A history of Herkimer County, including the upper Mohawk Valley, from the earliest period to the present time: with a brief notice of the Iroquois Indians, the early German tribes, the Palatine immigrations ... also biographical notices of the most prominent public men of the county: with important statistical information

Front matter

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974.701

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CHAPTER 1. Notice of the Mohawk Indians — King Hendrik,. ...» 15

CHAPTER 11.

Early History of the German Tribes, 25

CHAPTER HI.

Immigration of the Palatines and Events from 1700 to 1722, 32

CHAPTER IV.

Settlement of the German Fiats — Events from 1722 to 1772,. . , 50

CHAPTER V.

Historical events from 1772 to 17S3, 65

CHAPTER VL

Miscellaneous Incidents from 1783 to the present time, 109

CHAPTER VII.

Forfeited Estates — Attainder Act of 1779 — Treaties of 1783 and 1794,. . 119 CHAPTER VIII.

Biographical Sketches of the Palatine families, 129

CHAPTER IX.

Erection of the County in 1 791 — Statute Boundaries — Titles to Lands — Colonial and Stato Grants — Attainders — Actual Boundaries Roads, Canals and Turnpikes — Newspaper Press — Colleges and Academies ~ County Medical Society — Poor House Establishment — Agricultural Society, 198

CHAPTER X.

PoUtical History from 1783 to 1355, 267

CONTENTS. V CHAPTER XL

Page.

Criminal Convictions and Acquittals in Capital and other Cases from 1791

CHAPTER XII.

Biographical Sketches of the Lives of Prominent Men of the County, 293

CHAPTER XIIL

List of Towns — when erected — Boundaries — Local Historical Incidents— Biographical Notices of first Settlers — Villages and population,. 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 grants of land in the county, 475

No. 3. Sir William Jolmson'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 Attorneys and Counselors, 483

No. 6. Names of Electors of President and Vice President, United States, Members of Congress, State Conventions, State Senate and Assembly, « 486

ERRATA.

The reader is requested to note the follo-wiiig corrections : =; Page 25, line 3, after the word of there should be a — .

" 25, 5th line from top, for Thcidclbnrqh read Hciddburgh;

" 31, last line, for navigated read immigrated.

'* 40, 3d line from bottom, for interest read influence.

** 121, 2d par., line 6, for ^j^aiVs read oj^Tfww^,

" 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, iox portion read fraction.

*' 271, 12th line from bottom, for states read state.

** 320, 2d par. line 11, for county read coicntry.

" 361, 3d par. 1st line, for cause road care.

" 369, 2d par. for Edward read Edmund.

" 377, 2d par. 12th line, for Merray read Merry.

" 407, note, for John Spinner read John P. Spinner.

" 437, first line, for Klacks road Klocks.

The letter J frequently occurs in proper names for I ; the reader familiar with the names will be able to make the correction.

t

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

It is now one hundred and tliirty-three years since tlio 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 taskmasters, 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 unexpectedly 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 oir,and Anally 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 converted the whole valley into a house of mourning : seventy-two 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 ij,;}V, Sj'fU VViiv

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 wdth 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 w^ould 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 ATars 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 Reports on the Iroquois, Hammond's Political History of New York, and Munsell'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 remembered that other members of the same family who survived

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

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. Herkimer 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 portion 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 worthy 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, presented a question worthy of inquiry and solution. Animated with 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. , •

INTRODUCTOIiY CHAPTER.

A brief allusion to the uboriginal inhabitants of the country, found roaming over its extended surface and almost impenetrable wilds, at the first advent of the European 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 eflbrt to reach the origin and follovs' the progress of a proud and brave, but a barbarous and illiterate people, whose annals can only be traced tlirougli a dark cloud of traditional mysticism, highly figurative, unnatural, and entirely improbable, when examined and compared with the providences of God, as given to us and illustrated by the WTitten 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 eftected 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 oftrepeated relation of the exodus of the pilgrim fathers from Europe, and their landing at Plymouth rock.

Persecution and religious intolerance drove the Puritans it 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 v;ilderness, 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, whose relentless cruelties, unmitigated barbarities and bigoted intolerance, they and their fathers had so often before seen, sutlered and tasted.

We are not only able to name tlie 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 tlie 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 olHcial 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 ^lontgomery 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 tlie 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 iii the German-

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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 followed 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, wliich 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.

because thej 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 supposed, 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, interesting 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 Buch 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 peirsonage 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 outlay, 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 m}^ ambition can crave, or my most sanguine hopes have ever anticipated.

The chapter embracing the history of the several towns in the county will bo found interesting, on account of the Ideal 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 viev/ embraced in the chapter comprehending

' - 'I . "K, ill jM 4

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

its political history. Whatever rnay 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 subject of discussion or inquiry. The intelhgent reader will, I think, find himself amply rej^aid 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 incidents, 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 outskirt 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 population ; 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 l)y the state government of the adherents to the British crown, aud\»t}ie consequent forfeiture and confiscation of their estates, lias 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 to the state, by tlie 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. ^ly 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 emancipated 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 pence of 1783 was inaugurated. The frontier posts were long bold, in despite of tlie energetic remonstrances of the United States, and in violation of the treaty of peace ;

iT :wm;> I .ii.a; '

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. Johnson, 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 afibrded 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.

CHAPTER I.

The Moliawk Indians — Tlie Iroquois — Extent of Country — Confederation — Probable Period when it took Place --^ Not a Perfect Union — Popular Aspect 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 — Tlie Hostility of the Mohawks to the French — Friendship to the English — Sir William Johnson's Influence — Tliey Join the Englisli and Abandon their Country — The Oneidas — Bravery and Cruelty of the ]\Iohawks — Upper Castle in Danube — Figliting Men in 1677 — Same in 17G3 — 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 wliose history is intended to be dehneated 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 Champlain 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 w^as 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 olfcnse 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 ^vas perfectly independent of all

HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.

control by the other members of tJie confederacy, except when the united cantons in council had resolved unanimously to go upon the war path, and even then, that question had to be referred to the warriors of each tribe assembled 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 general council of the confederacy, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas 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 officer in this congress of ambassadors was always assigned to the Onondagasj and the principal war chief was taken from the Mohawks.

The Tuscaroras, who were always admitted as ofT-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 boimdaries, and that of the Mohawks embraced aU 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 strengthened by the fact that an olT-shoot of the 3lohawks, the St. Regis colony, was seated on the south side of the St. Lawrence as early as 1650, or aljout that period.

.1 i 1

The Dutch and English colonial governments, although they treated the Indians within their respective jurisdictions as subjects, would not make any grants of the ultimate fee 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 afiections to his famil}-.

Under the influence of the Johnson family, they early attached themselves to the royal 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 commendations, 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 Nowadaga creek, and here a mission was established and a small church

HISTORY OP 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 Clmrch, 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 peculiarities. 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, provided there were 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 ofQce which was deemed unsuitable 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.