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

History of The OLD FORT HERKIMER CHURCH
German Flatts Reformed Church, 1723
By W. N. P. Dailey, D. D.
Published by the
St. Johnsville Enterprise and News
Lou D. MacWethy, editor
St. Johnsville, NY (Price 35 cents)

Thanks to Betty Hoagey for sending this for the web site!

Organized in 1723. Land given 1730 and 1773. Present edifice begun about 1730. A story of the Palatine people and their early struggles. Many names of first settlers. By Rev. W. N. P. Dailey, DD. Author of History of the Montgomery Classis, R.C.A.

The Herkimers of Fort Herkimer

The two men most prominent in the life of the people, and in the work of the church, and in every movement that meant for the progress of the south side, were Johan Jost Herkimer and his son, Nicholas Herkimer, the commander at the Battle of Oriskany. Johan Jost Herkimer, (the father of Gen. Nicholas Herkimer), was born in Germany in the latter part of the seventeenth century. He emigrated to this country and settled first on the Hudson in the Livingston tract,then for a while he tarried in the Schoharie country, coming to the upper Mohawk valley in 1721 or 1722. Gov. Burnet and his Council on Sept. 19, 1921, granted leave to obtain the land of the Indians,which land was secured July 9, 1722. It was on both sides of the river beginning below Little Falls and extending to Gerrendagaraen (Frankfort). The colonial patent is dated April 30, 1725. The first house that Johan Jost Herkimer built was standing as late as 1850, in which Nicholas Herkimer was born. In 1740 Johan Jost Herkimer built a large stone house,which was included in the British fort in 1756, and called Fort Herkimer. There were thirteen children. His seven daughters married seven of the leading men of the valley. He was represented at Oriskany by two or three sons, four sons-in-law and twelve grandchildren. They were the leading family in this part of the valley, a standing kept up by the life of Gen. Herkimer later. For many years the Colonial Government contracted with John Jost Herkimer to supply their forts at Oswego, Schenectady and other places. The Mohawk was the main highway along which the batteaux were poled, loaded with freight or passengers. They carried wheat peas, corn, meal, pork, beef, candles, sugar and rum up the river and brought down the furs and other pelts for the Albany market. When road building began in 1772 Johan Jost Herkimer was one of the commissioners for the Highland District (Fort Herkimer), while his son, Nicholas, was a commissioner in the Canajoharie District, wherein he lived. (Canajoharie was the Indian Castle area.) On Feb. 6, 1773, Johan Jost Herkimer was appointed to serve again and did so until April, 1775, a few months prior to his decease. His sons Nicholas and henry, served in the French war, while Nicholas, Johan and George and several grandsons served in the Revolutionary War. One son, John Jost, espoused the British cause and moved to Canada, where he died before 1787. John Jost Herkimer lived at Fort Herkimer until his death in 1775. Hendrick Herkimer was the next occupant and until 1779, then Hendrick's oldest son, Joseph Sr., and until his death in 1825. His widow continued to live there until her death in 1840. It was then wantonly torn down.

General Nicholas Herkimer

Not much is known of the early manhood of Nicholas Herkimer. Christopher P. Yates, Montgomery County's first clerk, speaks of him as a man of intelligence, learned in the German language, could converse with the Dutch, and, as his father before him, understood the Iroquois tongue. In May, 1760, Gen. Herkimer's father deeded him 500 acres of land out of the Fall Hill Patent of 2324 acres, and bought by his father and brother, George, in 1752. Gen. Herkimer built the present Herkimer Home in 1764. Benjamin J. Lossing, noted historian, visiting the Herkimer Home in 1848, describes it as a substantial brick residence. At the time the owner was replacing the small front portico with a long piazza. He was also changing somewhat the upper floor but was leaving the first floor as Gen. Herkimer knew it. Lossing speaks of the massiveness of the castle" and the subterranean ammunition cellar, the family burying ground at the southeast, and Herkimer's grave. The year before a grandnephew, Warren Herkimer, a grandson of Capt. George Herkimer, had erected a stone above his grave, seventy years after his death. In 1753 he was a lieutenant in the Schenectady Militia, and in that year led a company that repulsed a French and Indian attack. He was Chairman of the Tryon County Militia. He aided in disarming Sir John Johnson in 1776. On. Sept. 5, 1776, he was commissioned a Brigadier General of Militia by the New York Legislature.

Death of General Herkimer

In 1777 he met Brant at Unadilla in a memorable but unsuccessful conference. He mobilized the Tryon County forces for their fateful march to Oriskany. He saved the day, after being mortally wounded, for the Americans, and won what was really one of the pivotal battles of the Revolution. Returning home by boat and litter, he died on Aug. 17, 1777. He was a big, powerful man, nearly six feet in height and was but forty-nine when he died. For half a century after the General's death the house was occupied by Herkimers. First, Capt. George Herkimer,who died in 1786, then his widow, Alida Schuyler Herkimer, and her family, till 1815, when her son, Judge John Herkimer, sold it, perhaps, because the Erie Canal was to be dug in front of it. New York State bought it in 1913. Here is an American shrine of real patriotism. Washington was here in 1783. Rev. Samuel Kirkland, noted missionary among the Indians, founder of Hamilton College, dwelt here for some time with Gen. Herkimer. A son of Rev. Kirkland, born here, became President of Harvard College. From the very beginning the Herkimer family were staunch supporters of the church at Fort Herkimer. The Herkimer Home and the Fort Herkimer Church, must be preserved for the inspiration they create in the religious and patriotic life of the settlers of tomorrow.