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.

Rev. Rosencrantz Married Sister of General Herkimer

Rosencrantz went to New York in 1758, a wedding trip for he had married in April of that year Anna Maria, Sister of Gen. Nicholas Herkimer. He was back at Fort Herkimer in 1760. A receipt dated April 1, 1761, signed by Rosencrantz, still exists for salary at Fort Herkimer. The amount is thirty-one pounds.

In New York he was pastor of what is now the German Reformed Church on West 68th Street.

Situated as they were at the extreme frontier in the west the Palatines were prey for the marauding French and their Indian allies. Some sort of a defense was thrown about several of the houses but the Fort was on the south side and Col. Wm. Johnson had strengthened the military post there. The culmination of the raids took place in the early morning of Nov. 12, 1757 when the Palatine village on the north side (Herkimer) was completely destroyed by M. de Bellestre, a Captain of the French Colonial troops. A hundred were taken prisoners, including John Jost Petrie, the rest fleeing across the river to the Fort where several hundred soldiers were posted. The prisoners were exchanged Nov. 1, 1758. There is such a variety of reports of the devastation of the place, including footnotes to the Croghan narrative that may have been added later, that one cannot be sure of all the incidents that took place. There seems to have been an abundance of warning of the attack but not the least preparation to meet it, either by the villagers or the soldiers at the fort, or by the officials. In the Public Papers of Gov. Clinton and in the Sir Wm. Johnson papers one can find a great number of references to the continuous depredations of the enemy against the inhabitants of this section of the valley. An for years after peace prevailed everywhere else this whole upper valley of the Mohawk was terribly scourged by the Tories and their savage allies.

On his return Rev. Rosencrantz divided his pastoral work between Stone Arabia and the Flatts on both sides of the river, but lived in the manse at Stone Arabia. He continued to preach at Stone Arabia until the year 1772. He wrote Sir Wm. Johnson from Stone Arabia under date of Dec. 13, 1767. In addition to this wide field he often journeyed over to Schoharie during the years 1780-1765. After leaving Stone Arabia it has been said that Rev. Rosencrantz served the Canajoharie Church (Sand Hill) until it was destroyed in the Tory raid of August 1780. This it is contended accounts for the lack of marriage records in the German Flatts registry during those years as these were lost in the burning of the manse and church. But there is no existent records to prove that these things are so.

Rev. Mr. Cox says that if the church at Herkimer had any existence at the time it must have been a very feeble organization and really looked upon as a part of the Fort Herkimer congregation. Peter Sailly's Journal refers to his visit at Herkimer May 29, 1784, and says the village was made up of "only the poor cabins of an impoverished population". He calls it "German Flatts" although the German Flatts district was set off on the south side Mr. 24, 1772 and in 1773 was so called on the map. It is so termed on the Tryon map of 1771 while no place is then shown on the north side of the river. It was still in Montgomery County as Herkimer was not set off until 1891. What is now Herkimer was in the Kingsland District in 1772 when Tryon County was formed. The German Flatts District extended from Little Falls to Fort Stanwix and south to the Pennsylvania line, on the south side of the river.