Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys

Chapter Eight, Benton's History of Herkimer County

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, Shoemaker, 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, Felmore, by that of Fulmer, Herter, Lant, now known as Landt, Mayor changed to Moyer, Orendros and Orendord, 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 grandsire had sported their youthful pastimes, and, when maturer years had cast the burden 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 hearthstones through five generations.

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, Korsins, Pouradts, Spies, and Veldelents. The title to 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 pretense 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 legislature 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 indirection, 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 co-grantees 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 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 metropolitan 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 Burnetsfield 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 Herkimer'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 carried his wounded commander more than thirty miles on a litter. He brought with him from Oriskany a gun which 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 8^th, 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 sympathized 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 Descendants 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. Nicholason, 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 pretense 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 the 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 them, through the instrumentality of the colonial authorities, and the apparent indisposition to conform to the engagements made to them by Queen Anne, when they started for their new homes. Indeed, most if not all the difficulties encountered 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 similarity 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 undeviating 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, participated 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.

Most, if not all the lands allotted to the patentees, have been held by their descendants down to the present time, in spite of the diffusibility of our laws in regard to real estates. This has probably been effected by means of wills and testaments, for the stature 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 a much certainty as to an inheritable estate.

Gen. Christopher P. Bellinger

In pursuing the plan marked out, of grouping the individuals of the stocks of the Palatine families under on 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 boundaries. In the prime of life he was a large farmer, and attained 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 homestead farm, was set off to the new town. His native town contained a very large majority of inhabitants of German extractions, among whom his family connections were quite extensive and influential.

In the early division of political parties, he was a republican of Mr. Jefferson's school, and in this respect sympathized with a very large majority of the German population in his town and in the country; 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. He was diligent, careful and upright in the discharge of all 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 this 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 this tow colleagues were defeated. Thomas Manly and Rudolph Devendorff, two federalists, were elected over the two republican candidates. 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 when 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 the election of an anti-Clintonian speaker and four anti-Clintonian 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 German 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 immediately after the organization of the house, and Doct. 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 presidential contest 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 members 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 republicans, hostile to the election of Mr. Crawford, spring up, and, by the united action and votes of this political combination, a large number of members, hostile to Mr. Crawford, were returned to the assembly. It is not my design to present to the reader anything more of the political history of the state than may be required to give a proper view of the 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 committee of nine members to which was referred the subject of altering the law prescribing the mode of choosing presidential electors. The minorities had combined to defeat Mr. Crawford; six of this committee, however, were supposed to be hid 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 November, 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 1812, 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 repaired, 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 property 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, 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 harangue on the Sabbath, "there were no Sundays in revolutions." His Britannie 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 19^th of July, 1812; which day, the calendar tells us, was Sunday, with the view of capturing of 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 expedition made its appearance. Although Col. Bellinger was at that time the commanding officer of the post, the arrangement 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 to the visit, after being somewhat crippled by American shot. Genl 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. Bellinger, the more I am pleased with him. He is disposed to do everything 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 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 subsequent campaign of 1814, Col. Bellinger performed a tour of military service on the frontier with the patriotic and devoted 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 his 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.

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 popular 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.

Major Bellinger possessed many amiable qualities, and was highly esteemed by all who knew 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 hand the scalp lock of both to his belt with as much zest and the most proficient of the 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 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 murdered, 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 acquaintance, which must have greatly disfigured his scalplock 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 prevented from using the andiron, he sought for and loaded his gun, declaring that he would take the live 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 mitigating circumstances which at the moment seemed to justify Mr. Bellinger in his own mind for any act of retaliation, 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 years' 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, but my no means the least inconsiderable cause of irritation and unappeasable hate, 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 justified, by so many bold and indisputable mitigating circumstances. 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 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 descendants. 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. Another fact bears out the presumption taken; the third generation 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 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. He knew Gen. Herkimer, and says he was a thickset, 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 gristmill was built on the Casler creek, before the war, which, being stockaded, protected 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 gristmill 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 far as he 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 bayonet became detached from it. Jacob pounded his antagonist 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, or a bold and resolute man.

Frederick Casler, a descendant from one of the patentees, died October 19^th, 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 himself have been the patentee, Johannis, and overturns the supposition previously advanced, that the two patentees were brothers. The family tradition respecting the purchase 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 second tracts, granted in 1755, chiefly to the Palatines of the upper valley.

Richard Casler, referred to in this notice, died on the 18^th 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, Ittigh and Ittich. Michael Ittich was one of the volunteers under Nicholson in the expedition against Montreal in 1711. This family were seated for a time on Livingston'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 Ittigh, were patentees of Staley's 1^st 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 considerable 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.

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 land, on the north side.

Their descendants are found in the county in considerable numbers, near the spots where the patentees planted themselves 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 descendant 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 unhappy, 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. 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 Herkemer's company, 4^th 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 commanded by Lieut. Col. Henry Starring. I do not place Peter on the list of descendants from the patentee, but it is probable he was.

The family is not now, I believe, very numerous in the county, although several of the name, of German Descent, are settled in the southern town. Christopher Fox was one of the volunteers, in 1711, in the expedition against Canada. He then was at Habsburg, 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 adjoining 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 grant of 1725, two were married women, whose husbands were alive. Philip and Frederick, two of the patentees, were probably children of the other grantees. Lender Helmer, one of the original patentees of Burnestfield, 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 caution necessary to be observed to avoid a watchful and numerous 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 Brants 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. Helder's three companions were killed at the Edmeston settlement; but he made his escape, and returned in time to notify the inhabitants 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, tired 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 with country with Sir John, and had attached himself to the baronet's fortunes. This man could not have been one of our family of Helmers, 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 Livingston'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 German, 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. The grant professed 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 Jost were not brothers, and this idea seems to be very much strengthened by the subsequent ownership 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 know 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. Madalana 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 captains 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, afterwards 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 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 Hanyost, and died in August, 1775, leaving five sons, Nicholas, Henry, Johan Jost, George and John; and eight daughters, Elizabeth Barbara, Lana, Delia, Catharine, Anna, Gertruyd, Anna Maria and Elizabeth. The father of this numerous family was the Johan Jost Ergehemar, 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 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 Nicholas. Abraham removed to Pennsylvania where his descendants 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; the 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 respectable 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 interests of the crown, to which may be added equivocal conduct of his revered 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 5^th of January, 1758, by Lieutenant-Governor James De Lancey. The commission, it will be observed, is directed to Han Nicholas Herchkeimer, gentleman. 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 settlements on the south side of the river. This I advance as an inference drawn from the fact of his then holding a militia 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 American liberty, and to repel every hostile invasion thereof, by the provincial congress, September 5^th, 1776. It should here be noticed that in 1775, he had been appointed or elected colonel of the 1^st battalion of militia in his country, 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 district in the county committee of safety. His younger brother George was a member of the committee from his district and chairman thereof in 1776.

He acted as chairman pro tem. of the Tryon county committee 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 Canajoharie 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 living 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 possessed by strangers. The two commissions before referred to are now given to the public, believing they will be interesting to the reader.

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, Gentlemen, 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 faithful 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 Lieutenant of the company of Militia in the Schonectady Battalion, 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 Majesty's Reign, Annoq: Domini one Thousand seven Hundred and Fifty eight. James DeLancey.

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 5^th 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:

"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 patriotism, 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 therefor 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 Discipline 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 authority 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 to Continue in force until Revoked by this or a future convention 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 committee 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 appreciated 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 probably 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 existing 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 contest, and it is by no means a forced inference to conclude that Herkimer's object was to persuade Brant and his followers to adopt the same resolution. It was not inappropriate, 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 displaced or superseded as war chief at the instigation of the British commissioners.

Gen. Herkimer held two consultations with Brant, on two different days, a limited number of each party being present, unarmed. His object seems to have been to ascertain the feelings and intentions of the Mohawk, and the conferences were animated. Here, as on 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 insufficient; 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 misunderstanding with Guy Johnson. Brant was himself convinced 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 concurrent events, is it probable that Gen. Herkimer ever contemplated 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 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 precautions 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 compelled 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 bad invited to meet him in a consultation of peace, and who held his safe conduct, which, by all the laws of war, 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 happened 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.

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 following 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 accouterments, 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 commissions 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 American militia, and were induced to do so from the consideration 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 day 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 composed entirely of undisciplined militia, little used and riot 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 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 preserving 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 prudential means, to preserve his men from needless slaughter and captivity, and above all other things not to allow them 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 bad been the most clamorous for an immediate forward movement, and most liberal in their epithets, that they would be the first to turn and run when the enemy made his appearance. 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 farther 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 valley 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, be answered as a brave and true man would in like circumstances, " I will face the enemy." He found himself surrounded by his neighbors, 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 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 commanding 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 participate 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 admirable, and greatly contributed to produce order and combined 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 bad 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 numbered, 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 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 communicating 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 their memory of that brave man."

Reader, have you seen that monument, erected by a grateful 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 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 perpetuated 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 propriety 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 movement of his whole force. If only a part of his small army 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 northern. 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 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 lie died. He was not born until after April, 1725, and it is highly probable, when we take into consideration the facts before stated, his father was not then married. 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 assistance 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 militia, either killed or wounded, except 150, who stood the field and forced the enemy to retreat; the wounded were brought off by those brave men; the dead they 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 we know, they took to flight the first firing. 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 Johnson, 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 officers, 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

attested

The few members of this committee.

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 Johnson were killed or hurt in the least, except in feeling, although 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 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 "homeplace," containing five hundred acres of land, and constituted 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 Shoemaker, 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 admitted the administrator 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 occupied 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 with the republican party, and when the split in that party took place under Governor De 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 placing 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 representatives to one in the senate of this state, he told his leading 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 were men of eminent and distinguished talents. The qualifications of these gentlemen 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 those 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 caucus, composed 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 incidents 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. After leaving congress, he was a number of years engaged in the arduous 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 distinguished republicans of that day acted with him, and if they misjudged the sentiments and wishes of their constituents, numerous occurrences of that sort have happened 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 appointed first lieutenant in Capt. Frederick Bellinger's company 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 granddaughter 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 preeminence 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 inherent 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 daughter 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 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. Rosecrants 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 standing 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 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 surrounded by Cosby's manor, on which some of the descendants 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 Frederick. 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 possessions.

THE PETRIE FAMILY.

The genealogy of this family can be traced with considerable accuracy to the parent stock. Johan Joost Petrie was, one of the Burnetsfield patentees, and lands were allotted to him, his wife 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. He arrived in New York with the second company of Palatine 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 compliment to the wife and her husband. When it became known that safe building lots could only be had on this ridge, dissatisfaction 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 adjoining 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 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 November, 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 captivity. 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 government 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 distinction 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.

This patriarch of the Petrie family died before the commencement of the revolutionary war, leaving a large number 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 education 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 lapse of time that has intervened since the happening of the events I have undertaken 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 contemporaneous 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 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 Kingsland district, which met in 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."

I 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 company 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 living, an aged and venerable matron. It was thus early and effectively that we find the members of this family "doing battle 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 assembly 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 Burnetsfield 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 destruction 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, 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 descendants 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 Jost, 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 Dayton 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 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 proclamation 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 inhabitants 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 Palatine 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 supporter of the war of 1812.

Robert Shoemaker, a younger brother of Rudolph I., 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. Bellinger, 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, gathered and enlarged by prudent and frugal hands, he devoted mu