputable mitigating circum-
stances. The treaty of peace had thrown round this man
its broad protective shield, and he was therefore entitled to
an immunity which he was in no haste to claim a second time.
The Keslaer and Casler Family.
This was, a few years since, and is now, probably, one of
the most numerous of the Palatine families in the town of
Little Falls. We can trace the name back to the camps on
Livingston's manor, and find it on the lists of volunteers in
the Montreal expedition. In respect to this county, so far
as I have been able to discover, the name has been derived
from the two patentees, Johannes and Nicholas Keslaer.
The industrial pursuits of this family have been principally
directed to agriculture, and this has been attended with
such uniform success, that, in most instances, the sons have
inherited the home farms of their fathers, through several
generations ; and, even at this day, the two lots granted to
the first patentees, are still possessed by their lineal descend-
ants. John and Nicholas were brothers, no doubt unmarried,
and without families, as each drew a lot of one hundred
acres ; and no more lands were drawn to that name. An-
other fact bears out the presumption taken : the, third genera-
tion from one of the patentees, now living, inherit the
property, and the combined ages of the three oldest is more
than one hundred and eighty years, and making due allowance
for the adolescence of the first and second generation, the
period from 1725 to 1855 is more than filled up. In a recent
interview had with Richard Casler, a venerable patriarch of
one branch of the family, and now eighty-nine years old,
I gathered some materials for this notice. He was with
THE KISLAER AND CASLER FAMILY. 143
Col. Willett's party when W. N. Butler was killed, on the
West Canada creek. Capt. Ellsworth, Lieut. Bloodgood and
Ensign Show, were the officers of his company, lie knew
Gen. Herkimer, and says he was a thick-set, stout man, not
quite six feet high. The general's dwelling, at Danube, was
built before his recollection. He recollected his grandfather
Johannes, the patentee. His father, Jacob, and his uncle,
John Casler, who died about the year 1816, at an advanced
age, were both in the Oriskany fight. Johan Marks Petri,
who was also there, killed an Indian, and told Jacob Casler
he might have the Indian's gun, and all he had about him,
and be welcome, if he would go and get them, which Jacob
took and brought away. A small grist-mill was built on the
Casler creek, before the war, which, being stockaded, pro-
tected it from being destroyed by the enemy. The Petri
and Casler families were connected by marriage. Johan
Marks Petri owned lot No. 12, at Little Falls, before the
revolution, and built a small grist-mill in the first place on
Furnace creek. The mill that was burned by the enemy, a
relation of which has been given in another place, was on
the river, and supplied by water from it. Jacob Casler,
probably a distant relation of my informant, and commonly
called Black Jacob, by reason of his having black eyes, a very
unusual circumstance among the Germans, at an early day
in the settlement of the country, had a severe fight with a
bear. The contest was for dear life, and whether black Bruin
or black Jacob should live to see another day. Casler had
gone out, towards nightfall, in pursuit of cattle strayed into
the woods, armed with a common bayonet fixed on a heavy
stick several feet long, and when passing up a woody ravine
some distance from the clearings, the black tenant of the
forest saluted Jacob with a hostile growl, which brought him
to a halt. The belligerents did not look at each other with
much fraternal feeling. One of them prepared himself for
an embrace entirely too bearish to suit his antagonist, and
when Master Bruin opened his arms to give the unfriendly
hug, Jacob thrust his bayonet into the bear's side as fur
144 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
as lie could drive it. This only enraged the wounded beast.
It did not disable him entirely, nor cause him to retire from
the contest. The bear wrenched the bayonet from his side
with his fore paws, and endeavored to disarm his foe ;
but Casler held fast to his stick and in the scuffle the bayo-
net became detached from it. Jacob pounded his antago-
nist on the head and back with his club, and the bear tore
Casler's clothes and lacerated his limbs and body with his
claws ; but Black Jacob knew he must conquer or die, and
made up his mind to fight as long as he could strike a blow
with his faithful club. The issue of the combat was some
time doubtful. Casler bled profusely from his wounds, and
was nearly exhausted by his exertions. The bear bled some
from his first bayonet wound, and exhibited signs of being
confused by the repeated heavy knocks bestowed upon his
head, when a happy blow over the eye laid Master Bruin
on his back. Casler, no doubt, counted his own life among
" the spoils of victory " on this occasion, and would have
freely given the bear's hide and bruised carcass to be rid of
the ungentle scratches he had received. Jacob long enjoyed
the reputation, and justly, of a bold and resolute man.
Frederick Casler, a descendant from one of the patentees,
died October 19th, 1849, about seventy years of age, and
his father, Jacob Casler, died April 1, 1822, aged sixty-nine
years. John Jacob Casler, the grandfather of Frederick,
died in January, 1811, aged 88 years. This carries his
nativity back to 1723, renders it probable that he may him-
self have been the patentee, Johannis, and overturns the
supposition previously advanced, that the two patentees
were brothers. The family tradition respecting the pur-
chase of one of the two patented lots from strangers by the
sons of John Jacob, may induce a belief that he was a son
of Nicholas, and that the lot having been parted with by
the father or his other children, had been brought back into
the family by purchase. Jacob and George Kesslair, were,
it seems, two of the seventeen patentees of Staley's first and
THE EDITCH FAMILY 145
second tracts, granted in 1755, chiefly to the Palatines of
the upper valley.
Richard Casler, referred to in this notice, died on the
18th of September, 1855. The newspaper obituary notice
states his age at ninety-five years. He told me when I saw
him, he was then eighty -nine years old. One of his sons was
present and confirmed this statement, by saying that was
his reputed age in the family. His health was not firm
during the latter part of his life, but he was never known
to neglect joining his fellow citizens in celebrating the
anniversary of American freedom.
The Editch Family.
This name is also found written and printed Edigh, Edich,
Itigh, lttigh and Ittich. Michael Ittich was one of the
volunteers under Nicholson in the expedition against Mont-
real in 1711. This family were seated for a time on Living-
ston's manor, and employed, as pretended by the colonial
authorities, in making naval stores for the British government.
Of the four persons of this name who were patentees, I
have no means of ascertaining which was the head of the
family, or what relationship they bore to each other.
Michael Itigh was one of the patentees of Cornradt Frank's
patent, granted in 1765, and Hans Michael Ittig, Jun., and
Jacob lttigh, were patentees of Staley's 1st and 2d tracts,
granted in 1755. This name is still extant in the county,
although not very numerous. I still recollect a Mr. Edick
who figured considerably in our courts some twenty or
thirty years ago, especially in ejectment suits brought to
settle lines between patents and farm lots, with which he
was very familiar on the south side of the river in the
Staley and Frank patents.
146 history of herkimer county.
The Fols (or Folts) Family.
The patentee Jacob took lot three on the south side of the
river and a short distance east of Frankfort village, and
Melgert, now Melchert, took lots two, high and low hind,
on the north side.
Their descendants are found in the county in considerable
numbers, near the spots where the patentees planted them-
selves in 1725. The reader will notice that two of the
name of Volts were appointed first lieutenants in the fourth
battalion of the Tryon county militia in 1775. This was a
misspelling of the family name. Melch. Folts's name is
found on the roll of volunteers for the expedition against
Montreal, in 1711, from Haysbury on Livingston manor.
Warner Folts, who was chosen one of the members of
Assembly at the general election in 1824, was a descend-
ant of the patentee Jacob Fols, a farmer and a worthy
good man. Ambitious of nothing but to act well his
part in this life, and " to make a clean breast of it "
with all mankind when he took his final leave of this world.
He was a good neighbor and a warm friend. He was
elected under circumstances which called forth considerable
reprehension, at the time, from former political associates
and party friends. Such things, however, are not long
remembered. The party which had elected him had also
returned a very large majority of members to the.house,
and when he took his seat and became more intimately
acquainted with the political men with whom he was
expected to act and associate, he felt embarrassed and un-
happy, and finally made up his mind " that come what
would" he must go with his old political friends.
Melchert Folts, a son of one of these patentees, was
appointed paymaster of the regiment- of militia commanded
by Col. Henry Starring, in October, 1786 ; elected the first
town clerk of Herkimer, in March, 1789, and held the office
several years by reelection. He was also commissioned
a justice of the peace soon after the erection of the county.
THE FOX AND HELMER FAMILIES. 147
Born May 5, 1746, and died May 2, 1829 ; his wife Mary
died one month later. The combined ages of the two
make one hundred and fifty-seven years and three months.
Mr. Folts had received a good common-school education,
and was an easy and rapid penman. He kept a journal of
the principal revolutionary events in the upper Mohawk
valley, but, unfortunately, it has been destroyed or mislaid.
The Fox Family.
This name is not yet extinct in the county, and some of
the descendants of the patentee, Christopher, reside near, if
not upon, the lot taken up by him in the vicinity of the Stone
Church, German Flats. Frederick Fox, a son of the patentee,
was a first lieutenant of Capt. George Herkheimer's company,
4th battalion Tryon county militia, as arranged in 1775.
Peter Fox was commissioned, in 1786, as ensign in Capt.
Peter P. Bellinger's company of militia, in the regiment com-
manded by Lieut. Col. Henry Starring. I do not place Peter
on the list of descendants from the patentee, but it is proba-
ble he was.
This family is not now, I believe, very numerous in the
county, although several of the name, of German descent,
are settled in the southern towns. Christopher Fox was
one of the volunteers, in 1711, in the' expedition against
Canada. He then was at Haysbury, on the manor, and was
the Palatine list master of that town.
The Helmer Family.
This name is still pretty numerous in this and the adjoin-
ing county of Montgomery, but I do not suppose they all
claim to be descendants of the Palatine stock, who first came
to the upper Mohawk valley. Of the six patentees, in the
-rant of 1725, two were married women, whose husbands
wcic alive. Philip and Frederick, two of the patentees,
were probably children of the other grantees. Lendert Hel-
148 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
mer, one of the original patentees of Burnetsfield, was also
the grantee of lots Nos. 13, 21 and 38 in the patent or grant
made in 1739, called Glen's purchase. John Adam Helmer,
with Capt. Demuth and another man, was sent forward, on
the day previous to the Oriskany battle, to Fort Schuyler,
by Gen. Herkimer, to apprise Col. Gansevoort of his approach.
This duty was executed, although some delays took place in
reaching the fort, occasioned no doubt by the extreme cau-
tion necessary to be observed to avoid a watchful and numer-
ous enemy. Helmer was also one of the messengers sent by
the committee of the Kingsland and German Flats district to
Albany, with an account of the disastrous result of the battle.
Capt. Frederick Helmer, of Col. Peter Bellinger's regiment
of militia, was killed at Oriskany.
John Helmer was the only survivor of four men, sent in
August or September, 1778, to watch Brant's movements at
the Unadilla, who was then collecting his tory and Indian
forces for a descent upon the German Flats, which he, at
that time, so successfully accomplished. Helmer's three
companions were killed at the Edmeston settlement ; but he
made his escape, and returned in time to notify the inhabit-
ants of the impending danger, and they saved themselves
from slaughter and captivity by fleeing for protection to
Forts Herkimer and Dayton. I have no means of deciding
whether this was the same man sent to Fort Schuyler, by
Gen. Herkimer, but suppose it was.
The historians of the revolutionary period mention a man
by the name of Helmer, who was arrested, tried by a court
martial, condemned and executed as a spy, at Johnstown, in
April, 1779. This man, it seems, belonged to the expedition
which came from Canada, in the fall of 1778, for the purpose
of recovering Sir John Johnson's iron chest. He became
disabled, so that he could not pursue his journey back to
Canada, and secreted himself in his father's house until
spring, when he was arrested. He had left the county with
Sir John, and had attached himself to the baronet's fortunes.
This man could not have been one of our family of Helmers,
THE HERKIMER FAMILY. 149
as his father, it appears, was settled at or near Johnstown,
and the tide of German emigration, before the revolution,
flowed westward.
This family, or these Burnetsfield patentees, the Helmers,
were Palatine immigrants, but whether they came over in
1710 or 1722 is not certain. They probably composed a
part of the second body of immigrants.
The Erghemar (or Herkimer) Family.
Jurgh, Johan Jost, Madalana and Catharina Erghemar,
were each, as appears, patentees named in the Burnetsfield
grant. One hundred acres, on the south side of the Mohawk
river were allotted to each of them. This name is not found
in the list of Palatine immigrants who were sent to Living-
ston's manor, by Gov. Hunter, or of those who remained in
the city of New York. We have no reliable information in
regard to Jurgh, or George, Herkimer. There is a tradition
among the descendants of this family, that two brothers
emigrated from Germany, and after being here some years,
they were informed that a considerable estate had fallen to
them in fatherland, when they concluded they would return
to Germany and look after it ; but on going to New York,
and seeing only a small portion of the broad expanse of
water they would have to cross, their resolution failed, and
they returned to their then quiet homes on the Mohawk.
This family early exhibited evidence of wealth and thrift
far ahead of any of the other Palatine settlers, in the erection
of costly stone edifices, and the possession of many broad
acres, purchased after Gov. Burnet's grant. This grant pro-
fessed to set apart one hundred acres to each man, woman
and child of the families who had petitioned to be removed
to the upper section of the valley, and it may well be assumed
this privilege was claimed and acceded to in every instance.
Was the Catharina named in the patent, and who drew
lot No. 5, on or near which the former county poorhouse
was erected, the wife of Johan Jost? If Jurgh and Johan
11
150 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Jost were not brothers, and this idea seems to be very much
strengthened by the subsequent owner ship and occupancy of
the lands granted, unless Jurgh died without issue, and left
his estate to his brother, the conclusion seems to be that
Johan Jost, subsequently known as Hanyost Herkimer the
elder, was the son of Jurgh. If Johan Jost was married in
1725, the date of the patent, he probably had no children
to whom lands could be granted according to its terms.
The fact is well known that lands were granted to children
whose fathers and mothers are named as patentees. Mada-
lana and Catharina are not described as married women, and
may have been sisters of Hanyost the elder; if this be the
true solution of this matter, they probably died unmarried,
or sold their interest in the lands allotted to them, for we
find some of the same lands in the possession of Hanyost the
elder, in April, 1771. This Hanyost left a grandson, born
in October, 1751, who was the issue of his second son,
Henry.
This name has undergone many changes. In 1752 it was
written Herchkeimer, and the same in 1777, by the family.
In 1758, Gov. Delancy wrote it Hareniger. In 1756 we find
it written Harkemeis. Then, at other periods, Herchamer,
Harchamer, Harkeman and Herkermer. In 1775, the family
was, in all its branches, somewhat numerous, influential,
and esteemed friendly to the popular cause, and all, except
the General, residents of the German Flats district ; for we
find one of them named as colonel and two others as cap-
tains in the fourth battalion of the Tryon county militia by
the county committee. The name is then written Herkheimer.
This colonel, who was one of the general's brothers, after-
wards proved recreant, as well as one of the captains, for
we find no account of them afterwards. It is not improbable
they belonged to the attainted branch of the family.
The patentee, Jurgh or George Herkimer, did not leave
any descendants, unless Johan Jost and one or both of the
females named were his children, or they left this part of
the country before the revolution. We have no tradition
GEN. NICHOLAS HERKIMER.
151
or information of any sort, of any persons of that name,
except those who trace their descent from Hanyost Herkimer
the elder ; nor can we find that any of the other Palatine
families claim relationship by marriage with the Herkimer
family, behind Hanyost the elder's descendants.
General Nicholas Herkimer,
Was the oldest son of
Johan Jost Herkimer
the elder, who was
sometimes called Han-
yost, and died in Au-
gust, 1775, leaving five
sons, Nicholas, Henry,
Johan Jost, George and
John. ; and eight daugh-
ters, Elizabeth Barba-
ra, Lana, Delia, Catha-
rine, Anna, Gertruyd,
Anna Maria and Eliza-
Gen. Herkimer's Dwelling. beth. The father of
this numerous family was the Johan Jost Erghemar, one of
the patentees of Burnetsfield, and drew lot number 36,
and he was also one of the patentees of the Fall Hill tract
granted in 1752 to Johan Jost Herchkeimer and Hendrick
Herchkeimer.
Although a little out of the order of events, I will here
give all the information I have been able to collect in regard
to the surviving branches of the General's family. Of the
four brothers who remained in the country and attached to
the revolutionary cause, Nicholas and John died without
issue; George left two sons, John and Joseph, who have been
dead a number of years. Joseph left one son only, who until
very recently resided at the Little Falls. Henry left five sons,
Joseph, Nicholas, Abraham, George and Henry. I have not
been able to trace out the descendants of Joseph and Nicho-
las. Abraham removed to Pennsylvania where his descend-
152 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
ants are now to be found. George, the General's nephew,
left four sons, Henry G., Timothy and George, who in 1854
lived in Otsego county, near Schuyler's lake, and William
who had removed to Chautauque county. The General's
nephew, Henry, left Joseph, Henry and Robert H. The
first named of these three brothers lived in Springfield,
Otsego county, in 1854, and the two latter emigrated to
Michigan some years ago. The General's sisters were all
married. Elizabeth Barbara, the eldest, married Peter D.
Schuyler ; she was the mother of Hanyost Schuyler referred
to in the former chapter of this work. Lana was three
times married ; her first husband was Warner Dygert ; the
second, Nicholas Snell; and the third, John Roorback.
Delia was married to Col. Peter Bellinger, Catharine to
George Henry Bell, Gertruyd to Rudolph Shoemaker, Anna
to Peter Ten Broeck, Anna Maria to the Rev. Abraham
Rosecrants, and Elizabeth to Hendrick Frey.
These daughters of the venerable patriarch left numerous
descendants, and among them are some of our most respect-
able citizens. The General was not fortunate in some of his
family connections, and he was no doubt to some extent
damaged by the adherence of a brother and one or more of
the husbands and children of two of his sisters to the inter-
ests of the crown, to which may be added the equivocal
conduct of his reverend brother-in-law. This was no fault
of his, however, so long as he performed his whole duty to
his country.
The General was commissioned a lieutenant in Captain
William Wormwood's company in the Schenectady battalion
of militia, on the 5th of January, 1758, by Lieutenant-
Governor James De Lancey. The commission, it will be
observed, is directed to Han Nicholas Herchkeimer, gentle-
man. He must have been, at this time, the senior officer of
his name, and commanded at Fort Herkimer in 1758, when
the expedition of French and Indians attacked the settle-
ments on the south side of the river. This I advance as an
inference drawn from the fact of his then holding: a militia
GEN. NICHOLAS HERKIMER. 153
commission, and being the only person of the same name
who did. He was commissioned a brigadier general of the
militia of Tryon county, embodied for the defense of Ameri-
can liberty, and to repel every hostile invasion thereof, by
the provincial congress, September 5th, 1776. It should
here be noticed that in 1775, he had been appointed or
elected colonel of the 1st battalion of militia in his county,
when that force was organized by the provincial authorities.
At the commencement of the revolution he lived in the
Canajoharie district of the county and represented the dis-
trict in the county committee of safety. His younger
brother George was a member from the German Flats and
Kingsland district. The General was also a member of the
committee from his district and chairman thereof in 1776.
He acted as chairman pro tern, of the Tryon county com-
mittee of safety in July and August, 1775, and several letters
signed by him are found published in the journals and
proceedings of the New York provincial convention of that
year. Although twice married he left no children at his
death, and his family papers have been scattered, lost and
destroyed, so that at this day we are left much in the dark
as to his early history. In 1760 he resided in the Canajo-
harie district, and in May of that year, his father conveyed
to him five hundred acres of land, portions of Lindesay and
Livingston's and Fall Hill patents. This conveyance also
covers a small island in the Mohawk river of about two
acres. The consideration expressed in the deed is the love
and affection the grantor had for his son.
His family mansion had then been or was subsequently
erected on these lands, and the home he occupied while liv-
ing still remains, but little changed in outward appearance,
and some of its interior arrangements and finish are left as
when first completed although it has long since been pos-
sessed by strangers. The two commissions before referred
to are iioav given to the public, believing they will bo
interesting to the reader.
154 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
By the Honorable
James De Lancey, Esq:
His Majesty's Lieutenant-Governor, and commander in
chief in and over the Province of New York, and the
Territories depending thereon in America.
To Han Nicholas Herchkeimer, Gentleman, Greeting,
Reposing especial trust and confidence, as well in the
care, diligence and circumspection, as in the loyalty, courage
and Readiness of You, to do His Majesty good and faith-
ful service ; Have nominated, constituted and appointed, and
I Do, by Virtue of the Powers and Authorities to me given
by His Majesty, hereby nominate, constitute and appoint
You, the said Han Nicholas Herchkimer, to be second Lieu-
tenant of the company of Militia in the Schonectady Batalion,
whereof William Wormwood, Esq., is Captain.
You are therefore to take the said Company into your
Charge and Care, as second Lieut, thereof, and duly to
exercise both the Officers and Soldiers of that Company in
Arms. And as they are hereby commanded to obey you, as
their second Lieutenant, so are you likewise to observe and
follow such Orders and Directions, from time to time as you
shall receive from Me or any other your Superior Officer,
according to the Rules and Discipline of War, in Pursuance
of the Trust reposed in you ; and for so doing this shall be
your Commission.
Given under my Hand and Seal at Arms, in New York,
the fifth day of January, in the Thirty First Year of His
Majisty's Reign, Annoq : Domini one Thousand seven Hund-
red and Fifty eight. James De Lancey.
By His Honour's Command,
Go. Banyer D. Secry.
Sealed. This is on coarse cap paper stamped fourpenny
stamp.
The provincial convention of the state, on the 5th of
September, 1776, after organizing the militia of Tryon
county into a brigade, separate from that of Albany county,
adopted the following preamble and resolution :
GEN. NICHOLAS HERKIMER. 155
"And whereas, Nicholas Herkimer, Esq., is justly entitled
to be appointed the brigadier-general of the brigade of
militia of Tryon county, as well from his military rank in
that county as from his great merit and many exertions in
the present glorious struggle for liberty : Therefore,
Resolved, unanimously, That Nicholas Herkimer, Esquire,
be appointed brigadier-general of the militia of Tryon
county, and that a commission issue to him accordingly for
that purpose."
In convention of the Representatives of the State of New
York,
To Nicholas Herkimer, Esquire, greeting:
We reposing Especial trust and Confidence in your patriot-
ism, Valour, Conduct and Fidelity, do by these presents
constitute and appoint you the said Nicholas Herkimer
Brigadier General of the Brigade of Militia of the county of
Tryon Embodied for the defence of American Liberty and for
repelling Every Hostile Invasion thereof, you are therefore
carefully and diligently to discharge the duty of Brigadier
General by doing and performing all manner of things,
thereunto belonging, and we do strictly charge and Require
all officers and privates under your command to be obedient
to your orders as Brigadier General: And you are to observe
and follow such orders and directions from time to time as
you shall receive from the present or any future Congress
of the United States of America, or from this or any future
Convention of the Representatives, or future executive
Authority of this State, or from the Commander in Chief for
the time Being of the Army of the United States, or any
other your superior officer According to the rules and Dis-
cipline of "War, in pursuance of the Trust Reposed in you.
Provided such orders and directions of the said Commander
in Chief or of such Superior Officer be grounded on the autho-
rity of the present or any future Congress of the United
American States, or the present or any future Convention of
the Representatives or other Executive authority of this state,
or their Respective committees of Safety ; This Commission
156 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
to Continue in force until Revoked by this or a future con-
vention of this State.
Given at Fishkills the fifth day of September in the year
of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy six.
By order, Ab'm Yates Jun'r, President.
Attest, John McKesson, Sec'ry.
It is not now known whether the General held any civil
office under the crown. As the Johnson family controlled
all such appointments in the Mohawk valley, it is not
probable he did. He was an early advocate for the rights
of the colonists, with the rest of the family, except his
brother Hanyost, who was attainted under the act of 1779,
and removed to Canada where he died in 1787. The family
were wealthy and exerted great influence with the German
population in the upper districts of the valley.
From the first organization of the Tryon county commit-
tee of safety until he was commissioned a brigadier, Gen.
Herkimer appears to have been a prominent member of
that committee, and was actively engaged in promoting
the patriot cause. His services were known to and appre-
ciated by his fellow citizens in the whole valley, and the
voluntary revolutionary associations in the colony. It has
been asserted that his education was limited. It is proba-
bly true his early instruction was confined to the schools of
the country, and was only such as was deemed necessary
at that day to fit him for the occupation he was destined to
follow. He was a farmer.
In June, 1777, Gen. Herkimer, at the head of about three
hundred of the local militia of the county, and one hundred
and fifty men of Col. Van Schaick's regiment, repaired to
Unadilla and sought an interview with Capt. Joseph
Brant, the too celebrated Mohawk chief.
Brant had been a considerable time at Oghkwaga on the
Susquehanna, collecting an Indian force, and although he
had not then made any hostile attack upon the frontier
settlements, he held no equivocal language in respect to his
own feelings, and those of his people, in regard to the ex-
GEN. NICHOLAS HERKIMER. 157
isting difficulties between the crown and colonies. The
Mohawk did not speak with a forked tongue, nor can he be
charged with duplicity. Herkimer and Brant had been
long acquainted ; had been friends and quite near neighbors
before the chief left his farm at the upper Mohawk castle,
now in Danube, and went to Canada with Guy Johnson, in
1775. The particular object of this visit has never been fully
disclosed; nor does it appear to have been made without
consultation among the leading and prominent men of the
day. Gen. Herkimer's conduct, on this occasion, strongly
indicates that he went on a mission of peace. It was
known that Brant was surrounded by a very considerable
Indian force, numerically larger than the expedition which
accompanied the General.
A part of the Mohawks had at German Flats and Albany
bound themselves by treaty not to take any part in the con-
test, and it is by no means a forced inference to conclude
that Herkimer's object was to persuade Brant and his fol-
lowers to adopt the same resolution. It was not inappro-
priate, even if the General designed nothing but a friendly
visit and pacific consultation with his former neighbor, that
he should be attended with an imposing force. It was no
doubt considered important to make a show of strength to
the Indians on that occasion, that they might see if they
took up the hatchet against the provincials, what they might
have to encounter. It was not until after this conference
between Herkimer and Brant that the Indians concluded at a
council held at Oswego, to take up the war hatchet in favor
of the king ; and it was then, and not before, that Brant
was acknowledged the war chief of the Six Nations. That
place according to the usages of the Iroquois confederacy,
belonged to Little Abraham, after the death of his brother
Hendrik. Abraham having been a party to the German-
Flats and Albany treaty of neutrality, was no doubt dis-
placed or superseded as war chief at the instigation of the
British commissioners.
Gen. Herkimer held two consultations with Brant, on two
158 HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
different days, a limited number of each party being pre-
sent, unarmed. His object seems to have been to ascertain
the feelings and intentions of the Mohawk, and the confer-
ences were animated. Here, as od former occasions, Brant
was explicit and decided. He told the General the Indians
were in concert with the king, as their fathers had been,
and they would not violate their pledge.
Brant desired that the Rev. Mr. Stuart, missionary at
Fort Hunter, and the wife of Col. Butler, might be allowed
to retire into Canada, which the General agreed to, and
presented the Indians with several head of cattle, which
they slaughtered immediately. The conference ended, and
Herkimer returned home.
If this was intended as a hostile demonstration, rather
than a peaceful visit, the force employed was entirely in-
sufficient ; and this must have been known to Gen. Schuyler,
who then commanded in the northern department. We
have referred to this incident in the life of Gen. Herkimer,
not on account of its importance, or any very striking or
peculiar features it may possess, but to endeavor to rescue
the memory of a good and a brave man from a most grave
and serious imputation. We have endeavored to show, and
we think successfully, that the General's visit to his former
neighbor was peaceful in its inception and with the intention
of inducing Brant not to take up arms against the Americans ;
it being well known that he left Canada with a considerable
party of Indians, soon after he had had a pretty serious mis-
understanding with Guy Johnson. Brant was himself con-
vinced that no hostile demonstration was intended, and if
any such views were entertained, they must have been
abandoned, for the General declared to Brant's messengers,
and to Brant himself, he came on a friendly visit,
Now in the face of all these facts, corroborated by concur-
rent events, is it probable that Gen. Herkimer ever contem-
plated a foul and treacherous murder? It is certain Brant
never suspected any insidious attempt on his life, or, if he
did, he possessed the means of successful defense, which
GEN. NICHOLAS HERKIMER. 159
have not been disclosed. The General has a right to throw
himself upon his former good character, or his friends have
for him ; and they may well ask that he be acquitted of a
charge, foul and dishonorable, based upon a recollection of
events which took place sixty years before they are put
upon record.
That Gen. Herkimer should have taken all needful pre-
cautions to guard against surprise, and protect his command
from any sudden attack by Brant and his followers, is quite
natural. This it was his duty to do, even if he was com-
pelled to strike down Brant to accomplish his object ; and
this would have been quite a different position from that he
is made to assume, in the life of Brant, by Col. Stone. In
the one case, he is made to stand out the premeditated
aggressor; concerting measures to destroy a man he had
invited to meet him in a consultation of peace, and who
held his safe conduct, which, by all the laws of Avar, was his
shield and protection; and in the other case, he shows a
settled resolution not to be circumvented or surprised by an
artful, inveterate and resolute foe, without being prepared
to strike a blow that must have been instantly fatal to the
aggressor.
The latter view of this question entirely accords with the
whole tenor of Gen. Herkimer's life to its close, which hap-
pened a few weeks subsequent to this event. All hope of
inducing the Indians to remain neutral, in the contest
between the colonies and mother country, had not then been
abandoned by the former, and this was well known to the
General; any rash or unguarded act, on his part, would
have precipitated an event which all must have deplored,
and who would have felt more keenly the severity of Indian
retaliation than the General's connexions and neighbors?
This expedition was set on foot by Gen. Schuyler, and if, in
its inception, it was intended as a hostile demonstration
against Brant and his followers, it was most strangely and
clumsily conducted. But this could not have been its object,
nor the design of its projectors.
160 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
The approach of the British army from the north under
Gen. Burgoyne, and the concentration of the enemy under
St. Leger, at Oswego, Indians, Tories, Canadian and others,
produced great consternation in the Mohawk valley, and
Gen. Herkimer on the 17th of July, 1777, issued the follow-
ing spirited and patriotic proclamation :
"Whereas it appears certain that the enemy, of about
2000 strong, Christians and savages, are arrived at Oswego,
with the intention to invade our frontiers, I think it proper
and most necessary for the defence of our country, and it
shall be ordered by me as soon as the enemy approaches,
that every male person, being in health, from 16 to 60 years
of age, in this our country, shall, as in duty bound, repair
immediately, with arms and accoutrements, to the place to
be appointed in my orders ; and will then march to oppose
the enemy with vigor, as true patriots, for the just defence
of their country. And those that are above 60 years, or
really unwell, and incapable to march, shall then assemble,
also armed, at their respective places, where women and
children will be gathered together, in order for defence
against the enemy, if attacked, as much as lies in their power.
But concerning the disaffected, and who will not directly
obey such orders, they shall be taken along with their arms,
secured under guard to join the main body. And as such an
invasion regards every friend to the country in general, but
of this county in particular, to show his zeal and well-
affected spirit in actual defence of the same ; all the members
of the committee, as well as all those who, by former com-
missions or otherwise, have been exempted from, any other
military duty, are requested to repair also when called, to
such place as shall be appointed, and join to repulse our foes.
Not doubting that the Almighty Power, upon our humble
prayers and sincere trust in him, will then graciously succor
our arms in battle, for our just cause, and victory can not fail
on our side."
We have, in another place, briefly noticed the battle at
Oriskany, in which Gen. Herkimer commanded the brave
GEN. NICHOLAS HERKIMER. 161
American militia, and were induced to do so from the con-
sideration that many of the inhabitants of the territory now
composing this county, were actors in that bloody drama ;
and not because it came within the scope marked out by the
writer when he commenced a work which was intended to
be purely local. In the published notices of that event,
full justice has not, in the estimation of many, been done to
the motives and character of Gen. Herkimer. That he was
a good and brave man, can not be questioned, and now,
when all the circumstances attending that unfortunate event
are calmly considered, no one is disposed to doubt his fixed
and unwavering devotion to the patriotic cause; and yet we
can not but see that the unfortunate results of that clay were
owing more to unjust and unmerited aspersions, combined
with the characteristics of the men composing the little
army, than a want of capacity or inattention to the safety
of the troops on the part of the General.
The little army commanded by Herkimer, then hastening
by forced marches to the relief of Fort Schuyler, was com-
posed entirely of undisciplined militia, little used and not
inclined to submit to the discipline of war, and among them
were several members of the county committee of safety, who
had theretofore exerted almost unlimited control in all
matters relating not only to civil government, but to the
movement of troops called out for defense upon the frontiers.
The General was advised that a body of hostile Indians
would intercept his approach to the fort, and he sent forward
a messenger to Col Ganesvoort advising that officer of his
position, and concerted a signal, whereby the arrival of the
messenger at the fort was to be announced to the General.
As soon as the messenger arrived a spirited sally was to be
made by the besieged against the beleaguering army, in
order to divert the enemy's attention from Herkimer, who
designed a rapid approach, and would have been able to pass
the point of expected attack and reach the vicinity of the
fort unmolested. Unfortunately the General's messenger did
162 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
not reach Col. Ganesvoort' at the hour expected, and the
anticipated signal was not heard in the camp near Oriskany.
General Herkimer's forces were not sufficient to warrant
him to risk an action with the enemy single handed. On the
morning of the 6th of August, while waiting for the signal
of the sortie from the fort, several of the General's officers
and some of the committee of safety urged an immediate
advance to the relief of the garrison, but the General was
reluctant to peril the safety of his little army, composed of
his neighbors and friends, and desired to wait the arrival of
reinforcements, or until he was notified his express had
gained the fort. But the enthusiasm of his followers could
not be restrained, nor were his subordinates disposed to treat
his opinions with the respect and consideration to which
they were justly entitled. This was not all, some of them
charged him with cowardice and disaffection to the country ;
he still adhered to his resolution of delaying a forward
movement until it was known whether Col. Ganesvoort had
been advised of his approach ; and instead of meeting with
a proper submission from his subordinate officers, some of
them in passionate words charged him to his face with being
a tory and a coward. The alternative thus presented to the
citizen general was one of great delicacy and immeasurable
responsibility. On the one hand it was his duty to march
to the relief of the beleaguered fortress and aid in preserv-
ing it from falling into the hands of the enemy, but he was
yet without any reliable information that his express had
reached or could reach Col. Gansevoort in any event, or even
that Fort Schuyler itself was not then in possession of St.
Leger; on the other, his little army, composed entirely of the
militia of the county, fathers, sons and brothers who had
recently passed from a state of almost hopeless despondency
to the extreme elation and uncontrollable resolution, was no
match for the enemy in numbers, and besides if it had been
it was alike the imperative duty of the General, by all pru-
dential means, to preserve his men from needless slaughter
and captivity, and above all other things not to allow them
GEN. NICHOLAS HERKIMER. 163
to become ensnared in an ambuscade from which they could
not be extricated. This the General told his insubordinate
officers who had so causelessly and cruelly taunted him with
cowardice and toryism. He moreover told those who had
been the most clamorous for an immediate forward move-
ment, and most liberal in their epithets, that they would be
the first to turn and run wdien the enemy made his appear-
ance. This appears to have been verified to the letter
when the action commenced. But what could the General
do ? To remain in camp only eight miles distant from the
fort would lead to further outbreaks of insubordination, and
circumstances might happen whereby he would be seriously
compromised. He had been informed of the spot where he
would be attacked on his march, and he seems to have
adopted all the precautions to prevent surprise, that his
small force, the nature of the ground and the condition of
the country, then a dense wilderness, would allow ; although
writers differ on this point. It is not intended to repeat in
this place any of the events of a battle which filled the val-
ley with mourning.
The troops were ordered to march, and they obeyed with
alacrity. After proceeding a short distance Herkimer and
the principal part of his men found themselves involved in
an inextricable ambuscade, with no alternative but to fight
or surrender.
The General's horse was killed under him early in the
action, and his leg was at the same time broken by a musket
ball ; in this situation he directed his saddle to be placed
upon a small hillock, where he rested himself, and coolly and
firmly issued his orders to his troops. When requested to
place himself in a less exposed situation, he answered as a
brave and true man would in like circumstances, " I will
face the enemy." He found himself surrounded by his neigh-
bors, family relatives and friends, in a position from which
they could not be extricated, and where but a few hours
before he had told them he did not wish to have them placed ;
and himself disabled so that he could not walk. While the
164 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
"battle raged the fiercest and the savage yell was loudest, he
took his flint, steel and tinder box from his pocket, and lit
his pipe, which he smoked with great composure.
The deliberation and coolness exhibited by the command-
ing officer on this occasion infused into his men a spirit of
unconquerable resistance ; and it is not unlikely there were
some, who in the morning had heard his courage doubted
and his prudential motives assailed, if they did not partici-
pate in this aggression, that felt keenly the wrong which
had been done, and were the more resolved they would not
see any further indignity heaped upon him. The General's
conduct through the whole of this eventful day was admir-
able, and greatly contributed to produce order and com-
bined action in his little army.
After the action, General Herkimer was conveyed to his
own home, in the present town of Danube, a few miles east
of Little Falls, where his leg, which had been fractured
below the knee, was amputated. The published statements
in regard to this operation do not agree. It was no doubt
unskillfully done. The leg, flesh and bone were cut off
square, without taking up or tieing the large blood vessels,
and he consequently died of an hemorrhage. He was, in his
last moments, collected, cheerful and resigned. When he
became satisfied that the hours of life with him were num-
bered, he called for the Bible and read to those around him
the thirty-eighth psalm, commencing with the earnest
invocation :
" 0 Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath ; neither chasten
me in thy hot displeasure."
Thus closed the life of Gen. Nicholas Herkimer. The
name of Herkimer was at an early day bestowed on a tract
of country erected into a county which was the place of his
birth, as an appropriate memorial to one who had laid down
his life in a heroic defense of that country, and the liberty
of its citizens.
The General's loss was keenly felt and sincerely deplored
GEN. NICHOLAS HERKIMER. 165
by the people of Tryon county, and the country generally
deeply sympathized with his friends in their bereavement.
In October following his death, the continental congress
passed a resolution appropriating five hundred dollars for
the erection of a monument to his memory, and in communi-
cating the resolution to the governor of this state, the
congress said :
"Every mark of distinction shown to the memory of such
illustrious men as offer up their lives for the liberty and
happiness of this country, reflects real honor on those who
pay the grateful tribute ; and by holding up to others the
prospect of fame and immortality, will animate them to tread
in the same path."
Gov. George Clinton, when he sent the resolution and
letter to the committee of safety in Tryon county, remarked :
" Enclosed you have a copy of a letter and resolves of
congress for erecting a monument to the memory of your
late gallant general. While, with you, I lament the causes,
I am impressed with a due sense of the great and justly
merited honor the continent has, in this instance, paid to
the memory of that brave man."
Reader, have you seen that monument, erected by a grate-
ful country, to the memory of a good and brave man, who
offered up his life for its liberty and happiness?
Have you seen the proud memento that reflects real honor
on those who paid the grateful tribute; and which holds up
to others the prospect of fame and immortality'?
Descendants of the Palatines; sons of the Pilgrim Fathers ;
and ye, who have sought an asylum " in the land of the free
and the home of the brave," since that monument was resolved
to be erected, can you point out the spot where it stands,
and have you read the inscriptions by which the republic
has bestowed a "great and justly merited honor" ''to the
memory of that brave man?"
In what direction shall the thousands, who daily pass
through the valley at a speed which almost annihilates time
and space, turn themselves for a momentary glance at the
12
166 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
indestructible memorial which proudly attests a nation's
honor and gratitude ? Or where shall they look for its
mouldering ruins, after seventy-seven years' exposure to a
severe and destructive climate?
But why ask questions that have been answered more than
three-quarters of a century, and when no other response
than that already given will ever be obtained ? Although
the national congress has been remiss in executing its own
resolve and redeeming its solemn pledge, our state has per-
petuated the name of Herkimer so long, at least, as the
republic shall stand.
Some writers have gone so far as to call in question Gen.
Herkimer's prudence, if they do not doubt his capacity as a
military commandant, in the disposition and arrangement
of his forces in the march to Oriskany, on the morning of
the battle. The writer of this sketch feels no disposition to
become the partisan, but as these remarks have not been
made by military men, so far as his observation has extended,
he can not assent to the justice of any such conclusions
drawn from the historical facts stated. The material error
committed was the forward movement until reinforced, or
the signal to be given from the fort was heard. Now let it
be borne in mind that Gen. Herkimer was not in command
of regular troops, nor the chief of subordinate officers, and
his powers as commanding general might be circumscribed
by the county committee, a large number of which, it appears,
were in attendance. He doubted the expediency and pro-
priety of breaking up his camp, and resisted until overruled
by a necessity that knows no law and admits of no restraint
whatever. His character as an officer was assailed, and his
motives as a man were impugned. The state of things in
his camp no doubt impressed him with the strong conviction
that one act of insubordination might well be followed by
another, which would prove more fatal to those engaged in
it, and perhaps to himself and those who remained faithful
to him, than any hazard he might incur by a combined move-
ment of his whole force. If only a part of his small army
GEN. NICHOLAS HERKIMER. 1G7
had advanced, it is apparent every man would have been cut
off and the remainder, with himself, would have shared the
same fate; or, if they had not, he would have been greatly
censured for permitting his troops to be attacked in detail.
General Herkimer is in no respect justly chargeable with
committing an error by giving the order to march. It
seems to be very well authenticated that front, flank and
rear guards were thrown out and accompanied the march
of the forces. The strength of these covering parties, or
the distance they marched from the main body, is not stated.
In passing the marshy ground at the creek, it is very
likely the flankers were compelled to fall into the advancing
column, in order to cross on the bridge and causeway, and
enable them to keep up with the line of march. Here was
the spot the enemy chose to occupy in ambush. We might
as well blame the commanding officer for taking this road,
when there was no other, as to censure him for any disorder
in the .march consequent upon passing this defile. When
seeking grounds to censure the conduct of others, we may
overlook points very material to be considered. Surely the
men of the revolution, and especially those of the Mohawk
valley, were not to be told that the only mode of meeting
an Indian attack was in solid column, or in regular formed
lines.
It is said the line of march was so irregular, and the
attack so sudden, there was no opportunity of forming
the men. In what manner would any officer acquainted
with Indian warfare arrange his men, except to direct each
one to take his cover, and watch the movements of the foe,
and as he uncovered to deliver his fire? Why then seek to
charge want of capacity for not doing what would have
been condemned on all hands as unwise and extremely
disastrous? A conflict with the northren Indians, in our
dense forests, is almost an individual, hand-to-hand affair,
depending more on personal prowess and skill, for success,
than combined movements in column or line. This can not
be better illustrated than in the words of an eloquent
168 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
address delivered by the late Governeur Morris, before the
New York Historical Society : " Let me recall, gentlemen,
to your recollection, that bloody field in which Herkimer
fell. There was found the Indian and the white man, born
on the banks of the Mohawk, their left hands clenched in
each others' hair, the right grasping, in a gripe of death, the
knife plunged in each others' bosom ; thus they lay frowning."
Some authors have stated that Gen. Herkimer was sixty
years old when he died. He was not born until after April,
1725, and it is highly probable, when we take into consider-
ation the facts before stated, his father was not then mar-
ried. He might have been about fifty years of age at his
death, but some collateral members of the family say, he
was not over forty-seven or forty-eight when that event
happened.
The following letter being pertinent to the subject in
hand, on account of the facts stated in it, should have a
place in this publication:
German Flats, Committee Chamber,
August 9th, 1777.
Gentlemen: Just arrived Capt. Demuth and John Adam
Helmer, the bearer hereof, with an account that they
arrived with some difficulty at Fort Schuyler, the 6th of the
month, being sent there by order of Gen. Herkimer. Before
he set out for the field of battle, he requested some assist-
ance from the fort, in order to make an effort to facilitate
our march to the fort. Two hundred and six men were
granted. They made a sally, encountered the enemy,
killed many, destroyed the tents of the enemy, and came
off victorious to the fort. The commander (of the fort)
desired them to acquaint us, and his superiors, that he
is wanting assistance, and thinks to stand out so long that
timely assistance could come to his relief.
Concerning the battle : On our side, all accounts agreed,
that a number of the enemy is killed; the flower of our mili-
tia, either killed or wounded, except 150, who stood the field
and forced the enemy to retreat; the wounded were brought
GEN. NICHOLAS HERKIMER. 169
off by those brave men; the cloud thev left on the field for
want of proper support. We will not take upon us to tell
of the behavior of the rear. So far Ave know, they took
to flight the first tiring. Gen. Herkimer is wounded; Col.
Cox seemingly killed, and a great many officers are among
the slain. We are surrounded by tories, a party of 100 of
whom are now on their march through the woods. We
refer you for further information to the bearer. Major
Watts of the enemy is killed. Joseph Brant, William John-
son, several known tories and a number of Indians.
Gentlemen, we pray you will send us succor. By the
death of most part of our committee members, the field offi-
cers, and General being wounded, every thing is out of
order; the people entirely dispirited; our county at Esopus
unrepresented, that we can not hope to stand it any longer
without your aid; we will not mention the shocking aspect
our fields do show. Faithful to our country, we remain,
Your sorrowful brethren,
The few members of this committee,
attested Peter J. Dygert, Chairman.
To the Chairman of the Committee of Albany.
The reader will detect the mistakes in the above letter,
although of little consequence now. Neither Brant or John-
son were killed or hurt in the least, except in feeling, al-
though in the subsequent years of the war there were many
in the valley who would have much rejoiced had a quietus
been placed on Brant at Oriskany.
Gen. Herkimer's will appears to have been used as an exhibit
in a suit in chancery, and is now deposited in the office of
the clerk of the court of appeals. It bears date February
7th, 1777. He is described in it as a resident of Canajoharie,
Tryon county. His first wife, was a sister of Peter S.
Tygert, and his second wife, Maria, the daughter of the
same person, was well provided for in the will. Some time
after the General's death, she married again, and removed
to Canada. This Mr. Tygert lived near Gen. Herkimer,
and survived the revolutionary war several years. He
I
170 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
made eight devises of real estate, comprising nineteen
hundred acres of land. There are besides, twenty-seven
pecuniary legatees named in it, to whom various sums of
money were given and directed to be paid by his residuary
legatee. He gave to his younger brother, George, his " home-
place," containing five hundred acres of land, and consti-
tuted him the residuary legatee. George, who was with his
brother at Oriskany, died in 1786, leaving seven children,
all of whom were living in 1820.
The executors named in this will, were, Hanyost Shoe-
maker, John Eisenlord, John Tygert and the testator's wife.
The will is signed, Nicholas Herckheimer. It was proved
October 4th, 1783, before Christopher P. Yates, surrogate
of Tryon county, and George Herkimer admitted the admin-
istrator with the will annexed.
John Herkimer
Was the son of George Herkimer before mentioned, the
nephew, and not the grandson of the General. On the death
of his father he inherited with his brother and sisters the
estate devised by his uncle, and he occupied the family
mansion until about the year 1814.
In the prime of life he was an active politician and occu-
pied a somewhat prominent place in the public regard.
While a resident of Montgomery he represented that county
in the assembly of this state, and was one of the judges of
the court of common pleas. After the town of Danube in
which he lived in 1817 was annexed to Herkimer, he was
appointed one of the county judges and held the office some
years. He was commissioned a major in the regiment of
New York Volunteers, commanded by Col. John Mills, by
Governor Daniel D. Tompkins on the 30th day of March,
1813, and served with his regiment at Sackett's Harbor in
the late war with Great Britain, and was in the action when
Col. Mills was killed.
In the early political divisions of the country he acted
JOHN HERKIMER. 171
with the republican party, and when the split in that party
took place under Governor I)e Witt Clinton, or in the year
1819, he became one of the leading opponents in the county
to the views and pretensions of that gentleman.
At the first general election after the adoption of the new
constitution of 1821, his political friends contemplated plac-
ing his name before the public as a candidate for the state
senate. This nomination would have been equivalent to an
election in a district where his party could safely count
upon a large and certain majority. The county then being
a congressional district, could not be so safely relied upon to
return an Anti-Clintonian member unless the heavy adverse
vote in the town of Danube, where Major Herkimer lived,
could in some way be overcome.
Preferring a seat in the United States house of repre-
sentatives to one in the senate of this state, he told his lead-
ing political associates if he could have the congressional
nomination he would see to it that the vote of Danube
should not defeat him ; and it did not. He was put in
nomination and chosen at the general election in November,
1822. The period of President Monroe's last term was
drawing to a close, and numerous aspirants were early in the
field as candidates for the succession. Messrs. Adams,
Crawford, Calhoun and Clay, the three former members of
Mr. Monroe's cabinet, and the latter a member of congress
and speaker of the U. S. house of representatives, had been
attached to the old republican party, and wrere men of eminent
and distinguished talents. The qualifications of these gen-
tlemen were presented to the country and their claims
actively canvassed by their respective friends. General
Andrew Jackson was also in the field, but his pretensions,
at first, seem not to have been favored by all the leading-
republicans of that day. It had been usual for members of
congress to designate the candidate for the presidency, in
caucus, and such a meeting was to be held during Judge
Herkimer's term. He early declared his preference for
Mr. Adams, and as nearly all the members, except thoso
172 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
who favored Mr. Crawford, had avowed their intention not
to attend the caucus or be bound by its proceedings, it was
for a time doubtful what course Judge Herkimer would
pursue. It was believed that a very large majority of his
republican constituents were in favor of Mr. Crawford, and
conforming to their request he attended the cancus, com-
posed of a minority of the republican members, which
presented Mr. Crawford's name as a candidate, then voted
for Mr. Adams, and declared his intentions to support him
in the approaching canvass. We do not design to go into
any discussion of political questions, except so far as it
may be necessary to give a sensible relation of the inci-
dents that have taken place, which may be proper to notice.
The electoral colleges failed to choose a president, but
Messrs. Jackson, Adams and Crawford, having the highest
number of votes on the list, the election of one of the
three devolved on the House of Representatives. Judge
Herkimer favored the election of Mr. Adams, in the
house. This event took place in February 1825. He, died
at his residence in the town of Danube, some years ago,
aged 73 years, without leaving any male descendants, x^fter
leaving congress, he was a number of years engaged in the
ardous pursuits of private life, and had become enfeebled
by too much exposure in an unhealthful climate. We have
not noticed the part Judge Herkimer took in the canvass
of 1824-25, with any design of arraigning his conduct before
the public, or of imputing any wrong to him. Many distin-
guished republicans of that day acted with him, and if they
misjudged the sentiments and wishes of their constituents,
numerous occurrences of that sort have haj)pened before
and since.
The Herter Family.
This name is generally pronounced Hatter. We do not
find the name among those who took a prominent part in
the early stages of the revolution. Henry Herter was ap-
pointed first lieutenant in Capt. Frederick Bellinger's com-
THE HERTER FAMILY. 173
pany of the Tryon county militia, in 1775. Although the
lands allotted to the patentees, Apolone and Lawrence Herter,
were on the south side of the river, it was not long before
one or both of them, or some of their descendants, moved
to the north side of the river. Some of the family were at
the Great Flats at the time of the French expedition, in
1757, where one of the Herters, who was a militia officer,
was taken prisoner, with his wife and family, and carried
into captivity, with the other Palatine prisoners, to Canada,
where they were detained about twelve months. Mrs. Herter
gave birth to an infant daughter, while crossing the St.
Lawrence river, in a birch-bark canoe. Humble as was the
birth and state, at that time, of the captive's daughter, she
was destined, in after life, to fill a large space in society, at
Herkimer and elsewhere. She married Michael Myers, a
short biographical sketch of whom can be found in another
chapter. Mrs. Catharine Myers survived her husband many
years, and it seems but as yesterday that I saw the venerable
matron walking along our streets. She died September 4th,
1839, aged eighty-one years and four months. The old
people now living say that when young and in the prime of
life, Mrs. Myers was a lady of rare personal beauty. She
was the grand-daughter of one of the patentees. The male
members of this family, of the first and second generation
from the patentees, have often been spoken of, as a noble
looking set of men, tall, well-formed, and full of health and
animation. It has been remarked that the female branches
of this family, at one or two degrees farther remove from
the original stock, have not lost the family pre-eminence
of raising handsome children, both male and female, but
particularly the latter. Whether all this has been brought
about by intermarriages and crossing the blood, or is an in-
herent quality of this family, the biographer is not required
to determine.
Mrs. Nancy Etheridge, the relict of Joab Griswold, who
died September 26th, 1840, aged fifty-seven years, a lady of
rare personal attractions and graceful carriage, was a daugli-
174 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
ter of Mrs. Myers. I must beg the reader to note that I am
not a professed connoisseur in such matters, and that, if I
repeat "common fame," in this case, I am not uttering a
fabulous tale.
This family has lost some of its number by emigration to
other states, and to other counties in this state; it is still
very numerous, and probably the most numerous of any in
the county, who are descendants of the primitive Palatine
stock.
Some of the family, Nicholas and Philip, emigrated to
Deerfield, Oneida county, after the revolution, and settled
there. Nicholas died at Deerfield, in the summer of 1855,
at the venerable age of ninety-three years. He was quite
familiar, personally, with the principal events of the war in
the upper valley, and took much satisfaction, in his advanced
years, in handling his cane, and showing how Indians and
tories were killed.
The Hess Family.
The descendants of Augustines Hess, the patentee of lot
number ten at Little Falls, are yet found in the county in
considerable numbers. As there is but one person of that
name among the patentees, he was probably a young man
and unmarried. From an examination of the church records
of the Rev. Mr. Eosecrants from 1763 to the close of the
last century, it appears that this family were somewhat
numerous at that time in the Mohawk valley.
Augustine Hess, one of the members of the Tryon county
committee of safety from the Kingsland and German Flats
districts, which first met on the 2d of June, 1775, was a son
of the patentee, and a member of the committee some time.
From this circumstance he must have held a reputable stand-
ing among his neighbors, and been considered a true friend
to the country ; a fact to which his descendants may refer
with pride and satisfaction. I can not ascertain when the
family parted with their title to the lot granted to the
THE KAST FAMILY — THE PETRIE FAMILY". 175
patentee, but it must have been so long since " that the
memory of man runneth not to the contrary."
Augustines Hess, the elder, who was also one of the
patentees of Staley's first and second tracts, was killed in
July, 1782, by the Indians near Fort Herkimer, on the south
side of the river. He was shot dead while on his way to
the fort for protection with his family. He was a very aged
man, and among the last survivors of the Palatines.
The Kast Family.
Johan Jurgh Kast, and his son Johan Jurgh Kast, Jr.,
were patentees, and each drew a small lot on the Great
Flats, and seventy-acre wood lots on the uplands, in the
Burnetsfield tract. In 1724, a small grant of eleven hundred
acres was made to this family, or rather to the wife and
children of the elder Kast, situated in Schuyler and sur-
rounded by Cosby's manor, on which some of the descend-
ants of the family resided many years. The elder Kast had
two sons, Johan Jurgh and Lodowick. I do not find any
traces of the latter ; he may have died young and unmarried.
Johan Jurgh, the younger, had two sons, Conrad and Fred-
erick. Conrad was taken prisoner during the French war
in 1757, and was taken to England to be exchanged, and
after his return to New York he enlisted in the British army
and never returned to the Mohawk valley. Some of the
descendants of Frederick are still found in the county. The
ancestor of this family probably came over with the second
company of immigrants in 1710. At an early period in the
history of the settlement of the valley, this family were
wealthy and prosperous farmers, having pretty large pos-
sessions.
The Petrie Family.
The genealogy of this family can be traced with considera-
ble accuracy to the parent stock. Johan Joost Petrie was
ono of the Burnetsfield patentees, and lands were allotted
176 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
to him, his Avife Gertruyde, and his son Mark, or Marks.
This name is found among the volunteers who went with the
expedition against Montreal in 1711, under Col. Nicholson.
fie arrived in New York with the second company of Pala-
tine immigrants in 1710, accompanied his countrymen to the
camps on Livingston's manor, where he remained until he
removed to the German Flats. He was tall and well formed ;
even more than " six feet high and well proportioned."
From what I have heard of him, he very much resembled,
in stature and appearance, the best of the ancient German
race. He and Coenradt Rickert were the leading men of
the little colony which first came to the German Flats. He
early won the confidence and good will of the colonial
government, and it is no doubt owing to this circumstance
that he was first named in the license given by Governor
Burnet to purchase the Indian title to the lands afterwards
granted, and also the first named in the patent. He was
selected with others to search out the " promised land."
The eighty-six acre lot, then and long afterwards called the
Stone Ridge, was allotted to his wife. This lot is described
as wood land, " lying in the middle of the great flatts." The
present village of Herkimer, or the compact part of it, is
mostly on this lot. Surrounded by rich alluvial flat land,
subject to inundations, there was no other site for the hamlet
unless resort was had to the higher lands northerly of the
low lands. I think this allotment was made as a compli-
ment to the wife and her husband. When it became known
that safe building lots could only be had on this ridge, dis-
satisfaction was expressed by the other settlers that they
were excluded, and Mr. Petrie divided the large lot into
smaller parcels, and gave them to the owners of the adjoin-
ing low lands. It has been said that no written conveyances
were ever made by him and his wife. I have not made any
particular inquiries in regard to this fact. It is not probably
one of those cases that would come within an anti-rent, roving
commission, with the attorney-general at the head, to hunt
up some spot to which the state could assert a paramount
THE PETRIE FAMILY. 177
title, otherwise the good people at the county seat might
be called on to show their papers.
It seems very probable that Mr. Petrie was one of the
principal men in the settlement called the German Flats,
from the first planting of this little frontier colony, until
1757, or till his death. Up to that time he had been
employed by the colonial government, and had accumulated
considerable wealth.
When the French and Indians attacked and destroyed
the settlements on the north side of the river, 11th Novem-
ber, 1757, the particulars of which are given in a former
chapter, all his property, save the land, was taken and
destroyed, and he with his family were carried into capti-
vity. He was the individual named in the French account
of this affair as " the mayor of the village of the Palatines ;"
and in speaking of the losses sustained by the inhabitants, the
writer states that " the mayor of the village alone has lost
400,000" livres.
The writer here means the livre tournois of France, equal
to eighteen and a half cents in value of our currency ; quite
a large sum this must have been for those times. This was
no doubt an exaggeration. All accounts, however, concur
in stating that his private losses were very heavy. He had
on hand a very large sum in silver, which was taken by the
enemy. Whether this money was a part of his private
fortune, or had been placed in his hands to purchase govern-
ment supplies, is not certain, although family tradition
speaks of it as private property. Mr. Petrie was detained
some time in captivity, and while in Canada was frequently
compelled by the Indians to wear a cap with tassels and
small bells, and dance for their amusement ; a mark of dis-
tinction shown him in consideration of the office he held
when taken prisoner. He was one of the copatentees with
Philip Livingston and John De Peyster of a grant of six
thousand acres of land made in 1740, being six lots in a
tract called Henderson's or Petrie's purchase, now in the
towns of Columbia and Warren.
178 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
This patriarch of the Petrie family died before the com-
mencement of the revolutionary war, leaving a large num-
ber of descendants, although he had but one child, a son,
when he first came to the German Flats. Nearly all the
inhabitants of the name in the county were descended from
the same stock.
Mrs. Petrie, the wife of Johan Jost, was a lady of educa-
tion and considerable refinement, far above what was found
in the German peasantry of that day. It has always been
believed that her father was a man of wealth and distinction
in Germany, and that her marriage with Mr. Petrie was not
in accordance with the wishes and feelings of her family.
I am somewhat perplexed in having to deal so much
with probabilities, but the great 'apse of time that has
intervened since the happening of the events I have under-
taken to write an account of and the present period, and
the want of precise, accurate recorded information in
respect to those events, compels me to assume as probable
facts, what may be, after all, a pure fiction. My intention
is not to place on these pages any matter resting wholly on
vague tradition, unsupported by cotemporaneous testimony
having strong marks of authenticity.
Finding the name of Johan Jost Petrie among those who
were for a time seated on Livingston's manor ; finding in
the Documentary History of the state, that those Palatines
who had been temporarily lodged on the east side of the
Hudson river had given the existing government but little
trouble about a permanent settlement, and that many of
them had volunteered under British officers to fight the
battles of their adopted country ; and finding Gov. Burnet,
at a later day, declaring in an official letter he had given
about sixty Palatine families " who had been most hearty
for the government," permission to settle on a tract by
themselves, I feel authorized to say. what I have in respect
to Mr. Petrie, the patentee, and the Petrie mentioned in the
Documentary History, being the same man. But, after all,
this seems irreconcilable with the idea that he was a married
THE PETRIE FAMILY. 179
man in 1711, and if he was not, the lady he did marry must
have joined him in this country, where a long contemplated
union took place. This corresponds with the family legend
of a young lady leaving country, home and parents, defying
old ocean's storms, cleaving to the man of her choice in his
rude wilderness home. The crown land commissioners
bestowed the Stone Ridge lot upon this lady as a token of
respect and mark of special consideration.
John Petrie, a son of the patentee, was a member of the
Tryon county committee from the German Flats and Kings-
land district, which met ill June, 1775, to consider the state
of affairs between the mother country and the colonies, then
rapidly approaching a crisis. In a letter addressed to Guy
Johnson, the committee say they had met " to consult the
common safety of our rights and liberties, which are infringed
in a most enormous manner, by enforcing oppressive and
unconstitutional acts of the British parliament, by an armed
force in the Massachusetts Bay."
The same gentleman was appointed by the Tryon county
committee, on the 16th August, 1779, one of the delegates
from the county to a state convention, called to consider
proper measures "for appreciating the currency, restraining
extortion, regulating prices and other similar purposes."
1 have been shown a commission granted by Sir Henry
Moore, bart., captain-general and governor-in-chief, &c, &c,
issued to Ded'k Marcus Petrie, gentleman, dated October
13th, 1768, in the eighth year of the reign of George III, by
which Mr. Petrie was appointed "to be Ensign of a com-
pany of Militia Foot in a regiment in Albany county, of
which company George Henry Bell Esq. is Captain." Mr.
Petrie continued to hold this commission till the country
changed rulers, when he was appointed a lieutenant in the
Tryon county militia. He was killed in the Oriskany battle,
being then attached to Col. Peter Bellinger's regiment. At
the time of writing this notice his widow was still liviner.
an aged and venerable matron. It was thus early and effect-
ively that we find the members of this family " doing battle
180 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
for the right," and one of them laying down his life in
defense of the just rights of his country. Surely such deeds
ought neither to be blotted out or forgotten.
John M. Petrie, who represented the county in the assem-
bly of this state, in 1808, and 1809, with Westel Willoughby
Jr. and Aaron Budlong, was a nephew of Lieut. Petrie,
the son of the patentee, Mark Petrie, and consequently the
grandson of Johan Joost. John M. occupied the Burnets-
field lot, number 46, some time. It was owned by his father
when he died. This son afterwards changed his residence
to a farm on Glen's purchase, a few miles north of the Little
Falls, where he died, respected, full of years, and his loss
regretted, leaving several descendants. Two brothers of
the Petrie family, Jost D. and John D., sons of Ded'k Marcus
Petrie, are yet in the recollection of the writer. They each
possessed a goodly share of sundry broad acres, which were
inherited by their children after their deaths. Daniel Petrie,
one of this family, was killed in the attack upon and de-
struction of the mills at Little Falls, in 1782.
John Conrad Petrie, who is described as an orphan,
twelve years old in 1710-11, was a brother of Johan Joost,
and remained on the manor when the latter came to the
German Flats. We find John Conrad still at the camps in
November, 1715.
The Reelle Family.
I do not find this name on Livingston's manor, or New
York list of Palatine emigrants. Lot number 15 lowland,
30 acres, and 15 woodland, 70 acres, at the German Flats,
were granted to Godfrey Reelle, and lot number 10, on the
south side of the river, was granted to Godfrey Reele, Jr.
This name is not familiar in the county. Christian Reall,
settled, near Deerfield Corners, Oneida county, with several
other Germans from the upper valley, before the revolution.
In the second year of the war, the settlement was destroyed
by the enemy, but the inhabitants escaped to a stockade fort,
THE SHOEMAKERS. 181
below, in the now town of Schuyler. After the war, Mr.
Reall returned to Deerfield, and occupied the farm he had
been driven from by the tories and Indians. There is a
small stream in Deerfield called Reall's creek, which empties
into the Mohawk. Not long after the revolutionary war,
some members of the family, or all of the then survivors,
removed to the " western country," now Onondaga county,
and settled on the Military tract, where several of the de-
scendants now reside. One of this family has recently
returned to the county, and is now a resident of Little Falls;
but he comes under the name of Reals, Eighty years have
passed, and we again see a descendant of this Palatine stock
among us. Christian Reall, moved to Onondaga and was
there when quite an old man.
The Shoemakers.
There were two brothers of this name, in the list
of patentees ; Ludolph, afterwards called Rudolph, and
Thomas. They were, both of them, young and unmarried,
when they came to the German Flats. Rudolph had several
sons, and one of them, Johan .Tost, married the daughter of
an Englishman, in 1775, by the name of Smith, the fame of
whose eccentricities and devotion to the British crown still
occupies considerable space in the unwritten history of
the valley.
At the commencement of the revolution, Johan Jost had
been one of his majesty's justices of the peace in Tryon
county. He was not friendly to the cause of the colonists,
and it was at his house that Lieutenant Walter N. Butler,
Hanyost Schuyler, and a number of white soldiers and
Indians were taken prisoners, in the night, by a party of
American troops sent from Fort Daytan by Col. Weston.
Butler, soon after the Oriskany battle, had been sent
down to the German Flats, on a secret mission, with the
appeal of Sir John Johnson, Claus, and the elder Butler, to
13
182 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
the inhabitants of the Mohawk valley, inviting them to give
in their adhesion to the crown, and send a deputation of
their principal people, in order to compel an immediate
surrender of Fort Schuyler : promising kind treatment, and
protection from Indian vengeance and retaliation for losses
at Oriskany, in case of compliance. It was this address
which drew from Gen. Arnold the denunciatory proclama-
tion noticed in a former chapter. Some vigilant friend of
the country had given notice of this clandestine meeting,
and the tory caucus was broken up in the midst of Butler's
midnight harangue.
Mr. Shoemaker, although disaffected, was not molested in
person or property, and we must therefore conclude he was
rather a passive than active adherent of the king. Brant
halted near his house in 1778, the night before he with his
Indians fell upon and destroyed the property of the inhabit-
ants at the German Flats, but took no scalps or prisoners.
With the exception of one member of the Herkimer family,
I do not find any other name of note belonging to the Pala-
tine emigrants or their descendants who faltered in their
duty to the country and the cause of humanity.
Rudolph I. Shoemaker, born in 1776, who represented
this county in the assembly of this state during the session
of 1812-13, was the son of Johan Jost, before named. He
was a farmer, and lived and died in the present town of
German Flats, not far from the present village of Mohawk.
He was a man of ardent temperament, and a warm sup-
porter of the war of 1812.
Robert Shoemaker, a younger brother of Rudolph L,
was appointed sheriff of the county in 1817, and held that
office several years under the old council of appointment.
He was often a contestant for popular favor in his native
town, German Flats, against General Christopher P. Bellin-
ger, and sometimes came off victorious, but he has often
told me his victories were hard won. He was a gentleman
of considerable general intelligence, and a prompt, efficient
officer. Inheriting a portion of the paternal estates, gath-
THE SMITH FAMILY. 183
ered and enlarged by prudent and frugal hands, he devoted
much of his time to agriculture, although he was not
unmindful of political preferment when opportunity offered.
He represented the county in the assembly in 1822, with
Simeon Ford and Stephen Todd. At a late period in life,
the spirit of immigration took hold of him and he removed
with his family to northern Illinois, where he died many
years ago. I have not the means of stating the fact with
certainty, but from my knowledge of Mr. Robert Shoemaker,
and his apparent age when I first saw him, I conclude he
was born during the revolution.
Thomas Shoemaker, the patentee, raised a pretty numer-
ous family, and some of his sons were not backward when
danger and duty called the inhabitants of the valley to arms.
His son Thomas participated in the Oriskany battle, and
afterwards his wife and one of his children, Christopher,
and a son of John Shoemaker, then quite young, were taken
prisoners and carried to Canada. Mrs. Shoemaker and her
child returned from captivity before the close of the war,
but the other child did not come back until after. There
are now many descendants of this branch of the Shoemaker
family in the county as well as some of the other stock.
In looking into the Documentary History of the state, I
find the name "Schumacher" among the Palatine immi-
grants of 1710, from which the present name, Shoemaker,
is derived.
The Smith Family.
Two of this family cast their lots on the north side of the
Mohawk, on the Great Flats, and two on the south side.
The Schmidts were among the emigrants of 1710, and seated
for a time at the camps on Livingston's manor. Adam
Michael Schmidt was a volunteer, in the expedition against
Montreal in 1711. The descendants of the patentees are
yet found in the county in considerable numbers, but emi-
gration has diminished them to some extent. Colonel
Nicholas Smith, now one of the oldest inhabitants of the
184 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
city of Utica, if alive, and whose parents were killed by the
Indians and tories at Herkimer during the latter part of the
revolutionary war, was a descendant of one of the patentees.
John Smith was assigned as an ensign to Capt. Eisenlord's
company of militia in 1775. In common with the other
patentees of Burnetsfield, this family had its share of suffer-
ing during the French and revolutionary wars. Some
branches of it have held the lands assigned, in regular suc-
cession, one hundred and thirty years. Maria, the wife of
George Smith, lived to the unusual age of ninety-six years.
She died in 1817.
The wife of Joseph Smith was overtaken during the
revolution, on the east side of the west Canada creek, by a
party of Indians, tomahawked and scalped. The Indians
left her, supposing she was dead. She revived after a time,
and with much suffering found her way home across the
creek. She recovered and lived to a very advanced age.
The Starings.
There were six males, and one married female, of this
name, patentees of Burnetsfield. The Starings were formerly
pretty numerous in the county, but of late years, they have
lost some by emigration. I am not aware that a single lot,
granted to the first patentees, is now retained in the hands
of their descendants; and it is quite certain, that lot 13, at
Little Falls, set apart for Mary Eva, the wife of John Adam
Staring, was sold many years previous to the revolutionary
war.
I do not find this name enumerated among the Palatine
families on the Hudson river, or with those who remained
in New York, and it does not seem possible that it could
have been derived from any of those contained in the lists of
immigrants published. This name appears to have been
uniformly written in all the ancient manuscripts, which have
come under my observation, as copied from the patent. In
this case, as in every other relating to the families who
THE STARING S. 185
first settled in the upper Mohawk valley, all the parties
were near relations, and may not have comprised more than
two families.
Hendrick Staring, or as he often wrote his first name,
Henri, was a man of some note during the revolutionary
Avar and subsequent to that event.
He was a native of the county, and lived and died within
the limits of the present town of Schuyler. He was one of
the few fortunate survivors of the Oriskany tragedy, and
from that time held a prominent place as a militia officer in
the district. He was the son of one of the Palatine families,
but I have been unable to ascertain with certainty his father's
name. Born after his parents came to the German Flats,
his infant years were cradled in the wilderness, and his days
of manhood were occupied with the stirring and dangerous
events incident to two border wars, unparalleled in severity,
and the often repeated destruction of crops and all means
of human subsistence. Even the devastations of fatherland,
which drove his ancestors to seek repose and protection in
a wilderness, beyond the verge of civilization, would not
exceed, in all the inflictions heaped upon the devoted heads
of the German peasantry of the Palatinate, the cruelties
practiced by the combined efforts of French and British
loyalism, stimulating Indian ferocity with rum and bribes.
These were not the times when parents could venture to
send their children to their distant school-house for the pur-
pose of instruction. The population was scattered over a
broad extent of wilderness; and few, if any, had the means
or the opportunity of instructing their children at home.
Col. Staring's education was quite limited, but he possessed
a sound and vigorous mind; he was brave, activeand zealous
in defeating the schemes and counteracting the efforts of
the enemy, so far as his limited position would allow. He
had, in the course of the war, become a leading man in his
neighborhood, and attracted the attention of the royalists,
who made several fruitless efforts to capture or destroy him.
But the untiring vigilance of the Indian could not always
186 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
be guarded against; and the Colonel, late in the fall of the
year, supposed to be October, 1781, was so unfortunate as
to be surrounded and captured near Fort Herkimer, with
Abraham Wollever, by a party of Indians. The captors
were much elated with their success, and hurried off Avith
their prisoner into the deep recesses of the forest, where it
was supposed they intended to inflict upon him a lingering
death by torture.
The Colonel understood this to be their intention, and for
a time, no doubt, felt some disquiet and a fervent solicitude
to get rid of such uncomfortable companions. He had no
relish for a stake-burning and as little desire, probably, to
have his ears saluted with the music of an Indian pow-wow ;
and therefore contrived during the night, after he was
taken, to make his escape and return to the fort after an
absence of two days and two nights. He felt it was no dis-
grace to turn his back upon an enemy on an emergency of
this kind, and thereafter avoided being placed in a like pre-
dicament.
He lived near the small stream called Staring's creek, in
Schuyler, on which there was a small grist-mill burned by
the French and Indians in 1757, and being rebuilt the mill
was again destroyed during the revolution. He was a man
of thrift and owned many broad acres of land, some of which
have been retained by the descendants to a very recent date,
if they are not now the owners. The reader who may be
curious to see the particulars of the Colonel's capture and
escape will do well to consult the Annals and Recollections
of Oneida County, published by Judge Jones.
At the treaty of peace in 1783, Colonel Staring was a
prominent and influential man and enjoyed the confidence
of his countrymen almost without stint. He was a member
of the convention from Montgomery county, called in 1788,
to consider the present constitution of the United States,
which had been submitted to the several states for ratifica-
tion or rejection. He was an ardent friend of Governor
George Clinton, an anti-federalist, and he with a large
THE STARINGS. 187
majority of the convention, when elected, were opposed to
the ratification of the constitution.
It has been often asserted that he was absent on the 26th
of July, 1788, when the final vote was taken on the resolu-
tion to ratify the constitution, having been detained from
attendance by the management of one of the prominent
advocates of the measure. This can not be true if the mem-
bers composing the convention and voting on the resolution
have been accurately given by Mr. William Jay, who states
in his life of John Jay (vol. I, p. 266), there were fifty-seven
members in all elected, and this was the number besides the
president, Gov. George Clinton, which voted on the resolu-
tion, there being a majority of three in favor of it.
Mr. Hammond (vol. I, page 21 of his Political History),
thinks Mr. Jay's statement incorrect. He sets down the
whole number of members elected to the convention at
sixty-seven, consequently there must have been nine absent-
ees on the final vote. Ten states had ratified the constitu-
tion when the final vote was taken in the New York »
convention. The assent of nine only was required to give
the constitution effect. The ratification by New Hampshire
on the 21st of June, 1788, she being the ninth state, was not
known at Poughkeepsie where the convention was in session,
until some time in July. The news from Virginia which
ratified on the 26th of June, reached the New York conven-
tion in all probability before the 26th of July. This changed
the whole aspect of the controversy going on in the conven-
tion, and must have placed Governor Clinton and the
majority in a very embarrassing position. By a rejection
New York would have seceded from the confederacy, and
being then one of the smaller states her condition in that
case must have excited the most intense apprehensions.
This was felt and expressed by some of the leading and
influential members of the majority, who gave the resolution
such form of expression as they hoped would quiet the pub-
lic and still preserve to the state her place as a member of
the union.
188 HISTOKY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Indulging somewhat in speculation, I can not refrain from
saying, if Mr. Hammond's account of the whole number
elected be right, it is fair to presume that the nine absentees
were anti-federalists, unless they were kept away by some
other cause than voluntary absence.
There is no doubt the Colonel was a great admirer of good
horses, desired to possess those of the best blood and most
improved breed, and if he did loiter a little from his place
in the convention to indulge his fancy in examining Baron
Steuben's stud, his vote could not have defeated the ratify-
ing resolution had he been present. If we may now judge
him by all the characteristics of his life he was the last man
in the convention to swerve in the least from opinions once
formed.
His friend, Governor George Clinton, was reelected in
1789, but his adherents were defeated in every direction, show-
ing that the Governor had a strong hold in the confidence
and affections of the people, and could stand up against the
influence of a powerful party at home backed by all the
influence of the general government, then directed by
Alexander Hamilton.
Upon the organization of this county in 1791, Colonel
Staring was appointed first judge of the court of common
pleas, by Governor Clinton, which office he held many
years. By the constitution of 1777, first judges of counties
held their places during good behavior and until sixty years
old. The selection of laymen for the bench at that early
day in the history of the state was not unfrequent, and
especially for the courts of common pleas, and even one of
the justices of the supreme court organized soon after the
adoption of the constitution, was not a lawyer. I allude to
John Sloss Hobart, who held the office of United States
senator, from this state, from January to May 1798.
Many amusing and curious anecdotes are still remembered
and repeated of Judge Staring's mode of administering jus-
tice during his judicial career. He was an honest, straight-
forward man, but he entertained very peculiar notions of his
THE STARINGS. 189
powers and duties as a judge. Some of his decisions while
on the bench were considered by the lawyers rather in the
light of judicial novelties, than as chiming in exactly with
common law precedents. The country was new, however,
and the demands of justice comparatively small. He no
doubt performed the duties of his station, notwithstanding
his limited knowledge of legal principles and restricted
elementary education, with quite as much success, and with
as much satisfaction to the suitors and the public as many
have done who filled like stations, at far later periods in the
history of our country.
The story of the Yankee Pass, the fame of which had
reached the farthest bounds of New England more than
forty years ago, and which I heard repeated west of the
Mississippi river in 1819, is no doubt familiar to most of
the people in the county, and particularly to those of Ger-
man extraction. I have been frequently told the whole
story was fabulous, and got up to amuse our primitive
fathers of the valley at the expense of the judge, or by
some one envious of his promotion to such honors ; for it
must be remembered that no longer ago than the close of
the last century the county was not exempt from party
strife, nor destitute of men who felt themselves competent
to fill any office in it within the gift of the people or govern-
ment. Stripped of all embellishment, the story, as told, has
this extent and no other. One Sunday morning the judge
saw a man, on horseback, coming along the highway from
the west, and presuming that no one would venture openly
to violate the laws of the state, unless justified by the
exceptions named in the statute, he asked the man to stop,
and seeing he was a stranger, inquired of him reasons why
he was thus disregarding his duty and the requirements of
the law. The stranger, who is reported to have been a
New England Yankee, did not excuse his conduct to the
judge's satisfaction, and declining to stop over until the
next day, the latter exacted the payment of the fine of six
190 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
York shillings imposed by the statute, for the infringement
of this branch of it.
After paying his fine, the traveler asked the judge to give
him a certificate to that effect, urging the necessity of it to
protect him against being again called to account by some
other magistrate. The judge had no doubt heard of dis-
pensations and indulgences from the lips of his parents.
He thought the request reasonable, and told the traveler to
write one and he would sign it. This was done, and the
stranger proceeded on his journey eastward. Some few
months after this occurrence, the judge having occasion to
visit the Messrs. Kanes, merchants, at Canajoharie, on mat-
ters of business, was requested by them to pay an order of
twenty-five dollars which he had several months before
drawn on them, as appeared from the date. It is said he
was much surprised by this demand made upon his purse,
and at first denied having given the order, but finding the
signature to be his handwriting, and making particular
inquiries in respect to the presentation of the order and the
individual who brought it to the store, he came to the con-
clusion that the paper presented to him for payment was no
other than the one he had signed allowing the traveler to
continue his journey on Sunday, after paying his fine. It
was then called the Yankee Pass, from a supposition that no
one except a native of New England had the cunning and
audacity to practice so keen and grave a joke.
The act to prevent immorality, in force at that time,
contained several exceptions, and among them was one
allowing any one to travel on Sunday twenty miles to attend
public worship, and this fact was quite as likely to be known
to the traveler as some others he was no doubt quite familiar
with. He must have known Judge Staring and the Kanes,
and was well enough acquainted in the Mohawk valley, and
with the standing and business occupation of its inhabitants,
to know that the judge's order on the Messrs. Kanes would
be honored at sight, or he would not have attempted the
THE STAEINGS. 191
cheat ; and, besides, it was necessary for him, to prevent
detection, to make the order payable as far distant as prac-
ticable from the judge's residence.
I do not make these suggestions from any disposition
whatever, to shift the paternity of this joke from the Yankee
traveler, if he was one, on to the shoulders of any other
person, not claiming nativity in the far famed land of
Yankeedom.
From whatever nation this individual may have claimed
descent, foreign to the Mohawk Germans, he had been long
enough a denizen to become quite naturalized, and familiar
not only with the names of the principal inhabitants of the
valley, but with the pecuniary standing of some of them.
He knew that Judge Staring had dealings with the Kanes,
and hence believed the order would be paid when pre-
sented, or we must award him the palm of being the most
accomplished guesser that ever emigrated from the land of
wooden nutmegs and bass-wood hams.
I have indulged somewhat in these speculations on the
assumption that the story was founded in fact, and to give
place to a new version as to the origin of this affair, which
excuses the Yankee from being the projector, although it
leaves him under the serious imputation of being what the
law terms a particeps criminis.
The new version is this : One of the judge's sons had
become enamored with a fair, blue eyed daughter of one of
his father's neighbors, and had resolved, with her consent of
course, to make her his frau, but found himself rather short,
as the phrase now is, of the means to carry out the object of
his desires in a manner befitting his standing and position as
son of the first judge of the common pleas, who was a wealthy
farmer, and a gentleman of standing and influence in the
county. There may have been some Guelf and Ghibelline
feud existing between the heads of the two families, that pre-
vented the early accomplishment of the young man's wishes.
At any rate, whatever may have been the cause therefor, the
judge, it seems, kept the purse strings tied rather too tight on
192 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
this occasion, and the son was thrown on his own resources
to devise the ivays of obtaining the needful to celebrate his
intended marriage. The young man opened his mind to an
Anglo-Saxon friend, relying upon his inventive genius to aid
him in carrying out a suggested plan of relief. The son
knew his father's credit was good for any amount he would
give his name for, and that he had an open account with
the Kanes ; he knew his father's scrupulous regard for the
maintenance of the laws to the very letter, and what he
would do in case he found a man traveling on Sunday. The
plan was matured and the thing was done. The judge's
genuine signature was obtained to the celebrated Yankee
Pass, the fame of which is known over this broad land.
Necessity was in this case the mother of a successful inven-
tion, which has been unfairly attributed to the genius, or
cunning contrivance of an individual who was supposed to
belong to a peculiar American stock.
This relation was obtained from a source which I know is
respectable, and I was assured that the origin of the story
and the pass was based on the statements now given. Aside
from the facts showing, as I think pretty strongly, that the
intention of getting the judge's name to a paper of this kind
was not prompted at the moment, and that the party who
got it in the manner described, was quite familiar with all
the peculiarities of the man he was dealing with, although
he may have been wholly unknown to the judge ; there is
an additional fact worthy of some consideration in balancing
probabilities.
The Messrs. Kanes were reported upright, fair dealers as
merchants, but were as fond of jokes as they were anxious
to sell goods at a large profit to their German customers,
and it is not likely, even if they knew the fact in respect to
the origin of the order and the purposes to which its avails
were to be applied, they would divulge any secrets of that
sort, while they would by no means aid a stranger to cheat
an old and valued friend and customer.
Judge Staring lived to an advanced age, died in the town
THE TEMOUTH FAMILY. 193
of Schuyler, leaving male and female descendants. He mar-
ried a daughter of Johan Jurgh Kast, and obtained by
purchase and inheritance the title to about six hundred
acres of the Kast patent which he left to his children.
I should have noticed in the proper place that one of
Judge Staring's children, a little girl about ten years old,
was carried off by the Indians during the war. She had
gone to one of the judge's relatives near Fort Herkimer,
where she could be taken for security, in case of an attack
upon the settlements. The woman in whose charge the
child was left permitted her to go into the field near the
house, where she was seized in a stealthy manner and borne
into captivity. The judge was not very forbearing towards
his relation for this careless act, as he no doubt fully antici-
pated the little girl's fate in case her name and parentage
should be found out ; she was however recovered after the
war closed.
The Temouth Family.
The name is written Demot and Dimouth in the Palatine
records. Those who were not used to the German method
of spelling and pronunciation often wrote the name Dame-
wood. I have found the name printed Damoth and Demuth.
John Jost parted with the lot granted him at Little Falls
before the revolution, and probably before 1757, as no
traces of the family can now be found near that place. The
Demuths were in the vicinity of Herkimer during the revo-
lutionary war. One of them moved to Deerfield, Oneida
county, before the commencement of hostilities, but that
settlement being broken up by the enemy he escaped with
his family and returned to the German Flats for greater
security. Captain Demuth was with John Adam Helmer in
the difficult and dangerous service of carrying a message
from General Herkimer to Colonel Ganesvoort during the
siege at Fort Schuyler. He also was sent by the committee
of safety to Albany with an account of the transaction at
194 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Oriskany and Fort Schuyler in company with Helmer. As
Demuth was an officer at this time and Helmer was not, it
appears to me undue prominence has been given to the
latter by Colonel Stone in the matter of carrying the mes-
sage to Fort Schuyler, in which Capt. Demuth's name is not
mentioned at all, but Helmer is shown to be the principal
man.
General Herkimer would not have been guilty of so
indelicate an act towards an officer as to make a private his
prominent agent in carrying an important dispatch to the
commanding officer of the beleagured fort, nor could an
officer consent to execute a military service under such
circumstances. I make this correction not to disparage
Helmer in any way, but in justice to the memory of a man
equally devoted with him to the cause of humanity and the
just rights of his country. The records of our government
sufficiently testify that Capt. Demuth's services were duly
appreciated by a grateful people.
Some of the Demuth family emigrated to Onondaga after
the close of war with the Realls, where their descendants
now reside. There are but very few people of this name,
if any, now living in the county. There was a George
Damewood who lived at one period during the revolution on
the north side of the Mohawk river between Little Falls and
West Canada creek.
Since writing' out the above I have been informed that
two small boys of this family were carried into captivity by
the Indians during the war. They were taken at the river
bank near Fort Herkimer. At the restoration of peace one
of them returned to his family and remained with them, but
the other having been adopted into the family of an Onon-
daga chief, had become so much attached to Indian customs
and habits that he could not be induced to quit his savage
roaming life. When grown up to manhood he would often
visit his relatives who lived not far from the Onondaga
reservation and remain with them over night, but lie would
not on any occasion sleep upon a bed. A blanket and the
THE WELLEVEN FAMILY. 195
floor yielded all the sleeping luxuries lie required or would
indulge in, and it was not often he could be induced to pro-
long his visit longer than one night. He spoke the English,
German and Indian very well, and was often very useful in
promoting a friendly intercourse between the whites and
Indians.
The Welleven Family, or Wolleavers.
This name is found written Wolleben and "Wohleben in
the statement of the heads of Palatine families on the west
side of the Hudson river in 1710.
Nicholas W., the patentee in Burnetsfield, who was also
one of the patentees in Staley's 1st and 2d tracts, died in
1773, leaving six sons, Henry, Peter, Richard, John, Abra-
ham and Jacob ; and six daughters, Catharine the wife of
Frederick Shoemaker, Mary Sophia the wife of Peter Flagg,
Elizabeth who married with Frederick Schute, Lany who
married with Frederick Bellinger, and Hannah the wife of
John Emgie or Empie. Empie was a tory and went to
Canada with his family. Richard, John, Peter and Abra-
ham were in the Oriskany battle ; the two former were
killed and the two latter returned, Peter slightly wounded.
Nicholas Wollever, from whom I had this account of the
family, stated he was the son of Peter, and was born August
1st, 1769, and is now nearly 85 years old ; says his father was
born March 9th, 1732, and died November 17th, 1829, having
attained the age of 97 years and 8 months ; that his father Peter
was taken prisoner during the French war in 1757, and was
sent to England for exchange. He was also in the mill at
Little Falls when it was attacked and burned by a party of
the enemy, which my informant assured me was in June,
1782, and made his escape.
Peter Wollever lived on the farm in Manheim, since
known as the Christy place, which he hired of Joseph Brant,
the Mohawk chief; and Brant sent word to him, in 1777, that
he would come and tomahawk him, if he did not leave the
196 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
farm immediately. Peter then moved to Fort Herkimer
with his family, in the fall of 1777, after the Oriskany battle ;
where he remained until the close of the war. My inform-
ant stated, his father once borrowed money of Gen. Her-
kimer, to pay the rent to Brant. He had three sons, who
attained the age of manhood, Nicholas, John and Henry.
His daughters were, Elizabeth, wife of Frederick Shoemaker;
Catharine, the wife of Garret Van Slyke, whose father John
Van Slyke, was killed on Fink's Flats, during the war; Susan,
the wife of Jacob Edick ; Hannah, who married a Mr.
Furman ; Mary, now living, who married a Mr. White and
Eva, the wife of Stanton Fox.
Abraham Wollever, one of the patentee's sons, was taken
prisoner, in October, 1781, with Henry Staring near Fort
Herkimer; soon after he was taken, he was knocked down,
tomahawked, scalped by his captors and left; the enemy
with their other prisoner, Staring, pursuing their course
towards Oneida. Abraham survived this horrid treat-
ment, was out two nights, his feet having been very much
frozen, and near sunset of the third day after his cap-
ture, he was brought to the fort. He lived a number of
years after this event, to recount the story of his sufferings.
He was discovered by a party from the fort, who had gone
out after horses, which had strayed away. When first
seen, he was trying to mount one of the horses, and being
covered with blood was taken for an Indian, and would
have been killed by his friends, if he had not clung so close
to the horse, that they could not shoot him without killing
the animal. Jacob Wollever, the youngest son of the pat-
entee, shot the tory or Indian who killed old Mr. Hess. This
family have a tradition that their ancestor came into this
county directly from Schoharie. This tradition is supported
by the fact, that the name is found among those Palatines
who were seated on the west side of the Hudson, from whence
the first German settlers of Schoharie came. This name is
now nearly extinct in the county.
THE WEVER FAMILY. 197
The Wever (or Weaver) Family.
This name is written on the Livingston manor lists, "Weber
and Webber. Jacob and Nicholas were volunteers in the
Montreal expedition, repeatedly mentioned in other parts of
this chapter. Peter Ja. Weaver, was an ensign in 1775, in the
4th battalion of the Tryon county militia. Some of the
family settled in Deerfield, Oneida county, in 1773, and after
the war, other members of the family, from Herkimer, fixed
themselves at that place. George I. Weaver was taken pri >
soner during the war, and was detained in captivity about two
years, and some part of the time he suffered very much by
the inhuman treatment of his captors. Four hundred acres
of land were assigned to this family, two hundred on
the north, and two hundred on the south side of the river.
A portion of these lands is still possessed by the descendants
of the patentees.
Jacob G. Weaver, whether of the same family or not, I
am unable to state, was cotemporary with John Jacob Astor,
and at an early period of our history, was engaged in the fur
trade, by which he accumulated a large estate, which he
left to be inherited by three daughters. He was shrewd and
active in the prime of life. He died at Herkimer, Nov. 28th,
1820, aged 79 years.
14
CHAPTER IX.
County Avhen Erected — Statute Boundaries in 1701 — Counties Erected from
Herkimer — Winfield — Salisbury — Manheim — Danube — First Counties
in tbe State — Montgomery — List of Patents to Lands in the County —
Colonial and Crown Grants Confirmed — Attainder Act of 1779 — Forfeited
Estates to be Sold — Bills of Credit — Commissioners of Forfeitures — Lots
in Royal Grant Sold — Indian Children — Lots in Jerseyfield Sold — in
Glen's Purchase — Bayard's Patent — Guy Johnson Tract — Johan Joost
Herkimer — Area of the County — Actual Boundaries — Rivers, Streams,
and Lakes — Face of the Country — its Soil, Produce, Minerals, Manufac-
tures, Roads, Canals, and Turnpikes — Newspaper Press of the County —
Colleges and Academies — Religious Aspects — Medical Society — Poor-
House Establishment — Agricultural Society.
The county was erected on the 16th of February, 1791,
from the county of Montgomery, formerly Tryon, and em-
braced all that portion of the state lying west of its eastern
boundaries, except the counties of Otsego and Tioga, which
were erected at the same time, and extending to the eastern
boundaries of Ontario county, erected January 27th, 1789,
and covered, according to the statute designation, all the
territory bounded north by Lake Ontario, the River St.
Lawrence, and the north bounds of the state ; easterly by
the counties of Clinton, Washington, and Saratoga, as they
then were ; southerly by the counties of Montgomery, Ot-
sego, and Tioga. These boundaries were not accurate, even
at that time ; the true boundaries of the county, as it now
is, will be stated hereafter. Onondaga county was set off from
Herkimer in 1794 ; Oneida in 1798 ; Chenango, from Herki-
mer and Tioga, in 1798 ; Cayuga, from Onondaga, in 1799 ;
Cortland, from the same, in 1808 ; St. Lawrence, from
Oneida, in 1802 ; Jefferson and Lewis, from the same, in
1805 ; Madison, from Chenango, in 1806 ; Seneca, from Cay-
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 199
uga, in 1804; Oswego, from parts of Oneida and Onondaga,
in 1816; Tompkins, from Seneca and Cayuga, in 1817; and
Wayne, from Seneca and Ontario, in 1823. There were only
fourteen counties in the state when Herkimer was set-off;
and the three then created, Otsego, Tioga and Herkimer,
made the number seventeen. There are now eleven whole
counties, and parts of two others, embraced in the territory
first set off, as Herkimer.
In 1816, parts of the towns of Richfield and Plainfield, in
the county of Otsego, were with a portion of Litchfield, in
Herkimer county, erected into a new town, by the name of
Winfield, and attached to Herkimer county.
In 1817, the towns of Salisbury and Manheim, and all that
part of Minden, Montgomery county, now comprised in
Danube and Stark, were annexed to the county of Her-
kimer.
The first counties created, by law, in this state, then a
colony, were Albany, New York, Dutchess, Kings, Orange
Queens, Richmond, Suffolk, Ulster and Westchester, Novem-
ber 1st, 1683. Albany took its present name in 1664.
Montgomery was created, by law, as a county, March 12,
1772, by the name of Tryon, which was altered April 2d,
1784 for reasons well understood by readers of our revolu-
tionary history.
The present county comprises within its limits the follow-
ing tracts, and parts of tracts of lands granted by the
crown, before the revolution, and by the state, since the
treaty of 1783.
200
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
This mark (*) denotes that the patents are partly situated in Herkimer,
and partly in adjoining counties.
Names of Patents or Tracts.
Adgate's Tract,*. .
Bayard's Patent,*.
Brown's (John) Tract,*.
Burnetsfield Patent,
Colden's (C.) Patent,. . .
Cosby's Manor,*
Colden's (A.) Patent, . . .
Frank (Conrad) & Co's Patent,.
Fall-Hill Patent,
Glen's Purchase, ,
Hommedieu's (L) Patent,
Henderson's Patent,*
Hasenclever's Patent,
Johnson's (Guy) Patent,.
Jerseyfield Patent,*
Kass's Patent,
Lindsay's Patent,
Livingston's Patent,* . . ,
Lispenard's Patent,*
Lansing's Patent,*
McConib's Purchase,*.
McNeil's Patent,
Matchin's Patent,*
Nobleborough Tract,*.
Moose River Tract,* . . .
Petrie's Purchase,
Royal Grant,
Remsenburgh Patent, *
Snell and Timmerman's Patent,
No. of
acres.
Names of Original Patentees.
179843,907
177150,000
1792
1725
1738
9,400
3,000
1734 22,000
1761
1765
4,000
5,000
1752 2,324
1739 25,076
1786 4,000
1739
1769
6,000
18,000
1765 2,000
1770 94,000
1724
1730
1762
1770
1753
1792
1761
1786
1,100
3,000
20,000
9,200
6,000
4,000
1,600
178740,960
1740
Staley's 1st and 2d Tract,
Schuyler's Patent,
Totten and Crossfield Patent,*
Vrooman's Patent,*
do
do
1787
1755
1755
1755
1790
17
1790
6,000
48,000
3,600
34,000
43,000
9,760
4,000
433
Mathew Adgate,
William Bayard, Alexander El-
lis, and fifty-three others,
A part of 1,920,000 acres granted
to Alexander Macomb,
Johan Joost Petri, and ninety-
three others,
Cadwallader Golden the younger,
and Coenradt Ryghtmeyer,
Joseph Worrell, William Cosby,
and nine others,
Alexander Colden, and three
others,
Coenradt Frank, and five others,
Johan Joost and Hendrik Herch-
[keimer,
Ezra L'Hommedieu and Nathan-
iel Piatt,
James Henderson, and two others,
Peter Hasenclever, and seventeen
others,
Guy Johnson. Forfeited by at-
tainder of G. J.
Henry Glen, Alexander Ellis, and
ninety-two others,
Johan Jurgh Kass, and his child-
ren,
John Lindsay and Philip Living-
ston,
Philip Livingston, and nineteen
others,
Leonard Lispenard and thirteen
others,
Jacob and Abraham Lansing, and
Jacob Glen,
Alexander Macomb,
John McNeil, and three others,
Thomas Matchin,
Arthur Noble,
Owned by the state, except 13,-
080 granted in 1847 to Anson
Blake,
John Jost Petrie, and two others,
Sir William Johnson,
Henry Remsen, and three others,
Jacob Timberman, and Johan
Joost Schnell,
Rudolph Staley , Johan Jost Herch-
keimer, Jr., Nicholas Herch-
keimer, and fifteen others,
Abraham Lynsen, and twenty-
[one others,
Isaac Vrooman,
do
do
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 201
Names of Patents or Tracts.
Date.
acres! ; Names of Original Patentees.
Van Driesen, John,
1737
17SC
1731
1770
1702
1741
1768
1752
1,000 Petrus Van Driessen,
428 Johan Van Driessen,
Van Horn's Patent,*
8,000 Abraham Van Home, and three
Vaughn's Patent,
others,
8,000 John Vaughn and seven others,
2,000 Peter Winne,
Watson's James Tract,*
Winxie's Patent,
Walton's Patent,
12,000 William Walton, Jr., and eleven
others,
14,000 Theobald Young, and ten others.
The Indian title to Glen's purchase, was extinguished in 1734. The whole
tract was subdivided into thirty-nine large lots, of unequal quantities. In
1738 Jive of these lots were granted to Patrick McClaughry and Andrew Mc-
Dowell, and eight to James DeLancey, John Lindsay, and Abraham Glen. In
1739 three were granted to Lendert Helmer, two to Jacob Glen, three to Archi-
bald Kennedy, three to John Schuyler, Jr., three to Arent Brant, and three to
Philip Schuyler. In 1761 three were granted to Samuel Auclimuty, three to
William Mitchell, and three to William Ogilvie.
The patent for the royal grant was never recorded in this state. The grant
was made by the king in council, and not by the colonial authorities, conse-
quently the date and number of acres can not be given from any entries in
the Secretary's office at Albany.
The Guy Johnson tract was conveyed by Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, Jacob
G. Klock, and Henry Oathoudt, commissioners of forfeitures of the western
district of New York, to Benjamin Tallmadge, major in the army of the United
States, June 7th, 1784, and by Tallmadge to Caleb Brewster, July 9th, 1794.
The above abstract shows that the title to most of the
lands in the county, with the exception of those in the
extreme northern part, were granted by the crown before
the commencement of the revolutionary struggle, and those
grants were recognized as valid by the constitution of 1777.
But although declared valid by the fundamental law of the
state, this declaration was in effect nothing more than an
inhibition upon the legislative power of the state to resume
these grants at pleasure. The state was left free to protect
itself against the treasonable acts or hostile aggressions of
any of the parties holding under these grants. This power
was exercised by the legislature and carried into effect to
some extent in this county, and this makes it expedient to
give that subject a little examination.
202 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
The attainder act of 1779 embraced fifty-nine persons,
three of whom were married females, and they were also
declared convicted and attainted with their husbands of
offenses against the act. It had been the practice under the
colonial government to include females in the grants by the
crown, even when the patents were issued to parties for
lands not intended for immediate settlement. At this day
a proceeding of this kind against a married lady would
seem harsh, discourteous and ungallant. The particular
reasons, if any existed, which induced the legislature to
adopt a measure so stringent, is not disclosed in the act,
and there were none probably which marked them as
special objects for confiscation and banishment, except the
fact that they were seized in their own rights of large
landed estates within the colony, and their husbands had
been prominent and influential partisans in the cause of the
crown, and continued their active and devoted adhesion
to the king to the date of the act. It was expedient to dis-
arm such persons of all the powers of mischief which
wealth and appliances would bestow, as well as to punish
past and future aggressions against the state ; and besides,
this was but a slight departure from the British maxim that
an attaint of blood cut off the inheritance.
The legislature passed an act on the 12th of May, 1784,
directing the speedy sale of confiscated and forfeited
estates, requiring the proceeds to be applied to the sinking
and discharging the public securities, created for the pur-
pose of carrying on the war. This was the first step taken
to dispose of these estates and the functions of the commis-
sioners ceased in 1788. The act of 1784, designated the
kind of money and certificates or bills of credit issued by
the state, which might be received in payment for lands
sold ; and one class of bills were receivable at the rate of
one dollar in silver for every one hundred and twenty nomi-
nal dollars of such bills ; others at the rate of one dollar in
silver for every forty of the nominal dollars specified in the
certificates, and a certain class of warrants payable in wheat
HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 203
were receiveable at the rate of one silver dollar for every
bushel of wheat expressed therein.
Most of these certificates and bills had not been issued, at
the date of the act, over four years, and the commissioners
of forfeitures were directed not to receive in the aggregate
over five millions of dollars in these bills and certificates for
lands sold by them under the act. A large nominal sum of
public debt was by this process extinguished with a small
amount of actual cash, or its equivalent. This was a heavy
depreciation of public securities, and was severely felt by
the people, who were compelled to take them from the
government. The purchasers of the public domain, how-
ever, were in no respect losers by the operation. Having
purchased these securities at the current specie market
price, or at the sum fixed by the continental scale of depre-
ciation, they exchanged them in most instances for some of
the best lands in the state, at a price per acre a little more
than nominal, and thus accumulated large fortunes, which
have been or soon will be wasted by their posterity. These
purchasers hazarded nothing; the state warranted the title
against all claims, and assumed to pay the debts of any
person owning the forfeited estate which existed prior to
9th of July, 1776, and were due to an inhabitant of this
state on that day, who had not been attainted or convicted
of adhering to the public enemy during the war.
The commissioners of forfeitures of the western district
of the state, sold and deeded between September, 1784 and
September, 1788, ninety-three lots in the 1st allotment of the
royal grant ; ninety-one in the second allotment ; one hund-
red and thirty in the 3d allotment ; and one hundred and
thirty-seven in the fourth allotment.
This proceeding on the part of the state was founded on
the attainder of Sir John Johnson, by the act of 1779.
The map made by Lawrence Yrooman, in 1797, shows
that Sir William gave by his will to six of his natural child-
ren by Molly Brant or Brandt, fifteen thousand acres of this
grant, as follows : To Margaret, 2000 acres ; George, 3000 ;
204 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Mary, 2000 ; Susan, 3000 ; Ann, 3000 ; Brandt, 1000 ;■ and
to William, 1000 acres. The portion of this tract thus
devised adjoins the East Canada creek, and is in the present
towns of Manheim and Salisbury.
The lots as numbered on the map are, 166 in the 1st
allotment ; 102 in the second ; 136 in the third ; and 143 in
the fourth. These are the highest numbers, but in several
instances intervening numbers below are not found.
A specific half of eighteen lots in Jerseyfield patent, was
also sold and deeded by the commissioners of forfeitures,
within the periods above mentioned. The original patentees
of this large tract were mostly of the Dutch extraction, not
German, and residents in Albany, Schenectady and the lower
Mohawk valley. None of these names appear in the attain-
der act of 1779. Some party known to be obnoxious to the
penalties of the act, must have been proceeded against by
indictment for treason against the state, and the lands
declared forfeited on inquisition found. The whole of five
lots and a specified half of four others in Livingston's patent
was also sold and conveyed by the commissioners. Peter
Du Bois, who was attainted by the act of October 22d, 1779,
was one of the patentees of this grant, and the sales probably
covered his interest, or what remained of it, in the whole
patent.
One lot, No. 52, Bayard's patent, was also sold by the
commissioners, under the attainder of some of the patentees.
A part of Glen's purchase seems to have been owned by
some one obnoxious to the law attainder. James De Lancey
was one of the three joint patentees of several lots in this
purchase. He was attainted by the act of 1779. Six small
lots in that tract were sold and deeded for .£1095, New York
currency, on the 27th August, 1788, to replenish an exhausted
treasury. James Caldwell purchased five of the lots and
Michael Myers one of them. Johan Jurgh Kast's little
patent of eleven hundred acres in Schuyler, contributed five
hundred dollars to pay war expenses. One lot in that patent
seems to have been sold to make compensation for treason
HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 205
against the state. Surely none of the descendants of that
sturdy old Palatine could have been recreant to his country
and a traitor to humanity. ^ i --^^ '
Two of the Bayards, grantees in the patent of that name,
were attainted by the act of 1779, and if they had not then
disposed of their interest, the commissioners of forfeitures
no doubt gave their attention to a subject of so much import-
ance, and a portion of that patent is held under a title from
them.
Diligent search and examination has been made in the
proper quarter to find some evidence of grants under the
authority of the state, of the John Joost Herkermer's pro-
perty, but without success.
Some part of the Herkimer property came into the hands
of Alexander Ellice, soon after the revolution. The precise
time has not been ascertained by the writer, nor has he been
able to lay his hand upon any papers showing the title to
have come from the state. This, however, must be so, for
Mr. Ellice, being a British subject, would not have been
allowed to hold forfeited lands except by a grant from the
state.
In respect to that part of the royal grant, devised by Sir
William to his Indian children, the sale by the commission-
ers could not be sustained, and consequently was abandoned
in regard to some of them, who had not committed any overt
act of treason or offense against the statute. One of these
children, however, did bear arms against the colonies, and
may have been proceeded against under the attainder act,
by indictment. The present titles of a portion of the grant
are therefore derived from Sir William's will, through his
Indian children, but all the remainder, which passed to Sir
John Johnson, as heir at law, is held under the state by
virtue of his attainder.
The county covers an area of 1370 square miles, or 887,-
000 acres, and is bounded on the north by the county of St
LaAvrence, on the east by the counties of Hamilton, Fulton
and Montgomery, on the south by the county of Otsego, and
206 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
on the west by the counties of Oneida and Lewis. It lies in
the central part of the state, between 42 degrees and 50
minutes, and 44 degrees and 5 minutes north latitude, and
1 degree and 43 minutes, and 2 degrees and 14 minutes east
longitude from the city of Washington ; and is 75 miles
long from north to south, and about 26 miles in width from
east to west.
Rivers, Streams and Lakes.
The Mohawk river runs through the southerly part of the
county from the west, on an easterly course, and is the most
considerable stream of water in it. The East Canada creek,
or kill, as formerly called, takes its rise in Hamilton county
and discharges itself into the Mohawk river from the north,
and forms the eastern boundary line from the river to the
northeast corner of the royal grant.
The sources of the West Canada creek, or kill, called by
the Indians Tueghtaghrarow, are traced to the northerly
part of the county, and into the' westerly part of Hamilton,
running a southwesterly course to the southwest corner of
Matchin's patent, and thence southerly and easterly to the
northwest corner of Walton's patent, it forms the boundary
line between Herkimer and Oneida counties. It empties
into the Mohawk river from the north, near the village of
Herkimer.
The Moose, Black and Beaver rivers, which flow into
Lake Ontario, have their sources in the north part of the
county, fed by numerous lakes and ponds of pure water,
none of which, however, are of any commercial note, but
are now often visited by the amateur angler and hunter, as
they formerly were by the veteran aboriginal of the forest,
and sad is the fate of him who is not proof against the
assaults of the mosquito and midge. The bite of these
insects is very annoying and poisonous to many of the
whites. There are two small lakes or bodies of water in the
south part of the town of Warren, called the Little Lakes,
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 207
but there are no others of note on the south side of the
Mohawk.
The Nowadaga creek, in the town of Danube, which flows
north into the Mohawk river ; the Otsquaga creek, that
drains the town of Stark, and the head waters of the Una-
dilla and Susquehanna rivers take their rise in the towns of
Columbia, Warren, Litchfield and Winfield, and flow south,
are the only streams which are worthy of note on the south
side of the Mohawk. On the north side, besides those
already noticed, are several tributaries of the Mohawk and
East and West Canada creeks, affording eligible sites and
water power for mills and manufactories, improved to a
limited extent.
Face of the Country.
The surface is much diversified, and it may properly be
called " a hill country," but it is not mountainous, as it has
been sometimes asserted. The Adirondack range of elevated
lands enters the county on the northeast from Hamilton
and extends to the Mohawk at Little Falls, where it is
broken through by the river ; thence the same range extends
southwesterly in the southern part of the county, forming
a dividing ridge for the waters running south and those
that flow into the Mohawk river. The settlements now
extend about thirty miles north of the Mohawk and the most
elevated points of land on the north and south sides of the
river, are productive of grass, Indian corn, and coarse grains.
These remarks apply particularly to the settled parts of the
county. The ranges of upland are quite elevated, in some
places being eight hundred feet above the waters of the
river. The Ostrander hill, south of Newville in the town of
Danube, the hill east of Fairfield academy, and an elevated
plat in Russia, observable in a clear day, on the road from
Little Falls to Middle ville, fourteen miles distant in a north-
erly direction up the valley of the West Canada creek, are
prominent points of this description, and still these eleva-
tions are not precipitous or inapproachable.
208 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
The northern part of the county, remaining in forests, is
elevated, but not more broken than the southern portions
under cultivation, and along the valleys of the Mohawk and
the East and West Canada creeks.
Soil.
This is somewhat various, depending upon localities.
Sandy and argillaceous loams, based on limestone, sandstone
and primitive granite gneiss, clay and calcareous loam, cal-
careous and sandy loam, calcareous loam, sandy and clay
loam, are the general characteristics of the uplands. Rich
alluvial flats are found in the Mohawk valley, and quite as
productive in grains of various descriptions, as any of the
best lands in the state. The alluvial flats of the smaller
streams are also rich and productive. The soil north of the
royal grant is light and sandy, producing fair summer crops,
and is pretty well adapted to grazing.
Productions.
Before the war of 1812, and as recent as 1820, the princi-
pal productions of this county were wheat, corn, rye,
barley, peas, beans, oats, hay and potatoes ; wheat and
barley forming the chief articles of export to the Albany
market; of corn, oats, peas and rye, there was some surplus,
and also of fat cattle and hogs. The Mohawk valley and
the Schoharie were once the granaries of the Albany and
New York markets, even when " York flour " had attained
some celebrity in New England, and was preferred there to
the southern article. The opening of the Erie canal in
1825, brought a rival into market, against which it was
useless to contend — Western New York and the country on
the south shores of Lake Erie, where the harvests were
gathered nearly two weeks earlier than in Oneida, Herkimer
and Montgomery, and the crops in bulk would be in market
before the grain growers in those counties had begun their
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 209
wheat harvests. If there was no difference in the quality of
the article produced, the difference in the price of land in
western New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and that along
the Mohawk valley and in the county, and the disparity in
the quantity of the yield per annum, made grain-growing
an onerous and unprofitable business to the Herkimer
county farmer.
During the period of ten years, from 1820 to 1830, agri-
culture was at a low ebb in the county. Year after year the
insect destroyed all the fields of wheat, and year after year
the toil-wearied farmer found himself without the means of
paying even his small debts, much less to grapple with
bonds, mortgages and interest, given to secure the purchase
money of his lands.
In 1820, if all the personal or movable property in the
county had been sold at a fair appraisal, it would not have
produced sufficient means to pay the domestic debt of the
county, and probably not more than half of it. But the
recuperative energies of the American can not be borne
down even by formidable obstacles, nor can " his hopeful
and go-ahead resolution" be " crushed out." As early as
1825, some few of our farmers began to think seriously of
" changing their mode of husbandry." They abandoned
grain growing and turned their attention to grazing, and
now the dairy house, and not the granary, is the great point
of attraction. Butter, cheese and fat cattle now constitute
the staple of the agricultural exports from the county. At
one period, Herkimer county cheese stood the first in the
market, and it has not lost any of its qualities, but other
localities have no doubt improved their productions, still the
supply hardly keeps pace with the demand, so that prices
do not recede but advance moderately. The business has
been quite remunerative for years past to those who bought
lands as prices ranged about ten years since. Formerly, the
most considerable portion of cheese made was taken to
market in the fall of the year ; the shipments by canal com-
mencing in September and continuing until the close of
210 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
navigation, or until all the early made cheese was sent off,
and that made late was kept over the winter and sent for-
ward in the spring. But since the rail roads have carried
freight, the article is now sent to market as soon as it
becomes sufficiently cured to bear transportation in boxes.
The rai&ing of broom-corn and the cultivation of the hop
has lately attracted attention, and are now being produced
to some extent, and on some soils it will no doubt be found
quite as profitable as raising grain or devoting the lands to
grazing. The soil of the royal grant is said to possess, in
an extraordinary degree, the quality of yielding sweet fall
pasturage even until covered with snow.
Sawed lumber from the North woods is yet produced
in moderate quantities and forms an article of export; and
since the construction of plank roads in that direction this
business has somewhat increased, and will continue to afford
employment for the hardy pioneer lumberman for some
years to come.
At no period within forty years have the agricultural
interests of the county been as prosperous and healthful as
at present, and the domestic or home indebtedness so small;
and with the balance of trade largely in its favor, the future
prospects of its people are most cheering and hopeful. In
the article of breadstuff's, and particularly flour, the con-
sumption greatly exceeds the production, and very conside-
rable quantities of western flour and wheat are annually
brought into the county for home use. Wheat is not raised
in any quantity ; the home supply of corn, oats, rye, buck-
wheat, potatoes and apples is equal to the consumption ;
and apples are sometimes exported when the crops are good
and the eastern supply short.
Minerals.
Iron ore is found in large quantities in the north part of
the count}r, and formerly in what is called Brown's tract,
there were works for smelting the ore, but these have been
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 211
long since abandoned. This ore is said to have been dis-
covered in the town of Salisbury, but the quantity is not
sufficient to afford any encouragement to capitalists to work
it, or the quality of it is not as good as that found in other
localities at much greater distance from the market, as no
efforts have as yet been made to open and work the mine
since its discovery. Gypsum has been obtained in small
quantities in the town of Stark. Some specimens of lead
ore have been found in the county, but neither lead or gyp-
sum has yet been found in sufficient quantities to attract
attention. The rock crystal, or false diamonds, were for-
merly found at Little Palls and at Middleville, nine miles
north, on the West Canada creek, in large abundance, and
more beautiful than in any other portion of the United
States. They were of different sizes, and most of them
beautifully clear and transparent, and exceedingly multi-
form in shape. Those found at Little Falls were taken from
the sandstone ; and those at Middleville were obtained in
cavern or grotto, apparently formed by the crystallization
of some mineral waters. Some specimens were found larger
than a walnut, with water in the centre, and others with
dark spots entirely inclosed or surrounded with clear crystal.
The writer was several years ago told by a gentleman, that
he took a number of these crystals, obtained at Little Falls,
to London, England, and the lapidary informed him that
one of them was &*real and not a false diamond ; and that
he saw the stone submitted to the test of fire. No positive
indications of coal have yet been found, and there probably
will not be, as the geological formations are not character-
istic of that fossil. At present the wealth of the county
consists principally in its agricultural products ; but we
might speculate a moment, in these days of improvement
and progress, and fancy the navigation of the Moose river,
improved as high up as the iron region of the county, by
which the products of the ore beds will be brought to mar-
ket on the Black river canal.
2 12 HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Manufactures.
These, although not numerous, or employing large amounts
of capital, when compared with some other counties in the
state, or some other localities in the United States, are
respectable, taken altogether, and contribute an important
item to the sum of our integral prosperity and wealth.
The manufacture of leather has heretofore been success-
fully carried on, and several large tanneries have been
erected in different parts of the count}-. Several extensive
paper mills are in operation in the county. An extensive
building is now being erected at Little Falls, by Mr. George
W. Beardsley, to be used in manufacturing paper of various
descriptions and qualities, from wood.
Roads, Canals, Turnpikes.
Before and during the revolutionary war, the Mohawk
river was navigated by batteaux of light draught and easy
transport over the carrying place at the lesser falls. At
this time the main traveled road between the East and West
Canada creeks, was on the south side of the river. As early
as April, 1790, the legislature appropriated " one hundred
pounds for the purpose of erecting a bridge across the East
Canada creek, not exceeding three mires from the mouth
thereof, upon the road from the Mohawk river to the royal
grant."
On the 6th of April, 1793, the legislature appointed com-
missioners, and directed them to erect " a bridge over the
East Canada creek, nearly opposite Canajoharie castle, on
the public road leading from Tribes Hill to the Little Falls;
the building and erecting a bridge over the West Canada
creek, on the public road or highway leading from the Little
Falls aforesaid, to Fort Stanwix."
The Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, was in-
corporated March 30th, 1792. The object of this company
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 213
was to open and improve the navigation of the Mohawk
river, and other streams, from the Hudson to the Seneca
lake and Lake Ontario, to "encourage agriculture, promote
commerce and facilitate intercourse between the citizens"
of the state, as put forth in the preamble to the act. The im-
provements made by the company, in this county, consisted
in opening a short canal in the river flats, and the construc-
tion of a lock, to avoid a rapid in the river, near old Fort
Herkimer, in the town of German Flats; and the construc-
tion of the canal and locks, at Little Falls. This work was
completed in 1795. The locks were first made of wood,
were rebuilt of stone in 1804, and in good condition in 1825,
when the Erie canal was opened. On the completion of
these works, the river was navigated in a good stage of
water, by the large Durham boats, between Schenectady
and Lake Ontario. There was a light and commodious
passenger boat on the river, in the year 1817. The trip
from Utica to Schenectady was rapid and agreeable, but tho
return was so slow and tedious, that passengers did not in-
cline to embrace it. The entire cost of this company's
improvements was about $450,000.
The state owned $'92,000 of the stock, and individuals,
$140,000. The state wishing to use the waters of the
Mohawk and Oswego rivers, and occupy some portion of
the company's canal, for the purpose of the Erie canal, and
being unable to agree with the company, on the sum to be
paid, took the franchises and property of the corporation by
appraisal, paying to the individual stockholders, for their
interest, $91,616; the interest of the state, at the same rate
of allowance, being $60,204*80. This company, it appears,
sunk of capital in twenty-two years after their works at tho
Little Falls were completed, $298,180-20.
The next improvement in roads, which materially affected
the interests of the people of the county, was the construction
of the Mohawk turnpike. The charter of the Turnpike and
Bridge company, was granted April 4, 1800. The road from
15
214 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Schenectady to Utica, on the north side of the river, was
built in an expeditious and unsubstantial manner, of the ma-
terial found along the line. Although the opening of the
Erie Canal, in 1825, materially affected the income of the
company, by diverting transportation from the road, it was
an immense thoroughfare for travel, until August, 1835,
when the corporate franchises of the company and the road
itself were transferred to the Utica and Schenectady rail
road company, for $62,500, and the successors of the com-
pany, now own and control the turnpike, from the west
bounds of the town of Herkimer, to its termination on the
west bank of the river, at Schenectady. I need not say,
perhaps, for the information of any inhabitant of the county,
that the Erie canal traverses its territory, from west to east,
on the south side of the Mohawk river, passing through the
villages of Frankfort, Ilion, Mohawk and the town of Dan-
ube ; nor that the New York central rail road traverses the
county from east to west, on the north side of the river,
passing through the town of Manheim, the villages of Little
Falls and Herkimer, and part of the town of Schuyler, cross-
ing the Mohawk, near the west bounds of the county ; having
five passenger and freight stations along the line in the
county.
One of the most, if not the most, successful enterprises
of modern times, was the the Utica and Schenectady rail
road company, chartered in 1833, and now forming a part
of the New York central rail road. The original capital
was $2,000,000. The road was constructed, equipped for
running and opened on the 1st of August, 1836, for a sum
somewhat less than capital. It was a pioneer road, and the
art of chisseling had not then been brought to its modern
perfection.
On the first organization of the company, in 1833, after
the distribution of the stock, Erastus Corning, John Town-
send, Lewis Benedict, James Porter, of Albany ; Alonzo C.
Paige, of Schenectady ; Tobias A. Stoutenbergh, of Mont-
gomery ; Nathaniel S. Benton, of Herkimer ; Nicholas
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 215
Devereaux, Henry Seymour, Alfred Mtrason, Utica ; James
Hooker, Poughkeepsie ; John Mason and Churchill C. Cam-
breleng, of New York, were chosen directors ; James Porter
was appointed secretary ; Gideon Hawley, treasurer ; Wm,
C. Young, chief engineer ; and Gideon Davidson, com-
missioner. The charter required that one director, at least,
should be a resident of the county through which the line
of the road passed. Messrs. Corning, Townsend, Paige,
Devereaux, Benton and Hooker, of the first board chosen,
remained in the direction twenty years, and until the con-
solidation took place, May 17th, 1853. Mr. Young was
appointed engineer and general superintendent after the
road was finished, and held that highly responsible place
until 1851, when he resigned, went on to the Hudson river
road, and was succeeded by Mr. Chauncey Vibbard, who
had been several years an efficient aid to Mr. Young. Mr.
Vibbard is now the general superintendent of the New York
central company. It is not too much, nor out of place
here, to say, that Mr. Young was a most valuable and effi-
cient officer. There were but few men in this country at
that time, who could have taken the charge and active
superintendence of an entirely new enterprise, organized
and arranged the running of the trains, selected competent
and suitable agents to aid him, with better or more complete
success than he did. He lived on the road for years, until
order and exactitude pervaded the whole line, and at every
station, and in every department of service. But it may be
said, he did not and could not do all this work alone and
single handed. This is true ; he had active, able and vigi-
lant assistants on the line, as local superintendents ; and
Maj. Zenas C. Priest, who entered the service of the com-
pany before the road was opened for traffic, and has remained
on it ever since, was among the most reliable and efficient of
Mr. Young's assistants.
At the time of consolidation, the stock capital of the
company was $4,500,000, on which the shareholders
received fifty per cent premium in six per cent bonds of
216 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
the consolidated company, equal at par to $2,475,000, and
Low much of the two and a half millions of increase to the
original two millions was made up by extra dividends in the
old company, and how much of surplus has been and will be
paid by the trustees to the stockholders of the company, I
need not name, to make good the assertion, that the Utica
and Schenectady company has turned out the most success-
ful of modern railway enterprises.
The Utica and Schenectady rail road is now enrolled
among the things that were, and history teaches by the
examples inscribed on its pages. Twenty years the direct-
ors of that company served the shareholders without com-
pensation or reward, and not only repaid them their whole
capital, with interest, but gave them a little surplus, and
left the original stock unimpaired in the new company. If
this success does not show that there was ability, applica-
tion and integrity in the direction and management of the
concerns of the company, it will be extremely difficult to
produce an example of this sort that will. I am not aware
of a single year, and I marked the progress of affairs with
considerable attention, when the annual expenses of the
road exceeded thirty-three per cent of the gross earnings.
Those expenses seldom reached that sum during the wholo
seventeen years the road was operated. Why, then, do we
now see those expenses reaching to and even exceeding
fifty per cent of the gross earnings of rail road companies?
I place these facts on the record, and those who have time,
and are so disposed, may discuss causes and their effects.
The shareholders of these companies have a remedial
power in their own hands, and can apply it once in each
year, if they choose to do it. They can know, if they will,
whether the laws of the state have been strictly observed
by the directors and agents of the company ; and they
should know, too, whether the principal agents of the corpo-
rations have been interested in contracts with the company ;
or have used the information or knowledge which could only
come to them confidentially, for the purpose of dealing in
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 217
the stock of tlio companies to which they belong, and spec-
ulate on a rise or fall in the market. When men seek places
in rail road directions, to control and participate in the con-
tracts for supplies, and when the chief agents of these com-
panies are allowed to be contractors, the stockholders
directly, and the general public indirectly, suffer materially.
I will dismiss the subject of rail roads, and go back in
order of time a half century or more. March 26, 1803, an act
was passed, authorizing certain great roads in this state to
be opened and improved, and for that purpose $41,500 was
directed to be raised by lottery.
The State road, so called, from Johnstown to the Black
river country, passing through parts of Manheim and Salis-
bury and the towns of Norway and Russia in this county,
was laid out and surveyed, and probably opened by com-
missioners appointed by the governor, pursuant to the
authority conferred by the above act. This road was used
a good deal in the early part of the present century, when
the eastern emigration was flowing towards the present
counties of Lewis and Jefferson, the western portion of St.
Lawrence and the northern parts of Oneida and Herkimer.
The Fall Hill turnpike and bridge company, incorporated
in 1804, was authorized to build a toll-bridge over the
Mohawk at Little Falls, and construct a road from the house
of Ira Crane in Minden, Montgomery county, to the Mohawk
river, thence along said river to Henry A. Vrooman's, in
German Flats, and thence to Samuel Abbott's house and
Kassler's mills. The object of this improvement was to i
avoid the difficulties of the road over Fall hill, which was
pretty steep and rugged. The bridge was erected and used
many years, and until the charter was abandoned. The
road was not made.
In the year 1806, commissioners were appointed to lay
out and straighten the road on the south side of the Mohawk
river, from Schenectady to Utica, where they should judge
the same expedient. This road was directed to be opened
three rods wide, and the towns through which it passed
218 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
were required to work it. In all the cases which I have
noticed, if any portion of these roads, surveyed by the direc-
tions of the legislature, was laid out through improved lands,
compensation was made to the owners, and after the roads
were surveyed and opened by the state, the towns through
which they passed were required to repair and maintain
them. This requirement could only be observed where
there was sufficient population.
An opinion prevailed at an early day, that the northern
travel would leave the Mohawk valley at East Creek or
Little Falls, and turn towards the Black river country,
but the project of opening and improving a road from Little
Falls in that direction was never carried into effect. The
people of Johnstown, Utica, Whitestown and Rome, were
too much alive to their own interests to allow such a pro-
ject to get the start of them. The route from Johnstown
through the northern parts of Montgomery and Herkimer,
crossing the East Canada creek at Brackett's bridge, and the
West Canada creek at Boon's bridge, near Prospect, in
Oneida county, was much the shortest, and the best adapted
to emigrant travel.
The Great western turnpike passes through the southeast
corner of the town of Warren, at the Little lakes, a distance
of two or three miles. This road does not touch the Mohawk
valley. The Minden and Utica turnpike company was
incorporated in 1809. The designated line of this road in
the county passed through the present towns of Stark,
Warren, Columbia, Litchfield, the southwest corner of
Frankfort into Oneida county. Some part of this turnpike
was completed, and one or more gates were erected to col-
lect tolls, but it has long since been abandoned, the charter
having been declared forfeited for a misuser, and the people
are not obstructed by the toll-bar.
Col. Jeremiah Drake projected a rail road, to connect with
the Utica and Schenectady line, near A. A. Fink's, two miles
east of Little Falls, and running northerly a distance of
about fifteen miles in this county, to the northeast corner
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 219
of the Royal grant. He procured an act of incorporation in
1834, had the line of road surveyed and located, and esti-
mates of cost of construction and traffic made up. Col.
Drake was sanguine the road would yield a good return
upon the investment, but failing to convince capitalists of
this fact, he Avas compelled to abandon the project. The
line of the road as surveyed, passed through Manheim Center,
Wintonville, Salisbury Center to Devereaux. This line
would not have yielded an income quite as prolific as the
Utica and Schenectady, but that company and the New York
central line would have found it a most valuable auxiliary
in furnishing fuel from the North woods.
The plank road mania of 1847-8, in its epidemic progress
through the state, visited the county, and roads of this
description were constructed in various directions.
The first, in point of time, was the road from the village
of Mohawk, through Herkimer and Middleville to Newport,
up the valley of the West Canada creek.
The Little Falls and Middleville, connecting the two places
named by plank.
The Manheim and Salisbury, connecting Little Falls with
Salisbury Four Corners. This line has been extended to
Graysville, a village on the Black creek in the north part of
Norway.
The Little Falls and Salisbury, connecting the former
place with Devereaux at the northeast corner of the Royal
grant. The route of this road is nearly on the line of Col.
Drake's proposed rail road. The plank road from Utica,
passing through Frankfort, Litchfield and West Windfield
to Unadilla.
The Mohawk and Ilion, connecting the two places named
by plank.
The Frankfort and Utica, extending from Frankfort vil-
lage to the west line of the county, along the Erie canal.
Ilion and Cedarville, extending from the former village
south to Cedarville.
The plank road from Fort Plain, in Montgomery county,
220 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
to Cooperstown, passes through Starkville and Yan Hornes-
villc, in the town of Stark.
The North Gage and Russia plank road, connects Russia,
in this county, with North Gage, in Oneida county.
The Utica, Deerfield and Schuyler plank road.
Although not in the order of time, I may here remark
that a charter was granted in 1836, to construct a rail road
from Herkimer to Trenton, Oneida county, along the valley
of the West Canada creek ; but no further effort was ever
made to carry into effect the objects of the law. Like many
other projects of this kind, its promoters found it difficult to
obtain the capital to build the road, although the route was
quite feasible and unobstructed by deep cuts and heavy
embankments.
The Newspaper Press of the County.
Strange as it may seem to the reader, the history of the
newspaper press of the county, although covering only about
half a century, has come to rest in tradition, and while itself
the recorder of events that have moved a world in arms,
and shook crumbling empires into dust, it has failed in this
county to place its own existence and career beyond a sur-
mise and a probability ; or, the frail memory of man when
he makes the effort to speak of dates and limit periods
without a written or printed record before him. Tradition
is, much more uncertain among a civilized people who claim
to record events as they transpire, than with the aboriginal
natives of this continent, who perpetuate their legends and
important national events by reciting them in a full assem-
bly of the tribes, where the young, the old and the middle
aged of both sexes are seated around the great council fire
to hear repeated and impress upon the memory, the history
of their tribe, the exploits in war of their great chiefs and
distinguished braves, to describe the limits of their hunting
grounds, and to recount the moons and the seasons since the
happening of some great event.
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 221
In the beginning of the present century, and probably
about the year 1802, Mr. Benjamin Cory published the first
newspaper in the county, called the Telescope, designed to
uphold the interests of the federal party. In January, 1805,
David Holt a (name long familiar to the people of the county)
and J. B. Robins purchased Mr. Cory's interest in the paper
and issued another instead of it, called the Farmer's Monitor.
The Monitor was continued until the summer of 1807,
when it was discontinued for want of patronage ; Mr. Cory
having established another federal paper, which, as the law-
yers and merchants of the village were mostly of that party,
engrossed nearly all the advertising patronage.
The Herkimer Pelican established by Cory, was probably
continued until the year IS 10. The Pelican supported Gov-
ernor Lewis, and the Monitor, it is said, was attached to the
George Clinton branch of the republican party.
The fourth paper was established in January, 1810, by J.
H. & H. Prentiss, called the Herkimer American ; it was
published several years by them and William L. Stone,
afterwards of the New York Commercral Advertiser, when
Edward P. Seymour purchased the establishment and con-
ducted the paper to " its life's end" in 1831. Mr. Seymour
always kept his paper to the true party lines while he con-
trolled it, but he would not refuse to print tickets for the
republicans when they had no press in the county.
The Bunker Hill made its appearance some time in tho
year 1810, established by Mr. G. G. Phinney 1 The political
tendencies of this paper were pretty high-toned. The
motto, " Live free or die ! Death is not the greatest of evils,"
(Gen. Stark), showed its conductor was ready for the fight.
Mr. Phinney brought out the Honest American about the year
1812. The editorial courtesy of those times was quite pun-
gent, taking the following article as a specimen :
"A Mean Blackguard. — Captain Consequence, or in other
words, Charley Holt, has been pleased, if he ever was pleased,
to daub in his paper the following ridiculous paragraph
against the editor of the Honest American :
222 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
u i
'■ A Dishonest American. — The foolish rascal in Herkimer,
who to the disgrace of the name of an editor, is the lickspit-
tle of the Public Advertiser, can not expect further newspaper
notice, but will be silenced without disturbing our readers
by so pitiful a subject.'
" Capt. Charley talks of ' silencing us,' but the captain is
informed that he nor all the men he could raise while a
captain in Hudson, will be able to silence us. Capt. Charley
says we can not expect further ' newspaper notice.' God
grant we may not receive any further notice from so mean
a scoundrel. This 'pitiful subject ' wishes not to ' disturb '
his ' readers.' It is well known, that as far as Capt. Char-
ley's influence extends, he has done more to disturb the
republican party than any other editor in the state. An
eternal good-bye to you, Capt. Charley, unless you intend to
take other notice of us than that of ' newspaper.' "
This language smacks some of an indictment or prosecu-
tion for a libel. These two papers, the Bunker Hill and
Honest American were both discontinued before 1821, and in
September of that year, Edward M. Griffin established the
People's Friend, a democratic paper, at Little Falls, which
was published by him until about the year 1832, when seve-
ral of the leading democrats of the county, to prevent the
sale of the establishment and discontinuance of the paper.,
bought out the concern. Messrs. C. S. Benton & Co., con-
tinued the publication of the paper under the title of Mo-
hawk Courier, until the proprietors sold out their interest to
Josiah A. Noonan. Mr. Noonan transferred his interest in
the paper to Horatio N. Johnson who after publishing it
some time, sold it to Elias G. Palmer, and again purchased
it of Mr. Palmer, and now conducts the paper.
The Herkimer Herald made its appearance at Herkimer in
1828, under the direction of Mr. John Carpenter, and advo-
cated the election of General Jackson.
Next in order of time came the Republican Farmer's Free
Press, in 1830, an anti-masonic paper, established by an
association, printed by David Holt and edited by B. B.
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 223
Hotchkin. Its life was short. Then came the Herkimer
County Journal in December, 1837, a whig paper. It was
owned by a company, commenced at Herkimer, under tho
editorial charge of J. C. Underwood, and printed by E. P.
Seymour. In about one year Mr. 0. A. Bowe took charge
of the paper and published it about six years. It was at
different times edited by R. U. Sherman, G. "W. Smith and
A. H. Prescott. Mr. Orlando Squires took charge of the
paper in 1849, and removed the establishment to Little
Falls, where the paper is now published under the direction
of Mr. Daniel Ayer, and has nearly reached the close of the
17th volume.
The Republican Farmer's Free Press was transferred to
Little Falls, its name changed to the Herkimer County Whig,
and published by Larned W. Smith, who also issued from
the same press the Inquirer, a deistical affair. This was not
a very long lived concern. It commenced its career in
1834, and closed I believe in about two years.
Mr. E. M. Griffin established The Enterprise at Little Falls
in 1839, and continued its publication about two years, and
then started the Mohawk Mirror, a quarto sheet which he
published or pretended to publish twice a month. This
paper died out in 1844.
Next in order of time came the Frankfort Democrat, estab-
lished at Frankfort in the fall of 1842, by J. M. Lyon, now
of the Utica Gazette. It was afterwards removed to Herki-
mer village, and the name changed to Herkimer County Demo-
crat. Until 1853 this paper was the organ of the Hunker
section of the democratic party, and enjoyed a pretty good
patronage. Mr. Robert Earl, who succeeded Mr. Lyon in
the proprietorship of the paper, sold out his interest, and the
paper has since sustained the other section of that party.
When Mr. Bowe quit the Journal, in 1844, he established at
Little Falls an abolition journal, called the Herkimer Free-
man, which he published about six years, using the type and
press of the Enterprise. Failing to accomplish all he designed
and all that his industry and application to his business
224 HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
deserved, Mr. Bowo in April, 1850, started the Mohawk
Times at the village of Mohawk. Hope again with him " on
trembling pinions soared," and the advocacy of " free soil "
with a spice of " news and miscellany," was to conduct his
bark to a haven of rest. Mr. Bowe soon abandoned this, his
last enterprise in the state, in a short time, and established a
press somewhere among the green hills of Vermont.
Tho Mohawk Valley Sentinel was established by L. W.
Peters and G. W. Gould, at Mohawk in the winter of 1855.
It has been conducted by Mr. Peters several months, Mr.
Gould having left the concern. Its motto, " Put none but
Americans on guard" {Washington), very clearly denotes
the political bias of the paper.
The Ilion Independent, the last to be now chronicled in his-
tory, was brought out in February, 1855, at the village of
Ilion by Mr. George W. Bungay. It seems to be devoted to
temperance and advocates the prohibitory liquor law. Its
motto, " Liberty, Equality and Fraternity " show an enlarged
and comprehensive benevolence.
Out of the seventeen or eighteen newspapers established
in the county during the past fifty-four years, only three of
them, the Courier, Journal and Democrat have stood the test
of time. The Sentinel and Independent have not yet passed
the ordeal. Fourteen have enjoyed a brief existence, have
performed their mission and are now forgotten. . The Herki-
mer American attained the respectable age of twenty-one
years. The Courier and People's Friend conjoined have seen
thirty-four years. The Herkimer County Journal has thrown
its banner to the breeze eighteen successive years and ral-
lied its friends to many political defeats in the county ; and
the Herkimer County Democrat, although thirteen years an
active campaigner can not claim always to have recorded
victories of its friends.
The reader will notice as an act of justice to J. Munsell of
Albany, that I am much indebted to his interesting work,
The Typographical Miscellany, for the important matter
contained in this article.
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 225
COLLEGBS AND ACADEMIES.
Fairfield Medical College.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of the western
district of New York, located at Fairfield, Herkimer county,
had its origin in the medical school established by the trus-
tees of Fairfield academy, in 1809. This school had acquired
some reputation while attached to the academy. It was
even such in the second year of its existence, as to induce
the legislature of the state to endow it with $5,000, and
when it received the rank of college, they generously added
to its funds the further sum of $10,000.
The charter of the college bears date June 12, 1812, to
which is appended the seal of the university of the state,
and signed by Daniel D. Tompkins, Chancellor
of the University of the State of New York.
H. Bloodgood, Secretary.
In the charter the following persons are named as consti-
tuting the first board of trustees, viz.: Westel Willoughby,
Jun., Jonathan Sherwood, Luther Giteau, Solomon Wolcot,
Isaac Sears, Abijah Tombling, Amos Hale, Simeon Ford,
Clark Smith, Joseph White, Alexander G. Fonda, Oliver C.
Comstock, John Miller, Isaac Sargeant, Reuben Hart, Amasa
Trowbridge, Francis A. Bloodgood, William D. Ford, James
Kennedy, Oliver Ellis, Andrew A. Bartow, William Smith,
John Stearns and James Hale. ; they and their successors
were to have perpetual succession.
At a meeting of the board of trustees, held Dec. 1, 1812,
the following individuals were appointed officers of the
college, viz.:
Lyman Spalding, professor of anatomy and surgery.
Westel Willoughby, Jun., professor of obstetrics.
James Hadley, professor of chemistry.
John Stearns, professor of the theory and practice of
physic.
226 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
The class of 1812-13, as appears by the records, consisted
of eighteen medical students. During the session of 1813-
14, it numbered twenty-four.
At a meeting of the board, March 23, 1815, T. Romeyn
Beck was recommended to the honorable regents to fill the
office of professor of the institutes of medicine.
Jan. 30, 1816, the degree of doctor of medicine was con-
ferred on two individuals, viz.: Horatio Orvis and Sjdvester
Miller. Dr. Beck gave his first course on medical jurispru-
dence. Number of students, 28 ; 4 graduates.
At a meeting of the board, May 20, 1817, Doct. Joseph
White, of Cherry Valley, was appointed president and pro-
fessor of anatomy and surgery in the college, in place of Dr.
Spalding ; at the same meeting, it was resolved, that Presi-
dent White have leave to substitute his son, Delos White,
M. D., to deliver lectures on anatomy in his stead.
Jan. 20, 1818, the class consisted of 41 students, of whom
7 were considered worthy of the degree of doctor of medi-
cine.
Jan. 19, 1819, a resolution was passed by the board of
trustees, dismissing any student who should be concerned
directly or indirectly in digging up any dead human body,
for the purpose of dissection in the college.
Jan. 20, 1820, the legislature were petitioned for a law
for giving the dead bodies of unclaimed convicts of the
state prison, at Auburn, to the college, for the purposes of
dissection.
Jan. 23, 1821, Dr. Delos White resigned his professorship
of anatomy, in consequence of the difficulty of procuring
subjects for dissection. The same year, it was resolved to
extend the course of lectures from twelve to sixteen weeks.
Jan. 22, 1822, James McNaughton, M. D., made professor
of anatomy and physiology. 62 students ; 14 graduates.
For several years subsequent to this period, the affairs of
the college continued to prosper, and the number of students
to increase. At the close of the session ending in January,
1827, Joseph White, M. D., inconsequence of age and infirm-
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 227
ities, resigned his professorship, and was succeeded in the
chair of surgery by John Delamater, M. D. Number of
students in attendance this session, 144 ; graduates, 25. In
consequence of the increase of students, an additional
college edifice was erected, containing thirty-two lodging
rooms, and the lecture rooms of the old college edifice were
enlarged and rendered more commodious.
182S, number of students, 171 ; graduates, 33.
1832. This year the number of students had increased to
205 ; graduates, 39.
1834. The largest class ever assembled at the college
was during the session ending in January, 1834, when the
number reached 21?, of whom 55 received the degree of
doctor of medicine. The following year the number was 198.
The organization of the medical department of Geneva
college, and subsequently the incorporation of a medical
college in the city of Albany, together with other causes,
had the effect to diminish the number of students in attend-
ance at the Fairfield college from the year 1834, until the
final suspension of lectures in the latter institution, by the
faculty ; yet the numbers continued to be respectable, and
probably would have been until the present time, had the
proper efforts been continued to sustain it. During the year
1836, the regents confirmed the following alterations, by
which the professorships stood as follows :
Westel Willoughby, M. D., emeritus professor of mid-
wifery.
James Hadley, M. D., professor of chemistry and phar-
macy.
T. Romeyn Beck, M. D., professor of materia medica and
medical jurisprudence.
James McNaughton, M. D., professor of anatomy and
physiology.
John Delamater, M. D., professor of practice of physic,
and diseases of women and children.
Reuben D. Mussey, M. D., professor of surgery and mid-
wifery.
228 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
Subsequently, Frank H. Hamilton, M. D., succeeded Prof.
Mussey in the chair of surgery, and with this exception, the
faculty remained as above during the operation of the insti-
tution. The last course of lectures was given during the
winter of 1839-40. The number of students in attendance
was 105, of whom 26 received the degree of doctor of medi-
cine. Since the cessation of medical lectures, the college
buildings have undergone material modifications, and have
been thoroughly repaired, for enlarging the accommodations
of Fairfield academy, for which purpose they are at present
appropriated. Lyman Spaulding, M. D., was the first
president of the college, and was succeeded in office by
Joseph White, M. D., in 1817, who resigned in 1827. The
venerable Prof. Willoughby succeeded Dr. White, and held
the office until his decease.
Fairfield Academy.
This institution was incorporated March 13th, 1803, by
the regents of the university of this state, and has been in
successful operation ever since. The first board of trustees
consisted of Moses Mather, Thomas Manley, Nathan Smith,
Samuel Giles, Westel Willoughby Jr., William Griswold,
Alvah Southworth, Cyrus M. Johnson, John Meyer, Jonathan
Hallet, Abijah Mann, Mathias B. Tallmadge, Samuel Wright,
William Smith, Benjamin Bowen, Charles Ward, Clark
Smith, Thomas Bennett, Moses Wheeler, Francis A. Blood-
good, Aaron Hackley, John Snell, John Herkimer and Henry
Coffin, and the school was opened under the supervision of
the Rev. Caleb Alexander, as the principal, and under his
care and management of about ten years, the institution
became extremely popular, and was esteemed the best aca-
demic school in the country. It enjoyed a wide field of
patronage and usefulness, the first twelve or fifteen years of
its existence, it being the only school of the kind in central
or western New York in which thorough academic instruc-
tion could be obtained.
230 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Even at this late day it is not an unfrequent occurrence
to hear the members of the legal profession, advanced in
years and living in the central, western and northern parts
of the state, speak of their having been educated at Fair-
field. The same remarks may no doubt be made with truth
by many engaged in other pursuits, or have devoted them-
selves to medicine or divinity. Fairfield Academy has sent
out many worthy and excellent men, and some who have
distinguished themselves in public life and in the learned
professions, and it may well have done this. She had the
young and aspiring talent of the country flocking to her
halls, and she maintained sound, thorough and enlightened
instructors. The trustees and patrons of this institution
have just grounds to felicitate themselves on the past suc-
cess of the school.
At former periods the aid of the state has been bestowed,
with sparing munificence, and it may be with as much libe-
rality as justice to other institutions and the ability of the
state would allow. It is however gratifying to know that
this institution, the oldest in the county, and the first esta-
blished in a now wide-spread, populous and wealthy region
of country, enjoys a permanent endowment which places
the successful progress of the school beyond a contin-
gency.
No people ever committed a graver mistake than those
who make up their minds that almost any body or thing
will do for a school teacher. Those who look for cheap
instructors, without inquiry as to qualifications, err exceed-
ingly. The youthful mind is quite as capable of erroneous
as rightful impressions when engaged in learning, and ail
experience teaches us how difficult it is to eradicate error
and impress truth in its place in the mind of the pupil ;
hence the importance of placing in our schools teachers
capable, accomplished and experienced. " Set the blind to
lead the blind," and what will be the end? The reader will,
I hope, bear with me a moment longer. It has seemed to
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 231
me, we regarded less than we should the permanent endow-
ment of our academic schools. I mean such an endowment
as would give a permanent annual income sufficient to carry
the institution through all temporary adversities that may
overtake it in the progress of years. This enables the
trustees to retain an efficient corps of teachers and maintain
the usual grade of instruction, and when prosperity returns
no changes will he required to meet that fortunate exigency.
There are no people within the pale of civilization who
practice expediency so much as the Americans in accom-
plishing proper objects and achieving just results. This
may be the mighty lever that has brought the country to
its present elevated position; but are the foundations suffi-
ciently strong and adamantine to sustain us in that position?
The truths of science can only be reached by keeping on
the right tract and within its orbit ; and who can lead and
direct the neophite save the accomplished master, the expe-
rienced teacher and guide ?
Caleb Alexander was a native of Northfield, Massachu-
setts, who graduated at Yale College, and having been
admitted to the ministry, settled as pastor over the church
at Mendon. He came into Western New York as a mis-
sionary in 1801, and I am enabled through the kindness of
one of his descendants to consult his journal, from which I
have made some extracts :
" August 10, 1801. Having^received my commission from
the Rev. Nathaniel Emmons, D. D., President of the Massa-
chusetts Missionary Society, having obtained the consent of
my church and congregation and committed myself and
family to the direction and disposal of God, I began my
missionary tour to the people in the western parts of the
state of New York."
He visited various localities on the North river, in Sara-
toga, Schenectady, Albany, Schoharie, Otsego, Madison,
Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga, Ontario and Herkimer counties,
and finally reached Norway, in this county, November 10,
232 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
1801, and remained until 23d, visiting and preaching at
Fairfield, Norway and Salisbury. At this period Mr. Alex-
ander says, that Fairfield contained 2065, Salisbury, 1694
souls, and the whole county, 14,503.
While at Fairfield and Norway, on this occasion, he made
arrangements for opening a school at the former place. A
frame building was erected, and in May, 1802, he returned
from Massachusetts with his family, and commenced in good
earnest to lay the foundation of an institution which gave
birth to the Academy. During the whole period of his
engagement at the head of the Fairfield Academy, he
preached alternately at Fairfield, Norway, Salisbury and at
other places in the northern part of the county.
He left Fairfield in 1812, and took charge of the academy
at Onondaga Hollow, where he remained engaged in teach-
ing and preaching, giving a portion of his attention to
farming, until he was called home to give an account of his
stewardship, at the venerable age of 73 years.
Mr. Alexander was the author of several educational
works, and among them were his Latin and English Gram-
mars, which were of high repute in their day, although he
sold the copy right of the " Grammatical Elements, or a
Comprehensive Theory of English Grammar," &c, to Isaiah
Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews, of Boston, in 1793, for
$133*33. His education was as thorough and complete as
could well be obtained in thi^ country at the time he gradu-
ated, and he evinced no lack of energy and application in
subjecting his acquirements to the severe test of writing out
an elementary treatise on the English language.
The present trustees of this institution are Charles Willard,
Sidenis Teal, David W. Cole, Jarius Mather, William B.
Porter, Roswell D. Brown, George Pierce, James Seaman,
Thomas A. Rice, Richard R. Smith, Henry Tillinghast,
Lorenzo Carryl, Jeremiah Cory, Varnum S. Kenyon, Ezra
Graves, William Lamberson, Parley Arnold, Horace Ford,
Jeremiah Smith, Alden S. Gage, William Mather, George
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 233
W. Philips, Asa Ckatfiekl and John Green. Jeremiah Smith,
president of the board of trustees, Jarius Mather, secretary.
The Academy at Little Falls in the county of Herkimer,
was incorporated by the regents of the university of this
state, October 17, 1844.
The trustees named in the charter were, Nathaniel S. Ben-
ton, Arphaxed Loomis, Frederick Lansing, George H. Feeter,
William C. Craine, David Petrie, Henry Heath, Martin W.
Priest, Harry Burrell, Richard N. Casler, Albert G. Story,
Zenas C. Priest, Thomas Burch, Nathan Brown, Soloman
Petrie, Stephen W. Brown, Henry Eysaman and William
Ingham.
The whole value of academic property, consisting of lots,
buildings, furniture, library and apparatus, as appears from
the first annual report of the trustees made December 8th,
1845, was $14,849-38.
Merritt G. McKoon, Esq. A. M., opened the school, as
principal teacher, and the same has been continued to the
present time, under the direction of different instructors.
The citizens of the town and surrounding country exhibited
a generous liberality in donating funds towards the erection
of the splendid stone edifice occupied as the academic build-
ing.
The present trustees of this institution are, Nathaniel S.
Benton, Arphaxed Loomis, Harry Burrell, Martin W. Priest,
Albert G. Story, Thomas Burch, Zenas C. Priest, John Beards-
lee, Seth M. Richmond, James Feeter, William J. Skinner,
William Ingham and Philo Reed.
The academy at Herkimer was incorporated in 1838 or
1839, and was subject to the visitation of the regents of the
university. It flourished a few years and was finally aban-
doned for want of patronage.
This school, as is well known, was located in one of our
most pleasant villages, containing a population, able of itself
234 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
to form the nucleus of a very liberal support, but owing to
some serious difficulty, originating with some of the faculty,
the school unfortunately failed to command the public
confidence.
West Wmfield Academy.
Incorporated by the regents of the university, February
14th, 1851.
The trustees named in the charter are, "William Stuart,
Alonzo Wood, James M. Rose, Walter Palmer, Joseph Hard-
ing, Joel Wadsworth, Rufus Wheeler, Zenas Eldred, J. L.
Moore, David R. Carrier, Ira Walker, Samuel Smith, H. D.
Kellogg, Orange Holmes, Newton Wilcox, William McLough-
lin, Levi S. Knight, Alvah Barker, Hiram Brown, L. G.
Holmes, T. W. Morgan and N. M. Morgan.
The present value of the academic buildings, library and
apparatus, at the date of the application, was stated at
$3,200. The location of this institution in an elevated'and
healthful district of country, easy of access, and being
surrounded by a vigorous and wealthy population, must
make it an inviting spot for youth to pursue academic
studies, and it should not fail, as it seems to me it need not, to
become highly useful and influential in disseminating classi-
cal instruction over a wide and extended territory. The
academy, thus far, gives promise of much usefulness.
Religious Aspects of the County.
I shall not add one word to what has been said in the intro-
ductory chapter, in reference to the small show now made in
this important and interesting branch of our local history.
If the extracts from the two missionary journals, here pre-
sented to the reader, contain truthful views of our condition,
more than fifty years since, we must know our situation in
this respect has changed, and we doubt not for the better.
Reliable data to show these facts are beyond my reach.
There is, or has been, an organized Bible society in the
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 235
county. Unfortunately, its records and proceedings can not
be obtained, to exhibit its operations and prospects.
The state census of 1855, affords materials for the follow-
ing brief table of statistics respecting the religious aspects
of the county. The United States census tables of 1850,
give as the whole number of churches in the county, 54.
The Methodists have only 8, and the Presbyterian only 2 in
those tables. I notice this because I have learned not to
confide implicitly in statistical evidence of this character.
Differences like these can not easily be reconciled or
accounted for :
Mem- Mem-
Churches, hers. Churches, bers.
Baptists, 12 713 Methodist Episcopal, 28 1430
Catholics, 2 744 Presbyterian, 10 345
Congregational, 1 72 Protestant Methodist, 2 50
Dutch Reformed, 6 498 Universalist, 7 141
Episcopal, 3 74 Union Churches 9 275
Free Will Baptists, 3 152 Whitfield Calvinists, 1 5
Lutheran, 4 94
Presenting an aggregate of 88 churches and 4,593 church
members, or persons attached to the several churches, and
conforming to the rituals in discipline, government and
doctrine. This, then, I apprehend, does not embrace among
the Protestant congregations, at any rate, the whole num-
ber of persons attending religious services in those congre-
gations. The above number is only one in four of the
adult population of the county, and one in eight and four-
tenths of the whole number of inhabitants. A beggarly
account of empty pews, when we assume, as we should, that
the capacity of the churches is equal to seating the whole
population of the county.
The Rev. Caleb Alexander having performed a missionary
tour to the western parts of this state in 1801, by the direc-
tions of the Massachusetts missionary society, I have tran-
scribed such portions from the original journal as are of
local interest :
November, 1801. — Tuesday, 10. — Rode east 11 miles, to
Norway, dined at Lieut. Smith's, in the morning delivered a
sermon on Rom., vii, 7, 8, " The carnal mind is enmity against
236 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can he. So then, they that are in the flesh can not please
God." After lecture a conference was formed in which we
had much free conversation on religious subjects. Here is
a Presbyterian Church of about 27 members, of whom some
appear to be pious. At their request I agreed to visit them,
next Friday preach a lecture and attend a church conference
on the subject of their difficulties. Lodged at Lieut. Smith's.
Wednesday, 11, rainy and snowy, rode 6 miles south, to Mr.
Nathan Smiths, in Fairfield ; very muddy, chilled with the
storm and much fatigued.
Thursday, 12, rainy and snowy, pain in my limbs, kept
house all day visited by Capt. Griswold. By him I learned
that religion is in a low state in this town. There is a
Congregational Church, but no officers, and no meeting on
the Sabbath. Proposed to call the church together and
converse with them. The storm and badness of traveling
rendered it unadvisable to attempt to collect the church.
Friday, 13, returned to Norway, dined at Deacon Brown-
son's, preached a lecture at a Mr. Cook's ; text, Prov., xxix, 1 :
" He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall
suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." After
lecture attended a conference with the church on the sub-
ject of difficulties, and agreed to meet them again next
Monday morning at nine o'clock. Lodged at Mr. Cook's.
Saturday, 14, breakfasted at another Mr. Cook's, returned
to Fairfield and wrote journal.
Lord's Bay, 15, delivered two sermons in the school house
near Mr. Nathan Smith's. A. M. text 2 Tim., iv,7, 8 : " I have
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept
the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give
me at that day." P. M. text Acts iv, 11, 12 : " This is the
stone which was set at nought by you builders which is
become the head of the corner, neither is there salvation in
any other. For there is none other name under Heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved." A full assembly
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 237
and attention. The people contributed $2*33 cents for the
use of the M. M. Society.
At Steuben the people contributed $6'96 cents for the use
of the M. M. Society.
Monday, 16, rode early to Norway, met with the church at
Mr. Newland's and attended all day to the settling of diffi-
culties of long standing. It appeared that in many instances
they had been irregular in their proceedings, which served
to be the principal cause of the contentions and animosities
existing among them. These were all canvassed and reduced
to a happy train of accommodation. Adjourned to meet
on Saturday morning, at which time I agreed to preach a
lecture and to administer the sacrament of the Lord's Sup-
por on the next Sabbath so be that all difficulties should be
settled.
Lodged at Mr. Lewis Hinman's, and spent the evening in
preparing papers to be laid before the church on Saturday.
Tuesday, 17, breakfasted at Mr. George Cook's, dined at
Mr. Moses Mather's, returned to Fairfield. There has been
some attention to religion in Norway, several have attained
a hope and give evidence of true piety. The church con-
sists of 37 members, incorporated three years since by the
Rev. Mr. Marsh in union with the associate churches of
Morris County Presbytery. Mr. Marsh preached here two
years and is now settled in Ballstown. In Norway are two
Baptist churches, one on the open communion and the
other on the close communion plan. The open communion-
ists are Armenians in sentiments.
Wednesday, 18, visited. In Fairfield is a Congregational
church of 24 members, some attention to religion. This
town contains 2065 souls, no minister ; some Baptists and
some never attached themselves to any denomination. The
royal grant is a tract of land 20 miles square of excellent
soil, situate north of the Mohawk, and between the two
Canada creeks and contains Salisbury, Fairfield and Norway
in which are 3606 souls and no minister. The county of
Herkimer contains 14,503 and no minister, excepting
238 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
illiterate Baptist preachers, who are exerting every possible
means to gain converts to their denomination.
Thursday, 19, rode east 4 miles to Salisbury, in Montgo-
mery county, called upon Aaron Hackley, Esq., and
preached a lecture on Titus, iii, 5, 6 : " Not by works of
righteousness, which we have, but according to his mercy
he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through
Jesus Christ our saviour." A decent congregation in the
school house. There is a Presbyterian Church of 36 mem-
bers, belonging to the Northern Associate Presbytery of
Morris County Presbytery. A Baptist Church has lately
been established here. There has been in this place last
summer much attention to religion, and almost every con-
vert has joined the Baptist communion through the vigorous
exertions of the Baptist teachers itinerating. Salisbury
contains 1694 souls, a Presbyterian meeting house.
Friday, 20, cold ; extremely bad riding, delivered a lec-
ture P. M. in the school house, on Rom., i, 16 : "I am^not
ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." The people contributed
$1*12 cents for the use of the M. M. Society. Returned to
Fairfield and called on Mr. Nathan Smith.
Saturday, 21, rode early in the morning to Norway, very
cold and rough riding. Convened with the church at Mr.
Ruland's, and attended to the difficulties and controversies
existing among them. After much conversation, explana-
tions and mutual confessions it was unanimously agreed that
they would all make a public confession to-morrow in the
presence of the congregation, and renew their covenant
with God and one another. During the whole of the trans-
action they all appeared to manifest a tender, charitable and
forgiving spirit, and it appeared that their divisions arose
more from mistake of judgment than error of heart. Went
to Mr. George Cook's for lodgings.
Lord's Bay, 22, cold, snowy and very bad traveling, the
church and congregation convened about half-after eleven.
Delivered a sermon, text John xv, 5 : "He that abideth in
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 239
me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." A
full and attentive assembly. An inflammation in my throat
and nose rendered speaking very difficult. Read the con-
fession of the church for their past misconduct, read their
covenant to which they all gave consent, administered the
sacrament and took tea at Lieut. Smith's. The congregation
contributed $2*44 cents for the use of the M. M. Society.
Returned to Mr. Nathan Smith's.
Monday, 23, set out from Fairfield on my journey home-
wards. Cold weather. Rode south 7 miles to the Little
Falls, with a view of taking a boat to fall down the river to
Schenectady. Found the Mohawk covered with ice, then
rode up the river 7 miles to German Flats to take the stage.
Finding that the stage is not to run till to-morrow I crossed
the Mohawk to Herkimer Court House, 2 miles. Around
the Little Falls the country is hilly and very rocky near the
river. On the northern bank are seven locks and a canal
for the conveyance of boats. Here is a village of 40 houses,
several merchant stores, mechanical shops and a new meet-
ing house of hexagonal construction. The people are prin-
cipally English, and they seldom have preaching. The
place abounds in vice, especially profanity. Since my arri-
val on the river, I have heard more cursing and swearing,
horrid oaths and imprecations, than in ten years past. They
fell chiefly from the lips of boatmen. In some taverns were
English and Dutch farmers drinking and swearing, and the
English appeared to be the most abandoned. They regard
not the presence of a clergyman, for the dominie drinks and
swears as much as the common people. At the German
Flats I observed au old Dutch stone chapel. There is a
Dutch clergyman who preaches to the people every second
Sabbath.
On the flats in the town of Herkimer is a handsome
flourishing village. Nine years since there were only two
Dutch buildings in the place. There is now a handsome
street, a meeting house, a court house, a gaol, about 30 ele-
gant dwelling houses, a printing office, merchant stores and
240 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
several mechanical shops. No minister. Religion appears
to have no footing here.
Between Fairfield and the Little Falls is a Dutch settle-
ment, called Manheim ; rich farms, a meeting house, and a
minister. Meinden, another Dutch settlement, lies south of
the Little Falls ; no minister. Hasenclevers hills, north of
Herkimer courthouse, about 8 miles, and 7 west of Fairfield.
No preaching. Schuyler Short Lots lie N. W. of Herkimer;
many English, a Baptist church and some Congregationalists.
In the whole county of Herkimer, there is neither a Pres-
byterian nor Congregationalist minister. The people seem,
in general, to be growing up in ignorance and wickedness.
A resident missionary might do much good in this county.
Tuesday, 24. Took the stage at Herkimer, and passed
through the German Flats, Minden to Canajoharie, 26 miles.
In Minden is a Dutch Reformed church, and one at Canajo-
harie, which are supplied by Dutch clergymen.
The Rev. John Taylor, of Massachusetts, performed a
missionary tour through the Mohawk and Black river coun-
try, in 1802, and believing the subject would not be unin-
teresting, I have transcribed such portions of his journal and
remarks as relate to this county. He commenced his journey
July 20th, 1802, and on his way out he reached the Mohawk
valley on the 26th of the month, and his journal proceeds :
"Manheim, the last town in Montgomery county — extent
6 by 6 — vacant, not a large congregation.
"Salisbury, north of Manheim — extent about 6 by 8 miles;
contains not far from 1700 souls. One Presbyterian chh,
vacant. The people, it is said, are tolerably well united
and wish to settle a minister.
" Rode this day 36 miles. Weather extremely hot and dry.
The people in the towns thro' which I have passed, are
something sickly with the dysentery and influenza.
"Herkimer, Little Falls. The Albany stage arrived at the
public house which I now am at, one o'clock last night."
The journal then gives an account of the loss from the stage
and recovery of some boxes of books. " This parish," Little
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 241
Falls, contains six or seven hundred inhabitants. They
have a new meeting house, but do not improve it.
"Before I go to Utica, I have concluded to visit Fairfield
and Norway. About 3 o'clock I left the river, traveled 8
miles, and called on some of the principal men in Fairfield,
and found things respecting religion very discouraging. I
offered to tarry and preach the next day, but it was thought
y* no people would attend. I find that people are univer-
sally in the midst of their harvests, and it is extremely
difficult for them to attend lectures. At night I arrived at
Norway, 6 miles north of Fairfield.
"Norway, bounded east by Salisbury, west on Canada creek,
south on Fairfield. A young gent, by the name of John-
son, has preached in this town several sabbaths, and the
people have hired him for 3 or 4 sabbaths to come. But it
is in this town, as in all those parts. There is a mixture of
Baptists, of Methodists, Universalists and Deists. In the
various parts of the town, there is preaching by sectarians
of almost all kinds, every sabbath.
" There is one Methodist church, mtmerous ; two Baptist
churches, and part of a third ; no meeting houses The
people almost universally inclined to hear preaching, of
their various sects. I have concluded to visit this place and
several other towns in this quarter, near the close of my
mission, should I be able to make it convenient.
" 29th July. I this morning left Norway for Utica, and
arrived at Utica about 5 o'clock, having traveled 23 miles.
I passed through a corner of Schuyler, and found the people
to be generally Baptists ; from there I passed into Deerfield,
upon the Mohawk. There is a considerable congregation
of Presbyterians. In Deerfield the people are Baptists, and
are vacant."
I will observe in passing, that Norway at this time com-
prised most of the present town of Newport, and all the
town of Russia, and the country north.
On his return from the north part of Oneida county, in
September, Mr. Taylor continues :
242 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
" 24th. Rode to the royal grant, 6 miles ; found that in
this part of the town of Norway the people are all Baptists,
and that they had not appointed a lecture. I accordingly
passed on ten miles to another part of the town, called
Pottersbush. Here I found a church of 30 persons, and
was received with gladness.
25th. Too much fatigued to preach.
26th, Sunday. Preached to about 200 persons — very
attentive. Administered the Lord's Supper. After meet-
ing endeavored to settle a difficulty in the church, but could
not effect it. Rode I2 miles to visit a dying person, and
baptise a child. This town is almost ruined by the method-
ists and baptists, [I suppose he means so far as regards his
own denomination] and the difficulty in the congregational
chh has had a very bad influence. The chh is proceeding
upon ye advice of Mr. Alexander" [the Iiev. Caleb Alexan-
der, then having charge of Fairfield Academy], " which I
think is very wrong. 2 of the best members of this chh
are become baptists in sentiment, and they came forward
and stated their difficulty between their consciences and
their covenant — and no one in ye chh supposes that they
are not conscientious in the matter — and yet Mr. Alexander
advised the chh not to dismiss ym, but to proceed to excom-
munion, and brought the chh to a vote that there was no
possible way by which any member could be separated
from the covenant only by excommunication. This is what
is stated to me by ye most judicious members of the chh,
and I think this will be ye ruin of ye congregational interest
in this town.
27th. Rode ten miles to Salisbury [county of Montgomery],
having previously appointed a lecture this day. Preached
to about 150 persons — appearances good. Had a confer-
ence in the evening — as many present as in the afternoon.
This people, like most others in these parts, is very much
divided, and the methodists prevailing."
The voluntary system of supporting religious institutions,
which prevails in this county, is the only one which can be
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 243
recognized, or would be tolerated, by a population made up
of almost every nation, kindred, tongue and language in the
civilized world. The inconveniences of this system are
hardly seen and scarcely felt at this day, and we can only
hope they may be less, far less, than the evils and inconven-
iences that have heretofore grown out of systems established
by law and supported by governments.
County Medical Society.
This venerable society was organized on the 5th day of
August, 1S06, at a general meeting of the physicians of the
county, held at the Court House, pursuant to an act of the
legislature of the state, regulating the practice of physic
and surgery, passed April 4th, 1806.
Dr. George Rogers was chosen chairman, and Dr. Westel
Willoughby, Jr., secretary, for the day. On canvassing the
votes for officers of the society, Dr. Westel Willoughby, Jr.,
was elected president ; George Rogers, vice-president ;
Andrew Farrell, secretary ; and Amos Haile, treasurer.
Drs. Amos Haile, Andrew Farrell, Jonathan Sherwood,
Rufus Crain and Isaac Sears, were chosen censors.
The names of the physicians present at this meeting were,
Westel Willoughby, Jr., George Rogers, Andrew Farrell,
Amos Haile, Abijah Tombling, David Perry, Jonathan Sher-
wood, John Eastman and Samuel Redfield.
The first Tuesday in January in each year, was assigned
as the anniversary of the society. At the annual meeting,
held at the court house in January, 1807, the society resolved,
that to entitle a physician to become a member of the society,
he must either jjroduce a diploma from some medical society
in the United States, agreeable to the late laAV of this state,
or a voucher that he is a reputable physician.
Westel Willoughby, Jr., M. D., was appointed a delegate
from the society to meet the delegates from the other coun-
ties in the state, on the first Tuesday in February, 1807, to
form a state medical society.
244 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
Drs. Benjamin Hazen, Nathan Harwood, James Hadley,
Isaac Sears, Jacob Abrams and William Traver, were
admitted members of the society. A committee was
appointed to form a code of by-laws, who reported the same
at an adjourned meeting, on the 5th of May, following,
which were adopted, and ordered to be printed. Dr. Wil-
loughby was requested to deliver a dissertation before the
society, at the adjourned meeting in May, 1807. In 1808,
at the quarterly meeting in May, a seal was ordered to be
procured for the use of the corporation ; and at the anni-
versary meeting in January, 1809, the meetings of the society
were reduced from four to two annually, and a fine of one
dollar imposed for nonattendance.
Having thus briefly noticed the establishment of this
highly interesting and beneficial institution, I shall continue
my historical abstract to the presentttinie, noticing as I pass,
any marked or interesting incidents. Dr. TVilloughby was
continued president of the society, until January, 1816, when
Rufus Crain was elected, who held one year, and was sue-,
ceeded by James Hadley, who also held the office one year,
and was succeeded by Westel TVilloughby, M. D., in 1818.
This year the society passed an order, that the county cen-
sors of any incorporated medical society should not proceed
to examine a student for a license to practice physic and
surgery, unless he produce a certificate of having attended
at least one session at one of the medical colleges in the
United States or in Europe, after the first day of January,
1818.
Dr. Willoughby held the office of president of the society
until January, 1837, when he delivered a farewell address,
for which, and for his constant and unwearied exertions for
the interest and welfare of the society, a vote of thanks was
tendered to him. The society also, by resolution, requested
a copy of the address, and also a copy of a communication
that day made by him, to be deposited in the archives of the
society. In IS 18, a vote was taken to apply the funds of
the society to increase the library of the medical college at
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 245
Fairfield, on condition that its members could have the ben-
efit of the library during the recess of the lectures at the
college. In January, 1819, a resolve was passed, that every
medical practitioner in the county who was not then a mem-
ber, be notified by the secretary to attend at the next regu-
lar meeting of the society, and connect himself therewith,
pursuant to the act passed in 1818.
In January, 1823, an order was passed to apply the funds
of the society, in the hands of the treasurer, to the benefit
of the College library, in accordance with a previous reso-
lution. The funds afterwards received were also appropri-
ated to the same object. In 1825, the society asked the
trustees of the college to pass a resolution, that all the books
purchased by its funds should be delivered to the society,
when the college should be located in some other place than
Fairfield. In 1828, the society adopted resolutions of con-
dolence with the families of Drs. Bryan, Willard and Todd,
who died the preceding year, and requested biographical
sketches of their lives to be deposited in the archives of the
society. The society had not met with a more severe loss
in one year. These gentlemen were of high professional
repute, and of great personal worth. The society in 1830,
had its attention called to evils of intemperance, and resolved
unanimously to discountenance the use of ardent spirits ;
and the annual meetings were changed to the first Tuesday
in June, in each year.
In 1S31, measures were taken to procure a medical topo-
graphical survey of the county, in accordance with a circu-
lar from the state medical society. I have not noticed that
the several committees, appointed under the resolution, to
procure the survey, ever made any reports. Dr. Calvin W.
Smith was designated as the candidate to the state medical
society, for the honorary degree of doctor of medicine.
The society this year, 1832, took measures to petition the
legislature, to restore that part of the revised statutes,
regulating the practice of physic and surgery, repealed by
17
246 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
the act of 1830 ; and appointed a committee to circulate
memorials for that object.
In 1S37, the society adopted a regulation requiring the
physician employed at the county poor house to make an
annual report of his cases of practice ; that the library
committee should make an investigation into the state of
the society's library, count the number of books on hand,
and compare the treasurer's reports, and the augmentation
of the library for the preceding five years. Also, that each
member of the society be requested to keep a record of all
the deaths which might occur in his practice, the age of the
patient, the diseases of which they died, and how far said
deaths were caused by intemperate habits of life, and report
thereon to the society. This was a very important regula-
tion, easily carried into effect by the members of the pro-
fession, and if strictly attended to, would afford useful and
important information. We must abandon all hope, for the
present, at least, of obtaining accurate information by the
agency of state regulations, in respect to the statistics of
births, marriages and deaths. The medical profession could
well supply the number of births and deaths, and without
much trouble and no expense. Annual abstracts of these
would present actual results within a small portion, and
would entitle that profession to the gratitude of the country.
We must now resort to tables compiled in foreign countries,
upon a far distant continent, if we desire to ascertain the
probable duration of human life, or calculate the value of
an annuity. These are the best data we have. They
approximate to the truth, or they are supposed to do so, or
they would not be used. We should, however, long since
have laid the foundation for results, applicable to our own
climate, population and condition of society, which would
no doubt have been more accurate and satisfactory.
Doct. Harvey W. Doolittle was chosen president of the
society in June, 1837, was succeeded by Dr. Calvin W.
Smith for one year in June, 1838, and was again chosen in
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 247
1839, and held the office by annual election until June,
1842.
In January, 1839, the society adopted the following :
" Whereas, by the dispensation of Divine Providence,
since our last meeting, this society has been deprived of
one of its most valuable members, and community one of its
brightest ornaments, in the death of Doct. John Holmes :
Resolved, That the members of this society will wear the
usual badge of mourning for thirty days, as a testimony of
their high respect for their deceased friend ; and that the
secretary be a committee to present the condolence of this
society to the relations of the deceased."
At the semi-annual meeting in January, 1840, the society
adopted a like resolution on the announcement of the death
of Dr. Calvin W. Smith, and appointed a committee to write
a biographical sketch of the lives of Drs. Smith and Holmes.
The professors of the Medical college at Fairfield, having
resigned, and the trustees of that institution having failed
to procure the appointment of others to continue the lec-
tures, the society, in 1843, took effectual measures to reclaim,
secure and preserve the society library, which had been
deposited in the college under the care of the trustees and.
professors of that institution, as before noticed.
In June, 1842, Doct. Lester Green was elected president
of the society, and a resolution was adopted, pledging the
influence of the members to forward any feasible plan for
resuscitating the Medical college at Fairfield, and tendering
the use of the society's library to the trustees of the college
when the professorships should be filled and the lectures
resumed.
At the annual meeting in 1843, Doct. Green was reelected
president. The whole number of volumes on the catalogue
of the society's library was 590, of which 473 were brought
from Fairfield, 54 were charged to members and 63 were
lost or missing. The society adopted a set of by-laws,
regulating the safe keeping and use of the library. Doct.
Alfred E. Varney was chosen president at the annual meeting
248 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
in 1844, and the delegate to the state society was requested
to lay before that body the opinion entertained by this
society, " that it was the duty of the medical faculty gene-
rally, to memorialize the legislature of this state to procure
the passage of a law to prohibit the sale or use of any secret
compound as a medicine," and to ask the state society to
adopt measures to lay this subject before the legislature at
the next session. These proceedings were rescinded at a
subsequent meeting. Some doubts having been entertained,
growing out of the legislation of the state in respect to
medical societies, in regard to the legal existence of the
society, a resolution was adopted in January, 1845, to con-
tinue the association as an organized body, and the unani-
mous opinion of the society to that effect, was declared.
The republican principle of rotation in office, even with-
out emolument, seems to have obtained some footing in the
society, and Dr. Abram Snyder was chosen president in June,
1845. A resolution was passed to raise a committee to pre-
sent the condolence of the society to the family of Doct.
Westel Willoughby, deceased, and request a biography of
his life, and also that the society would wear the usual badge
of mourning.
At the annual meeting in 1846. Doct. Caleb Budlong was
elected president ; Dr. Walter Booth in 1848, and Dr. Abram
Snyder again in 1849. Drs. J. R. Brown, Wheeler, Griffith
and Snyder delegates to the National medical association.
Drs. Brown and Wheeler were appointed a committee to
prepare and present to the society a biographical sketch of
the life of Dr. Lester Green. The transactions of the society
at its annual meeting in June, 1847, do not appear to have
been recorded, nor is the death of Dr. Lester Green noticed
except as above mentioned.
Dr. Harvey W. Doolittle was elected president of the society
in 1850 and 1851. Drs. Booth, Brown, A. F. Doolittle and D.
Belknap were appointed delegates to the National medical
association in 1850. In June, 1852, Dr. A. Green was chosen
president, and Drs. A. F. Doolittle, C. A. Griffith, A. Hawn
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 249
and W. Booth, appointed delegates to the National medical
association. The proceedings of the society this year were
important and interesting, but they are such that I shall not
venture to publish them so long as the society hold them
under the injunction of secrcsv.
The society, at its annual meeting in June, 1853, elected
Dr. Walter Booth president, and appointed Drs. Budlong,
Griffith, Hawn and Parkhurst delegates to the National
medical association.
The proceedings of the semi-annual meeting of the society
in January, 1S52, are deeply, nay more, solemnly interesting.
Although crowded for space, I shall let those who know the
man better than I did, pronounce his eulogy on these pages.
Dr. C. A. Griffith presented the following resolutions, which
were unanimously adopted :
" Whereas, It has pleased the Allwise Disposer of events
to remove from this life our late friend and brother, Harvey
W. Doolittle, one of the oldest, most eminent and highly
respected physicians of this county, and who was for many
years president of this society ; Be it therefore,
Resolved, That we deeply deplore the loss sustained by
his bereaved family, by the medical society, of which he was
long an active member, and by the public at large, in the
death of that excellent man and physician, Dr. Harvey W.
Doolittle, whose professional attainments, not less than his
own personal qualities, contributed to render him a most
useful and estimable member of the community :
That we know and cherish his qualities as a man and a
citizen ; that we admire his sound judgment, his scientific
knowledge and philanthropic spirit, which gave him a desi-
rable eminence in his profession :
That we loved and lament him as a friend, and we doubt
not his translation to a higher and happier sphere, where
the pains and cares of this transient life give place to
unbroken rest and unspeakable felicity.
Resolved, That as a mark of respect for the talents and
250 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
virtues of our departed brother, the members of this society
will wear crape on the left arm for the space of thirty days.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent by the
secretary to the family of the deceased, and that copies be
also furnished to the editors of the several newspapers in
the county, with a request to publish the same."
A committee was appointed to prepare a biographical
sketch of Dr. Doolittle's life.
Dr. W. H. Parkhurst was chosen president of the society
in 1854, and Drs. Doolittle, Booth, Parkhurst and Griffiths,
delegates to the National medical association. At the annual
meeting in June, 1855, the following officers were chosen :
Drs. Abm. Hawn, president ; I. E. Casey, vice-president ; C.
A. Griffith, secretary ; A. Green, treasurer ; A. F. Doolittle,
W. H. H. Parkhurst, F. B. Ethridge, A. Miller and S. Smith,
censors ; delegates to the national medical association, Drs.
J. R. Brown, A. Hawn, I. E. Casey, and C. A. Griffith. The
president of the society, Dr. Parkhurst, read the annual
address. Biographical sketches of the lives of Drs. Doolittle,
Snyder, Belknap and Sherwood were presented and deposited
in the archives of the society. My abstracts must close for
want of material. I do not find any record of the proceed-
ings of the semi-annual meeting in January, 1855, in the
manuscript document from which the preceding notes were
compiled. I would have been pleased to have given a more
extended and particular account of the doings of a body of
professional gentlemen, in which the community at large
have so great an interest, and upon whose professional
progress so much depends to sooth and alleviate " the ills
that flesh is heir to," but my chapter is fast growing to a
volume.
It must suffice to say, that this society held its regular
meetings for nearly fifty years, elected all its officers, secre-
tary, treasurer, delegates to the State medical society and
censors, on whom it enjoined the most rigid and careful
attention in examining students for admission to practice.
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 251
That fines were imposed for nonattendance at the stated
meetings, but their collection was not at all times rigidly
enforced. The initiation fees appear to have been punctu-
ally paid, and from a small beginning the society had col-
lected a very respectable medical library. Members were
annually designated to deliver discourses on subjects relating
to the practice of medicine, and members were invited to
report special and unusual cases coming under their obser-
vation and care. The archives of the society must bo
replete with important and interesting information.
The common remark, " that Americans are careless of
human life," is most strikingly illustrated in our treatment
of this profession. We are quite as likely to deliver a
valued friend or dear relative, laboring under some critical
or latent disease, into the hands of some "quack doctor,"
who knows no more about the anatomy or organism of the
human system, than a Malay does of ethics, as we are to
search out the best-read and most experienced medical
practitioner.
The county has sustained, if it did not produce them,
several men of eminence and distinguished ability in this
profession. But the avaricious grasp of the " almighty dol-
lar " may strike down science and the arts and accomplish-
ments, or" invite them to new fields of enterprise and exer-
tion in the westward track of emigration, and leave us
nothing but a dull stultified mass of imbecility. There is
no reason, within human cognizance, why the country, and
such a country as ours, should not uphold and maintain men
of eminence in all the professions and pursuits of life. No
man with us holds the tenure of his existence and his labor
on a lease from another. None are so poor but he can cast
in his mite to the erection of the splendid monument of
American progress ; there are thousands who lack the will.
Progressive ignorance is a broad and steep declivity which
must quickly land us on a platform of anarchy or under a
throne of absolutism.
252 history of herkimer county.
The Poor House Establishment.
This county was among the first in the state to come
under the provisions of the act of November 27th, 1824.
The board of supervisors met at Herkimer, May 5th, 1825,
and appointed Abijah Beckwith of Columbia, Robert Shoe-
maker of German Flats, and William Griswold of Fairfield,
a committee to examine into the subject of establishing a
poor house in the county and to report at a subsequent
meeting of the board. This committee reported on the last
Monday of May, 1825, when the supervisors resolved to
purchase the property in German Flats, near the line of
the canal formerly owned by Mr. Gillespie, for the sum of
two thousand dollars, to be appropriated to the purposes of
a county poor house ; appointed Samuel Etheredge and
Gideon Johnson to negotiate the purchase, and Rudolph J.
Shoemaker, Alfred Putnam, Lauren Ford, John B. Dygert
and Caleb Budlong superintendents. The supervisors also
directed their clerk, as soon as the proper officers had taken
possession of the house, to cause public notice of the fact to
be published in the Herkimer American and People's Friend.
On the 16th November, 1827, the supervisors resolved by
a vote of 10 to 6 to abolish the distinction between town
and county poor in accordance with the provisions of an act
of the legislature then recently passed. Up to this time
each town had supported its own poor at the county estab-
lishment, that is, such persons as had according to existing
laws become settled in the respective towns, were, when sup-
ported at the public expense, known as town paupers. The
new system had not worked to the public satisfaction, either
through defects in the management or want of proper
accommodation as to buildings and grounds. On the 16th
of December, 1827, the supervisors resolved to ask the legis-
lature for authority to sell at their discretion the " present
county poor house establishment, and purchase a more
suitable piece of land and erect buildings thereon for the
future reception and accommodation of the paupers of the
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 253
county." A law was passed to this effect, but no immediate
action seems to have been taken under it. In November,
1829, the supervisors authorized the county superintendents
of the poor to provide for support out of the county house,
idiot and lunatic paupers. In 1837, the question of dispos-
ing of the poor house was again agitated, although at the
annual meeting that year the superintendents were author-
ized to purchase a part of the Steel farm for the use of the
county, which was subsequently effected. In 1839 and 1840,
the question of a sale and change of location was discussed
by the supervisors, and there appears to have been a settled
opinion that something should be clone, but what it should
be, was very difficult to settle upon. The legislature again
passed laws on the application of the board of supervisors,
allowing a sale and change of location. In 1842 the super-
intendents were authorized by the board of supervisors to
sell the " present poor house and the small piece of land
contiguous thereto for five hundred dollars," a pretty clear
indication that the house was not considered of much value
and was deemed entirely inadequate to the purposes it had
been devoted. It was agreed on all hands that the time
contemplated by the resolution of 1828 had fully arrived,
but the difficulty about the new location and the plan of a
new house were not very easily settled. The legislature in
1844 vested in the board of supervisors full power to sell
out the old establishment, purchase a new site and erect
suitable buildings thereon.
An active and exciting controversy of nearly three years'
duration was kept up in the county before a majority of the
supervisors made a final disposition of the subject. That
body was almost equally divided on the question of the new
location. The centralists were very urgent to keep it on
the south side of the river, or near the centre of the county,
while the supervisors of the northern and eastern towns
were very zealous to have the poor house establishment
removed from the Erie canal. While the contest existed,
the towns placed their best and most influential men in the
254 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
board of supervisors, when Greek met Greek in the tug of
war. After the board had appointed commissioners to
select a new site, the friends of the river location carried a
resolution at a subsequent meeting of the board, to rebuild on
the old site, and after repealing all former resolutions of the
board relating to this subject, adjourned. Before any further
action was taken in reference to carrying this project into
effect, this resolution was repealed, and the matter was
again entirely afloat, and continued undetermined some
time.
At a meeting of the board, on the 17th March, 1846, the
supervisors, by a vote of 11 to 7, sanctioned the contract
for the new buildings, made by the commissioners previ-
ously appointed, and directed the superintendents of the
poor to deliver and assign to the said commissioners all
moneys and securities belonging to the county poor house
establishment. The board had, at a meeting held on the
15th January, 1846, fixed upon a new site, by a vote of 10
to 9. The commissioners who superintended the erection
of the new establishment were, George W. Alton, George
Burch and Cornelius T. E. Van Home.
The new Poor House is located in the town of Herkimer,
on the west side of the West Canada creek, on the road
from Herkimer to Newport, and about two miles south of
Middleville, and far enough from the canal and rail road
thoroughfares to discommode roaming mendicants, which I
conclude was the leading object of the advocates of the
change. The establishment is large and commodious, and
well adapted to the benevolent purposes for which it was
erected. The supervisors of this county now perforin all
the duties in respect to pauper relief that formerly devolved
upon the overseers of the poor by law.
County Agricultural Society.
A society to promote the improvement of this important
branch of our industrial pursuits, was organized under the
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 255
act of April 7th, 1819. The objects of the society met the
approval of the non-agricultural portion of the people of
the county to a considerable extent, and some exertions
were made to induce the farming community to attend the
annual fairs and exhibitions, but the coercive tax authorized
by the act to sustain these county institutions was not looked
upon with favor in that quarter, and after one or two efforts
to make a respectable show, the affair was abandoned.
A reorganization of the society was had in the county,
under the act of May 6th, 1841, and the annual exhibitions
which have taken place have been highly creditable to the
agricultural, manufacturing and mechanical interests of the
county. It could not be expected that the extent and variety
of show would be as large as in the more populous and
wealthy counties. The proceedings of this society are
found published with the annual transactions of the State
society, and I will not recapitulate them. I notice with
regret, the fact, that of late years the society has been
sustained mainly by the population in the southern and
western parts of the county, while the northern and eastern
sections do not seem to have participated in these annual
social meetings and industrial exhibitions, with the zeal and
alacrity which might well be expected from an intelligent,
wealthy and progressive population.
I must close this notice of the society with giving the
last annual meeting of its executive officers.
At the annual meeting of the officers of the Herkimer
county agricultural society, held pursuant to adjournment,
at the Remington House, in Ilion, on the 2d day of January,
1 855, the following members were present, viz.: Messrs.
McKee, Morgan, Bonfoy, Smith, Jones, J. B. Smith, D. Bon-
foy, Hawks and Wilcox.
Resolved, That Wm. Stewart, Esq., be appointed chairman,
pro tern., and Hon. Jonathan Jones, secretary.
The following gentlemen were elected officers for the
current year :
President — Geo. B. Judd, Frankfort.
256 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Vice President — Duane Richardson, Schuyler.
Secretary — Wm. Dygert, Frankfort.
Treasurer — J. A. Rasbach, Ilion.
Resolved, That an executive committee of nine persons be
appointed, whereupon the following gentlemen were chosen :
Daniel Mason, Frankfort ; James Folts, Frankfort ; Geo. W.
Joslin, Frankfort; Ezra Graves, Herkimer; Samuel H. Kin-
ney, Litchfield ; Wm. P. Pryme, Schuyler ; J. D. Ingersoll,
Ilion; Lemuel F. Hawks, Columbia; Amos Gilbert.
Resolved, That a corresponding secretary be appointed,
from each town in the county.
The following gentlemen were then chosen: Conrad Oxner,
Columbia; Ralph Simms, Danube; L. B. Arnold, Fairfield
Amos Mann, Frankfort; E. W. Patridge, German Flats
Samuel Earl, Herkimer; Jeremiah Kinney, Jr., Litchfield
Josiah Davis, Little Falls; John Markell, Manheim; Seth
Fenner, Newport; Benjamin Hurd, Norway; Wm. Coppernoll,
Ohio; Stephen Pryme, Russia; Lorenzo Carryl, Salisbury;
Amos Bridenbecker, Schuyler; Daniel Hawn, Stark ; Chas.
Delong, Warren ; Gardiner Hinckley, Wilmurt ; E. W. Will-
cox, Winfield.
Resolved, That the secretary furnish each of the correspond-
ing secretaries with a printed subscription to solicit persons
to become members of the society.
Resolved, That the vice president act as chairman of the
executive committee.
Resolved, That the several examining committees be direted
to report in writing, the result of their examinations, before
the delivery of the address.
Resolved, That the executive committee meet at the house
of D. M. Golden, in Frankfort, on the first day of February
next, at 10 o'clock A. M.
Resolved, That the secretary furnish the several papers of
the county, with the proceedings of this meeting.
Resolved, That the next annual meeting be held at the
Remington House, in Ilion, on the first Tuesday of January,
1856. Adjourned.
CHAPTER X.
1783 to 1855.
Political Parties — Origin of, in this State — George Clinton — Leader of the
Anti-federalists — Montgomery County Anti-federal in 1788 — Herkimer
County, Federal from 1791, to 1800 — JudgeSanger — State of Parties change
in 1801 — Jay's Treaty — Alexander Hamilton — Germans Anti-federalists
— Mathias B. Tallmadge — Object of his settling at Herkimer — Success and
Defeats of the Republican Party for 19 Years — Restrictive Measures of the
U. S. Counsel of Appointment — Robert Williams — Removals from Office
— Contest in 1810 — Henry Hopkins — Clintonians and Bucktails — Meet-
ing of the latter in 1819 — Secretary superseded — Success of Federalists
in 1819 — The Reason of it — Policy of the Leaders — Federalists succeed in
1820 and 1821 — Clinton elected Governor, in 1820 — State Convention of
1821 — Popular Vote in the County, for and against — Prospects of Parties
— Simeon Ford, Richard Van Home, Sanders Lansing, Sherman Wooster —
Democratic Success — New Constitution adopted — Success of Democrats,
from 1822 to 1847— Political Excitement in 1824— People's Party — Elec-
toral Law — Michael Hoffman — Democratic Assembly Ticket defeated
— Presidential Election — Martin Van Buren — William H. Crawford — As-
pect of the Election — Democratic Success in 1825 — Silas Wright — Pro-
spective Troubles continue among Democrats — Call of a Convention to
amend the Constitution of 1821 — Position of the Democratic Part}' in the
County — Convention Law originated in this County — Vote for Conven-
tion— Vote for Delegates — Vote for and against Constitution — Demo-
cratic Party defeated in 1847 — Henry P. Alexander elected to Congress in
1848 — Review of the Chapter — Vote amending the Financial Article —
Senate Document No. 70 — 1831, Characteristics of Population.
Distinct political party divisions and distinctions do not
seem to have assumed any very definite shape, the first twelve
years after the adoption of the Federal constitution. Until
the formation of that instrument in 1787, and its submission
to the states for ratification, there was no general subject on
which the people of the states could well divide and array
themselves in national party lines. New York was opposed,
under the leadership of Gov. George Clinton, to the formation
258 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
of a new government, or any material change in the articles of
confederation, and this was emphatically declared in the
resolution of the legislature at the time the three delegates,
Messrs. Lansing, Yates and Hamilton were appointed to
attend the national convention. When the constitution
which emanated from that body came before the people of
the country for consideration, and while under advisement,
New York was the great battlefield ; and in none of the
states was the opposition to its ratification more decided,
animated and emphatic than in this. A strong anti-federal
feeling predominated among the inhabitants of the whole
state, and notwithstanding the conditional ratification by
the state in 1788, Gov. Clinton was able to sustain himself
until 1795 against all the power and patronage of the gene-
ral government, wielded by Gen. Hamilton and other
distinguished adherents of President Washington's admin-
istration.
This fact shows most clearly that the ratification before
mentioned was compelled by the necessities of the case, and
was not a voluntary acquiescence. The people of the
Mohawk valley placed as high an estimate upon the charac-
ter and services of the commander in chief of the American
armies as any other ; they held the name of Washington in
deep reverence and profound respect, but they had fought
the battles of their country, and conquered for it independ-
ence and peace under the banner of New York. Theirs had
been a seven years' campaign without retirement to winter
quarters, and they felt little inclination to surrender to
others any portion of the boon so dearly purchased. On the
question of ratifying the federal constitution, Montgomery
county was decidedly anti-federal.
From the organization of Herkimer county, in 1791, to
1800, federal members were chosen to the assembly, except
the two years the county was represented by Judge Sanger,
and the year before Oneida county was set off from Herki-
mer.
I assume that Judge Sanger was an anti-federalist in
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 259
1793-4, when he represented the county, because he was
elected to the senate in 1800 by the republicans, and after-
wards acted with the federalists. The members of the
assembly elected in 1797, seem to have been taken from both
parties ; or rather, one anti-federalist was that year elected.
The great influx of population from New England between
1790 and 1800 had changed the political aspect of the
county, and especially in that part of the territory set off as
Oneida, in 1798.
The political contest which preceded the election of Mr.
Jefferson in 1801, had arrayed the voting population of the
county into two political parties, which in that day were
known as federalists and republicans ; and it is a fact not
unworthy of notice in this place, that while the eastern popu-
lation seated writhin the territory of Oneida county, almost
unanimously acted with the federal party, the immigration
to Herkimer seems to have been more equally balanced,
although a considerable majority of that population which
settled in this county adhered to their New England pro-
clivities.
The federalists, at that early day, possessed another great
advantage over their opponents which was not unimproved.
The establishment of county seats at Herkimer and Whites-
town opened a new field for the legal profession, and it was
not long left unoccupied by gentlemen of great weight of
character, standing and talents, as their subsequent politi-
cal and professional career abundantly shows. The mercan-
tile interest was also strongly attached to that party, and
the men at that time engaged in commercial pursuits, con-
trolled much of the money capital of the country. The
establishment of trade upon a permanent and favorable
basis with England was by this class of our population
deemed most essentially important. The commercial treaty
negotiated by Mr. Jay with great Britain in 1794, had been
assailed and denounced, by the planting or agricultural
interests with persevering zeal and ardor ; while other
portions of the population not particularly identified with
260 HISTOKY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
those interests, evinced their disapproval of the treaty and
the negotiator by mobs and riotous burnings in effigy,
unmistakable evidence of a misdirected popular feeling
Such was the state of party feeling, its bearings and influ-
ences upon society, that a republican lawyer or a republi-
can merchant was seldom to be found in the country villages
or at the county seats in this part of the state, where it would
be now difficult to point out one of either class who does
not profess the true democratic creed of some sort.
The survivors of the revolution were slow to see the
necessity of a strong government ; the very name was dis-
tasteful and odious. They had gone through one war " to
crush out " what they believed a monstrous evil, kingly
rule, and they had yet to feel the necessity and be satisfied
of the propriety of having any connection or intercourse
with kings or kingly governments ; and besides, the leading
federalists were strongly suspected of sympathizing with
Great Britain, then engaged in active hostilities to put
down republican France. Alexander Hamilton, although
nurtured in the revolution, was known to be favorable to
strong and high toned governments ; I say known, because
his project of a constitution read to the convention at Phila-
phia in 1787, was spread far and wide over this broad land.
He was the leader of the federal party in this state and
exerted no small influence with that party in other states.
And although he was a great man, holding rank with the
most solid and brilliant of his compeers of the revolution, it
must be confessed he was not an adroit and skillful mana-
ger of a political party.
I do not believe, and never have, that the masses belong-
ing to the federal party, when it maintained a political
existence, ever gave their full adhesion to the extreme
notions of some of their leaders; nor do I suppose every
man professing to belong to the republican party is bound
to adopt and defend the unwise or pernicious notions of
some of his so called political friends, but, after all, the
character of the leader is impressed upon his party, which
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 261
must stand or fall according to the estimate placed by the
popular judgment upon the principles and measures enun-
ciated.
At the period under consideration, the opening of tho
nineteenth century, the whole framework of our govern-
ment was but little more than an untried experiment, so far
as respected its actual workings. We had gathered some
strength as a nation, and the hopes of the old stepdame for
an opportunity of resubjngation had become very much
darkened. But it is not my purpose to write a treatise on
governments, or the history of political parties outside the
confines of the county, any farther than may be needful to
explain results as we have found them.
The German population of the county was strongly imbued
with the anti-federal feelings, when the federal constitution
was ratified. After political parties assumed the names of
federalists and republicans, a very considerable majority
of that population was found acting with the latter ; it was
not brought out, however, to act effectively, until the April
election in 1S00. An able and efficient body of men, law-
yers, merchants and others, had settled at Herkimer, whose
influence, in conjunction with others in the county, decided
the political character of the members.
Before the period here mentioned, Mathias B. Tallmadge,
a republican lawyer, and connected by marriage with the
family of Governor George Clinton, settled at Herkimer.
I can not give the actual time Mr. Tallmadge came into the
county, but I find he was elected a delegate to the conven-
tion of 1801, from this county, with Evans Wharry and
George Rosecrants. He was afterwards elected to the senate
of this state, in April 1802. Mr. Tallmadge was, no doubt,
sent into the county as a political leader, and by this move-
ment Governor Clinton extended his family influence to an
important point in the state, then fast filling up with popu-
lation from the older southern and eastern counties, and
from the other states, particularly New England. It is not
18
262 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
improbable that Evans Wharry, a native of Orange county,
well known to, and a fast friend of Governor Clinton, was
mainly instrumental in bringing Mr. Tallmadge into the
county.
Mr. Tallmadge's contemporaries do not speak of him* in
terms of extravagant praise. He was not equal in point of
talents and energy of character to any of his leading oppo-
nents. But the soil was congenial to his touch, and the har-
vest ripened to his hand ; and such was the veneration and
respect for the name of George Clinton in the Mohawk val-
ley, and so deep seated was the anti-federal feeling in the
county, strengthened and embittered by some of the acts of
the federal government under the administration of John
Adams, and particularly the stamp act, that it only remained
to select the candidates, print and circulate the ballots, and
the election from that moment became a " fixed fact," so far
as this county was concerned. Mr. Tallmadge was appointed
United States judge for the district of New York in 1805,
and soon after removed from the county.
During the period of nineteen years, from 1800 to 1818,
inclusive, republican members were elected to the assembly,
with one solitary exception, and then that party only sus-
tained a partial defeat in the county. At the spring election,
in 1809, Thomas Manly and Rudolph Devendorff, federalists,
and Christopher P. Bellinger, republican, were chosen
members, the latter by some five or six votes. The federal
party that year, for the first time since 1799, achieved a
political triumph. This event has been charged to the
restrictive measures of the general government, under Mr.
Jefferson, which weighed heavily upon the navigating and
grain-growing interests of the country.
Wheat had fallen from twenty-four shillings a bushel,
before the embargo, to six shillings after that measure was
enforced, and products found no foreign market. Daniel D.
Tompkins was then governor, and the freehold vote in the
state upon the choice of senators showed a little over seven
hundred republican majority. Under the constitution of
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 263
1777, the political majority in the assembly controlled the
choice of the council of appointment, composed of one
senator from each senate district. It so happened, there
was not, at this time, a single federal senator from two of
the districts, and the majority in the assembly were forced
to choose two members of the council who had been elected
as republican. This was a gloomy prospect for those who
were hopefully looking to the enjoyment of the " spoils of
victory." While the republicans were reposing in security,
supposing every thing wTould be safe with the casting vote
of their favorite governor, the dominant party were actively
engaged in looking up some disaffected republican senator,
who could be brought over to their views. The constitution
of the state had given the civil list appointments into the
hands of the federalists, and all they lacked was instruments
by which to exercise their power. They however found
the man they wanted, in the person of Mr. Eobert Williams,
of the Middle district, who had been a Burrite, Lewisite,
Clintonian, and was elected to the senate by the republicans.
He, it appears, was one of the trading politicians of that
day, who set themselves up to the highest bidder ; and he
met the fate in after life that all such men deserve — the
scorn and contempt of his former friends, and the studied
neglect of those he had recently served. The federal
council, after its organization, went to work with a zeal
that met a warm response from its friends in every quarter
of the state ; but was far from being very agreeable to
their opponents. This council appears to have done a
pretty large and extensive business in the way of removals
and appointments to office.
The party in power were no doubt induced to this course
in view of the election of governor, about to take place, in
the spring of 1810. The federalists had contested the
election the previous year on the merits of the measures
pursued by the national administration, and had succeeded.
Those questions, though of grave importance, still remained
to pass the ordeal of the popular judgment at the ballot
264 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
box, but were not the only elements that entered into the
contest, which became unusually excited and animated.
The federalists were in office, and the reelection of Gover-
nor Tompkins would postpone to an indefinite period all
hope to the federal party of a permanent restoration to
power in the state and union ; and the republicans were
smarting under their recent defeat and consequent loss of
office, by the treachery, as they alleged, of one who should
have been a friend.
Mr. Hammond says, that " contrary to the expectation of
both parties, the republicans were not only successful, but
their success was complete. They achieved an entire and
complete overthrow of their opponents. Tompkins was
reelected by about ten thousand majority. The republican
candidates for the senate succeeded in all the four districts,
and in the assembly the republicans had a majority of
almost two to one."
It does not come within the objects of this publication to
discuss the causes which produced the above result, or to
speculate upon motives that may or may not have actuated
political men or parties. At the election in April, 1810,
the republican party in the county regained its ascendency,
and the members of the new council of appointment were
careful to revise and correct, in 1811, all the mistakes of
their immediate predecessors.
A word of explanation should here be given in reference
to the spirited, uuiform success of the republican party in
the county during the period of nineteen years. I have
stated one exception. On a further examination, I find
another. At the spring election, in 1815, Henry Hopkins,
a gentleman who had uniformly acted with the federal
party, was elected to the assembly with John Mc Combs
and William D. Ford. One of the republican candidates
first put in nomination died a few days before the election,
and Mr. Hopkins was chosen by a majority of nineteen votes
over George Paddock, who was taken up and supported by
the republicans.
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 265
Many of the leading republicans in the county were,
between 1816 and 1820, known as Clintonians ; they sus-
tained the measures of Governor De Witt Clinton, and
selected candidates to the assembly friendly to that gentle-
man, who were of course chosen. I believe the members
elected in the county, the three years previous to 1820, did
not act with the bucktail opposition (so called) against the
governor. Disaffection in the republican ranks manifested
itself pretty decidedly throughout the state, towards the
close of the governor's first term, and a meeting was called
at the Court House in Herkimer, in the spring of 1819, to
organize and nominate an assembly ticket. The meeting,
although not very numerous, was composed of a considera-
ble number of active republicans, and attracted some atten-
tion. John Herkimer, then one of the county judges, and
afterwards member of congress, was appointed chairman.
Michael Hoffman, Esq., submitted a series of resolutions,
setting forth the grounds of complaint against the governor,
and among them was one condemning, in pretty strong
terms, the action of the council of appointment in removing
Martin Van Buren, and appointing Thomas J. Oakley, a
leading and distinguished federalist, to the office of attorney
general. The resolutions were adopted and published, with
my name appended as secretary. For this act of insubordi-
nation, the secretary was complimented with a supersedeas
as a justice of the peace at the following July session of the
council of appointment. The same meeting nominated
candidates for members of assembly in opposition to the
ticket already in the field friendly to Governor Clinton.
This division among the republicans brought out the
federalists, who, on the eve of the election, nominated a
full assembly ticket, which was chosen by a handsome
majority, although the anti-Clintonian or bucktail republi-
cans abandoned their ticket, and generally voted for the
Clintonian candidates.
The result of the election showed a clear federal majority
in the county at that time, and this was probably the fact ;
266 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
not arising out of any material change in the political senti-
ments of the population within the territorial limits of the
county before 1817, but from the annexation, in that year,
of the three eastern towns from Montgomery county, Salis-
bury, Manheim and Danube.
The federal party in the county, like that of the republi-
can in Oneida, although twenty years in a minority, was
neither dead nor asleep. Its wakeful and recuperative fac-
ulties were extremely facile. Whenever at a gubernatorial
or senatorial election, it became expedient to poll a full
freehold vote, their strong and tried men were put upon the
local tickets, and the elections were canvassed with a zeal
and animation that betokened a confident assurance of
success The annexed towns had usually given a pretty
strong and reliable aggregate federal majority, when attached
to Montgomery county. Of the candidates presented by
the federalists in 1819, one was selected from Manheim, a
gentleman of influence and weight of character, with a view,
no doubt, of impressing our new neighbors with the notion
that their interests were to be carefully looked after, and
their prominent men not neglected. Candidates were taken
by that party from each of the remaining towns at the two
succeeding elections. In adopting and pursuing this policy,
the federal party, under the circumstances, evinced a good
deal of political skill. I well remember speaking with a
Clintonian republican, Robert Shoemaker, on the subject,
who remarked, it would do very well unless it provoked
jealousy in other parts of the county.
At the succeeding spring elections, in 1820 and 1821, the
federalists achieved two more victories in the county, and
then rested upon their honors more than a quarter of a cen-
tury. It had, I believe, become a fixed common law princi-
ple with the political parties in the county, when it was
entitled to three members of assembly, to select one of Ger-
man and two of English descent, as candidates. This rule
may not have been observed in every instance during thirty-
six years, and if not, the exception was extremely rare.
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 267
The contest for governor in 1S20, between the bucktail and
Clintonian parties was, no doubt, one of the most severely
contested of any that had taken place in the state for many
years. The freehold vote in the county was 1226 for Clinton,
and 947 for Tompkins. Mr. Clinton's majority in the state
was only fourteen hundred and fifty-seven, and although he
escaped defeat, his opponents held the political power of
the state by having a working majority in each legislative
branch. The federalists as a party supported Mr. Clinton,
notwithstanding some fifty high-minded gentlemen, of great
personal worth, talents and wealth, renounced their connec-
tion with that party, declared it dissolved, in a published
manifesto, and avowed their intention of supporting Mr.
Tompkins. A portion of the old republican party adhered
to Mr. Clinton, and a perfect reunion of the dissevered
fragments did not take place until General Jackson's elec-
tion in 1828, and in the meantime most of the high-minded
gentlemen had gone over to the Adams party. This brief
view of the aspect of affairs outside of the county, seems
necessary to enable us to appreciate more justly the true
state of things at home. There were several provisions in
the constitution of 1777, framed and adopted while the
country was in a state of war, and when it was believed too
many guards could not be thrown around the exercise of
the powers of self-government, such as the veto power,
vested in a council of revision, composed of the chancellor
and justices of the supreme court, who held their offices
during good behavior ; the power of appointing all the civil
and military officers in the state vested in the governor for
the time being, and four senators, and the restriction upon
the elective franchise, confining the choice of governor and
senators to those citizens who owned a freehold of the value
of two hundred and fifty dollars, which attracted public
attention, and became the subject of discussion among poli-
ticians and in the public press. This subject, if properly
managed, could be used as an effective instrument to pro-
duce a political crisis, and the opportunity was not neglected
268 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
by Mr. Clinton's opponents. It is not my purpose to inquire
after the reasons, or to discuss the motives which induced
that gentleman and his leading friends to oppose the call of
a convention to revise the constitution of 1777. Whatever
may be the exact truth in respect to this matter, the people
were told, and they believed, that he and his friends were
in fact hostile to the measure, and with this impression
strongly fixed in the public mind, the convention was called,
and the result in the choice of delegates was precisely what
every intelligent politician in the state expected.
The majority of the popular vote in the state for the con-
vention, was seventy-four thousand four hundred and forty-
five. In this county the aggregate vote for it was 1598 ;
against, 1627. The election of delegates took place on the
third Tuesday of June, 1821. The republicans, or democrats
as they were now called, had been defeated the previous
April, and the Clintonians controlled the only newspaper
in the county.
Although the current of public opinion in the state was
setting strongly in favor of the democratic party, the con-
dition of affairs in the county did not afford much prospect
of success in the election of delegates to the convention.
Mr. Simeon Ford, a gentleman whose private character was
without reproach, of highly respectable talents, and who
had long been a leading member at the bar in the county,
had been elected a member of the assembly in 1820, and
reelected in 1821. His capacity for business and industri-
ous habits, rather than brilliant displays of oratory, ren-
dered him an efficient member of the house, and one of the
prominent Clintonian leaders. He was a politician of the
old federal school, and had been long a resident of the
county. It was considered very important by Governor
Clinton and his friends to secure Mr. Ford's election as a
delegate to the approaching convention. In view of the
great interests at stake, no man in the county was better
qualified by experience and ability to grapple with the
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 269
accumulating difficulties of the times, and which eventually
precipitated his party, for a time, into a hopeless minority.
I think the Clintonian and democratic conventions met
at Herkimer, on the same day, to select candidates to be
supported at the election for choosing delegates; and if this
was not the fact, the Clintonians had made their nominations.
It was known to the democrats that Mr. Richard Van Home,
of Danube, was a candidate on the ticket with Mr. Ford,
before they made out their ticket. The democrats were
neither hopeful nor sanguine, and their convention was not
very numerously attended, but we had come resolved to
make up a ticket, win or lose. During our deliberations it
was stated in the convention that Mr. Van Home was in
favor of the extension of the elective franchise, and a modifi-
cation of the veto, and appointing powers, and had given ver-
bal assurances to that effect. It was somewhat difficult to
make out a ticket, not on account of the pressure of claims by
the friends of candidates, but for the want of the right sort of
men, and none were envious of the distinguished honor of
being defeated. We finally nominated a ticket, consisting of
Sherman Wooster, Sanders Lansing and Richard Van Home.
It was urged in the convention, that by placing Mr. Van
Horne on the democratic ticket, we should render his
influence in the town of Danube less hurtful to Messrs.
Wooster and Lansing, than it would be if he was left off. To
the surprise of some, and contrary to the sober expectations
of many, Messrs. Lansing and Wooster were chosen delegates
by a majority of four hundred and thirty six. It was gen-
erally believed the Clintonians were opposed to the extension
of the elective franchise, and this damaged their ticket with
the non freeholders, to some extent. But considerable
apathy prevailed among Mr. Clinton's friends at the polls of
election which I attended. I always attributed this to dis-
satisfaction, in a certain influential quarter, in respect to
Mr. Ford's third nomination, although the avowed reasons
for non interference in the election, was, that the individual
approved of the call and objects of the convention. There
270 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
is no doubt, I think, that the minds of many people
in the county, became settled and fixed in favor of the
measure, after it was generally known that the call of the
convention had been sanctioned by such an immense majority
of the voters in the state.
After finishing their labors at Albany, the convention
adjourned, submitting the new constitution to be approved
or rejected by a vote of the electors. At a special election,
held in the month of February, 1822, the constitution was
ratified by a vote of 75,422 for it, to 41,497 against it;
showing a majority of 33,925, in the state.
Without riots, bloodshed or the least disturbance in the
machinery of government, this civil revolution was accom-
plished, and the large approving vote was followed by the
most salutary effects. I do not wish to be understood in
this remark, to refer to mere party politics. It showed to
the civilized world, that Americans were capable of self-
government; that old and well established principle of
the fundamental law of the social compact, could be abro-
gated when found inconvenient or unsuited to our condition,
with the same order and peaceable decorum which usually
attend our annual elections. The vote in this county, on
adopting the new constitution, was, 1583 in favor, and 1254
against it.
The first election in the county, under the new constitution,
in November 1822, resulted favorably to the democratic
party, and from that time, to 1847, I am confident no can-
didate, other than an avowed democrat, was elected to any
office by the people. I shall notice the exceptions in due
order of fime, when the regular county-convention nomin-
ations were set aside or disregarded. I should notice the
fact in this place, that a democratic paper was established
in the county, by Mr. Edward M. Griffin^, in 1821. It was
called The People's Friend, and published at Little Falls.
The presidential controversy in 1824, produced the ephe-
meral nondescript called the People's Party. It lived
one year, and no longer. Its leaders were in favor of almost
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 271
every body, or any body for president, except William II.
Crawford. Some of my readers, if I should have any, may
think I do not treat this subject with the impartial pen of
an historian. I wish to call things by their right names,
and tell the plain unvarnished truth.
At the November election in 1823, Christopher P. Bellin-
ger, John Graves and Caleb Budlong were chosen members
of assembly, and were not unfriendly to Mr. Crawford. The
electors of president and vice-president were then appointed
by the legislature, and it was supposed, and such was no
doubt the fact, that a majority of the legislature chosen that
year, were, when elected, favorable to Mr. Crawford,
assuming he would be the regular nominee of a democratic
congressional caucus, and it hence became necessary in
order to defeat Mr. Crawford in this state, to change the
mode of appointing electors, and with that view early in the
session of 1824, a bill was introduced into the assembly
directing the appointment of electors to be made by the
people through the ballot box by general ticket, at the
annual election preceding the expiration of the official term
of the presidency. I do not use the cant phrase of the day
" restore the election to the people." The people never had
exercised that power directly, and therefore it could not be
restored to them. The bill passed the assembly, but was
indefinitely postponed in the senate, which was virtually a
rejection. At former periods in the history of the states,
the federalists and republicans when in the minority in the
legislatures, on which would devolve the appointment of
electors, made efforts to change the law and refer the sub-
ject to the people directly, but the majorities in both
instances considered it a sort of clap-trap affair and retained
the power in their own hands. The rejection of the elector-
al law placed the democratic party in a very unenviable
predicament. The democrats had now placed their necks
under the axe which they used to decapitate the Clintonians
three years before. The current of popular opinion set
against them with a force perfectly resistless. Party drill,
272 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
regular nomination, and personal appeals did not avail any
thing. The democratic county convention met as usual and
nominated candidates for assembly, and concurred in the
several state and senatorial district nominations. The same
convention nominated Michael Hoffman to be supported
as a candidate for congress. This was Mr. Hoffman's first
appearance on the political arena in the county as a candi-
date for an elective office.
A meeting not very numerous, I believe, subsequently
convened at Herkimer, and nominated John Herkimer
member of congress for reelection, and Samuel Dexter, Jr., "5
Warner Folts and Jacob Wire for the assembly. These
gentlemen had all of them acted with the democratic party
during the last four years. This was a Peoplish move-
ment, and it was understood at the time that the Clinton-
ians proper or federalists did not appear openly in the affair,
although they must have secretly encouraged it from the
support given by them to the ticket at the election. There
had not been during the summer and fall any organization
of a people's party or any indication showing disaffection in
the democratic ranks in the county. A large majority of
the party in the county was supposed to be friendly to Mr.
Crawford against all the other candidates, and when the
convention met to make nominations, there was a fair pros-
pect of an old-fashioned field fight between the veteran
parties. Mr. Herkimer was an Adams man, and Mr. Hoff-
man an avowed Crawfordite.
The Clintonians generally supported what was called the
people's ticket, and after the election, during which a good
deal of bitter feeling was exhibited, the canvass showed that
Mr. Clinton had 134 majority over Col. Young ; Hoffman
over Herkimer 244; the average of people's assembly
ticket over the democratic was only 49. The democratic
assembly candidates received the entire support of the party
in good faith, yet all of them left it within a few years and
attached themselves to other political organizations, and
Messrs. Dexter and Folts were on the best of terms with
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 273
the democratic members of the house during the whola ses-
sion. This political tornado was not confined to Herkimer
county alone, it swept over the whole state, and Mr. Clin-
ton, who only two years before had been so reduced in
popularity in consequence of his course on the convention
question, that his friends dared not to venture his being a
candidate for governor against Mr. Yates, was now elected
by 16,906 votes over Col. Young.
But the eleemnts of dissolution existed in this people's
party at its very formation. The only bond that brought
them to act in concert, was the defeat of "William H. Craw-
ford ; that once accomplished, and the union became a rope
of sand. Mr. Clinton, whose position made him the strong-
est man in this state, among the coalesced minorities, did
not favor the pretensions of Mr. Adams by any avowed or
overt act of adhesion or preference. He expressed an
opinion, before the question was actually decided, that
Gen. Jackson would be chosen by the house of representa-
tives ; founded on the belief that the house would choose
the candidate highest on the list and having the greatest
number of votes, and thus conform its action to the declared
will of the largest popular vote. These facts with others
that might be here repeated clearly show, that Mr. Clinton
did not sympathize with the Adams and Clay sections of the
people's party which combined at the November session in
1824, to secure a majority of the electoral vote in this state
for their respective favorites.
Much surprise has been expressed, that Mr. Van Buren
and his friends did not at once consent to change the mode
of appointing electors, appeal to the popular vote of the
state, and some of his warm friends and the advocates of
Mr. Crawford's election censured him and them for not doing
so. Mr. Van Buren possessed a clear and comprehensive
political sagacity ; this his greatest and most bitter oppo-
nents allowed and feared. The disturbing and disquieting
controversy growing out of the Missouri compromise, had
274 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
not been forgotten. The south had enjoyed eight presiden-
tial terms, and the north one, since the adoption of the
constitution. The sectional preferences and prejudices of
the north were against the candidate preferred by Mr. Van
Buren, and many of his influential friends in this state ; and
there was but little prospect of controlling or changing the
direction of those prejudices and preferences, except through
the agency of a regular caucus nomination, made by the
republican members of congress, and even that might fail
in the absence of any great national question on which an
appeal could be made to the patriotic feelings of the people.
A regular nomination could not be obtained for Mr. Craw-
ford, and the era of good feeling doctrine promulgated
under Mr. Munroe's administration had soothed the political
asperities which had existed between the old republican and
federal parties, not a little sharpened by the events of the
war of 1812. A democratic electoral ticket pledged to
support Mr. Crawford, would probably have obtained a
plurality of the votes given in the state, if backed by a
regular congressional nomination, and the friends of all the
other candidates had presented, and in good faith supported,
separate tickets ; but if the minorities, should combine, as
they did in the legislature, and divide the candidates for the
electoral college, assigning a given number to each of their
favorites, and go down to the election with but one ticket,
there would not have been much question as to the result.
The democratic ticket might have succeeded, if there had
been no issue on the electoral law ; and that issue would not
have been raised, if there had been only two candidates in
the field for the presidency.
That there would be a democratic majority elected, on
whom would devolve the appointment of the electoral
college, and that such majority would act in accordance
with the wishes of Mr. Van Buren and his friends, if the
caucus system was strictly adhered to, was quite as certain
in July, 1823, as it was at the meeting of the legislature, in
1824. That there would be no choice by the college in
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 275
December, 1824, was pretty well settled in the minds of
politicians before the New York election in November, 1823,
so that the whole object aimed at by the friends of the
several candidates was, to place their respective favorites
in a position to be chosen by the house of representatives.
That was the issue in this state, and this indicated too
clearly to be mistaken what course Mr. Crawford's oppo-
nents would take in case a plurality or majority electoral
law should be passed. Even the loss of the election did not
place the power of choosing democratic electors out of the
reach or beyond the control of the democratic party ; if
there had been no dishonorable violation of the most solemn
voluntary pledges, Mr. Crawford might have as easily
obtained the whole thirty-six electors as four.
At the November election in 1825, the democrats regained
the ascendency in the county by a majority of about six
hundred, and the Clintonians lost the election in the state.
This result again placed the political power of the state
substantially in the hands of the democratic party. From
this time to 1847, the democrats invariably elected their
regularly nominated members of assembly, and with one
exception, in 1846, their county officers. The candidates of
the party never failed of an election by the people during
the above period, with the exception noted, although in that
time, the state had been several times lost and won to the
democratic party, and the country had seen the election of
two whigs to the presidency, General Harrison, in 1840, and
General Taylor, in 1848.
The rejection of Mr. Van Buren by the Baltimore conven-
tion in 1844, the disaffection manifested by a section of the
democratic party in this state against Governor Bouck, who
was elected in 1842, and the disagreement among leading
democrats in regard to the canal policy of the state, had
combined to produce a feeling of estrangement in the demo-
cratic ranks, which was distinctly exhibited at the annual
election in 1846. Governor Wright was then a candidate
for reelection. My intercourse with Governor Wright,
276 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
political and social, had been, for twenty-two years, intimate
and cordial. I had contributed my feeble exertions to his
elevation to the senate of the United States, and never
regretted having done so. After the development of the
difficulties in the democratic party in the state, and they
had sufficiently shown themselves prior to the election in
1844, to satisfy any considerate man, that a disruption was
at hand, which must soon overwhelm any man occupying
the executive chair, I objected to and advised against his
acceptance of the office of governor, and thereby vacate his
seat in the senate of the United States. Mr. Wright had
other friends who viewed this subject in the same light, and
who were governed by the same disinterested motives that
I was, and they did not hesitate to express their opinions on
the subject. I do believe he did not cheerfully consent to
leave Washington, and that he had strong forebodings of
the fate that awaited him in the event of his coming in direct
contact with the bitter family feuds at home. I need not
speak of Gov. Wright's character and standing as a public
man or private citizen ; other and abler pens than mine, have
already inscribed a just memorial of them on the page of
history. He was a strong, able and popular man. What I
have said and shall say in regard to Mr. Wright, may not
seem to be exactly in place in the local history of a county
which did not claim him as a resident, but I have an object
in alluding to him in this place in consequence of his name
being connected with our local affairs. His nomination for
reelection was apparently acquiesced in by the party, and
nothing appeared to disturb the smooth surface except the
little anti-rent ripple which originated in Albany, Columbia
and Rensselaer counties, and had now began to attract some
attention ; but there was a secret under-current operating
strongly against his success. So confident were his active
friends of achieving an easy victory in the state, that in
several instances they did not observe due precaution in
selecting candidates who could secure the general support
of their party friends. Such was the case in respect to the
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 277
nominee for sheriff in this county, and the nominee for con-
gress in the district, composed of Herkimer and Montgomery
counties. The former was nominated in the county conven-
tion by a small majority of a strongly contested vote, and
the latter in the district convention by the casting vote of a
member, whose object was to present the man who could be
the most easily defeated at the polls. Sections of the demo-
cratic party in both counties organized opposition to these
nominations, presented other candidates, and with the aid
of the whigs defeated the regular nominees of the party.
Mr. Wright must have been a good deal damaged in this
county by this contest among his friends. I say friends,
because the successful candidates and their supporters
claimed to be his friends. His majority in the county was
nine hundred and ninety-four, several hundred less than in
1844.
Previous to 1846, considerable discussion had taken place
in the state, respecting its financial condition, and the expe-
diency of imposing restrictions upon the power of the legis-
lature to borrow money, and contract a state debt. The
judicial department of the government had been found
inadequate, not from the inefficiency of the judicial function-
aries, but from want of numbers, to dispatch the business
brought before it, and the delays of litigation were nearly
equivalent to a denial of justice.
At the legislative session in 1844, the two houses passed
the resolutions of which the following are the titles:
1. " Resolution proposing certain amendments to the
constitution, in relation to state debt and liability."
2. "Resolution proposing an amendment to the constitu-
tion in relation to the court of chancery."
3. " Resolution proposing an amendment to the constitu-
tion, in relation to the supreme court."
The amendments embraced in these resolutions came up
for consideration at the session in 1845, and were agreed
to by two thirds of all the members elected to the senate,
19
278 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
but failed of receiving the requisite majority in the assem-
bly. Although there was a democratic majority in the
house, as well as in the senate, a marked diversity of opinion
existed among the members of the majority, in respect to
the constitutional amendments then under consideration,
and the project of calling a convention to revise the consti-
tution of 1821, which had been introduced into the assembly.
While one section of the democratic members strongly
favored the financial amendments, the other section did not
yield them a hearty assent, or its cordial support, although
willing to place them before the people for their adoption
or rejection. The position of these two sections was
reversed on the judicial amendments. The whigs, as a party,
generally favored the judicial amendments, but were strongly
opposed to the financial. That party however were not
inclined to go in favor of any measures, or any policy, which
would defeat the calling of another convention, to new-model
the constitution. To use their own language, " they went for
a new deal," with the hope of securing some of the promi-
nent offices of the state from which they had been excluded
for nearly twenty years. I shall not attempt .to discuss
the various questions presented, and views entertained for
and against the call of another convention. On one side it
was urged that the legislature could not constitutionally
pass any law, authorizing the call of a convention, inas-
much as the existing constitution prescribed a mode in
which amendments to, or alterations of that instrument
could be made entirely different from that then under
consideration. On the other side, it was insisted, that
the whole subject was at the disposal of the electors, and if
on submitting the question to the people, a majority should
decide in favor of a convention, that one might, and should
be convened. It is quite certain that the convention of
1821 did not suppose that instrument would be altered or
changed, except in the manner pointed out in it; and it is
equally certain, that the convention of 1846 must have
considered the act initiating its existence might be justly
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 279
characterized as revolutionary: otherwise, direct authority
would not have been conferred upon the legislature, to pro-
vide for taking the sense of the electors in respect to calling
future conventions. The financial convulsion of 1837, and
the commercial embarrassments of 1840 and 1841, consequent
upon the great inflation of prices in 1839, followed by an
unexampled depression in the state stocks, attributed mainly
to the recent rapid increase of the state debt, had contributed
to infuse into the public mind a strong and settled conviction,
that to avoid interminable taxation and embarrassments,
the legislative power over the finances and credit of the
state, must be strictly defined and limited to a very narrow
circle.
The democratic party of this county had taken ground
at an early day in favor of an amendment to the constitution,
to the effect that every law passed by the legislature pro-
posing to create a debt by the issue of state stock, or impose
a tax for certain purposes, in order to become effectual, must
be submitted to, and sanctioned by a direct vote of a majority
of the electors of the state, at an annual election. This propo-
sition, subsequently modified and amended, and known as the
People's Resolution, was adopted by a convention held in
this county, in the year 1S37. Its paternity was afterwards
attributed to a distinguished politician of the county,
through a mistake as to its origin. The rough draft of the
resolution was shown to me in my office, by my then law
partner, in his own handwriting, and I am confident that
he alone was the author of it. The substance of that reso-
lution now composes a part of the seventh article of the
present constitution of the state. When first brought out,
the project attracted but little attention outside of the
county, but it became one of the standing resolutions of the
county conventions for several years, and was finally
adopted as a cardinal point in the democratic creed, first in
the county, and then in the state.
The passage of the law calling the convention originated,
I am fully convinced, with the politicians of this county ;
280 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
and, although I do not mean to say their object was confined
to the adoption of the financial restrictions, and it probably
was not, still that measure incited their unceasing vigilance
and most active exertions. The act calling the convention
was approved by Governor Wright, and became in form a
law. The vote in this county on the question of convention
or no convention, was, 4,346 in favor, and 86 against it. At
the election of delegates, Michael Hoffman had 1,470, and
Arphaxad Loomis 1,468 votes, about two-thirds of the demo-
cratic strength in the county. There was no organized
opposition, and the scattering vote was small. When this
constitution was submitted to the people for adoption, less
unanimity seemed to prevail in the minds of the electors.
The vote for it was 3,382, against it 1,029, and on the ques-
tion of admitting our colored population to an equal suffrage
with the white, without property qualification, the yeas were
1,442, and the nays 3,156, showing 187 more votes on the
equal suffrage question, than the aggregate for and against
the constitution. The aggregate of the whole vote for
governor in 1844, was a little over 7,295, and in 1846, 5,633.
This shows that nearly 3,000 of the electors of the county
did not participate, either in the call of the convention, or
the adoption of the constitution.
The changes proposed in the fundamental law by the con-
vention of 1846 were much more extensive than those made
by the convention of 1821. It was thus that a great revo-
lution in the institutions of a state was brought about,
founded, when the movement commenced, on the single
complaint against improvident acts of legislation in respect
to the finances and credit of the state.
The above figures show that one-half of the electors of
the county did not approve of the constitution by an affirm-
ative vote. The convention had incorporated a provision
into the constitution restricting the power of the legislature
to pass laws of a certain character, except by a majority of
all the members elected to each branch, three-fifths of all
the members being present, in which case the absence of a
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 281
member operates as a negative upon the law, which, in many
instances, may be only temporary and affecting the rights of
only a few people ; but in fixing the fundamental law of the
state, it only required the majority of the voices of those
who might choose to speak to control the destinies of
millions. It is not my object to write a political treatise,
and I therefore forbear further remark. I have aimed to
give a true statement of the events of this period, and believe
I have done it.
At the succeeding animal election, in 1847, the county
performed a complete political somerset. James Feeter, in
the first district, and Lawrence L. Merry, in the second,
whigs, were elected to the assembly by considerable majori-
ties, and Thomas Burch, whig, was chosen senator in the
senate district. The defeated candidates were two radical
democrats and one hunker. This was preparatory to the
canvass for the presidency in 1S48. Hitherto, for a period
of about forty years, the people of the county had not been
represented in the congress of the United States, by a man
who was not known and recognized as a republican or de-
mocrat, but Henry P. Alexander, a highly respectable whig,
was this year elected to congress from the district composed
of Herkimer and Montgomery, and Avas not very badly
beaten when again a candidate in 1850.
I hardly need say, in this connection, that the whig party
has not obtained any ascendency in the county since 1847,
except in the election of Mr. Alexander.
It is now, 1855, sixty-four years since this county was
erected, and it may not be uninteresting to some to take a
brief view of the state of political parties in it during that
period. It is in no respect of any moment, except to show
the current of public feeling at home in regard to the
political questions which have agitated the country since
the foundation of the national government and the forma-
tion of political parties, consequent upon the diversity of
opinions not only in respect to the federal constitution of
1787 , but also in regard to what was esteemed the true
282 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
principles and proper form of government to be adopted by
the American states, as well as the fair and just interpreta-
tion of that instrument. The subject of American politics
and American political parties, derives all its interest and
importance from the fact that the state and national govern-
ments are administered conformably to the popular will,
enunciated in the form prescribed by written fundamental
rules. Since the county was organized, the representatives
in the popular branch of the legislature, the assembly, have
been elected wholly, or in part, by the anti-federal, republican
and democratic parties fifty-four years. I use these names
to designate the same political party in succession at differ-
ent periods of time. I should add here a word of explana-
tion ; the above period embraces every year when the can-
didate elected was nominated by the political party above
designated. Of the twelve state senators elected from the
county at different times, two were federalists, nine were
republicans and one was a whig. There have been three state
conventions to modify, alter and change the state constitu-
tion, and republican delegates were chosen to each, except
Richard Van Home, in 1821. Six republican electors of
president and vice-president, have been selected in the
county, and one whig. In respect to the members of con-
gress sent from the county, I have had some difficulty in
ascertaining the whole number. From the best information
within my reach, there were twelve in all ; and of these,
one was a federalist, nine were republicans or democrats,
one was an independent, chosen in opposition to the regu-
larly nominated candidate, although he claimed to be a
republican, and one was a whig.
There are but few counties in the state, if any, in which
the population has shown such steady and uniform adherence
to the republican or democratic party, and where the
political men of that party have been so frequently elected
to office by the people. And I am proud as a citizen of the
county, to record the fact, that hitherto there has not been
a single instance, save one, of corruption and malconduct
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 283
charged against our public men, and those who have " gone
to that bourne from whence no traveler returns," now "rest
from the labors of life's toilsome pilgrimage," leaving behind
them fame and characters untainted and untarnished.
The financial article of the constitution of 1846 has been
recently modified so as to allow the legislature to contract
a debt to a limited amount to complete the state canals.
A majority of the electors in the county who voted on this
modification, were in favor of the amendment. The vote was
a small one, and affords no evidence of a change of opinion
in the county favorable to an unlimited grant of power to
the legislature over the credit and finances of the state.
This review closes with the year 1854, and will not be
resumed by the author of this work.
Note. — The reader, I doubt not, will excuse a brief allusion to a subject
which has, on more than one occasion, attracted public attention.
The governor, in his annual message to the legislature in 1831, had directed
attention to the accumulating surplus revenue of the United States, under the
operation of the tariff laws, and the senate of this state raised a select com-
mittee consisting of Mr. Benton, Mr. Mather and Mr. Deits, to whom that part
of the message was committed. The members of the committee gave the sub-
ject their early and earnest attention, made up their minds to present a report
to the senate, and designated Mr. Benton to prepare it. In the mean time, as
Mr. Hammond states, the assembly, on the 10th of March, passed a concurrent
resolution, without a division, declaring that the surplus revenue ought to be
annually distributed among the several states, without alluding to the consti-
tutional incompetency of congress to act on the subject. I transcribe what
Mr. Hammond says in vol. II, of the Political History of New York, page 353.
"It [the resolution] was sent to the senate, but was by that body referred to
a select committee, of which Mr. Benton was chairman, who, on the 4th of
April, made a long and able report, in which they discussed the constitutional
question in relation to the powers of congress to make the proposed division
without decidedly expressing their views on the question." [Senate Docu-
ments of 1831, No. 79.] Mr. Hammond seems to infer that because the com-
mittee withheld a decided expression of opinion as to the constitutional power
of congress to make the distribution under the power then vested, that the
committee entertained doubts on that subject. This conclusion does great
injustice to two of that committee, Messrs. Benton and Deits, at any rate.
The whole argument of the report on this point, which Mr. Hammond says
was an able one, went to show that congress had no more power to create a
surplus for the purpose of distribution, than it would have to build a church,
284 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
school house or an academy within the territorial limits of one of the states.
The committee could not fail to see that they were discussing a subject sub-
mitted to their consideration by the executive department of the government,
and which bad been acted upon by a coordinate branch of the legislature,
without any allusion to the constitutional question ; and tbey felt unwilling to
meet the difficulties which seemed to them insurmountable, other than by
presenting the argument against the exertion of the power by congress in the
best possible light and in the most forcible manner they could, and leave the
subject without any other expression of opinion. Had the committee enter-
tained any other views, or no decided views at all on the subject under con-
sideration, would they have elaborated an argument in support of principles
they repudiated or about which they felt indifferent ? There is no subject of
constitutional power or legislation, over which the people of this country
should be more watchful or guarded than the " money power," wherever it
may be exerted, whether by the state or United States.
CHAPTER XL
1791 to 1855.
William Orendorff, Aaron K. Clark, John Bowman, Samuel Bennett, Samuel
Perry, Nathaniel Foster, Jolin Allen.
The catalogue of crime of the higher grades is quite brief.
It is believed there was no trial or conviction from 1791 to
1798, when Oneida county was set off. I have gleaned from
criminal records of the county only six trials which resulted
in convictions and acquittals.
On the 31st of May, 1809, William Orendorff was tried
and convicted upon an indictment for a rape, and sentenced
to the state prison during his natural life.
On the 5th of June, 1811, Aaron R. Clark was tried and
convicted before Mr. Justice Van Ness of the supreme court
upon an indictment for manslaughter, and sentenced to the
state prison for three years and three months.
On the 15th of September, 1812, John Bowman, who had
been previously indicted for murder, was arraigned before
Justice Van Ness of the supreme court, D. V. W. Golden,
Walter Fish and George Rosecrants county judges, and J.
Ingham, assistant justice, and plead not guilty. The fol-
lowing are the names of the jurors empanneled to try the
case : Augustus Carpenter, Lucius Wetherby, Benjamin
Benjamin, Jr., Jabez D. Wolf, Oliver Miner, James Alexander,
Daniel I. Petry, Jost I. Petry, Ezra Mallory, Gibson J.
Stranahan, Joseph Pooler and Sheldon Harvey. There
were nine witnesses sworn on the part of the prosecution,
and examined. Not any witnesses were called and sworn
on the part of the prisoner.
286 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
The entry of the verdict and sentence pronounced by the
court is recorded in these words: "The jury found the
prisoner guilty, and he was sentenced to be hanged by the
neck until he was dead, on the fourth day of December next,
between the hours of 11 o'clock a. m. and 1 o'clock p. m."
John Bowman was a lad not over ten years of age when
he was tried and convicted for this crime. He was ably
defended by Daniel Cady, Esq., now one of the justices of
the supreme court of the fourth district. Bowman had
killed one of his playmates, a small girl younger than him-
self, and the point insisted upon by Mr. Cady in the defense,
was, that he was too young to possess a mind and judgment
capable of understanding and appreciating the nature of the
offense he had or was about to commit. The jury thought
otherwise, and brought in a verdict of guilty. The judg-
ment of the court was not executed. The sentence was
commuted by a law passed November 10, 1812, to imprison-
ment for life in the state prison.
Samuel Bennett was convicted upon an indictment for
manslaughter, on the 12th of December, 1822, before Mr.
Justice Piatt of the supreme court, and judges Holt and
Herkimer of the common pleas, and sentenced to confine-
ment in the state prison at Auburn for ten years. Simeon Ford,
Esq., the district attorney, conducted the prosecution, and
Messrs. Hoffman and Maculey defended the prisoner. In
this case the counsel for both parties exerted all their pow-
ers for conviction and acquittal, and a Herkimer audience
have seldom witnessed more able forensic efforts than were
displayed on this occasion.
At the September term of the oyer and terminer in this
county in 1826, Samuel Perry was arraigned on an indict-
ment for murdering his wife. The court consisted of Nathan
Williams, circuit judge of the fifth circuit, and Hiram Nol-
ton, Sanders Lansing and John Mahon, county judges. The
jurors sworn were Jeremiah B. Cooper, William Williams,
Henry F. OrendorfF, Elnathan Harvey, Peter House, Henry
Dockey, Milton Philleo, Joseph Griswold, Eli Fortune, John
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 287
Eysaman, James Van Valkenburgh and Suffrenus Snell. The
whole panel having been exhausted by peremptory chal-
lenges and challenges for cause, the two last named jurors,
Van Valkenburgh and Snell were summoned to sit as tales.
George H. Feeter, district attorney, assisted by Abijah Mann,
Jr., and David Bucklin, Esqs., conducted the prosecution,
and Lauren Ford, Michael Hoffman and Oran G. Otis, Esqrs.,
defended the prisoner. Twenty-three witnesses were called
by the prosecution and examined, and two only on the
p'art of the defense. The trial commenced on the 14th day
of September, and on the 16th the jury pronounced the
prisoner guilty by their verdict. The prisoner's counsel
tendered several exceptions to the ruling of the court during
the progress of the trial, and the judgment upon the verdict
was respited to allow the supreme court of the state to
examine and give judgment upon those exceptions. The
social position of the prisoner, the alleged or supposed
causes which prompted the commission of the offense, and
the estimable character always borne by the unfortunate
victim murdered, conspired to excite in our community a
deep and intense feeling. The court room in which the
trial was conducted, although not as large as some in
our cities and most populous counties, was quite spacious.
Long before the court convened to open the trial, this room
was filled almost to suffocation with an anxious and deeply
excited audience ; the avenues to the room were so densely
thronged with people seeking admission that ingress and
egress by the officers of the court was at times very difficult.
I felt a strong desire to hear this trial, as I had never been
present at the traverse of an indictment for murder, but
my human endurance could not stand it. I once, during the
trial, under the auspices of the district attorney, got into the
court room, and after remaining a short time made my
escape from it, and was compelled to remain an outsider.
Many others were excluded from hearing the trial, and for
the like reasons.
The respite of the judgment rendered it necessary for the
288 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
prisoner to be present, when the supreme court should make
a decision on the exceptions taken on his behalf, in order
that the sentence of that court might be pronounced, in
case the exceptions were overruled, and with the view of
removing the prisoner to Albany, the sheriff of the county,
John Dygert, Esq., had brought his conveyance to the jail,
when a short delay occurred in starting, to permit the prisoner
to execute a testamentary disposition of his property. While
the will was being prepared, the sheriff's officers visited the
cell where the prisoner was confined, and found him dead,
or so nearly dead that he survived but a short time. He
had cut his throat with a razor. This act was performed
with a strong and unflinching hand, and sure instrument.
The jugular artery was severed, by a long deep gash, which
ended life almost as soon as made.
When the grim messenger of death bore the tidings of
this man's fate to the chancery of Heaven, think ye, did the
recording angel, as he registered it, drop a tear of regret
upon the record, and blot it out for ever? This suicide was
committed in the month of October, following the conviction,
and between the two periods, Perry had devised plans of
escape from prison, and flight to Canada. He had consider-
able pecuniary means, and was therefore enabled to subsidize
fit instruments for his purpose ; but all his plans were defeated
by the vigilance of the public officers, and the care taken
for his security.
The next capital offense appearing on our criminal records,
is the case of Nathaniel Foster, indicted for the murder of
Peter Waters, a St. Regis Indian. This trial was opened on
the 16th and closed on the 17th of September, 1834, at the
Court House in Herkimer, before the Hon. Hiram Denio,
circuit judge of the fifth circuit ; John B. Dygert, Abijah
Osborn, Jonas Cleland and Richard Herendeen, county
judges ; and a jury consisting of the following persons :
John Davis, John Harder, Henry Ostrander, James F. Fox,
William Bouck, Peter Rickert, William Shoemaker, James
Shoemaker, Lester Green, Nicholas A. Staring, Earl Trum-
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 289
bull and Peter Bell. James B. Hunt, the district attorney,
assisted by Simeon Ford, Esq., conducted the prosecution,
and Joshua A. Spencer, Aaron Hackley, George H. Feeter,
Lauren Ford and E. P. Hurelbut, Esqs., appeared for the
prisoner. The record shows there were five witnesses called
and examined on the part of the prosecution, and five by
the prisoner's counsel. The jury rendered a verdict of not
guilty, after a consultation of about two hours. That Foster
deliberately shot the Indian, at a time, too, when he was in
no immediate danger of assault from or by the Indian, and
that this act was premeditated, there can not be much doubt,
if there is any reliance to be placed on human testimony.
Foster and the Indian had for some months lived near neigh-
bors on Brown's tract, so called, in the north part of the
county. Both were hunters of the wild game of the northern
forests, and were probably envious of each other's success,
if they had no substantial causes of complaint to produce
hostile feelings between them. Foster was an old man,
upwards of sixty winters had bleached his locks, and the
Indian was in the prime of life, stout, athletic, and like all
his people indulged in the use of " fire-water," when he
could get it, and was easily irritated and passionate. On
the morning of the day the Indian was killed, he and Foster
had a scuffle, and the latter was slightly wounded by the
Indian. Some bystanders interposed and parted them, or
Foster would probably have been more seriously hurt.
Shortly after this, the Indian and several whites started off
in a boat and bark canoes on a hunting excursion on the
Seven lakes, and Foster followed or preceded them five
miles by land, to a point in one of the lakes, where he shot
the Indian, who was then alone in his canoe, but there was
another bark canoe near by, containing two white men.
On the trial, the prisoner's counsel proposed to ask one of
the witnesses on the stand if he had ever heard this Indian
threaten to kill Foster, insisting the evidence was competent
and tended to prove that Foster was in " imminent danger "
of being killed himself by the Indian; submitting the suffi-
290 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
eiency of the proof to the consideration of the jury. Objec-
tions to the admissibility of this testimony being made, the
presiding judge of course sustained the objection, and ruled
that such evidence was not competent ; one of the county
judges concurred with Judge Denio, but the other three
judges holding the evidence was admissible, the circuit
judge was overruled by a majority of the common pleas
bench. This was a novel decision in our criminal courts,
and will not, probably, be often followed in trials for murder.
The majority of the court must have held, that when an
American Indian threatens to take life, the danger becomes
imminent, from the inflexible pertinacity he has always
evinced in carrying such threats into execution. Id certum
est quod certum potest, is a sound legal maxim, but it will
not do to apply it to the future actions of an Indian, any more
than to an Anglo-Saxon. It is very difficult to say what
effect such evidence had upon the minds of the jurors, or
might have had in a case where the killing of an Indian
was not involved. It is not very material to discuss this
point to any great extent, when the reasons for the acquittal
are so well known as they were when the verdict was given,
and even at this day. Three-fourths of the jury were of
German descent, whose memories still lingered on the tra-
ditional scenes of woe and desolation inflicted upon the
families of their ancestors, by the Indian races, who never
claimed the protection of the laws of civilization, or sub-
mitted to the municipal regulations of the whites. I do
not intend to impute any moral wrong to the twelve men
who held Foster's conviction or acquittal at their disposal,
much less will I seek to impeach their judgment or motives ;
but truth and candor compels me to express the belief that,
if, under the same circumstances, a white man had been
killed by Foster, instead of the Indian, he would have been
found guilty. Foster was not a bad man, although a hunter
and an inhabitant of the forest nearly all his days ; he was
not inclined to provoke quarrels with any one. The Indians
visited the wilderness between the settled parts of St. Law-
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 291
rence and Herkimer and Hamilton counties, and claimed the
whole country as hunting grounds, although their title had
been long extinguished. This seemed to produce an un-
friendly feeling between the hunters of the two races, which
proved fatal to some of them, but the red men were the
greatest sufferers.
The next case in the criminal annals of the county, was
that of John Allen, who was arraigned on an indictment for
murder, before Philo Gridley, justice of the supreme court,
of the fifth district, Ezra Graves, county judge, David
Humphreyville and Morgan S. Churchill, justices of the ses-
sions, on the 5th of September, 1849. George B. Judd,
district attorney, conducted the prosecution, and Messrs. V.
Owen and R. Earl, the defense. Thirty-nine witnesses
were called and examined by the prosecution. The jury
empanneled to make " true deliverance" found the prisoner
not guilty, under the direction of the court. This is the sub-
stance of the entry in the proceedings of the court, and
those familiar with the expressions used, will conclude that
the prosecution failed to make out a case of probable cause
of guilt, against the prisoner. The murder was charged in
the indictment, to have been committed in the town of
Schuyler, in the winter of 1848-9. The lifeless body of a
man was found, bearing strong marks of violence having
been inflicted upon it, and sufficient to produce death. It
was identified to be that of a foot pedler, traveling about
the country, with goods of some value. It was also believed
he had a small amount of money with him. The circum-
stances connected with this sad affair, produced a strong im-
pression on the public mind, that the man had been murdered,
in order to obtain possession of his goods and money, or that he
was killed in defending himself against a violent robbery.
The popular excitement in our community ran to a pretty
high pitch, and a just indignation at the commission of so
foul a deed, was loudly expressed. The officers of justice
were soon on the alert, and the district attorney al >\y and
resolutely performed his duty, and if he failed to convict
292 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
the man indicted and arraigned, that failure can not justly
be charged to a want of industry or energy, on the part of
the prosecution.
This ends my catalogue of capital offenses against life,
for a period of nearly sixty-four years, since the erection of
the county. In all that time there have been two convictions
for murder, but no public execution by the hangman.
May the good Providence of God, and a just regard of our
population to their duty and obedience to the laws, continue
to avert from us all cause for such an exhibition of punish-
ment.
We can not and do not claim to be exempt from the com-
mission of crime in the lower grade of offenses, but the calen-
dar has not been large, nor have the instances been grave
or serious. The petty larceny fraternity have not yet
quite left us, or abandoned their business, and there have
been those who indulged in acts of felonious appropriation
upon a larger scale, so as to come under the definition of
grand larceny.
Bands of counterfeiters and persons engaged in passing
counterfeit paper money, and spurious coin, have heretofore
infested the county, the rigor with which these law-breakers
were prosecuted, and the vigilance of the public officers in
detecting and ferreting out these depredators upon the
public, has long since cleared the county of this class of
offenders. I do not mean to say we have not had instances
of offenses of this sort committed in the county within twenty
years, but the cases have been rare within that time com-
pared with the period between 1820 and 1830.
Upon a careful review of the statistics of crime committed
in this county the present century, and comparing them with
other counties in the state, and other communities, we find
much to encourage a hope that the future in our progress
will present more gratifying results than the past, and that
the moral sentiment of the population of the county in this
respect, as in every other duty of life, may be found the
highest and best of any in the state.
CHAPTER XII.
Biographical Sketches of Stephen Ayres, Alexander H. Buell, Eohert Burch,
Stephen W. Brown, Benjamin Bowen, Dan Chapman, Atwater Cook, William
H. Cook, Rnfus ('rain, Henry Ellison, John Frank, Simeon Ford, David V.
W. Golden, Gaylord Griswold, Joab Griswold, Elihu Griswold, John Graves,
David Holt, Michael Hoffman, Stephen Hallett, Philo M. Hackley, Henry
Hopkins, Sanders Lansing, John Mahon, Thomas Manly, Jacob Markell,
John Mills, Michael Myers, William Petry, George Rosecrants, Nathan
Smith, Ephraim Snow, Henry Tillinghast, Stephen Todd, Abijah Tumbling,
Edmund Varney, Richard Van Home, Evans Wharry, George Widrig,
Westel Willoughby, Chauncey Woodruff, Sherman Wooster, Samuel
Wright
The writer has indulged in some personal gratification in
collecting and writing out the biographical sketches pre-
sented to the reader's attention in this chapter. That grati-
fication would have been greatly increased, if the means of
doing more ample justice to the subject had been within his
reach, and he could have included every name found in the
official list printed in the appendix. He was familiarly
acquainted with very many of the individuals of whom he
has written, and take them as a class, or individually, with
one exception, for purity of character, elevated and patriotic
purpose in action through life, they should not have a second
place on the scroll of fame. Their sphere of action was
limited, but they bore the same relation to the people of the
county, that others filling higher and more elevated posi-
tions held in respect to the communities they represented.
There have been and always will be, I suppose, grades of
excellence in official men; some may have no excellence at
all, but this can not be said of those whose biographies are
found in the succeeding pages of this chapter.
20
294 history of herkimer county.
Stephen Ayres
Was a native of Massachusetts, and born at Braintree,
February 16th, 1770. He came into this state with his
father, Jabez Ayres, in the year 1792, who settled in the
town of Salisbury, where he made his clearing, raised his
family, and went to his final rest, leaving the subject of this
notice to inherit a good farm and a large share of his energy
of character. Mr. Stephen Ayres purchased a lot of land in
the then town of Norway, now Fairfield, in the fall of 1792,
which he brought under cultivation and on which he lived
until his death. He was a practical surveyor, an occupation
he occasionally pursued until age incapacitated him from
service in the field. In the course of a long and active life
he had traced many of the lines of lots on the patents on the
north side of the river, and could designate the boundaries
of lots, and describe and locate the corner trees from memory,
many years after he had quit the active pursuits of his pro-
fession, and indeed many years after he had made his survey.
His son, Hiram Ayres, was called on, not many years before
his father's death, to trace the lines of a lot at a distant
point on the Royal grant, from the family residence, and
when told the number and location of the lot, Mr. Ayres
described to his son with particular exactness, the corner
of the lot where the survey commenced, and lest these land-
marks might have been removed or destroyed, he also
described a peculiar witness tree, and its course and distance
from the true corner, when surveyed about twenty years
before and not since visited by him.
In 1836, Mr. Ayres represented this county in the Asem-
bly, with Frederick Bellinger and Thomas Hawkes. He
was not ambitious of political preferment, although he
deservedly enjoyed the confidence and esteem of his fellow
citizens. In stature he was full six feet, and " well propor-
tioned." He was of that class and school of men who
reasoned well and endeavored to act wisely. He chose to
be governed by the results of his own reflections, and the
(
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 295
dictates of a sound judgment, rather than hazard a novel
experiment directed and controlled by a sudden excitement.
It required no " sober second thought " to bring himself to
a position he deemed it his duty as a citizen to occupy, under
any and all circumstances. I may have placed a false esti-
mate upon the character of Mr. Ayres, but I think not. lie
lived in the easterly part of the town of Fairfield, where he
also pursued the occupation of husbandry through a long
and well spent life, and having by industry and frugality
gathered and enjoyed a competence of this world's goods,
he closed his earthly pilgrimage on the 17th of September,
1850, in the 81st year of his age, respected by all who knew
him.
Alexander H. Buell
Was a native of Fairfield, in this county. His father,
Roswell Buell, a native of Killingworth, Connecticut, came
into the county at an early day, and seated himself on the
spot now known as Fairfield village. In 1795, he married
Sarah Griswold, daughter of Daniel Griswold, also a
native of Killingworth, who settled in Fairfield about the
year 1790, and has now numerous descendants residing in
that town.
About the year 1800, Mr. Roswell Buell opened a store in
Fairfield, and was some time engaged in the mercantile
business. He was distinguished for his enterprise and
benevolence. He donated an acre of land to the trustees
of Fairfield academy, in 1802, on which the first academic
edifice was erected. In the midst of an active and useful
life, he fell a victim to the epidemic which prevailed in the
winter of 1812-13, aged 40 years. His affairs were some-
what involved by this sudden event, and after the settle-
ment of his estate was effected, only a small patrimony
remained to the surviving members of his family. His
widow still lives, and at the close of 1855, has attained the
venerable age of 86 years.
Alexander Hamilton Buell, the subject of this notice, was
296 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
born July 14th, 1801. The loss so early in life of the coun-
sel and sustaining aid of a father, when both were so much
needed, was no doubt viewed by young Buell as a severe
calamity. He soon seemed to appreciate the circumstances
which surrounded him, and was fully impressed with the
idea that he must be the artificer of his own fame and
fortune ; that success could only be looked for through his
own exertions. The position in which he was placed had
great influence in moulding his character and developing
those traits which led to his subsequent success in life as a
merchant. His opportunities for an accomplished academic
education were somewhat limited by his engagements as a
clerk in the store of Mr. Stephen Hallett, then one of the
principal business men at Fairfield. His time at school was
however well employed, and he sought to make up by dili-
gence and studious application during his leisure hours, what
he lost while engaged in the store of his employer.
A marked feature of young Buell's character is developed
in the following facts : During the first three years of his
employment with Mr. Hallett, and he commenced at the
age of 14, he was diligent and attentive as a clerk in the
store, supporting himself by his own exertions, and at the
same time superintending the affairs of his widowed mother
with all the efficiency of a man of mature years, and with
a kindness and solicitude that carried with it a sweet and
soothing solace. Nor was this all ; his sisters, orphaned
like himself, were not unfrequent recipients of presents
from the surplus of his earnings. He had become so
accomplished in business, several years before he reached
his majority, that he was repeatedly sent by his employer to
the city of New York to purchase goods to replenish his
store.
Mr. Buell, at the age of 21, became a partner in business
with his former employer, and at Mr. Hallett's death,
assumed the sole proprietorship of the business at Fairfield.
He subsequently, in connection with different individuals,
extended his mercantile business into the neighboring towns
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 297
and villages in the county ; afterwards, giving scope to a
clear and comprehensive mind, and the exertion of an
excellent business talent, his commercial operations were
extended to counties in this state remote from his native
homo ; and he did not finally stop until he reached the
distant shores of the Pacific ocean ; even California was
not neglected by the accomplished and successful Fairfield
merchant. I am not aware that Mr. Buell ever thought of
removing to New York, where fortunes are so rapidly made
and marred in commercial pursuits. He was several times
gratified and honored by the confidence of his townsmen,
in electing him to local offices of trust and confidence. He
was a member of the assembly from this county in 1845.
This, 1 believe was his first appearance at Albany as a legis-
lator. He was placed at the head of the important com-
mittee on banks and insurance companies, in a house in no
respect destitute of men of talents. Although it is not
usual to select the chairmen of the leading committees from
new members, the appointment in this instance was judi-
cious, and the compliment well deserved. In this new and
untried position, Mr. Buell sustained himself in every
respect to the satisfaction of the house and his friends.
An ardent politician of the Herkimer school, and I use this
term because our neighbors in other counties charge us
with being " of the strictest sect," it was his duty and his
pleasure to square his official conduct to suit the feelings
and opinions of his constituents.
Mr. Buell was chosen member of the 32d congress from
the 17th congressional district, composed of Herkimer and
Montgomery counties, at the November election, 1850. His
competitor was a personal friend, and then the member
from the district, Henry P. Alexander. The canvass was
briskly conducted and adroitly managed by the contestants
and their friends. The district was one in which there
could not be much doubt when the whole vote was polled
and party lines strictly drawn as " in olden time." He was
married to Miss Harriet E. Gruman, of Clinton, Oneida
298 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
county, November 9, 1840. Before taking his seat in the
congress, to which he had been elected, Mr. Buell closed his
connection with most of the mercantile establishments in
which he had been interested, over which he could not well
exercise a personal supervision. He won and enjoyed the
confidence and regard, not only of the business community,
but of his political friends and associates. By his industry,
application and unwearied exertions, he accumulated a
fortune, enough to satisfy the reasonable desires of an
ambitious man a little removed from the commercial and
financial emporiums of our state, where few men are counted
rich who are rated under a million of dollars, where com-
parisons serve only to stimulate to hazardous experiments,
and even wild and imaginary speculations. He must, of
course, have been punctual in all his pecuniary engagements,
and prompt in all his other business relations. His surviv-
ing townsmen have cause to remember him for his public
spirit, and the worthy recipients of charity never solicited
his aid in vain.
Mr. Buell died at Washington city on the 31st January,
1853, after a brief and painful illness, in the 52d year of his
age. The house of representatives passed the usual resolu-
tion of condolence ; and while a monument in the congres-
sional burying ground commemorates his official connection
with that eminent body of American statesmen and his
death, his mortal remains, distinguished by a suitable memo-
rial, have found a final resting place in 'the grounds of
Trinity church, Fairfield, by the side of which repose the
remains of a father, brother and an infant daughter. His
wife, two sons and a daughter, survived him.
Robert Burch
Was born in Killingsly, Connecticut, December 3d, 1761,
emigrated from Berkshire county, Massachusetts, into this
state, seated himself in the present town of Schuyler in 1799,
and died on the farm he had opened and reduced from a
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 299
wilderness state, on the 26th of June, 1830, in the 69th year
of his age.
Devoted to agricultural pursuits, Mr. Burch bore the even
tenor of his way through life unobtrusively, and left several
sons, who are among our prominent and active business
men.
He was one of the members of the assembly from this
county at the sessions of 1811 and 1812, at a period when
national and state politics very much engrossed public atten-
tion. He possessed a quick apprehension and a sound and
discriminating judgment. He was diligent and attentive to
his public duties, and was careful in those times of high
party strife to be prepared to vote promptly when the ques-
tion was propounded by the speaker. I have heard an
anecdote repeated of him to this effect. His seat in the
house was near that of Mr. Brayton, a member from Oneida,
with whom he was on terms of friendly, social intercourse,
although they differed on political subjects. Mr. Burch was
always in his seat and prompt to respond in a pretty audible
tone of voice when the roll was called on a division. Mr.
Brayton may have been, and probably was, classed among
the leading men of his party. Now for the anecdote. On
one occasion, after a pretty stormy debate and close vote on
a division, Mr. Brayton accosted his political adversary and
said to him, " Burch, how does it happen that you are always
so prompt and ready to vote, your party friends following
your lead to a man, and you seem, to give yourself but little
trouble in regard to matters before the house ?" Mr. Burch
coolly remarked, "I'll tell you, sir, how it is; your name
being called next before mine, I am careful to notice how
you answer, and, always on questions of this sort, vote
against you, and feel assured I am quite right." The ques-
tion may have been prompted by some momentary feeling
of irritation under defeat ; the answer shows that the
respondent was fully satisfied he had done his duty.
A few years after Mr. Burch settled in Schuyler, some of
his former neighbors "at the east" sent him some branches
300 HISTOBY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
of a dwarf evergreen, too frequently found in the soil of
New England, not only to remind him of his former home,
but as they said, " to keep him from being homesick." A
pretty good antidote that for any such ailment in one then
reposing in the luxuriant valley of the Mohawk.
Stephen W. Brown
Was a native of Williamstown, Mass. He was several
years engaged in mercantile business, in the town of Salis-
bury, in this county, which resulted favorabty. He removed
to Little Falls in the year 1830, with a view to a more ex-
tended field of business operations, and to give a wider
scope to a mind fertile in expedients. He was liberal and
public spirited, if not to a fault, so far as regarded his pecu-
niary resources, it may well be said, he indulged his generous
feeling to the extremest limit of prudence. He was active,
ardent and almost incessantly engaged in business. Always
among the first, and with the foremost, in any local business
enterprise that required associated capital, and combined
personal exertion, to carry it forward to a successful result ;
or in founding and rearing some public institution, perma-
nently beneficial to the locality where it was to be established.
After his removal to Little Falls, he was several years engaged
in trade at that place, which he finally relinquished, and
devoted his whole time and attention to the affairs of a
manufacturing establishment, which had been brought into
existence mainly through his personal exertions. He closed
his mercantile business in 1843.
He was chosen sheriff of the county at the November
election, 1837, and held the office one term. He was a
popular officer ; kind and agreeable in manners, and cheerful
in disposition, he had many friends, and very few, if any,
enemies. With an almost inexhaustible flow of kindly good
feelings, and hopeful in the extreme, anticipated results
were sometimes counted as accomplished, when in fact
actual realization was not within the measure of a fair pro-
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 301
bability. His character, as a man, was irreproachnh7e, or
if not so, the tongue of blame has not blazoned his faults to
the world. He was a reformer in almost every thing relating
to politics and civil government, and exerted his influence,
effectually at times, to correct some of the flagrant abuses
of the bad men of the legal profession, which were oppress-
ive. I say bad men, for I know that only a few of that
honorable class, would descend so low as to commit the
faults which, through his agency, were immediately and
successfully remedied by legislative interference. He was
suddenly and violently attacked, when absent from home on
business, with a fatal malady, from which he did not recover.
He survived but a few days, after his return to his family
at Little Falls.
The monument erected to his memory, by those who
knew him well, and appreciated his worth, bears this incrip-
tion :
STEPHEN W . BROWN
Died May 30th, 1846,
Aged, 49 years.
This stone is erected by his
neighbours to evince their
high estimation of his character.
Benjamin Bowen
Was a native of Rhode Island. He came from Newport, in
that state, to Fairfield, in 1787, where he purchased a farm
and settled. He remained at Fairfield until 1792, when he
removed to Newport, and commenced the erection of mills
at that place, and laid the foundation of the prosperity of
that pleasant and thrifty village. He was a man of great
activity and enterprise. He was a member of the legislature
in 1798, elected on the same ticket with Gaylord Griswold,
Henry McNeil, Nathan Smith, Mathew Brown, Jr., Lodo-
wick Campbell and Isaac Foot. This was the only time
that I find he was chosen a member of either branch of the
legislature. He was appointed one of the judges of tho
302 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
county courts October 30th, 1800, and held the office nearly
five years, and probably as long as his political friends had
the bestowment of patronage. He died at a somewhat
advanced age, leaving no male descendants in this county.
His only son emigrated to Alabama with his family in 1819,
and died there. I believe Judge Bo wen also died in Ala-
bama, but I am not certain of this fact. Thus the name
of one of the earliest and most enterprising pioneers of
the northern part of the county has become extinct, but a
memorial of his active and zealous efforts to make the
" desert blossom as the rose " still remains.
Dan Chapman
Was a native of the state of Connecticut. He came into
the county at an early period after its erection, and settled
on the Stone ridge, Herkimer village, where he engaged in
mercantile pursuits, but the ledger balances showing a
deficit, he abandoned the weights and measures of merchan-
dising, and betook himself to those of the legal profession.
He must have been admitted to the bar previous to May,
1804 ; his name does not appear on the roll of attorneys
commencing at that date. He was appointed surrogate of
the county March 23d, 1803, superseded in 1807 by an
adverse council of appointment, reappointed in 1808, and
held the office until November, 1816. He seems to have
escaped some of the political vicissitudes of the times
during his last period, that appear to have been visited upon
the sheriff and county clerk. The federal party held the
appointing power of the state in 1810 and 1813, and if
political conformity preserved to him the seals of probate
and administration, Mr. Chapman must have been exceed-
ingly adroit and flexible. He quit the profession about the
year 1820, and removed to Oneida county. He again
returned to this county, and after remaining here a short
time removed to Montgomery county, where he died a few
years since at a very advanced age. He was a subaltern
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 303
officer in the revolutionary army, and enjoyed the gratuity
of his country in his old age, which softened and assuaged
the " ills that life is heir to." He was not successful in
accumulating wealth, although his life was morally and
religiously irreproachable.
Atwater Cook
Was born in the town of Salisbury, in this county, Decem-
ber 17, 1795, of parents in moderate circumstances in life,
who were of English or Anglo-Saxon extraction. His father
lived to attain a pretty advanced old age.
Like most young men of that day, Mr. Cook's education
was limited to the course of instruction taught in the country
schools of that time, but he was endowed with a strong and
vigorous mind, a sound and discriminating judgment, and
much practical good sense. He experienced some of the
vicissitudes of life and the " charms of its varieties " were
not unknown to him at the commencement of his career of
manhood. He resolved, by just and laudable efforts, to
overcome all obstacles to the attainment of a reasonable
competence and the enjoyment of the confidence and good
will of his fellow citizens. He early turned his attention
to the dairy, and was among the first of our farmers who
abandoned grain-growing and resorted to grazing. His
exclusive attention was not given to agriculture. At differ-
ent periods of his life he was engaged in mechanical and
mercantile pursuits.
Mr. Cook was many years one of the justices of the peace
of his town ; the duties of the office he discharged with
ability and satisfaction to the people. He also held other
town offices of confidence and trust, and exerted, when he
chose, no inconsiderable influence among his fellow citizens.
When in the prime of life, he bestowed considerable atten-
tion, by reading and study, to the cultivation of a sound
and vigorous understanding. At the geueral election in
304 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
1830, he was chosen one of the members of assembly for
the county. Nicholas Lawyer, of Danube, and Olmsted
Hough, of Schuyler, were his colleagues. Mr. Cook was
an attentive and industrious member of the house during
the session of 1831, and was active and efficient in his exer-
tions to promote the interests of his constituents in regard
to local legislation, and especially in removing the alien
dead weight which had many years pressed so heavily upon
the village of Little Falls.
Although not trained to public debating, he spoke several
times during the session on important subjects before the
house, and was listened to with great attention. He was
much respected, and his familiar acquaintance with the
internal local affairs of towns and counties, made him a
useful member. In 1839, Mr. Cook and Benjamin Carver,
represented the county in the assembly. This time his
party was in a political minority in the house.
It may truly be said of Mr. Cook, he possessed a mind of
considerable conservative tendencies, still he was a man of
progress. He lived in a progressive age, and belonged to a
progressive race, and he failed not to meet the exigencies
of the day and the hour when action was called for. He
was among the first in the town of Salisbury to initiate the
temperance movement, and he continued, through life, to
give the cause his warmest advocacy and most hearty support.
He was equally active, prompt and devoted to every move-
ment which would tend to ameliorate the condition of his
race, or promote the welfare and best interests of the com-
munity where he lived.
Mr. Cook's health was quite infirm during the latter years
of his life, and he suffered much and acutely, from severe
sickness ; neverthelesss, his death was sudden, and unex-
pected to his friends at a distance. He died at his family
residence, in Salisbury, February 14th, 1853. He was then
the oldest male inhabitant, born in the town. By industry,
strict application to business, and a watchful providence of
HISTORY OP HERKTMER COUNTY. 305
his yearly gains, he had accumulated a competence of wealth,
for all human purposes, which he left to be enjoyed by his
family.
William II. Cook
Was a native of this state, and came into Norway, in the
fall of 1792, from Dutchess county. He settled a short
distance westerly of Norway village, where he devoted him-
self to farming and merchandising, pretty extensively, and
if I have not been misinformed, made some effort at the
milling business, which did not in the end amount to much,
in the way of increasing his we Ith. He was appointed
sheriff of the county, March 17th, 1802, and was annually
thereafter appointed, until 1806 ; when he was left out of
commission but was again appointed sheriff, in 1807, and
held the office one year longer. This ended his official
career in this county, and it might have been well for him
if he had never tasted office.
Mr. Cook was in the battle of Tippecanoe, fought on the
night of the 6th of November, 1811, between a small Ameri-
can force, under Gen. Harrison, and a numerous body of
north-western Indians. He died at Vincennes, Indiana.
Jabez Fox, a native of Connecticut, came into this county
about the year 1810, married a daughter of Mr. Cook. He
was admitted as an attorney, at the Herkimer county common
pleas, in January, 1813. Mr. Fox pursued his profession a
few years at Herkimer, and then removed to Little Falls, in
18 IS, or about that period. He was elected county clerk,
under the then new constitution, at the general election, in
1822, to hold for the term of three years, from the 1st day
of January following. He died at Herkimer, in January
1825, at the age of 35 years.
Doctor Rupus Crain
Was a native of Western, Worcester county, Massachu-
setts, and the second son in a family of ten children. I lis
306 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
father, Isaac Cram, was born in Coventry, Connecticut, and
his mother, whose maiden name was Putnam, and a near rela-
tion of Gen. Israel Putnam, was also a native of Western. His
early education was entirely sufficient to enable him to study
and practice the medical profession with much success.
He studied under the direction of Dr. Ross, of Colerain,
Mass., who is spoken of as an eminent and successful prac-
titioner, and after completing his course, formed a connec-
tion in business with his late tutor, which terminated when
he came to this state in 1790.
His first object was to fix himself at Cooperstown, Otsego
county, but passing through Warren on the route to his place
of destination, being pleased with the country and the
inhabitants, and finding many of them from New England, he
changed his determination and seated himself in Warren,
which at that time was destitute of a physician. Here he
devoted himself to his profession with the characteristic zeal
and assiduity of a young New Englander, and in a few years
found himself enjoying the rich fruition of an extended and
lucrative business. His position in a country town containing
as good lands as any in the county, enabled him to engage
in agricultural pursuits, which he prosecuted with success
in connection with his professional business, which received
his chief attention, to nearly the close of his life. Doctor
Crain came into the state early in life and formed a connec-
tion by marriage with an influential family of the town in
which he died. He was one of the early patrons of the
Medical college at Fairfield, and devoted himself earnestly
and efficiently to its success. He, like hundreds of others
who left the then over populated and not very prolific soil
of New England, near the close of the last century, had
determined to try his fortune in Western New York, as then
called, and he came, as he once told me when we were riding
together from Herkimer to Little Falls, resolved on success.
" Yes, sir," said he, in reply to a remark of mine, " a young
man witli a good profession and a fair share of talents, need
not fail, he can not fail in a new country, if he is prudent,
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 307
industrious and attentive to business. He can, if he wills to
do it, establish a reputation and accumulate a competence."
With a mind so constituted, success in life could only have
been prevented by a series of disastrous events, beyond the
control of the individual whose fate is affected by them,
and against which human foresight could erect no guards.
Although uniform and decided in his political principles,
Doctor Grain did not usually take an active part in the
contests which agitated the country, and especially his
adopted state, during many years of his life, in reference
to public measures. He preferred to devote himself to the
more peaceful and congenial pursuits of his profession, and
these were not often affected by the success or defeat of his
party friends.
In the course of a long and useful life, Doctor Crain was
often called upon by the confidence and partiality of his
townsmen to perform the duties of various local offices in
his town. He was appointed one of the judges of the court
of common pleas of the county on the 24th of February,
1817, and superseded in March, 1820, for political causes.
He was again reappointed in March, 1821, February, 1823,
and April, 1828, and held the office until 1833, when he was
left out of the commission at his own request. The doctor
was enough of a politician to be struck down whenever his
opponents could reach him.
In the presidential contest in 1828, between President
Adams and General Jackson, Doctor Crain was the demo-
cratic candidate for elector in this congressional district,
and was chosen to that office. The presidential electors
were then chosen by districts. When I say he was the demo-
cratic candidate, I suppose the fact that he favored Jackson's
election is sufficiently indicated. If it is not, then I will
say he was one of the twenty electors of this state who voted
for the general in December, 1828. The selection of Dr.
Crain to perform the great and important trust of declaring
the will of a constituency in the choice of the highest elec-
tive office in the world, was alike due to his social position
308 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
and political standing. De Tocqueville thinks we have
adopted a most happy expedient in our mode of electing a
chief magistrate, combining, as it does, the " respect due to
the popular voice with the utmost celerity of execution, and
those precautions which the peace of the country demands."
The lust part of the sentence might have been omitted, for
the American people have not yet seen the time when they
would go seriously to work cutting each other's throats for
the sake of any candidate for the presidency, and probably
never will.
Doctor Crain possessed a large fund of anecdote, and was
very social and hospitable. He died in the town of Warren,
September 18th, 1846, having arrived at the mature age of
three score years and over, leaving a handsome estate to
the inheritance of two descendants, a son and a daughter.
Henry Ellison
Was, I believe, a native of one of the New England states.
He came to this county, and settled in the town of Herkimer,
at an early period of its history, on the West Canada creek,
several miles north of Herkimer village, where he was many
years successfully engaged in farming and tanning. He
was a sagacious, intelligent man, although, like most of his
compeers in age and occupation, his early school education
was limited. A sound judgment, industry and frugality,
make ample amends for the absence of mental adornments,
in the industrial pursuits of life, where the latter can have
but little application.
Mr. Ellison was chosen an elector of president and vice
president, in 1836, and gave his vote in the state college of
electors for Martin Van Buren, as the successor of Gen.
Jackson. To him a most grateful office, the remembrance
of which he long cherished. This selection was due to his
character, as a man, and his political standing with his
party. He was a strict economist, in public affairs, as well
as in his domestic relations. He accumulated an ample
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 309
estate, which he left to his posterity. Mr. Ellison died
about six years ago, at his residence in Herkimer, at a pretty
advanced age.
John Frank
Was the son of Conrad Frank, a palatine emigrant, and
one of the patentees of the grant commonly called Staley's
3d tract. John was appointed a justice of the peace for
Montgomery county, March 27th, 1790, and afterwards
commissioned as one of the justices of Herkimer county,
February 17th, 1791, and appointed one of the judges of the
county courts, March 27th, 1794, and held that office until
1799 or 1800. From my recollection of him, he was small
in stature, and when young, must have been a remarkably
energetic man. He was in the prime of life and vigor of man-
hood, during the dark and calamitous period of the revolu-
tion, and one of the committee of safety, in the German
Flats and Kingsland districts. The name is spelled Frink,
by Campbell and Stone, when giving a list of the members
of the committee, from different districts of Tryon county.
When the news of the destruction of Andrustown, by
Brant and his dusky servitors, on the 18th of July, 1778,
reached Fort Herkimer, Judge Frank was among the fore-
most and most zealous of the resolute patriots, who volun-
teered to repel and punish the marauders. Brant, having the
advantage in time, was too wary and nimble-footed for his
pursuers. He had accomplished his objects, and had no
wish to encounter, in a hand-to-hand fight, an exasperated
and resolute foe, although not his equal in numbers.
Brant's escape being fully ascertained when his pursuers
reached the Little lakes, their mortification and disappoint-
ment was distinctly manifested in plundering and burning
the habitations of Young and Collyer, two decided tories
who had given " aid and comfort" to the enemy, on his way
to Andrustown, and who had not been molested or injured
by Brant and his followers. This application of the lextalionis
21
310 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
would be considered rather severe at this day, when not
provoked by some active participation in aggression, on the
part of the sufferers. But let it be remembered, that the
tory inhabitants of the country, although they might, from
policy, refrain from being seen with arms in their hands,
making war upon their liberty-loving neighbors, were at all
times active and diligent in conveying intelligence to their
hurt; and ever ready to supply the king's adherents with
provisions, and shelter them from pursuit, when required or
needful, and whose humanity was never known to give a
sympathetic tear of sorrow or regret, at the manifold and
unspeakable sufferings inflicted upon their nearest neighbors,
and former fellow subjects; and we can not, and should not
condemn them for any acts of retaliatory severity, short of
taking life. I crave indulgence, for justifying by argument,
what some may from tenderness set down in the catalogue
of wrongs.
There is not, in my judgment, any grounds for supposing
Judge Frank disapproved of the conduct of his companions,
in their dealings with Young and Collyer. What had he
seen within a few hours'? A small, secluded hamlet of seven
families, remote from the track of war, invaded for the mere
object of plunder, everything valuable that could be removed
carried away, five of the inhabitants killed, the remainder
driven into captivity, and every house and other building in
the settlement, reduced to ashes by the invader's torch.
Judge Frank closed a long and eventful life, in the town
of German Flats, about 15 years ago. When the infirmities
of age had bowed his venerable head, so that he could no
longer stand or walk erect, he retained to the last, and in a
remarkable manner, the full possession of a sound, vigorous
and intelligent mind. His residence was near the south
bank of the Mohawk river, nearly opposite to Herkimer
village, and a few rods west of the site of old Fort Herkimer.
He had seen the infant German settlements, on the north
side of the river, twice destroyed. Once, by the French
and Indians, in 1757, and again, by the Indians and tories,
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 311
in 1778 ; he had also seen the settlements on the south side
of the river, devastated by the French and Indians, in 1758,
and again by Br^nt and his followers, in 1778. He lived to
see his country again involved in the war of 1812; the patri-
otic alacrity of his countrymen, as they marched to the
frontiers for her defense, and he saw that struggle closed
by an honorable peace. And, he lived to see what cheered
the ardor of his noble heart, and soothed the anxieties of
his declining years, his country free, prosperous and happy.
Simeon Ford.
In 1816, when I came into the county, this gentleman
was a prominent and leading member of the bar, a position
he had held several years. He came into the county
previous to 1797, and after his admission to the bar, was
associated in the profession with Mr. Gaylord Griswold, until
the death of the latter. Being the junior member of the firm
his partner, as was then the fashion, stood first on the list, as the
recipient of political favors and promotion. Mr. Ford was ap-
pointed district attorney of the county, early in the year 1819,
and held the office until May, 1823, the duties of which he per-
formed with ability, and most untiring fidelity. He was a
sound, well read, criminal lawyer, and a good advocate,
and in saying this, I must not be understood as intimating
he was not in other respects eminent in his profession. He
always conducted his prosecutions as if he believed, and
felt, the prisoner was guilty, and it was his duty to convict.
The rogues often stood appalled, when the grand-jury came
into court with true bills against them. Mr. Ford again
held the office of district attorney a short time in 1836. He
had, previous to 1820, been several times a candidate for
popular suffrage, more with a view, as I suppose, of gratify-
ing his political friends, than with a confident expectation
of success. Not because the candidate was unpopular with
his party, or was in any respect unfit for the place. The reader
familiar with the history of Herkimer county politics, informer
312 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
times, can well understand, why Mr. Ford should be defeated
in a popular election, at the times referred to.
No man in the county had stronger hold upon the feelings
of party friends, or stood higher in their estimation, than
Mr Ford, and they were ever ready to place him as a can-
didate before the people, when a chance of success should
occur. At the annual elections, in the spring of 1820 and
1821, he was chosen member of assembly. His legislative
career was limited to the two sessions of 1821 and 1822,
during which, if he was not the party leader, he was an
influential and prominent member of the house. He was
attentive, watchful and industrious, and Governor Clinton
could not have had a more ardent and devoted supporter
of his policy, than Mr. Ford was. Old associations, and long
tried attachments, clustered around him, and he could not
bear to see them dissipated, without making an effort to
prevent it. He had always been the advocate of the canal
policy, enunciated by Mr. Clinton, which was strongly
assailed by many of the governor's opponents. He was,
moreover, deeply imbued with a conservative feeling, in
regard to the existing judiciary. It was these views and
opinions, commendable in any man, which brought Mr. Ford
into the position, a false one, as respected the public feeling,
of attempting to stem or turn aside a popular torrent, which
eventually swept him and his friends from power for a
time. If we claim to justify our own conduct, in public
affairs, on the basis of an honest conviction, that what we
advocate is right, we must allow the same immunity to an
opponent. What the majority may say, in respect to the
merits of the question debated, is quite an other matter.
Thus much has been said, because many worthy citizens of
the county believe Mr. Ford was entirely conscientious in
the course he pursued, and they could not but admire his
courage and devotion.
Mr. Ford became pecuniarily embarrassed by the purchase
of some lands in the Hassenclever patent. Perhaps, other
real estate purchases, near Herkimer, were connected with
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 313
it. At any rate, if he had held the lands in the patent, a few
years longer, the result would have been quite different.
Instead of suffering a loss, he would have realized a handsome
profit by the rise in prices.
In the year 1825, he was appointed by Governor Clinton
to an office at the salt springs, Syracuse. He remained there
several years. He resigned his post at Syracuse, and remo-
ved to Rochester, where he remained five years and then he
returned to Herkimer, and resumed his profession in 1832,
with all the ardor and buoyancy of a vigorous young man.
But his professional business had been broken up, and his
former clients had been compelled, in his absence, to seek
professional aid and advice in other quarters and among his
successors. He remained, however, at Herkimer until about
the year 1836, when he removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where
he pursued his profession successfully several years, giving
much of his attention to the office of prosecuting attorney,
which he received when he went to Cleveland, and held at
the time of his death, which took place in the year 1839,
at the age of 62 years. He was a native of Berkshire,
Massachusetts, and removed from Berkshire county into
this state. He was high-minded, honorable and generous,
almost to a fault. His office was the chief resort of students
in the legal profession in this part of the state for nearly
twenty years. Few men in the legal profession have been
more highly respected in the circle of their acquaintance
than Mr. Ford, and few have better deserved it.
David V. W. Golden
Was a native of Beekmantown, Dutchess county. In
1792 he removed to Niskayuna, in this state, where he was
several years engaged in the mercantile business. In 1798
he came into this county, and established himself in the
present town of Columbia, where he carried on his mercan-
tile business until his death, which took place on the 11th
of February, 1814, aged 41 years. Mr. Golden opened the
314 HISTOEY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
first store in the town, and is reputed to have been quite
successful in business.
He was appointed one of the judges of the county courts
in March, 1810, and commissioned first judge of the county,
March 21st, 1811, and held the office until his death. The
records of the courts show that Judge Golden was attentive
to the duties of his office. He was a man of considerable
note in the county, and was regarded for his honorable
conduct and fair dealing.
Gaylord Griswold
Was a native of Windsor, in the state of Connecticut.
He settled in the county soon after it was erected, if not
before. He is said to have been a man of rare endowments
and great energy of character. Thomas R. Gold came into
the then western country about the same time, and Mr. Gris-
wold and Mr. Gold made an arrangement that one of them
would stop at Herkimer, and the other at Whitestown ; the
courts in the county then being held alternately at these
two places. Mr. Gold, it seems, took the most expanded
field of operations, though he was not Mr. Griswold's
superior in legal talents. The reader may recollect, that in
the chapter devoted to that object, reference has been made
to the supposed political feeling of the population of the
county at its first organization. Mr. Griswold was one of
the strong and vigorous men who aided largely in holding
the popular vote subservient to the views of his own party.
We find him, in 1797 and 1798, a member of the assembly
from the county, having for colleagues men, some of whom
afterwards acted with the political party which he opposed.
Party lines may not then have been so strictly drawn as
they were two or three years afterwards.
We next find Mr. Griswold elected a representative in
congress, about the year 1802, from the 15th congressional
district, composed of the counties of Herkimer, Oneida
and St. Lawrence. It appears, from the recorded events of
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 315
the times, that Mr. Griswold lived and was in public life at
a period when one of those political ebullitions, which not
unfrequently visit our state, was about making its appear-
ance, in a contest between Aaron Burr and Morgan Lewis,
as candidates for governor. Mr. Hammond, in his Political
History, states that " Gaylord Griswold, then a member of
congress from Herkimer county, wrote a letter, which was
published, in which he urged his friends to support Mr.
Burr, as the only means of breaking down the democratic
party, and charged the opposition of Gen. Hamilton to
personal resentment against Burr."
We must not inflict an injury on the memory of Mr. Gris-
wold, by allowing it to be supposed that this was other than
a private letter, written to a political friend, and that its
publication was a breach of confidence. However well
disposed he may have been to embrace the ordinary or
extraordinary means often resorted to by political partisans
to break down their opponents, he could not have willingly
sought an opportunity of openly charging Gen. Hamilton
with being governed by private hatred in his opposition to
Col. Burr. Small men will often be guilty of mean and
dirty acts, but Mr. Griswold was not of that clan. He was
ardent, it is true, high-minded and generous, and knew too
well what belonged to his position and character to commit
such an act of indiscretion.
Since writing the above, a friend has put into my hands a
handbill containing the letter referred to by Mr. Hammond.
The letter was written at Washington, in February, 1804,
and was not made public until April 23d, 1807, three years
after the contest between Lewis and Burr, and when the
latter was being proceeded against for treason and high
misdemeanor, in attempting, as was charged, to subvert the
government and setting on foot a hostile expedition against
a power with whom we were at peace. This letter does not
show that Mr. Griswold upheld Col. Burr's conduct which
led to his arrest as an offender against the laws of the United
States, nor does Mr. Griswold charge the opposition of Gen.
316 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
Hamilton "to personal resentment against Burr." The
letter contains this expression, in reference to Hamilton,
and nothing more : " It is a matter of surprise among our
federal friends here, how Hamilton can take so important a
part. Report says, Hamilton made a long speech in favor
of Lansing, and against Burr. I fear his personal resent-
ment to Burr, and not policy, governs his conduct." The
object of the publication at the time was not to inflict .a
personal injury upon- Mr. Griswold, but to damage the lead-
ing federalists in the public estimation. Having placed Mr.
Griswold redes in curia, on this point, I leave the subject.
He was connected by marriage with the Hooker family, in
Connecticut, several of whom emigrated into the state, and
were largely engaged in mercantile business. He died at
Herkimer March 1st, 1809, aged 41 years, 2 months, and 11
days, leaving a handsome estate, and a family to enjoy it.
Joab Griswold
Was born at Goshen, Connecticut, June 29th, 1769, and
died at Herkimer, August 20th, 1814, aged 45 years. He
came into the county at an early peiod after its erection,
and settled at Herkimer. Joab, Elihu and Gaylord Gris-
wold, although natives of the same state, emigrating about
the same period, and seating themselves in the same locality
in another state, did not claim any relationship or affinity.
The subject of this brief notice was also one of the active
and influential men who exerted themselves so successfully
and efficiently in upholding the federal party in the county
the first ten years of its organization.
He was rewarded for his devotion and services with the
office of county clerk, conferred upon him by his political
friends, on the 19th March, 1798, which he held six years,
when he was visited by the adverse turn in political affairs.
The office building in which the county records and papers
were kept, was burned down with all the contents, the night
before he was to deliver possession to his successor. This
HISTOBY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 317
was a singular and probably unavoidable occurrence. Mr
Griswold was a lawyer by profession, engaged in agricultural
pursuits while he lived at Herkimer, and these constituted
his chief engagements, aside from his official employment.
He left a family ; some of them were residents of Herkimer
village until recently, if they are not at this time.
Elihu Griswold
Was a native of Windsor, Connecticut, and he. also came
into the county and settled at Herkimer at an early period.
He was educated in the medical profession, and was there-
fore called Dr. Griswold, by way of distinction, although he
did not pursue his profession after he settled in Herkimer.
When he first came into the county, and for some years
afterwards, he, like Gaylord and Joab, was attached to the
federal party ; but as man is not bound always to adhere to
one side in politics, even though he may have been nurtured
in a particular school, and at this present writing, floods of
people seem to be looking out for new political homes, the
doctor placed himself in antagonism to his former political
friends, about the year 1801, and made gallant fight with his
republican compeers to bring about a political revolution in
the county.
Mr. Griswold was appointed county clerk, April 6th, 1804,
by Governor Morgan Lewis, or rather by the council of
appointment, about the time Governor Lewis was elected.
He held the office six years, when he was superseded in
1810 ; was again reappointed in 1811, and continued to hold
it until his death in 1812, when he was succeeded by his
son-in-law, Aaron Hackley, Jr., Esq. He was born August
17th, 1756, and died at Herkimer, January 12th, 1812, aged
55 years. He was educated and accomplished • a man of
considerable energy of character, courteous, generous and
social. It is worthy of notice that all three of these Gris-
wolds died in the prime of life and vigor of manhood.
Among Doctor Griswold's descendants were several daugh-
318 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
ters, all of whom were respectably connected by marriage
to prominent and influential citizens of the county. I depart
a little from my rule to say one of them married a Mr.
Townsend, a merchant in the village of Herkimer, who
meeting with reverses in business, made up his mind to seek
a home in the far west, and lay the foundation anew of a
fortune for his family, by devoting himself to farming.
About the year 1817, Mr. Townsend, with his resolute and
devoted wife and several small children, left a home where
ease, refinement and elegance had surrounded them, bade a
sorrowing adieu to relatives and friends, and started on
their journey to the interior of Illinois, over land to Olean
point in this state, thence down the Alleghany and Ohio
rivers in a flat boat, and from Shawneetown, or some point
on the banks of the father of waters, to their haven of hope
and rest amid the broad, smiling prairies of the embryo
state. An intimate friend of the writer, who visited the
family in the spring of 1820, said he found them seated
about thirty miles northeast of Edwardsville, on a beautiful
prairie, containing several hundred acres, not far from a
considerable stream of water, near which is usually found
an adequate supply of woodland. Mr. Townsend had erected
his log dwelling, farm buildings and yards to secure his
farm stock during night, from such pestilent poachers as
bears, foxes and prairie wolves, and sometimes two-legged
animals called thieves. The visiter, after a brisk ride of
forty miles over broad prairie fields, redolent with the wild
flowers of spring, encountering often herds of deer, with
nostrils distended and antlers erect, not unfrequently fol-
lowed in full chase by a brown, cowardly prairie wolf,
whose voracious gaze was fixed upon a fawn ; then the
sharp rattle of the usually dull snake, giving timely notice
of its dangerous proximity, ever and anon enlivened by the
brisk flight of the prairie hen, and the awkward but rapid
stride of the wild turkey, arrived near nightfall at Mr.
Townsend's place, just as he, with his farm aiders, had
returned from the field of labor and were housing the cat-
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 319
tie and stock. Although his acquaintance with Mrs. Town-
send before she left the state had been slight, he approached
the door of the cabin and met a lady on whose countenance
he had never seen a more happy and gladsome expression.
" 0 ! Mr. S.," said she, extending her hand to him, " I can
not express how much satisfaction I feel in meeting one
from Herkimer, the dear, dear home of my youth, where
still live many cherished relations and friends, and where
too is found the revered resting place of an honored and
loved father and mother." But turning to her husband and
laying her hand upon his arm, she said in a subdued and
firm tone, " I am happy with you and my children, and
happy in this house. I have resolved to be contented and
am."
My friend was fed and lodged as sumptuously as could
be hoped for or expected by one who had become fully
acquainted with the ways of a frontier life and new begin-
ners. The short evening soon passed away in social chat,
in which many questions were asked of friends and acquaint-
ances, and many responses given. Just before retiring, Mrs.
T. said to her visiter, " we sometimes have nightly doings
here which the eastern people, generally, are not accustomed
to, and you will not, I hope, be frightened at any unusual
noises. Our log walls are a perfect protection. Indeed, the
music of our midnight serenaders will not, I dare say, con-
vince you that ' all discord is harmony not rightly under-
stood.'" In the course of the night my friend said he was
awoke by sounds more resembling what he would imagine
to be the dismal and frantic yell of infernals, than living
animals. " Do you hear the music," asked Mrs. T. of her
guest, "and what do you think of it V " Think of it?" he
replied, " you must be more than a Roman matron, if you
bear these tormenting wolf yells." The concert was soon
ended by the crack of a rifle, and the prowling serenaders
fled from the habitation of man. After overhauling his
defensive weapons, and breaking his fast, my friend left this
320 HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
family, happy in the enjoyment of the present and hopeful
of the future, and turned his face towards St. Louis.
John Graves
Was a native of Dutchess county in this state and
removed into the town of Russia in 1795, where he se-
lected and purchased by contract a lot in the " wild
woods" which he designed to convert into a farm, and make
it his abiding place and home. At the age of 19 years he
had paid the contract price for the land, when calling for
his deed the seller could not make him a title, and he was
compelled to find the true owner and again bargain and pay
for the lot, which he did. This was a hard and discourag-
ing beginning in life to be encountered by one so young and
in a new and wilderness county, but he no doubt believed it
better for him to combat the adversities which had over-
taken him, where he then was, than to try any new locality
or other expedient. The sequel of life with him proved he
acted wisely and prudently.
He was elected member of assembly in this county in
1812, on a ticket with Rudolph I. Shoemaker and Hosea
Nelson. His majority, although he had the largest vote of
any candidate on his ticket, was only 40 ; and the average
majority of the successful candidates was fifty-three. This
was at the eve of the eventful period of the war with
Great Britain when political party lines were stringently
drawn. Mr. Graves supported the war policy of the then
national government. He was again chosen member of
assembly at the November election in 1823, with Christo-
pher P. Bellinger and Caleb Budlong, and was consequently
a member of the house during the stormy session in the win-
ter of 1824, and at the extra session in the following Novem-
ber. The subjects which engrossed public attention at this
time are noticed in another portion of this work. He
favored the claims of William H. Crawford to the presidency
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 321
and acted throughout with the republican party of this
state in the fruitless etfort of securing his election.
Having been chosen sheriff of the county, he entered upon
the duties of the office on the 1st day of January, 1829,
which he discharged with great fidelity and satisfaction to
the public. At the end of his official term he retired from
public life to the enjoyments of a domestic home, sur-
rounded by competence and the society of friends who
knew and appreciated his worth. He died at Gravesville
in the town of Russia on the 16th of February, 1855, aged
76 years, leaving a widow and two sons, one of whom is
the Hon. Ezra Graves of Herkimer.
The obituary notice of his death disclosed the fact that
he died of consumption after a protracted and painful sick-
ness. Mr. Graves was among the first of the hardy and
resolute pioneers who penetrated the wilderness to the
northwesterly portion of the Royal grant, where for sixty
years he marked the times and seasons as they came and
went, and noticed the exit of his compeers as they passed
life's threshold to their long rest and silent home. But few
remain of those, who, before the year 1800, emigrated into
the county for the purpose of settlement, and the sod of the
valley shall soon mark the place where that few must rest.
S David Holt.
I can give only an outline of the official character of Mr.
Holt, for although nearly half a century a resident of the
county, where he raised a pretty numerous family in our
midst, he is now gone, and they have emigrated to that
great field of eastern enterprise, the far west. He was a
practical printer, came into the county in 1805, from the
city of Hudson, and commenced the publication of a repub-
lican newspaper, which he continued a few years and then
was compelled to abandon it for want of patronage. He
was a short time engaged in editing a republican paper at
Herkimer, not far from the year 1811. He held the office
322 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
of post master at Herkimer many years, and collector of the
internal revenue under the general government. He also
acted as a justice of the peace, an office conferred by the
state government, and was esteemed an excellent magistrate.
He was appointed one of the judges of the county court
on the 24th of February, 1817, and first judge of the county
in February, 1821, and held the latter office until March,
1825. He adhered to the fortunes of Governor De Witt
Clinton, as he had, I believe, to those of George Clinton, and
was stricken down in the political revulsions which over-
took the former. This was a dark period in Judge Holt's
life, but like a true man and one resolved to do his whole
duty, he resumed his mechanical trade, and again managed
bank and handled quoins although he was poor.
Judge Holt was engaged for a brief period in printing
the Republican Farmer's Free Press at Herkimer ; he then
removed to Little Falls, and printed the Mohawk Courier
while that paper was published by C. S. Benton & Co. He
may have remained a short time in the office after Mr. Noo-
nan bought the establishment, but I think he did not. He
then removed to Albany where he was engaged in type
setting more than ten years, and from thence he went to
Wisconsin where some of his sons had settled. Now he no
longer " moves the lever that moves the world."
' ' Alike to him is time or tide,
December's snow or July's pride ;
Alike to him is tide or time,
Moonless midnight or matin prime."
He met the reverses of life with resignation and fortitude.
He many years, as the reader must conclude, from a perusal
of this brief notice, enjoyed a large share of the public con-
fidence, worthily bestowed, and exerted an influence in
political affairs not yet forgotten.
history of herkimer county. 323
Michael Hoffman.
In attempting a brief sketch of the life and public career
of Mr. Hoffman, I feel some embarrassment at the outset.
Our personal and political relations for many long, long
years had ripened into a deep seated and almost fraternal
regard, but in the evening of his, and I might say of my
own days, it was our fortune to differ on some questions of
domestic policy, that in no respect to my knowledge dis-
turbed in the least our personal relations, and that circum-
stances can in no respect induce me to do the least inten-
tional wrong to his character or fame. I know I am
touching a delicate subject to speak of myself in this con-
nection, and only do it to enter a broad and unqualified
disclaimer at the threshold to meet all ungenerous cavilings
and unkind surmises in regard to the motives and objects
that induced me to perform a labor which should have been
undertaken by abler hands.
Mr. Hoffman was born on the 11th of Oct., 1787, at Half
Moon, Saratoga co., in this state. His father was a native
of Germany, and his mother though born in this country
was of Protestant Irish descent. Her parents emigrated
directly from the Green isle, and by this means the pure
blood of the Teuton and the Celt mingled in his veins. He
commenced the study of medicine in 1807, and obtained the
diploma of M. D. in 1810. For some cause, and what I am
unable to state, he abandoned the pursuit of this profession,
commenced the study of law in 1811, and was admitted as
an attorney in 1813. This must have been the date of his
admission in the supreme court, or at the common pleas of
some other county than Herkimer. His name is found on
the rolls in this county entered December 14th, 1815. My
acquaintance with him commenced soon after the month of
March, 1816 ; he was then in an office with Aaron Hackley,
Esq., at Herkimer, and probably as a partner. It was about
this time, and also afterwards, that papers came to the
office in which I was a student at law endorsed " Hackley &
324 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Hoffman, Attys.," Mr. Hackley had established himself at
Herkimer in 1807, and at the time I now speak of was
county clerk. As Mr. Hackley was chosen member cf
assembly in the spring of 1817, and left the clerk's office at
the commencement of that year, the partnership I speak of
may not have commenced until that period.
By his assiduous attention to his profession, the force of
a strong native talent, very much improved and cultivated
in after years, aided by the desire of his partner to promote
his welfare, Mr. Hoffman had reached the front rank in his
profession in the county when about thirty years old. He
had lost four years in his medical pursuits.
He was an earnest and zealous advocate, and conducted
the trial of his causes, from the opening to the close, with
unabated ardor and confidence, and although beaten by the
ruling of the court, or the finding of the jury, he would
never admit he was conquered. He seldom failed to bring-
forward all the points of fact and law applicable to his case,
and to present the strongest in such a form as to attract
the attention of the court and jury. He was prone to
adhere to the technicalities and precision of legal prece-
dents, and in urging them he might waive points that
involved, to some extent, the substantial merits of the case.
At any rate, he seldom, if ever, failed to do full justice to
his cause and his client to the extent of his duty as counsel.
Mr. Hoffman's constitution was neither robust nor firm,
and the labor of a long and intricate trial at the circuit
would sometimes nearly exhaust him ; but he always bore
up under these infirmities with an almost unconquerable
resolution. He was afflicted many years with an internal
chronic affection, which eventually proved fatal.
I am not aware that Mr. Hoffman had participated, to any
great extent, in the political contests of the day previous to
1819 ; in the spring of that year, he attended a political
meeting held at the Court House in Herkimer, and offered
a series of resolutions disapproving the course of Governor
De Witt Clinton, and urged their adoption by the meeting
HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 325
in an able and eloquent appeal. The resolutions were
adopted, and the disruption of the republican party in the
county into Clintonians and bucktails took place at that
time. After the nomination of a federal assembly ticket,
the disjointed sections attempted to coalesce, but were
defeated at the election.
About this time, Mr. Hoffman removed to Waterloo,
Seneca county, which had recently been established as a
county seat, and opened an office in connection with Mr.
Bartow, a young gentleman who had studied with him, and
who, I believe, was a relative ; but owing to the impaired
state of his health, and some severe domestic afflictions, he
returned again to Herkimer, and resumed the practice of
his profession, after an absence of a few years. He was
appointed district attorney of the county, by the county
court, at the May term, 1823, and held the office until the
December term, 1825. He was again reappointed in March,
1836, and resigned the following September.
I have elsewhere noticed Mr. Hoffman's election to con-
gress in 1824. This was his first appearance before the
people of the county as a candidate for popular favor. He
sustained himself nobly through an excited and stormy
canvass, and was vigorously and efficiently supported by as
resolute and active body of friends as ever, in this or any
other state, was brought out to support a candidate. He
was known to be a man of the first grade as to talents. His
character was beyond and above reproach of any sort ; he
was moreover a sound democratic republican. If he at any
after period of his life thought differently on the subject
of national politics, it matters not ; he was then a firm
national democrat. He came out of the contest a victor,
beating his competitor by only 246 votes, while every other
democratic candidate running on the same ticket, or voted
for at that election in the county, were beaten by majorities
ranging from 43 to 138. There were then sixteen towns in
the county ; he obtained small majorities in ten of them,
22
326 HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
and his opponent in six. The peculiar circumstances which
attended this election, and the marked public favor with
which Mr. Hoffman's name was received, could not and did
not fail to place him in the front rank of the democratic
party in the county, and among the prominent men of the
state, which position he maintained seemingly without any
effort, while he lived. He was again chosen member of
congress in 1826, 1828 and 1830. In 1828, he was elected
without opposition. His course during eight years' service
in the house of representatives was marked by an able and
assiduous attention to his public duties, and the places
assigned to him on the different committees of that body
showed the distinguished appreciation in which he was held
by the presiding officers of the house and his colleagues
from this state. I do not propose to notice the particulars
of his congressional career. This may be the proper place
for an extended review of that subject, but my limits will
not allow it. It must suffice to say, he favored the election
of General Jackson to the presidency in 1828, and his ante-
cedent political action was directed to that object. He was
a decided advocate for free trade, and opposed to protect-
ive tariffs ; against the reincorporation of the United States
bank, and sustained the Maysville veto message of the pre-
sident. Although a state rights republican in the strictest
sense of that term, when applied to a northern politician,
he strenuously upheld President Jackson's administration,
even to an approval of the celebrated nullification message,
sent to congress in January, 1833, calling on the two houses
to pass the necessary laws to enable the government to
collect the national revenue in the state of South Carolina.
While in congress, he occupied prominent places on
important standing committees of the house of representa-
tives, and during his last term he was chairman of the com-
mittee on naval affairs, a position which brought him into
confidential communication with the executive departments
of the government. It has been usual in the practice of
our government, and especially when the speaker of the
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. , 327
house accorded in political sentiment with the president, to
consult the heads of the executive departments in respect
to the constitution of the five executive or strictly depart-
mental committees. This course enables the government at
all times to designate the individual member with whom, as
the organ of the house, it would be thrown into confidential
communication on delicate and important national questions,
when the public interests require that the intentions and
objects of the government shall not be promulgated to the
world, and that the popular representative branch of the
government shall sustain the executive department.
Mr. Hoffman was very averse to being placed at the head
of the committee on naval affairs. The subject was spoken
of at the time, but his friends were not able to find out any
satisfactory reasons for his objections. The administration
at this time possessed his unlimited confidence, and the
president, General Jackson, could not fail to consider Mr.
Hoffman an able and efficient supporter upon the floor of
the house. His objections must have been purely personal,
as he finally consented to accept the post.
The political struggle was veiy active, acrimonious and
bitter during the whole eight years of General Jackson's
administration, but I am not aware that Mr. Hoffman, in
public debate, indulged in personal allusions to his political
opponents, or denounced the individual conduct of his
antagonists. He assailed the policy and measures of the
opposition with so much zeal as to provoke the ire of George
Poindexter, a senator from the state of Mississippi, who
called on Mr. Hoffman for an explanation or retraction of
words spoken or written by him. This being declined, Poin-
dexter challenged him to single combat with mortal weapons.
There were two reasons, and pretty strong ones, why he
could not fight, even if he had been the aggressor ; the laws
of his state were extremely severe against duelling, and a
deep seated religious conviction forbade his making an
effort to take the life of a fellow being by single combat, or
to expose his own by being shot at, without an attempt to
328 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
cripple his opponent. His personal friends at Washington
insisted, however, that Poindexter was not justified by the
code of honor in calling him out, and that he might decline
the challenge without violating the duello. The whole
matter was referred to southern gentlemen, who, without
any hesitation, decided that under the circumstances of the
case, Mr. Hoffman could with honor decline to meet the
challenger. There were not ten electors in his district at
this time who did not approve of his conduct, as well in
regard to this duel, as his course in other respects, as their
representative, which was emphatically declared at a county
convention of his political friends not long after the affair
happened ; yet when an election for member next came
round, he did not command voices sufficient for a renomina-
tion, and his name was not presented as a candidate, nor
did he, by any means known to me, seek a renomination.
The known hostility of the president to a renewal of the
United States bank charter, Mr. Van Buren's rejection, as
minister to Great Britain, by the senate, and the pretty
evident indications of General Jackson's preferences in
respect to his successor, had produced an almost unexam-
pled excitement at "Washington, and in the public mind
throughout the country, on the subject of politics, and the
aggressive action of intemperate partisans appeared to find
no restraint in the courtesies of civilized life. In giving
Mr. Hoffman's statement of this affair, which the reader will
find below, 1. am not aware that I violate any confidence or
do any act disrespectful to his memory. It is a brief and
terse summary of the transaction, and placed him on high,
honorable grounds.
" Washington City, Feb'y 26, 1832.
"Dear Sir : The public papers advise you of the manner in
which I have been hunted and abused. Illness, which still
confines me, has prevented my early expose to you of this
matter.
" My first letter was a full and satisfactory answer : 1st, that
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 329
I had not procured the publication. 2d, that the conclusions
of the editors, sometimes called in the correspondence,
imputations, were not made on aDy request or suggestion of
mine. 3d, a brief statement of what Clement had said to me.
4th, that I had spoken of these in conversation with my
colleagues, who had informed me that he had made similar
statements to them ; and 5thly, that for the truth of his state-
ments I had at no time vouched.
" Davis' note objects that the 2d paragraph of that letter
was irrelevant and exceptionable. I know that what is relevant
can not be exceptionable or offensive. In my first note on the
4th point, I had not been as explicit as I might be. To
obviate his objection to irrelevancy, and to render that part
of my former note too explicit for cavil, I stated that it av;is
relevant, and added in express terms, as I had before said in
substance, that I had repeated these statements made by
Clement to me, in casual conversations. After this no objec-
tion is made on the ground of irrelevance.
" Indeed, it had been made and waived in Davis' first note,
because in that note, after making that objection, he
expressly narrowed' down the controversy to the single
point of agency in procuring publication. Asking an answer
to this alone was a waiver of all other matters either of
exception or inquiry.
" The concluding paragraph of my second note, repeats
by express reference the denial in my first. I contend then,
that by this reply, P. was concluded in his only inquiry and
excluded from all other inquiry whatever.
" But it is right that you should understand all this mis-
erable quibbling. The printed card, as well as the violent
and intemperate " call " on me and others, was a design to
muzzle the press, cut out the tongue and prevent the utter-
ance of what Clement had stated. Meantime he was almost
daily employed in making denials in the Telegraph on the
subject, not only of the truth of what he had stated, but also
that he had made any such statements. After these denials,
however clearly it may be proved that he made these state-
330 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
ments, he can not, I think, be successfully employed as a
witness to prove that his statements to us were true.
" In this view of the subject you will duly appreciate the
reason why the second paragraph of my first letter was
deemed exceptionable ; why it was not published in the
Telegraph, and why I was challenged because I would not
make my answers in substance- and form as my " inquisitors"
in their holy office thought proper to order.
"My concluding note, sums up the matter as it then stood.
But these honorable men, after they were told the corres-
pondence must close, push in a reply. To understand,
answer and refute its sophistry and falsehood, it is only
necessary to underscore the words " statements," which
always mean the relations of Clement, and " imputations "
which throughout the correspondence, and in the very nature
of things here, means the " conclusions " of the editors from
those statements.
" Davis had required me to say that ' you do not vouch or
believe the truth of the imputations cast on Governor Poin-
dexter,' &c. I declined this as unnecessary. He did not
ask me either in relation to the statements. I did not decline
doing either as to the statements.
"But in his supplemental letter he argues while he states
that I was required to vouch or believe as to the imputations,
and refused to do either, it left it to be inferred that I
believed the statements of Clement, and for that single cause I
was challenged. But I had in my ver}^ first note said I had
at no time vouched for the truth of his statements.
" So much for the sophistry of that supplement on its
face.
" Suppose I had said I believed every word that Clement
stated to me ; ought I to be shot for yielding a belief to a
man whom Mr. P. had introduced to the senate as the wit-
ness of truth against Mr. Van Buren ? According to Clement's
letter the senator had sought him out, and in his character
of senator asked in a letter for the precious information ;
and this man, who admits he raised the corpse of Hicks,
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 331
reluctantly yields to the solicitations of the senator and
makes the disclosures. Yet the senator reads that letter,
and I was to be shot for merely hearing the same witness
speak.
" I am sick and too fatigued to write more, and must lie
down. Yours, Michael Hoffman.
N. S. Benton.
Mr. Hoffman was very urgent that Mr. Sandford should
be reelected to the senate of the United States, in 1831,
and wrote several letters to the members of the legislature
on the subject ; but a strong belief that he was interested in
the United States bank, coupled with a desire to bring out
a man who would be available as a candidate for governor,
induced the republican members to select with great unan-
imity another individual. Another fact had strong influence
upon the democratic members of the legislature, to induce
them to bestow the office upon William L. Marcy. He was
known to be the confidential friend of Martin Van Buren,
and the war waged against that gentleman by the combined
opposition, gigantic in intellect and power, did not fail to
draw around him at that time, the deep sympathies of the
friends of Andrew Jackson, in this state as well as elsewhere,
and they were therefore prepared to throw around him as
strong a bulwark as could be erected.
On Mr. Hoffman's retirement from congress, he was
appointed one of the canal commissioners of this state, in
the year 1835 ; he held the office but a short time. He suf-
fered a heavy pecuniary loss by having been a surety for a
young man, a distant family connection, I believe, and he
surrendered all, or nearly all, his property in arranging the
unhappy affair, and procuring a final discharge from his
liability. This occurrence reduced him from comparative
ease and comfort in pecuniary matters, to the necessity of
again resorting to the labors of his profession, which con-
tinued to engross his attention until the year 1836, when he
was appointed by the president and senate, register of the
332 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
land-office, for the Saganaw district, in Michigan, where he
remained until after the general financial explosion, in 1837.
I have to say, that Mr. Hoffman was appointed first judge
of the county, in June, 1830, and held the office until April,
1833 ; and that he again held the office of district attorney
of the county, a short time, in 1836.
He represented the county in the assembly, with Arphaxad
Loomis, in 1841 and 1842, and with Peter H. Warren, in 1844.
His party was in a minority in the house, in 1841, but, it
had regained the ascendency in both branches, in 1842, when
democratic state officers were elected, and a series of finan-
cial measures were initiated and carried through the
legislature, for the avowed purpose of reviving the credit
of the state, which had suffered pretty severely from causes
not necessary here to discuss, and concerning which the
two political parties of the day did not agree. A direct
tax was levied to aid the funds, appropriated for the Erie
canal enlargement, and the construction of the lateral canals.
Mr. Hoffman was at the head of the committee of ways and
means, and labored assiduously to perfect and carry through
his favorite measures. He was willing to levy a tax, to
resuscitate the credit of the state, and keep its faith unim-
paired with its creditors, in regard to existing obligations
and indebtedness, but he was not disposed to go one step
beyond that. The financial officer of the state, A. C. Flagg,
then recently elected comptroller, favored this policy. The
consequence was, that the further progress of the public
works on the canals was suspended, for the time being,
and the state stocks, and the state credit, soon regained
their former healthful position. These measures were
approved by William H. Seward, then governor of the state,
an ardent and enthusiastic advocate for the speedy comple-
tion of the canals. It was repeatedly stated during the
discussion of these measures, that the people would not wil-
lingly be taxed to support or aid the construction of the
canals, or even to bring the finance and credit of the state
into a healthful condition. Mr. Hoffman and his friends, it
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 333
seems, did not misjudge the public feeling on this subject.
Governor Seward convened an extra session of the legisla-
ture, in the summer of 1842, to provide the means for carrying
on the public works, but the majority was intractable, and
adjourned without doing anything, but to take the per diem
and mileage allowed by law.
The session of 1844 was not prolific of any great or inter-
esting questions of legislation, and although a majority of
the democrats elected to the assembly was friendly to what
was called the " canal policy," and elected a speaker who
was known to differ from Mr. Hoffman in regard to the
" stop and pay law," there are few, if any, instances in the
history of the legislation of this state, when a single mem-
ber exerted such powerful influence as did Mr. Hoffman
during this session. He did not trouble himself to advocate
many of the measures brought before the house, but he took
unwearied pains to oppose and defeat every project he con-
sidered unsound, impolitic or mischievous, and he seldom
failed.
The election of Mr. Polk, in 1844, brought into the execu-
tive chair of the United States an individual with whom
Mr. Hoffman had served in congress ; and this intimacy, it
is said, was the reason why the president nominated Mr.
Hoffman to the senate as naval officer in the city of New
York, against the remonstrances of a member of his cabinet
from this state. During the progress of the controversy on
the tariff question, and with South Carolina, he felt, and
often expressed, a deep anxiety in regard to the issue of
events and the fate of the country. His mind not unfre-
quently forboded an appeal to force, which he deprecated
in the strongest terms, and urged the adoption of conciliatory
measures so far as these could be tendered, by a modification
of the tariff, in order that confidence might be fully re-
stored between the antagonistic sections of the country.
Happily his fears and sombre anticipations were not real-
ized, nor could they well be under the wise and energetic
administration of Andrew Jackson. The man who, by one
334 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
sentence from his pen, could compel the ruler of thirty-four
millions of people, and one of the first continental powers
of Europe to fulfill the obligations of a solemn treaty, whose
conditions had been violated, was not to be " frightened
from his propriety " by any threats of domestic treason.
His advice to his countrymen to " ask for nothing but what
was right, and submit to nothing which was wrong," and his
known patriotic devotion to the best interests of his country,
had seated him too firmly in the hearts and affections of the
American people, to be disturbed by the denunciations or
threats of sectional politicians. But it is not my purpose to
eulogize General Jackson in this place, or speak of him out-
side of the nullification controversy.
Mr. Hoffman's appointment to the lucrative post assigned
him by the partiality of the president, and in my judgment
it was not undeserved under the circumstances of its be-
stowal, placed him in a condition where, by the application
of the prudential regulations which had governed him
through life, he soon retrieved his fortunes, and he was
enabled to leave his family, on his demise, possessed of an
ample competence. His former connections with the finan-
cial policy of the state, as settled by the legislation of 1842,
no doubt produced his election in Herkimer county, in 1846,
to revise the constitution of 1821, although he was then a
resident of the city of New York. The convention met at
the Capitol, in the city of Albany, on the 1st day of June,
1846, and it is probably needless for me to state, that Mr.
Hoffman participated largely in the initiatory proceedings of
that body, or that his course in the convention in any respect
disappointed the public expectation, founded upon the ante-
cedents of his public career.
Although every portion of the fundamental law, when
under revision, presents questions of the most grave consi-
deration, there are no doubt some points of more engrossing
importance than others. Mr. Hoffman was named chairman
of the committee to which was referred that part of the
constitution relating to
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 335
" 3. Canals, internal improvements, public revenue and
property ; public debt, and the powers and duties of the
legislature in reference thereto ; and the restrictions, if
any, proper to be imposed upon the action of the legislature
in making donations from the public funds ; and in making
loans of the moneys or credit of the state."
Broad and comprehensive inquiries, imposing great
labor to analyze and digest, and much power in debate to
illustrate and defend the details of a constitutional article
involving such varied and deeply interesting subjects. Mr.
Hoffman, from this committee, reported two articles, each
comprising several sections, on the 30th July, 1846. They
were the outlines of the existing 7th or financial article of
the present constitution. The debate was opened by him
on the 11th of September, by an able and elaborate argu-
ment, showing the condition of the finances and debt of the
state, its inability, except from taxation, to meet any in-
creased liabilities, and urged upon the convention the
necessity and expediency of placing some restraint upon
legislative discretion over the subject, which, he insisted,
was not to be depended on. He occupied the whole of one
day in elaborating his views on this occasion. I can not
even attempt a synopsis of his argument. The debate which
followed was highly interesting, and exhibited much talent
in the members who participated therein, and was finally
closed on the 7th of October, when, having been considera-
bly modified while under discussion, the two originally
reported articles were incorporated into one, and was
adopted by a vote of 77 to 9. Some of the most important
modifications to the original reports were moved by Mr.
Loomis, but whether with Mr. Hoffman's assent, I do not
know. If he felt it incumbent on him to carry through this
favorite proposition, he did not confine his whole attention
to this one subject He participated largely in the doings
of the convention generally, and evinced great ability,
research and experience. He voted for the restricted right
of suffrage imposed by the constitution upon the colored
336 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
population ; and voted for the separate submission of the
articles conferring free suffrage on this class of citizens.
There was no incongruity in these votes.
Mr. Hoffman's legislative career closed with the adjourn-
ment of the convention. It had been an unusually long and
varied one, twelve of the twenty-one years since his first
election to congress ; and it may with truth be said, he occu-
pied, during this period, a distinguished and prominent
position on the political stage. He was nearly twenty years
the recipient of official favors of some kind, and enjoyed the
popular confidence of the citizens of this county in a some-
what remarkable degree. His health, which had been rather
infirm some time previous to 1847, gave way more rapidly
under the accumulated difficulties of deep seated chronic
disease, about that period, and he closed his earthly pil-
grimage at Brooklyn, Kings county, on the 27th day of
September, 1848, aged 61 years.
He held the post of naval officer when he died, and his
remains were brought to Herkimer for interment. He was
a man of generous impulses, strong personal attachments
and unwavering political principles. In private life, his
character was wholly blameless ; as a public man his
reputation was unsullied by any acts of peculation upon
the public, or any efforts to further the prospects or promote
the interests of his political friends or his party, by a pros-
titution of patronage, or the partial appropriation or appli-
cation of the public treasure to promote similar objects.
While in congress, he represented a district which called for
no appropriation for local objects, and that was the condition
of his county when he was in the legislature. I do not mean
to say he was more pure than any other man living in his
day ; but he was not assailable on points that some men
have been.
Stephen Hallett
Was a native of the town of Salisbury in this county, and
was born there in the year 1787. He was the son of Major
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 337
Jonathan Hallett, an officer of the revolutionary army.
What business he was engaged in antecedent to the year
1820, I am not informed of; he that year removed to Fair-
field village, where he engaged in merchandise and also
carried on the same business in the town of Norway. Mr.
Hallett was appointed by the council of appointment, sheriff
of the county in 1821. The designation of the candidate
was made by a county convention, and the recommendation
of that body was approved by the council. He was reap-
pointed in the winter of 1822, and at the November election
of that year was chosen sheriff of the county under the pro-
vision of the constitution of 1821. His term of office expired
on the 1st of January, 1826. He was a prompt and efficient
public officer, and possessed a pretty full share of the "irre-
pressible energies " of a Herkimer politician of the domi-
nant party. He was intelligent, public spirited and humane.
He died at Fairfield, November 19th, 1827, aged 40 years,
leaving a family to mingle tears for their bereavment, with
the regrets of friends and neighbors for their loss.
If "he had faults I know not of them,
And if I did, why should I note them ?
Philo M. Hackley
Was born at Wallingford, New Haven county, Connecti-
cut, in October, 1776, and died at Allegan in the state of
Michigan, the 24th of October, 1849, aged 73 years. Aaron
Hackley, his father, removed into this state with his family
and settled in the town of Salisbury, in 1795. Within a few
years of this event, Philo M., the son, removed to the village
of Herkimer, and established himself in the mercantile
business, which he pursued with varied success, nearly
twenty years. He had been well educated, was gentlemanly
in his deportment, and a high-minded and honorable man.
He was a federalist in politics, and not ashamed to avow it
on all proper occasions ; was one of that talented and influ-
338 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
ential body of men, who early established themselves at the
county seat, who during several years exerted a potent
political influence in the county. He was well informed on
most subjects, and active and zealous in promoting the suc-
cess of his party. His political friends were not unmindful
of this, but sought out several occasions to show their grate-
ful attachment to a true and worthy adherent of a cause
which they no doubt believed was worthy of their best
efforts to sustain. He was appointed surrogate of the county
in 1807, but a political revolution displaced him the follow-
ing year. He was appointed sheriff in 1810, another change
in the appointing power transferred the office to a political
opponent.
The succeeding ten years found him enjoying the com-
forts of private life, although a period of very considerable
political excitement, and during which the country had
passed through a foreign war, and its institutions had been
subjected to the severest tests. At the spring election in
1819, he was chosen member of the assembly on a ticket
with James Orton and Jacob Markell. The election of three
old fashioned, although highly respected federalists, was an
unusual occurrence in the county. The causes which pro-
duced this change in the ascendency of parties in the county
at the above and two succeeding elections, are explained in
another chapter. He did not after this hold any prominent
office. He lived several years at Little Falls, and removed
from thence with his family to Auburn, in this state, about
the year 1839, where he remained five years and then went
to Michigan. He met the vicissitudes of life with the
characteristic resignation of a Christian. He left several
children at his death, who had settled in different parts of
the country, none of whom, however, were residents of this
county. The American people, and especially the descend-
ants of the old Puritan stock, are, I believe, the greatest
antigregarians of any in the world.
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 339
Henry IIopkixs
Emigrated into the county at an early day and set-
tled in the village of Herkimer, where he engaged in
merchandizing, and carried it on for some time. He
received the appointment of sheriff of the county in 1813,
and had the good fortune to hold the office two years
against John Mahon, the perpetual successor of federal
sheriffs in those days. He was intelligent, gentlemanly,
kind and social, and personally very prepossessing in
appearance. Full six feet high and very " well propor-
tioned." He was quite popular as a public officer, and
being highly regarded by his fellow citizens of all classes, he
did not fail to attract the special attention of his political
associates.
He was put in nomination for the assembly in the spring
of 1815 by his party, with Thomas Manley and Mathew
Myers, and was elected. One of the republican candidates,
George Paddock, died only five or six days previous to the
election, and there was not time in those days of bad roads
and tardy movements to assemble the county convention
and present another candidate previous to the election, and
the voting went on as usual. Mr. Hopkins led his ticket by
a few votes, and beat his dead competitor by 19 majority.
The canvass shows that 1368 votes were cast for Hopkins
and 1349 for Paddock. The election was a very close one,
and each party appears to have placed their most prominent
and popular men before the people. The average majority
of the two highest on the republican ticket was only 222 °ver
their two highest opponents. I notice a fact which presents
the remarkable uniformity of the freehold vote of that day.
There were two senators to be chosen in the western
district that year, and the federal and republican parties
each presented two candidates. There were then eleven
towns in the county, and each federal nominee received an
equal number of votes in every town except two, and so it
340 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
was with the republican candidates. The losses and gains
among the candidates running on the same ticket were in
Herkimer and Schuyler, and those losses and gains between
the candidates running on opposing tickets were equal.
The difference being only four in about nine hundred cast
by each party. A greater uniformity prevailed in 1809,
when there were six candidates, three supported by each
party, and a variation of only two votes between the highest
and lowest of each set. Mr. Hopkins was a candidate for
reelection the next year, 1816, but failed of an election by
133 votes, although the highest on his ticket. He died at
Herkimer in November, 1827. I have not found any memo-
rial of his final resting place, except in the fond recollection
of those who knew him, nor am I aware that he left any
descendants.
Sanders Lansing
"Was born at Albany June 17th, 1766. He was the young-
est of four brothers : John, formerly chief justice of the
supreme court, chancellor, and delegate to the convention
of 1787, which formed the constitution of the United States ;
Abraham G. and Garret G., late of Oriskany. He had one
sister, Mrs. Barent Bleecker of Albany. On the 10th of
December, 1789, he married Catharine, the eldest daughter
of Abraham Ten Eyck of that city. He was educated to the
legal profession, and was appointed register in chancery on
the promotion of his brother to the chancellorship. He was
of the ancient Dutch lineage, who came from Holland in the
glorious days of Petrus Minuit, Wouter Van Twiller, Wil-
lem Keift or Petrus Stuyvesant, representatives of their
high mightinesses, the states general. It matters not, how-
ever, when they came or where they were from, their
descendants were here on the day of our nation's birth, and
claimed the right to be numbered among her children.
Mr. Lansing removed into the county with his family, in
1820, and settled at Little Falls, where he was several years
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 341
engaged in closing up some extensive land agencies, in which
the collateral branches of his family were interested. He
was chosen delegate to the convention, in 1821, with Sher-
man "Wooster and Richard Van Home, called to revise the
constitution of* 1777, although quite a stranger to the great
mass of the electors. The name was no doubt familiar to a
considerable portion of the population, but he was known
individually to only a few of them. His course in the con-
vention was marked by that cool deliberation, and sound
judgment, which great experience and a practical knowledge
of the working of our system would very naturally lead him
to adopt. He was not a visionary theorist; nor was he
opposed to a change in the fundamental rules of government,
when that change was required to conform them to present
exigencies, and advance the best interests of the state. He
did not often engage in protracted forensic debate; and this
was probably owing to his withdrawal from practice in the
courts, soon after he came to the bar. A majority of his
constituents in the county approved of his official acts, and
he lived many years after this event, to mark the upward
and onward progress of his native state, endeared to him by
grateful recollections of the past, and hopeful prospects for
the future.
Mr. Lansing was appointed one of the judges of the county
courts, in March, 1821; reappointed, in 1823, by the gov-
ernor and senate under the new constitution, and held the
office until 1828. I can venture to say, that he never
neglected attendance at court a single term, during this
whole period, unless prevented by sickness. His rule was,
that no man ought to accept a public office and neglect to
perform its duties, whatever they might be.
Judge Lansing also held the office of master in chancery,
and commissioner to perform certain duties of a justice of
the supreme court at chambers. The latter appointment
was conferred after he left the common pleas bench. He
was a gentleman of great purity of character, and held in
23 •
342 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
strict observance those rules of conduct that divine revela-
tion enjoins, as he believed, on all who would secure a
happy future. He left only two sons. My attention was
always attracted to the uniform exactness, and methodical
precision, in which he transacted all his business, whenever
I made professional calls upon him. This I attributed to
early training. Some would say this was a national charac-
teristic. Well, if this be so, the peculiarity is the child of
education, and is called " national," when applied to the
people of Holland, because they uniformly observe the
thorough rules of instruction, and an exact method of train-
ing as far as they go. I can not regard Dutchmen, native
or a descendant, as the only people of all the Caucasian races
who are constitutionally or by nature endowed with the
particular mental faculty of attaining method and exactness
in the transactions of life.
Mr. Lansing resided in the town of Manheim, several }Tears
preceding his death, and died there, September 19th, 1850,
aged 84 years, 3 months, and 2 days ; his beloved and re-
spected consort died on the 23d ; a grandson, on the 20th,
and a granddaughter on the 24th of the same month. Within
the period of a week, four members of a family were placed
in the silent grave. This occurrence was somewhat remark-
able, in regard to the rapid succession in which the events
happened, as there was not at the time any epidemic dis-
eases that touched three of the cases.
John Mahon
Was born in Ireland, and came to this country when quite
young. After remaining here a few years he went back to
Ireland and again returned to this country. He crossed the
Atlantic three times before he was sixteen years old. He
lived several years with " blind John Smith," who carried
on merchandising in a small way at or near Utica. He was
in this county some years before 1800, and acquired all his
education after he left Ireland. His first wife was a daugh-
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 343
ter of Judge John Frank, of German Flats, in which town
he resided, some years acting as constable and deputy sheriff.
Being connected by marriage with a German family, he
acquired and spoke the provincial dialect with all the fluency
of a native German of the Mohawk. He was a man of much
energy of character and great native talent. I knew him
well more than thirty years, and in all that time never heard
him speak in any other terms than of strong dislike and
execration of the government and institutions of his native
country. My curiosity was sometimes so strongly excited
as almost to tempt me to inquire of him the particulars of
his parentage, but he was not a man to gratify other people's
curiosity only when it suited himself. I always imagined
his ancestors had suffered some deep wrong, or what he
believed to be so, from the British government in Ireland.
He said he was indented out to service for a limited time
to pay the expenses of his first passage. I am not aware
that this practice continued after the revolution. He was
appointed sheriff of the county in 1808, and held the oflice
two years. He was again appointed in 1811, and held the
place till 1813; and in 1815 he was again reappointed
and held two years more. He seems to have come into
office and gone out on every political change in the council
of appointment. He was an active and efficient public
officer, and a very ardent politician, as the reader will pro-
bably conclude by this time. He never asked any favors
from his political antagonists, and was very careful not to
be too liberal in granting them. From 1817 to 1821, ho
was engaged to some extent in private pursuits, and upon
the restoration of the republican party to political power in
the state, in the latter year, he was appointed clerk of the
county, and held thCbffice until January, 1823. In 1819, he
was actively engaged in organizing an opposition in this
county against Governor De "Witt Clinton. He was the
prime mover and leading spirit in that movement, and did
not fail to extend his exertions to the close of the election
344 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
in 1820, when Clinton and Tompkins were rival candidates
for the gubernatorial chair.
On his exit from the clerk's office he was appointed one
of the county judges in February, 1823, and held that office
until 1833. This was the close of his active political career.
Judge Mahon died at Herkimer in October, 1851, aged 78
years. He left one descendant, a son, Patrick Mahon. I am
not aware he had any attachments for the predominant
religious faith of his native country. I do not think he had
any; and it is this circumstance which seems to throw
obscurity over his origin and early life. This is one of
many cases often presenting themselves to our view, which
exhibits in bold relief some of the striking peculiarities of
American institutions. An alien orphan, destitute alike of
money and education, immigrates to our country, and by
application and industry acquires both. But this is not all.
He does not loiter at the foot of the official ladder. He
secures the confidence and good will of the people whom
he can rightfully call his fellow citizens, and enjoys for
nearly forty years high and important official trusts, and
only leaves them when about to go to a last and final rest-
ing place. Judge Mahon possessed some very marked
peculiarities. I never heard that the vigor of his intellect
had been in the least impaired from the time he quit public
life to his death. But this is no place for questions not
relating to public life and character. The grave throws a
mantle over our foibles, and let that be the end.
Thomas Manley
Was a native of Dorset, Bennington county, Vermont.
He came into the present town of Norway, in the spring of
1789, opened a small clearing, and erected his log cabin, and
brought his family into the town the next year, 1790. It
will probably be noticed, that Norway was first organized in
1792, but its territory has been subsequently very much
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 345
circumscribed. Mr. Manley being among the first settlers
on the northern part of the Royal grant, and a man of energy
and force of character, was a prominent man in his town.
He held the office of supervisor fifteen years, and was twice
commissioned by Governor John Jay superintendent of
highways in the county of Herkimer. These commissions
respectively bear date April 4th, 1798, and March 8th, 1800.
One of his sons, Dr. Manley, of Richfield, Otsego county,
told me his father, the first year he came on to the grant,
put up a bark hut as a sleeping place for himself and his
hired man, and a store room for such few things as they
had, requiring protection from the weather. They used a
blanket to cover the entrance of their primitive lodge. The
needful cooking was done at the fire outside. As they were
then quite destitute of such substantials, in the way of food,
as beef, pork, mutton and lamb, the forest was resorted to, to
supply deficiencies, and the white rabbit being numerous,
were taken whenever occasion required. Not having the
fear of cholera before their eyes, and being intent in felling
the forest and opening their clearing for a small crop, they
did not stop to enquire into the origin and causes of diseases,
but threw their culinary offal down near the door of the
hut, where a considerable quantity of rabbit bones had of
course been accumulating. Mr. Manley and his companion
t were one night disturbed by an unusual noise outside, but
near their hut : listening a moment, they concluded, from
the cracking of the rabbit bones, that some strong mouthed
native of the forest was making a night meal of them.
Manly took his gun, and moving the blanket door gently
aside, fired in the direction of the heap of rabbit bones ; a
terrific growl was the only response, except the echo of the
discharge in the surrounding dense forest. The night was
dark, and having struck up a light with steel and flint, and
recharging their gun, they cautiously examined the ground
about the hut, but found nothing except some traces of
blood. The animal, although wounded, was not disabled
from making its escape. Early the next morning, Mr. Man-
346 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
ley and his companion took the blood trail into the forest,
and in about an hour found a good sized bear, weary and
faint from the effects of his late night feast, and the unkind
treatment he had received. The bear was killed, in the
hope that the meat would give the captors a savory change
in animal food. But it was poor, and the meat was coarse,
dark and tough.
Mr. Manley was an agriculturist, and was highly respect-
ed in his town and in the county. He was elected a member
of the assembly in this state in 1799, on the ticket with
John Mills and John Myer ; again in 1809, with Rudolph
Devendorff and Christopher P. Bellinger ; and again in
1820, with Simeon Ford and Daniel Van Home. He was
uniform and adhered with unwavering tenacity to his poli-
tical principles and party in this county more than sixty
years. It is no slight evidence of the good feelings of his
friends, or of his standing in the county, that his name was
often presented by them as a candidate for member of as-
sembly, as well when there was a fair prospect of success,
as when this chance was quite doubtful. He died in Norway,
where he lived 63 years, on the 21st of January, 1852, aged
88 years and six months. He was born in August, 1763.
In closing this notice, I need hardly add, that such a man
as Mr. Manley must have been highly esteemed while living,
and died regretted by all who knew him.
Jacob Markell
Was born in the county of Schenectady, on the 8th of
May, 1770, about two miles west of the city. His parents
were Germans, or of German descent. He received his
English common school education, while quite young, at
Schenectady. This name is found in the list of Palatine
immigrants, who came over in 1710, but his ancestors were
not among the Burnetsfield patentees. Judge Maikell's
father came to Stone Arabia, in the present town of Palatine,
Montgomery county, at an early period, but whether before
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 347
or at the close of the revolution, I have not been able to
ascertain. Young Markell's health was not robust, and he
was placed in Maley's store, in Albany, where lie served
out a clerkship. He married, when twenty years old, at
Palatine, and removed to Manheim, and commenced farm-
ing, which he carried on during the remainder of his life,
until he became too infirm, in consequence of age, to attend
to the laborious duties of that occupation. When he first
came to Manheim, he opened a small country store, and
manufactured pot-ashes, a business that yielded a good re-
turn while the country was new, and timber plenty. He
was an acting justice of the peace, almost time out of mind,
and held the oilice of supervisor in the town of Manheim
twenty-seven years. When that town remained attached to
Montgomery county, he held the office of judge of the court
of common pleas, and was elected to congress for one term,
during Mr. Madison's administration, and in the war of 1812.
He was elected one of the members of assembly from Her-
kimer county, in 1819, on the same ticket with James Orton
and Philo M. Hackley, and closed a long and well spent life
at the residence of bis son, John Markell, Esq., in Manheim,
with whom he had lived the two preceding years, on the
26th of November, 1852, aged 82 years, 6 months and 18
days, after a very brief illness. His wife survived only
seventeen days. She was about five months younger than
her husband. They had lived together after marrriage
about sixty-two years, and raised a family of children. She
was as well, apparently, as she had been for many years
previous, when her husband died, but immediately after his
funeral she sank under her afflictions, and yielded her life to
the messenger that never calls but once.
Judge Markell was very methodical in all his business
affairs, and with other qualities possessed a shrewd and
intelligent mind, which, from long practice, had become
considerably imbued with legal principles, and especially
those in reference to domestic relations. Hence, when his
faculties were unimpaired, he wrote most of the wills made
348 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
in his town, was usually called upon to adjust, settle and
arrange important and difficult questions or matters of busi-
ness between neighbors, was often entrusted with the ad-
ministration of estates, and the guardianship of infants. In
view of the facts already stated, I need hardly say, he pos-
sessed, in an eminent degree, the confidence and good will
of his townsmen.
In the prime of life, he was capable of exerting a political
influence, which was usually felt by his opponents.
John Mills
Was born in the town of Chatham, Columbia county, New
York. He came into the town of Columbia about the year
1790, and was by occupation a farmer. In stature he was
just what one would wish, being, " six feet high, and well
proportioned," and in all respects a fine looking man. He
was truly one of nature's noblemen ; his conversational
powers were good, was fond of company, pleasant and
agreeable in his manners ; few men possessed the art of
pleasing to so great an extent. He seldom said a foolish
thing, and never did a mean act. He had the faculty of
accommodating himself to the company he was in, and of
going with his whole mind into the subjects which were
the topics of conversation ; and whether light and frivo-
lous, or sound, substantial and grave, it made no difference
to him, he was at home in either, and whatever he said was
listened to with attention. His countenance and manner,
in fact, the whole man, changed to suit the company, the
subject matter and the occasion. He could look pleasant or
serious and grave, or frown with great severity. He was
honest and fair in his dealings, and was deservedly popular.
Had many friends, and few, if any, enemies. He was a kind
hearted, good neighbor, never had lawsuits or difficulty him-
self, and did much, by example and otherwise, to preserve
friendship and good morals in society. He was several
times supervisor of the town, and usually held some town
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 349
office, although the political majority was against him. He
was elected to the assembly of this state, in 1799, and was
frequently a candidate and lost his election, not for want of
fitness or popularity, but because he belonged to, and acted
with, the federal party, which was in the minority.
He died in 1836, at the age of 76, having always resided
on the farm on which he first located, and helped clear with
his own hands.
A highly respectable correspondent says :
"I lived within three-fourths of a mile of Capt. Mills
some thirty years, and was in almost all sorts of company
with him. I knew him well. His education was limited.
I think him the best specimen of a man I ever knew. I was
also acquainted with his father ; he was a real Yankee. His
mother was low Dutch."
Michael Myers
Was born at Auville, New Jersey, February 1st, 1753.
Although of German descent, he was not from the original
Palatine stock of the upper Mohawk valley. The name is
not found in the list of Palatine immigrants who came to
the colony in 1709 and 1710. His ancestors may have been
among those who composed the third emigration in 1722.
With a view of giving as much of the early history of the
prominent public men who labored in organizing the county,
as well as to aid in establishing the liberties of the country,
• as might be any way interesting, I have endeavored to reach
that object in respect to the subject of this notice, and have
failed. Mr. Myers was with the American forces at the
battle of Johnstown in 1781, where he was severely wounded
in the leg, and from the effects of which he never recovered.
He was' then about twenty-eight years old. The American
forces in this action were composed of levies and militia;
it may therefore be presumed that he had come into Tryon
county before or during the war. Upon the organization
of the county courts, he appears to have been appointed one
350 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
of the judges and a justice of the peace, February 17th,
1791. He was several times reappointed, but was left out
of the civil commission in 1805.
He was elected the first member of assembly after the
erection of the county and reelected the following year, and
was in attendance at the winter sessions of 1792 and 1793.
Judge Myers had been a resident of that part of Try on or
Montgomery county now embraced in Herkimer, several
years before 1790. He was elected to the senate in the
spring of 1795, took his seat at the following session and
served his full term of four years. After this he does not
seem to have occupied any prominent official station. His
successor in the senate from this county was John Meyer,
who was several years one of the county judges, and in 1800
appointed the first judge. He served but one year of his
senatorial term, and left the county about the year 1802.
John and Michael were not relatives. The former retained
the German usage in writing the family name ; I think the
latter did not.
Judge Michael Myers was many years a prominent and
influential politician in this county, but he attached himself
to that political party which found but few adherents among
the Germans in this quarter, when the people ranged them-
selves as federalists and republicans. He was appointed by
President John Adams, commissioner of stamps for this
county, but stamped paper, bearing the impress of the
American eagle even, fared no better in the upper Mohawk
valley in 1797-8, than that showing the lion and the unicorn
and a jeweled crown, encircled with England's loved motto,
"Honi Son Qui Mal y Pense," did among the Bostoni-
ans, in 1765. " Dunder and Blixum," muttered the German
in his provincial dialect, " what for gant I gif mine node
any more to bay for der horse or der gow I puy, mitout I
bay dwenty-fife zents for der baper mit der stamb." " Why,
neighbor Hanyost," responded the Yankee follower of Shays,
" I guess all them tarnel Britishers have kum back to Filla-
delfa agin, and ar ony putin on the tax to show who's who ;
HISTOET OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 351
darn the old tories, I won't stand it, that's sartin." The
stamps came to a bad market, and the commissioner's period-
ical returns showed a good supply on hand of those first
sent.
Judge Myers possessed a good share of energy, and his
position gave him opportunities of laying the foundation of
one of the most splendid fortunes in the state, and it was
believed by many of his townsmen that he had accumulated
great wealth in the purchase and sale of wild lands, at an
early period after the close of the war. Although at his
death his fortune was ample, it was by no means so extended
as it might have been, if he had retained the interest in the
lands purchased in his name, connected with others. He
seems to have had a good many transactions with the late
John I. Morgan, in those speculations, and when we com-
pare the reputed wealth of these two gentlemen at their
respective demises, it will not be supposed the judge's actual
share in these original purchases, retained by him, was
nearly as large or beneficial as the public records seem to
indicate. He may not have been as confident in respect to
prospective value of real estate as his partners were, and
alienated at the prices paid, three shillings and three pence
per acre, with a small advance. This must have been a
moderate price for lands in the 20 townships, even in 1791.
Lands in the Royal grant were sold in 1785, at $2*50 per
acre.
Judge Myers died at Herkimer, February 17, 1814, aged
61 years and 16 days. He left numerous descendants, sons
and daughters, those who yet survive have sought homes in
other parts of our broad country. I believe there is not at
this time a single male descendant of this stock now in the
county, but there are several in different parts of this state,
and in other states of the union.
Peter M. Myers who was appointed county clerk in 1810,
was a son of Judge Myers. He held the office one year,
under this appointment, when by a political revolution in
the counsel of appointment he was removed, and again by
352 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
another change in politics in 1813, he was reappointed and
held the office two years. Mr. Myers has been dead many
years. He left descendants, several of whom remain in this
state.
Doctor William Petry.
1 now introduce to the reader a native of Germany, who
did good service for the country during the revolution in
the capacity of physician and surgeon, as well as in other
respects. He was born near Oppenheim, December 7th,
1733, came to this country in 1763, and married Salome
Wolf, the daughter of Mr. John Wolf of Cosby 's manor,
December 22, 1766. Dr. Petry was a Bavarian, no connec-
tion of the Petrie family from the Palatinate, and before he
came to America, he served as a surgeon in the Prussian
army. Having obtained a professional diploma in Germany,
he of course must have previously received a classical and
professional education. He was interested in a store or
employed in selling goods before the revolution, at the
present village of Herkimer; the out-break of the war put a
stop to that business for a time, although he seems to have
reengaged in it in 1784. He did not feel a very strong sym-
pathy for the royal cause, for we find him on the 2d of June,
1775, attending a meeting of Try on county committee of
safety as a member from the German Flats and Kingsland
district. He continued a member of that committee several
years and probably until the state government was organ-
ized. I also perceive he acted as a justice of the peace
during the war. He was employed as a surgeon at Fort
Dayton in 1776 and 1779. He was General Herkimer's
medical adviser, and did not concur in the treatment of the
young French surgeon who amputated the General's leg
below the knee several days after it was shattered. I also
notice an account for medicine and attendance, by direction
of the commissioners of Indian affairs, on some Indian child-
ren, and on " Scanando's daughter when beaten with a stone
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 353
by an Indian." As a memorial of the past I transcribe the
following :
" At a council of appointment held at Poughkeepsie, April
27, 1781 : Present : — His Excellency Governor Clinton,
President. The Honorable Abraham Ten Broeck, Ste-
phen Ward, Arthur Parks, Esqrs., Members.
"Resolved, That William Petry be Surgeon of the Regiment
raised for the immediate defence of this state, whereof
Marinus Willet, Esquire, is Lieutenant Colonel Commandant.
State of New York, ss :
" The aforegoing is truly extracted from the minutes of
the council of appointment. Robert Harper, Clerk."
In April, 1782, Doctor Petry was appointed by the coun-
cil of appointment surgeon of the regiment of state levies
commanded by Colonel Willett. He was present at the Oris-
kany battle and wounded in the leg, from which he suffered
a good deal of inconvenience. He dressed General Herki-
mer's wound on the battle field. It is understood that at
this time there was not as much cordiality between the
general and the doctor as had previously existed. As the
latter was then one of the county committee of safety, he
may with the other members of the committee have disap-
proved of the general's policy in regard to an immediate
march to the relief of Fort Stanwix. It is reported of the
doctor that he was not strictly a noncombatant at Oriskany,
that after the first assault by the enemy he was very active
in encouraging the militia, and forming them so as to pre-
sent a combined resistance to the enemy. His former
experience in the Prussian service enabled him to afford
essential aid on that occasion. He was with his regiment
under Col. Willett in October 1781, when that brave and
active officer pursued Ross and Butler's party on their retreat
across the country to reach their boats at the Oneida lake, and
when the latter was killed after crossing the West Canada
creek. He also accompanied his regiment under Willett in
February, 1783, on the expedition to capture by surprise the
354 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
British fortress at Oswego, which failed of success, not how-
ever by any fault of the American commander.
Doct. Petry was actively engaged in his profession, nearly
the whole length of the Mohawk valley, during the revolution,
and before and after, he being the principal physician and
surgeon in the county, until nearly the close of his life. He
always went armed during the war, in going the round of
his visits. He was somewhat brush in manners, and firm in
his resolves. Many anecdotes are told of him, some of them
quite amusing and characteristic of the man. Not being
within call at the moment when an operation was required
upon one of the men of his regiment, several of the young
American surgeons were called in, and while they were con-
sulting what to do, he returned, and coming into the room
where the disabled man and the doctors were, asked the
Yankee surgeons to retire a few minutes, as he wished to
confer with the wounded man. While they were absent
he amputated and dressed the limb, and then sent for them
to return, and remarked that they might now consult as
long as they pleased. After the peace he again engaged in
mercantile business at Herkimer, which he continued till
near the close of life. He died at that place, August 6th,
1806, aged nearly 73 years. He left several sons and daugh-
ters, and of the latter is the mother of the Messrs. Earls.
His memory has been, and still is, highly cherished by the
old German inhabitants of the county, who knew him. His
descendants still retain the paternal estate, for which they
entertain a high regard.
When the doctor had made up his mind, on almost any
subject, all further debate with him was not of much use.
His family residence was a little distance from the Court
house, and the compact part of the village, where he often
resorted to hear aud talk over the news of the day, with his
neighbors and old revolutionary compeers, who were never at
fault for fruitful themes of discussion, when modern affairs
did not present them. He had become very deeply interested
in regard to the stamp act, passed under Mr. Adams's admin-
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 355
istration, and stoutly denied the justice and propriety of
compelling the American people to buy stamped paper for
their ordinary business, as they had just got through with
a long war to get rid of it. He became very much excited
on the subject, when, one day, he was in the village where
the stamps had been long and warmly discussed, and argu-
ments, pro and con, wholly exhausted, the old gentleman
returned home greatly vexed and annoyed, the din of
stamps, and stamp acts ringing in his ears, when the peculiar
voice of a flock of guinea hens, on his premises, arrested his
attention ; the innocent cry of the poor hens sounded to him
very like stamp act, and he could not endure it. He ordered
his boys to kill them at once, for he would not, he said,
have any d — d stamps about him. The innocent hens were
beheaded for the treasonable cry of stamps. I can not better
close this brief notice of the doctor, than by giving in this
place a copy of his diploma, translated from the German.
We, ordained by Grace an Electoral-Palatine Medical
Assembly; appointed Privy Counsellor, and First private
Physician, Director and Assessors, Court Physicians and
City Physicians, &c,
Do hereby testify and make known that the proprietor
of this, named William Petry, born in Neustein, in the
Electoral-Palatine Bailiwick of Oppenheim, came to us with a
dutiful petition to be examined in the art of surgery, accord-
ing to the graceful Electoral Royal Medical Order. Therefore,
after producing his authentic indentures, showing that he
had regularly studied surgery for three years with John
George Heuser, the City Surgeon of the Electoral Palatine
Bailiwick of Oppenheim ; then studied with Schimdt, the
City Surgeon here in Manheim, one year and a half, and
attended the Anatomical School in Berlin; after that served
one year in the Royal Prussian Hospital, in Dresden and
Torgau, also served as company surgeon during four years
in the Estimable Schenckendorfs Infantry Regiment* and in
like manner served two years among the English Grenadiers;
and that during all the time he practiced the surgical and
356 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
anatomical art. We had no hesitation to comply with
William Petry's petition to give him the customary exam-
ination. In which examination, as to all questions about
wounds in general, contusions, tumors, fractures, luxations, ana-
tomical and surgical operations, he having answered to our
perfect satisfaction ; and in our presence, also to our satis-
faction, attended to several practical cases in surgery. We
all agree that he is a skillful and well instructed surgeon,
which we hereby attest to him by virtue of our usual seal
and with our own hands. Manheim, 8th Febr., 1763.
Consilium Medicum Electorate Palatinum
[l. s.] P. J. Walck, Jc. Schrott, Medico.
Francisco Helm, Actuarius.
M. Pria.
George Kosecrants
Was the son of the Rev. Abraham Rosecrants, who for
many years presided over the German congregations in the
Mohawk valley. George was born on the 15th of March,
1764, on Fall hill, in the present town of Little Falls. His
mother was a sister of Gen. Nicholas Herkimer. He died
December 21st, 1838, at the place of his birth, aged 74 years,
9 months and 6 days. He had four brothers, Henry, Abra-
ham, Joseph and Nicholas, and three sisters. He left one
son, Abraham G., now living, and five daughters. Although
of German descent, he did not belong to the original Pala-
tine stock, and therefore the sketch of his life and family
belongs to a different chapter of biographies.
Mr. Rosecrants was called pretty early into public life.
At the age of thirty-five, he was elected to the state con-
vention with Evans Wharry and Matthias B. Tallmadge,
from this county, which was called in 1801, to act upon
certain propositions in respect to the power of the members
of the council of appointment, and limiting the number of
members of assembly. In 1805 he was appointed one of
the judges of the court of common pleas, which office he
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 357
held until March, 18.21. In 1812, he was appointed by the
legislature one of the electors of president and vice-president
of the United States, and voted with the other electors of
this state for De "Witt Clinton, in preference to James
Madison. He was one of the members of assembly from
the county, in 1817 and 1818, and was chosen a state sena-
tor at the spring election in 1818, and held that office the
full term of four years. This closed his official career. He
was a member of the council of appointment in 1819, and
warmly attached to Governor De Witt Clinton while that
distinguished statesman occupied a prominent position in
the councils of the state.
It must be evident to any one familiar with the history of
political parties in the county, that Judge Rosecrants was
of the old republican school of politicians. In voting for
Mr. Clinton, in 1812, for president, if he erred at all, he
erred in common with a majority of his political friends in
the legislature, who had nominated Mr. Clinton in opposi-
tion to Mr. Madison.
Judge Rosecrants possessed good sound sense, and a dis-
criminating judgment. He was industrious, diligent and
attentive to his public duties, and highly esteemed for his
many amiable qualities as a private citizen. He was a warm
admirer of General Andrew Jackson, and much elated at
the general's election to the presidency. When not engaged
in public life, Judge Rosecrants devoted himself to agricul-
tural pursuits on one of the most delightful farms in the
county, situated on Fall hill.
Nathan Smith
Was a native of Massachusetts, came into this county in
1790, and opened a country retail store, in company with
Naham Daniels, a few miles from the present village of
Fairfield, on the farm recently occupied by Robert Alexan-
der, and now by his descendants. They, at the same time,
24
358 HISTOEY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
carried on the manufacture of pot-ashes. Mr. Daniels
removed to Newport two or three years afterwards. Mr.
Smith then removed to Fairfield village, where he continued
the mercantile business for some time in connection with
his brothers William and Samuel. He was many years a
prominent politician in this county, and his first appearance
in the legislative halls of the state appears to have been in
1798, associated with Gaylord Griswold and five others.
This was the year that Oneida was erected. I state the fact
that one at least of Mr. Smith's colleagues, Mr. Griswold,
was, in after life, a leading and influential politician of the
federal school, and more than fifteen years after his first
election, Mr. Smith was associated with the republican party.
He was again chosen member of assembly, and was in his
place at the sessions of 1801 and 1802. These successive
elections, at a period when the political opinions of candi-
dates were drawn out and freely expressed, lead to the
conclusion I have formed in regard to his early political
attachments.
He was appointed a judge of the county courts and jus-
tice of the peace, in March, 1805, but it does not appear he
was again commissioned in 1808 and IS 11, and no other
person seems to have been appointed at either of those
periods to fill his place on the common pleas bench. Judge
Smith was chosen a senator from the western district at the
election in 1805, and held the office two full terms by a
reelection in 1809. In February, 180S, he was chosen by
the assembly one of the council of appointment. This great
political machine had the previous year been in active ope-
ration under the direction of Gov. Lewis, who had been
elevated to the executive chair by the combined votes of the
federal and a section of the republican parties ; but a large
portion of the latter were very much opposed to the
governor, and were arranging themselves in formidable
masses to defeat his reelection. The governor and his
council of 1S08, sought to strengthen themselves by the
removal from office of every unfriendly republican ; but as
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 359
usual on such occasions the official patronage was princi-
pally bestowed upon Lewisite republicans, or quids, as then
called. The federalists, although they had supported
Lewis's election, were not permitted to taste the " loaves
and fishes " of office, and one of those not uncommon occur-
rences in New York politics had happened, in which the
whole patronage and emoluments of place were bestowed
upon a section of the republican party, and that section in
this instance wras the least numerous and influential of the
two in the several counties of the state. The rivalries and
jealousies of the potent and wealthy families existing in this
colony at the out-break of the revolution, and who embraced
the popular cause, was often exhibited at the elections, and
for nearly forty years after the peace of 1783, this great
political star chamber, the council of appointment, rewarded
the faithful and punished the insubordinates with unerring
precision. Woe to the official who failed to support the
regular nominations of the party ; from that moment he was
a doomed man. The election of Mr. Tompkins to the ex-
ecutive chair, and the return of more than two to one mem-
bers of assembly friendly to the new governor, with a
majority in the senate, gave note of preparation for one of
those periodical removals and appointments which often
visited the state before and since the time now being con-
sidered.
The council of which Judge Smith was a member pro-
ceeded in the work of " crushing out insubordination " with
a zeal and dispatch that in a very few months produced a
change of individuals in nearly all the civil offices in the
state.
The application for the charter of the Bank of America
with a capital of $6,000,000, was made at the session of
1812, and Judge Smith was still a member of the senate.
This application was generally opposed by the republican
members and favored by the federalists. Governor Tomp-
kins was by no means friendly, and on the 27th of March, pro-
rogued the legislature until the 21st of May following, assign-
360 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
ing as a reason for this act that the applicants had used or
attempted to use corrupt means to procure the charter. The
bill had passed the assembly by a vote of fifty-eight to thirty-
nine, and was sent to the senate, when on a motion to reject,.
the vote was thirteen to fifteen and failed. The prorogation
took place soon after and caused great excitement and some
violence and outrage. This was a strong executive measure,
but if, as was then and still is believed, a bill was about to
be forced through the legislature by corrupt appliances, any
legal and constitutional measure might be adopted to defeat
it. The governor was sustained by the public judgment
and this showed pretty conclusively the popular belief in
the charges of corruption.
When the legislature met, on the 21st of May, the senate
immediately proceeded to consider the bill to incorporate
the stockholders of the Bank of America. As may be well
supposed under the circumstances, the opposition to its pas-
sage was long and ably conducted, but the bill finally passed
the senate by a vote of seventeen to thirteen, Judge Smith
voting for it. The early history of the bank legislation of
this state, exhibits scenes of the most revolting character,
highly discreditable to the state. The public mind was not
only satisfied, but had a surfeit of such matters, and for
many years after chartering the Bank of America, but few
applications for laws of this sort were presented to the le-
gislature. The last attempt to procure bank charters by
bribery of members was made in 1825. The effort was
exposed and severely punished, as all such acts should be,
if the purity of legislation is to be preserved. This
remarkable fact is shown in the history of the passage of
the Bank of America charter. The vote in favor of the bill
was considerably increased in the assembly, after the
exposure of the corrupt conduct of the agents of applicants ;
and why the senate should have entertained the bill at all,
after these acts were known, must surpass the comprehen-
sion of modern legislators. During the bank legislation of
1829, 1830 and 1831, very serious doubts were entertained
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 361
in relation to reincorporating any of these tainted charters.
One of them was rejected in the senate, and on winding up
its concerns exhibited a beggarly account of insolvent
assets.
I have alluded to this subject in this place only because
Judge Smith was an actor in chartering the Bank of
America, and that was an event of his public life, in Avhich
he participated. It is due to his character and fame that I
should say in this connection, I am not aware that he was
in any respect damaged by the vote he gave, and certainly
in the published history of those times, which I have seen,
his name no otherwise appears than in the affirmative on
the passage of the bill. After the close of his last senatorial
term, Judge Smith was appointed the first judge of the
county courts, in April 1814, and held the office till Feb-
ruary, 1821, when he resigned the place. He died at Fair-
field in this county, October 7th, 1836, at the mature age of
67 years ; ripe in honors and in the enjoyment of competent
wealth, the fruits of a long life devoted to business pursuits.
He left a family.
While devoted to the cause and responsibilities of legis-
lation, he was not unmindful of local affairs near home. He
aided in the founding and building up the first academy
established in the county, and exerted his best efforts, in
conjunction with others, in behalf of the medical institution
located at Fairfield, some notice of which will be found in
another place.
Ephraim Snow
Was a native of the state of Connecticut, and removed
from Killingworth into this county, some time before 1800.
He was appointed sheriff of the county, in 1806, and held
the office only one year. The appointment being an annual
one, owing to a political revolution in the appointing power,
he of course was not continued or reappointed in 1807. He
lived and died at Herkimer village. I place Mr. Snow's
362 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
iioureappointment to political causes, because, I notice his
predecessor, Mr. Cook, whose place he took, was his successor
in 1807.
Henry Tillinghast
Was a native of East Greenwich, Kent county, Rhode
Island ; the son of Benjamin Tillinghast, one of an extensive
circle of family connections, known in former times to have
exerted a pretty potent influence in that state, and not the
least influential of the numerous and wide spread family,
was the father of the subject of this notice; and the son
emulated the fame of a worthy sire. Henry served an
apprenticeship to the tanning business, with Charles Dyer,
Bennington county, Vermont. He went to Vermont, in
1789, and in 1792 took up his residence in the town of Nor-
way, when about twenty years of age. In the following
year he returned to Vermont, married Miss Sarah Dyer, who
at this present writing is his respected surviving widow ;
and seated himself permanently in the almost unbroken
wilds of the Royal grant.
He was an active, thorough, business man ; early gave his
attention to the business of tanning, an occupation not
only useful, in a new country, but very remunerative when
the home demand exceeded the supply, as is most usually
the case where the population is rapidly increasing, and
there is almost a total nonintercourse with the general mar-
ket, owing to bad roads, and the want of facilities for
communication.
But Mr. Tillinghast did not confine himself to this mechan-
ical pursuit alone. Farming early engaged his attention,
and the hitherto untouched forest was subdued, and fertile
acres were made to yield their annual crops for the suste-
nance of man. These employments, however, did not
content the active energies of this son of the land of Roger
Williams. I do not think he was aspiring and ambitious of
political distinction, merely for the sake of office, and the
emoluments of place. A conscientious conviction that his own
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 363
cherished political views were the cardinal maxims of good
government, prompted Mr. Tilling! msi, at an early day, to
take the field as a champion of republicanism, against one
of the most formidable opponents[of that party in the county,
•Thomas Manly, who had seated himself in Norway, a short
time before Mr. Tillinghast.
While I wish to place Mr. Tillinghast's actions on the
basis of a love of country, 1 must not be understood as
questioning in any way the motives and objects of Mr. Manly.
The contest was long, and attended with varied success.
The majority of votes polled by either political party, for
several years, was very small, seldom exceeding ten or twelve,
often a less number, and one year, each of the assembly
candidates received 105 votes in the town. Mr. Manly was
then one of the candidates. There was not any personal
antagonism indulged by either party, during this long con-
test for political supremacy. Mr. Tillinghast held various
town offices in his town, and performed the duties of them
to the general satisfaction of his fellow citizens. In what I
have said about Mr. Manly and Mr. Tillinghast, it should not
be inferred that there were not other prominent and leading
men in the town, of both parties, who participated in the
strife for the political mastery, and who exerted a proper
share of influence whenever the parties were rallied to the
polls.
At the legislative session of 1823, the first convened under
the constitution of 1821, Mr. Tillinghast was one the mem-
bers of assembly from this county. He was elected on the
ticket with JohnDygert and Abij ah Beck with. The session
was an important and interesting one. He was again a
member of the assembly in 1835. He was a cautious and
prudent legislator, and attentive to his public duties. His
practical good sense, sound judgment and clear perception
of things, seldom failed him on any emergenc}7.
He held the important office of supervisor of his town
nearly thirty years in succession, and that of a magistrate
several terms. His devotion to his country, its safety and
364 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
honor, lay deeper and broader than mere wordy pretensions.
He was ready and willing to act in a post of danger, should
occasion require it, and with that view organized during
the war of 1812, a company of volunteer exempts, of which
he was designated the captain, who held themselves ready
to serve their country in the field against the common
enemy. He was somewhat of a military tactician, and would
often, after the weary labors of the day were ended, call his
little sons around him and teach them the " manual exer-
cise."
Mr. Tillinghast was born on the 22d of May, 1772, and
died suddenly in the harvest field on the 29th of July, 1841,
in the full fruition of a well spent life. He left a numerous
family the inheritors not only of his justly earned fame, but
of an estate, the accumulation of fifty years of frugal indus-
try. I have spoken of Mr. Tillinghast's political opinions
us 1 knew them. He was a republican of the Jefiersonian
school, and although ardent in feelings and actions, these
were always tempered and controlled by a just regard to the
conservative principles of the constitution of his country.
Stephen Todd
Was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, December 23d,
1773. His father removed to Salisbury, Herkimer county,
in 1792, with his family, and commenced the laborious work
of converting a wilderness of forest into fruitful fields. Mr.
Todd, the younger, worked with his father on the new farm
a few years, when he commenced the study of medicine,
obtained a license and commenced practice in Salisbury
previous to 1800. Doct. Todd attained a very considerable
eminence in his profession, and was justly esteemed for his
active, humane and zealous efforts to alleviate the " ills that
life is heir to," and highly respected for a sound and vigor-
ous understanding. He continued his professional pursuits
in Salisbury till near the close of life. He combined, to
some extent, agricultural with his professional pursuits, and
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 365
I heard him remark that he was one of the first in the county
to adopt the change from grain-growing to grazing, and
that he felt it to be a duty to encourage and promote this
change as the best and only means of reviving the farming
interests of the county. He said it was unwise to continue
the competition with the western part of this state, Ohio
and Michigan, in raising wheat, under almost any circum-
stances; but it was especially so while the fly and weevil
were cutting off the wheat, and the cold seasons so inauspi-
cious to Indian corn. These remarks were strongly impressed
upon my mind at the time in consequence of the question,
what are the farmers to do, being much discussed, and
made the subject of anxious inquiry.
Doct. Todd was the captain of a company of militia light
infantry, in the war of 18 12 with Great Britain. Now, although
neither the active nor passive sympathies of the doctor
were with the general or state administrations of that day,
at all times and on all occasions, he obeyed the call of his
country with patriotic alacrity. I am enabled to give the
following incident in the life of Doct. Todd, the facts having
been elicited in the course of a semi-judicial investigation
had in my hearing. In 1814, Captain Todd, as I will now
call him, and a few members of his company had been
detached to join the American forces at Plattsburgh in this
state, at the time of the invasion by the British under Sir
George Provost. Within a few -days of the first call, orders
were received from Governor Tompkins for the militia of
Montgomery and Herkimer counties, en masse, to march
immediately to Sackets Harbor to defend that post. Capt.
Todd felt himself called upon to perform an extra duty,
which does not often fall to the lot of an officer, and, when
it does, is not always performed with the same anxious soli-
citude for the welfare of others. He directed the detached
men of his company to repair to the rendezvous at Johns-
town and report themselves to the commanding officer, and
then started with his company en route to Sackets Harbor.
After proceeding one or two days' march with the company,
366 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
and seeing that his men were furnished with all needful
equipage and provisions, and leaving them under the charge
of his lieutenant, Abraham Marsh, to march to the Harbor,
he retraced his steps home to Salisbury, and then made hot
pursuit to overtake his command before it reached Pitts-
burgh.
The mention of Sir George and the invasion, brings to
recollection an anecdote connected with that event, related
by Sir A. N. McN., who was then an ensign in the British
army. This, I know, is not exactly the place for such things,
but it is too good to keep, and therefore it must come out
somewhere, and may as well appear in company with Capt.
Todd, at Plattsburgh, as any other officer. Sir A. tells the
story with much good feeling and very spiritedly, and I only
wish it could be here repeated with the same amusing action
he gives when relating it. After the British army had
crossed the line on its march to Plattsburgh, Sir A. and two
or three other young officers obtained leave one morning
to forage for a breakfast at some of the American farm-
houses near the line of march. They looked around and
selected a house some distance from the road, where from
outside appearances they would be the most likely to obtain
what they very much required, a good warm breakfast.
The young gentlemen were not slow in reaching the goal of
their desires, as they wished not only to be first to occupy
the ground, but very much inclined to have the smell and
taste of a savory meal. They were kindly received at the
house, civilly told in reply to their inquiry, that breakfast
would be prepared for them as soon as it possibly could.
In due time they were seated round the table and appeasing
hunger as fast as they could, momentarily expecting a call
to duty. My informant says a bright, active and healthful
young woman waited upon them, and brought from an
adjoining room the hot cakes prepared for them.
The signal or call to join corps and regiments was heard
while the young woman was out of the room ; the officers
had quit their seats at the table and were about to leave the
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 367
house, when she came in with another plate full of cakes,
and seeing they were ready to start, said to them, "Gentle-
men, don't be in a hurry, I have more warm cakes for you,
and you had better take them now." The young officers in
reply, said they would call for them on their return from
Plattsburgh. She rejoined, " Perhaps you may then be in
too much haste to stop." Sir A. says they were much more
light of foot in returning to, than in coming from Canada ;
and that on his way back with a party of flankers, he passed
near the house where they had breakfasted, and hearing
some one call, looked up and saw the same young woman
standing in the door, who said to him with a roguish smile,
" Halloo, mister, won't you call and get your cakes ?"
Doctor Todd's campaign to Plattsburgh closed, I believe,
his active military service during the war. I think he was
on the frontier in one or both of the previous years of the
war, but of this I am not certain.
At the November election, 1821, he was nominated by his
political friends as a candidate for the assembly, on a ticket
with Simeon Ford and Robert Shoemaker, and received a
majority of the popular vote over his competitor, but failed
to obtain a certificate of election from the county clerk.
Dr. Todd's whole vote in the county was 1941 ; his highest
competitor, Gen. Bellinger, had 1644. The returns of two
towns, Russia and Winfield, were rejected, whereby he lost
98 majority ; but he yet had 199 more votes than either of
his opponents. The returns from Danube were assumed to
show 207 votes given for Robert Shoemaker, 211 for Simeon
Ford, and 202 for Stephen Tood. I say assumed, for that
was the construction of the canvasser on examining the
certificate of the town inspectors, sent to the county clerk's
office. It was, at the time, supposed to be a remarkable
fact, that two of the three candidates running on the same
ticket should receive so large a vote, and the third none at
all, when the printed ballots used at the election throughout
the county were alike. The mistake in the certificate made
by the town inspectors, if there was one, must have occurred
368 HISTOEY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
in writing out the names of the candidates and the top of
the first d in Todd so much depressed as to look like an o.
At any rate, the rejection of the Danube votes from Todd's
column, and placing them to Stephen Tood, after the other
rejections above noticed, elected Gen. Bellinger by three
majority, and he consequently obtained the certificate. The
committee on privileges and elections in the house corrected
this matter as soon as it came before them, and the assembly,
without hesitation, awarded the contested seat to the right-
ful occupant. The political parties in the house were so
nearly balanced, that it was not clearly known, until the
legislature met, whether the democratic majority would be
one, or the numbers 64 to 64. Casualties might prevent a
full attendance at the opening of the session, but these
chances were equally balanced. The political opponents of
the county clerk complained of his conduct, in not notifying
the Danube inspectors of the mistake in their certificate,
and whispered pretty audibly that he was looking to the
election of speaker and the council of appointment. A
democratic majority of one in the house, after Dr. Todd was
admitted, rendered any such precautions needless.
Dr. Todd died at Salisbury in the month and same day of
the month of his birth, in the year 1827, aged 54 years. He
left a family of several daughters, but I do not know whether
any sons survived him to bear his name to posterity. He
accumulated a very considerable fortune, by active and
judicious application to business ; and had attained a stand-
ing in his profession which many aspire to, but few achieve.
Abijah Tombling
Was not a native of this county. He came into the town
of Norway near the close of the last century or at the com-
mencement of the present, where he pursued his profession
as a physician and surgeon with considerable success. He
was cotemporary with Dr. Willoughby. I am not able to
fix the date of his removal to Herkimer village. He sue-
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 369
ceeded David Holt as United States collector of internal
revenue, and held the office until the repeal of the laws
imposing those duties. Dr. Tombling was appointed surro-
gate of the county in November, 1816, and held the place
until April, 1821. He was amiable, unassuming and bene-
volent. In quitting or rather neglecting his profession, and
giving his attention to politics, he was not fortunate. He
died at Herkimer more than twenty years ago, regretted by
a large circle of friends, and leaving a family to mourn
his loss.
Edward Varney
Was born in Armenia, Dutchess county, New York, June
6th, 1778. His father, John Varney, was one of the patri-
otic men of the revolution. He served his country through
a protracted war of seven years, enduring its privations,
fatigues and sacrifices, with heroic fortitude. His time and
substance were devoted to the service of his country, leaving
him little of either for the education of his family. The
subject of this notice having, by untiring industry and
perseverance, accumulated a small patrimony, emigrated
with his family, in 1809, to the then wilds of Herkimer
county. He became at once a proprietor and tiller of the
soil.
In 1812, he was appointed a justice of the peace, an office
which, by repeated appointments and elections, he filled
with honor during twenty-five successive years. During
the same period, he was for many years clerk of the town,
and for five years one of the judges of the county court.
His first appointment as county judge was made in Febru-
ary, 1823. He also filled the office of supervisor five years,
was master in chancery, commissioner of schools, &c. In
1825, he was elected member of assembly. In 1841, he was
elected senator of this state in the fourth senate district.
In all stations in which he was called to act, he showed
himself capable, faithful and honest. Elevated in principle
and urbane in manners, he secured the respect and confi-
370 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
dence of his associates. He was bold as he was frank,
honest and undisguised. In all his acts, whether private or
public, he yielded to the voice of rectitude and conscience,
regardless of consequences. Edmund Varnej^was a repub-
lican of the Jeffersonian school.
An ardent admirer and lover of his country, and believing
the welfare of that country could only be secured by the
supremacy of the democratic party, Judge Varney, during
his long life, seldom failed to attend the polls, and to deposit
his vote. He has often remarked to the writer, that " the
right of suffrage was sacred, and should be preserved invio-
late." A few days previous to his death, speaking of the
present political aspects of our country, he expressed a
decided opinion against the institution of domestic slavery,
the " peculiar institution " of the south, and hoped its limits
would, under no circumstances, be extended.
He sustained a long and painful illness, from chronic
bronchitis, with Christian resignation and fortitude, believ-
ing and hoping, with firm assurance, in the immortality of
the soul, and that he had the promise of a happy life in the
world to come. He calmly expired at his residence in
llussia, December 2, 1847.
I find the above obituary notice published in one of the
county papers about the period of Judge Varney's death ;
and after making a few slight alterations in the original
article, cheerfully incorporate it with the biographies of the
public men of the county. A long and somewhat intimate
acquaintance with Judge Varney, enables me to say, the
writer has placed a just estimate upon his character, and
has done no injustice to the subject.
Richard Van Horne
Was a native of Sussex county, New Jersey, and was born
the 15th of November, 1770. He was a son of Abraham
Van Horne, a narrative of whom will be found under the
town of Stark.
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 371
Mr. Van Home removed from Fort Plain in 1791, with
his father and other members of the family, to the head of
the Otsquaga creek, now known as Van Hornesville, and
commenced the mercantile business in connection with his
brother Daniel. As the country opened and became more
populated, they increased and extended their business until
they became pretty largely engaged in the purchase of wheat
and the manufacture of flour for the Albany market. There
being neither turnpikes, plank roads, canals nor rail roads in
those days, the waters of the Mohawk were used as the
medium of transport from the point of shipment at Fort
Plain to Schenectady, and from thence the communication
was by teams to Albany.
Mr. Van Home was elected to the legislature of this state
from Montgomery county in 1809, 1810, and again in 1812.
His official connection with the people of this county, after
the annexation of a portion of Montgomery county to Her-
kimer in 1817, brings this case within the scope of biogra-
phical notices to be embraced in this work.
At the election on the 19th, 20th and 21st June, 1821, Mr.
Van Home was put in nomination as a delegate to the conven-
tion to revise the constitution of the state with Simeon Ford
and Nathan Smith. Sherman Wooster and Sanders Lansing
were the opposing candidates to Messrs. Ford and Smith.
I have noticed the reasons in another place why the demo-
cratic party adopted Mr. Van Horne, or rather did not
nominate a candidate against him, and will not again repeat
them. That election presented a somewhat curious result.
Van Home's aggregate vote in the county was 3410 ; Wooster
and Lansing's average was 1935 and Ford and Smith's, 1553;
showing Van Home's vote to be nearly 80 less than the other
successful candidates, and the democratic majority was 382
only. When the constitution was submitted for ratifica-
tion, the vote in Danube, Mr. Van Home's town, was For it,
Yes, G8 ; Against it, No, 363 ; majority, No, 295 ; and
the majority in the county for the constitution was only
372 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
329. Speculation upon matters of this sort may not be very
entertaining but may prove useful.
The vote in Danube on the election of delegates was
nearly divided, or rather the majority against the demo-
cratic candidates was only fifty-five. The avowed opinions
of those gentlemen in favor of the prominent features of
amendment or change, were fully known to the electors, and
hence there must have been a change of sentiment, or there
was an influence exerted ?on the vote for ratification that
was quiescent at the delegate election. Mr. Van Home did
not approve of the constitution of 1821, but this objection
may not have been founded on the modified extension of the
right of suffrage and the abolition of the councils of appoint-
ment and revision, the points on which he was understood
to be in accord with the democratic party at the time of the
election.
The provision in that instrument which ousted the justices
of the then supreme court from office, which gave rise to
much elaborate discussion in the convention, and on which
the political majority in that body did not agree, encountered
his opposition at every step, and in every stage of its pro-
gress. He would not be likely to sanction an instrument
containing unobjectionable provisions, which carried with
them what he judged an unjust act of proscription against
his friends.
Although several of the members of the convention, with
whom he had usually acted, and who sympathized with him
on political questions, finally yielded their assent, his mind
seems to have been unalterably fixed on the subject, and he
gave one of the eight votes against the constitution, when
the final question was taken. The posterity of the men of
that day, have passed judgment upon the instrument, and
repudiated most of its provisions, but they have not made a
very rapid stride towards Mr. Van Home's notions, of a
60und and safe constitution.
Mr. Richard Van Home died at Van Horneville, in the
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 373
town of Stark, March 12th, 1823, aged 72 years, 4 months
and 27 days. He left a widow and seven children; the
former was living at the writing of this brief notice. I
hardly need remind the reader, that Mr. Van H. was of
Dutch, and not German descent. His ancestors emigrated
from Holland. In the prime of life he was actively engaged
in business pursuits, appertaining to merchandise and manu-
facturing, and when the "sere and yellow leaf" of old age
overtook him, he reposed on the comforts of a good farm,
and the accumulations of an industrious and well-spent life.
It is not strange that such a man should win the regards of
his neighbors and fellow citizens, and bear their regrets to
his final resting place.
Evans Wharry
Filled a prominent space in the early history of the county,
at the close of the war in 1783. He was of Irish descent,
and born at or near Wallkill, Orange county, in 1749. Left
an orphan at the early age of sixteen years, by the death of
both his parents, being thrown, by this sad event, upon his
own resources, he devoted himself to study, and particularly
to mathematics, in order to acquire the theory of navigation ;
having made up his mind to adopt and pursue a seafaring
life. He made several vo}Tages to the West Indies, as super-
cargo of some of the small vessels then engaged in that trade,
but he found a nautical life unsuited to his health and inclin-
ations, abandoned it, and gave his attention to surveying.
The advent of the American revolution found him in the
prime of life and vigor of manhood, and probably with no
sympathies for the royal cause. If a thought of adhesion to
the crown ever crossed his mind, it "must soon have passed
away as the idle wind," for we find him in command of a com-
pany in Canada, when the American army under Gen. Mont-
gomery approached and assaulted Quebec. Being stationed at
or near Montreal, he was ordered to join the provincial forces
25
374 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
below, but afterwards hearing of the fall of Montgomery and
the defeat of theAmericans, he consulted with Dr. Franklin in
regard to the expediency of marching to the city, under the
altered circumstances. The American sage said to him " it is
a good officer that obeys the command of his superiors," and
Wharry immediately commenced a forward movement with
his men. After a short progress, however, he was directed
to return, and he left Canada with the evacuating army.
■ Mr. Wharry served his country well and faithfully, during
the whole of the eventful struggle for provincial emanci-
pation. The theater of his service was mostly in the north-
ern department, under General Schuyler. The routine of
duty was that usually performed by a subaltern staff. I am
not aware that he performed permanent service in the line
of the army after the expedition into Canada. His country
acknowledged those services, by the bestowment of the
usual gratuity or pension upon him to the close of his life,
and after that upon his venerable relict, who survived him
nearly twenty years.
He came into this county in 1785-6, purchased a tract of
land, and commenced farming. The home place where he
died, near the Little Falls, was a part of that purchase.
Being a good practical surveyor, and possessing no small
share of energy in mind and body, he was much engaged in
the business of surveying, the first fifteen or twenty years
of his residence in the county, and was often employed on
behalf of the state in making surveys of the public lands.
He was appointed one of the judges of the common pleas,
and a justice of the peace, August 27, 1798, and held those
offices until March 18th, 1805, when he was commissioned
as first judge, on the resignation of John Meyer. Judge
Wharry continued to hold the office and discharge the
duties of his last appointment, until he was sixty years
old, the constitutional limit. We have made the important
discovery, since 1777, that three score years does not uner-
ringly produce mental incapacity, amounting to disqualifi-
cation to hold judicial office. So long, however, as the
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 375
incumbent held by the tenure of good behavior, it may
have been well to fix some limit when even that qualifica-
tion should no longer serve him ; and if it was found that
mental incapacitation commenced at sixty years, with the
average of educated men, that was probably a safe period
of limitation. It must, however, be acknowledged, that
new lights in the science of government have been pouring
in upon us the last fifty years with astonishing rapidity and
unexampled exuberance. If we can not discover the
origin and cause of the Asiatic cholera, nor detect the
peculiar miasma which invigorates this most appalling of
modern plagues, who will venture to doubt the capacity of
man at this time to originate and perfect such municipal
rules of government, as, acting upon the mind, and giving
it a direction, must inevitably produce a terrestrial mil-
lenium.
Judge Wharry was chosen one of the delegates from this
county, in 1801, to the convention called under the authority
of an act of the state legislature. He had been elected in
the spring of 1800 to the assembly, with George Widrig and
Nathan Smith, and was consequently a member of that
house when the act authorizing the call was passed. He
was again chosen member of assembly in the county, at the
spring elections of 1803 and 1804, with Samuel Wright and
George Widrig, and the legislative session of 1805 ended
his career as a representative of the people of the county.
Judge Wharry's position during the revolutionary war
enabled him to form a personal acquaintance with Washing-
ton, Knox, Hamilton, Burr, George Clinton and other dis-
tinguished leaders in that mighty effort in the conquest of
freedom and assertion of right. He was an active and
zealous politician, and the reader may have noticed his
intimate connection and association with Matthias B. Tall-
madge. They both came from the same part of the state
into the county, although not in the same year.
The upper section of the Mohawk valley was growing
into importance ; it had been partially occupied along the
376 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
borders of the river, by an indomitable race of men, since
1724, whose opportunities and facilities for schooling had
been extremely limited, owing to their insulated frontier
situation, and whose theoretical and practical education
were circumscribed to their farming pursuits. This was
true of the German population generally, at the opening of
the last decade of the eighteenth century, but there were
exceptions, and even at that early day, a few educated and
well-informed men were found among them. The country,
outside of the limits occupied by the German population,
north and south, was fast filling up with the Anglo-Saxon
race and the descendants of the pilgrims, and the crash of
the mighty forests, prostrated by the sturdy blows of the
New England axman, was echoed from hill to hill, and
rumbled through every valley. Here there was opening a
wide and fruitful field for the operation of politicians. I
have in another place stated, somewhat at large, the reasons
which induced me to suppose that the leading men of the
anti-federal or republican party in this state took a deep
interest in the political affairs of this frontier.
Governor George Clinton was well acquainted with Judge
Wharry in Orange county, during the war, and after its
close ; and he was aware that the judge's occupation as a
surveyor would necessarily require him to be much abroad
among the inhabitants, running and marking boundary lines
in a new country. This, I think, must have led the governor
to direct Wharry's attention to this quarter as a desirable
field of operations, professionally and politically.
It will be remarked that Judge Wharry was brought into
public life soon after he became an inhabitant of the county;
and let it be remembered, that he continued an active and
prominent politician until after the close of Governor George
Clinton's career in this state. I have left unnoticed several of
the minor incidents of the judge's life, which would interest
the reader, but my purpose is to deal with the public acts
of individuals, which are connected with this county. The
subject of this notice died at his residence, in the town of
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 377
Little Falls, in the month of April, 1831, aged 82 years.
His wife, the daughter of Joseph Belknap, of Newburgli,
Orange county, whom he married near the close of the war,
survived him several years, and died a few years since, at a
very advanced age. She was, in many respects, a very
remarkable woman. He left several daughters. He had
one or two sons, who left the county many years ago. He
died on the spot he had converted to a fruitful field from a
dense forest, where he had lived to see his country free,
prosperous and happy.
George Widrig
Descended from German parents, but was, I believe, born
in this country. I have but little information in respect to
the incidents of his life and character, and therefore my
sketch must be limited. On the development of political
parties at the accession of Mr. Jefferson, he appears to have
ranged himself with the republicans. He was seven years
in succession chosen a member of assembly in this county,
and every year with politicians of his own party, with
perhaps one or two exceptions. He was first elected in the
spring of 1800. His colleagues, during this long period of
service, were Nathan Smith, who served two terms, Evans
Wharry, three, Samuel Wright, five, Samuel Merray, Jr.,
Stephen Miller, Eldad Corbit and John Kennedy, each one
term. But few public men in this county have enjoyed the
confidence and retained the regards of his fellow citizens
to such an extent. He resided many years, if not all his
life, within the present limits of the town of Frankfort,
near the western borders of the county, after Oneida was
erected, where he closed a long and well spent life. Being
a major-general of militia during the war of 1812, he was
desirous that his division should be called into service to
defend his country ; but failing in this effort, yet resolved
to mingle with her patriotic defenders, and there being no
378 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
other place where he could serve, in consequence of his
military rank, he joined the wagon train one campaign, and
served as a teamster.
Doctor Wessel Willoughby,
Who for a time filled a large space in the public regard,
was a native of Connecticut, and lived in that state and in
Massachusetts until he came into this state, when a young
man, and settled upon the highlands in the town of Norway,
about the period, of the first settlement of the Royal grant
by New England emigrants, and commenced the practice of
medicine, which he pursued several years, traversing the
by-paths of the then dense wilderness on foot, with his sad-
dlebags on his arm. At this time the old town of Norway
embraced a portion of the present town of Fairfield, the
whole of Newport, and other parts of the northerly part of
the county. He subsequently removed to the valley of the
West Canada creek, near the present village of Newport,
where he established himself, selecting a beautiful spot of
ground on the eastern shore of the creek, on which he
erected a beautiful mansion for those times, improved his
grounds surrounding it, and spent the remainder of his life,
to within a few years of his death, in the practice of his
profession. Doctor Willoughby was about twenty years
professor of midwifery and of the diseases of women and
children, in the college of physicians and surgeons in the
western district of New York, established at Fairfield, and
during a considerable portion of that time was president of
the institution. He was highly distinguished in his profes-
sion, and a remarkably public spirited and benevolent man.
His position and influence while in the prime and vigor of
manhood, contributed largely to the support of the college,
and he was among the first who exerted themselves to
establish that once highly flourishing and useful institution.
Doctor Willoughby was twice chosen member of the assem-
bly with John M. Petrie and Aaron Budlong, at two succes-
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 379
sive elections in 1807 and 1808. Being elected at the April
elections of those years, he did not take his seat until the
sessions held the following winter. Although a man of
much learning in his profession, I am not aware that he was
accustomed to speak often or to any extent in a legislative
body. This was at the first election of Governor Tompkins
in 1807. At the election in 1808, the federalists obtained a
majority in the assembly, but Doctor Willoughby was not
one of that majority.
He was appointed one of the judges of the court of com-
mon pleas of the county in March, 1805, and was continued
in that commission until March, 1821. Doctor Willoughby
belonged to the medical staff of the militia of the county
during the war of 1812, and was at Sackets Harbor and on
the frontier, whenever his country required his services in
that direction. He was elected to congress from the district
composed of the counties of Madison and Herkimer in 1814,
and must have taken his seat the year following, as his con-
gressional term did not commence till the 4th of March,
1815. My information of his public course as a legislator,
is too limited to permit me to speak of it with any particu-
larity. From his connection with the dominant political
party in the county and state, I suppose he belonged to the
republican party of the times. In the division of that party
into bucktail and Clintonian sections, he adhered to the
latter.
Dr. Willoughby died at Newport, in this county, in the
year 1844, aged seventy-five years.
Chauncey Woodruff
Was a resident of Herkimer village, where he was several
years engaged in mercantile business. After the erection
of Oneida county, Mr. Woodruff was appointed sheriff of
this county in the place of William Colbreath, who retained
that office in Oneida.
Mr. Woodruff was first appointed March 19th, 1798, and
380 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
held the office by reappointment annually till March 17th,
1802. He died at Herkimer, May 10th, 1810, aged 41 years.
Sherman Wooster,
In several respects, possessed peculiarities of character
which are worthy of extended notice. Although cut down
at a mature age, he had already achieved, without the
adventitious aids of fortuue or family connections, or a
popularprofession, and laboring under all the disadvantages
of a very limited early education, the highest offices in the gift
of the people of this county. He had accomplished this, by
force of a strong native intellect, cultivated and improved
by application and study, in hours of relaxation from work
at his trade. He was emphatically a self-made man. His
mind was not cast in the mold which gave forth scintil-
lations of wit and fancy, and if it had been, the want of an
early polish did not afford any opportunity of bringing
them out. His mind was more like that of Roger Sherman,
the Connecticut shoemaker, as shadowed forth in the Madi-
son papers, in the debates on the federal constitution, than
that of any other public man within my knowledge.
He was a native of Danbury, Connecticut; born the
17th February, 1779, and died suddenly at Newport, in this
county, May 21st, 1833, aged 54 years, 3 months and 4 days.
He came to Ballston Spa, in 1787, where he was apprenticed
to a hatter. In 1801, he removed to Utica, where he
remained working at his trade, until 1804 ; when he finally
settled permanently in Newport, in this county. He was
married a short time before this removal, and his wife sur-
vived him, and is still living. He carried on his mechanical
business a few years after he came to the county, but finally
devoted his whole time and attention to the discharge of the
duties of various public offices and trusts, principally of a local
character, at the early stages of his official career. Besides
other town offices, he held those of supervisor and justice of
the peace, many years. The former being a town elective
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 381
office, it was seldom, if ever, a candidate could be brought
out against him, who could carry a majority of the electors.
He was a faithful and diligent magistrate, and his official
conduct generally received the public approval. He was
appointed, by the governor arid senate, one of the judges of
the court of common pleas of the county, in April, 1828,
and held the place one term only. He declined a reappoint-
ment.
Mr. Wooster's name was first presented to the people of
the county, for an elective office, in 1821. He was that
year chosen a delegate to the convention called to revise
the constitution, of 1777. He was known to the people of
the county to be firm, but moderate in his political notions,
and the use of his name, at that time, aided materially in
securing the election of the republican delegates, in the
county, which had very recently cast a small majority
against the call of the convention.
A particular reference to Mr. Wooster's votes, on the
various important and interesting propositions brought
before the convention, in settling the principles of the con-
stitution of 1821, do not seem to me to be called for, at this
time. He must be ranked with the movement party, in the
convention, of which the principal leaders were, Gen. Root,
Gov. Tompkins and Col. Young, although he did not always
vote with them, on several of the propositions which they
advocated. He was in several instances found arrayed
against Mr. Van Buren, on votes where that distinguished
member of the convention had made able and zealous efforts
to carry a majority of the convention with him. On the
whole, Mr. Wooster's course in the convention was highly
satisfactory to his political friends in the county, and placed
him in a prominent position as a public man. He approved
of, and voted for the constitution, as framed and submitted
to the people, and I make the above qualification because
a large minority of the electors in the county voted against
that instrument. Mr. Wooster was neither an ambitious nor
a turbulent politician. He was cool, deliberative and con-
382 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
scientious, and seldom gave any public measure his approval
simply on the ground of public expediency.
At the November election in 1822, he was chosen one of
the four state senators elected in the fifth senate district,
under the constitution recently adopted. On taking his seat
he drew the long term of four years. Although he was
elected in an almost political calm, nearly the whole term of
his service in the senate, from January 1st, 1823, to January,
1827, was one of the most stormy and exciting periods in
the political history of this state that has occurred ; and we
have not, before or since, been unfrequently visited by
political tornadoes, which not only baffle all description,
but set at defiance the ingenuity of man to discover or detect
the true causes of their origin. Such is the opinion enter-
tained of us in other states. Even an attempted elucidation
of problems of this sort would be unsuited to our purpose.
The political agitations preceding the election of Mr.
Monroe's successor, did not commence until after Mr.
Wooster's election, and he was consequently not subjected
to any personal pledges in regard to that subject. He was
left free to ascertain the opinions and wishes of his constitu-
ents in the best way he could, and act accordingly. In
regard to the celebrated electoral law, which has been neces-
sarily mentioned in the preceding pages of this work, he
voted for its postponement to a future day, which was
beyond the succeeding annual election, and this was there-
fore considered a virtual rejection of the bill by its friends,
and it was so, in fact, in reference to the pending election.
Hence his name, associated with others, as one of the famous
SEVENTEEN SENATORS, was pasted up in black letter in
public barrooms, and had a conspicuous place in most of the
newspapers which advocated the passage of the law. Neither
Mr. Wooster nor his friends considered him materially
damaged by a proceeding of this sort. At any rate, there
never was a body of men so resolutely sustained by their
friends in subsequent political conflicts, as were these same
seventeen senators, and the names of Bronson, Dudley,
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 383
Earll, Livingston, Suydam, and "Wright, have not been
unfamiliar names at the polls of election for more than
twenty years. But Mr. Wooster was friendly to Mr. Craw-
ford's elevation to the presidency, and if he supposed the
best interests of the country would be promoted by his
election, as he no doubt did, was he not fully justifiable in
adopting every legitimate expedient to effect his object and
defeat the measures of his opponents ? I will not repeat
what has been elsewhere stated in regard to the choice of
electors by the people, but it is impossible to avoid the con-
clusion which forces itself upon all familiar with the politics
of this state for the last half century, that if the contest in
1824 had been confined to two candidates, the selection of
the two great political parties, the controversy about the
electoral law would have ended where it began, within the
walls of the two houses. This was a contest for political
power by the adherents of numerous presidential aspirants,
and involved no principle of government acting upon the
masses of the community beyond one single election, and so
long as the legislature so exercised the powers conferred by
law as to be the true exponents of the will of the majority
of the electors, the political party or politicians, acting in
conformity to this idea, risked but little with friends, when
their " sober second thoughts" were appealed to. When the
parties come to reflect upon what had been done, and the
whole ground had been surveyed, the voters in this county
by a majority of about six hundred, at the election in Novem-
ber, 1825, reversed the decision of the preceding year, by
returning those members of the assembly who had heartily
concurred in Mr. Wooster's course on the electoral law
question, and thereby directly sanctioned his previous poli-
tical course in the senate.
He was elected to the assembly of this state in the fall
of 1832, with Dudley Burwell and Joseph M. Prendergast,
and was consequently a member of the house of assembly
when he died. His votes in the house during the session
of 1833, on all the important questions which came up for
384 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
discussion, were in accordance with his preexisting and
expressed opinions. He was opposed to all projects of
internal improvements, such as the Chenango canal, whose
eventualities were the entailment of a certain debt upon
the state, without the slightest prosjDect of reimbursement
from income, even to the extent of the ordinary expenses
of repairs. He was one of those statesmen who did not
esteem it prudent to contract a debt to develop the
resources of a section of country, whose trade and business
was not sufficient to maintain and superintend the work
constructed ; and on this question he agreed in opinion, not
only with a large majority of the people of the county, but
with many distinguished men in the state. This, it is true,
is a subject which has afforded, and always will, a wide
range of discussion, and even fair-minded men might possi-
bly entertain antagonistic views in regard to particular
projects, and even the general proposition as above stated ;
but that generation on whom the burthen of canceling the
debt might be cast, would not be likely to disagree in regard
to the wisdom or prudence of measures that submerged
their country in debt. It is difficult to limit the powers of
commerce, or even to define the extent of taxation or bur-
then a highly commercial people can bear, without materially
affecting the healthful action of trade. Our own experience
as a nation shows the paralysing effects and the ruinous
consequences of an overshadowing and crushing public
and private indebtedness ; and it shows, too, that an ani-
mated but steady application to industrial pursuits, aided
by extensive commercial relations, how soon a people can
wipe out and even forget financial embarrassments. We
have only to look at a kindred nation, whose annual reve-
nues exceed our own five fold, and whose public debt, set
down in figures, would seem ponderous enough " to crush
out" seventeen millions of people ; yet we see that nation
adding millions to the annual burthens of its subjects, and
fitting out naval armaments sufficiently extensive to block-
ade the approaches by sea of a power whose boundaries
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY. 385
circumscribe a large portion of two continents, and some
portion of a third, and whose ambition reaches to grasp at
a fourth, and this mighty effort is sustained by the power
of commerce and trade, domestic and foreign, without
seeming to disturb in the least the general prosperity of the
country. But here we must pause. The people of the most
powerful nations on the continent of Europe, with the
exception of France, and she is sustained by internal and
external trade, are literally groaning under the burthen of
taxation, much of it being required to pay the interest on
public debt ; and so little credit have many of their govern-
ments with the money kings of the day, that they can not
negotiate a loan except at a ruinous discount of fifteen or
twenty per cent. The credit of an impoverished country,
or whose subjects are ripe for rebellion, will not command
a premium with modern money lenders.
Samuel Wright.
There are but few men in the walks of civil life, and
especially those whose minds have been embellished with
nothing more than a common school education, who burst
forth like meteors, blaze for a moment, attract universal
attention, and then become as suddenly extinguished and
forgotten. This, however, was the brief course of Mr.
Wright in this county. He came from Vermont, and settled
within the limits of the present town of Russia, about the
year 1793, where he engaged in the business of farming,
which, in a new country, consists, for the first few years, in
opening roads, clearing up lands, and erecting such buildings
as may be required for family purposes.
So soon as the country around him had become pretty
well filled up with population, he opened a country store,
and traded in " West India and dry goods," not neglecting
the " cod fish," a very needful article to a full assortment
for the country trade in those days. Having made success-
ful progress in farming and merchandising, Mr. Wright
386 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
next turned his attention to politics, in which he prospered
remarkably well for a time. He was elected member of
assembly in 1802, and the four following years. He appears
to have been the standing candidate of his party, with
General Widrig, for a long time, but his popularity could
not always last. Dr. Westel Willoughby, Jr., was a towns-
man of Mr. Wright, all the northern part of the county
then being embraced in Norway, a rising man, and competed
vigorously with him for popular favor. Notwithstanding
his extraordinary native talents and indomitable Yankee
perseverance, Mr. Wright was compelled to yield the palm
of victory to his rival. At the election, in 1806, his vote
was the lowest of three members who obtained certificates
of election, and even then was defeated by the popular
votes. Willoughby's official canvass was only 43 below
Wright's, and this after 63 votes, intended for the former,
had been rejected for informality.
In the winter of 1805, the Merchant's Bank, of the city
of New York, was chartered, after being strongly opposed,
but not without strong suspicions and direct charges of
bribery and corruption ; and Ebenezer Purdy, a senator,
" who introduced in the senate the bill to incorporate the
company, finally was compelled to resign his seat, to avoid
expulsion for bribery." On the 16th of March, 1805, Luke
Metcalf, a member of assembly, made a statement under
oath, which was laid before the house, to the effect that
Mr. Wright told him, there were fifteen shares of the stock
for each member who would favor or vote for the bill incor-
porating the bank, which would be worth twenty-five per
cent on the nominal price of the stock. That Wright after-
wards asked Metcalf if he remained opposed to the bank,
and being answered in the affirmative, Wright then said,
the same provision would be made for those members who
would absent themselves, when the vote was taken on the
bill, as for those who should be present and vote for it.
Wr. Wright was twice elected to the assembly after his
vote on the bank bill, and after this expose ; it was not,
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY. 3S7
however, generally known to his constituents, in April,
1805, that he was suspected of improper practices in regard
to the incorporation of this bank. His two colleagues in
the assembly also voted for the bill, but were not charged
with foul conduct, in procuring its passage. The republican
party at this time was hostile to the granting of bank char-
ters, the leading men of the party fearing the influence their
managers, who were generally federalists, would be able to
exert at the elections, by the influence they would give.
Governor Lewis, however, favored the incorporation of this
bank ; and gave an approving vote for it in the council of
revision, when it was objected to by Ambrose Spencer, a
judge of the supreme court, on the ground that the passage
of the bill was procured in both houses by bribery of the
members.
CHAPTER XIII.
This chapter has been arranged into nineteen sections,
that being the number of towns in the county. I have
endeavored to make the annexed table useful as a reference.
The reader will remark a loss of population, in eleven of
the towns, in a time of prosperity as great and healthful as
any during the present century. These losses have not
arisen from a depression in any branch of husbandry. The
increase of population in the river towns and villages, along
the canal and rail road, and in the towns having wild lands
to settle, overbalances these losses, and gives a small addition
in the aggregate, for the last ten years ; but not equal to the
percentage of births over deaths, in the same period.
For the amusement of the curious, I will remark that, four
of the towns in the county, commemorate the names of
revolutionary generals ; the names of three, are derived from
Germany; four, from New England; one, is called after a
state in the union, and another, after a county in this state ;
one, bears the name of an empire, and another, a kingdom
in Europe ; three, are descriptive of the localities which are
embraced within their limits, and one, seems an emanation
of fancy.
The county is now divided into the following towns, which
are given, with the dates of organization, and the population
of each town, in 1845, and 1855:
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
389
Id
a
.5 p
.2 • 1
„. a From what towns setoff,
Names of Towns.
frH
art
=—
1 j. | or taken.
a a
&c 'SO
£> 1 O
|S
1
1812
1,831
2,126
295Warren,
2
1817
1,791
1,693 98
jMinden, Mont. co.
3
Fairfield
1796
1,493
1,662
169Norway.
4
1796
3,217
3,082 135
German Flats.
5
German Plats,. . .
1788
3,855
3,2:57
618
6
1788
2,866
2,379
487
[German Flats.
7
Little Falls,
is 211
4,930
4,244
686
Herkimer, (Fairfield and
8
1796
1,582
1,677
95 German Flats.
9
1797
1,672
1,872
200
Palatine, Mont. co.
10
1806
2,015
2,112!
97
Herkimer, Fairfield and
n
1792
1,059
1,079
20
Herkimer. [Norway.
r
Ohio,
1823
1806
1,087
2,288
763 324
"m
Norway.
13
Norway.
14 Salisbury,
1797
2,306
1,860
446
Palatine, Mont. CO.
1792
1,690
1,824
13-4
Herkimer.
16
17
Stark,
182*
1796
1,478
1,741
1,775
1,952
297
201
Danube,
German Flats. [Russia.
18 Wilmurt,
1836
268
89
179
West Brunswick and
19 Winfield,
1816
1,397
1,559
162
Litchfield, Richfield and
[Plainfield.
Total in 19 towns, .
38,566
37,424
2,973 1,826
Population in 1845,
37,424
Increase in 10 years,
1,142
Total losses in 10 ye
years
1,821
T<
tal net gain in 10
1,142
§ 1. Columbia
Contains that part of the county bounded easterly by a line beginning at a
maple tree, which stands a small distance easterly from the dwelling house
heretofore or late of Abraham Lighthall, at the southeasterly corner of Young's
patent, and running thence north twenty-eight degrees east, until it strikes
the south line of the town of German Flats, at the diatance of one hundred
chains, easterly of the northwesterly corner of Henderson's patent, on the
north line thereof; northerly, by German Flats, southerly, by the bounds of
the county, and westerly, by Litchfield and Winfield.
This town contains the whole of Staley's second tract,
except one tier and a half of lots on the westerly bounds,
it also contains a small triangular piece, from the northwest
corner of Henderson's patent, and the whole of the patent,
to Conerad Frank and others, except seven lots on the
eastern bounds thereof.
Columbia was settled before the revolution, by several
German families from the Mohawk river. The heads of the
26
390 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
families, who made one of the settlements, were, Conrad
OrendorfF, Conrad Frank, Conrad Fulmer, Frederick Christ-
man, Timothy Frank, Nicholas Lighthall, Joseph Moyer and
Henry Frink. The place where these families were seated
was known as "Coonrodstown," before Columbia was organ-
ized, in 1812, and is to this day. A few Germans had also
seated themselves at a place then and since called Elizabeth-
town, to commemorate the name of one or more German
matrons among the settlers.
When the new town was about to be set off, and the inhabit-
ants were casting about for a name, some of them desired
to have it called Conrad. This was rejected, on account of
the Coonish sound it had received, by a mispronunciation.
Conrad is quite as euphonious as Columbia, and a more
ancient name, by several hundred years, than Columbus,
from which the town derived its name. There may have
been some influential inhabitants in the territory, who had
emigrated from Columbia county, and exerted an influence on
this occasion; and, although feeling inclined to honor their
native county, they would not hope the new town should be
a political copyist of its then prominent namesake. Co-
lumbia is purely an agricultural town. The north line of it
is about four miles from the canal; without villages, except
Asahel Alfred settled in this town in 1791. He was a native of Connec-
ticut, a farmer and an honest man, of steady, industrious habits and good
morals. He died in June, 1853, aged 93 years, having always resided on the
farm on which he first located, and which was occupied by his son Cyrus in
the old age of the father.
He was a soldier of the revolution, having entered the service of his coun-
try in his fifteenth year. He served more than three years. He was in the
battle of Monmouth ; taken prisoner at the Cedars, in Canada, after a smart
conflict between the Americans and a party of the enemy, consisting of whites
and Indians, and as usual in such cases, both parties took their covers of
stumps and trees. Alfred was fired at by an Indian, but not hit. A second
shot was made at him, and the ball struck the stump behind which he stood.
Mr. Alfred discovered the Indian's head exposed while loading the third time,
took deliberate aim at him, fired, and was not again molested from that quar-
ter. The Americans were outnumbered and made prisoners, and as soon as
they surrendered, the Indians stripped them of all their clothing except their
COLUMBIA. 391
Cedarville, a portion of which extends into it ; it is some-
what elevated; well supplied with water, but the surface
can not be called broken. It is slowly losing its population ;
a strong indication that cheese making engrosses the farmers'
attention, although hop and grain growing is not neglected.
In former times, one hundred acre farm lots seemed to con-
tent our people; now, that extent of domain is quite too
limited. Nor does a small diminution of population in our
agricultural towns indicate, in the least, a lack of prosperity,
or a want of wealth among those who remain. There are
often those, who may wish to seek new homes for increasing
families, and they soon find neighbors ready and willing to
purchase their farms.
§ 2. Danube
Contains that part of the county bounded northerly by the Mohawk river,
easterly by the bounds of the county, southerly by a line commencing at a
point in the east bounds of the county, equidistant from the Mohawk river
and the south bounds of the county, thence westerly parallel with the south
bounds of the county to a line drawn from the easternmost lock of the old
canal, on the north side of the Mohawk river, at the Little Falls, to the head
waters of Lake Otsego, and westerly by the said last mentioned line.
Small portions of the Fall Hill, Vaughns and L'Homme-
dieu patents, nearly the whole of Lindsey's, and parts of
shirts and pantaloons. They took his hat, coat, vest, neckkerchief and silver
knee and shoe buckles. When on the march to the British post, one of Mr.
Alfred's fellow prisoners being feeble, and not able to keep up with the rest,
fell behind, and Alfred remained with him to help him along. While making
their way as well as they could, an Indian came up, and, putting the muzzle
of his gun close to the sick prisoner's head, blew out his brains. Mr. Alfred
was not slow to overtake his fellow prisoners. He was at the capture of
Burgoyne and the British army.
My informant, who is a most excellent judge of such matters, says he was
a good marksman, and a dead shot at fair rifle distance. He would often
relate many interesting incidents that happened to the scouting parties he was
engaged in. This service suited him much better than the camp. He was
very fond of hunting, and while living on his farm, it was not uncommon for
him, after game became scarce in his neighborhood, to leave home in the fall
of the year, and be absent from it weeks, on hunting excursions.
392
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Indian Castle Church.
J. Vroman's, C. Colden's, Van Home's and Lansing's patents
are within the above boundaries.
,*$0&?8s*>^ This town, although of recent terri-
torial organization, was no doubt one
of the earliest settled by Europeans of
any in the county, except those por-
tions of it embracing Burnetsfield, or
what was formerly known as the Ger-
man Flats. The date of Lindsey's
and Van Home's patents, one in 1730
i and the other in 1731, indicate this.
It has been elsewhere stated in this
work, that the Canajoharie mentioned
H in the early colonial history of the
state, extended as far west as the foot
of the Little Falls, in 1772, and proba-
bly farther before the German Flats district was set off.
The casual reader of disjointed documents and isolated
statements might infer that the Canajoharie mentioned in
connection with the Mohawk tribe of Indians, was circum-
scribed in its limits to the town of that name in Montgomery
county. This is clearly not the fact. The site of the upper
Mohawk's castle is in this town, and near the present Indian
castle church, now so called, and it has borne that name
within the memory of the oldest inhabitants now living, and
a uniform and unvarying tradition speaks to the same effect.
The French Itinerary, found in vol. I of the Documentary
History of the State, fixes Fort Can-nat-ho-cary at the side
of the Mohawk river, on the right bank, and four leagues
from Fort Kouari (Herkimer). The writer was no doubt a
French spy, sent out from Canada, in 1757, to make a topo-
graphical survey of the country, from Oswego to Schenec-
tady and Albany, along the water communications from
Lake Ontario to Hudson river. He describes the road on
the south side of the river, from Fort Herkimer to the
Indian castle ; and he says, in his description of the road on
the north side of the river, that this fort is opposite to the
mouth of the Canada creek.
DANUBE. 393
The fort, so called, was one hundred paces on each side,
had four bastions of upright pickets, fifteen feet high, about
a foot square, and joined together with lintels. It was not
surrounded by a ditch, but was constructed with port holes
at regular distances, with a platform or stage all around, to
fire from. There were some small pieces of cannon at each
of the bastions, and a house at each curtain to serve as
storehouses and barracks. There were several Indian fami-
lies at this time living near this fort.
Sir Win. Johnson, in Oct., 1772, speaks of having built a
church, at his own expense, at the Canajoharees, and laments,
that it is in a great measure useless, in consequence of not
being able to secure the services of a missionary. I have
not been able to fix the period, previous to the revolution,
when the first church at the Indian Castle was built. The
bell however, was highly regarded by the Indians, and they
made an effort, during the war, to carry it off. They took
it away in the night and secreted it. This, of course, caused
excitement among the German population in the neighbor-
hood, when it became known that the church bell had
disappeared. How it was carried off, and what had become
of it, engrossed the attention of all, and an immediate and
careful search was made for the missing bell, in every
direction; but the purloiners knew too well how to cover
up and secure their trophy, to prevent a discovery. The
search was fruitless, and the inhabitants had nearly given
up all hope of its recovery when, one dark night, the sound
of the bell was heard in the distance, and the population of
the neighborhood were soon in hot pursuit, armed with guns,
pitchforks and axes. The bell was recovered. The Indians,
after they supposed the search was over, returned, and slung
the bell upon a pole, and started with it, but did not secure
that unruly member, the tongue or clapper; and the bell and
clapper having an unequal momentum in the swing, when
carried over uneven ground on a bending pole, came in
contact, and by the ding dong sounds led to the discovery.
This town attracts considerable attention, in consequence
394 HISTOBY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
of its containing the residence of Gen. Nicholas Herkimer ;
and, if it was not the birth place of the too celebrated Joseph
Brant, a considerable number of the early years of his life
were spent at the Indian Castle, with the members of his
tribe, where an intimate acquaintance was cultivated between
him and Gen. Herkimer, when they were young men. This
fort must have been built in 1755 ; early in that year, Sir
William Johnson speaks about constructing forts, at the
two Indian castles, and notified Governor De Lancy of his
having concluded a contract for their erection. These
defenses were made to gratify the Mohawk Indians, who
were exposed to the hostile incursions of the French and
their Indian allies from Canada. I do not find any account
of this fort twenty years afterwards, and if it had not
entirely gone to decay before the revolution, it was probably
used only as a temporary refuge of the inhabitants, to shield
them against the hostile attacks of those for whose protection
it was first erected.
In 1722, Governor Burnet, on the petition of the Rev.
Petrus Van Driesen of Albany, granted a license authorizing
Mr. Van Driesen to build a meeting house in the Mohawk
country, for the use of the Indians, on any lands belonging
to them. In 1737, a patent for 1000 acres of land was issued
to the same gentleman, and it will be noticed that this grant
covers lands at the mouth of the East Canada creek, and
nearly opposite to the Indian Castle church. The mission
at Fort Hunter had been established as early as 1712, and
probably before that time, so that Mr. Van Driesen's license
had no reference to that station.
I do not find any well founded data to change my conclu-
sions that the church at German Flats was the first erection
for religious worship in the county.
Fort Hendrick is marked on Sauthier's map of the pro-
vince of New York, published in 1779, as being on the south
side of the Mohawk river, opposite the mouth of East
Canada creek. The Cannatjoharies are also marked as being
located at this point. This establishes the fact that the site
DANUBE. 395
of the upper Mohawk castle was at the place above desig-
nated. And the name of the fort was a compliment to old
King Hendrik, whose principal residence during the latter
period of his life was at this place.
It should be observed that the grant of 4000 acres to
Isaac Vrooman, and of 4000 acres to Ezra L'Hommedieu and
Nathaniel Piatt, in 1786, out of unpatented lands, by the
crown, lying in this town and Stark, shows there must have
previously existed very strong reasons for not granting
these lands, long before the revolutionary war. These
reasons are found in the fact, that they were Indian reserva-
tions, or rather, that being in the neighborhood of one of the
principal seats of the tribe, the Indians would not consent
to part with them upon any terms.
The Mohawk Indians having left the country at the com-
mencement of the war, and not returning as did the Senecas,
Cayugas and Onondagas and sue for peace, were treated by
the state as having abandoned all their rights as original
possessors of the soil, and all the vacant lands within the
limits formerly claimed by this tribe, were sold by the state
without regarding the Indian title.
The only locality in this town called a village, is Newville,
about four miles south from the river, on the Nowadaga
creek, and at the foot of Ostrander's hill, from the top of
which, at an elevation of 800 feet above the river, is a broad
and extended view to the east and southeast, including the
loAver valley, of nearly thirty miles.
§ 3. Fairfield
Contains that part of the county beginning on the middle line in Glen's
purchase, in the west bounds of Manheim, and running thence westerly along
the said middle line of Glen's purchase to the southwest corner of lot number
seven ; thence northerly to the northeast corner of lot number five in said
purchase ; thence westerly along the line between lots number five and six,
and the same continued to the West Canada creek ; thence up and along the
said creek, to the town of Newport ; then along the bounds of Newport to the
396 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
southwest corner of Norway ; then along the south bounds of Norway, east to
the west bounds of Salisbury ; and then south along the same, to the place of
beginning.
These bounds have been changed. See subdivision 7,
Little Falls, erected in 1829.
This town contains within its limits nearly the whole of
Glen's purchase lying north of the base or middle line of
said purchase, and a portion of the first allotment of the
Royal grant.
There was a German settlement in this town before the
revolution, upon what has been called in modern times the
Top notch, near the Manheim town line, and about four
miles north of Little Falls. Among these German families
were the Kellers, Windeckers, Pickerts and others, not of
the Burnetsfield patentees, but who came up from the lower
Mohawk valley, and seated themselves in Glen's purchase,
under the patronage of some of its owners. Mr. Cornelius
Chatfield arrived within the territory of the present town
of Fairfield, with his family, March 24th, 1785, and settled
near or at the spot where the village now is. He is supposed
to have been the first New Englander who came into the
county after the war, for the purpose of settling on the
Royal grant. Mr. Abijah Mann, the father of the Hon.
Abijah Mann, Jr., arrived in May following, and located a
little west of Fairfield village. There was a small Indian
orchard upon or near the lands taken up by Mr. Mann, and
the Indians, many years after the revolution, would annu-
ally cluster around it, as a loved and venerated spot. A
visit, perhaps, to the resting place of some distinguished
brave, or some relative of the visitants. This duty was
performed so long as the Great Spirit required it.
About the year 1770, three families, Maltanner, Good-
bread or Goodbrodt, and Shaver or Shaffer, located about
half a mile northeast of Fairfield village, in one neighbor-
hood. This place is now called Maltanner's creek or spring.
These people were sent there by Sir "William Johnson, to
FAIRFIELD. 397
make an opening upon his Royal grant. They had never
been suspected by the Americans of being friendly to their
cause ; nor could they be charged with disloyalty to the
king. In 1779, a party of Indians came to this little settle-
ment, but one of their number being sick, they kept shy, as
an Indian can, about ten days, to allow their comrade to
recover, when, with a yell and a whoop, and brandishing
their tomahawks, they fell upon Sir John Johnson's tenants,
captured two of the Maltanners, father and son, killed a
little girl, 16 years old, of the Shaver family, and then
burned up all Sir John's houses and buildings in the settle-
ment. The Goodbrodt and Shaver families and some of the
Maltanners escaped to tell the sad story of their bereave-
ments and losses to their rebel neighbors. The Maltanners
were taken to St. Regis by the Indians, where they remained
three years, and returned in 1782. His majesty's officials
in Canada might well suppose the two captives, if allowed
to return, would not be very hearty and zealous in the royal
cause, after such treatment ; and therefore concluded to
detain them. The elder Maltanner, when he came back,
said he met Sir John in Canada, and told him what had
happened, whereat the gallant knight was exceedingly
wrathful, and fulminated big words and strong language
against the d — d savages, for their conduct in killing, taking
captive and dispersing his tenants, and burning his houses.
He had other tenants on the grant, loyal and true, who
might be treated in the same way. Sir John no doubt felt
hurt, not because any tender feeling towards his fellow man
had been touched, or any law of humanity outraged ; but
because the same rule of warfare he had applied to others,
had been, and might again be, visited upon himself. This
was not the first nor the last instance, in that unnatural
struggle, in which the Indians made no discrimination in
their warfare ; and friend and foe alike were made to sink
under the hatchet's stunning blow, and feel the knife's keen
edge. Kindness and humanity, in conducting that war,
might have achieved what hate and cruelty did not. The
398 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
ancient Roman apothegm, "Quum Deus vult perdere, prius
dementat" was so strikingly verified in word and sentiment,
as to induce one to think, almost, it was a prophetic enun-
ciation of an actual event, already determined in the coun-
cils of heaven.
The first New England settlers who came into this town
at the close of the war, took up lands southwesterly of
Fairfield village, except those before noticed, with one or
two exceptions. Josiah, David and Lester Johnson came
into the town from Connecticut, in 1786 ; John Bucklin and
Benjamin Bowen, from Rhode Island ; John Eaton, Nathaniel
and William Brown, from Massachusetts ; and Samuel Low,
in 1787 : David Benseley, from Rhode Island ; and Elisha,
Wyman and Comfort Eaton, from Massachusetts, in 1788 :
Jeremiah Ballard, from Massachusetts, in 17S9 : Wm. Buck-
lin, the Arnold families, Daniel Venner, Nathan Smith,
Nahum Daniels and Amos and James Haile, most of them
from Massachusetts, in 1790 : the Neelys came in 1792,
and Peter and Bela Ward, from Connecticut, in 1791. The
Eatons, Browns, Hailes, Arnolds, Bucklins and Wards seated
themselves at and near the present village of Eatousville.
Some of these people changed their residences after a short
sojourn in this town. Jeremiah Ballard located about two
miles northeast of Fairfield village. He left his family the
first winter after he came into the town, and returned to
Massachusetts, where he remained until spring.
My informant says this family had nothing to subsist on
during a long and dreary winter but Indian corn and white
rabbits, when any could be caught. There being no mills
then in the country, and if there had been they could not be
reached except by the use of snow-shoes and carrying the
grist on one's back ; the Ballard family resorted to what at
this day would be considered a novel method of reducing their
corn into a state suitable to be converted into rabbit soup.
Having no hand nor other mill to crack or break their corn
in, a mortar was the only thing they could resort to, and
even this they were destitute of; but when did necessity
FAIRFIELD. 399
ever fail to suggest some remedy for surmountable incon-
veniences. The family procured a large hard-wood log,
and having no tools suitable to the object, they burned a
hole in it, by concentrating the fire to one spot, sulliciently
deep to answer their purpose. In this way, my informant
says, this great achievment was accomplished. It was an
easy task, after this, to make a pestle out of some hard wood,
and crack corn to their stomach's content.
By these means the resolved and noble hearted mother
carried her family through the winter, while the father was
absent, and it should be hoped was detained by sickness at
his former home in Massachusetts.
There were but a few English or New England families,
north of the Mohawk, and between the East and West Canada
creek, in 1786; not more than four or five, if as many.
Fairfield village, the ancient seat of learning of the county,
is located very nearly in the center of the town, about 800
feet above the level of the Mohawk river. A notice of the
Medical college and the Academy will be found in another
chapter. Middle ville, a small village situated partly in this
town and. partly in Newport, on the West Canada creek, is
at the junction of the plank roads leading from Herkimer
and Little Falls to Newport. The census marshal of this
town did not, at the late enumeration, designate the popula-
tion within these villages. This is probably the best grazing
town in the county, and has for a series of years produced
and sent to market, annually, more of the Herkimer county
staple, cheese, than any other town within the limits of the
county.
We must not draw any conclusions unfavorable to this
town — that its soil is not good — or that its population is
wanting in energy and enterprise, or is destitute of wealth,
because we find a moderate and steady decrease in the total
number of inhabitants. To the successful progress of agri-
culture and the accumulation of wealth, and to no other
cause, is to be attributed this gradual loss of population.
400 history of herkimer county.
§ 4. Frankfort
Contains that part of the county, beginning at the south side of the Mohawk
river, in the middle of the mouth of a small stream which enters the said
river a few rods east of the house now or late of William Dygert, which stream
is known as Dygert's mill creek, and running from thence south thirty degrees
west, until it meets the southern line of a tract of land granted to Coenrad
Frank and others ; then westerly along the said southern line to the south-
west corner of said grant ; then westerly with a straight line to the west
bounds of the county ; then northerly along the same to the Mohawk river ;
and then along the river to the place of beginning.
A considerable portion of Cosby's manor, and about one
and one quarter of a tier of great lots in Bayard's patent,
four lots in Burnetsfield, about half a lot in Frank's patent,
four and a half lots in Staley's, a part of Colden's patent, are
in this town.
There were some German settlements along the river in
this town before the revolution. It appears there was a
grist mill at the creek next east of Frankfort village, which
was burned by the French and Indians in 1757. A sawmill
on the next creek below was also burnt by the same party.
The ante-revolutionary settlements in this town were con-
fined to Burnetsfield and Colden and Willet's patents.
Frankfort village, at the east end of the long level on the
Erie canal, and of easy access to the New York central rail
road, contains a population, by the last census, of 1150 souls,
and is an active, prosperous business place, where may be
found the usual mechanical establishments of country vil-
lages.
The New Graefenbergh hydropathic establishment, erected
by Dr. Holland, and opened for the reception of patients in
October, 1847, is located in the extreme southwest corner
of this town, four and a half miles from the city of Utica, on
a stage and post route from that city, through Litchfield
and Columbia to Richfield Springs. This establishment has
been in operation during the last eight years, and more than
one thousand patients in that time have been treated there
with satisfactory success. The scenery of this locality is
GERMAN FLATS.
401
varied and beautiful, and will vie with the most delightful
in the state.
The institution will accommodate sixty patients; the
rooms are pleasant and comfortably furnished. There is a
gymnasium and bowling-alley attached to the house for the
amusement and exercise of the patients.
§ 5. German Flats
Now contains that part of the county bounded westerly by Frankfort ; north-
erly, by the Mohawk river ; easterly, by Danube and Stark ; and southerly
by a line beginniug at the northeast corner of Litchfield, and running thence
easterly, along the southern line of the tract of land granted to Conerad Frank,
and others, until it meets the southwest corner of a tract of land granted to
Guy Johnson ; and then easterly, along the southern bounds thereof, to the
town of Stark.
The eastern and southern bounds of this town, as above
stated, have been changed. See sub. 7, Little Falls.
This town comprises a very considerable portion of Bur-
netsfield patent; nearly all of Staley's first tract; the whole
of Frank's patent, and a part of Guy Johnson's tract.
This town when erect-
ed, in 1788, comprised
■ all that part of Mont-
gomery county, south
of the Mohawk river,
bounded easterly by
Canajoharie, the west-
erly bounds of that
town being the Susque-
hanna river, Otsego lake
and a line from the head
waters of the lake to
the Little Falls ; south,
by the north line of the
town of Otsego, rim-
German Flats Church. . ' , ,
ning irom the head
waters of Otsego lake, in the patent granted to George
402 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Croglian and others, along the northerly bounds of that
patent, to the northwest corner of it, and extending west-
erly to the river, then called Tienaderha, and along the
northerly line of the Edminston patent, and westerly, by the
west line of the town of Herkimer, continued south to the
town of Otsego, or in other words, very nearly by the present
eastern bounds of Oneida county. These limits not only
embrace the present towns of Columbia, Frankfort, Litch-
field, Warren and Winfield, a part of Little Falls, but extend
considerably into Otsego county.
The town when erected comprehended only that part of
the German Flats district of colonial organization, south of
the Mohawk, east of the present west line of the county, and
north of Otsego, as before noticed. That district extended
much farther south and west, until the erection of the Old
England district, a short time before the revolution, which
seems not to have been regarded as a municipal territorial
division during the war.
After the peace of 1783, however, it was recognized, and
local officers appointed for the district.
The church in this town, was the first erected in the
county for the accommodation of European worshipers,
and their descendants. An Indian mission church, at the
place long known as the Indian Castle, in Danube, may
have been built at an earlier date. It is said, the former
was erected under the auspices of Sir William Johnson ; this
is very doubtful, although there may be no question what-
ever, that the Mission church was built under his agency,
if it was erected subsequent to the church at German Flats.
In the first place, Sir AVilliam was not in the country at the
date of either of the deeds, mentioned below, and heawas not
appointed general superintendent of Indian affairs, by the
crown, until 1757. He had, however, acted as Indian agent
under a colonial appointment, from August, 1749 ; and in
the second place, I am not aware that the colonial government
were accustomed to build churches, disconnected from the
GERMAN FLATS. 403
Indian missions, when the people were able to bear that
expense themselves.
On the 24th of September, 1730, Nicholas Wolever made
a deed of trust, of a part of lot number 30, in Burnetsfield,
to several persons, to hold the same as a church and school
lot; and on the 26th of April, 1733, the trustees conveyed
the same lot to the church corporation, which had at that
time been organized. Nicholas Wolever was one of the ori-
ginal grantees of the patent, and the above lot was awarded
to him. I am not aware that there are now in existence,
any records showing when the church was erected, on the
spot dedicated to that use. Within the church yard, near
the south side, there is a head stone with this inscription :
CAPT. JOHN RING,
Independent Company Provincials,
Died September 26, 1755,
aged 30 years.
The church had been erected, and formed a part of the
stockaded defense, since called Fort Herkimer, put up by
Sir William Johnson, or by his directions, in 1756. At this
time, the population of the German Flats, embracing the
settlements on both sides of the river, had more than quad-
rupled in thirty-five years, and were quite wealthy. The
inhabitants did not need, and probably did not require
government aid to build a church. At any rate, the proba-
bilities are against any such assumption.
The first regularly settled minister, called by the congre-
gation, was a Mr. Rosecrants, a German protestant, and pro-
bably a Lutheran. The time of his arrival and death are
beyond the memory of any one now living, and there are no
records or monuments now extant which show these dates.
One of those cold-blooded and not unusual murders
occurred in this town during the revolution, at a farm-house
near the site of Rankin's lock on the canal. The heart
sickens at the recital of such deeds of horror and the pen
becomes wearied in recording them.
404 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Mr. John Eysaman, with his wife, aged people, his son
and his wife and an infant child, were living togther in one
house on the south side of the river, about two miles directly
east of Fort Herkimer, on the Mohawk river.
An alarm gun had been fired at the fort to notify the
inhabitants who were at their farms or out on business, that
danger was apprehended, or a lurking enemy had been dis-
covered; the family packed up their portable goods, and
loaded them into a cart, and were about ready to start for
shelter and protection at the fort, when the house was sur-
rounded by a party of Indians and tories. Old Mr. Eysaman
and his wife were killed ; the wife of the younger Mr. Eysa-
man, whose name was Stephen, was also killed. Some one
of the assailants wrenched the infant from its mother's arms,
and holding it by the feet, dashed its head against a tree,
and its little limbs quivered in the agonies of death after it
was rudely and barbarously thrown upon the ground and
The Rev. Abraham Rosecrants succeeded his "brother. The year of his
arrival from Germany can not now be fixed with certainty. His own records
of marriages, births and deaths show that he was here in 1762. We have
concurring traditional accounts of him as early as 1754, and that he was the
German minister who was in a manner forced by the friendly Indians to cross
to Fort Herkimer, when the settlements on the the north side of the river
were destroyed by the French and Indians under M. de Belletre in November,
1757. The field of his clerical labors was coextensive with the German settle-
ments along the whole length and breadth of the Mohawk valley. Being a
graduate of a German university, he was, of course, a finished scholar in all
those branches of learning relating to Ins profession. I have stated in another
place that Mr. Rosecrants was connected with the Herkimer family by marriage.
This connection, and his position as the spiritual adviser of a people proverbial
for their strong attachments and great respect for the ministerial office, afforded
an opportunity for the exertion of a malign influence against the cause of the
colonies during the revolution. To what extent any such influence was used
is not now very material to inquire, since it is quite evident he committed no
overt act of treason or aggression, as he remained unmolested during the whole
war, by the provincial authorities, in discharge of his clerical duties, and left
his estates to the inheritance of his children.
Mr. Rosecrants died at his residence on Fall hill, in the present town of
Little Falls, at the close of the last century, and was interred by the side of
his brother, the former minister, within the walls of the church, nearly under
the pulpit.
GERMAN FLATS. 405
scalped. The mother was compelled to witness this horrid
scene ; and Stephen, who was doomed to captivity, being
pinioned and driven a short distance heard the screams of
his wife, struck down by a war club.
The enemy having taken four scalps, were content to spare
the wearer of the fifth to grace their triumph on their return
to Canada. This event took place on the 9th day of June,
and as Mr. Eysaman returned from captivity at the close of
the war, after an absence of three years and nine months,
1779 may be fixed as the year. He said on his return, the
Indians and tories, among other of his stock driven away,
took three horses, one of them a fine stud, often rode on
parade by a British officer, who noticed that Eysaman had
always regarded the horse when he was mounted, asked him
if he had ever seen the horse before. Eysaman said he had,
and that the horse was his. The reply was, " Be off, you
d — d rebel, you never owned a horse," and this was all he
ever had for him.
Mr. Eysaman married again after his return from cap-
tivity, and raised a family of children, one of whom, Mr.
Joseph Eysaman, now lives on the farm he inherited from
his father, the spot where the murders were committed.
Stephen Eysaman died at the age of ninety-four years. A
remarkable case of longevity is presented by this family.
Stephen had one brother and four sisters, one of whom lived
to the age of 97 years ; none of them died under the age of
85 years. The aggregate of the lives of these six persons,
all of one family, was five hundred and forty-one years.
The destruction of the German settlements, on the south
side of the river, in sight of Fort Herkimer, in July, 1782,
by a party of about 600 Indians and tories, has not been
heretofore noticed by any of the writers upon our border
wars, or if it has, my attention has not reached it.
The enemy were first discovered by Peter Wolever, who,
with Augustinus Hess, lived about fifty rods from the fort.
Both families were aroused, and finally succeeded in reach-
27
406 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
ing the fort without any casualty, except the death of Hess,
who was killed just as he was entering the picket gate.
There were at this time only a few troops stationed at the
fort. The Americans were not strong enough to act
offensively. Valentine Starring was taken prisoner in a
field, not far from the stockade, and was put to torture with
a view of drawing the provincials to his rescue, when they
heard, at the fort, his cries for help and lamentations under
his tortures ; not succeeding in this, poor Starring was toma-
hawked and scalped. There was a good deal of desultory
firing between the assailants and assailed.
The provincials lost four men, two soldiers and two of the
inhabitants, killed. It was supposed the enemy's loss in
killed and wounded was much greater, as they could not
approach the stockade within musket shot, uncovered. All
the buildings in the settlement, except George Herkimer's
house, were burned by the invaders, and the cattle driven
away. This relation was given by Nicholas Wolever, now
living, who was at Fort Herkimer at the time, who also says
it was reported that Capt. Brant was not in this action. I
will here notice, not an isolated case of human endurance
and the tenacity of life, although not of frequent occurrence
during the revolution. The wife of Mr. Henry Wetherstone,
who had incautiously gone into the field for some domestic
object, was set upon by a party of Indians, tomahawked,
scalped and, as supposed, her dead body left to be looked
after and cared for by her friends. She recovered, and lived
many years after her long tress of hair had been exhibited
as a trophy of Indian courage and inhuman butchery.
The flourishing villages of Mohawk and Ilion are located
in this town, about two miles apart, on the canal. Mr.
Remington's extensive rifle factory and armory, where
thousands and tens of thousands of death-dealing weapons
have been fabricated, was first established where Ilion now
is. This establishment was the nucleus around which this
village took its start, and being favorably located in respect
to proximity to the canal and the central rail road ; and
HERKIMER. 407
having roads of easy grade to the southwestern part of this
county, and the northwestern portion of Otsego, and the
southeastern parts of Madison counties, the village has
become the center of a very considerable business and active
trade.
§6. Herkimer
Contains all that part of the county bounded southerly by the Mohawk
river, westerly by Schuyler, northerly by Newport and Fairfield, and easterly
by Manheira.
The easterly bounds have been changed, see sub. 7, Little
Falls.
The whole of "Whine's and portions of Burnetsfield,
Hasenclever's, Colden's and Willetfs patents, and some lots
of the Royal grant and Glen's purchase, lay in this town.
The Rev. John Spinner emigrated to the United States, from Germany,
in 1S01, and landed at the city of New York, on the 12th of May, after
a long passage of 63 days. He was born at Warback, a market town in
the Electorate of Mentz, January 18th, 1768; was early in life dedicated
by his parents to the clerical office, and when only 11 years old, entered
the gymnasiun at Bishopsheim, where he remained three years, and
was then transferred to the university of Mentz ; remained in that cele-
brated institution of learning until 178S. In the term of his six years colle-
giate probation, he passed through a thorough course of studies, in philosophy,
mathematics, history, languages, ancient and modern, divinity, jurisprudence
medicine. He was then admitted to a Romish clerical seminary, and in 1789
was consecrated to holy orders, in the Roman Catholic church. He assisted
in celebrating the funeral obsequies of two German emperors, in accordance
with the grand and imposing rites of the Romish communion. The emperor
Joseph II, died February 20th, 1790, and Leopold II, March 1st, 1792. He
officiated eleven years as priest, confessor, &c, and about the year 1800, he
embraced the Protestant faith and form of worship. On the 18th January,
1801, he married Mary Magdale Fedelis Brumante, a native of Loire on the
Maine. She accompanied her husband to this country, and is yet living, at the
residence long occupied by the venerable and deceased subject of this notice.
Mr. Spinner, soon after he landed at New York, was called to the spiritual
charge of the German congregations at Herkimer and German Flats, and com-
menced his pastoral functions in September, 1801 , and his connection with
these churches continued about 40 years. He was engaged about 18 months
of this period, however, as a teacher in the High school, at Utica. He con-
formed to the dicipline of the Dutch Reformed church, but the first settlers of
408 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
The town of Herkimer, when organized in 1788, contained
all that part of the county of Montgomery, bounded north-
erly by the north hounds of the state, easterly by Palatine,
then extending to the west bounds of the present town of
Manheim, southerly by the Mohawk river, and westerly by
a north and south line running across the Mohawk river, at
the fording place, near the house of William Cunningham,
leaving the same house to the west of said line. This fixed
the west line of the town on the present western limits of the
county, north of the Mohawk, and covered the area now em-
braced in the towns of Fairfield, Little Falls, Newport, Nor-
way, Ohio, Russia, Schuyler and Wilmont, besides a respecta-
ble portion of the northern parts of the state, outside thepre-
the valley, and the ancestors of the people, who composed the principal part
of his congregations, were German Lutherans.
His services, during the long period of his ministry, were not confined to
the two churches, under his special charge; in that time, he preached to con-
gregations in Columbia, Warren, at the Indian Castle, Esquawk, Manheim
and Schuyler, in Herkimer county, Deerfield, Oneida county, Manlius, Onon-
daga county, and Le Ray, Jefferson county, in some of which places, German
emigrants had settled, when they first came into the country, and in others,
were found the descendants of those Palatines, who had made their first rest-
ing place in the Mohawk valley. He was the third minister in permanent
succession called to supply these two churches, after their first organization in
the German Flats.
His predecessor, Mr. Rosecrants, died a few years before 1801. The interim
was probably supplied with the temporary services of clergymen of other
congregations, or by those who were engaged only for short periods. He was
tall in stature, dignified in deportment, and polished in his manners, accom-
plishments, not rarely found among the priesthood of the Romish church.
He possessed a capacious and vigorous mind, which had been embellished by
a thorough and systematic education in German schools, under the instruction
of learned and experienced masters. With the ancient, and most of the modern
European continental languages, and especially the French, Spanish and Italian ,
he was quite as familiar as with his own native German, but from the slow
progress he made in acquiring ran accurate and easy pronunciation of the
English tongue, in the course of twenty-five years, he must have been unfa-
miliar with it when he came into the county. The younger members of his
charge, were in a rapid state of transition. The German schoolmaster, abandoned
his desk and ferule to the English teacher, whose language was spoken by a
majority of the people, and in which the business of the courts was transacted.
HERKIMER. 409
sent county line. These limits also comprehended all that
portion of the German Flats and Kingsland districts, organ-
ized under the colonial governments, north of the Mohawk,
and east of the now westerly bounds of the county.
These territorial divisions of Tryon county into districts
were made by acts of the colonial legislature, and stood in
the place of towns, or townships. It will be observed, they
were very extensive, and covered territory now embraced
in several counties. The Canajoharie district, as an instance,
extended from the Mohawk to the south line of the state,
including the settlements at Springfield, Cherry Valley and
the Harper settlement. There were, however, subdivisions
of them into precincts, when required.
It was apparent this change must take place, and it was expedient not to delay it.
Mr. Spinner applied himself with all the ax-dor of a young and ambitious man,
to keep pace with the times ; and preached alternately, in the German and
English to suit the elder and younger members of the congregations. From
long use and by diligent study, aided by a profound knowledge of Latin, he
had mastered the English language in all its significance, but, he could not pro-
nounce the words of it accurately, and with facility. His English sermons
were often able productions, and sometimes eloquent. The words were well
chosen and appropriately applied. I have alluded to this matter, which to
strangers may not seem pertinent to the subject in hand, because it was a
cause of some disquiet, but not of repining to him while living. Mr. Spinner
died at his residence in Herkimer, on the 27th of May, 1848, aged 80 years
4 months and 9 days. He was kind and affectionate as a husband and a
parent, and active and zealous in the discharge of his pastoral duties. He
exerted a happy influence over the German population of his charge, by
whom his memory is cherished with devotion and respect. Within three
weeks of his own death, six members of his former charge went to their final
rest, the aggregate of whose ages was more than 480 years. An average of 80
years to seven persons dying within the space of 21 days, is an event of no
common occurrence.
The Rev. James Murphy was inducted, as associate minister of these two
venerable congregations, by many years the oldest in the county, before the
Rev. Mr. Spinner's connection was dissolved. Dr. Murphy, I understand,
has no longer any ministerial charge of them.
Jonx Adam Hartman. — Well, what of him, it may be asked ? What office
did he hold, under the colonial or state governments, which entitles his name
to be placed in this chapter of notables ? Reader, I never knew, nor does
410 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
At the election for town officers, in March, 1789, the first
held after the town was organized, the following persons
were chosen : For supervisor, Henry Staring ; town clerk
Melger Fols ; assessors, Melger Fols, George Smith, Melger
Thum; collector, George Fols; constables, George Fols,
Adam Bauman ; commissioners of highways, Peter F. Bel-
linger, John Demnth, Jacob N. Weber ; overseers of the
poor, Henry Staring, George Weber, Jr., Michael Myers ;
overseers of highways, Marx Demuth, Philip Helmer, Adam
Hartman, Hannes Demuth, Peter Weber, Philip Herter,
Hannes Hilts, Jr., Hannes Eiseman ; pound masters, George
Weber, Jr., Peter Barky, Hannes Demuth, Nicholas Hilts,
Hannes Schell.
local tradition tell me, he ever held any other than a voluntary, self-elected
place of confidence and trust, among the people of the upper Mohawk valley.
Perhaps he was not naturalized, and therefore was ineligible to office under
the crown, before the revolution, for he was not born a British subject. But
if seven years immersion in the toils and blood of that war, could have made
any man a native American, in 1783 he was one, although born in Edenko-
ben, Germany, in September, 1743. Born and educated a peasant in father-
land, he was accustomed to the severe exposures of a roaming woodman's
life, and the luxury of wealth had in no degree enervated a frame of great
muscular power, and almost gigantic proportions, nor touched, with its allur-
ing fascinations, a mind and a will as firm and unyielding, as he believed the
cause he was engaged in, was just and good. He required no commissariat
waggon to attend him on his excursions, to supply him with rations, while in
pursuit of or watching the stealthy movements of the enemy. Mothers were
gladdened when they knew Hans Adam was on the lookout, in the bush near
by, and the confident prattle of children might be heard in the door yard ;
and the husbandman too could visit his fields, and attend to his cattle and
crops, being assured, if danger approached, a signal from Hartman's well-
tried musket would announce the fact. Such a man could not fail to find a
cheerful welcome and abundant fare at every log cabin in the land, nor were
his goings forth on his perilous service unattended by sincere and hopeful
aspirations to heaven for his safety and success. The detail of the traditional
accounts which have come to us, of his services, encounters and escapes
during the perilous period of the seven years frontier conflict, familiar to the
reader, would extend this notice beyond any reasonable limit. There is,
however, one marked event of his life, yet familiar to the descendants of the
revolutionary inhabitants of the county, which may well have place on some
more permanent record, than the fading memory of man.
HERKIMER. 411
Henry Staring got two offices ; Melger Fols, two ; George
Fols, two; George Weber, Jr., two, and Hannes Demuth,
two. A complete Native American High Dutch organiza-
tion, and nearly every man of them a descendant of the
Palatine pilgrims. The voters seem to have excluded every
other nationality from their ticket. Did they mean any
thing by this ? In these times such an act might be thought
of peculiar significance.
The town records appear to be perfect since the first
Soon after the peace of 1783, which gave safe conduct, not only to the
former white inhabitants of the valley, who confided in the promises of
princes, but to the late hostile red man of the forest, to return and look after
whatever might interest or concern them, Hartman fell in company with an
Indian near the present western limits of the town of Herkimer, at a country
tavern, and one of them at least, if not both of them, being strongly inclined
to cheer the inner-man with the enlivening influences of fire-water, the Indian
soon became exhilarated and loquacious. He boasted, as he then supposed he
might, with impunity, of his valorous deeds during the war, spoke of the
number of rebels he had killed and scalped, and the captives he had taken ;
mentioned the places he had visited in the state, and the exploits of his tribe.
His inebriate mind could shadow nothing but that he was the most distin-
guished brave of his nation. Hartman heard all this vain boasting with
apparent good nature, and believed it would not be prudent, as he was un-
armed, to provoke a quarrel with his boon companion ; but when the Indian
exhibited his tobacco pouch, made of the skin taken from a white child's arm,
and tanned or dressed with the nails of the fingers and thumb still hanging
to it, and boasted of his trophy, he came to a resolution, and probably soon
after executed it, that, drunk or sober, the Indian should no more boast of
his deeds of blood, or exhibit his savage inhumanity. He inquired the way
the Indian was going, and being told, said he was traveling the same direc-
tion. They left the house together, and took a path leading towards Schuy-
ler, through a swamp. The Indian, in addition to his rifle and other weapons,
carried a heavy pack. Hartman was unarmed, and being light, told the
Indian, on their, way, he would carry his rifle, and it was given to him. The
Indian was never seen or heard of alive after he and Hartman entered the
swamp. About a year afterwards a human body was found buried in the
swamp muck, by the side of a log laying across the path, and a pack near it,
stamped into the wet bog. A rifle was also found in a hollow tree not far
distant, and other articles, showing pretty clearly that the owner when alive
was not a European. Hartman, when asked where the Indian was, or had
gone, said " he saw him standing on a log a few rods in advance, and he fell
from it as though he had been hurt." Hartman was not always clear and
distinct in his admission that he had shot the Indian ; no one at the time
412 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
organization, and judging from the known characters of the
principal officers elected, there must have been some very
hard political contests in the town between the federalists
and republicans in olden times. Success depended very
much upon the vigilance of the parties, and it was alike
important to both to carry the county town. The history
of the county from 1725 to the close of the revolution, com-
prises but few incidents which did not take place in this, or
the present town of German Flats. When these two towns
however, or since, doiibted the fact, although there might not have been legal
evidence to convict of murder. He was arrested and tried for that offense at
Johnstown, but acquitted. Whoever killed the Indian was not instigated
thereto for the sake of plunder. In all Hartman's after conversation in regard
to this affair, he distinctly and minutely described the tobacco pouch made of
human skin, and the nails attached to the finger's end. He survived the
close of the revolutionary war more than fifty-three years. He may have
lived so far secluded from refined society as not to have seen a glove, and he
may have been so ignorant as not to know what constituted a covering for
delicate and genteel hands ; and if he was at fault in this respect, he was not
so great a dunce as not to know the skin of the human arm and hand, nor
so blind that he could not see a finger nail. Besides, who that is familiar
with Indian customs and habiliments, can believe that an Indian would use
a common hand glove for a pouch ? How and where would he secure it ?
He could not fasten it to his belt, and in those days these primitive people
did not wear pockets in their garments ; their pouches served that purpose,
and were made sufficiently long to be secured by winding two or three times
round the outside waist belt. The assertion, in Stone's Life of Brant, that
this pouch " was probably a leather glove, which the Indian had found,"
seems to be wholly unsupported by fact or the appearance of truth. I have
no desire to make any apology for Hartman, or that he should appear dif-
ferent from what he actually was, a plain, unlettered, unpretending man.
He was not " very ignorfant," unless the term is strictly applied to his school
acquirements. He probably never attended school a single day in his life.
Other and more imperative calls upon his time and service were in store for
him, after he landed upon our western shores. "A very ignorant man, and
thought it no harm to kill an Indian at any time." Is this statement borne
out by the facts of the relation as here given ? If Hartman killed the Indian,
and was so " very ignorant" as to think it no harm to kill one at any time,
why did he not do it in the face of witnesses ? Why did he seek and wait
for an opportunity to do the deed when he and his late open enemy were
alone? Why, if so "very ignorant," as to be only a lump of stultified hu-
manity, did not the slayer appropriate the goods of his victim, of considera-
ble value, to his own use ? Col. Stone was either misinformed in respect to
HERKIMER. 413
were erected, Herkimer had been known by no other name
for sixty-three years than the German Flats, and it was not
intended to make any change, but to give the name of Her-
kimer to the territory on the south side of the river, where
the Herkimer family were first seated, where most of those
who remained in the country then lived, and where the general
himself was born. The committee, having the matter in
charge, not knowing the localities, inquired of some person
who did, whether the German Flats lay on the right or left
bank of the river, expecting to be answered according to
the known rule of designation, Avhich is to start at the source
of the stream and pass down, noting the objects and places
on the right hand bank and on the left hand bank. Being
told the German Flats was on the right bank, the answer
misled the committee, and hence arose the mistake and
change. The committee acted upon a settled rule of defini-
tion, which their informant did not understand.
this case, or his memory very indistinct when he wrote the history of it. I
hope his partiality for the hero of his work did not produce an unfavorable
bias on his mind towards those who had been America's most ardent and
effective, though humble, defenders. Unless more than one Indian was
found prowling through the valley soon after the revolution, exhibiting the
skin of a human arm and hand for a tobacco pouch, and boasting of the
achievement, the truth of history has been falsified in another quarter.
Hartman from some exposure and by personal conflicts with the Indians
had become disabled for life so that he could not labor. He was placed on
the invalid pension roll, but, shame to my country, the gratuity bestowed was
not enovigh to sustain the shattered remnant of a frame which had been
hacked, lacerated and wounded in the service of his adopted country, with-
out additional assistance from the local overseer of the poor. He died at
Herkimer and the head stone at the spot where rests his remains, erected in
grateful remembrance of his services, is seen in the burial ground surround-
ing the Brick church at Herkimer, and in full view from the Court house
steps, with the inscription cut upon it :
JOHN ADAM HARTMAN,
Born at
TMenkoben in Germany,
A great Patriot in our War for Independence,
Died April 5th, 1836,
Aged 92 years and 7 months.
414 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Fort Dayton was a small stockaded fort, erected in the
northerly part of the present village of Herkimer, by Col.
Dayton, of the continental service, in the year 1776, for the
protection of the inhabitants on the north side of the river ;
Fort Herkimer, on the south side, being too far oft", and too
difficult to reach to secure that object as effectively as was
desired. A small force of continental troops or state levies,
was retained at this post during the war, and it afforded
safe protection to the surrounding inhabitants who sought
safety within its pickets, against the marauding parties of
the enemy. This spot was for many years before and after
the revolution the most populous of any in this part of the
country; the public buildings of the county have ahvays
remained at the village, and for several years it enjoyed a
commercial prosperity unrivaled by any locality in the
county ; but the opening of the Erie canal damaged its pros-
Jacob Small. — This zealous partisan of American independence deserves
more than the passing notice I can give to his memory, He was a native of
Germany, and came to this country when quite }'oung. He was appointed by
the governor and council captain in the regiment of Tryon county militia,
under the command of Col. Peter Bellinger, on the 25th of June, 1778. He
had previously served as subaltern in the militia and was a brave, active and
energetic partisan officer. At whatever point between the Little Falls and
Forts Herkimer and Dayton an alarm might be given, Capt. Small with such
members of his company as could be collected at the moment were afoot and
hastening to repel the attack of the enemy and rescue the stockaded post from
assault. The beat of his company was on the north side of the Mohawk
river and east of the West Canada creek. His duties as a militia officer
were so incessant and required him to be absent from his family so much, that
he placed them in Fort Herkimer for protection in the fall of 1777, where
they remained until the war closed. His son Jacob, who at that time was
about six years old, still survives, and retains a distinct recollection of this
fact. The successful stratagem practiced by John Christian Shell, in 1781,
when his home was arsaulted by Donald McDonald at the head of a party of
Indians and tories, shows that Capt. Small's name must have been familiar to
the assailants, and that they did not like to await his approach within gun shot.
When Capt. Small removed the wounded refugee to Fort Dayton to have
his wounds dressed, he performed the act with all the care and humanity he
was capable of exerting on that occasion. The welfare of Shell's two little
sons carried into captivity by the enemy may have influenced the Americans
HERKIMER. 415
perity a good deal. The old church, a wooden structure and
a venerable relic of the past, was consumed by fire in Janu-
ary, 1834, when the Court house was burnt. It was soon
after replaced by a handsome edifice of brick, which stands
on the main street of the village, near the Court house.
Herkimer village is pleasantly situated on a plain near the
junction of the Mohawk and West Canada creek, the sur-
rounding country, except in the river and creek valleys, is a
little elevated, presenting rich, varied and delightful pro-
spects, not surpassed in the whole Mohawk valley. The
large and pretty extended alluvial flat or bottom lands in
this town, containing hundreds of acres, have been under
cultivation more than 130 years, and still yield abundant
crops in requital of the husbandman's toil, and seem to be
inexhaustible. The extensive water power of the "West
Canada creek, which had been long unimproved, was brought
into use about the year 1835, by a company of enterprising
citizens of the town, and although the results of this experi-
ment may not have fully met the expectation of some of its
most sanguine projectors, there can be no doubt of the very
beneficial effects to the village, by the construction and
operation of mills and machinery and the use of the water
power brought out by the company. That the project has
not been more remunerative to the proprietors may right-
in their treatment of the disabled foe ; but no matter what the motive may-
have been, the humane conduct of Capt. Small and his party contrasts favora-
bly with that of their relentless and savage enemies.
Although there was but little active warfare on this frontier during the sum-
mer and autumn of 1782, and although Capt. Small had more than five suc-
cessive years taken his life in his hand and gone forth with his men to beat
off and chastise the skulking and savage enemy, and escaped unharmed, he
was shot in the apple orchard where he and one or two of his neighbors had
gone to gather apples, in the fall of 1783, three days after the definitive
articles of peace were signed at Paris between the United States and Great
Britain. The formal agreement for the cessation of hostilities between the
two powers was not signed until January 20th, 1783, but there had been a
virtual cessation after the surrender of Cornwallis, except as to the petty war-
fare carried on by the Indians, who seemed to have but little respect for a
power that woiild acknowledge itself beaten bj its rebellious subjects.
416
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
fully be attributed to a nonuse of the property, and not to
other causes. Why do not the capitalists in the vicinity
devote their means to the erection of manufacturing estab-
lishments? They have wealth enough for that purpose.
Why do the manufacturing towns in the Eastern states
spring up as if by magic ? By using capital. No greater
facilities of transport can be required than they now have.
§7. Little Falls
Contains all that part of the county set ofl' from the towns of Herkimer,
Fairfield and German Flats, comprehended within the following boundaries,
viz : beginning on the middle or base line of Glen's purchase, at a point where
the line between lots number five and six in said purchase unites with said base
or middle line, and running thence south along said line to its southern termi-
nation ; thence on the same course continued to the south bounds of the town of
German Flats ; thence along the south bounds of said town to the southeast
corner thereof ; and thence along the eastern bounds of the towns of German
Flats and Herkimer, to the southeast corner of the town of Fairfield ; and from
thence by a straight line to the place of beginning.
The town covers parts of Glen's purchase, Staley's first
tract, Guy Johnson's tract, Vaughn's and Fall hill patent,
six lots in Burnetsfield, and small triangular pieces of L'
Hommedieu's and Linclsey's patents.
Scene at Little Falls.
I have in the general history of the county brought out
some facts peculiarly applicable to this town, and the village
which bears the same name, and I now refer to them in this
LITTLE FALLS.
417
connection. There were German inhabitants in nearly every
direction around the present village before the revolution,
but only one habitable dwelling and a gristmill within the
present corporation limits. The present remarks should
therefore be taken as a history of the village locality rather
than that of the town. The gristmill destroyed during the
revolution was located on the river near the bed of the old
canal, and was fed by Furnace creek and the river. The
dwelling house referred to was occupied by the miller and
his assistants, and probably by persons employed at the
carrying place. The road or path used for taking boats and
their cargoes by the river falls, was located very nearby on
the site of the old canal. The red gristmill, to supply the
one destroyed, was erected in 1789, and the old yellow house
west of Furnace creek, and near the north bank of the old
canal, was built a short time before that period. Mr. John
Porteous came to this place in 1790, and established himself
in mercantile business. He occupied the yellow house, then
the only dwelling within the present village limits. Its
Octagon Church, Little Falls. Erected 1796.
venerable walls are yet standing, the spared monuments of
a destructive age. And the old Octagon, too, that so often
418 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
attracted the admiring gaze of the traveler by stage, canal
and rail road, was erected and enclosed about the year 1796,
though not finished so as to be occupied at all seasons of the
year as a house of religious worship, until nearly a quarter
of a century afterwards, which is shown by the following
memorial deposited in the ball of the steeple :
" This house was erected in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
hundred and ninety-six, under the direction of John Porteous, Abraham
Neely, Nicholas Thumb and Henry J. Klock, Esqrs., and completed in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, under the super-
intendence of
Doct. James Kennedy, ~i
William Girvan and > Building Committee.
John Dygert, Esqrs., )
Joseph Dorr and faster Builders.
William Lovland, )
Workmen.
Dan Dale,
James Dorr,
Benjamin Carr,
Sandford Pearce,
James Sanders,
Martin Easterbrooks,
Robert Wharry, (A tices.
William Haddock, J rr
The Revd. HEZEKIAH N. WOODRUFF,
Pastor of the Church and Congregation,
Littlo Falls, 23d April 1818.
In hand writing of Josiah Parsons."
But where is that old pile of antique device and rustic
architecture 1 Its lofty pulpit, its pews and singing gallery,
where are they 1 Alas ! alas ! Gone, swept away by the
hand of modern improvement. And the venerable Concord
society, not always harmonious as its name imported, the
trustees of which were seized of the temporalities for the
term of their lives, one of which is not yet extinct, what has
become of it ? Dead by a nonuser of its corporate franchises,
and no longer held in remembrance. I am strongly inclined
to perpetrate rhyme, or quote a couplet of poetry, but I
repress the feeling. History is much too grave a subject to
\>e mixed up with fabulous tales and poetic fictions.
LITTLE FALLS. 419
And the long tin horn used by master Case, to summon
the playful and unruly school children to their daily tasks ;
and on more grave occasions, when God's word was to be
dispensed at the village school house, by some itinerant
missionary of the cross, then were its notes heard through
the confined valley, and echo after echo, in the still sabbath
morning, notified the hour of meeting, on the day of rest,
for prayer and praise : that, too, has been nearly forgotten,
and few now remain to repeat from memory, the amusing
story of the tin horn, which schoolmaster Case used to blow
with great dexterity and varied note. This horn or trumpet
William Alexander, was a native of the city of Scherectady, and came
to the village with or soon after Mr. Porteous, with whom he was several years
connected in business. He was an active, intelligent merchant, and exerted
himself to promote the prosperity of the place. He died January 3d, 1813,
aged 37 years, of an epidemic fever, which prevailed pretty extensively in
the county, and carried off a great many of the adult inhabitants. His loss
was long regretted by the people of the village, who survived him.
Ebex and Washixoton Britton were brothers, and natives of Westmore-
land, New Hampshire. Eben settled in the village in 1792, carried on the
tanning business many years, and died August 28th, 1832, aged sixty years.
He survived his brother more than twenty years.
While strolling through the cemetery, north of the village, taking notes
from the memorials of the dead, my attention was arrested by a broad head-
stone of white marble, tall and erect, and I transcribed the affectionate testi-
monial of the wife, who had consigned to the grave the loved and cherished
companion of her long and varied life. These are the words spoken by the
widowed and stricken heart.
" Died, on the 29th of October, 1842, in the 83d year of his age,
EDWARD ARNOLD.
His widow erected this humble
stone, to commemorate his private worth,
but his nobler monuments are the battle
fields of the American revolution, in
letters of blood. These shall perpetuate his
public virtues when this tribute of a wife's
affection shall have crumbled into dust,
and no human hand can point out the
spot where the hero sleeps."
420 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
was about four feet long, and there were but few who could
blow it.
The old Octagon church was always regarded as one of
the curiosities of the place, and was noticed by the Rev.
John Taylor, when on a missionary tour through the Mo-
hawk and Black river countries, in 1802. He made a rough
sketch of it, which is preserved in the Documentary Histo-
ry of the state. He says, " this parish (Little Falls) con-
tains six or seven hundred inhabitants," and " in this place
may be found men of various religious sects. They have a
new and beautiful meeting house, standing about forty rods
Yes, venerable and afflicted matron, I will aid thee to keep in remembrance
the final resting place of one who served his country with unyielding fidelity,
and remarkable bravery, through the whole eventful struggle of the revolu-
tion. He entered the army when only seventeen years old, in one of the
New England continental regiments of the line, after some desultory service
in detached corps of militia, and remained till the close of the war. He was
present when Washington assumed the command of the American forces, at
Cambridge, and witnessed his departure from New York in December, 1783.
He was in nearly all the battles on the seaboard, from Bunker's Hill to York-
town. He was active when in the prime of life, and well formed. His con-
stitution was vigorous, and until nearly the close of life, he enjoyed excellent
health. Let me perform my promise. He was interred in one of the west
tiers of burial lots, in the cemetery at the Little Falls — on ground consecrated
by the valor of himself and his compeers to the repose of freemen.
William Feeter. — Col. Feeter was a native of the territory now embraced
in Fulton county. His name, before it became Anglicized, was written Veeder
or Vedder ; and in 1786, when he was commissioned an ensign in the militia,
it was written Father. In 1791, he was appointed a justice of the peace in
this county, under the name of William Veeder. Although the name he
bore at an early day indicated a low Dutch origin, this was not the fact. His
father was a native of Wittenberg, Germany, and at the commencement of
the revolution, the family was settled in the neighborhood of Johnstown, and
was so much under the influence of the Johnsons, that all of them, except
William, then quite a young man, followed the fortunes of Sir John, and
went with him to Canada.
The colonel, in his youthful ardor, felt more inclined to give young Amer-
ica a trial, than to follow the cross of St. George into the wilds of Canada ;
and on all occasions when the invaders came into the Mohawk valley, for the
purposes of plunder and slaughter, he was ever among the first and foremost
to volunteer his services to drive them away. On one occasion, in 1781,
LITTLE FALLS. 421
back on the hill, built in the form, of an octagon." His
observations, however, convinced him it was not improved.
But I will go back a few years. One of the two lots 12 and
13 Burnetsfield, embracing all the water power on the north
side of the river, was owned, before the revolution, by one
of the Petrie family, who erected the first grist mill on
Furnace creek, and was engaged in the carrying business.
The following are the names of some of the persons who
settled at this place between 1790 and 1800, and who re-
mained here permanently until death : John Porteous, Wil-
liam Alexander, Richard Philips, Thomas Smith, Joel Lank-
ton, Richard Winsor, William Carr, William Moralee,
Washington Britton, Alpheus Parkhurst, John Drummond,
Eben Britton, Josiah Skinner.
The construction of the old canal and locks, by the
Western inland lock navigation company, gave an impetus
when a party of Indians and tories made a descent upon a settlement in the
Palatine district, for the purpose of plunder and murder, the subject of this
notice took an active part in punishing the lawless intruders. It appeared
that the object of the enemy was to plunder and murder a family related to
one of the tory invaders, which was not quite agreeable to him ; he therefore
gave himself up, and disclosed the nefarious intentions of the enemy, who,
finding themselves betrayed, made a rapid flight to the woods. Col. Willett
did not feel disposed to let them off without a severe chastisement ; he there-
fore ordered Lieutenant Sammons, with twenty-five volunteers, among whom
was William Feeter, to go in pursuit, and they moved so rapidly, that they
came upon the enemy's burning camp fires early the next morning. Feeter
and six other men were directed to keep the trail, and after a rapid pursuit of
two miles in the woods, a party of Indians was discovered lying flat on the
ground. The latter, when they saw Feeter approach, instantly arose and
fired ; but one of the enemy being grievously wounded by the return fire of
the Americans, the whole gang of Indians and tories fled precipitately, leaving
their knapsacks, provisions and some of their arms. The result of this afl'air
was, that three of the enemy were wounded in the running fight kept up by
Feeter and his party, and died on their way to Canada ; one surrendered
himself a prisoner, and the wounded Indian was summarily dispatched by his
former tory comrade, who had joined in the pursuit.
Colonel Feeter seated himself upon Glen's purchase, within the present
limits of Little Falls, soon after the close of the revolution, and opened a large
28
422 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
to the growth and prosperity of the place, which brought it
into notice at an early period ; but the paralyzing policy of
the proprietor, who was an alien, in limiting his alienations
to leases in fee rendering an annual rent, and refusing to
make only a few grants of that description, to which he
affixed the most stringent conditions and restrictions in the
exercise of trade and the improvement of the water power,
kept the place nearly stationary, until 1831, excepting that
part of the present village on the south side of the river,
not subject to the dead weight of nonalienation. Upon the
opening of the Erie canal, in 1825, the only erections in
that part of the village were a bridge and toll house, at the
south end of the bridge ; the Bellinger grist mill and a
small dwelling, for the miller's residence, and the Vrooman
house.
In 1816, there were only two streets, or thoroughfares, in
the village. The turnpike, now known as Main street, and
farm, which he cultivated with success more than fifty years. He raised a
family of five sons and seven daughters, some of whom still survive, and
others have gone with him to their final rest. All of his children, with two
exceptions, I believe, settled in this county. Colonel Feeter adhered through
life to doctrine and mode of worship of the German Lutheran church, which
must lead one to believe he had been early and thoroughly educated in the
tenets of the great reformer. He died at Little Falls, May 5, 1844, aged 88
years.
His father, Lucus Feeter, stood high in the confidence of Sir William
Johnson and the whole family, and because his rebellious boy would not
consent to abandon his native country and follow the fortunes of Sir John,
he was driven from the paternal roof, and compelled to seek a shelter and a
home where he could. The surrounding neighbors being mostly adherents
of the Johnson family, and friendly to the royal cause, the task of finding a
kind and sympathizing friend, and one who would advise and counsel him
for the best, may have been a difficult matter for young Feeter to surmount.
He succeeded, however, in securing a temporary home in the family of Mr.
Yauney, a near neighbor of his father. At a proper time, Mr. Yauney pre-
sented a musket to his young protege, and told him he would have to rely
upon that for defense and protection, until his country's freedom was ac-
knowledged by the British king. The colonel used that musket through the
whole war, and it is now preserved as an heir- loom in the family of his
youngest son. Col. Feeter was born at Stone Arabia, February 2d, 175(1.
LITTLE FALLS. 423
the Eastern and Western avenues, which thenextended on
the present line no farther than to cross Furnace creek, where
it turned down east of the yellow house, thence over the
old canal, and along between the old canal and river, to the
head of the falls. The Western avenue was not then opened.
The other road was what is now called German, Bridge, Ann
and Church streets, crossing the river from the south, and
leading to Eatonville and Top-notch. There were not over
forty dwelling houses in the place at that time. Before
Main street was extended wTest from Ann, the traveled road
was down Ann street, across the old canal, and thence along
Mill street. At this time, there was one church, the octa-
gon, not finished, the stone school house, two taverns, two
blacksmith shops, five or six stores and groceries, and one
grist and one saw mill on the north side of the river. This
was nearly the state of things until 1828, except the few
erections and improvements that had been made on Main
and Ann streets, and two or three dwelling houses on Gar-
den street. Ann street, north of Garden, was a pasture.
All that part of the village east of Second and south of the
lots fronting on Main street, extending to the river, as well
as that portion east of the old Salisbury road, was a drear
wilderness, thickly covered with white cedar undergrowth.
I now relate the following incident, which shows the cool courage and resolute
determination of the man, or I should say, perhaps, of him and his compan-
ion. On one occasion, he and Mr. Gray, the father of the Hon. Charles Gray,
of Herkimer, had, during the war, been on an expedition up the river, and
were returning in a small canoe ; when they reached the Little Falls, instead
of taking their light craft over the carrying place, or sending it over the falls
empty, they pushed into the stream, and safely navigated their frail vessel
amid boiling, surging waters, over the rapids. He performed a like feat at
another time during the war, when a comrade in another canoe was stranded
on the rocks, and barely escaped drowning.
The reader, who knows the locality as it now appears, may think this
rather an improbable story. The fact is not only well attested, but we must
reflect, that the stream was not then hedged in and confined by dams, arches
and artificial structures, and that the flow of water, at an ordinary flood, wap
much greater than it is at present.
424 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY
The village charter, granted March 30th, 1811, was
amended in 1827, and the corporation authorized to open
streets, which had been dedicated to public use, as laid
down on a map made by the proprietor, in 1811. The
power given was exerted in the first instance, by opening
Albany, Garden and Second streets, at the expense of the
owners of the adjoining lots. This touched the proprietor's
purse, and he consented to sell in fee the lots on those
streets. This, however, did not reach the water power,
which was not improved, neither would the proprietors on
either side of the river consent to sell lots and water rights,
but the alien owner adopted the plan of making short
leases, by which he anticipated a rich harvest on the falling
in of the revisions. The people of the village were not
slow to perceive the fatal effects of this policy, and applied
to the legislature for the passage of an act to prohibit the
alien proprietor from making any grants or leases, except
in fee. These were the conditions on which he was author-
ized to take, hold and convey lands in this state. The act
passed the senate at the session of 1831, and was sent to the
assembly for concurrence. The agents offered to sell the
whole proprietary interest in the village for $50,000, and
active negotiations were set on foot by several parties to
make the purchase. The act made slow progress in the
assembly. The leading citizens of the village were ap-
pealed to, and advised to form a company, and make the
purchase. The bill was finally acted upon in the house,
and rejected. Almost simultaneous with that rejection, the
sale was effected to several members of that body and other
parties, and the purchasers in a short time realized a net
$50,000 on their purchase, or very nearly that sum. Whe-
ther there was any connection between the defeat of the
bill, which I had some agency in carrying through the
senate, and the sale, I never sought to know. The sale
accomplished all that we of the village desired, because we
believed the purchasers had bought with the intention of
elling out, as fast as they could j but the proprietor, Mr.
LITTLE FALLS. 425
Ellice, had a large interest at stake ; he was the owner of
other considerable tracts of land, not only in this county,
but in different parts of the state ; it was important to him,
therefore, to get rid of the restrictive provisions of the bill,
in respect to his other lands. His agents in this country
were well satisfied that the applicants for coercive but just
measures would not rest quietly under one defeat, and that
his interests would be damaged in proportion to the duration
of the controversy.
The new proprietors made immediate arrangements to
bring the property into market, and effected large sales by
auction and private sale, in the year 1831, and in the course
of a few years, what remained of the original purchase, with
other lands of Mr. Ellice on the north side of the river, came
into the hands of Richard R. "Ward and James Munroe
Esquires, of the city of New York, not however as joint
owners. No sale of the water power, in separate lots or
privileges, were made before Mr. Ward became the sole
owner of all that portion of the original purchase from Mr.
Ellice. When these were brought into market, Gen. Bellin-
ger, the principal owner of the water power, on the south
side of the river, supposing a prior appropriation might not
tally with his private interests, also came into market, and
mills, factories, foundries and other machinery, were soon
in operation, giving life, vigor and animation, to this circum-
scribed spot.
After the opening of the canal in 1825, the little patch of
habitable earth in its vicinity, was soon improved, and what
had hitherto been a wild, broken cedar thicket, was converted
into a habitable spot and active business place, by the art of
man. In 1830, the whole population of the town was, 2,539,
and about 1,700 of that number, were within the village
limits.
It appears by the recent census that the population of the
town on the 1st day of June, 1855, was 4,930, and that within
the corporation limits, which embraces a small portion of
Manheim, the whole population was, 3,972. The progress
426
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
M-KAL3AH1\
Feeter's Block.
of* the village in population and industrial pursuits has been
slow, but quite as rapid as any of its sister villages in the
valley between Utica and Schenectady. It now ranks the
first in population and commercial and manufacturing impor-
tance.
This village contains two large and commodious brick
schoolhouses, with a capacity of seating 600 pupils, which
cost about $10,000; two stone, one brick, and two wood
framed churches. These structures have all been erected
within the last 25 years, and evince a commendable feeling
of public spirit and liberality in the population of the village.
It is a singular, and perhaps a remarkable fact, that
,!iill,!,,;;%y Wis
428 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
although the inhabitants of the village have increased 2272,
in the last quarter of a century, there are not now over 300
residents, who were such in 1830; and not over 30 of the
inhabitants who were here in 1815, can now be found within
the corporation limits. This place, and the country around
it, is as healthful, and the climate is as solubrious, as any in
the state. It would now be difficult to visit any considerable
town or place of business at the west, even in Missouri and
Iowa, without meeting some one who had formerly lived at
Little Falls.
The Presbyterian Church. This society had its ecclesiastical
organization on the 29th of June, 1812. I think this society
had not, for many years a statute or lay organization sepa-
rate from the Concord society, and until the erection of the
brick church at the junction of Ann and Albany streets, in
1831, or about that time.
" The First Presbyterian society of the village of Little
Falls in the town of Little Falls in the county of Herkimer,"
was incorporated April 16, 1831, under the statute passed
April 5, 1813, and Robert Stewart, David Petrie, Charles
Smith, Daniel Mcintosh, Hozea Hamilton, John Scullen and
William Hammell were elected the first lay trustees, and at
the first meting of the trustees after their election, Elisha S.
Capron was appointed clerk, William J. Pardee, treasurer,
and John Dygert, collector.
This organization has been regularly continued to the
present time, the church regularly supplied with a settled
clergyman, and is and ever has been one of the most flour-
ishing Protestant denominations in the town in respect to
numbers, and the respectability and wealth of its members.
Mr. Daniel Talcott, an aged member of this church, who
died several years ago, made a pecuniary bequest by his
will which enures to the benefit of this society.
This corporation own a handsome brick parsonage, situate
on Ann street, purchased by the generous liberality of its
LITTLE FALLS. 429
members at the expense of about twenty-two hundred dol-
lars.
The Episcopal Church. The vestry of Emmanuel church,
at the village of Little Falls in the town of Herkimer, was
duly incorporated February 22d, 1823.
Nathaniel S. Benton and George H. Feeter, church ward-
ens ; Oran G. Otis, Lester Green, Solomon Lockwood, Abner
Graves, Andrew A. Barton, William G. Borland, Thomas
Gould and Daniel H. Eastman, vestrymen.
The Rev. Phineas L. Whipple of Trinity church, Fairfield,
was on the third day of January, 1824, called to officiate as
rector, according to the rites of the Protestant episcopal
church in the United States, one-half the time for the period
of one year, at a salary of two hundred dollars.
The present church was consecrated by Bishop Onderdonk
in October, 1835. Trinity church, New York, made a liberal
donation of $1500, to aid in building the church edifice.
This organization has been regularly continued to this
time, and since 1835 rectors have been inducted and settled,
and the services of the church administered with but short
intermissions. The corporation own a convenient brick
rectory, lately built by the corporation, situate at the corner
of Albany and William streets, near the church edifice.
The Baptist Society, Little Falls. At a meeting of the per-
sons usually attending worship with the Baptist church in
the village of Little Falls, held pursuant to notice at the
stone school house, the usual place of worship of said
church, on the 21st day of December, 1830, for the purpose
of organizing and forming an incorporated society within
the provisions of the statute, Alanson Ingham and Calvin
G. Carpenter were appointed to preside at the election of
trustees.
After unanimously agreeing to organize a society to be
known by the name and style of the Baptist society of Little
Falls, a ballot was taken and Daniel Rogers, Alanson Ingham,
430 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Parley Eaton, Henry Haman and Stephen W. Brown were
elected trustees.
It was thereupon resolved that the aforesaid trustees, and
their successors in office, shall forever hereafter be called
and known by the name and title of the Trustees of the
baptist society of Little Falls.
To all which we, the returning officers do certify ; in wit-
ness whereof we have set our hands and seals this 22d day
of December, 1830. Alanson Ingham,
In presence of Calvin G. Carpenter.
Parley Eaton.
Recorded in the clerk's office, Herkimer county, December
22d, 1830.
In 1832 this society erected a handsome stone church on
the south side of Albany street at the corner of Mary street,
and have kept up their legal organization under the statute
to the present time. Its standing, as a religious body, has
always been respectable in numbers and the character of its
members.
The Methodist Society. — At a meeting of the male members
of the Methodist episcopal society in the village of Little
Falls, called according to law at the school house in said
village on the 19th day of November, 1832, for the purpose
of organizing a corporation under the statute, Henry Heath
was chosen chairman and Ebenezer S. Eclgerton appointed
secretary.
Resolved, That this society be called The Methodist
episcopal church of the village of Little Falls.
Resolved, That this meeting do elect five members of the
society to serve as trustees of the corporation and take
charge of the temporalities of the church.
The meeting then proceeded to the election of trustees,
Henry Heath and E. S. Edgerton being chosen tellers of the
poll, and on ballot the following person were duly elected,
viz :
First class, Edmond L. Shcphard, Gilbert Robinson.
LITTLE FALLS. 431
Second class, George Warcnp, Ebenezer S. Edgerton.
Third class, Henry Heath.
Resolved, That the board of trustees be requested to pro-
cure a suitable site for building a church as soon as may be
convenient.
At a subsequent meeting of the board of trustees, Henry
Heath was chosen chairman of the board, and E. S. Edgerton
secretary.
The society immediately set about raising the funds to
purchase a lot anq\ build a church. A subscription was
opened in October, 1836, the last installment of which was
payable in January, 1838. After encountering delays and
embarrassments incident to a first effort and infant organ-
ization, the society completed the church in 1839, which
was dedicated that year and opened for public worship.
The church edifice has since been enlarged and beautified
to accommodate the wants and meet the tastes of an
increasing congregation. This society is now in a flourish-
ing condition and its members have set on foot a project of
purchasing a parsonage house or glebe.
The Universalist Society. — This society was incorporated on
the 3d day of May, A. D. 1851, by the name of the First
universalist society of Little Falls, Herkimer county, New
York, by filing a certificate in the usual form under the
statute, in the clerk's office of the county. The certificate
was recorded on the sixth day of May, A. D. 1851.
The trustees elected by the male members of the congre-
gation at this organization were Messrs. Wm. B. Houghton,
M. M. Ransom, 0. Benedict, A. Zoller, L. 0. Gay, J. K. Chap-
man, L. W. Gray, A. Fuller and 0. Angel.
This society has still a corporate existence and hold divine
service according to the rites of the Universalist church at
Temperance hall, in the village of Little Falls.
The society has now a settled minister whose minis-
trations are well and regularly attended by a respectable
congregation. If I may speculate upon such a subject, it is
not improbable the members of this congregation will before
long erect a church for their accommodation.
432 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
The Roman Catholic. — The state census returns show that
the Roman catholics have a church and 600 members in this
town. I am not aware that there is any lay organization
attached to this church, or that the temporalties are held or
supervised by any corporate body known to the laws of this
state. The church or chapel on John street was erected in
1847, under the charge of the Rev. John McMinamia and
enlarged I think in 1853. It is a wooden building. A very
neat and apparently commodious brick house, adjoining the
church, was built in 1854 and finished in 1855, for the use of
the priest having charge of the church. There is also a school
house attached to the church, built in 1852, in which a
school has been kept a portion of the time since it was
erected. I speak from personal recollection, I have no other
means of information, when I state a Catholic priest has
resided here continually more than ten years past in charge
of this church. The census marshals must have made a
mistake when they returned the whole number of aliens in
the town at 623. There are more than 23 and even more
than 100 Protestant aliens in the town, and there are not ten,
if there is one, native in the town attached to the Roman
Catholic church, or should be numbered as such.
The Protestant Methodists. — A society attached to this
denomination was organized in Pain's Hollow in this town
in 1833, under the provisions of the statute relating to reli-
gious incorporations. In 1840, the society built a church,
sufficiently capacious for the accommodation of the inhabit-
ants of the vicinage, and have called and settled a pastor
who administers the services of religion regularly every
sabbath, according to the established rites of this church. A
flourishing Sunday school has been organized and is kept
up, and the society have a library of more than one hund-
red volumes.
litchfield. 433
§ 8. Litchfield
Contains that part of the county, hounded northerly, by Frankfort ; west-
erly, by the hounds of the county ; southerly, hy Winfield ; and easterly, hy a
line beginning at the southeast corner of Frankfort, and running thence south
thirty degrees west, to the northeast corner of Winfield.
A part of Bayard's patent, and small portions of Staley's
second tract, and Conrad Frank's patent, lay in this town.
This town was visited by the New Englanders, soon after
the close of the revolutionary war, as were most of the other
towns in the county, back from the river. None of the
German population had fixed themselves within its limits,
previous to that period. Elijah Snow, a native of Westbury,
Massachusetts, seated on what is now called Whelock's hill,
in 1786. This place was formerly known as Snowsbush.
William Brewer, of Worcester, Mass., Ezekiel Goodale of
Mass., John Andrews, Christopher Rider, from Connecticut,
Ebenezer Drewry and John Everett, from New Hampshire,
and John and Eleazer Crosby, from Connecticut, came into
the town about the year 1787 ; Mr. Brewer is still living, and
is the oldest inhabitant. A son of John Andrews, named
after John C. Lake of New York, was the first child born in
the town. Samuel Miller, from Connecticut, came into the
town in 1788, and James Gage and Nathaniel Ball, from
New Hampshire, arrived about the same period. Selah Hol-
comb, from Simsbury, Connecticut, settled in this town, in
February, 1791. He died June 18th, 1854, aged 86 years.
I have not been able to obtain any of the particulars relating
to the lives of these pioneers, who opened the forests of
Bayard's patent, except in respect of Capt. Holcomb. He
was a farmer, sustained a good character, and exerted a
good deal of influence among his townsmen. By a long life
of persevering industry and economy, he accumulated con-
siderable wealth. He was frequently elected to the local
town offices. He exhibited all the traits of an excellent New
England farmer. Litchfield may properly be called an agri-
cultural towu. The iron foundry, formerly established in
434 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
this town several years ago, carried on for some time a
pretty large business, in the manufacture of hollow ware,
which in times of monetary pressure, was used in the barter
trade of the country, and notes payable in iron ware of the
Litchfield furnace were not unfrequent. There is now no
necessity of resorting to this mode of traffic.
Cedarville, which is partly located in Columbia, and
partly in this town, is the only village of which Litchfield
can boast. Wealth and thrift surrounds the population of
this town, in an equal degree with our other towns, where
the pursuits of the farmer have been directed to grazing
and dairying.
§ 9. Manheim
Contains that part of the county bounded easterly by the east bounds of
the county ; southerly, by the Mohawk river ; and westerly, and northerly, by a
line beginning at the east end of the easternmost lock of the old canal, on the
north side of the Mohawk river, at the Little Falls, and running thence north
as the needle pointed in 1772, until an east line strikes the northwest corner
of a large lot, number fourteen, in a tract of land called Glen's purchase ; then
easterly to the east corner of Glen's purchase ; and then east to the bounds of
the county.
Six of the large lots in Glen's purchase, a part of the
fourth allotment of the Royal grant ; the whole of John Van
Driesen's andSnell and Timmerman's patent, and part of Rev.
Peter Van Dreisen's ; a part of Vrooman's patent, and some
other small grants made by the state, are situated in this town.
The grant of 3,600 acres made in 1755, to Jacob Timmer-
man and Johan Jost Schnell, commonly known as Snell and
Timmerman's patent, is near the central part of the town on
an east and west line, and south of the Royal grant. Manheim
was settled by German emigrants before the revolution, and
the date of this patent may be assumed as pretty near the
period when that event took place. The Snells and Timmer-
mans, descendants of these patentees, are still quite numer-
ous in the town, owners of the soil through a long line of
inheritance, granted to their own persecuted and always
patient and toiling ancestors.
MANHEIM. 435
Suffrenus, Peter, Joseph and Jacob Snell, four sons of one
of the patentees, made a donation of seven acres of land for
a church lot and twelve acres for school purposes. But this
was not all. They and their neighbors met upon the lands
every Saturday afternoon, and worked at the sturdy forest
until the lands were cleared and rendered fit for cultivation.
A church was erected on the lot designed for that purpose,
and that ancient edifice was replaced by a new one in 1850-1.
The school house in the district stands on the donated lot.
Eleven and a half acres of the school lot were transferred
by an act of the legislature to the church. How could this
be done without the consent of the parties interested ?
There were nine men of this Snell family, and among
them were Peter, Joseph and Jacob, who went under Gen.
Herkimer into the Oriskany battle, and only two of them
returned, of whom Peter was one ; the other seven were
killed. An aged and respectable member of this family,
now living, states that these three men were very active and
John Beardsi.ee was boru in Sharon, Connecticut, in November, 1759, and
died in Manheim, October 3d, 1825, where he had resided more than thirty
years. His father, John Beardslee, Senior, was a native of Norwalk, Conn.,
born about the year 1725, and married Deborah Knickerbacker, in 1748,
who numbered among her family connections the Hoffmans and Rosevelts of
Dutchess county and New York city. The subject of this notice married
Lavinia Pardee, of Sharon, Conn., in 1795, who survived her husband a
quarter of a century, and died in Manheim, in 1854, aged 85 years. Miss
Pardee was connected with the Brewsters, Goulds, Waldos, Ripleys and Brad-
fords, of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Mr. Beardslee left his father's residence in Connecticut, in 1781, not like
Coelebs in search of a wife, but a young New Englander in search of a for-
tune, which he aimed to accomplish. He was a practical mechanic, architect
and civil engineer. He stopped at Sheffield, Mass., worked one year on a
farm, and then went to Vermont, commenced working at his trade, and
bought and paid for a small farm, but soon lost it by a defect in the title.
Soon after he went to Vermont, he spent a fall and winter on Lakes George
and Champlain, fishing and hunting, in company with Jonathan Wright, who
afterwards came into the north part of this county, and was known as old
Jack Wright, the trapper. Mr. Beardslee then turned his face westward,
built a bridge at Schaticoke, and a meeting house in Schoharie. In 17S7, he
went to Whitestown, then being settled by eastern emigrants, and engaged
436 HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
zealous in urging Gen. Herkimer to a forward movement
on the 6th of August, 1777. They had resolved to fight the
enemy, and how fatal was the consequence !
Henry Remensneider, or Rhemensnyder, and Johannes
Boyer were the first settlers on Glen's purchase, a few miles
north of the Little Falls. They came on to the tract several
years before the commencement of the revolutionary war.
John Boyer was born near New York ; his father emigrated
from Elsos in Germany. John was in the Oriskany battle
and lost his team of horses and wagon in that bloody affray.
He was the immediate ancestor of the Boyer families, once
so numerous in this town. His youngest son, Henry, now
75 years old, is still living, and several of his descendants
are found in the county, although emigration has some-
what diminished their numbers. Among other German
settlers who had seated themselves in this town before the
revolution, were the Keysers, Van Slykes, Newmans, Sha-
with White & Whitmore to build mills on shares. He afterwards sold his
half at a good advance. He remained at Whitestown till 1792, having been
employed by the state to build a set of mills for the Oneida Indians. He
completed his contract without returning to the white settlements, after he
had commenced it. By humoring the Indians, joining in their sports of
hunting and fishing, and exciting their curiosity to see the results of his
labors, they cheerfully assisted him in his enterprise, which contributed to
make the job quite profitable.
At this time there resided in the neighborhood of the Indians, two well
educated, gentlemanly Frenchmen, but perfect recluses, the relic of French
colonists, and of that splendid colonial French empire, already struck from
the French crown, and which had cost so much of blood and treasure to
establish and uphold. Between 1790 and 1796, he built the first bridge
across the Mohawk river, at Little Falls, the old red grist mill at that place,
the first bridge over the gulf, east of the academy, mills for Richard Van
Home, at Van Hornesville. and for Col. Freye, at Canajoharie, a bridge over
the West Canada creek, and the court house and jail, which were burned up
in 1833 or 1834, a bridge across the Mohawk river, at Fort Plain, and a bridge
over the East Canada creek, a grist and saw mill and fulling works, about
half a mile north of the present Mohawk turnpike bridge.
The building of this bridge led to his seating himself at Manheim permanent-
ly in this wise. The bridge was erected at the expense of Montgomery coun-
ty, or paid for by it. In order to obtain the necessary timber, he purchased a
MANHEIM. 437
vers, Klacks, Adles and Garters, all of whom drank deeply
of the bitter cup of the revolutionary struggle.
Palatine, Oppenheim and Manheim, are names significant
of the origin of the people who were the first settlers in
these towns. Manheim constituted a part of the Palatine
district in Tryon county, and the town of that name until
1797, when it was organized into a separate town. The
town remains as it was when annexed to the county in the
year 1817. The East Canada creek affords a large supply
of water at most seasons of the year, and being intersected
with many falls has been used to some extent for manufac-
turing and mechanical purposes. This water power has
been brought into use at a village called Ingham's Mills,
where there is a tannery, recently erected, and mills and
other machinery in operation. The most important village
in the town has the post office designation of Brackett's
Bridge, and is sometimes known as Wintonville. Mr. D. B.
Winton erected a tannery at this place previous to 1840.
one hundred acre lot west of the creek, and adjoining the site of the bridge,
for which he paid £300, New York currency, in March, 1704. After the
bridge was completed, he erected the mills, which were finished and in ope-
ration in 1795. This was at the flood tide of emigration to the Royal grant
and Western New York ; the mills attracted attention, and population ga-
thered to his place : by the year 1800, quite a little village, dignified by the
name of the City, had sprung up, counting two stores, two taverns, a black-
smith shop, nail factory, a cooperage and a brewery, afterwards came the
lawyers, doctors, school masters, and the distillery.
It could also boast having one man drink himself to death on a bet, and
the presence of a state prison graduate, frequent performances of Punch and
the Babes in the Woods, by Sickles, and daily amusements in the way of turkey
shooting, pitched battles with fists, clubs and teeth, and launching batteaux,
for the Mohawk river service. At this time there was more business done at
Beardsley's Mills, than at Little Falls. In 1801 and 1802, the Mohawk turn-
pike was completed, and being located south half a mile of the little village,
by diverting the travel on this then great thoroughfare, completely used up
the City, to the serious loss of the founder. With the view of making good
his losses, and fixing himself on the line of travel, where business could be
done, he purchased, in 1810, 350 acres of land, laying on both sides of the
creek, and between his first purchase and the river, for which he paid $11,500,
29
438 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
This establishment was afterwards purchased by an eminent
house in the city of New York, engaged in the leather busi-
ness, by whom it was enlarged and improved, and is now
the most extensive manufactory of the kind in the county
or in this part of the country. The village is unincorporated.
It contains two churches, two stores, several mechanics'
shops, also a saw and grist mill, and a stave and barrel manu-
factory. There are five houses for religious worship in the
town, but I am not able to classify the denominations to
which they belong.
I should not do justice to the subject in hand, if I omitted
all reference to the name of Major Andrew Fink, who settled
in this town soon after the close of the war. He was of
German descent, and a native of the lower Mohawk valley.
He was well educated, and at the commencement of the
revolution, although then a young man, had acquired a very
considerable knowledge of military science, unusual for a
mere provincial of that day.
a high price, it would seem, at that day. The prospects of business on the
turnpike justified this purchase. But our increasing commercial difficulties
with great Britain and France, followed by the war of 1812, caused him to
postpone carrying out his intentions, when this new purchase was made.
When the peace was proclaimed, in 1S15, the project of the Erie canal on
the south side of the river was brought forward, and finally consummated.
The immediate local effect of opening the canal, was a great depreciation of
agricultural lands in the Mohawk valley, the almost certain destruction of
such small business places as the East Creek, Palatine and Caughnawaga, on
the north side of the river, and the building up of villages on the line of the
canal. A greater change than that effected by the canal in the Mohawk val-
ley, has seldom been witnessed in any country. Nearly the whole business
was transferred from the north to the south side of the river. The turnpike
became almost a solitude, and the villages through which it run, as a desert
waste of waters.
It has been claimed, and with much apparent reason, that Mr. Beardslee
was seriously injured in consequence of the construction, by the state, of the
Minden dam across the Mohawk, at St. Johnsville. The ordinary flow of the
river is from three to five miles an hour. This dam was made and used as
an auxiliary to the canal, and the top line was so high as to overcome all the
natural descent between it and the mouth of the East creek, about three and
a half miles, and hence the river surface was nearly a level the whole dis-
MANHEIM. 439
Mr. Fink was appointed first lieutenant of Capt. Christo-
pher P. Yates's company, raised for special service. The
warrants bear date July 15th, 1775. This was the com-
mencement of a military career to which he was attached
during the whole revolutionary contest. His constitution
was firm, resolution indomitable, and courage undoubted.
Major Fink died at a pretty advanced age, and the stone
that marks his final resting place may be seen upon a rising
ground a little north of the Mohawk turnpike, in full view
of the spot where rest the remains of the brave and patriotic
Herkimer. I should take great pleasure in noting down the
particulars of Major Fink's services in the great struggle
for colonial rights and Anglo-Saxon freedom, but on inquir-
ing of the surviving members of his family whether he had
left any papers, I was told he once had many letters and
papers relating to revolutionary transactions, but they were
now all gone. The family say, sometimes one person and
then another would desire to look them over to ascertain
tance, presenting, as was claimed, an effectual obstruction to the free flow and
discharge of the ice from the creek and river above, during the winter and
spring floods.
Mr. Beardslee, by strict attention to business, hard hand work and the ap-
plication of a sound, inventive mind, twenty-seven years, had accumulated a
handsome estate, and which, but for the adversities and losses he met with,
in no respect attributable to misconduct or want of sound, discriminating
judgment, would have been almost princely in this country and in his day.
He was a tall man, free from obesity, with large black eyes, which he inher-
ited from his father, and a fine figure, bestowed on him by his low Dutch
mother. Natural and easy in his address, pleasant and companionable in his
intercourse with others, generous and hospitable. He used to say, with much
satisfaction, that in all the heavy and difficult structures he had raised, or
superintended the construction of, not a man in his employment, or of the
motley crowds of people collected on such occasions, as was the custom of
that early day, was killed or injured in the least. In the decline of life, he
indulged himself a good deal in reading, a gratification he did not enjoy in
his youthful days. He died of a scirrhous stomach, from which he had suf-
fered many years. This sketch has been considerably elaborated, because it
shows, not only how much a young man of indomitable perseverance and
firm resolution can achieve, single handed and alone, but what young Ameri-
cans have heretofore been in the habit of performing.
440 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
some fact or indulge an idle curiosity, and in the end all the
papers of any consequence were gone before they were fully
aware of it.
All that portion of the town lying between the south end
of lots number 17, 18 and 19, Glen's purchase, and the south-
erly bounds of the first allotment, Royal grant, and the river,
except the Snell and Timmerman and a small point of the
Peter Van Driesen patents, was ungranted by the crown at
the revolution. The state sold small parcels of this tract
to Isaac Yrooman, John Van Driesen and others, soon after
the close of the war. So late as 1777, Capt. Joseph Brant,
the Mohawk chief, claimed the lands more recently known as
the Christy place, long occupied by Nathan Christy, Esq., and
the lands adjacent, which lay nearly opposite to the Indian
castle church, on the south side of the river. The Christy
place was an improved farm before the revolution, and
Brant rented it to a German for one hundred dollars a year.
It is not an idle speculation to assume that these lands had
never been sold by the Indians, but were held appurtenant
to the upper Mohawk castle.
§ 10. Newport
Contains that part of the county lying within the following bounds viz. :
beginning at the southeast corner of great lot number eighteen, in Hasen-
clever's patent, and running thence on the line of said lot, a northerly course
to the Steuben road ; then on a direct course to the centre of lot number
thirteen, in Walton's patent; then through the centre of lot number sixteen,
in Walton's patent, to the west bounds of the county ; then on a direct line
to the southwest corner of lot number twenty-eight, in the third allotment of
the Royal grant ; then easterly, along the line of lots to the northeast corner
of lot number twenty-three, in said allotment ; then south, along the line of
lots to the southeast corner of lot number forty-two, in the second allotment
of said grant ; then on a southerly course to the Canada creek, at the bridge, near
the house heretofore or late of Obadiah Kniffin ; then west, to the middle of
the creek ; then down the middle of the same, until a west course will meet
the place of beginning ; and then west to the place of beginning.
As will be noticed in the above boundaries, a part of
Hasenclever's and Walton's patents, and portions of the
second and third allotments of the Royal grant, are in this
town.
NEWPORT. 441
No part of the territory of this town was settled before
the revolution, and probably not before 1790. I will pause
a moment to record again the Indian name of this creek, as
laid down on an outline map of the Mohawk river and
Wood creek, showing the relative positions of Fort Bull,
Fort Williams and German Flats. This is the name, Teugh-
taghrarow. It is marked on Southier's map of the province
of New York, published in 1779, Canada river; and it is so
called on a map made by Guy Johnson, in 1771. This
Christophek Hawkixs, was the first permanent settler of this town and its
first supervisor after its erection. In April, 1834, Mr. Hawkins had prepared
a sketch of his juvenile adventures, and at his death he left the manuscript
with his family. The volume has been recently placed in my hands, and
from it I propose to make condensed abstracts of its contents. This I deem
no departure from my general plan. I should willingly give all the space
required for a literal copy of the narrative touching the escape of Mr. Hawkins
from the Jersey prison ship, and his sufferings before he reached home, if I
had it.
Referring to the manuscript, young Hawkins, then in the thirteenth year
of his age, and an indented apprentice to Aaron Mason of Providence, R. I.,
in May, 177T, went to New Bedford, Mass., and shipped on board the priva-
teer schooner Eagle, mounting twelve small carriage guus, commanded by
Capt. Moury Potter. This small craft was bound on a cruise for such British
vessels as could be captured. The Eagle made her offing and as the officers
alleged or supposed, cruised in the track of vessels sailing between New York
and England. She crossed the broad Atlantic, however, without seeing or
speaking with a single vessel. In due time the privateer made the English
coast, where she remained a short time when the captain and crew concluded
to " bout ship " and return home in no pleasant mood, as they had promised
themselves on the start, as many prizes as they could man, on the outward
cruise. On the return passage, the Eagle spoke an unarmed schooner which
proved to be a French vessel from the West Indies bound to Halifax, when
some dispute arose between the officers and crew of the Eagle in regard to the
national character of the schooner, the latter insisting that she was English,
and could be made a lawful prize. To settle this point the first lieutenant of
the privateer, John Paine, boarded the French vessel and examined her papers,
who returned and reported her a French vessel loaded with flour. John
Ward, the boatswain, and a large majority of the crew were dissatisfied with
this report, but their grumblings did not avail any thing ; the officers of the
Eagle did not deem it prudent to superadd piracy to the crime of rebellion.
The next vessel overhauled by the Eagle was an English merchant brig
deeply laden, bound to New York, and here, according to Hawkins's relation,
442 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
stream, at Newport, is quite as much entitled to the respect-
able appellation of river as the Mohawk is, at any point above
the junction of the two streams.
William, Ephraim and Benjamin Bowen, of Newport, Rhode
Island, purchased the lands where Newport village is now
located, of Daniel Campbell of the city of New York, in
1788-9. Mr. Campbell obtained his title from the commis-
sioners of forfeitures, in July, 1786. Christopher Hawkins,
Benjamin Bowen and Joseph Benseley, came from Rhode
John Bull completely outwitted and out-nianceuvred brother Jonathan, and
this was owing to the inefficiency of Capt. Potter, of the privateer. It was
quite dark when the Eagle came up with the brig, which kept on her course
without apparently paying any attention to the little craft hovering around
her. A broadside from the schooner soon produced an inquiry from the
brig, " What in God's name do you want of us ?" The reply was//' Shorten
sail, come under my lee and send your boat on board me." The Englishman
now began to excuse himself, said his boat was lashed under his booms and
he could not get her out ; that if he could have permission to lie by until
morning he would then send his boat on board. This was agreed to, but in
the morning there was no brig in sight ; she being a pretty good sailer had
spread her canvas and departed on her course. It was then determined to
stand on the course for Sandy Hook, in the hope of overtaking the brig, but a
severe gale from the northeast sprung up, which lasted two or three days,
the sea making a clear breach over the schooner's deck, her crew had to
exert their utmost skill and energies to keep her from foundering. They
had then no time to think of making lawful prize of British vessels.
Before the storm had entirely abated, the privateer was captured by the
British sloop of war Sphynx, of twenty guns ; the schooner was sunk, and
the crew taken as prisoners of war to New York, when a new era in the life
of Hawkins was opened to him, and new scenes presented to his juvenile
contemplation. After reaching New York, Hawkins and most of his com-
panions were placed on board the prison ship Asia, an old transport, then
anchored in the East river. At the expiration of three weeks, Hawkins was
taken on board the British frigate Maidstone, of twenty-eight guns, to serve
as a waiter to one of the under officers of that ship. He was held in the
British service about eighteen months, and being a mere boy, and an officer's
waiter, found but little difficulty in getting on quite comfortably in all respects,
save the yearning wish to see his mother. Having quieted the apprehensions
of his officer in respect to his desire to leave him, by saying he had become
satisfied with the service, and did not wish to go home ; he often had per-
mission, when his ship was in port, to go ashore in the city of New York.
Hawkins was not long in improving an opportunity to make his escape, and
NEWPORT. 443
Island to Fairfield, about the year 1788. In 1790, a Mr.
Lauton made a small clearing in the town, and put up a log
cabin which he abandoned. In the fall of 1791, Mr. Hawk-
ins removed into the town, from Fairfield, with a view to a
permanent settlement; and in the spring of the folio wing-
year, he erected a small house for the Bowens on their pro-
perty, and Benjamin Bowen seated himself there the same
year. In 1793, Mr. Bowen built a sawmill, and the next year,
return to North Providence, which he reached late in November, 177S, pretty
well satisfied, as he then thought, with a seafaring life, lie remained in the
service of Obadiah Olney, of SmitMeld, between two and three years, when
a fit of roaming again came over him, and he went to Providence and shipped
on board a privateer brig, of sixteen carriage guns, commanded by Christo-
pher Whipple, Esq. The vessel soon put to sea, and was captured by two
British cruisers, on the fifth day after leaving Newport. Hawkins's prospects
were again blasted, and his anticipations of enjoying large receipts of prize
moneys were changed to a prospect of a long and gloomy imprisonment. The
crew of the privateer brig were taken to New York by the captors, and placed
on board the Jersey prison-ship. I can not give in detail the contents of the
journal before me. The horrors of " that floating hell," as it has often been
called, and the cruelties inflicted by the British officers upon the American
prisoners, are too familiar to our countrymen, to require repetition now.
There can be no doubt that the American prisoners offended against the police
regulations of the ship. Starvation, sickness and extreme privations drove
them to madness and desperation. These offenses were punished with savage
severity.
In the latter part of September, or the beginning of October, 1781, Haw-
kins and a shipmate, William Waterman, conceived the hazardous project of
making their escape from the prison ship, by swimming to Long Island, a
distance, as they calculated, of two and a half to three miles, outside of the
sentinels posted along the shore. To get clear of the ship was the main diffi-
culty to overcome. It was impossible to leave the upper deck without being
discovered. The prisoners were confined, during the night, to the lower
deck, where there were no guards, the gun ports of which were secured by
iron bars, strongly fastened to the timbers of the ship. Having secured an
old ax and crowbar, they went to work during a heavy thunder storm, and
removed the bars from one of the port holes of the lower deck, and after
replacing them temporarily, to prevent detection, they stowed their wearing
apparel, what little money they had, with some other articles, into their
knapsacks, which they fastened to their backs, by passing the lashings under
their arms, and across the breast. From the description given of the contents
of the knapsacks, they must have been very heavy when saturated with
444 HISTOKY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
a gristmill, at this place. Joseph Benseley removed from
Fairfield to Newport, in 1795; between this time and 1798,
William Wakely, Mr. Burton, Stephen Hawkins, George
Cook, Nahum Daniels, Edward Coffin, John Nelson, John C.
Green, John Churchill, George Fenner and William Whipple,
made permanent locations in the town. These families were
from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Mr.
Wakely kept the first tavern, and George Cook opened the
water, and greatly impeded the progress of swimming. Waterman and
Hawkins, thus equipped, left the ship, being let down into the water with the
aid of their fellow prisoners, by means of an old service rope, which they
had obtained.
After reaching the water, Hawkins passed along the side of the ship to the
stern, and then struck out for land, being guided by the lights of the vessel
and beacon light on shore, one of the extreme points of the line of the
enemy's sentinels. Hawkins did not again see Waterman after he left the
Jersey, but has no doubt Waterman succeeded in reaching land. After gaining
a point out of gun shot distance from the shore, Hawkins was guided by the
half hour call of " all's well," by the sentinels on shore, and directed his
course to the one on his right, who gave the last call. This he judged would
carry him, when he reached the land, to a point of safety. About half an
hour before he gained the shore, his knapsack broke loose. He was unwill-
ing to part with it, and endeavored to retain it, by taking it under one arm
and then the other ; but he lost his course by adopting this expedient, and
made slow progress in reaching land. He was finally compelled to abandon
his knapsack and the contents, and was left destitute of all covering when
he landed, except an old hat. After being nearly three hours in the water,
and swimming about three miles, according to his own statement, he reached
land cold, stiffened and nearly exhausted. With considerable difficulty lie
was able to walk, and concluded he would go to the barn that he and Water-
man had agreed on as a place of meeting, before they left their prison.
In reaching the barn, he met with several mishaps, tumbled over a pile of
stones, and in his nude state he was exposed to and received several severe
bruises and scratches, which excited his anger. This he found restored some
degree of animal heat, and by the time he had reached the hay in the barn
loft, he felt a strong inclination to sleep, although his blankets were not of
the finest texture.
Hawkins left his hiding place as soon as it was dark, and wandered all
night, he knew not whither, naked and hungry, in a hard storm of rain, and
made another barn his refuge and hiding place the next morning. Here he
remained until the next day at noon, when he thought it best to issue from
his hiding place, and take an observation, with a view of finding out where
NEWPORT. 445
first store in the town. Mr. Hawkins derived his title from
the commissioners of forfeitures, through Joh's T. Yisscher.
Coffin, Green, Nelson, Churchill and others, purchased
lands on the west side of the creek, in Walton's patent. It
will be noticed that this tract of 12,000 acres, was granted
by the crown, in 1768, to five brothers by the name of Walton,
and seven other persons, who it may be assumed conveyed
their interests to the Waltons as soon as the patent was
issued, for no one out of that family ever claimed any
he was. This part of Long Island was then infested with tories, and strag-
gling hands of Hessians were prowling ahout the country. He supposed, by
pursuing an easterly course, that he increased the distance between himself
and New York. Nothing very material occurred, hunger pressed him very
hard, and he went into a potato field to obtain a few potatoes, which he
designed to roast when he could find an opportunity, and here he was dis-
covered by a young woman, who had come with a basket to procure some of
the vegetable for family use, at a house near by, and seeing a human being
with no covering but an old hat, she dropped her basket, and ran screaming
towards the house, while Hawkins was quite as nimble footed in reaching a
piece of woods in an opposite direction. Here he armed himself with a large
club, and directed his course towards a bay or cove in sight, to avoid the tory
hounds, which he feared might be put upon his track. He was not, however,
molested, and took up his lodging that night in a barn, upon unrotted flax.
The next morning, Hawkins arose with the sun, and pursued his journey
through the fields, having the road on his right and the bay on his left,
observing the farmers at work in the fields, and avoiding them.
Two and a half days of exposure, without food, began to tell pretty severely
upon young Hawkins. He saw two young men at work in a garden near a
farm-house, and made up his mind that he would speak to them. He ap-
proached in a direction so as not to be seen by the people who were at work
in the adjoining fields and told them he wanted some old clothes and some-
thing to eat. After some explanations one of the young men directed him to
sit down where he was and he would go and speak to his mother and see
what she had to say about the matter. Hawkins then felt assured that if his
case was to be disposed of by a mother, he was safe ; and so it proved. The
young man soon returned to him with a decent pair of trowsers and some
food. Hawkins made no unnecessary delay in covering his nakedness and
satisfying his hunger. He was then taken to the old lady in an out-house,
who asked him various questions, and among others, if he had a father and
mother. Hawkins told her he had a mother at Providence, and that his
father was then in the American army. She replied, with tears streaming
from her eyes, " I wish you were at home." It was arranged between this
446 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
interest in these lands, except through the Waltons. At the
date of the grant, and even at the outbreak of the revolution,
some of the Walton patentees were known to be officers in
the army and navy of Great Britain ; and all of them living
at the commencement of the war, retired to England, except
Gerard Walton, who remained in the city of New York
during the whole period of its occupation by the British.
Now, there is not any question about the Walton title. It
is, so far as I know, perfectly good ; but how it was preserved
and protected from forfeiture and escheat might interest
the curious, and elucidate an event connected with our early
history.
The first town meeting after this town was erected, took
place in 1807; Doct. Westel Willoughby was the moderator ;
Christopher Hawkins was chosen supervisor and Phineas
Sherman, town clerk. Newport village, containing about
kind matron and Hawkins that lie should take a shirt and pair of trowsers,
then hanging on the fence, and if he was taken up and any question should
he asked about them, he was to say he stole them. This kind and patriotic
dame then directed young Hawkins where he could find a canoe and oar to
take himself across a small bay which lay in his route to Sag Harbor, gave
him more food, and sent him on his way home to his mother.
The husband of this lady, and the father of the two young men to whom
Hawkins had first addressed himself, had three years anterior to the time now
mentioned, been arrested by the British and confined in the Jersey prison-
ship, and had died on board that pestilent old hulk, only two or three weeks
before Hawkins came to the house. This explains why this kind hearted
woman was so cautious and timid. I can not follow the details of the journal
any further for want of room.
The only incident worthy of notice in this connection, which occurred to
Hawkins on his way to Sag Harbor, happened at Oyster Bay. He was there
arrested by a gang of refugees, detained some time, and finally sent on his way
back to New York to be again incarcerated in the prison. ship. He met with
friendly treatment from one of the citizens at Oyster Bay, after his arrest, who
furnished him with clothes and money, and who told him that a boy of his re-
sources and energy could not long be detained in the prison-ship, if his captors
succeeded in getting him there. Young Hawkins did not allow himself to be
taken back. He escaped from the guard which had him in custody, and
finally reached home in safety, pretty well cured of his seafaring propensities.
Mr. Hawkins was quite a young man when he came into the county.
NORWAY. 447
700 inhabitants, is a pleasant and healthy location. A
gentleman, distinguished by his position; of enlarged and
liberal views and accurate observation, and who had several
times passed through Newport to Trenton Falls, before the
era of rail roads had diverted the travel, told me, he had
never seen in this country or in Europe, anything that
exceeded in beauty and variety of scenery the valley of the
Canada creek, and the route then traveled from the Mohawk
to Trenton. He had visited the highlands and lowlands of
Scotland, traversed the Alps and the Appenines, navigated
the Rhine, and passed through Germany; but had seen
nothing that pleased him so much, as the route above men-
tioned. This village is connected by plank roads, with the
canal and Central rail road, at Mohawk and Herkimer, and
at Little Falls.
§ 11. Norway
Contains that part of the county beginning at the northeast corner of lot
number thirty-seven, in the second allotment of the Royal grant, and running
thence east along the tier of lots to the west bounds of Salisbury ; then along
the same, north, to the south bounds of West Brunswick ( now Ohio) ; then
along the same, westerly, to the town of Russia ; and then south, along the
towns of Russia and Newport, to the place of beginning.
This town contains portions of the second and third allot-
ments of the Royal grant, and not any other original patents
or grants from the crown or state.
Fisher Potter, and his father, Jeremiah Potter, with their
families, came into the county from Rhode Island, in 1788,
and settled about eight miles north of Fairfield village.
They opened a small clearing, and built a log hut to shelter
them from the snows and frosts of winter. Their whole
store of provisions, to carry them through their first loug
northern winter, was a crop of potatoes, with some salt,
and forest game had to supply the residue of a meager
subsistence. A gun and suitable ammunition, were indispen-
sable to a frontier forest life, and they were of course
provided. A severe tempest had prostrated several acres of
448 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
the forest, near the place where this family had made their
clearing, and this spot in those days was called a hurri-
cane, and here were found the white forest rabbit in
abundance. The winter set in, and the snow fell in heaps,
to the depth of four or five feet, banking up the outside
walls of the log hut and rendering it quite comfortable
inside, during the whole winter. The men were employed
in procuring fuel and hunting game ; one cold frosty mor-
ning Fisher and his father strapped on their snow-shoes,
took their guns and went into the hurricane after rabbits.
They had a small dog with them, only useful to start up the
small game. While earnestly intent on obtaining something
which would render their potatoes and salt a little more
savory and palatable, and somewhat more nourishing, they
discovered a hole in the snow " nearly as large as a quart
cup," extending down to the ground some four or five feet
deep. The sides of this hole in the snow were hard, and
covered with white frost flakes, showing that there was
some heat below, the exhalations from which escaped
through this aperture, and kept it open.
Whatever it might be, our pioneers were not backward in
finding it out, and Fisher Potter converting his snow-shoes
into a shovel, with right good will dug away the snow down
to the ground, until he reached a mass of hemlock boughs ;
and after removing a portion of them, a considerable cavity
was observed in the earth below, but nothing more. A
question of some importance now presented itself, and that
was, whether they should proceed further to uncover the
cavity, in order to ascertain its contents, or to resort to
other means to find out whether any living animal was still
there ; finally, the services of the little dog were put in
requisition; he was brought to the hole, and after taking
two or three scents, barked valorously, but keeping himself
ready to make a safe retreat, if needful. This unusual
disturbance roused the habitant below from his torpidity,
and he gave evident tokens of disquiet. In the mean time,
Fisher, believing he had uncovered an animal that would
NORWAY. 449
require something heavier than rabbit shot to quiet him, had
stepped back a few paces from the hole, charged his gun
with a ball, and both were ready for the encounter.
Bruin, not intimidated by the noise, and resolved to
punish the intruders upon his dominions with a few heavy
squeezes, if he could catch them, presented his comely vis-
age at the hole of his den, when Fisher placing the muzzle
of his gun within a few feet of his bearship's head, gave him
the whole charge. The bear was killed, and being large
and fat, and the meat tender, he was worth more than his
weight in white rabbits, to the famishing family. My inform-
ant, Mr. A. B. of F., now seventy-four years old, and who
possesses a remarkably clear and accurate recollection of
the incidents attending the first immigration of the New
Englanders into the county, says, he saw old Mr. Potter and
his son Fisher, when they first came out of the woods, the
spring after the incidents above related. He says Fisher
was a tall man, but lean and gaunt when he came out first ;
his complexion was sallow, and he appeared very much as
though he had been nearly starved. Old Mr. Potter said, that
killing the bear was a very lucky thing for the family, and
probably saved them from starvation, as their other provi-
sions, potatoes and rabbits, when they could kill any, were
getting quite short. Mr. Potter lived to a good old age,
and died in 1813. Between 1788 and 1790, John, Andrew,
and Amos Coe and Capt. Hinman, came into the town from
Connecticut; John and David Corp, N. Faning, Thomas
Manly and David Underbill, from Vermont; five families by
the name of Brayton, from Kensselaer county. The first
effort at clearing up farms in this town, was made in 1786,
by a Mr. Whipple and Christopher Hawkins, from Rhode
Island. They did not prosecute their enterprise. The first
grist mill in this town was built by Carpenter Cole, on Du
Bois brook ; the first saw mill by Capt. David Hinman, north-
west of Norway village.
Drs.Willoughby and L. Dewey, and the father of Colonel
D. C. Henderson, the latter from Vermont, settled in the
450 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
town in 1792. Some discrepancy as to dates may exist,
growing out of this state of facts. It was often the case,
that settlers would come into the town, make a small clear-
ing, put up a log house, and make all the {^reparations they
could in one season, return home in the fall of the year, and
bring on their families the next spring. There is no proba-
bility that any portion of the Royal grant received any
accession of population, after the revolution, until the sale
of it was perfected by the commission of forfeitures, and
they only sold five of the small lots in the first allotment
late in the year 1784.
Norway village lays on the old state road, is located near
the centre of the town, and contains about thirty-three
dwelling houses and 150 inhabitants. This town must
divide the honors with Ohio, in respect to the paternity of
Graysville, a small but thriving village on the north bounds
of it, and which has grown into importance by the lumber
and tanning business. Like all the lands on the Royal grant,
those in this town are well adapted to grazing, and butter
and cheese constitute its principal agricultural products.
In the year 1842, some members of Mr. Fisk's family, in
Norway, in chopping down a maple tree, discovered, near
the heart of it, indications of cuts made in the wood with a
sharp instrument. The tree being a large one, curiosity
was excited, they then chipped off the exterior wood, when
they found the plain marks of a blaze, three hacks and a
small piece of the edge of an iron or steel hatchet. These
wounds appearing to have been made in the tree when it
was a small sapling, the parties were induced to make a
careful count of the grains of wood that had grown outside
of the blaze and hacks, and found three hundred full circu-
lar grains of wood formed around the tree. The small piece
of the hatchet and a block of wood from the tree were pre-
served.
A healthy tree makes one new grain or layer of wood a
year ; these cuts and hacks must, therefore, have been made
in 1542, if there was no mistake in counting, and it is said
NORWAY. 451
there was none whatever. The inquiry is made, whence
came and who bore this instrument, denoting European
civilization, more than fifty years before Henry Hudson
made his appearance in the bay of New York. Was it
obtained from the Spaniards, under Cortes, who first landed
in Mexico, in 1509? No permanent settlements were made
on the Atlantic coasts of the United States till after the
beginning of the seventeenth century, and it is quite certain
the hatchet did not come from that quarter. Was it ob-
tained from the French in Canada? No colony was founded
there until 1608, by that nation. Whence, then, did it
come? It may have been obtained on the sea coast, from
the people attached to an European vessel, who had made
a temporary landing at some point. But were native
Indians accustomed to blaze and notch or hack the forest
trees, under any circumstances? Certainly not when on
the war path. They never left any such permanent evi-
dences of their whereabouts. The existence of the blaze
and hacks inclosed inside of three hundred grains or layers
of sound wTood, either cast a doubt on what has hitherto
been viewed as certain, so far as regards our American
forests, or presents an interesting question for antiquarian
inquiry.
The extracts given in another chapter, from the journals
of two missionaries, sent from Massachusetts, in the early
part of the present century, to spy out the nakedness of the
land, supply destitute places, and look after the scattered
members of their own denomination, descendants of the
Pilgrims, will attract some attention to this town. Norway,
in 1855, is not what it was in 1801-2. Since then it has
been shorn of territory equal to some German principalities,
although not quite as productive and populous.
The statistical returns of the late census show there
are two Baptist churches in this town, one Episcopal, one
Methodist episcopal, and one Presbyterian. I have been
kindly furnished with a history of the organization of one
of these Baptist churches, to which I cheerfully give a
452 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
place, premising it with an expression of the deep regret
and disappointment I have felt, while penning these sheets,
in not being able to do the like with every church organi-
zation in the county.
On the 25th of December, 1828, the members of the
regular Baptist church, of the town of Newport, then resi-
dents of the town of Norway, met at the house of Mr.
Dudley Smith, and organized by appointing Mr. Osee Bron-
son, moderator, and Jefferson Tillinghast, clerk, after the
usual religious exercises.
This meeting resolved to petition the " mother church "
to be constituted into a church in the town of Norway.
The petition was granted May 24th, 1830, and on the 14th
of June following the Norway members, 8 males and 15
females, 23 in all, were convened as a conference, a prelimi-
nary step to church organization. On the 28th of September,
1830, a council of delegates from the neighboring churches
was convened at the Presbyterian meeting house, to consider
the subject of organizing a Baptist church in this town. Of
this council Samuel Dexter, of Frankfort, was chosen mode-
rator, and the Rev. Willard Judd, of Salisbury, appointed
clerk.
The council resolved to fellowship the members of the
conference as a church of Jesus Christ. The Rev. Elon
Galusha, of Whitesboro, preached on this occasion, and the
Rev. William Hogeson, of Stratford, gave the hand of
fellowship.
The first pastor of this church was the Rev. R. T. Smith,
who commenced his services in January, 1831. He was
succeeded by the Rev. W. B. Curtis, C. E. Brown, L. 0.
Lovel, N. Furgoson, E. D. Towner, Francis Prescott, Mr.
S. A. Douglass, a licentiate, and again by the Rev. C. E.
Brown, in March, 1853, who is the present pastor of this
church. Since its organization, the chuich has had 294
members connected with it, 170 of whom were added by
baptism. The number reported to the association in 1854,
was 90. Four members of this church have become minis-
onio. 453
ters of the gospel ; and one, a lady, went on a foreign mis-
sion to Assam, where she died soon after her arrival. This
church has a lay organization, under the statute, which
holds the temporalities, the church building and parsonage.
The Rev. Mr. Brown promptly furnished the foregoing
information. I thank him for it, and have followed his
suggestion in another matter.
*•
§ 12. Ohio
Has been recently incorporated or erected. The territory of which this
town now comprises a part, was set off from Norway in 1823, and erected into
a new town by the name of West Brunswick, since changed to Ohio, in 1836.
In 1823, Norway extended to the north bounds of the county, and so did the
town of Russia.
Ohio is now hounded on the south by the north bounds
of the Royal grant, east by the west bounds of Salisbury,
north by the north bounds of Jerseyfield patent, and the same
course continued to the east line of Russia, and west by the
east bounds of Russia. This town covers a part of Jersey-
field patent, and contains a small triangular part of Remsen-
burgh patent, lying northwesterly of the West Canada creek,
the north bounds of Ohio, and the west bounds of Russia.
Although this town is too recent in its origin to afford
any historical events under its present name, worthy of
special notice, yet when its present territory formed a part
of the Kingsland district during the revolution, it was the
theater of one of those cold-blooded and inhuman murders
and burnings so often reiterated between 1776 and 1783, as
to sicken humanity by the recital of them. Complainings
now avail nothing; these astounding crimes were long since
perpetrated, and would before this time have been nearly
forgotten, but for historical repetition, and the uncertain
agency of oral tradition in the localities where the events
happened. Does it console us that retributive justice has
long since adjudged the case, passed its sentence, and for
30
454 HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
many years has been and now is executing its dread decree ?
If it does, let us fold our arms complacently, and await the
final execution of the exterminating judgment ; but never
forget, no, never, the probable cause nor the occasion of
these providential visitations, that we may shape our course
so as to avoid a similar punishment.
The sufferer's name, Mount, is not found among the ninety-
four persons to whom Jerseyfield patent was granted. He
planted himself on a handsome plain a few miles north of
the south line of the patent, and a little northerly of the
usual route taken by the enemy in traversing the wilderness
between the Black river and lower Mohawk valley. He
probably went there under the patronage of some of the
proprietors, and might reasonably expect to end his days in
the seclusion that miles of forest afforded him, with nothing
" to molest or make him afraid," save the wild beasts of the
wilderness. After leaving Black creek on the confines of
Norway, passing over a deep clayish soil, some rather stony
ground, gently unudulating, and proceeding north a few
miles, the traveler will reach the plain where Mr. Mount
had seated himself, and if it be in the spring season or at
midsummer, he will stop and gaze' with admiration at the
beautiful prospect before and around him. This is the spot
chosen by Mount for his home. Ohio must then be placed
in the list of towns in the county settled by whites before
the revolution. The West Canada creek crosses the north-
west corner of the town.
Ohio City, so called, contains a small collection of houses
near the central part of the town, on the road from Utica to
Wilmurt and Hamilton county. Graysville, on the south
branch of the Black creek, is a small but thriving village,
and is situated in the towns of Norway and Ohio. The
creek is here the dividing line between the two towns. A
triweekly stage now runs from Graysville to Little Falls,
and returns the same day. Ohio has increased in population
the last five years nearly one-third. The lumbering business
is carried on to a considerable extent in this town. Its
Ohio. 455
agricultural statistics do not range as high as some other
parts of the county.
A rehearsal of the murder of the two sons of Mr. Mount in
Jerseyfield, would be but little more than the naked state-
ment of the fact that the father and mother having gone to
the Little Falls with grain to be ground, returned home and
found their sons dead in the barn, their scalps taken, and
the little negro boy alive anxiously awaiting his master's
return. Mr. Mount came from New Jersey. He must have
been in Jerseyfield some years when his sons were killed,
for he had made considerable improvements, built a house
and barn, planted an apple orchard, and gathered around
him farm stock and utensils. His secluded position rendered
it quite certain, being about twenty miles from the German
settlements on the river, that neither he nor his sons parti-
cipated in the conflict going on between the crown and the
colonies, by any aggressive acts against the former, and if
he had at any time previously been visited by any of the
strolling actors in the bloody drama then being performed,
he did not indulge in offensive language, as he seems not to
have then been molested.
Mr. Mount's buildings were not at this time destroyed,
but they were afterwards burned by some one. A mill on
Mill creek, a few miles north of Graysville, was burned when
the young Mounts were killed. No one can now fix a time
when this affair happened, but some of the men with Col.
Willett, stated they dug potatoes at Mount's place when
they returned from pursuing Ross in 1782. Mr. Mount, it
is said, made all haste to reach a place of safety, and never
again returned to Jerseyfield.
Another version has been given me of this Indian mur-
der, by a gentleman who was employed as a surveyor on
the tract in 1808, and had gathered his information from
persons then living near the Mount farm. From this rela-
tion the family consisted of Mr. Mount, his wife, daughter,
two sons and a negro boy. Two Indians had been lurking
about the place several days, but had not made any hostile
456 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
demonstrations, as the young men had taken their loaded
rifles with them when they left the house, but on the day they
were killed and scarped in the barn, they had neglected this
precaution. When the report of firearms was heard in the
house, the rest of the family fled to the woods and made
their way to Little Falls as fast as they could. Mr. Mount
did not see his wife and daughter, after leaving his house,
until they met at Little Falls. The Indians, my informant
says, burned Mount's buildings when they found the family
had left the place.
According to this statement the family must have been
prodigiously frightened. It is not improbable, nay, it is quite
certain, that there were other white families settled in the
town near the place called Ohio City, before the revolution.
Mr. David Thorp moved on to the Mount farm soon after
the war and lived there many years. His son, David Thorp,
was a member of the assembly from the county in 1832.
§ 13. Russia
Contains that part of the county beginning at the southwest corner of lot
number twenty-eight, in the third allotment of the Royal grant, and running
thence east along the line of lots to the southeast corner of lot number thirty;
then north along the line of lots, and the same line continued to the south
bounds of the town of Wilmurt ; then westerly along the same to the west
bounds of the county; and then along the said west bounds to the place of
beginning.
This town contains a part of the third allotment of the
Royal grant, portions of Jerseyfield, Remsenburgh and
Matchin's patents, and the whole of Lush's, Marvin's and
Jacobs's patents.
Russia can not boast of anterevolutionary habitans, except
the wild beasts of the forest, and the roaming Indian in
pursuit of game, or on the war path to reach some point of
attack, or circumvent a foe. Indeed, no white settlements
were made in the town, until after the year 1790. The state
road enters the town near the southeast corner of it, runs
diagonally across the third allotment, and reaches Boon's
Russia. 457
Bridge, on the West creek, a short distance from the north-
west corner of the Royal grant. The town is irrigated by
several small streams, and among them is Black creek, all
of them tributaries of the West Canada, and affording water
power for mills and machinery of different descriptions and
capacities, and a needful supply for grazing stock. Trenton
Falls, the center of the creek, being the boundary line
between the two counties at this point, lay partly in this
town, and the crossing place where W. N. Butler was
killed is pointed out about two miles above the junction of
the Black creek with the Canada, so that this town and Ohio
must dispute the palm for this locality.
The industrial pursuits of the population are chiefly
directed to grazing and cheese and butter making. Utica
is the nearest market town of note, and the Utica and Black
river rail road now opens the most feasible route to the
eastern market, whether by canal or railway, for the pro-
ducts of this town, diverting nearly the whole of its com-
mercial trade to Utica.
Stodard Squires, from Connecticut, was the first settler ;
he came into the town in the year 1792. The Millington
family, from Vermont, and the Smith family, came into the
town, and took up lands, within a few years after Squires.
Farley Fuller, George Taylor and Roscuni Slocum moved
into the town about the year 1795, and between that time
and 1800 this town settled very fast. John G. Squires, a
son of Stodard, was seven years old when his father moved
on to the grant. He is now living, and occupies the same
farm on which the family located when they came into the
town. Mr. Squires is very particular and quite certain as
to the locality of the Butler crossing, and his designation
of the spot is supported by the declarations of an aged
revolutionary veteran, Mr. Williams, who was with the
American troops under Willett, and which I have derived
from Jeremiah Cory, Esq., late sheriff of the county. Mr.
Williams must have visited the spot, giving credence to his
own declarations some fifteen or twenty years ago ; and Mr.
458 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Squires asserts, that a bayonet and other warlike instru-
ments were found near the place he points out. I have felt
very anxious to fix the place of Walter N. Butler's death
with reasonable certainty.
It may be assumed then, I think, that the two parties, the
pursued and the pursuers, crossed the Canada creek about
two miles above the junction of the Black creek with the
West Canada, and in the neighborhood of the twin rocks.
This place is about twenty-seven miles north of Herkimer
village. There is no doubt but the hostile parties crossed
the Black creek, and that the American advance and the
British rear guards had a pretty smart encounter at that
point. I have noticed but one fact in the course of my
researches which seems to contradict the position now as-
sumed. The Mount place, at which Willett's party encamped
on their return from pursuing the enemy, is several miles
nearly due east from this crossing place, and it may not seem
probable that Willett, whose object it was to reach the Ger-
man Flats as soon as possible, with his hungry troops, would
have taken that route to reach a point nearly south from
this crossing place. But he no doubt had good reasons for
retracing his steps upon his recent trail, and this slight
deviation from a direct course to Fort Dayton, should not
be allowed to overbalance the traditional relations we now
have. Ross and Butler, whose object was to reach the Black
river, knew the most direct course to reach that point, and
they were on it. The destruction of Fort Schuyler " by fire
and flood," in May, 1781, and the withdrawal of the troops
stationed there to Forts Herkimer and Dayton, render it
quite improbable that any of Willett's troops went to the
former post in October, 1782. The spot where Butler fell
deserves a monument, to point out to unborn Americans
where a severe chastisement was inflicted, and where the
scourger fell. The mound on the west bank of the creek,
formerly pointed out as Butler's grave, has been entirely
washed away, and his remains have been scattered over the
valleys once desolated by his revengeful arm.
salisbury. 459
§ 14. Salisbury
Contains all that part of the county, bounded south by Manheim ; northerly
and easterly, by the bounds of the county ; and westerly, by the west bounds
of Manheim, continued north to the southerly bounds of a tract called Jersy-
field, and then northerly, to the bounds of the county ; along a straight line
run to the southerly extremity of tho division line, between the tracts called
Nobleborough and Arthurborough.
Apart of Jerseyfield patent, and portions of the first, second
and fourth allotments of the Royal grant are in this town.
This town was peopled before the revolution, with several
families of tories or persons friendly to the crown, though
they may not have committed any overt act of treason
against the colonies. Living on the Royal grant, they were,
no doubt, the tenants of, or went there under the protection
of the Johnson family. They were allowed to remain unmo-
lested by the Indians and tories, during the whole war ; but
when the commissioners of forfeitures, in 1784, claimed the
grant, as the property of the state, they may not have
esteemed the protection of their royalist landlords as of
much value, or their titles, if they held any, as securing
to them " an indefeasable estate of inheritance." One of
these people, named Johnson, lived on lot number 154, in
the first allotment, Royal grant, on the road between the
old Salisbury meeting house and the Four corners. Daniel
Lobdell, another of them, lived in the westerly part of the
town, about one mile southerly of the old Salisbury meeting
house.
These parties were conveniently located, to suit the pur-
poses and accomplish the objects, of those who planted them
on the direct route from the Mohawk valley, to the head
waters of the Black river. Here the disaffected could con-
gregate in safety, and mature their plans of mischief; and
from these points, runners could be dispatched to hover
round the out-settlements, collect information, watch the
movement of troops in the valley, and even spy out what
was going on at the block-houses and stockades, and outside
460 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
of the principal forts ; and here, too, straggling parties of the
enemy received aid and comfort, and were seasonably notified
of whatever was important for them to know, and within
the power of these people to give.
Old Mr. Lobdell had four or five sons, who at an early
period of the war went to Canada with a party of Indians,
and remained there until after peace was proclaimed. Joe,
one of them, was waiter to a British officer, and used to boast
after his return, of his sumptuous living while in Canada.
He Avas pensioned by the United States, for revolutionary
services. In what way he contrived to convert his menial
labor for a British officer, into military service for the
colonies, and to make satisfactory proof to the commissioner
of pensions, may be best explained by a resort to the records
at Washington.
A few New England families may have located in this
town, before 1788. Between that time, and 1794, the immi-
gration was pretty rapid. The Salisbury meeting house,
since converted into a wagon factory, or an appurtenant
to one, was erected during the latter year. Mr. Jabez Ayers
put up the first frame building erected in this town. The
following names are familiar as being among the early
settlers: Avery, Cook, Hackley, Hallett, Todd, Hopson,
Burrell and Waterman. The Bev. Caleb Alexander, who
visited this town in 1801, as a missionary, says it then con-
tained a population of 1694.
Salisbury Center, is a small village, situate on Spruce
creek. Here are several sawmills and other mills and
machinery propelled by water, with a large tannery. Salis-
bury Corners, two or three miles west of the Center, holds
a respectable place among the business localities of the town ;
and Devereaux, at the northeast corner of the grant, has
many years been known as a point from which considerable
quantities of sawed lumber have been sent to the canal and
rail road at Little Falls, for the eastern market. The west-
ern section of this town is well adapted to grazing, and the
dairy business has been successfully carried on there, for
SCHUYLER. 461
many years. The northern portion is well supplied with
hemlock, whence the tanners in that section draw large
quantities of bark. The state road passes through the south-
west corner of the town.
§ 15. Schuyler
Contains all that part of the county beginning at the Mohawk river, on the
line which divides the lands heretofore or late of Eli Spencer and Benjamin
Taber in Colden's patent, and running thence in'a straight line to the south-
east corner of the land now or late of Joel Harvey, on the Steuben road ; then
to the southwest corner of the town of Newport ; then southwesterly along
the west bounds of the county to the Mohawk river ; and then down the
same to the place of beginning.
The whole of Kass's patent and parts of Cosby's manor, and
Hasenclever's and Walton's patents are in this town.
This being one of the most ancient towns in the county,
as respects the period of settlement, and the most ancient in
regard to the crown alienations of title to some of the lands
within its territory, "in free and common soccage as of the
manor of East Greenwich in the county of Kent," would be
looked to for a rich supply of historical incident, and
numerous recitals of amusing anecdotes, and thrilling stories
of burnings, murders, scalpings, captures and escapes. In
this we are disappointed. Several German families had set-
tled within the present limits of the town, before the French
war, and among them were the Kasts and Starings ; but
these were looked upon as outlaying appendages and sub-
urban to the principal Palatine village below. There was a
good carriage road in 1757 on the left bank of the river
from the crossing where Utica now stands, through Schuy-
ler to the Palatine village, German Flats, which was tra-
versed by M. de Belletre with his French and Indians in
1757. They burned two houses on the Kast patent and
every thing in the shape of houses and buildings on the way
to the village. The inhabitants soon returned and resumed
their occupations, and between this time and 1775 the town
462 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
had received some additions to its population along the
river. There was a store on Cosby 's manor in 1766, and
John Wolff, Doct. Petry's wife's father, then lived on the
manor. The land in Schuyler is generally of good quality,
and the river alluvial flats are as strong lands and yield as
luxuriantly as any other in the valley. Along the river and
about three miles north the surface presents quite a level
aspect.
This town, although not the birth place, was many years
the residence of Judge Henri Starring, with whose name the
reader has become somewhat familiar ; and here was con-
cocted the celebrated Yankee pass. There was some addi-
tions of German population in this town immediately after
the revolution, but the accessions of immigrants from the
east and from New England did not take place at an early
period after that event. There were formerly several low
swampy pieces of ground along the river in this town, in
which, if oral tradition speak the truth, more than one un-
fortunate Indian after the peace of 1783 found an untimely
grave. There are no villages in the town. Several efforts
have heretofore been made to use the waters of the Mohawk
for hydraulic purposes, and considerable sums of money
have been expended for that object, but these efforts were
unavailing and the money sunk.
This may be properly called a farming town, quite as
much so as any in the county ; and although the people, for
a time, were rather reluctant to change their mode of hus-
bandry, they have now come into the way of getting rich.
The loss of population the last five years indicates this result.
§ 16. Stark
Contains all that part of the county bounded northerly by Danube ; easterly
and southerly by the bounds of the county ; and westerly by a line drawn
from the easternmost lock of the old canal, on the north side of the Mohawk
river at Little Falls, to the head waters of Lake Otsego.
Burr's map of the county shows that parts of Henderson's,
STARK. 463
L'Hommedieu's, Vaughn's, McNiel's, J. Vroman's, C. Col-
den's, Livingston's and Lansing's patents are in this town.
This town, before 1817, constituted a part of Minden,
Montgomery county. Before the revolution and at the closo
of that war, before the organization of towns in this state,
this territory lay within the limits of Canajoharie district of
Tryon county. All the lands in this town, except a portion
of L'Hommedieu's and J. Vroman's patents, w7hich lay within
its boundaries, were granted by the colonial government
before the revolution. As will be seen by a reference to the
table of titles, several of these grants were made about one
hundred years ago, and a considerable time before the colo-
nial difficulties comenced with the mother country.
There were twTo small European settlements near the
southerly line of the town, before 1775; one on the Otsquago
creek, called the Otsquago settlement, comprising, among
others, the Shalls, the Bronners and Fetherlys, whose
descendants are yet found enjoying the fruits won by the
martyrdom of their ancestors. The other settlement was
at the Kyle, so called. This may have been within the
limits of Springfield, and a short distance from the east line
of the town of Warren. A family by the name of Eckler or
Ecklar, had seated themselves at this place on Henderson's
patent, or rather, perhaps, Petrie's purchase. Both of these
settlements were broken up during the revolution, and the
inhabitants compelled to fly for refuge and protection to
Fort Plank, where they remained till the close of the war.
I visited the Eckler settlement in August, 1854, and found
John, one of the sons of Henry Eckler, who was driven off
by the Indians and tories, and a younger 'brother, still on
the old homestead which had passed from father to sons,
through three generations, and the title yet held by will.
No alienations out of the family having taken place, since
the first grant, by the patentee. This is an occurrence so
unusual, that I have deemed it worthy of particular notice.
John Ecklar, at the time I saw him, was 71 years old; he
had a brother, Henry, living in Sharon, aged 88 years, the
464 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
other brother was 68 years of age, a hale and robust man,
who evinced a little inquisitiveness about the object of nry
visit, surmising, perhaps, I might be inquiring into titles to
land. The worthy yeoman should have considered his
beyond all dispute or impeachment. Emanating from the
crown, and sealed with ancestral blood in asserting the just
rights of the colonists, followed by a marked possession of
an hundred years, who would hazard an inquiry into such a
man's right to the soil he cultivated 1
Starkville P. 0. and Van Horneville P. 0., in this town,
situated on the Otsquago creek, are points of some note.
A plank road has recently been constructed from Fort Plain
through these villages into the northerly part of Otsego
county.
Van Horneville affords a very considerable water power,
well adapted to manufacturing, milling and mechanical pur-
poses ; and it has been appropriated to these objects to a
considerable extent, by the enterprising proprietors. Abra-
ham Van Home, the father of Richard and Daniel Van H.,
settled here with his family in 1791, opened the wilderness
at the head waters of the Otsquago creek, erected houses
and built mills. I have been informed that two run of
Esopus mill stones for a grist mill, were drawn through the
woods by four horses, from the Mohawk river, on a wood-
sled. Whether the four stones were taken through the
woods as a load, or only one of them, my informant did not
state. It was no doubt pretty hard sledding, whatever might
be the number taken for a load. Mr. Abraham Van Home
emigrated from New Jersey into this state in 1771, and first
settled on a farm in the present town of Florida, Montgomery
county, and removed from thence in 1783 to Fort Plain.
He was a member of the Tryon county committee of safety
in June, 1775, from the Mohawk district, and continued a
member several consecutive years, firmly attached to the
cause of American freedom. He was appointed sherifi* of
Tryon county, May 22d, 1781, and no man could hold a com-
mission signed by George Clinton, whose devotion and
WARREN. 465
patrotism Avas doubted in the least. Mr. Van Home died in
March, 1810, at his home place, now called Van Horneville,
aged 72 years. The subject of these brief remarks was not,
of course, the Abraham Van Home, one of the patentees of
the grant made in 1731, designated by that name; nor was
that patentee a member of the Tryon county committee. I
have therefore ventured to give Mr. Van Home the position
in the revolutionary contest which family tradition seems to
have marked out for him.
The soil of this town appears well adapted to the raising
of hops and grain of various descriptions, and agricultural
industry seems to have taken that direction to a considerable
extent, but grazing and cheese making are not neglected.
According to the census returns, this town contains four
churches. One regular Baptist, one Baptist and Lutheran,
one Methodist episcopal, one Union. Starkville, in the east-
erly part of the town, has a population of 1 10 inhabitants,
and Van Hornesville, near the south bounds, has 228. This
town appears to have lost 297 in population out of 1775,
since 1845, and this within a decade of almost unexampled
success and prosperity with the agricultural classes.
§ 17. Warren
Contains all that part of the county bounded westerly by Columbia, south-
erly by the bounds of the county, easterly by the bounds of the county and
the west bounds of Stark, and northerly by German Flats and Little Falls.
It embraces the principal part of Henderson's and Theo-
bald Young's patents.
The reader of these pages has no doubt observed that
there were settlements of whites some distance south of
the Mohawk river before the revolution. These were prin-
cipally, if not entirely, composed of Germans from the
upper valley. Andrustown, so called, and the settlement
at the Little lakes, were within the present limits of the
town of Warren.
In March, 1792, Samuel Cleland, from Colchester, Massa-
466 HISTOEY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
chusetts, came into this town and settled, with his family.
This was the first New England family that immigrated
hither. Mr. Cleland had five sons, Norman, Salmon, Jonas,
Martin and Moses. Jonas and Moses now survive, the for-
mer being 75 years old. Norman died in 1831, aged 62
years, and Salmon went to his final rest at the advanced age
of 84 years. Martin died when about 20 years old. The
father, Samuel Cleland, died at Warren, October 10th, 1834,
aged 90 years, 4 months and 14 days. Danforth Abbot,
Hugh Panel and Amos Allen, from Massachusetts, settled
in this town about the same time. Elder Phineas Holcome,
the first settled minister in that part of the county, came in
soon after Mr. Samuel Cleland. This town was organized
in 1796, four years after the immigration from the east set
in, and must have filled up pretty fast. Jonas Cleland, Esq.,
informed me that when his father first came into the county,
he located himself not far from the German settlement of
Andrustown. That he found the bones of a man unburied
near the charred ruins of a dwelling, and collected and
interred them. The tradition of that day designated these
human bones as the remains of a Mr. Bellinger, who escaped
to his house when that hamlet was sacked and burned by
the tories and Indians, during the revolution, and would not
quit it when set on fire. He preferred thus to die, rather
than endure the lingering torments of captivity and death,
perhaps according to the savage mode of infliction. A man
must be bold, resolute and determined, who would so resolve
and act. Let it not be said he exhibited a stolid indifference
to life. He had seen, perhaps, his wife and children slaugh-
tered, and might expect the same fate when within reach
of the tomahawk. His cattle had been collected and driven
away, the Indian firebrand had been applied to his barn,
stacks and other property, and looking at death as certain,
he placed himself on the funeral pyre, and awaited its ap-
proach.
Warren is the southernmost town in the county, is nearly
eischt hundred feet above the level of the Mohawk river,
WILMURT. 467
high ground from which the waters descend northerly, east-
erly and southerly. The surface of the land is consider-
ably undulating, and the soil generally appears quite as well
adapted to hop and grain growing as grazing. There are,
however, a number of large dairy farms in the town. Owing
to the large quantities of manure required to keep the hop
fields in good yield, the dairy business has been found a
profitable adjunct in the farming line. There is to me a
something so homelike and lifelife in the appearance, at
midsummer, of large fields of Indian corn, grain of various
descriptions and potatoes, I can not resist giving utterance
to the reflection, that such a people must abound in wealth,
because they are not dependent.
The principal local points in this town are Crain's cor-
ners P. 0., Jordanville P. 0., Page's corners, and the Little
lakes, "Warren P. 0. Andrustown still retains its local name,
and here are found descendants of the German Palatines,
who first opened the forest on Henderson's patent ; the
Shoemakers, Bells, Grains, Hoyers, and others. The Little
lakes, whose waters discharge into the Otsego, are in the
extreme southeast part of the town, three miles east of
Richfield springs. The great western turnpike passes
through the village located between these two small bodies
of water. The white cedar swamp lands in this town are
nearly as valuable as any other in it. The timber is used
for hop poles.
§ 18. Wilmurt
Is the largest town in the county, and probably in the state, and contains
that part of the county commencing at the southwest corner of the town of
Morehouse (in Hamilton county), and running westerly on the north line of
the Jerseyfield patent, until it strikes the West Canada creek ; thence contin-
uing the same course of said Jerseyfield line, until it strikes the west line of
Herkimer county ; thence northerly, on said line, until it strikes the north
boundary line ; thence easterly, along the north bounds of said county, until it
strikes the northwest corner of the town of Morehouse; thence southerly, on
said line, to the place of beginning.
Wit!) in these boundaries are all those parts of Remsem-
468 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
burgh and Vroman's patents, Adgate's, Brown's, Noble-
borough, Moose river and Watson's tracts, and Totten and
Crossfield's purchase, which lie in the county.
This town has trebled its population in five years, to be
attributed to the increase of the lumber business, under the
direction of the Messrs. Hinckley and. others, who are
largely engaged in that trade in the north part of the coun-
ty. The legislature have heretofore appropriated $5000, to
remove obstructions from the West Canada creek ; obstruc-
tions which hindered the floating of logs and unsawed lum-
ber from the sources of the creek, during the spring floods,
to an extensive set of mills in operation near Prospect,
Oneida county, where many millions of feet of boards, plank
and other sawed lumber are cut out annually, and sent to
market.
The machinery of these mills, and all the arrangements
for booming and securing the logs, bringing them to the
ways, where they are to be taken on to the saw carriages,
and for removing the plank and boards when sawed, and
disposing of the refuse stuff, are spoken of as being equal
to any similar establishment in the country. The mineral
regions of this town will be approached, if not immediately
intersected, by the Saratoga and Sackets Harbor rail road.
In 1792, Alexander Macomb, of New York, purchased of
the state 1,920,000 acres of land, at nine pence per acre,
lying in the northern part of the state, and the same year
John Brown, of Rhode Island, bought of Macomb, or
obtained the title to, about two hundred thousand acres of
that purchase, which was afterwards divided into eight
townships, numbered from one to eight inclusive, and town-
ships number one, two, six and seven were also subdivided
into small lots. This tract does not lay on Moose river
proper, and only a small triangular point of township num-
ber eight extends into Hamilton county. The westerly
parts of towns one, two, three and four are in Lewis
county. This has been many years called Brown's
tract. According to Burr's map of the county, a northerly
WILMURT. 469
branch of the Moose river runs through the southern portion
of the tract. Mr. Brown visited his lands near the close of
the last century, made some improvements in the way of
opening roads, building houses and erecting mills, intending
and expecting to make sale of them. Mr. Brown died,
however, before he realized any of his anticipations, and no
doubt a great many more men will die before thai wilder-
ness will be seen " to blossom as the rose." In 1846, the
commissioners of the land office were ottered Jive cents an
acre for a considerable portion of townships one and two,
but they refused to take less than eight cents an acre.
A son-in-law of Brown, Mr. Charles F. Herreshoff, went
on to the tract a few years after the death of Brown, for the
purpose of making permanent improvements upon it and
bringing the lands into market. This project was quite as
visionary, far more expensive, and in the end, more fatal to
the projector, than the antecedent one had been to Brown.
Herreshoff expended a large sum of money in clearing up
the lands, repairing the former mills built by Brown, and
erecting new ones, in building houses and opening roads,
and at one time had gathered around him some thirty or
forty families. He also erected some iron works in town-
ship number seven, and actually succeeded, it is reported, in
making about one ton of iron. But Herreshoff 's outlays
were large, and it required something more " to speed the
plough " than could be raised on the tract, or from the pro-
ceeds of the iron ; he therefore resorted to the expedient,
which he doubtless had often indulged in before, of drawing
on his friends in Providence for the needful means to con-
summate a dearly cherished object. The draft was returned
to him protested ; he felt dishonor keenly, and deliberately
shot himself through the head with a pistol. He was
ardent, ambitious, probably visionary, and could not have
had much practical experience of the business he was
engaged in ; and if he died " as a fool dieth," it was a choice
31
470 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
of evils with him. He preferred death, a suicidal exit from
the world, to the crushing endurance of mortified feelings,
groping his way through life in poverty, and as he thought,
covered with dishonor.
After HerreshoiPs death the people he had brought there
left the settlement, and iron works, mills, barns and houses,
with one exception, went rapidly to decay. It is under-
stood that sometimes one and then another family has been
found bold and hardy enough to keep watch and ward on
the tract since Herreshoff died. A great portion of the
tract, if not all of it, has been sold for arrears of taxes and
bid in by the state.
In 1815, a Mr. Noble, a venerable patriarch, and nephew
of the patentee of Nobleborough patent, had found his way
there through the woods, and was enjoying a wilderness
life as he best could in a green old age. It will be observed
that this large tract was purchased of the state by Arthur
Noble in 1787 ; he made some improvement on these lands
as early as 1790, and then erected a sawmill and had some
boards sawed out which he took to Ireland. The settle-
ment broke up and another effort to colonize the tract, in
1793, was made with the like success. The remains of a
grist and sawmill were seen at this settlement about the
year 1811 by Mr. William Bensley of Newport. Mr. Noble
must have been influenced by a monomania like that of John
Brown's, when he caused a carriage road to be cut and
cleared to his lands, over which he passed in his coach. Mr.
Noble sojourned for a time at Little Falls -while his experi-
ments in the woods were going on, but finally returned to
Scotland, where he died many years since. There are large
quantities of excellent timber on the lands in this town, of
almost every description, except pine, found in our northern
latitude. Portions of the surface are broken and stony, and
other portions can be brought under cultivation and will
make fair grazing lands. The iron mines of this region
are spoken of as rich and inexhaustible.
winfield. 471
§ 19. Win field
Contains all that part of the county, beginning in the west bounds of the
county, where the same are intersected by a line run due east from the north-
east corner of township number twenty of the Twenty townships, so called,
and running thence easterly to abound on the south side of the Utica and
Minden turnpike at the southeast corner of the town of Litchfield : and then
south thirty degrees west to the bounds of the county ; and then along the
bounds of the county easterly, southerly and westerly to the place of begin-
ning : comprising within its bounds parts of Bayard's, Lispenard's and
Schuyler's patents.
This town was settled by whites before 1800, but at what
period I am not able to state ; probably between that time
and 1790. A small part of it lay within the limits of the Old
England district until the municipal organization of the
counties in this part of the state into townships took place.
Its area is not large, containing only about fifteen thousand
acres, as returned by the assessors. The soil is good and
highly productive. More attention has been here given to
wool growing than any other town in the county. The pro-
ducts of butter and cheese, as given by the census returns,
show that this branch of industry has not been forgotten.
Several streams which flow southerly into the Unadilla
river, have their rise in this town and Litchfield, and afford
very considerable facilities for milling and mechanical pur-
suits, which have not been left unimju-oved. The Great
Western turnpike passes through the southerly part of the
town, which, before the days of canals and rail roads, was
a large thoroughfare thronged with stage's, carriages, teams
and droves of cattle, but now almost a solitude.
The village of West Winfield, whose population is nearly
four hundred, is located very near the west bounds of the
county. It contains an academy incorporated by the
regents of the university. I refer the reader to another
chapter for a more particular description of this institution.
The locality is pleasant and healthy. A bank organized
under the laws of the state has recently been established in
472 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
this village. The plank road from Ilion on the Mohawk to
the Great Western turnpike, a short distance east of this
place, has caused a very considerable portion of the trade
and travel of the Unadilla country to center at and pass
through the village northerly to the canal and Central rail
road.
List of Towns in the county and the number of voters in each, and
list of Villages and Population in each, in 1855 :
Towns.
fcoS
Names of Villages,
When Incorpo-
rated.
1 Columbia,
2 Danube, ,
3JFairfield,
4 Frankfort,
5 German Flats,.,
6 Herkimer,.
7 Litchfield,
8 Little Falls
9 Manheim,
10 Newport,
HNorway, ,
12|Ohio, ,
13 Russia, ,
14 Salisbury,
15 Schuyler, ,
16 Stark, ,
17 Warren, ,
lSWilmurt, ,
19Winfield,
453
334
314
557
775
542
307
856
325
405
224
188
475
457
328
358
465
41
307
3 67
42! 265
9, 180
83 1 345
107 337
56 339
50 188
196
39
37
18
31
38
612
167
196
198
135
236
44' 246
58| 217
12 107
111 69
9 71
24 80
Cedarville, .
Coldbrook, .
Frankfort, .
Herkimer,.. . . I April 6, 1807,.
Ilion, !Nov'r 3, 1852,
Little Falls,.. . March 30, 1811
April 16, 1844,
Mohawk,
ll'Jordanville, . .
9JMiddleville, . .
10j Newport,
10 Salsbry Center
7
17
14
U
9
11
2
lOWest Winfield ;
Poland,
VanHonesville
Starkville,.. . . !
Jacksonburgh, j
Brocket's Br.,.
Inghams Mills,
Russia,.
7711 867 3955 201
145
218
1150
1371
812
3972
1355
125
295
671
319
179
228
190
206
389
132
140
381
APPENDIX.
No. 1. Referred to at page 42.
[Council Minutes XIII, page 162.]
At a Council held in Albany, the 9th day of September, 1721. Present :
His Excellency, William Burnet, Esq., &c; Capt. Walter; Mr. Cadwalla-
der Colden; Mr. James Alexander.
The petition of several Palatines, in behalf of themselves and others, at
Skohere, praying his Excellency's leave to purchase a Tract of Land on the
Mohacks River, for their use and settlement, which his Excellency commu-
nicated to this Board.
It is the opinion of the Council, that the Palatines have leave to purchase
a certain Tract of Land, in the name of his Majesty, upon the Mohacks River,
above the fall, about forty miles beyond Fort Hunter, and that the said pur-
chase be made within a year after the date of the Lycense, to be in pursu-
ance hereof, a Patent will be granted to them, their heirs and assigns, under
the same Restrictions and Reservations as other vacant lands are granted to
his Majesty's Subjects in this Governmt, they taking care the said Land be
not granted, Purchased or Patented to any others from the Governmt here-
tofore.
Indian Deed.
To all christian people or Indians to whom these presents shall come at
any time, Know ye that we being some of the principal sachems or chiefs of the
five Nations of Indians, belonging to the crown of England, do for ourselves,
to and with the consent of all other Indians belonging and proprietors of a
certain tract, parcell or parcells of land lying and being on both sides of the
Mohawks river, beginning at the first carrying place, being the eastermost
bounds, called by the natives Astenrogen, running along on both sides of the
said river westerly unto Garrendagaraew, or the upper end of it, it being
about twenty-four English miles long on both sides of the said river, Together
with all the woodland northerly and southerly of the said meadow land as
far as the said Palantines or High Dutchmen please to take, containing about
in acres we know not, do of our own free will, and for the respect we have
for the Government of New York, and likewise we have taken into consider-
474 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
ation of the number of Christians that came from England called Palantines
or High Dutch men, which now want land to manure to maintain their fami-
lys ; and we having land enough that cannot use, Do for ourselves, our
heirs, executors and administrators, that is our children and children's
children for ever, Do give, grant, sell, alien, enfeoffe and confirm, and by
these presents Do give and grant, sell, alien, enfeoffe and confirm, all the
aforementioned premises, unto John Conradt Wiser Jun., Jacob Kop, John
Jose Petres, Conradt Rygerds, Nicholas Fuller, Henry Mayor, Ausorian
Smith, Rutles Earring, Peter Spice, Peter Waggoner, Peter Connift Kerne,
Jacob Warynoo, &c, with all other High Dutch men or Pallantines in this
Government, for a settlement, and we have heard that it is his Excellency's
desire, and do grant it for a small consideration of payment, the whole pre-
mises above mentioned unto the said Pallantines or High Dutch men now
under the crown of England, and to their heirs, executors, administrators
and assigns for ever, all and singular the above mentioned premises with the
appurtenances thereunto belonging ; To have and to hold all the aforesaid
lands with the woods, underwoods, pasture ground, meadows, lowlands,
uplands, rivers, rivuletts, islands, the grass, the timber, and timber woods
and all the appurtenances and privileages in the said bounds belonging or
in anywise appertaining unto the aforementioned High Dutch men or Pallan-
tines of this Government under the crown of Great Britain, and to their
heirs, executors, admits and assigns for ever, To their sole and only proper
use and behoofe for ever. In witness whereof, we the native owners and
proprietors of the aforementioned premises, Do set our marks and take of
the seale, that our children's children may know from this day, being the
ninth of July, annoq Domini 1722, and we do likewise impower and authorize
to sign, seale and set the mark belonging to us the five nations, as they are
our chief Sachems one, two or three of every nation. Freryoris, a Mohawk,
his hand mark and seal [l. s.]. KAHYAWGAHKOTtrx, being the mark of the
Undogos, and seal [l. s.] [l. s.]. Kanecgarah, the Senkes mark and seal
[ l. s.] Odossectoh, the mark and seal of the Onido [l. s.] [l. a.]. The mark
and seal of the Cawyogos [l. s.] [l. a.]. Signed and delivered in the presents
of lis, Interpreter Laurens Clasens, Leo Stevens [l. s.], her mark, Interpreter,
Josa Sanderse Glen, Justice ; Adam Vrooman, Justice ; Jan Wemp, Justice.
[Council Minutes XIV, page SI.]
At a Council held at Fort George, in New York, January ys 17th, 1722-3.
Present: His Excellency William Burnet, Esq., &ca. ; Collo. Beekman,
Mr. Van Dam, Mr. Barberie, Mr. Harrison, Doctor Colden.
Petition of John Just Petrie and Conradt Rickert, in behalf of themselves
and others, the Palatines, concerned in the Purchasing of Lands of the
Indians, setting forth, That in pursuance of his Excellency's Lycence, the
9th of September, 1721, they had purchased of the Indians a tract of land
lying above the fall of the Mohacks River, which is about forty miles to the
APPENDIX. 475
westward of Fort Hunter, and praying that the same may he surveyed
according to the Indian purchase now produced to this Board, in order that
they may obtain his Maties Letters Patent, was read.
Ordered, that the said petition, together with the Indian purchase, 1>"
referred to the Gent, of this Board, or any live of them.
His Excellency withdrawing, the Gent, of this hoard Resolved into a
Committee.
His Excellency returning to the Council Chamber, took his place at the
Board.
Then the Gentlemen of the Committee, to whom was referred the petition
of John Jost Pdri and Conradt Riekert, Palatines, in behalf of themselves
and others, reported that they had considered of the same, and were of
opinion that hi.- Excellency may grant to the Petitioner and such other Per-
sons as arc now desirous to settle the Limits of the Tract Petitioned for so
much of said Land as they shall be willing to take up in the following man-
ner vizt. That every person, Man, Woman and Child be entitled to one
hundred acres each, and that before the surrey be made, the number and
names of all the Persons to be concerned be certified to the Surveyor General
or his Deputy before the Survey be made, which Report was approved of by
the Board, and this Board does advise and consent that his Excellency may
Grant the said Land under such quit rent, Reservations and Restrictions as is
and are directed in his Excellency's Instructions from his Majesty.
It is the opinion of this Board, that, considering the number of People for
whom this Tract is Petitioned ; it will not be contrary to the meaning and
design of tin- said Instructions if the whole Tract should extend in its greatest
length upon the Mohacks River, since the Tract to be allotted to any particu-
lar Person or Family is not to do so.
Ordered, that this Opinion of the Board be exprest in the Warrant to the
Surveyor General.
JVb. 2. Referred to at page 200.
LIST OF PATENTS OR TRACTS OF LAND
In the County nf Herkimer, with the drite of the Patent, number of acres therein,
and name of Patentee.
sldgate's Patent. — Date, 1798; 43,907 acres; Matthew Adgate, patentee.
Bayard's Patent. — Date, 1771 ; 50,000 acres ; Wm. Bayard, Robert Bayard,
Joshua Mullocli, Thomas Shipboy, Peter Sylvester, Henry Van Schaack,
Robert Adams, Richard Cartwright, James Phyn, Wm. Kane, Allen Mc-
Dougall, George Lindcsay, Jacob Brower, John Van Dalsem, Rudolph
Sickles, William Benson, James A. Stewart, Alexander Stewart, Jun.,
Robert Henry, Robert McLallan, John Vernor, William Proctor, .Adrian
Renaudet, Garden Proctor, Richard Nassau Stevens, Thomas Edwards, John
476 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Constable, Alexander Ellis, John Duncan, Dunlap Adams, Wm. Adams,
James Adams, David Edgar, Wm. Edgar, James Rankin, Jane Lyle, John
Van Alen, Barent Van Alen, Abm. Schenck, Henry Remsen, Henry Rem-
sen, Jun., John Taylor, Joseph Griswold, Robert Harding, John M. Brelun,
Wm. Butler, Frederick W. Hecht, George Ball, John Gregg, Wm. Jones,
Thomas Pettit, Robert Ross, Richard Hazard, William Dudley and Thomas
Griswold, initentees.
Brown John's Tract.— Date, 1792. This tract is part of the 1,920,000 acres of
land granted to Alexander Macomb, by letters patent dated January 10,
1792.
Burnet's Field Patent. — Date, 1725 ; 9400 acres ; John Jost Petri and others
(see the names chap, iii, p. 44).
Colden Cadwallader's Patent. — Date, 1738; 3,000 acres; Cadwallader Golden
the younger, and Coenradt Ryghtmeyer, patentees.
Cosby' s Manor. — Date, 1734; 22,000 acres; Joseph Worrell, William Cosby,
John Lyne, Thomas Freeman, Paul Richards, JohnFelton, Charles Williams,
Richard Shuckburgh, Timothy Bagley, James Lyne and Frederick Morris,
patentees.
Colden Jllexandcr's Patent. — Date, 1761 ; 4,000 acres ; Alexander Colden,
William Willett, Stephen DeLancey and Christopher Blundell, patentees.
Frank Coenradt's Patent (commonly called Staley's 3d Tract). — Date, 1765,
5,000 acres; Coenradt Frank, Frederick Frank, George Herchkeimer,
Michael Stigh and Peter Piper, patentees.
Fall Hill Patent. — Date, 1752 ; 2324 acres ; Johan Joost Herkimer and Hendrick
Herkimer, patentees.
Free7)iason's (see Bayard's) Patent.
Glen's Purchase. — Date, 1739 ; 1660 acres ; Jacob Glen. (It appears that the
tract of land called Glen's Purchase, in the county of Herkimer, was laid
out into thirty-nine lots, and granted to different persons, as follows) :
Patrick McClaughry and Andw. McDowell, 1738 ; 3710 acres ; lots 10, 16, 17,
26, 37.
/. DeLancey, J. Lindsay and Abm. Glen, 1738 ; 5426 acres ; lots 3, 5, 7, 11,
19, 20, 29, 34.
Lendert Helmer, 1739 ; 1970 acres ; lots 13, 21, 38.
Jacob Glen, 1739 ; 1660 acres ; lots 15, 25.
Archibald Kennedy, 1739 ; 1950 acres ; lots 12, 22, 30.
John Schuyler, Jr., 1739 ; 1990 acres ; lots 14, 24, 35.
Arent Bradt, 1739 ; 1907 acres ; lots 6, 23, 27.
Philip Schuyler, 1739 ; 1863 acres ; lots 9, 18, 36.
Samuel Anchmuty, 1761 ; 1090 acres ; lots 31, 32, 33.
William Mitchell, 1761 ; 1910 acres ; lots 2, 8, 28.
William Ogilvie, 1761 ; 2000 acres ; lots 1, 4, 39.
Wm. Alexander and Henry Frey, two of the executors of John Porteus, de-
ceased, to Alexander Ellice. Deed dated March 19, 1801, conveying,
among others, the following lots of land, viz :
APPENDIX. 477
Lot No. 27 in Burnetsfield, south side of the Mohawk river, and lots Nos. 12
and 13, in same Tract, north side of the said river, each containing 100
acres. (Recorded in the Secretary of State's office.)
Hascnclcver's Patent. — Date, 1760 ; 18,000 acres ; Peter Hasenclever, David
Greame ; Mary ( Iroftes, James Crawford, George Jackson, John Elves, Arthur
Forest, Richard Willis, John Duval, Thos. Dampier, Win, Robertson, Wm.
Berry, Neal Ward, Mary Lucy Sleech, Hutchinson Mure, Catharine Hasen-
clever, Mary Elizabeth Hasenclever and Charles Croftes, patentees.
Henderson's Patent. — Date, 173!) ; 6000 acres ; James Henderson, John Kelly
and James Henderson, younger, patentees.
Henderson's or Petrie's Purchase. — Date, 1740 ; 6000 acres ; Philip Livingston,
John De Peyster and John Jost Petrie. This patent consists of lots 1, 2, 8,
it, 15 and 16, in the Tract called Henderson's or Petrie's Purchase.
Johnson Guy's Patent. — Date, 1765 ; 2000 acres ; Guy Johnson, patentee.
Jeraeyfidd Patent. — Date, 1770 ; 94,000 acres ; Henry Glen, Alexr. Campbell,
John Visscher, Jr., Philip Garlock, Harmanus H. Wendell, Alexander Ellis,
Cornelius Cuyler, Simon Schermerhorn, John McCrea, Christopher Yates,
Nicholas Brando, Petrus Dederick, Wilhelmus Osterhout, Isaac Vrooman,
Ryer Wemple, Myndert R. Wemple, Mary Vrooman, John Farril, Jacob S.
Vrooman, Tunis Van Vleck, Wm. Lyghtall, Hendrick Brower, Jun., John
Baptist Wendell, Frederick Auker, Segar Van Sandford, Myndert Wemple,
Volkert Vedder, Omie Le Grange, Jacob Jacobse, Myndert La Grange,
James Shuter, Robert Clench, Wm. Peters, Abm. C. Groot, Harmanus
Wendell, Lucas Van Vechten, Philip Van Vechten, Cornelius Wendell,
Jacob H. Wendell, John H. Wendell, Barent W. Vrooman, Jacob A.
Vrooman, John Walker, Jacob Lansing, Samuel Van Sly eke, Simon Scher-
merhorn, Jun., Adam Van Slyck, Harmanus Bradt, Nicholas Van Petten,
Hendrick Brower, Arent Van Petten, John Brown, Caleb Beck, Matthew
Lyne, John Mynderse, Wm. Hanna, John Duncan, Mary Grant, John
Abeel, Garret Abeel, Evert Byvanck, Jun., Gerard Bancker, John Byvanck,
Benjamin Stymets, Isaac Sloover, Derick Brinckerhoff, John Baptist Van
Eps, Isaac Truax, Jacobus Mynderse, Jacobus Van Eps, Peter Truax, Wm.
Phillips, James Cotter, JohnTyms, James Mordaunt, Alexander McCullagh,
John Mclntyre, Alexander Stewart, Edward Laight, John Lamb, John
Tayler, Edward Nicoll, Charles Nicoll, Charles Doughty, Wm. Whitehead,
Elizabeth Breese, John Van Sice, Volckert P. Douw, James Deas, Samuel
Bayard, Sen., Angus McDonald, Samuel Breese, Samuel Doughty and John
Visscher, patentees.
Kast Johan Jurgh Patent. — Date, 1724 ; 1100 acres ; Johan Jurgh Kast, Lodo-
wick, Sarah, Dorothy, Margaret, Elizabeth, Mary and Anna Mary, children
of said Johan Jurgh Kast, patentees.
L'Hommcdieu's Patent. — Date, 1786 ; 4000 acres ; Ezra L'Hommedieu and
Nathaniel Piatt, patentees.
Lindsay's Patent. — Date, 1730; 3000 acres; John Lindsay and Philip Livings-
ton, patentees.
7
478 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
Livingston's Patent.— Date, 1762 ; 20,000 acres ; Philip Livingston, Rudolph
Keller, John Burk, Edward Earl, Samuel Bailey, Wm. Denning, Wm. Liv-
ingston, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, Peter Dubois, John Hansen, John James
Beekman, Peter Hansen, Roger Townsend, Wm. MeCracken, John Cuyler,
Myndert Burger, Michael Hugo Frazier, Wm. Bailey, Gerardus Lansingh
and Philip Lansingh, patentees.
Lansingh's Patent. — Date, 1753 ; 6000 acres ; Jacob Lansingh, Abni. Lansingh
and Jacob Glen, patentees.
Lispenard's Patent. — Date, 1770 : 9200 acres ; Leonard Lispenard, Leonard
Lispenard, Jr., Anthony Lispenard, David Johnston, Stephen De Lancey,
John Fitzpatrick, Jordan Cock, Peter Stuyvesant, Tunis Somerndyck, Mar-
tin Shier, Geo. Stanton, Henry Stanton, Rose Graham and Mary Graham,
patentees.
Macomb's Purchase. — Date, 1792 ; John Brown's Tract consists of part of 1,920.-
000 acres of land, granted to Alexander Macomb, Jan. 10,fL792.
McNicVs Patent. — Date, 1761 ; 4000 acres ; John McNeil, Alexander McKey,
Alexander Stewart and Oliver Templeton, patentees.
Machin's Patent. — Date, 1786 ; 1600 acres ; Thomas Machin, patentee.
Moose River Tract . — Date, 1847; 13,080 acres; Anson^Blake, patentee. Town-
ship No. 1 not granted, except 2 lots ; township No. 2 not granted ; town-
ship No. 5 not granted, but one lot.
Noblcborough Patent. — Date, 1787 ; 40,960 acres; Arthur Noble, patentee.
Royal Grant (or Kiugsland), granted to Sir William Johnson by Letter's Patent
under the great seal of England. It is not recorded in the secretary of
state's office, and neither the date of the patent nor the number of acres
granted are known. It -was subdivided into four allotments.
Remsenbnrgh Patent. — Date, 1787; 48,000 acres; Henry Remsen, George
Klock, Jacob G. Klock and Dirck Van Ingen, patentees.
Schuyler's Patent. — Date, 1755; 43,000 acres; Abm. Lynsen, David Schuyler,
Nicholas Packard, Peter D. Schuyler, Gerardus Stuyvesant, James Living-
ston, John Willett, Leonard Lispenard, Gualtherus Dubois, Peter P. Schuy-
ler, Nicholas Bayard, Christopher Bancker, Samuel Heath, John Van Cort-
landt, Philip Van Cortlandt, Wm. Kelly, David Vanderheyden, Robert
Benson, John De Peyster, Jr., John Meyer, Augustine Moore and Conradt
Mathyse, patentees.
Sncll and Timmcrman's Tract. — Date, 1755; 3600 acres; Jacob Timberman
and Johan Joost Schnell, patentees.
Staley' s Patent, 1st and 2d Tracts. — Date, 1755; 34,000 acres ; Rudolph Staley,
Johan Jost Herckkeimer, Jun., Thomas Schoonmaker, Peter Bellinger, Jr.n.,
Frederick Orendorph, Hans Michael Ifctig, Jun., Nichs. Woolaver, Hendrick
Spone, Augustus Hess, Christopher Fox, Rudolph Schoonmaker. Samuel
Broughman, Jacob Ittigh, Jacob Kesslaer, Nichs. Herckheimer, Hans Deder-
ich Staley and Geo. Kesslaer, patentees. *
Tot ten and. Crossficld. — Date, 1786; 25,200 acres; Zephaniah Piatt, patentee.
APPENDIX. 479
Township No. 42 divided into 127 lots ; very few lots granted : township
No. 45, township No. 50, divided into lots and sold by the state
Van Dricsen Pctrus' Patent.— Bate, 1737; 1,000 acres; Petrus Van Driesen,
patentee.
Van Dricsen John's Patent. — Date, 1786; 428 acres; John Van Driesen,
patentee.
Van Home's Patent. — Date, 1731; 8,000 acres; Abraham Van Home, Wm.
Provoost, Philip Livingston and Mary Burnet, patentees.
Vaughan's Patent. — Date, 1770; 8,000 acres; John Vaughan, Cornelius Cuy -
ler, Jibm. Cuyler, Henry Cuyler, Catharine Cuyler, Andrew Meyer, Adam
Borger and James Stephenson, patentees.
Vrooman' s Patent. — Date, 1790 ; 9700 acres ; Isaac Vrooman, patentee.
Vrooman's Patent. — Date, 1786 ; 4,000 acres ; Isaac Vrooman, patentee.
Vrooman' s Patent. — Date, 1790; 433 acres; Isaac Vrooman.
Watson James' Tract.— Date, 1792. This appears to be part of the 1,900,000
acres granted to Alexander Macomb, January 10, 1792.
Winnie's Patent. — Date, 1741; 2,000 acres ; Peter Winne, patentee. [There
is a tract of 4,000 acres in Canajoharie granted to Peter Winne and James
Dillon in 1741].
V/alton's Patent.— Date, 1763 ; 12,000 acres; Wm. Walton, Jun., Jacob Wal-
ton, Thomas Walton, Gerard Walton, Abm. Walton, Anthony Van Dam,
John Van Dam, Robert Ross Waddell, John Keen, Wm. Ross, Robert Hy-
slop and Christopher Dudley, patentees.
Young's Patent. — Date, 1752; 14,000; Theobald Young, Adam Young, Frede-
rick Young, Andries Young, Gerrit Staats, Henry Douw, Jacob Ten Broeck,
Gerardus Groesbeck, Benjamin Nicoll, Henry Holland and Cornelius Ten
Broeck, patentees.
JVb. 3. Referred to at page 201.
[Land Papers, vol. XVI, 45.]
To the Honble. Cadwallader Colden, Esqr., President of His Majesty's Coun-
cil and Commander in Chief of the Province of New York and the Territo-
ries depending thereon in America :
The Petition of Sir William Johnson, Baronet, Ferrall Wade, George F.
Cheap, James Rogers, Dennis Madden, John Johnston, William Johnston,
Peter Frax, Michael Russell, Wilhelmus Russel, Paul Reiter, Philip II. Klyne,
John Spangenbergh, Lucas Verier, Lawrence Eman, Michael Sallenger, Mat-
thias Link, Hanthy Creitz, George Statu, George Stam, Junr., Peter Cooley,
John Johnson, Peter Servis, Christopher Servis, Francis Rupert, Adam
Rupert, Hannis Wert, Andreas Snyder, Conradt Creitzenbergher, Conradt
Smith, Jonathan French, Jacob Pickle, Hanni-, Wolfe Barlet, Augustus Eikler,
Jacob Sefer, Johannis Alt, Bastian Steenmyer, Stephen Kipp, George Kipp and
Peter Frederick. Humbly Showeth :
480 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
That there is a Tract or Parcel of Vacant Land, situate lying and being in
the County of Albany on the North side of the Mohawks River near to the
Conajoharie Castle, and beginning at the Northwesterly Corner of the Rear
line of a Patent or Tract of land purchased by the late Teady McGin and
others and lately surveyed by his Widow Sarah McGin, which Corner or
beginning is on the Bank of a Creek or Kill called by the Indians Dekayoha-
ronwe, and about thirteen miles from the Mohawks River, which Creek falls
into the said Mohawk River about Two hundred Yards below Fort Hendrick
or Conajoharie Castle, thence running from the Said Northwesterly Corner of
saidMcGin's rear line a Westerly Course to the West bank of another Creek
or Kill, called by the Indians Deyoshtoraron, by the Christians Canada Kill at
Bumetsfield, from thence down along the West side of the said Creek or Kill
to the Lands Patented formerly, So down to the Mohawk River then Running
round the Several Tracts of Land already Patented within the Above men-
tioned two Creeks, and taking in all the Vacant Lands between the said two
Creeks from the Rear Line Quite to the Mohawks River, Containing about
Forty Thousand Acres of Land ; which your Petitioners are desirous immedi-
ately to settle and improve, being willing to submit to such Restrictions as to
the Settlement or Cultivation of the said Tract of Land as shall be judged
Reasonable.
Your Petitioners therefore humbly Pray Your Honour will be favourably
Pleased to Grant to them Your Honour's Lycense to purchase in his Majesty's
Name of the Native Indian Proprietors thereof the Quantity of Forty Thousand
Acres of the Tract of Land above described in Order to enable them to obtain
his Majesty's Letters Patent for one Thousand Acres to each of the Petitioners,
Under the Quit Rent Limitations and Provisoes directed and Appointed in his
Majesty's Instructions.
And Your Petitioners as iu duty bound shall ever Pray, &c.
Wm. Johnsox,
In behalf of himself and his Associates.
New York, 27th March, 1761.
8th July, 17G1, Read and referred to a Committee.
[Council Minutes XXIII, 3C8.]
At a Council held at Fort George in the City of New York, on Wednesday the
Eighth day of July, 1761. Present: The Honoble Cadwallader Colden,
Esqr., President and Commander In Chief &ca. ; Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Horse-
raanden, Mr. Chambers, Mr. Smith, Mr. Watts, Mr. Walton.
The Petition of Sir William Johnson, Baronet, Ferrall Wade, George F.
Cheap, James Rogers, Dennis Madden, John Johnston, William Johnson,
Peter Frax, Michael Russell, Wilhelmus Russell, Paul Reiter, Philip H. Klyne,
John Spangerburgh, Lucas Veder, Lawrence Eman, Michael Sallenger,
Mathias Link, Hanthy Creitz, George Stam, George Stam, Jnnr., Peter Cooley ,
John Johnson, Peter Servis, Christopher Servis, Francis Rupert, Arlarn
APPENDIX. 481
Rupert, Hannis Wert, Andreas Snyder, Conradt Creitzenbergher, Conradt
Smith, Jonathan French, Jacob Eickle, Hannis Wolf Barlet, Augustus Eikler,
Jacoh Sefer, Johannis Alt, Bastian Steenmyer, Stephen Kip, George Kip and
Peter Frederick was presented to the board and read, setting forth that there
is a Tract or parcel of vacant Land situate, Lying and being in the County of
Albany, on the North side of the Mohawks River, near to the Conajohario
Castle, and beginning at the Northwesterly Corner of the Rear line of a Patent
or Tract of Land purchased by the Late Teady McGin and others, and lately
surveyed by his Widow Sarah McGin, which Corner or beginning is on the
Bank of a Creek or Kill, called by the Indians Dekayoharonwe, and about
Thirteen miles from the Mohawks River, which Creek falls into the said
Mohawks River about Two hundred Yards below fort Hendrick or Conajo-
harie Castle, Thence running from the said Northwesterly Corner of the said
McGin's rear Line, a westerly Course to the West bank of another Creek or
Kill, called b)T the Indians Deyoshteraron, by the Christians Canada Kill at
Bnmets field, from thence down along the West side of the said Creek or Kill,
to the Lands patented formerly, so down to the Mohawk River, then Running
round the several Tracts of Land already Patented within the above men-
tioned two Creeks, and taking in all the Vacant Lands between the said Two
Creeks from the Rear line Quite to the Mohawks River, Containing about
forty thousand acres of Land, which your Petitioners are desirous Immedi-
ately to settle and improve, being willing to submit to such Restrictions as to
the Settlement and Cultivation of the said Tract of Land, as shall be judged
Reasonable ; and therefore humbly praying a Lycence to purchase in His
Majesty's name, of the Native Indian Proprietors thereof, the Quanty of Forty
thousand acres of the said Tract of Land, in order to Enable the Petitioners to
Obtain His Majesty's Letters Patent for One Thousand Acres to Each of the
Petitioners.
On Reading whereof it is Ordered that the said Petition be Referred to the
Gentlemen of the Council or any five of them.
No. 4. Referred to at page 243.
MEMBERS OF THE HERKIMER COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY, AND
DATES OF ADMISSION.
1806. Westel Willoughby, Jr., George Rogers, Andrew Farwell, Amos Haile,
Jonathan Sherwood, Rufus Crain, Isaac Sears, Abijah Tombling, David
Perry, John Eastman, Samuel Redfield.
1807. Benjamin Hazen, Nathan Harwood, Jacob Abranis, William Frame,
James Hadley.
1808. Francis Smiley, James Kennedy, Jacob L. Sherwood.
1800. Asa Flint.
1810. Nathaniel Jacobs, Harvey W. Doolittle, Josiah Noyes.
1812. Roland Seavs.
482 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
1813. David Dixerson, Seth S. Beck.
1814. William R. Ellis, Nathan S. Willard.
1817. John Warner.
1818. Martin L. Bryan, John Holmes.
1819. Calvin W. Smith, Stephen Todd.
1^20. Abel Millington, Benjamin G. Ellis, Bryant Burwell, Elijah Hanchet.
1821. Caleb Budlong, Silas Clark, Jonathan Averill, Thomas Phelon, Sylva-
nus Dewey, Warren Day.
1822. James Carder, Abel Hannahs.
1823. Abner N. Clark, Hozea Hamilton, Elisha Powell, Lester Green.
1824. Moses Johnson.
1826. John R. Brown, Hubbel Lowrie, James McGee, William Noble.
1827. J. S. Spaulding, Henry Lockwood, William Van Zant.
1828. David Coon, Albert W. Bowen, Francis B. Etheredge, Peter Sherwood.
1829. David Bingham, Peter P. Murphy, Guy Marshal, Bonaparte Philio, Elias
Palmer, Daniel Belknap, Jr., Ezra A. Mulford, Z. Waldo Bingham, Pro-
fessor Allen.
1830. Daniel Harvey, Ira C. Backus, Nelson Isham.
1831. Killhorne Hannahs, Alfred Ladd, Justus H. Vincent, John De Lamater,
William Mather, Shadarick N. Vincent, Alfred E. Varney.
1832. Hiram Hadley, Preston Chamberlin, Walter Booth.
1833. James F. Johnson, Meazer Hall, Andrew F. Doolittle.
1834. Al-Frederick Smith, Elisha Powell, Nathan Spencer, David I. Pashall,
John Everett.
1835. Brazilla Budlong, Abram Snyder, Simon Goodell.
1836. Leonard Haskins, C. L. Easton, James Wheeler.
1837. Charles Shepard.
1838. James M. Row, Amos Rolan, Abel Green, Alanson White, Calvin A.
Griffith.
1839. Dr. Gaylord, Dr. Loomis.
1840. Silas A. Ingham, Ira Smith, W. H. Parkhurst, Milton W. Gray.
1841. Peter Hawn.
1842. John H. Champion, Charles W. Fox.
1843. Coe, Williams.
1844. Harvey Hunt, George Beakley, Horace Day, Stephen Turtelott.
1845. Adam Miller.
1848. S. R. Millington, P. Pruyn.
1850. John Duffin, A. H. Holmes.
1852. Abram Hawn.
1S54. James E. Casey.
APPENDIX.
483
No. 5. Referred to at page 292.
LIST OK SHERIFFS, SUBROGATES, CLERKS AND COUNTY JUDGES OF
HERKIMER COUNTY:
William Colbreath, 1701
Peter Smith 1795
William Colbreath, 1796
Chauncey Woodruff, 1798
William II. Cook, 1802
Ephraim Snow, 1806
William II. Cook, 1807
John Mahon, 1808
Philo M. lhi.kl-y 1810
Jolin Mahon 1811
Sheriffs.
Stephen Hallett, 1821
John Dygert, 1826
John Graves, 1829
Fred. P. Bellinger, 1832
Francis E. Spinner, 1835
Stephen W. Brown, 1838
William C. Crain, 1841
Jeremiah Cory, 1S44
William J. Skinner, 1847
Daniel Hawn, 1850
Henry Hopkins, 1813 Lorenzo Carryl, 1853
John Mahon, 1815 Peter Countryman, 1856
Rol.t. Shoemaker, 1817
SURROGATES.
Nathl
Moses Dewitt, 1791
Arthur Breese, 1794
Sanford Clark, 1798
Dan Chapman, 1803
Philo M. Hackley, 1807
Dan Chapman, ] 808
Ahijah Tombling, 1816
S. Benton, 1821
Arphaxed Loomis, 1828
C. S. Benton, 1837
Lauren Ford, 1841
Ezra Graves, 1845
Robert Earl, 1856
Clerks.
Jonas Piatt, 1791 John Mahon, 1821
Joab Griswold, 1798 Jabez Fox, 1823
Elihu Griswold, 1804 Abijah Beckwith, 1826
Peter M. Myers, IS 10 Julius C. Nelson, 1832
Elihu Griswold, 1811 John Dygert, 1835
Aaron Hackly, Jr., 1812 Erwin A. Munson, 1841
Peter M. Myers, 1813 Standish Barry, 1847
Aaron Hackly, Jr., 1815 Elkenah T. Cleland, 1853
Walter Fish. 1817 Cornelius T. E. Van Home,. . . . 1856
Judges.
*Henry Staring, 1791 Abraham Hardenburgh, 1791
Michael Myers, 1791 *Henry Staring, 1794
Hugh White. 1791 Michael Myers 1794
* Firit Judfc'c.
484
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Hugh White, • 1794
Jedediah Sanger, 1794
*John Frank, 1794
James Dean, 1794
♦Henry Staring, 1797
Hugh White, 1797
Jedediah Sanger, 1797
John Frank, 1797
James Dean, 1797
*Jedediah Sanger, 1797
Phineas Gates, 1798
John Meyer, 1798
Evans Wharry, 1798
Michael Myers, 1799
John Meyer, 1799
Evans Wharry, 1799
Phineas Gates, 1799
Benjamin Bowen, 1S00
♦John Meyer, 1800
*Evans Wharry, 1805
Nathan Smith, 1805
George Rosencrantz, 1S05
Walter Fish, 1805
Westel Willoughby, Jr., 1805
George Rosencrantz, 180S
Westel Willoughby, Jr., 1808
Walter Fish, 1808
David V. W. Golden, 1810
♦David V. W. Golden, 1811
George Rosencrantz, 1811
Walter Fish, 1811
Westel Willoughby, Jr., 1811
♦Nathan Smith, 1814
George Rosencrantz, 1S14
Walter Fish, 1814
Westel Willoughby, Jr., 1814
Rudolph Devendorff, 1814
George Rosencrantz, 1817
Walter Fish, 1817
Westel Willoughby, 1817
Rudolph Devendorff, 1817
David Holt, 1817
* First
John McCombs, 1817
Rufus Cram, 1817
George Paddock, 1817
Almond Luce, 1S17
Daniel Hurlbut, 1S17
John Herkimer, 1817
George Rosencrantz, 1820
Westel Willoughby, 1820
David Holt, 1820
John J. Prendergast, 1820
♦David Holt, 1821
John Herkimer, 1821
Sanders Lansing, 1821
Almond Luce, 1821
Rufus Grain, 1821
♦Henry Brown, 1823
Sanders Lansing, 1823
Rufus Grain, 1823
John Mahon, 1823
Edmond Varney, 1823
♦Hiram Noltou, 1825
Rufus Grain, 1828
John Mahon, 1828
Sherman Wooster, 1828
Augustus Beardslee, 1828
♦Michael Hoffman, 1830
♦Nathaniel S. Benton, 1833
♦Arphaxed Loomis, 1835
Jonas Cleland, 1833
John B. Dygert, 1833
Abijah Osborn, 1833
Richard Herendeen, 1834
John B. Dygert, 1838
David R. Currier, 1838
Charles Gray, 1838
Ira Coe, 1840
♦Arunah C. H. Smith,- 1840
Augustus Beardslee, 1843
John W. Beckwith, 1843
Boughton Everatt, 1843
♦Ezra Graves, 1845
Asa Vrickey, 1845
Judge.
APPENDIX.
485
Attorneys and Counsklors.
Peter P. Mesiok, Jan. 10, 1805 Edward C. Pinney, June 12,..
William W. Dougherty, May 26, 1807 Levi Downing, Oct. 0,
Aaron Hackley, Jr., Oct. 7. 1807 Hiram Biggs, Feb. 11,
Artemas Stoel, July 22, 1808
Theodore U. ( txapin, Oct. 8,... 1808
Matthew Myers, May 2:5, 1 309
William D. Ford, May 23 180!)
Benj. Wright, Jan. 19, 1810
William J. Dodge, Jan. :-!, 1811
Gh o. II. Feeter,Oct. 1, 1811
Henry Brown, Jan. 8, 1812
Lauren Ford, Jan. 10, 1812
Jabez Fox, Jan. 7, 1813
Joseph -Mason, Jr., May 5, 1813
>rd G. Pinney, Oct. 6, 1813
Hiram Nolton, Oct. 5, 1814
Ralph Waterman, Oct. 5, 1815
Daniel Grant, Dec. 12, 1815
Michael Hoffman, Dec. 14, 1815
James Macauley, Dec. 14, 1815
William B. Goff, July 4, 1817
Nathaniel S. Benton, July 9,. . . 1818
Chas. J. Bartow, April 7, 1819
Thos. L. Conkling, April 8 1819
Oran G. Otis, Oct. G, 1819
Jeduthan Steele, April (5, 1820 I. E. L. Hamilton, Oct. 5,
Chas. Gray, May 7. 1822 John A. Rasback, Oct. 13,
Jared S. Maynard, Dec. 31, 1822 Delos Lake, Feb. 8,
Augustus Beardslee, Dec. 27,. . . 1824 Henry H. Cozens, Feb. 9,
Arphaxed Loomis, May 2, 1825 Wyman Trask, Feb. 9,
Abijah Osborn, Jan 1824 Geo. N. Middlebrook, June 15,.
James B. Hunt, Jan 1824 E. W. Smith, June 5,
Herkimer Sternberg, Sept. 5,. . . 1825 D. F. Monk, June 5,
Dudley Burwell, Sept. 7, 1825
James Brown, Dec. 29, 1825
E. S. Capron, Feb. 3, 1829
Saml. Phillips, Oct. 6, 1829
Vblney Owen, Oct 1831
Danl. Tisdale, Oct. 2, 1832
John Bartow, June 3 1833
Jarvis N. Lake, June 13, 1833
Ezra Graves, Feb. 7, 1*34
F. J. LiUlejohm Feb. 1, 1 830
A. W. Enos, June 13,
Geo. B. Judd, June 1,
A. C. H. Smith, June 2,
F. P. Hurlbut, June 3,
Joseph Hunt, Feb. 5,
Henry W. Clarke, Oct. 3, . . . .
Hugh Henderson, Feb. 1,. . . .
Rodman L. Joyce, Feb. 1, . . . .
G. F. Van Vechten, Feb. 8,. .
Daniel Gros, Feb. (J,
Almanzor D. Fish, June 6,. . ,
Geo. B. Wood, June 6,
William B. Holmes, Oct. 2,..
Thos. C. Ripley, Feb. 8,
E. B. Talcott, June 5,
John C. Underwood, June 4,.
Wiiliam Brooks, Jr., June 4, .
Ely T. Marsh, Feb. 14,
William W. Mann, June 5, . .
Wm. R. Anthony, Oct, S,....
Jos. Benedict, Feb. 3,
Sebeus C. Maine, Feb. 7,
John Runyan, Jr., June 6, . .
Huet R. Root, Feb. 5,
M. K. Gaines, Feb. 7,
A. C. Harris, June 3,
Wm. Barrett, June 3,
Phocion Hoffman, Oct, 17...
A. If. Prescott, Feb. 4,
(has. A. Burton, Feb. G,
Jos. N. Wightman, Feb. 11,.
Saml. Earl, Oct. 7,
1830
1830
1831
1832
1829
1828
1S28
1828
1836
1836
1836
1837
1837
1837
1837
1837
1833
1838
1835
1838
1839
1839
1839
1840
1840
1841
1841
1842
1842
1842
1842
1843
1843
1843
1844
1844
1844
1844
1844
1845
1845
1848
1848
32
486 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
Elkenali T. Cleland, Oct. 7, 1848 Robert Earl, June 10, 1847
John II. Wooster, Feb. 3, 1846 Chas. S. Benton, Feb. 2, 1835
Levi Parsons. Feb. 10. 1847 Peter L. Fraser, Feb. 5, 1835
District Attorneys.
Micbael Hoffman, 1823 Hiram Nolton, 1837
George H. Feeter, 1825 Hiram Nolton, 1840
Aaron Hackley, 1828 Hiram Nolton, 1843
.las. B. Hunt, 1833 George B. Judd, 1848
Simeon Ford. 1836 Volney Owen, 1851
Micbael Hoffman, 1836 Volney Owen, 1854
Dudley Burwell, 1836
Prior to the above, I find among the old indictments on file that the first
District Attorney of this county, was the Hon. Nathan Williams. The next I
am able to find was Joseph Kirkland, whose appointment it would seem must
have been about the year 1815. The next, Thos. H. Hubbard, who it seems
officiated in the years 1817 and 1818. when Simeon Ford was appointed, who
held up to the commencement of Mr. Hoffman's first term.
No. 6. Referred to at page 292.
[The list of Members elected to Congress is prefaced by an abstract of Con-
gressional Districts. ]
1797, March 28, the legislature passed a law forming Montgomery and Her-
kimer into a congressional district without designation as to number. In
1798, when Oneida county was erected, the former territory of Herkimer set
oft' as Oneida and to Chenango was retained as a congressional district with
Montgomery and Herkimer.
In 1802 the counties of Herkimer, Oneida and St. Lawrence composed the
15th congressional district of the state and elected one member. In 180S,
Herkimer, Lewis, Jefferson and St. Lawrence composed the 10th district. In
1812, Herkimer and Madison formed the 18th district. This county was con-
stituted the 15th district in IS22. In 1832 Herkimer and Lewis formed the
16th district. In 1842 Herkimer and Montgomery formed the 17th district,
and in 1851 St. Lawrence and Herkimer were constituted the 17th congres-
sional district.
This was a most remarkable conjunction. The people of these two coun-
ties have as much intercourse with each other, and probably less than those
of Jefferson, and Suffolk counties. Although the territory of the two coun-
ties joins, there can be no personal communication between the inhabitants
except through Jefferson, Lewis and Oneida counties by the western route ; or
Franklin. Clinton. Essex, Warren, Washington, Saratoga, Schenectady and
Montgomery counties by the eastern route ; or if preferred the railways will
enlarge the circuit by way of the Atlantic Ocean on the east, or Niagara Falls
APPENDIX. 487
and Lake Ontario on the west, when the steamers are afloat. Any commu-
nication by way of the adjoining territory for purposes of business is wholly
iiri] racticable.
Names of Electors
Of President and Vice President of the United States, chosen from the county since
its organization and the year of election :
Peter Smith 1796 Henry Ellison, 1836
George Rosencrantz, 1812 Thomas Burch, 1840
Nicholl Fosdick, 1816 Asa Chatfield, 1848
Rufus Train 1828 William C. Grain 1S52
Members of Congress.
L802. Gaylord Griswold.
1808. John Nicholson.
Is 14. Westel Willoughby, Jr.
1818. Aaron Hackley, Jr.
1822. John Iln-kimer.
1824. Michael Hoffman, who was reelected in 1826, 1828 and 18.10.
1832. Abijah Mann, Jr., who was reelected in 1834.
ls:56. Arphaxed Loomis.
1842. Charles S. Benton, who was reelected in 1844.
1846. George Petrie.
ls-K Henry P. Alexander.
1850. Alexander H. Buell, who died at Washington, after a short illness, near
the close of Ins congressional term.
Is")4. Francis E. Spinner.
Members of Conventions
Calhd to amend the State Constitution.
1S01. Evans Wharry, Mathias B. Tallmadge, George Rosecrants.
This convention was called to consider certain specified subjects named in
the act of the legislature, passed April 6th, 1801, in reference to the constitu-
tion 1777. The convention sat at Albany and completed its labors October
27th, 1801.
1821. Sanders Lansing, Richard Van Home, Sherman Wooster.
This convention was assembled pursuant to the recommendations contained
in anactofthe legislature, passed March 13th, ls2l, to revise the constitution
of 1777. It was held at Albany, adopted many radical changes in the former
constitution and closed its sessions November 10th, 1*21. This constitution
was ratified by the people at a special election held on the 15th, 16th and 17th
days of January, ls22.
1846. Michael Hoffman, Arphaxed Loomis.
Pursuant to the recommendations of the act passed May 13th, 1845, this
convention assembled at Albany, and completed its labors October 9th, 1846.
488 HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
The whole frame work of the fundamental law of 1822, was reconstructed by
this body and many radical changes made. The constitution agreed to la-
this convention was ratilied by the people November 3d, 1840.
Members of the State Sexate
Elected from Herkimer County from its first organization in 1791 to the present
time.
1796. Michael Myers, held four years.
1802. John Meyer, held one year.
1803. Matthias B. Tallmadge, held four years.
1806. Nathan Smith, held two terms.
1815. John J. Prendergast, held one term.
1819. George Rosecrantz, held one term.
1823. Sherman Wooster, held four years.
1828. Nathaniel S. Benton, held his seat three years and three months. Re-
signed April 14, 1831.
1835. Abijah Beckwith, held one term.
1842. Edmund Varney, held one term.
1848. Thomas Burch, held two years.
1850. George H. Fox, who held until the spring of 1851, when he resigned
and John Sanford of Montgomery county was elected in his place for
the residue of the senatorial term.
The senatorial terms from the organization of the state government in 1777
to 1846 were four years ; and by the ratification of the present constitution,
these terms have been reduced to two years. Until 1822 all state elections
were held in April of each year, and the legislative term commenced on the
first Monday of July following. Since and including 1822, state elections have
been held in November of each year, and the legislative term commenced oa
the first Tuesday of January following. This will explain what might other-
wise seem a little incongruous in the years noted.
Members op Assembly
From the erection of the county to this time.
1792. Michael Myers.
1793. Same.
1794. Jedediah Sanger.
1795. Same.
1796. Jonas Piatt.
1797. Isaac Brayton, Gaylord Griswold, Joshua Leeland, Henry McNiel,
Arthur Breese, Mathew Brown, Jr., Lodowick Campbell.
1798. Gaylord Griswold, Henry McNeil, Nathan Smith, Mathew Brown, Jr.,
Benjamin Bowen, Lodowick Campbell, Isaac Foot.
1799. Phineas Gates, John Cummins, Jr., Lodowick Compbell.
1800. John Mills, Thomas Manly, John Myer.
1801. Evans Wharry, George Widrig, Nathan Smith.
APPENDIX.
1802. Nathan Smith, George Widrig, Samuel Merry, Jr.
1803. Samuel Wright, George Widrig, Stephen Miller.
1804. Evans Wharry, Samuel Wright, George Widrig.
1805. Same.
1806. George Widrig, Samuel Wright, Eldad Corl.it.
1m>7. (}f>orge Widrig, John Kennedy, Samuel Wright.
1808. Westel Willoughby, Jr., John M. Petrie, Aaron Budlong.
1809. Same.
1810. Thomas Manly. Christopher P. Bellinger, Rudolph Devendorff.
1811. Christopher P. Bellinger, Robert Bureh, Hosea Nelson.
1812. Robert Burch, Rudolph J. Shoemaker, Samuel Woodworth.
1813. Rudolph I. Shoemaker, Hosea Nelson, John Graves.
1814. Aaron Hackley, Jr., Jonas Cleland, Christopher P. Bellinger.
1815. Aaron Hackley, Jr., Jonas Cleland, John McCombs.
L816. John McCombs, Henry Hopkins, William I). Ford.
1817. Abijah Beckwith, George Rosecrantz, William D. Ford.
1818. Aaron Hackley, Jr., Nichol Fosdick, George Rosecrantz.
1819. Nichol Fosdick, Jonas Cleland, Henry Gros.
L820: James Orion, Jacob MarkeU, Philo M. Hackley.
(822. Simeon Ford, Thomas Manly, Daniel Van Horn.
1S22. Simeon Ford, Stephen Todd, Robert Shoemaker.
1823. John Dygert, Abijah Beckwith, Henry Tillinghast.
1824. Christopher P. Bellinger, John Graves, Caleb Budlong.
1S25. Samuel Dexter, Jr., Warner Folts. Jacob Wire.
1826. Jonas Cleland, Nicholas Schuyler, Edmund Varney.
1827. Frederick P. Bellinger, Richard Smith, 2d, Daniel C. Henderson.
1828. David R. Currier, Abijah Mann, Jr., John P. Snell.
1829. Abijah Mann, Jr., John B. Dygert, Cornelius Sloughter.
1830. Frederick P. Bellinger, Abijah Mann, Jr., Russell Hopkins.
1831. Atwater Cook, Jr., Nicholas Lawyer, Olmstead Hough.
1832. William C. Grain, David Thorp, Daniel Dygert.
1833. Sherman Wooster, Dudley Burwell, Joseph M. Prendergast.
1834. Charles Dyer. Augustus Beardslee, Timothy J. Campbell.
L835. Henry Tillinghast, Peter P. Murphy, Charles Gray.
1836. Stephen Ayres, Frederick Bellinger, Thomas Hawks.
1837. Aaron Hackley, Henry L. Easton.
L838. Abijah Mann, Jr., Volney Owen.
1839. Atwater Cook. Jr., Benjamin Carver.
1840. Daniel Bellinger, George Burch.
1 s41. Michael Hoffman, Arphaxed Loomis.
1842. Same.
1843. John T. Hall, Walter Booth.
1844. Michael Hoffman, Peter H. Warren.
1845. William C. Crain, Alexander H. Bnell.
1846. William C. Crain, Henry Eysaman.
489
490 HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
1847. Abijah Beckwith, Jefferson Tillinglxast.
1848. James Feeter, 1*. Lawrence L. Merry, 2*.
1840. Frederick P. Bellinger, 1*. Asa Wilcox, 2*.
1850. Asa Vickery, 1*. Humphry G. Root, 2*.
1851. John H. Wooster, 1*. Daniel Shall, 2*.
1852. John Hoover, 1*. Charles Delong, 2*.
1853. Arphaxed Loomis, 1*. John Beckwith, 2*.
1854. Granla.-i Hinkley, 1*. Dean Burgess, 2*.
1855. Edmund G. Chapin, 1*. William Bridenbeeker, 2*.
1856. Samuel Green, 1*. Amos H. Prescott, 2*.
ADDITIONAL NOTE.
In 1777-8, Michael Edic and Abraham Van Home were Members of Assem-
bly from Tryon county.
In 1778-9, George Henry Bell and Abraham Van Home.
1781-2, William Petry.
1782-3, William Petry and Andrew Frinck.
1786, Abraham Van Home was a member from Montgomery county.
1788-9, Henry Staring.
1789-90-91, Michael Myers.
The persons bearing the above names have been noticed in this work. It
is therefore proper to append the information contained in this note.
* The numeral figures designate the number of the assembly district.
INDEX.
All any county, extent of, until
1772, 64
Affairs in Tryon county, 70
Arnold, General, arrives at Fort
Dayton, 81
Arnold, Gener'l,his proclamation, 81
Andrnstown, destroyed by Brant, 85
Aspect of affairs in 1782, 105
Asiatic cholera, 117
Attainder of Sir John Johnson,
Guy Johnson, Daniel Glaus,
John Butler and John Joost
Herkimer, 120
Alexander, Rev. Caleb 231
Academy at Little Falls, 233
Agricultural society of county,... 254
Anti-Federalism of German popu-
lation, 25S
Aspect of political affairs previ-
ous to 1846, 277
Allen, John, trial and acquital of, 2'.il
Ayers, Stephen, biography of,. . . 294
Alfred, Asahel, notice of, 390
Alexander, William, notice of,.. . 419
.Arnold. Edward, notice of, 419
Attorneys and counselors, list of, 485
Assembly, members of, 48S
Appendix No. 1, Palatine Grant, 47.'!
" No. 2, List of Patents,. 475
" No. 3, Royal Grant,.. . 479
" No. 4, County Medical
Society, 481
Appendix No. 5, Sheriffs, Clerks,
Judges, etc., 483
Appendix No. 6, Electors, of Pre-
sident and Vice President,
Members of Congress, State
Conventions, State Senate and
of Assembly, 486
Additional note, 490
Boundaries of Mohawks' hunting
grounds, ] 6
Bravery of Mohawk Indians, 17
Bellomont, Lord, and Capt. Kidd, 38
Burnet, Governor, first arrival of, 38
Burnetsfield Patent, 42
" names of patentees
of, 46,45, 44
Belletre, M. de, his account of the
destruction of the German Flats
in 1757, 53, 52, ■"> I
British forces assemble at Oswego, 75
Butler, Walter N.« an account of
his death, 102, 97
British propositions for peace, 108, 106
Biographical sketches of Palatine
families, 129
the Bell family, 13]
Bellinger family, 132
Casler " 142
Editch " 145
Folts li 146
Fox •• 147
492 HISTORY OP HE
Biographical sketches of the Hel-
mer family, 147
Herkimer family, 14!)
Herter " 172
Hess " 174
Kast " 175
Petrie " 175
Reelle " ISO
Shoemaker " 181
Smith " 183
Staring " 184
Teyinouth " 193
Wolleaver " 195
Weaver " 197
Bell, George Henry, 131
Bellinger, Christopher P., 134
Bellinger, Frederick, 139
Bncktail and Clintonian parties,. 2G7
Bowman, John, conviction of,.. . 2StJ
Bennett, Samuel, conviction of,. 286
Biographical sketches of the lives
of Stephen Ayres, 294
Alexander 11. Buell, 295
Robert Burch: 298
Stephen W. Brown, 300
Benjamin Brown, 301
Dan Chapman, 302
Atwater Cook, 303
William H. Cook, 305
Rufus Craine, 305
Henry Ellison, 308
John Frank 309
Simeon Ford, 311
David V. W. Golden,. . . . 313
Gaylord Griswold. 314
Joab Griswold, 316
Elihu Griswold, 317
John Graves, 320
David Holt, 321
Michael Hoffman, 323
Stephen Hallett, 336
Philo M. Hackley, 337
Henry Hopkins, 339
Sanders Lansing, 340
John Mahon 342
RKIMER COUNTY.
Biographical Sketches of the lives
of Thomas Manley, 344
Jacob Markell, 34(5
John Mills, 348
Michael Myers, 349
William Petty, 352
George Rosecrantz. 356
Nathan Smith, 357
Ephraim Snow, 361
Henry Tiliinghast, 362
Stephen Todd, 364
Abijah Tombling, 368
Edmund Varney, 309
Richard Van Home, 370
Evans Wharry, 373
George Widrig, 377
Westel Willoughby, 378
Chauncy Woodruff, 379
Sherman Wooster, 380
Samuel Wright, 385
Beardslee, John, notice of, 435
Brown. John, notice of, 468
Castle, Upper Mohawk in Danube, 17
Clarendon, Earl of. his opinion of
R. Livingston, 47
Croghan, George, Deputy Indian
agent, 55
Colonial wars from 1689 to 1760, 60
Commercial prosperity of the
colonics, 60
Causes of the rupture with (Treat
Britain, 61
Congress, colonial, assembling of, 66
Convention, provincial, meeting
of, 66
Committees of safety of Tryon
county, 67
Close of the Revolution, 105
County Clerk's office burned,. . . 115
Condition of county at the close
of the war of 1812, 116
Court House burned, 117
County, when erected, 198
Counties erected from Herkimer, 198
INDEX.
493
¥
Counties, list of first in the state, ]99
Canals in the County, 212
Clinton, Gov. George, 25S
Conduct of the Federal party in
L810, 264
Clintonian and Bucktail parties,. 267
Convention of 1821, 268
Convention of 1846 280
Clark, Aaron R., conviction of,.. -s">
Chapman, Dan., biography of,.. . 302
Cook, Atwater, biography of, . . . 30.3
Cook, William 11., biography of, 305
Crain, Rufus, biography of, 305
Columbia, town of, 389
County clerks, list of, 483
Congress, members of, 487
Conventions, state, members of,. 487
Corrections to he made by the
reader 6
Drusus, the Roman general,.... 31
Daine. Mr., his opinion of M. de.
Belletre's acco'nt of the expedi-
tion against the German Flats, 53
!>.■ Lancey,Gov., his statement in
regard to the French attack on
the German Flats, 53
Districts in Tryon county,.. . . 66, 67
Declaration of Independence how
received 73
Disturbances on account of Mr.
Adams's stamp act, 114
Danube, town of 391
District Attorneys, names of 486
Enemy approach Fort Schuyler.
Stanwix, 76
Estates forfeited, reflections in re-
gard to 119, 128
Election of delegates to conven-
tion of 1821, 269
lection, first after new constitu-
tion was adopted, 270
Ellison, Henry, biography of,. . . 308
Eysaman family, murder of -h!.'t
Electors of President and Vice
President, names of, 4-7
Errata, 6
Frederick, Prince Palatine. 28
Fort Herkimer, when erected,... 54
Frontenac fort captured in 1758,. 59
Fort Dayton, when erected and
where located. 87
Fort Schuyler destroyed and
abandoned, 91
Fairfield Medical College, 225
Fairfield Academy 228
Federal party in the county pre-
dominant, 259
Financial policy of the Democratic
party, 279
Foster, Nathaniel, trial and ac-
quital of, 288
Frank, John, biography of, 309
Ford, Simeon, biography of, 311
Fairfield, town of, 395
Frankfort, town of, 400
Feeter, William, notice of, 420
Garangula, the Onondaga Indian,
speech of, 19
German tribes, early his-
tory of, 27, 26, 25
Germany, religious questions in,
adjusted, 28
German tribes originated from
Asia, 31
German Flats, when first settled, 41
" destr'd by French
and Indians in 1 757, 61
Germans informed of the French
attack, 53
Gorman population of county
Anti-Federal. 261
Golden, David V. W., biography
of, 313
Griswold, Gaylord, biography of,. 314
(iriswold, Joab, " 316
(iriswold. Elihu, " 317
494
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Graves, John, biography of, 320
German Flats, town of, 401
Hunter, Governor, seats the Pala-
tines, 34
Houses, number of, between Fort
Herkimer and Fall Hill, in
1757 58
Herkimer, General, his interview
with Brant, 74
Herkimer, General, his proclama-
tion, 76, 75
Herkimer, General, marches to
relieve Fort Schuyler, 77
Hostile feelings towards Indians
and Tories, 109
Herkimer, General Nicholas, life
of, 151
Herkimer, John, biography of,. . 170
Hamilton, Alexander, 2(50
Holt, David, biography of, 321
Hoffman, Michael, biography of,. 323
Hallett, Stephen, " 336
Hackley, Philo M., " 337
Hopkins, Henry, 339
Herkimer, town of, 407
Hartman, John Adam, 409
Hawkins, Christopher, notice of, 441
Herreshoff, Charles, notice of,.. . 469
Iroquois confederacy, date of,... 15
Indians abandoned by Great Bri-
tain at the close of the war, ... 17
Indian matrons, influence of, ... 18
Indian marriages, nature of, IS
Insubordination of the Germans, 3b'
Immigration to Schoharie, 36
Indian deed of Buruetsfield, note
of, 39
Indian council at German Flats, . 69
Incendiary movements of the
enemy, 80
Indian deed of Buruetsfield, .... 473
Johnson, Sir Wm., his influence, 62
Johnson, Sir William and others,
petition to purchase Indian ti-
tle to Royal Grant,
Johnson, Guy, leaves Guy Park,.
Johnson, Sir John, at Johnstown,
Johnson, Sir John, his retreat
through the country after the
battle at Klocksfield,
Justices of the Peace appointed,.
Justices of the Peace appointed, .
Journal of the Rev. Caleb Alex-
ander,
Journal of the Rev. John Taylor,
Judges, list of,
479
<;8
73
91
110
114
240
483
King Hendrik, the Mohawk, no-
tice of, 20
Koekerthal, Joshua, Evangelical
minister, 33
Little Abraham, the Mohawk,.. . . 19
Livingston, Robert, victuals the
Germans, 35
Livingston, Robert, biographical
sketch of, 37
Lord Camden's position in House
of Peers, 61
Liberty pole, the first erected in
the valley, 87
Little Falls, mill destroyed at,. . . 103
Lands, tracts of, laying in the
county, 200
Lansing, Sanders, biography of,. 340
Little Falls, town of, 416
Litchfield, town of, 433
Maquaas or Mohawk Indians, ... 1~>
Mohawks, number of towns and
fighting men in 1'J77 and
1763, 18
Mayer, Dr. John, of Eck, 27
Motives of the people of the Up-
per Mohawk valley in adhering
to the colonial cause, 63
Militia organizations in 177"),.. 72, 71
INDEX.
495
Militia, insubordination of, 77
" organized in 1778, 85
Mavor, vicar of Burley'e opinion
of the Anglo-Saxon race, 89
Militia organized again, Ill
Mohawk turnpike company, .... 213
Medical Bociety of the county,. . . 243
Mahon, John, biography of, .... 342
Manly, Thomas, " .... 344
Markell, Jacob, " .... 346
Mills, John, " .... 348
Myers, Michael, " .... 349
Manhehn, town of, 434
Medical society, list of members
of 481
New England immigrants, cha-
racter of, 112
New jail erected, 117
New court house erected, 118
New clerk's office " US
Newspaper press of the county,.. 220
Note to chapter X relating to the
author, 283
New Ghrsefenbergh, 400
Newport, town of, 440
Norway, t'^^^-^l of, 447
Oneida Indians driven from their
Castles, 17
Oriskany, battle of, 79, 78
Orendorff, William, conviction of, 285
Ohio, town of, 453
Order in Council confirming the
purchase of Indian title by the
Palatines, 474
Popular aspect of the Iroquois
confederacy, 16
Palatinate of the Rhine, Prince
of, 28, 27
Palatinate, character of the people
of, 30
Palatines, immigration of,. 40,34, 32
Palatine volunteers to Canada... 36
Palatine settlement attacked in
1758, 59, 58
Palatine settlement destroyed in
1778, 88, 86
Policy of bounty land laws con-
sidered. 116
Petrie, John M., 180
Plank roads in the county, 219
Poor House establishment, 2.02
Political divisions and party dis-
tinctions, 257
Political contest of 1801, effect of, 259
Produce, low price of in 1809,.. . *262
Political results of the convention
of 1821, 270
People's Friend established in the
county, 270
Presidential contest of 1824, 271
Perry, Samuel, conviction of,. . . 286
Petry, Doct. William, notice of,. 352
Palatines, petition of, for leave to
purchase, &c, 473
Patents, list of lands in the coun-
ty, 475
Reformation, outbreak of under,
Martin Luther, 27
Rome, see of, determined to
crush out heresy, 29
Recapture of New York by the
Dutch, 40
Remarkable fate of the Palatines, 89
Rheimensnyder's bush destroyed 90
Ross and Butler's expedition into
Tryon county, 98
Royal Grant forfeited and sold,. . 203
Rights of Indian children in re-
cognized, 203
Religious aspects of the county,. 234
Republican party in the state,
success of, in 1810, 264
Republican party split into fac-
tions in 1819, 265
Republican party, success of, in
ls2."> 275
496
HISTORY OP HERKIMER COUNTY.
Review of the political chapter, . . 282
Rosecrantz, George, biography of, 356
Rosecrants, Rev. Abraham, no-
tice of, 404
Russia, town of, 456
Schuyler, Hanyost, sent to fright-
en the enemy at Fort Schuyler, 82
Shell settlement attacked, 93
Shell, John Christian, his brave-
ry, 94
Stone's Life of Brant, statement
in, corrected, 104
Shoemaker, Rudolph I., 182
Shoemaker, Robert, 182
Staring, Col. Hendrick, 185
Sanger, Jedediah, 259
Success of Republican party for
19 years, 262
Success of Federal party in 1819,
1820, 1821, 266
Smith, Nathan, biography of,. . . . 357
Snow, Ephraim, " ... 361
Spinner, Rev. John P., 407
Small, Jacob, 414
Salisbury, town of, 459
Schuyler, town of, 461
Stark, town of, 462
Sheriffs, list of, 483
Surrogates, list of, 483
State Senate, members of, 488
Tuscaroras, offshoots of the Iro-
quois, 16
Tranquility of the country, 60
Tompkins, Governor, commends
the conduct of the militia in
the war of 1812, 115
Tallmadge, Matthias B., 261
The People's party, 272
Tillinghast, Henry, biography of, 362
Todd, Stephen. " 304
Tombling, Abijab. 368
Town, number of, in county, . . . 389
Columbia,.... 389
Town, number of,
Danube, 391
Fairfield, 395
Frankfort, 400
German Flats, 401
Herkimer, 407
Little Falls, 416
Litchfield, 433
Manhiem, 434
Newport, 440
Norway, 447
Ohio, 453
Russia, 4.") (I
Salisbury, 459
Schuyler, 461
Stark, 462
Warren, 465
Wilmurt, 467
Winfield, 471
Unprepared state of the country,
in 1775, 68
Unadilla and Oghkwaga destroyed 89
Utica and Schenectady rail road 214
Vigilance of British emissaries,. . 74
Van Buren, Martin, his position
and policy, 273
Varney, Edmund, biography of,. 369
Van Home, Richard, " 370
Van Home, Abraham, notice of.. 464
Voters in the county, number of, 472
Villages in the county, 472
Witchcraft, Indians believers in,
Weiser, John Conrad,
Woodworth, Solomon, and party,
defeated by Indians,
Wi Rett's expedition agt. Oswego,
Western inland lock naviga-
tion compairy,
West Winlield Academy,
Wharry Evans,
Williams, Robert, deserts the re-
publican party,
19
47
92
105
212
234
261
263
Wright, Silas, some notice of,.
Whig part; Bucceed in 1S47,..
Wharry, Evans, biography of,.
Widrig, George, "
Willoughby, Westel, "
Woodruff. Samnel, "
Wooster, Sherman, "
Wright, Samnel, "
Warren . town of,
INDEX. 497
278 Wilmurt, town of, 467
281 Winfleld, town of 471
373
377 Yankee pass, story of the Is'.'
378
379 Zenger, John Peter, the widow's
380 son, 35
385 Zenger, John Peter, indicted for
465 libel and acquitted, 36
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