History of Herkimer County and the Upper Mohawk Valley, continued ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER I, continued ...
An extended notice of these people is not designed, but it will not be out of place to present a few of their peculiarities.
Hereditary descent was confined to the female line, and thus the son of a chief's daughter would inherit a chieftainship to the exclusion of his uncle, and a chief's brother would succeed him, and not his male children, provided there were no descendants through the female line.
Another peculiarity marked these people.
The matrons of the tribe, in council, could always propose a cessation of hostilities, and this could be done without compromising the warriors and chiefs.
For this purpose a male functionary, the messenger of the matrons, who was a good speaker, was designated to perform an office which was deemed unsuitable to the female.
When the proposition to drop the war club was resolved upon, the message was delivered to this officer, and he was bound to enforce it with all the powers of eloquence he possessed.
Marriage among the Iroquois was a mere personal agreement between the parties, requiring no particular sanction and in no respect affected the rights of property, if the wife had any.
Whatever goods, effects or valuables of any kind the wife had before marriage, she continued to hold absolutely, and if a separation took place, the wife was entitled to take with her all her property.
These people, like all others in the rude and savage state, were sturdy believers in witchcraft.
Their ancient religious system or mode of worship no doubt contributed to strengthen this belief.
The worship of a good and an evil spirit, must of necessity have produced such results; and dreams were considered the revelation of inspiration too sacred to be neglected or disregarded, and hence the effects of this belief upon the prosperity and population of these tribes must have been, at times, most disastrous.
This is a brief and by no means a perfect outline of the characteristics of a people who occupied the Mohawk valley when first visited by the Europeans.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY
Re: HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY
History of Herkimer County and the Upper Mohawk Valley, continued ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER I, continued ...
After the death of Hendrik, the celebrated Mohawk chief, Little Abraham, his brother, became by the laws of the tribe the war chief of this branch of the Iroquois confederacy, and consequently was the leader of the confederate forces, when upon the war path, unless degraded in accordance with Indian usages.
I shall in a subsequent part of this work again allude to Little Abraham's situation, and give the reasons why he was probably superseded as the war chief of the Six Nations, at the commencement of the revolutionary war through the influence of British officials.*
* I can not forbear to give, in this place, a speech delivered by Garangula, an Onondaga chief, in the presence of De La Barre, the governor of Canada, in 1684. He speaks as the representative of the five confederate tribes, and no doubt in accordance with the usages of these people, which conferred on the chief of his tribe the office of enunciating or declaring the sentiments and wishes of the general council of the cantons. This speech is found in Colden's History of the Five Nations, and the historian may not have done any injustice to the native orator — at any rate the point and sarcasm of the language, spoken in the slow and measured cadence of Indian oratory, must have touched his auditor to the quick, and can not but interest the general reader. It shows a noble specimen of native independence and self-reliance. The sachem, standing in front of the governor who was seated, addressed him as follows: " Yonnondio, I honor you, and the warriors that are with me honor you; your interpreter has finished your speech. I now begin mine. My words make haste to reach your ears; harken to them, Yonnondio. You must have believed, when you left Quebec, that the sun had burnt up all the forests which render our country inaccessible to the French, or that the lakes had so overflown their banks that they had surrounded our castles, and that it was impossible for us to get out of them; yes, truly, you must have dreamed so, and the curiosity of seeing so great a wonder has brought you so far. Now you are undeceived, since that I, and the warriors here present, are come to assure you, that the Cayugas, Senecas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mohawks, are yet alive. I thank you, in their name, for bringing back into their country the calumet, which your predecessors received from their hands. It was happy for you that you left under ground that murdering hatchet, that has so often been dyed with the blood of the French. Hear! Yonnondio; I do not sleep! I have my eyes open, and the sun which enlightens me, discovers to me a great captain at the head of a company of soldiers, who speaks as if he were dreaming. He says that he only came to the lakes to smoke on the great calumet, with the Onondagas. But Garangula says he sees the contrary; that it was to knock them on the head, if sickness had not weakened the arms of the French. I see Yonnondio roving in a camp of sick men, whose hairs the great spirit has saved by inflicting this sickness upon them. Hear, Yonnondio! Our women had taken their clubs; our children and old men had carried their bows and arrows into the heart of your camps, if our warriors had not disarmed them, and kept them back, when your messengers came to our castles. It is done; I have said it. Hear, Yonnondio! We plundered none of the French, but those that carried guns, powder and balls to the Twightwies and Chictagicks, because those arms might have cost us our lives. Herein we follow the example of the Jesuits, who break all the kegs of rum brought to our castles, lest the drunken Indians should knock them on the head. Our warriors have not beavers enough to pay for all those arms they have taken, and our old men are not afraid of war. This belt preserves my words. We carried the English into our lakes, to trade with the Utawawas and Quatoghies, as the Adirondacks brought the French to our castles, to carry on a trade which the English say is theirs. We are born free; we neither depend on Yonnondio or Corlear; we may go when we please, and carry with us what we please, and buy and sell what we please. If your allies be your slaves, use them as such; command them to receive no others but your people. This belt preserves my words. We knock the Twightwies and Chicagicks on the head, because they had cut down the trees of peace, which were the limits of our country. They have hunted beaver on our lands, they have acted contrary to the customs of the Indians, for they have left none of the beavers alive; they killed both male and female; they brought the Satanas into their country, to take part with them after they had concerted ill designs against us. We have done less than either the English or French, that have usurped the lands of so many Indian nations, and chased them from their own country. This belt preserves my words. Hear, Yonnondio, what I say is the voice of all the Five Nations. Hear what they answer — open your ears to what they speak. The Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Oneidas and Mohawks, say that when they buried the hatchet at Cadaraqui, in the presence of your predecessors, in the middle of the fort, they planted the tree of peace in the same place, to be there carefully preserved; that in the place of arms and ammunition of war, beavers and merchandise only should enter there. Hear, Yonnondio! Take care, for the future, that so great a number of soldiers as appear there, do not choke the tree of peace, planted in so small a fort. It will be a great loss, if after it had so easily taken root, you should stop its growth, and prevent its covering your country and ours with its branches. I assure you in the name of the Five Nations, that our warriors shall dance to the calumet of peace under its leaves, and shall remain quiet on their mats, and shall never dig up the hatchet till their brother Yonnondio, or Corlear, shall either jointly or separately endeavor to attack the country which the Great Spirit has given to our ancestors. This belt preserves my words, and this other the authority which the Five Nations have given me. Then addressing himself to the interpreter, he said "Take courage, you have spirit, speak, explain my words, forget nothing, tell all that your friends and brethren say to Yonnondio, your governor, by the mouth of Garangula, who loves you and desires you to accept this present of beaver, and take part with me in my feast, to which I invite you. This present of beaver is sent to Yonnondio, on the part of the Five Nations." The Indian orator in using the name Corlear, in his address, intends to designate the English or colonial governor of New York.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER I, continued ...
After the death of Hendrik, the celebrated Mohawk chief, Little Abraham, his brother, became by the laws of the tribe the war chief of this branch of the Iroquois confederacy, and consequently was the leader of the confederate forces, when upon the war path, unless degraded in accordance with Indian usages.
I shall in a subsequent part of this work again allude to Little Abraham's situation, and give the reasons why he was probably superseded as the war chief of the Six Nations, at the commencement of the revolutionary war through the influence of British officials.*
* I can not forbear to give, in this place, a speech delivered by Garangula, an Onondaga chief, in the presence of De La Barre, the governor of Canada, in 1684. He speaks as the representative of the five confederate tribes, and no doubt in accordance with the usages of these people, which conferred on the chief of his tribe the office of enunciating or declaring the sentiments and wishes of the general council of the cantons. This speech is found in Colden's History of the Five Nations, and the historian may not have done any injustice to the native orator — at any rate the point and sarcasm of the language, spoken in the slow and measured cadence of Indian oratory, must have touched his auditor to the quick, and can not but interest the general reader. It shows a noble specimen of native independence and self-reliance. The sachem, standing in front of the governor who was seated, addressed him as follows: " Yonnondio, I honor you, and the warriors that are with me honor you; your interpreter has finished your speech. I now begin mine. My words make haste to reach your ears; harken to them, Yonnondio. You must have believed, when you left Quebec, that the sun had burnt up all the forests which render our country inaccessible to the French, or that the lakes had so overflown their banks that they had surrounded our castles, and that it was impossible for us to get out of them; yes, truly, you must have dreamed so, and the curiosity of seeing so great a wonder has brought you so far. Now you are undeceived, since that I, and the warriors here present, are come to assure you, that the Cayugas, Senecas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mohawks, are yet alive. I thank you, in their name, for bringing back into their country the calumet, which your predecessors received from their hands. It was happy for you that you left under ground that murdering hatchet, that has so often been dyed with the blood of the French. Hear! Yonnondio; I do not sleep! I have my eyes open, and the sun which enlightens me, discovers to me a great captain at the head of a company of soldiers, who speaks as if he were dreaming. He says that he only came to the lakes to smoke on the great calumet, with the Onondagas. But Garangula says he sees the contrary; that it was to knock them on the head, if sickness had not weakened the arms of the French. I see Yonnondio roving in a camp of sick men, whose hairs the great spirit has saved by inflicting this sickness upon them. Hear, Yonnondio! Our women had taken their clubs; our children and old men had carried their bows and arrows into the heart of your camps, if our warriors had not disarmed them, and kept them back, when your messengers came to our castles. It is done; I have said it. Hear, Yonnondio! We plundered none of the French, but those that carried guns, powder and balls to the Twightwies and Chictagicks, because those arms might have cost us our lives. Herein we follow the example of the Jesuits, who break all the kegs of rum brought to our castles, lest the drunken Indians should knock them on the head. Our warriors have not beavers enough to pay for all those arms they have taken, and our old men are not afraid of war. This belt preserves my words. We carried the English into our lakes, to trade with the Utawawas and Quatoghies, as the Adirondacks brought the French to our castles, to carry on a trade which the English say is theirs. We are born free; we neither depend on Yonnondio or Corlear; we may go when we please, and carry with us what we please, and buy and sell what we please. If your allies be your slaves, use them as such; command them to receive no others but your people. This belt preserves my words. We knock the Twightwies and Chicagicks on the head, because they had cut down the trees of peace, which were the limits of our country. They have hunted beaver on our lands, they have acted contrary to the customs of the Indians, for they have left none of the beavers alive; they killed both male and female; they brought the Satanas into their country, to take part with them after they had concerted ill designs against us. We have done less than either the English or French, that have usurped the lands of so many Indian nations, and chased them from their own country. This belt preserves my words. Hear, Yonnondio, what I say is the voice of all the Five Nations. Hear what they answer — open your ears to what they speak. The Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Oneidas and Mohawks, say that when they buried the hatchet at Cadaraqui, in the presence of your predecessors, in the middle of the fort, they planted the tree of peace in the same place, to be there carefully preserved; that in the place of arms and ammunition of war, beavers and merchandise only should enter there. Hear, Yonnondio! Take care, for the future, that so great a number of soldiers as appear there, do not choke the tree of peace, planted in so small a fort. It will be a great loss, if after it had so easily taken root, you should stop its growth, and prevent its covering your country and ours with its branches. I assure you in the name of the Five Nations, that our warriors shall dance to the calumet of peace under its leaves, and shall remain quiet on their mats, and shall never dig up the hatchet till their brother Yonnondio, or Corlear, shall either jointly or separately endeavor to attack the country which the Great Spirit has given to our ancestors. This belt preserves my words, and this other the authority which the Five Nations have given me. Then addressing himself to the interpreter, he said "Take courage, you have spirit, speak, explain my words, forget nothing, tell all that your friends and brethren say to Yonnondio, your governor, by the mouth of Garangula, who loves you and desires you to accept this present of beaver, and take part with me in my feast, to which I invite you. This present of beaver is sent to Yonnondio, on the part of the Five Nations." The Indian orator in using the name Corlear, in his address, intends to designate the English or colonial governor of New York.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY
History of Herkimer County and the Upper Mohawk Valley, continued ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER I, continued ...
King Hendrik.
This celebrated sachem of the Mohawk canton of the Iroquois confederacy and distinguished war chief of the Six Nations, was born during the latter part of the 17th century, not very near the close of it, however, as he was called "old King Hendrik," at the time of the old French war.
He was in the vigor of manhood and at the hight of power when the upper section of the Mohawk valley was opened for settlement.
From his long association with the Europeans and particularly with Sir William Johnson, whom he highly regarded, and who found but little difficulty in directing the actions of the chief as he thought best, Hendrik had adopted and wore the English costume, and become accustomed to live in a house.
He resided much of the time at the upper Mohawk castle, in the town of Danube, his dwelling being located upon the elevated ground not far from the Indian Castle Church, commanding an extended view of the surrounding country.
He is spoken of as a man of great sagacity and vigor of mind, inflexibly brave and of "immovable integrity."
The French authorities of Canada, with all their intrigues, were never able to move him and his faithful Mohawks from their allegiance to the British crown.
Dr. Dwight says, "a gentleman of very reputable character, who was present at a council held with the Six Nations by the governor of New York and several agents of distinction from New-England [this was in 1754], informed me that his figure and countenance were singularly impressive and commanding; that his eloquence was of the same superior order, and that he appeared as if born to control other men, and possessed an air of majesty unrivaled within his knowledge."
He fell at the battle of Lake George, on the 8th of September, 1755, winning glory, a fortune and a title for his friend, Major General William Johnson.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER I, continued ...
King Hendrik.
This celebrated sachem of the Mohawk canton of the Iroquois confederacy and distinguished war chief of the Six Nations, was born during the latter part of the 17th century, not very near the close of it, however, as he was called "old King Hendrik," at the time of the old French war.
He was in the vigor of manhood and at the hight of power when the upper section of the Mohawk valley was opened for settlement.
From his long association with the Europeans and particularly with Sir William Johnson, whom he highly regarded, and who found but little difficulty in directing the actions of the chief as he thought best, Hendrik had adopted and wore the English costume, and become accustomed to live in a house.
He resided much of the time at the upper Mohawk castle, in the town of Danube, his dwelling being located upon the elevated ground not far from the Indian Castle Church, commanding an extended view of the surrounding country.
He is spoken of as a man of great sagacity and vigor of mind, inflexibly brave and of "immovable integrity."
The French authorities of Canada, with all their intrigues, were never able to move him and his faithful Mohawks from their allegiance to the British crown.
Dr. Dwight says, "a gentleman of very reputable character, who was present at a council held with the Six Nations by the governor of New York and several agents of distinction from New-England [this was in 1754], informed me that his figure and countenance were singularly impressive and commanding; that his eloquence was of the same superior order, and that he appeared as if born to control other men, and possessed an air of majesty unrivaled within his knowledge."
He fell at the battle of Lake George, on the 8th of September, 1755, winning glory, a fortune and a title for his friend, Major General William Johnson.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY
History of Herkimer County and the Upper Mohawk Valley, continued ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER I, concluded ...
The anecdote illustrated by the following dialogue between Sir William, before he was knighted, and the old king, should be repeated, although quite as unreal as most dreams are.
Scene. — Sir William's parlor; the knight seated in deep thought.
Enter King Hendrik giving a searching glance round the room as he approached and saluted his friend.
King Hendrik (addressing Sir William), "I dream."
Sir William. "Well, what did you dream?"
King Hendrik. "I dream you give me one suit of clothes."
Sir William. "Well, I suppose you must have it."
The scene changes, and Sir William and Hendrik meet in their sylvan excursions.
Sir William (addressing Hendrik with a bland smile on his face). "I dreamed last night."
King Hendrik. "Did you?"
"What you dream?"
Sir William. "I dreamed you gave me such a tract of land" (describing the outlines of it).
King Hendrik (pausing). "I suppose you must have it, but" (raising and shaking his finger significantly), "you must not dream again."
The petition of Sir William and thirty-nine other persons for a license to purchase the Indian title to 40,000 acres of land lying between the two Canada creeks, was presented to the governor and council on the 8th of July, 1761, six years after Hendrik's death.
This was the first step taken to obtain the title to the royal grant.
Although a stern and rigorous warrior, Hendrik was kind to the white population of the valley, and was highly regarded by them.
He well understood the extent of his mission — that he must guard and protect the liege subjects of his sovereign to the extent of his power against the attacks of the hostile French and Indians, and he did not fail to execute it.
If he was not the most distinguished for courage and strategy of all the native war chiefs, known to the Europeans, after the settlement by them of the country, history has dealt too favorably with his fame, and he still wears an undeserved crown of immortality.
Note. — I have collected the following notices of Hendrik from the "Documents relating to the Colonial History" of this state. July 8, 1697, he is recognized as a chief of the Mohawk canton. In 1698, he is described as a chief, a "convert to the Christian faith, of eight years' standing," and as being of full age. In 1699, he was examined before the mayor, recorder and justices at Albany, in regard to what he had said about Dom. Dellius's going away, and is spoken of as a married man. 1710, he visited England. 1711, October 9th, at a conference with Gov. Hunter, he gave the governor a letter addressed by the chiefs to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and desired him to thank the Queen of Great Britain for the care taken by her to convert the Indians to the Christian religion. September 3d, 1720, Hendrik, the Maquaes, having been suspended four years before from being a sachem in the tribe, was restored and installed as a chief, at the request and in presence of the commissioners of Indian affairs. In 1753, he attended a conference between Sir William Johnson and the Mohawks, and in 1754 he was at the Congress of the Commissioners from the six northern provinces, held at Albany, to consult on Indian affairs. He was the chief speaker at both of these conferences. Judge Harring, now living, who came to Johnstown in 1795, and at an early day was quite familiar with the inhabitants, old and young, then on the stage, says, that Sir William dreamed for the land known as the Kingsborough patent, where he built his own family mansion, and not for the royal grant.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER I, concluded ...
The anecdote illustrated by the following dialogue between Sir William, before he was knighted, and the old king, should be repeated, although quite as unreal as most dreams are.
Scene. — Sir William's parlor; the knight seated in deep thought.
Enter King Hendrik giving a searching glance round the room as he approached and saluted his friend.
King Hendrik (addressing Sir William), "I dream."
Sir William. "Well, what did you dream?"
King Hendrik. "I dream you give me one suit of clothes."
Sir William. "Well, I suppose you must have it."
The scene changes, and Sir William and Hendrik meet in their sylvan excursions.
Sir William (addressing Hendrik with a bland smile on his face). "I dreamed last night."
King Hendrik. "Did you?"
"What you dream?"
Sir William. "I dreamed you gave me such a tract of land" (describing the outlines of it).
King Hendrik (pausing). "I suppose you must have it, but" (raising and shaking his finger significantly), "you must not dream again."
The petition of Sir William and thirty-nine other persons for a license to purchase the Indian title to 40,000 acres of land lying between the two Canada creeks, was presented to the governor and council on the 8th of July, 1761, six years after Hendrik's death.
This was the first step taken to obtain the title to the royal grant.
Although a stern and rigorous warrior, Hendrik was kind to the white population of the valley, and was highly regarded by them.
He well understood the extent of his mission — that he must guard and protect the liege subjects of his sovereign to the extent of his power against the attacks of the hostile French and Indians, and he did not fail to execute it.
If he was not the most distinguished for courage and strategy of all the native war chiefs, known to the Europeans, after the settlement by them of the country, history has dealt too favorably with his fame, and he still wears an undeserved crown of immortality.
Note. — I have collected the following notices of Hendrik from the "Documents relating to the Colonial History" of this state. July 8, 1697, he is recognized as a chief of the Mohawk canton. In 1698, he is described as a chief, a "convert to the Christian faith, of eight years' standing," and as being of full age. In 1699, he was examined before the mayor, recorder and justices at Albany, in regard to what he had said about Dom. Dellius's going away, and is spoken of as a married man. 1710, he visited England. 1711, October 9th, at a conference with Gov. Hunter, he gave the governor a letter addressed by the chiefs to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and desired him to thank the Queen of Great Britain for the care taken by her to convert the Indians to the Christian religion. September 3d, 1720, Hendrik, the Maquaes, having been suspended four years before from being a sachem in the tribe, was restored and installed as a chief, at the request and in presence of the commissioners of Indian affairs. In 1753, he attended a conference between Sir William Johnson and the Mohawks, and in 1754 he was at the Congress of the Commissioners from the six northern provinces, held at Albany, to consult on Indian affairs. He was the chief speaker at both of these conferences. Judge Harring, now living, who came to Johnstown in 1795, and at an early day was quite familiar with the inhabitants, old and young, then on the stage, says, that Sir William dreamed for the land known as the Kingsborough patent, where he built his own family mansion, and not for the royal grant.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY
History of Herkimer County and the Upper Mohawk Valley, continued ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER II.
Early History of the German Tribes — This Name first Applied by Julius Caesar — Their Authentic History commences with the Christian Era — Early Habits and Stature — Confederation of Tribes — Severe Laws of Conversion to Christianity — The Reformation — Luther and Dr. Eck — Lower Palatinate of the Rhine — Religious Wars — Frederick Prince Palatine — The Heidelburgh Library — The Palatinate Devastated — Continental Wars of Europe — Manheim — Characteristics of these People — A Legend.
The reader having been introduced to the aboriginal possessors of the soil of Herkimer county, so far as can now be defined, will have the goodness to indulge me a few moments, while I give a brief historical outline of a people of known European origin, who first planted themselves in the upper Mohawk valley.
Indeed, the Anglo-Saxon race are of German descent, and whoever claims a Teutonic ancestry, traced through an English channel, will have some of the blood of a Saxon or Dane on which to rest that claim.
Our design in this chapter is to set out, as far as needful, the origin of a race who are losing every distinct national characteristic, which they maintained more than one hundred years upon the American continent.
The Germans were believed, by the Romans, to be an aboriginal, pure and unmixed race of people.
The primitive language of the inhabitants of Germany is the Teutonic, called High Dutch, and has no affinity with the Celtic tongue.
The name Germanum, when applied to the tribes collectively, was first used, it is said, by Julius Caesar; but German historians assert the aboriginal name of these people is what they bear at this time.
It can not be very remarkable that the original collective name of a people inhabiting a particular district of country, so much divided into tribes or septs as was the territory embraced in and now known as Germany, should be familiar to strangers coming from Rome or middle and southern Gaul.
A Teutscher, or Deutscher, according to the method of pronunciation, was a person belonging to the nation.
Some would no doubt translate this as meaning Dutchman.
The first intercourse the original barbaric tribes of Germany had with a people practiced in historical writing, was in the year 113 before the Christian era, 1968 years ago, when the Cimbrians and Teutonians made an incursion into the Roman territories; but this must have been too transitory to have permitted the Romans to take any particular note of the origin or historical antecedents of their invaders.
When Julius Caesar, about fifty years before the birth of Christ, advanced to the frontiers of what might then be considered Germany proper and hence was brought into more immediate contact with its people, he is enabled to speak with certainty.
Any thing like authentic German history commences with the Christian era, and it ripens with the progress of civilization and learning, and light comes to us through the darkness and gloom of the middle ages.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER II.
Early History of the German Tribes — This Name first Applied by Julius Caesar — Their Authentic History commences with the Christian Era — Early Habits and Stature — Confederation of Tribes — Severe Laws of Conversion to Christianity — The Reformation — Luther and Dr. Eck — Lower Palatinate of the Rhine — Religious Wars — Frederick Prince Palatine — The Heidelburgh Library — The Palatinate Devastated — Continental Wars of Europe — Manheim — Characteristics of these People — A Legend.
The reader having been introduced to the aboriginal possessors of the soil of Herkimer county, so far as can now be defined, will have the goodness to indulge me a few moments, while I give a brief historical outline of a people of known European origin, who first planted themselves in the upper Mohawk valley.
Indeed, the Anglo-Saxon race are of German descent, and whoever claims a Teutonic ancestry, traced through an English channel, will have some of the blood of a Saxon or Dane on which to rest that claim.
Our design in this chapter is to set out, as far as needful, the origin of a race who are losing every distinct national characteristic, which they maintained more than one hundred years upon the American continent.
The Germans were believed, by the Romans, to be an aboriginal, pure and unmixed race of people.
The primitive language of the inhabitants of Germany is the Teutonic, called High Dutch, and has no affinity with the Celtic tongue.
The name Germanum, when applied to the tribes collectively, was first used, it is said, by Julius Caesar; but German historians assert the aboriginal name of these people is what they bear at this time.
It can not be very remarkable that the original collective name of a people inhabiting a particular district of country, so much divided into tribes or septs as was the territory embraced in and now known as Germany, should be familiar to strangers coming from Rome or middle and southern Gaul.
A Teutscher, or Deutscher, according to the method of pronunciation, was a person belonging to the nation.
Some would no doubt translate this as meaning Dutchman.
The first intercourse the original barbaric tribes of Germany had with a people practiced in historical writing, was in the year 113 before the Christian era, 1968 years ago, when the Cimbrians and Teutonians made an incursion into the Roman territories; but this must have been too transitory to have permitted the Romans to take any particular note of the origin or historical antecedents of their invaders.
When Julius Caesar, about fifty years before the birth of Christ, advanced to the frontiers of what might then be considered Germany proper and hence was brought into more immediate contact with its people, he is enabled to speak with certainty.
Any thing like authentic German history commences with the Christian era, and it ripens with the progress of civilization and learning, and light comes to us through the darkness and gloom of the middle ages.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY
History of Herkimer County and the Upper Mohawk Valley, continued ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER II, continued ...
Historians describe the early German race as having "but one determined and equal form of body."
"Their chests were wide and strong; their hair yellow, and with young children of a dazzling white."
"Their skin was also white, their eyes blue, and their glance bold and piercing."
Some ancient writers say their usual height was seven feet.
It is also said that "from their earliest youth upward they hardened their bodies by all devisable means."
"New-born infants were dipped in cold water, and the cold bath was continued during their whole lives as the strengthening renovator, by both boys and girls, men and women."
It is not intended to give an extended and detailed view of the habits, manners, regulations, and institutions of these people.
But it is proper to note some points in their History down to the period of the immigration of the Palatines to this western continent.
It must be apparent to all, that in order to provide against assaults from without, there must have been a confederation of the German tribes at some period.
The laws relating to these confederations were very severe, and their principle was, "one for all and all for one, for life and death."
The most perfect of these alliances among the tribes took place about the year A.D. 235, in order to form a barrier against the Roman armies.
The great migration of the Mongolian Huns from Asia and the irruption of the western tribes into Italy between the years 375 and 476 after Christ, changed materially the aspect of things among the German confederates, and subsequently produced changes in their customs and institutions.
It was not until about the close of the eighth century, in the time of Charlemagne, that all the German tribes, or rather nations, were converted to Christianity.
The outbreak of the reformation in 1517 under the conduct of Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar, and professor of theology in the University of Wittenberg, Saxony, is the first great event to which our attention is directed; that being the epoch from which we can trace the causes that drove the Palatines of the Lower Rhine to seek a home in the then province of New York nearly two hundred years afterwards.
It is worthy of note here, that in the celebrated controversy at Leipsic in 1519, which formed an interesting event in the development of the history of those times, two peasants' sons, Martin Luther and Dr. John Mayer of Eck, represented the antagonistic ideas that characterized the times, and whose unity or further division could not fail to produce consequences of the greatest importance in the civilized world.
Luther was the descendant of a peasant family living at the foot of the Thuringian forest in Moravia, and Eck was the son of Michael Mayor of Eck, a peasant.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER II, continued ...
Historians describe the early German race as having "but one determined and equal form of body."
"Their chests were wide and strong; their hair yellow, and with young children of a dazzling white."
"Their skin was also white, their eyes blue, and their glance bold and piercing."
Some ancient writers say their usual height was seven feet.
It is also said that "from their earliest youth upward they hardened their bodies by all devisable means."
"New-born infants were dipped in cold water, and the cold bath was continued during their whole lives as the strengthening renovator, by both boys and girls, men and women."
It is not intended to give an extended and detailed view of the habits, manners, regulations, and institutions of these people.
But it is proper to note some points in their History down to the period of the immigration of the Palatines to this western continent.
It must be apparent to all, that in order to provide against assaults from without, there must have been a confederation of the German tribes at some period.
The laws relating to these confederations were very severe, and their principle was, "one for all and all for one, for life and death."
The most perfect of these alliances among the tribes took place about the year A.D. 235, in order to form a barrier against the Roman armies.
The great migration of the Mongolian Huns from Asia and the irruption of the western tribes into Italy between the years 375 and 476 after Christ, changed materially the aspect of things among the German confederates, and subsequently produced changes in their customs and institutions.
It was not until about the close of the eighth century, in the time of Charlemagne, that all the German tribes, or rather nations, were converted to Christianity.
The outbreak of the reformation in 1517 under the conduct of Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar, and professor of theology in the University of Wittenberg, Saxony, is the first great event to which our attention is directed; that being the epoch from which we can trace the causes that drove the Palatines of the Lower Rhine to seek a home in the then province of New York nearly two hundred years afterwards.
It is worthy of note here, that in the celebrated controversy at Leipsic in 1519, which formed an interesting event in the development of the history of those times, two peasants' sons, Martin Luther and Dr. John Mayer of Eck, represented the antagonistic ideas that characterized the times, and whose unity or further division could not fail to produce consequences of the greatest importance in the civilized world.
Luther was the descendant of a peasant family living at the foot of the Thuringian forest in Moravia, and Eck was the son of Michael Mayor of Eck, a peasant.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY
History of Herkimer County and the Upper Mohawk Valley, continued ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER II, continued ...
The princes of the Lower Palatinate of the Rhine early embraced the tenets of the Reformation, vibrating between the doctrines of Luther and Calvin, as suited the inclinations and peculiar notions of the individual reigning princes and the great body of their people usually changed with their sovereigns.
It once or twice occurred, in the course of one hundred and fifty years, that the reigning prince embraced the old religion, as it was then called; but this happened only when the Palatinate was bestowed upon some new family or house, or when political motives dictated a return to the Romish doctrines; but the great mass of the people rigidly adhered to the Protestant faith.
The final adjustment of the religious questions in the German empire and the conclusion of the treaty of Westphalia, took place in 1648, but this did not put an end to the religious wars in Europe.
During the whole of the seventeenth century, and before and since that period, up to the extinguishment of the title, the emperors of Germany adhered to the Roman Catholic faith, and many of the princes of the empire were devoted to the same tenets; and while multitudes of the peasantry and middle classes embraced the doctrines of the reformation, there was but small hope of toleration until Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, conquered a peace for them.
There were, perhaps, two motives that induced the people of the Palatinate to look to England for succor, at the commencement of the eighteenth century.
Frederick, then Prince Palatine, who had married Elizabeth, daughter of James I, king of England, was in 1619 elected king of the states of Bohemia; but in the year following he was signally defeated at the battle of Weissenberg by the emperor of Germany, driven into exile, and all his estates were confiscated.
This was during the thirty years' religious war in Germany.
By the treaty of Westphalia the eldest son of the banished Frederick was restored to his patrimonial estates of the Lower Palatinate.
This prince was cousin to Anne, daughter of James II, who ascended the British throne in 1702, on the death of William III.
The Palatinate was occupied by the imperial armies in 1623, when the magnificent library of Heidelburg was seized and presented to the Pope of Rome.
It was restored in 1815.
The lower Palatinate was invaded by the French in 1689, many of its towns were burnt and the country devastated, while the defenseless inhabitants, who begged for mercy on their knees, were stripped naked and driven into the fields, then covered with snow, where many of them perished.
One historian, in speaking of the cruelties committed by the French on this occasion, states that "the elector beheld from his castle, at Manheim, two cities and twenty-five towns in flames, and where lust and rapine walked hand in hand with fire and sword."
Thus for nearly seventy-five years was this fair country, described as one of the most beautiful in Germany, the theater of wars and the scene of rapine, ravages and desolations, until the remnant of its population could no longer find a hiding place in fatherland.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER II, continued ...
The princes of the Lower Palatinate of the Rhine early embraced the tenets of the Reformation, vibrating between the doctrines of Luther and Calvin, as suited the inclinations and peculiar notions of the individual reigning princes and the great body of their people usually changed with their sovereigns.
It once or twice occurred, in the course of one hundred and fifty years, that the reigning prince embraced the old religion, as it was then called; but this happened only when the Palatinate was bestowed upon some new family or house, or when political motives dictated a return to the Romish doctrines; but the great mass of the people rigidly adhered to the Protestant faith.
The final adjustment of the religious questions in the German empire and the conclusion of the treaty of Westphalia, took place in 1648, but this did not put an end to the religious wars in Europe.
During the whole of the seventeenth century, and before and since that period, up to the extinguishment of the title, the emperors of Germany adhered to the Roman Catholic faith, and many of the princes of the empire were devoted to the same tenets; and while multitudes of the peasantry and middle classes embraced the doctrines of the reformation, there was but small hope of toleration until Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, conquered a peace for them.
There were, perhaps, two motives that induced the people of the Palatinate to look to England for succor, at the commencement of the eighteenth century.
Frederick, then Prince Palatine, who had married Elizabeth, daughter of James I, king of England, was in 1619 elected king of the states of Bohemia; but in the year following he was signally defeated at the battle of Weissenberg by the emperor of Germany, driven into exile, and all his estates were confiscated.
This was during the thirty years' religious war in Germany.
By the treaty of Westphalia the eldest son of the banished Frederick was restored to his patrimonial estates of the Lower Palatinate.
This prince was cousin to Anne, daughter of James II, who ascended the British throne in 1702, on the death of William III.
The Palatinate was occupied by the imperial armies in 1623, when the magnificent library of Heidelburg was seized and presented to the Pope of Rome.
It was restored in 1815.
The lower Palatinate was invaded by the French in 1689, many of its towns were burnt and the country devastated, while the defenseless inhabitants, who begged for mercy on their knees, were stripped naked and driven into the fields, then covered with snow, where many of them perished.
One historian, in speaking of the cruelties committed by the French on this occasion, states that "the elector beheld from his castle, at Manheim, two cities and twenty-five towns in flames, and where lust and rapine walked hand in hand with fire and sword."
Thus for nearly seventy-five years was this fair country, described as one of the most beautiful in Germany, the theater of wars and the scene of rapine, ravages and desolations, until the remnant of its population could no longer find a hiding place in fatherland.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY
History of Herkimer County and the Upper Mohawk Valley, continued ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER II, continued ...
The Catholic rulers of France for a time sided with the Protestant league in Germany during the thirty years' war, and soon afterwards cut the throats of their Huguenot subjects at home.
The continental wars of Europe, at the close of the seventeenth and commencement of the eighteenth centuries, seem to have been promoted very much by religious considerations.
The see of Rome was determined to "crush out" heresy, and exerted all its spiritual and temporal powers to accomplish it, and well did the Catholic powers and princes of Europe second the papal injunctions, except when great reasons of state intervened to prevent.
The majority of Europe adhered to the Romish faith.
From the proximity of the Lower Palatinate to France and the Netherlands, it is very probable that it received accessions of population from both of those countries during the religious wars; and Manheim, a strong and well-built city at that day. was in the year 1576 appointed as the place of retreat for the families of the reformed religion, at that time driven from the Spanish Netherlands, which considerably enriched this electorate.
A historian of the last century describes the people of the Palatinate as "the most civilized and polite of any in Germany; extremely open and hospitable to strangers, and generally well informed."
Although some of the characteristics of these people may have been modified by their intercourse with their southern and more civilized neighbors, commencing nearly fifty years before Julius Caesar invaded Gaul, it is not supposed that this intercourse was so marked or extensive as to change materially the habits, manners and customs of the inhabitants of the Palatinate from those of their German countrymen, or that they lost any of the primitive High-Dutch tongue.
It is not remarkable that a people so strongly attached to the nomadic life as the early Germans were, and being divided into tribes or septs, should vary in their dialects in the different provinces, all however emanating from the same original language.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER II, continued ...
The Catholic rulers of France for a time sided with the Protestant league in Germany during the thirty years' war, and soon afterwards cut the throats of their Huguenot subjects at home.
The continental wars of Europe, at the close of the seventeenth and commencement of the eighteenth centuries, seem to have been promoted very much by religious considerations.
The see of Rome was determined to "crush out" heresy, and exerted all its spiritual and temporal powers to accomplish it, and well did the Catholic powers and princes of Europe second the papal injunctions, except when great reasons of state intervened to prevent.
The majority of Europe adhered to the Romish faith.
From the proximity of the Lower Palatinate to France and the Netherlands, it is very probable that it received accessions of population from both of those countries during the religious wars; and Manheim, a strong and well-built city at that day. was in the year 1576 appointed as the place of retreat for the families of the reformed religion, at that time driven from the Spanish Netherlands, which considerably enriched this electorate.
A historian of the last century describes the people of the Palatinate as "the most civilized and polite of any in Germany; extremely open and hospitable to strangers, and generally well informed."
Although some of the characteristics of these people may have been modified by their intercourse with their southern and more civilized neighbors, commencing nearly fifty years before Julius Caesar invaded Gaul, it is not supposed that this intercourse was so marked or extensive as to change materially the habits, manners and customs of the inhabitants of the Palatinate from those of their German countrymen, or that they lost any of the primitive High-Dutch tongue.
It is not remarkable that a people so strongly attached to the nomadic life as the early Germans were, and being divided into tribes or septs, should vary in their dialects in the different provinces, all however emanating from the same original language.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY
History of Herkimer County and the Upper Mohawk Valley, continued ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER II, concluded ...
This brief outline of the origin and persecutions of a people whose exodus from Europe to America it is designed to notice, will doubtless be excused, if not approved of, in a work so entirely local as the one in hand.
A more extended recapitulation of European history in respect to the events to which the writer has aimed to give prominence, seems not to be required or desirable.
He has brought forward historical evidence of the facts he presents to the reader's consideration; concurrent historical evidence, and that is the best testimony he can produce after the lapse of more than three hundred years since some of those events happened, and one hundred and fifty years since the latest of those events transpired.
The reader who desires to see more on this head, is referred to Kohlrausch's History of Germany.
There is an historical legend connected with German history to this effect, but which is variously related by German historians.
Drusus, the Roman general, had made three campaigns into Germany, and while progressing on the fourth, in the 9th year before the Christian era, he was standing alone on the banks of the Elbe, ruminating no doubt on the events and fortunes of war, when a supernatural figure in the form of a gigantic woman of stern and threatening appearance stood before him and addressed him in the following language: "How much further wilt thou advance, insatiable Drusus?"
"It is not appointed for thee to behold all these countries."
"Depart hence the term of thy deeds and thy life is at hand."
Drusus retired from his position on the Elbe, whether from fright and dismay at hearing words which in that age might be deemed prophetic, is not certain, and in a few weeks fell from his horse and died in consequence.
In a superstitious age an ardent imagination might have conjured up spectres quite as appalling as this, but it is probable this was a device of some of the prophetic women of the county.
Note — Approved authors assert that the early German tribes navigated from central Asia into Europe.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER II, concluded ...
This brief outline of the origin and persecutions of a people whose exodus from Europe to America it is designed to notice, will doubtless be excused, if not approved of, in a work so entirely local as the one in hand.
A more extended recapitulation of European history in respect to the events to which the writer has aimed to give prominence, seems not to be required or desirable.
He has brought forward historical evidence of the facts he presents to the reader's consideration; concurrent historical evidence, and that is the best testimony he can produce after the lapse of more than three hundred years since some of those events happened, and one hundred and fifty years since the latest of those events transpired.
The reader who desires to see more on this head, is referred to Kohlrausch's History of Germany.
There is an historical legend connected with German history to this effect, but which is variously related by German historians.
Drusus, the Roman general, had made three campaigns into Germany, and while progressing on the fourth, in the 9th year before the Christian era, he was standing alone on the banks of the Elbe, ruminating no doubt on the events and fortunes of war, when a supernatural figure in the form of a gigantic woman of stern and threatening appearance stood before him and addressed him in the following language: "How much further wilt thou advance, insatiable Drusus?"
"It is not appointed for thee to behold all these countries."
"Depart hence the term of thy deeds and thy life is at hand."
Drusus retired from his position on the Elbe, whether from fright and dismay at hearing words which in that age might be deemed prophetic, is not certain, and in a few weeks fell from his horse and died in consequence.
In a superstitious age an ardent imagination might have conjured up spectres quite as appalling as this, but it is probable this was a device of some of the prophetic women of the county.
Note — Approved authors assert that the early German tribes navigated from central Asia into Europe.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY
History of Herkimer County and the Upper Mohawk Valley, continued ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER III. 1709 to 1722.
The Immigration of the Palatines — Joshua Kockerthal and his Company — Arrive at New York in 1708-9 — Naturalized in England — Settle in Ulster County — Second Arrival in 1710 — Sickness and Deaths on the Passage — Governor Hunter — Board of Trade and Plantations — Lands on the Mohaks River and Skohare to be Surveyed — Hunter buys Lands of Livingston — Complaints of the People — Their Children taken from them and Bound Out — John Peter Zenger the Printer — They Volunteer to go to Canada under Col. Nicholson in 1711 — Refuse to Stay Longer on the Manor and Insist on going to Scohary — Party Migrate to Schoharie Creek in 1712 — Reason why placed on Frontiers — Character of Robert Livingston by a Minister of the Crown — Gov. Burnet's arrival — His Instructions — John Conrad Weiser — Third Arrival of Palatines, 1722 — Burnet to Board of Trade — Indian Deed to Palatines — Their Desire to Remove — Object of the Home Government — Results not foreseen.
The origin or cause of the first immigrations from the Lower Palatinate of the Rhine to America, as we have seen, was religious persecution, and the devastations of the country consequent upon the religious wars of Europe, of which Germany was the battlefield nearly one hundred years.
The affinity existing between the sovereigns of England and the Palatinate, and the deep sympathy felt by Protestant Englishmen for their suffering brethren in Germany, produced the application to Queen Anne, in 1708, to send the Palatines to her then colony of New York.
Immigration of the Palatines.
In the first quarter of the eighteenth century, three bodies of these people arrived in New York, having been sent over at the expense of the British government.
By an order in council made at Whitehall, England, May 10, 1708, it appears that Joshua Kockerthal, evangelical minister, and several poor Lutherans, had come to England from the Lower Palatinate in Germany, being forty-one persons, ten men, ten women and twenty-one children.
They are described as having been reduced to want by the ravages of the French in their country, and are represented as being of good character.
This paper states they would have been sent to Jamaica or Antigua, but it was feared the hot climate of those islands would prove injurious to their constitutions.
It was finally concluded to send them to the colony of New York, where they could be employed in obtaining naval stores after being seated on the frontiers as a barrier against the French and their Indians; and on the 10th of August following, the provincial governor was directed to provide subsistence for Joshua Kockerthal and fifty-two German Protestants, and "to grant him 500 acres of land for a glebe with liberty to sell a suitable portion thereof for his better maintenance till he shall be able to live by the produce of the remainder."
An order was made in the provincial council at New York, May 26, 1709, to continue the relief promised by the queen until the expiration of twelve months from the date of their arrival, and this relief was to include clothes, mechanical tools and materials to work with.
This was the vanguard which was to be planted in advance of the population then in the province as a barrier against the common enemy.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Judge Nathaniel S. Benton
Published in 1856
CHAPTER III. 1709 to 1722.
The Immigration of the Palatines — Joshua Kockerthal and his Company — Arrive at New York in 1708-9 — Naturalized in England — Settle in Ulster County — Second Arrival in 1710 — Sickness and Deaths on the Passage — Governor Hunter — Board of Trade and Plantations — Lands on the Mohaks River and Skohare to be Surveyed — Hunter buys Lands of Livingston — Complaints of the People — Their Children taken from them and Bound Out — John Peter Zenger the Printer — They Volunteer to go to Canada under Col. Nicholson in 1711 — Refuse to Stay Longer on the Manor and Insist on going to Scohary — Party Migrate to Schoharie Creek in 1712 — Reason why placed on Frontiers — Character of Robert Livingston by a Minister of the Crown — Gov. Burnet's arrival — His Instructions — John Conrad Weiser — Third Arrival of Palatines, 1722 — Burnet to Board of Trade — Indian Deed to Palatines — Their Desire to Remove — Object of the Home Government — Results not foreseen.
The origin or cause of the first immigrations from the Lower Palatinate of the Rhine to America, as we have seen, was religious persecution, and the devastations of the country consequent upon the religious wars of Europe, of which Germany was the battlefield nearly one hundred years.
The affinity existing between the sovereigns of England and the Palatinate, and the deep sympathy felt by Protestant Englishmen for their suffering brethren in Germany, produced the application to Queen Anne, in 1708, to send the Palatines to her then colony of New York.
Immigration of the Palatines.
In the first quarter of the eighteenth century, three bodies of these people arrived in New York, having been sent over at the expense of the British government.
By an order in council made at Whitehall, England, May 10, 1708, it appears that Joshua Kockerthal, evangelical minister, and several poor Lutherans, had come to England from the Lower Palatinate in Germany, being forty-one persons, ten men, ten women and twenty-one children.
They are described as having been reduced to want by the ravages of the French in their country, and are represented as being of good character.
This paper states they would have been sent to Jamaica or Antigua, but it was feared the hot climate of those islands would prove injurious to their constitutions.
It was finally concluded to send them to the colony of New York, where they could be employed in obtaining naval stores after being seated on the frontiers as a barrier against the French and their Indians; and on the 10th of August following, the provincial governor was directed to provide subsistence for Joshua Kockerthal and fifty-two German Protestants, and "to grant him 500 acres of land for a glebe with liberty to sell a suitable portion thereof for his better maintenance till he shall be able to live by the produce of the remainder."
An order was made in the provincial council at New York, May 26, 1709, to continue the relief promised by the queen until the expiration of twelve months from the date of their arrival, and this relief was to include clothes, mechanical tools and materials to work with.
This was the vanguard which was to be planted in advance of the population then in the province as a barrier against the common enemy.
TO BE CONTINUED ...