History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., continued ...
The Mohawk Valley continued to be spared the horrors of war and, in general, its people continued their peaceful pursuits and the resettling of lands abandoned during King William's war.
By 1710, the Schenectady district had more than regained what it had lost in the distastrous decade from 1689 to 1698.
New settlers came into the lower Mohawk Valley and the lands westward to present Amsterdam, sixteen miles west of Schenectady, were occupied and cultivated prior to 1710.
At that time, doubtless other pioneers were awaiting the ending of hostilities, in order to move westward into "the Maquas country," there to establish themselves upon fertile flatlands bought of the now weakened tribe.
All of the settlements in the lower Mohawk Valley, from the outlet of the river at Waterford to the Willigen below present Amsterdam, were then located on or close to the river flats.
Rev. Thomas Barclay, who was the chaplain for the English fort at Albany, preached occasionally at Schenectady as previously mentioned.
Under date of September 26, 1710, he wrote the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts" as follows:
"At Schenectady I preach once a month, where there is a garrison of forty soldiers, besides about sixteen English and about one hundred Dutch families."
"They are all of them my constant hearers."
"I have this summer got an English school erected amongst them, and, in a short time, I hope their children will be fit for catechising."
"Schenectady is a village situated upon a pleasant river, twenty English miles above Albany, and the first castle of the Mohawks is twenty-four miles above Schenectady."
"In this village there has been no Dutch minister these five years and there is no probability of any being settled among them."
"There is a convenient and well-built church, which they freely give me the use of."
"I have taken the pains to show them the agreement of the articles of our church with theirs."
"I hope in some time to bring them not only to be constant hearers but communicants."
June 14, 1710, marked the arrival of the greatest number of Palatine Germans which reached the shores of the Province of New York.
The passage from England was a long and severe one and 470 died on the voyage.
The remaining 3,000 who landed formed the largest body of immigrants to reach the shores of America up to that date, and, probably, prior to the Revolution.
These Palatines were settled on the east shore of the Hudson near present Germantown, and, on the west shore of that river, near present Saugerties.
The Palatines who settled on the Schoharie and at Stone Arabia, in 1712, came from this large immigration.
For many years the Palatines observed June 14th as the day on which they arrived in the land of civil and religious freedom.
Despite the attitude of contempt, in which they were often held by members of the aristocratic party, the newly-arrived Palatines formed a powerful bulwark of Protestantism and democracy within the Province of New York.
With the Palatines came the new Governor of New York, Robert Hunter, a Scotchman.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY
Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY
History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., continued ...
In September, 1710, a fleet with militia left Boston in connection with an English fleet bearing troops.
This expedition sailed for Port Royal, Acadia, which the combined American and British forces captured from the French.
The name of Port Royal was changed to Annapolis in honor of Queen Anne, and Acadia became Nova Scotia.
Meanwhile preparations had gone forward for the invasion of Canada in 1711.
Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker commanded a fleet of warships, transports and storeships, which bore marines and redcoats or regulars (under General "Jack" Hill, a court favorite) to the port of Boston early in the summer of 1711.
On the 10th of August, Walker's fleet left Boston with 7,000 regulars and Colonial American militiamen, bound for Quebec.
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut had raised a militia army of 3,400 Americans who mobilized at Albany where they were joined by 600 warriors of the Five Nations.
The army of 4,000, under command of Nicholson, marched from Albany for Lake Champlain.
Never had an American invasion of Canada been better planned or started with such prospect of success.
The combined force was greater than any which ever had been organized in the Colonies and the army which marched forth from Albany to the projected conquest of hated New France, must have seemed a host indeed to the Americans and Iroquois, who had previously gone forth in bands of a few hundreds.
The forces under General Hill and Colonel Nicholson were overwhelmingly superior to those of Canada.
The expedition was doomed to the usual failure and, as usual, through no fault of the American participants, who, as usual, constituted a majority of the military forces.
Another element of friction between the Americans and their English commanders was the utter refusal of the latter to heed the advice of the Americans, who were generally informed as to the physical conditions of these military and naval expeditions.
Not only were American officers rated inferior in rank to the British commanders of the same grade, but their advice and experience were studiously ignored.
A disaster, similar to the later ones at Forts Duquesne and Ticonderoga on land, was now staged by the incompetent Walker on the sea.
"Walker lost eight of his transports and nearly one thousand men among the rocks at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River."
Admiral Walker and General Hill now abandoned their campaign, in the most cowardly fashion, and sailed with the British troops back to England, while the American force sailed for Boston.
The Americans on Lake Champlain, received tidings of this disaster, instead of the expected order to advance.
Nicholson and his Americans raged at this bitter news.
For the third time, the militia of New York had gathered, at great expense and trouble; had suffered hardship and privation with a ready spirit, in order to finally extinguish the French menace at their north and thus give an opportunity for civilized development.
These Americans of New York had been aided by their countrymen from other Colonies.
Three times they had pushed on to Lake Champlain, ready for the further long and strenuous voyage or march to the St. Lawrence.
Three times they had been compelled to turn back without striking a blow, because of the failure of the water expeditions in the St. Lawrence — the first as a result of an American's incompetence and the last two times because of the neglect of England and the stupidity of her commanders.
It is small wonder that the American people finally decided to manage their own naval and military, as well as civil affairs.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., continued ...
In September, 1710, a fleet with militia left Boston in connection with an English fleet bearing troops.
This expedition sailed for Port Royal, Acadia, which the combined American and British forces captured from the French.
The name of Port Royal was changed to Annapolis in honor of Queen Anne, and Acadia became Nova Scotia.
Meanwhile preparations had gone forward for the invasion of Canada in 1711.
Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker commanded a fleet of warships, transports and storeships, which bore marines and redcoats or regulars (under General "Jack" Hill, a court favorite) to the port of Boston early in the summer of 1711.
On the 10th of August, Walker's fleet left Boston with 7,000 regulars and Colonial American militiamen, bound for Quebec.
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut had raised a militia army of 3,400 Americans who mobilized at Albany where they were joined by 600 warriors of the Five Nations.
The army of 4,000, under command of Nicholson, marched from Albany for Lake Champlain.
Never had an American invasion of Canada been better planned or started with such prospect of success.
The combined force was greater than any which ever had been organized in the Colonies and the army which marched forth from Albany to the projected conquest of hated New France, must have seemed a host indeed to the Americans and Iroquois, who had previously gone forth in bands of a few hundreds.
The forces under General Hill and Colonel Nicholson were overwhelmingly superior to those of Canada.
The expedition was doomed to the usual failure and, as usual, through no fault of the American participants, who, as usual, constituted a majority of the military forces.
Another element of friction between the Americans and their English commanders was the utter refusal of the latter to heed the advice of the Americans, who were generally informed as to the physical conditions of these military and naval expeditions.
Not only were American officers rated inferior in rank to the British commanders of the same grade, but their advice and experience were studiously ignored.
A disaster, similar to the later ones at Forts Duquesne and Ticonderoga on land, was now staged by the incompetent Walker on the sea.
"Walker lost eight of his transports and nearly one thousand men among the rocks at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River."
Admiral Walker and General Hill now abandoned their campaign, in the most cowardly fashion, and sailed with the British troops back to England, while the American force sailed for Boston.
The Americans on Lake Champlain, received tidings of this disaster, instead of the expected order to advance.
Nicholson and his Americans raged at this bitter news.
For the third time, the militia of New York had gathered, at great expense and trouble; had suffered hardship and privation with a ready spirit, in order to finally extinguish the French menace at their north and thus give an opportunity for civilized development.
These Americans of New York had been aided by their countrymen from other Colonies.
Three times they had pushed on to Lake Champlain, ready for the further long and strenuous voyage or march to the St. Lawrence.
Three times they had been compelled to turn back without striking a blow, because of the failure of the water expeditions in the St. Lawrence — the first as a result of an American's incompetence and the last two times because of the neglect of England and the stupidity of her commanders.
It is small wonder that the American people finally decided to manage their own naval and military, as well as civil affairs.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY
History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., continued ...
The Albany County militia, including that from the Schenectady district, was engaged in Nicholson's expedition.
For years the Five Nations had asked for forts in their country to aid them in repelling the attacks of the French and their Indian allies.
They had been promised such fortifications many times by the Provincial government, always without material result.
At last a beginning was made in a scheme of defense for the Iroquois country by the building of Fort Hunter, in 1711-1712, at the junction of the Mohawk and Schoharie rivers at the site of the lower Mohawk castle of Iconderoga, 21 miles west of Schenectady.
The building of Fort Hunter, as well as the later forts constructed along the Schenectady-Oswego water route, had most important results aside from the military program and the policy of Indian protection involved.
The building of Indian forts to protect the Iroquois castles proved more injurious to the national and tribal interests of the confederated Five Nations than the prior Provincial policy of neglect.
The trader, the land grabber, the liquor seller came to the fort or its neighborhood, as well as the English redcoats.
Following them came the real element of danger to the Indians — the farmer looking for land on which to permanently settle, cut down the forest and change the wilderness into the fruitful farmlands of a civilized community.
Left alone to battle with their enemies, the Iroquois were in great danger, but the menace to their existence was far greater, when the protecting soldiers they desired had finally arrived.
In fact, the decadence of Iroquois power can be approximately dated from the construction of Fort Hunter in 1711.
Prior to this historically important event, the Mohawks were virtually undisturbed in their control of the Mohawk and Schoharie Valleys west of the Schenectady district settlements, which extended to about the eastern limits of the present city of Amsterdam.
The only permanent settler, in the Valley farther west, was Hendrick Frey at present Palatine Bridge.
Following Fort Hunter's building, the westward settlement of the Mohawk Valley progressed rapidly, and the Mohawks were soon despoiled of a great part of their Valley lands.
The tribe now was greatly diminished in numbers and power by the long wars in which they had been engaged, and which had been largely instrumental in the protection of the Province of New York from invasion by the French and Canadian Indians.
Our Valley Caniengas were no longer a bar to the white settlement of our Valley, as they had been during the seventeenth century.
The contract for the erection of Fort Hunter was signed by Governor Hunter on October 11, 1711.
The fortification was 150 feet square with a wall twelve feet high made of logs a foot square and pinned together at the corners.
Within this enclosure there was a two-story blockhouse with double loop holes and a chapel twenty-four feet square and one story high.
The work was to be completed by the following July for 1,000 pounds.
Garret Symonce, Barent Vrooman, Hendrick Vrooman, John Wemp, and Arent Van Petten of Schenectady, took the contract to do the work.
The church was built of stone and was called Queen Anne's Chapel, being furnished by the queen shortly after its completion and provided by her with a communion service of silver.
Attached to it was a glebe of 300 acres of good farm land on which a two-story stone parsonage was built.
The fort, church and parsonage were completed in 1712.
Rev. Thomas Barclay, chaplain of the Albany fort, was the first chaplain of Queen Anne's chapel of Fort Hunter.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., continued ...
The Albany County militia, including that from the Schenectady district, was engaged in Nicholson's expedition.
For years the Five Nations had asked for forts in their country to aid them in repelling the attacks of the French and their Indian allies.
They had been promised such fortifications many times by the Provincial government, always without material result.
At last a beginning was made in a scheme of defense for the Iroquois country by the building of Fort Hunter, in 1711-1712, at the junction of the Mohawk and Schoharie rivers at the site of the lower Mohawk castle of Iconderoga, 21 miles west of Schenectady.
The building of Fort Hunter, as well as the later forts constructed along the Schenectady-Oswego water route, had most important results aside from the military program and the policy of Indian protection involved.
The building of Indian forts to protect the Iroquois castles proved more injurious to the national and tribal interests of the confederated Five Nations than the prior Provincial policy of neglect.
The trader, the land grabber, the liquor seller came to the fort or its neighborhood, as well as the English redcoats.
Following them came the real element of danger to the Indians — the farmer looking for land on which to permanently settle, cut down the forest and change the wilderness into the fruitful farmlands of a civilized community.
Left alone to battle with their enemies, the Iroquois were in great danger, but the menace to their existence was far greater, when the protecting soldiers they desired had finally arrived.
In fact, the decadence of Iroquois power can be approximately dated from the construction of Fort Hunter in 1711.
Prior to this historically important event, the Mohawks were virtually undisturbed in their control of the Mohawk and Schoharie Valleys west of the Schenectady district settlements, which extended to about the eastern limits of the present city of Amsterdam.
The only permanent settler, in the Valley farther west, was Hendrick Frey at present Palatine Bridge.
Following Fort Hunter's building, the westward settlement of the Mohawk Valley progressed rapidly, and the Mohawks were soon despoiled of a great part of their Valley lands.
The tribe now was greatly diminished in numbers and power by the long wars in which they had been engaged, and which had been largely instrumental in the protection of the Province of New York from invasion by the French and Canadian Indians.
Our Valley Caniengas were no longer a bar to the white settlement of our Valley, as they had been during the seventeenth century.
The contract for the erection of Fort Hunter was signed by Governor Hunter on October 11, 1711.
The fortification was 150 feet square with a wall twelve feet high made of logs a foot square and pinned together at the corners.
Within this enclosure there was a two-story blockhouse with double loop holes and a chapel twenty-four feet square and one story high.
The work was to be completed by the following July for 1,000 pounds.
Garret Symonce, Barent Vrooman, Hendrick Vrooman, John Wemp, and Arent Van Petten of Schenectady, took the contract to do the work.
The church was built of stone and was called Queen Anne's Chapel, being furnished by the queen shortly after its completion and provided by her with a communion service of silver.
Attached to it was a glebe of 300 acres of good farm land on which a two-story stone parsonage was built.
The fort, church and parsonage were completed in 1712.
Rev. Thomas Barclay, chaplain of the Albany fort, was the first chaplain of Queen Anne's chapel of Fort Hunter.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY
History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., continued ...
Fort Hunter was placed under command of Lieut. John Scott, who bought a large tract of land of the Mohawks.
He secured a patent for this land, consisting of 1,500 acres, extending west from Aurieskill along the south bank of the Mohawk.
Scott's son secured a patent, on June 23, 1725, for 1,100 acres of land lying west of his father's land and extending westward to the site of the present village of Fultonville.
Others were then also engaged in securing lands from the Mohawks and the parcelling out of the rich Mohawk flats and the wilderness, which stretched northward and southward from the river's banks now proceeded rapidly.
In 1712, the Palatines made their first settlements along the Mohawk and Schoharie rivers.
Peter Vrooman, of Schenectady, was the first Dutch pioneer of the Schoharie Valley, so far as known.
He moved from Schenectady thence about 1715 and settled at a point called Vrooman's near present Schoharie village.
The Palatines were much displeased with the situation they were in on the Hudson, where they were employed in producing tar and ship stores for the British navy.
They were farmers and wanted land to develop.
In 1712, a great part of them removed to Albany and from there sent scouts into the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys to buy lands of the Indians if they found the lands desirable.
The Palatine scouts returned with favorable reports and the German pilgrims made an exodus from Albany to their promised land.
The greater part of these Palatines went into the Schoharie, while a few families moved over into the present Stone Arabia section and made the first Palatine settlement along the Mohawk.
The Palatine settlements of the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys were as important historically as the Holland Dutch settlements at Schenectady and along the lower Mohawk River section, and they are, therefore, given a detailed description in the following chapter.
Another step in the westward settlement of the Mohawk Valley was the taking up of a considerable tract of land by two brothers named Hansen in the present town of Mohawk, Montgomery County.
The Hansens secured a patent for this land in 1713 and they are the first known settlers of the township of Mohawk.
They were of Holland Dutch extraction, as were most of the early settlers of this township.
The construction of Fort Hunter had the important effect of opening a wagon road from Albany clear through to the new fort, a distance of nearly 40 miles.
The road extended over 21 miles west of Schenectady and about 45 miles along the south shore of the river, westward from its mouth at Cohoes.
Such a beginning gave the south shore highway a start along the Mohawk which made it the main route westward for nearly ninety years.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., continued ...
Fort Hunter was placed under command of Lieut. John Scott, who bought a large tract of land of the Mohawks.
He secured a patent for this land, consisting of 1,500 acres, extending west from Aurieskill along the south bank of the Mohawk.
Scott's son secured a patent, on June 23, 1725, for 1,100 acres of land lying west of his father's land and extending westward to the site of the present village of Fultonville.
Others were then also engaged in securing lands from the Mohawks and the parcelling out of the rich Mohawk flats and the wilderness, which stretched northward and southward from the river's banks now proceeded rapidly.
In 1712, the Palatines made their first settlements along the Mohawk and Schoharie rivers.
Peter Vrooman, of Schenectady, was the first Dutch pioneer of the Schoharie Valley, so far as known.
He moved from Schenectady thence about 1715 and settled at a point called Vrooman's near present Schoharie village.
The Palatines were much displeased with the situation they were in on the Hudson, where they were employed in producing tar and ship stores for the British navy.
They were farmers and wanted land to develop.
In 1712, a great part of them removed to Albany and from there sent scouts into the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys to buy lands of the Indians if they found the lands desirable.
The Palatine scouts returned with favorable reports and the German pilgrims made an exodus from Albany to their promised land.
The greater part of these Palatines went into the Schoharie, while a few families moved over into the present Stone Arabia section and made the first Palatine settlement along the Mohawk.
The Palatine settlements of the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys were as important historically as the Holland Dutch settlements at Schenectady and along the lower Mohawk River section, and they are, therefore, given a detailed description in the following chapter.
Another step in the westward settlement of the Mohawk Valley was the taking up of a considerable tract of land by two brothers named Hansen in the present town of Mohawk, Montgomery County.
The Hansens secured a patent for this land in 1713 and they are the first known settlers of the township of Mohawk.
They were of Holland Dutch extraction, as were most of the early settlers of this township.
The construction of Fort Hunter had the important effect of opening a wagon road from Albany clear through to the new fort, a distance of nearly 40 miles.
The road extended over 21 miles west of Schenectady and about 45 miles along the south shore of the river, westward from its mouth at Cohoes.
Such a beginning gave the south shore highway a start along the Mohawk which made it the main route westward for nearly ninety years.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY
History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., continued ...
If Fort Hunter had been built upon the north shore of the Mohawk, doubtless the north side highway would have been the one to take precedence throughout the eighteenth century.
The garrison of the fort, together with the people naturally attracted hither, added to the Mohawk population of the lower castle, made Fort Hunter a considerable population center.
Schenectady now was no longer the western frontier outpost of New York, after a career as such of half a century.
The border had been pushed westward another twenty miles and the course of American empire, halted by twenty years of warfare, again took up its westward way — along the Mohawk River.
In 1713, the Tuscaroras, an Iroquois tribe, joined the confederacy of the Iroquois.
After this accession the Five Nations became the Six Nations, although the Tuscaroras occupied a less powerful position than the five other Iroquois tribes.
The Tuscaroras had attempted the extermination of the white settlers of North Carolina, but were severely beaten.
The remnant of the tribe settled south of the Oneidas who gave them lands.
Some of the Tuscaroras together with the greater part of the Oneidas sided with the Americans in the Revolutionary war.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., continued ...
If Fort Hunter had been built upon the north shore of the Mohawk, doubtless the north side highway would have been the one to take precedence throughout the eighteenth century.
The garrison of the fort, together with the people naturally attracted hither, added to the Mohawk population of the lower castle, made Fort Hunter a considerable population center.
Schenectady now was no longer the western frontier outpost of New York, after a career as such of half a century.
The border had been pushed westward another twenty miles and the course of American empire, halted by twenty years of warfare, again took up its westward way — along the Mohawk River.
In 1713, the Tuscaroras, an Iroquois tribe, joined the confederacy of the Iroquois.
After this accession the Five Nations became the Six Nations, although the Tuscaroras occupied a less powerful position than the five other Iroquois tribes.
The Tuscaroras had attempted the extermination of the white settlers of North Carolina, but were severely beaten.
The remnant of the tribe settled south of the Oneidas who gave them lands.
Some of the Tuscaroras together with the greater part of the Oneidas sided with the Americans in the Revolutionary war.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY
History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., continued ...
The building of one of the most famous houses of the Mohawk Valley marks the ending of this chapter and the interesting period which it covers.
This is the Glen-Sanders house, built by Capt. Johannes Sanders Glen at Scotia in 1724.
Glen's father, Alexander Lindsay Glen, was, so far as we know, the first white settler in the Mohawk Valley and his first house, built in 1658, was the first house constructed in the Valley by a white man, of which we have any record.
The first Glen house was built of stone close to the river's bank and it was a strong defense for the time.
In 1724 it had stood for over half a century and would probably be in existence today, had it not been for the fact that the Mohawk had been eating away its northern bank until the first Glen house threatened to tumble into the stream.
Captain Glen then built the present large stone house a short distance to the northward of the first one.
This Glen-Sanders house is one of the most interesting and important of the historic old stone houses of the Mohawk.
In fact, the history of the Glen-Sanders homestead covers the entire story of the white man along the Mohawk, embracing as it does the period from the settlement of Alexander Lindsay Glen in 1658, until the present writing in 1924 — 266 years of occupancy by one family, which is probably equalled by few other American families.
Capt. Johannes Sanderse Glen was born in 1648 and was the youngest son of Alexander Lindsay Glen.
He married Annatie, daughter of Jan Peek, for his first wife.
On her death, after 1691, Captain Glen married Diwer, daughter of Evert Wendel of Albany.
Captain Glen had eight children by his first wife, two of them being boys named Jacob and Abraham.
Captain Jacob bought his brother's interest in the estate, after the death of his father, Capt. Johannes Sanderse Glen, in 1731.
The house and estate passed to Debora, only child of Captain Jacob.
She married Johannes Sanderse of Albany, and hence the name, Glen-Sanders house.
The house has today great interest aside from its importance as the site of first settlement by a white man in the Mohawk Valley.
It is built of much of the older materials of the original stone house of 1658, including a characteristic double Dutch door at the end of the dining hall.
An ancient round mahogany table stands in this hall, which was the very one from which French officers ate breakfast, on the morning of February 9, 1690, after their bloody night's work at Schenectady.
There is much else of interest connected with this old mansion, which has suffered but little from the devastation of "alterations and improvements."
A farm of 900 acres or more was connected with the Glen-Sanders house.
Of all the families associated with the first settlement and early development of the Mohawk Valley none bore a more important part than the Glens.
After the death of Arent Van Curler in 1677, Alexander Lindsay Glen became the leading citizen of Schenectady and his son, Capt. John Sanderse Glen, succeeded to his father's position.
From the Glen settlement at Scotia in 1658, to the death of Capt. Johannes Glen in 1731 — a period of 73 years — the Glens, father and son, were important factors in the making of the history of the Mohawk Valley.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., continued ...
The building of one of the most famous houses of the Mohawk Valley marks the ending of this chapter and the interesting period which it covers.
This is the Glen-Sanders house, built by Capt. Johannes Sanders Glen at Scotia in 1724.
Glen's father, Alexander Lindsay Glen, was, so far as we know, the first white settler in the Mohawk Valley and his first house, built in 1658, was the first house constructed in the Valley by a white man, of which we have any record.
The first Glen house was built of stone close to the river's bank and it was a strong defense for the time.
In 1724 it had stood for over half a century and would probably be in existence today, had it not been for the fact that the Mohawk had been eating away its northern bank until the first Glen house threatened to tumble into the stream.
Captain Glen then built the present large stone house a short distance to the northward of the first one.
This Glen-Sanders house is one of the most interesting and important of the historic old stone houses of the Mohawk.
In fact, the history of the Glen-Sanders homestead covers the entire story of the white man along the Mohawk, embracing as it does the period from the settlement of Alexander Lindsay Glen in 1658, until the present writing in 1924 — 266 years of occupancy by one family, which is probably equalled by few other American families.
Capt. Johannes Sanderse Glen was born in 1648 and was the youngest son of Alexander Lindsay Glen.
He married Annatie, daughter of Jan Peek, for his first wife.
On her death, after 1691, Captain Glen married Diwer, daughter of Evert Wendel of Albany.
Captain Glen had eight children by his first wife, two of them being boys named Jacob and Abraham.
Captain Jacob bought his brother's interest in the estate, after the death of his father, Capt. Johannes Sanderse Glen, in 1731.
The house and estate passed to Debora, only child of Captain Jacob.
She married Johannes Sanderse of Albany, and hence the name, Glen-Sanders house.
The house has today great interest aside from its importance as the site of first settlement by a white man in the Mohawk Valley.
It is built of much of the older materials of the original stone house of 1658, including a characteristic double Dutch door at the end of the dining hall.
An ancient round mahogany table stands in this hall, which was the very one from which French officers ate breakfast, on the morning of February 9, 1690, after their bloody night's work at Schenectady.
There is much else of interest connected with this old mansion, which has suffered but little from the devastation of "alterations and improvements."
A farm of 900 acres or more was connected with the Glen-Sanders house.
Of all the families associated with the first settlement and early development of the Mohawk Valley none bore a more important part than the Glens.
After the death of Arent Van Curler in 1677, Alexander Lindsay Glen became the leading citizen of Schenectady and his son, Capt. John Sanderse Glen, succeeded to his father's position.
From the Glen settlement at Scotia in 1658, to the death of Capt. Johannes Glen in 1731 — a period of 73 years — the Glens, father and son, were important factors in the making of the history of the Mohawk Valley.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY
History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., continued ...
About the only evil which marked the accession of King William to the English throne was the beginning of an active slave trade in the Colonies.
In 1709, New York City had its slave market at the foot of Wall Street.
The traffic in slaves extended to Albany and Schenectady.
Their numbers were small at first but increased until they were numerous along the Mohawk at the outbreak of the Revolution.
Although they were generally kindly treated, they were held in absolute bondage and their masters were forbidden by law to set them free.
Slavery continued in the Province and the State of New York, until it was abolished in 1827, although many slaveholders had freed their negroes before that date.
Nearly all the large plantations along the Mohawk, had slaves, some numbering a score or more.
They generally lived in log cabins adjoining their master's home.
Mr. C. P. Sanders, owner of the Glen-Sanders house, in 1922, informed the writer that the slave quarters of the Glen-Sanders house consisted of a large stone building attached to the main structure.
With the abolition of slavery, this part was removed, so that the house has stood practically as it is today for nearly a century.
The negro slaves of Colonial days along the Mohawk form a picturesque element of our history.
They were generally well-behaved and generally well treated.
It is a remarkable fact that the old slave population has largely died out along the Mohawk River.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., continued ...
About the only evil which marked the accession of King William to the English throne was the beginning of an active slave trade in the Colonies.
In 1709, New York City had its slave market at the foot of Wall Street.
The traffic in slaves extended to Albany and Schenectady.
Their numbers were small at first but increased until they were numerous along the Mohawk at the outbreak of the Revolution.
Although they were generally kindly treated, they were held in absolute bondage and their masters were forbidden by law to set them free.
Slavery continued in the Province and the State of New York, until it was abolished in 1827, although many slaveholders had freed their negroes before that date.
Nearly all the large plantations along the Mohawk, had slaves, some numbering a score or more.
They generally lived in log cabins adjoining their master's home.
Mr. C. P. Sanders, owner of the Glen-Sanders house, in 1922, informed the writer that the slave quarters of the Glen-Sanders house consisted of a large stone building attached to the main structure.
With the abolition of slavery, this part was removed, so that the house has stood practically as it is today for nearly a century.
The negro slaves of Colonial days along the Mohawk form a picturesque element of our history.
They were generally well-behaved and generally well treated.
It is a remarkable fact that the old slave population has largely died out along the Mohawk River.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY
History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., concluded ...
In 1713, the Schenectady Dutch Church received a license from Governor Hunter to call a new minister.
The church consistory then communicated with William Bancker, of Amsterdam, Holland (brother of Gerrit Bancker, one of the original Schenectady patentees), and Rev. Matthias Winterwyck of Dalphin, Holland.
These negotiations resulted in Dominie Thomas Brouwer coming to Schenectady in 1714.
Dominie Brouwer was a native of the province of Overyssell.
He received a salary of 90 pounds, "a dwelling free of rent, fire wood at the door, a large garden and free pasture for two cows and a horse."
The later history of the church belongs in succeeding chapters.
In 1714, the population of Schenectady township was 591, of whom probably 400 were in the village of Schenectady.
It had taken twenty-five years to repair the damage caused by the massacre and burning of the town in 1690.
Including the lower Mohawk Valley, the Palatines on the Schoharie and at Stone Arabia and the Holland Dutch in Maquaas' Land, the population of the Mohawk Valley must have been about 1,700 in 1714.
After the failure of the Canadian invasion of 1711, hostilities between the American Colonies and New France were suspended.
Peace was finally concluded by the treaty of Utrecht, April 11, 1713.
From 1713 to 1744, peace reigned between Canada and the Province of New York.
These thirty years formed a fruitful period of settlement, building and civilization along the Mohawk.
In this regard it forms one of the most important periods of our Valley history and one in which our Valley can be said to have assumed much of its present character, in a rudimentary way.
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/resou ... y/029.html
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Chapter 29: Mohawk Valley and Schenectady — 1701-1713., concluded ...
In 1713, the Schenectady Dutch Church received a license from Governor Hunter to call a new minister.
The church consistory then communicated with William Bancker, of Amsterdam, Holland (brother of Gerrit Bancker, one of the original Schenectady patentees), and Rev. Matthias Winterwyck of Dalphin, Holland.
These negotiations resulted in Dominie Thomas Brouwer coming to Schenectady in 1714.
Dominie Brouwer was a native of the province of Overyssell.
He received a salary of 90 pounds, "a dwelling free of rent, fire wood at the door, a large garden and free pasture for two cows and a horse."
The later history of the church belongs in succeeding chapters.
In 1714, the population of Schenectady township was 591, of whom probably 400 were in the village of Schenectady.
It had taken twenty-five years to repair the damage caused by the massacre and burning of the town in 1690.
Including the lower Mohawk Valley, the Palatines on the Schoharie and at Stone Arabia and the Holland Dutch in Maquaas' Land, the population of the Mohawk Valley must have been about 1,700 in 1714.
After the failure of the Canadian invasion of 1711, hostilities between the American Colonies and New France were suspended.
Peace was finally concluded by the treaty of Utrecht, April 11, 1713.
From 1713 to 1744, peace reigned between Canada and the Province of New York.
These thirty years formed a fruitful period of settlement, building and civilization along the Mohawk.
In this regard it forms one of the most important periods of our Valley history and one in which our Valley can be said to have assumed much of its present character, in a rudimentary way.
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/resou ... y/029.html
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY
History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925
Chapter 30: A Review of Schenectady and the Mohawk Valley — 1711.
At the time of the building of Fort Hunter — Close of Queen Anne's War — Roads dwindle into paths — Scarce two thousand people along our river — Schenectady people closely related.
Up to the coming of the Palatines to the Schoharie and the Mohawk valleys and the building of Fort Hunter, in 1711, the white population of the Mohawk Valley in its lower settled section was Holland Dutch by a great majority.
There were a few British families of English, Irish and Scotch ancestry, but the Dutch ruled the roost.
As the reader of course knows, the Hollanders were an entirely different people from the Germans of whom we carelessly speak as "Dutch."
References to Dutch, in this volume, means the people from Holland or the Netherlands, or their American-born descendants.
Already the people of the English Colonies considered themselves somewhat in a national sense and the names America and Americans were already in use, and this in spite of the violent jealousies which often rent the Colonies — jealousies arising from the fact that the Colonists were merely human beings with whom jealousy and vanity are generally overruling passions.
Therefore, the name "American" is frequently used in this book as expressing something which otherwise cannot be clearly defined.
It was this Americanism, of the Americans of the Colonies, which already was a cause of friction between British officials and military commanders, whose domineering methods and manners were most offensive to the free-born Americans.
Do not look for the causes of the Revolution only in the Stamp Act and similar obnoxious English legislation.
Its beginnings go much farther back than that.
The cleavage between America and England was a matter of national character and was already marked, at the end of Queen Anne's war in 1713, the year which brings this chapter to an end.
The Colonists were then already Americans and the English colonies then constituted America in the making.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Chapter 30: A Review of Schenectady and the Mohawk Valley — 1711.
At the time of the building of Fort Hunter — Close of Queen Anne's War — Roads dwindle into paths — Scarce two thousand people along our river — Schenectady people closely related.
Up to the coming of the Palatines to the Schoharie and the Mohawk valleys and the building of Fort Hunter, in 1711, the white population of the Mohawk Valley in its lower settled section was Holland Dutch by a great majority.
There were a few British families of English, Irish and Scotch ancestry, but the Dutch ruled the roost.
As the reader of course knows, the Hollanders were an entirely different people from the Germans of whom we carelessly speak as "Dutch."
References to Dutch, in this volume, means the people from Holland or the Netherlands, or their American-born descendants.
Already the people of the English Colonies considered themselves somewhat in a national sense and the names America and Americans were already in use, and this in spite of the violent jealousies which often rent the Colonies — jealousies arising from the fact that the Colonists were merely human beings with whom jealousy and vanity are generally overruling passions.
Therefore, the name "American" is frequently used in this book as expressing something which otherwise cannot be clearly defined.
It was this Americanism, of the Americans of the Colonies, which already was a cause of friction between British officials and military commanders, whose domineering methods and manners were most offensive to the free-born Americans.
Do not look for the causes of the Revolution only in the Stamp Act and similar obnoxious English legislation.
Its beginnings go much farther back than that.
The cleavage between America and England was a matter of national character and was already marked, at the end of Queen Anne's war in 1713, the year which brings this chapter to an end.
The Colonists were then already Americans and the English colonies then constituted America in the making.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY
History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925
Chapter 30: A Review of Schenectady and the Mohawk Valley — 1711., continued ...
When Queen Anne's war came to a close in America in 1713 Schenectady was an American town with a history of a half century behind her — a half century which may be regarded as the most important period in the making of America.
For that early day, Schenectady was an old American settlement.
Albany, which dated its birth from Coriaestensen's trading post of Fort Nassau in 1614, was the second oldest permanent settlement in America, following New York by only a year.
Jamestown, the first American settlement was already a ruin, from its burning in Bacon's rebellion.
Both Schenectady and Albany were now assuming the character of old, well built, busy, thriving, American cities — cities not in size but in character.
The early log and frame houses, cabins and barns were now often replaced by substantial dwellings of brick or stone and the large barns and farm buildings indicated the development of a rich agricultural section, which made Albany the national wheat market during the eighteenth century.
The rough edges of the frontier had been somewhat smoothed by civilization.
The wilderness, however, still ruled — it frowned down upon the settlements and the farmlands from all sides, and its prized beavers still formed the coin of the realm — when they had been converted into peltries.
The trade which came down the great waterway of the Mohawk still went to Albany as it had done for the last century.
Schenectady was still bound by trade restrictions and the many Indians who hung about the town could trade and barter only under cover.
Nevertheless Schenectady grew and developed in spite of the reign of privileges and greed at Albany.
There were no richer farmlands in all the Colonies than those which lay along the Mohawk and the fortunate Holland Dutch farmer, who owned a piece of the Mohawk flats, was rightfully adjudged a person of wealth and property.
Moreover land was difficult to obtain in the Province of New York — much more so than in other Colonies.
Here the original soil was either held by the Indians or it had been largely parcelled out among governmental favorites in large patents or it was held by a few patroons, who affected the manners and the dress of the landed aristocracy of England.
The land question which confronted the farmer who wished to come to New York was a most serious one.
It prevented many worthy men from settling here and it drove away others, who found conditions better in Connecticut and New Jersey.
The patents and patroonships were subjects of adverse comment by the Whigs of New York even at this early date.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Chapter 30: A Review of Schenectady and the Mohawk Valley — 1711., continued ...
When Queen Anne's war came to a close in America in 1713 Schenectady was an American town with a history of a half century behind her — a half century which may be regarded as the most important period in the making of America.
For that early day, Schenectady was an old American settlement.
Albany, which dated its birth from Coriaestensen's trading post of Fort Nassau in 1614, was the second oldest permanent settlement in America, following New York by only a year.
Jamestown, the first American settlement was already a ruin, from its burning in Bacon's rebellion.
Both Schenectady and Albany were now assuming the character of old, well built, busy, thriving, American cities — cities not in size but in character.
The early log and frame houses, cabins and barns were now often replaced by substantial dwellings of brick or stone and the large barns and farm buildings indicated the development of a rich agricultural section, which made Albany the national wheat market during the eighteenth century.
The rough edges of the frontier had been somewhat smoothed by civilization.
The wilderness, however, still ruled — it frowned down upon the settlements and the farmlands from all sides, and its prized beavers still formed the coin of the realm — when they had been converted into peltries.
The trade which came down the great waterway of the Mohawk still went to Albany as it had done for the last century.
Schenectady was still bound by trade restrictions and the many Indians who hung about the town could trade and barter only under cover.
Nevertheless Schenectady grew and developed in spite of the reign of privileges and greed at Albany.
There were no richer farmlands in all the Colonies than those which lay along the Mohawk and the fortunate Holland Dutch farmer, who owned a piece of the Mohawk flats, was rightfully adjudged a person of wealth and property.
Moreover land was difficult to obtain in the Province of New York — much more so than in other Colonies.
Here the original soil was either held by the Indians or it had been largely parcelled out among governmental favorites in large patents or it was held by a few patroons, who affected the manners and the dress of the landed aristocracy of England.
The land question which confronted the farmer who wished to come to New York was a most serious one.
It prevented many worthy men from settling here and it drove away others, who found conditions better in Connecticut and New Jersey.
The patents and patroonships were subjects of adverse comment by the Whigs of New York even at this early date.
TO BE CONTINUED ...