"x vV>^r. '^^ -^ :3^' K\ ^^^^^ -I ^ ^^A V^ .-Jv / ^.♦^ ii^* OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE BY THE GERMANS : -mg an Answer to a Circular Letter, aMressed to the Author^ by "• Tilt Historical and Philosophical Societij of the State of JYew- York:' By JOHN M. BROWR SCHOHAm^*F PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,' El L, COTHBERT. •• »......« 1823. jk '. ■ ■■■, -j,-- ' • \ ^ •»• ^\.-pL ^DVERTISEMEJVT. TTIE Jufhor begs leave to submit the foHoiving pages to the J^iblic, all written frnm his own memory ; baing well aware that it cannot, in every instance be perfertly correct. But finding that so valuable a part of history as the 'emigration of the Genians fiom Germany — their journey — arrival at JSew- York, and their settlement and improvement of Schoharie would be lost, time u earing out memory, therefore hoping and expecting that future generations yet to come, may be benefitted by his labour, is the mdcht wish of your humble servant, jOHjsr M BHonjv. Carlisle^ Schoharie County, November 2\Jthy 1S23. [is^tm^s RESPECTED DEAR FRIEND, VKRY unexpected I received your Circular Let- ter, pointedly directed^to me I took on myself lo answer the compliment : but *\vith pain and reluctance I take up my pen to 'inswer your request— not because I have been an idle observer or spectator of the revolutions of times and events; neither of that 1 have forgotten what I knew, heard or seen, or has in any wise tome to my view or comprehension — but on account of not being a scholar, and that I never had an opportunity of readnig a geogra- phy in my life; ^that perhaps! take not the right mean- (ing of the request, and so make an answer to no purpose, I as also that my nature, through the poverty of my parents, is not cultivated lo any promising degree. I was born at the Blue Mountain, Ulster County, m the year of our Lord, 1745, November 5th, Old Style; lost my mother at 18 motjths old, then ?»rought up by my gr ,nd- father, Matthew Junck, at West Camp, so called, be<'ause the first Germans that came over, sent by Queen Anne to America, in the year 1712, encamped, and wintered in ground huts the winter ensuing. My grandfather used to teach a German School three or four months every winter, Until the year 1752, then quit, when I was seven years old. He was tlie first that taught school among all the Germans in America. He was a very perfect good reader and sing- er in the German Low Dutch and Knglish, but a very poor writer, and knew no arithmetic at all. Hence I date all my education 1 ever had. My father re-married this year at Schoharie, to a widow who owned a small property of ten acres of land, and a- bout £110 in money ; sat up his trade of a Wheelwright. He was the first that followed that business in all Scho- harie, and also made the first Cider-press in the whole town, being now in the year 1753. Schools were then principally taught in the German and Low Dutch. In the year J757, then in the French war, my father fetched me up to Schoharie and put me to his trade ; with whom I continually lived, and folloued his profession un- til I was twenty-four years old. Schools now began al- ternately to be introduced in English. Schoharie then was a part of the county of Alhany, m(u- ated thirty-six miles to the west, without even a privilege of a Supervisor, until at or ahout tfie year 1765 The su- pervisor had to be chosen in Alhany, and to be a resident of the Corporation until this tinie. Schoharie then contained (note in the year 1752, but 101 houses, making up about 125 families. The greatest number Germans of those aforesaid, and about one third Low Dutch from Schenectady and Normanskill ; alto- gether by a guess, about 875 souls ;) ^lich same ground iiow occupies 4638 electors, and 19.323 people, amazing increase ! At that time the Indians consisted in about a quarter of the whole population. They were then out- laws ; naturally inclined to revenge and murder against the white people and among themselyrs. A K*-quaw shot & killed one a step- father of Johannes Acker, on a Sunday, when returning from meeting. They contirmed in that practice until the commencement of the Revolutionary war: In my time I saw one Wilham, a son of Jan, stab and kill another at the house of David Becker in Wisers- dorp. After this, another stabbed and killed a negro- man, a drummer to Capt. Van Arnein's company, at the Hclleberg, at the house of Isaac Cole, on a training day : And the vVry same Indian very shortly after, stabbed and jiilled an Indian in Cobleskill, in the house of George Ferster, on the place where Lambert Lawyer now lives. This was done at the time I lived where I now do. Scl'oharie, so called by an Indian name, from a creek by the Indians called Skochalie, which runs trom east to uest, and falls into the Schoharie Rirer at a place former- ly called Wisersdorp, (now the town of Middleburgh,) then down north, till it falls in the Mohawk River, at Fort Hunter, now called Caghnawaga, Schoharie was first inhabited by a French Indian prig- pner; married to a Mohawk Squaw. His name was Kar-* ijrondorite, whose father-fh law sent him there, and gave him land, for fear that the Mohauk Indians would kill him when they got drunk, and gave him land, as the Mo- hawk bore a arreat enmity to the Frei>ch. Other Indians, Mohawk, Mohegan, Discarora, Dela- ware, and Onidas, flocked to him, so that he increased to a nation to about three hundred strong, and established chiefs among them; who then pretended to be the own- ers of all that vast territory of land, and granted convey- ances thereof Queen Anne having intended to settle America, sent ; her agent to purchase land from the natives ; for which purpose she sent messQngers to Germany, to invite people to come over and^ttle, and promised that they should have the land thl^ possessed, free. In consequence whereof, manv caiiic over ; and a purchase was made, be- jginning near little Schoharie creek, at high water mark jof the b], so called by the Hollanders. They w^re then sent up Hudson's river, to East and West Camp, so called, because the first Germans encamped and wintered there in ground and log huls. From thence broke up in the next spring, and went up to Albany, then called Fort Orange. The city, or ra- ther village, was called the Foyck, but by the Indians was called Schogneghtaday, the most of the whole being In- dian traders, and altogether of the Low Dutch. From thence, being provided by order of Queen Anne, with provisions and tools on their backs, started and travelled 10 Icllanf " '"'" P-^"" '""' '^y^' ■'<"•-« '!-r -ached Here it will be well to relate, that on the tliir.I ,tav fourth day they were in sight of Schoharie!!™,,' Hed chlldrl*'""^ l"'^ ^'"'""^ •" *^^' fi'-^^ ^^^k, afler three children were born, namely, Johanes Eirhqrf Wllk! frw 1 K r u ^^^^ Uwyer. they found the land cood and much o the H Us clear. The Indians, who weP^ a'i the people they found, hayinj,. shifled, they went to wor'- and planted corn, which the? ^ot of the native an In work.ngthe ground wi.h the.r broad hoes, they fou,^ a potatoe-hke root which they called earth aco7ns a so another, they called earth beans, which they cooked or roasted, and so served thera for ^ood nfth'l'»^''l' "" 'l'^; ^.^'''^''' Sternbergh carried . aplnt of wheat along the Indi.n foot path from Schenectady to bchoharie ; tjiere sowed or rather planted it over more than an acre of grouml, which grew well ; and the next year he reaped and thrashed it, and measured ^3 skipple out of It This was the first wheat ever raised in Schoha- rie; and by about 40 years after, it was reckoned that one year in another, they carried 36,000 skipple to Albany JNow the new inhabitants soon began to think them- selves well off. By their industry, and great fertility of the soil, they soon got plenty to eat— wore moggisins— bnckskm breeches and j .ckets of leather, which they plentifully obtained ,f tr.e [nd.ans. Nine of them owned thH tirst horse, which was a gray. But now a new and very great ditficilty was felt : they had no grist-mills; no te^uns ; no hors-s ; no roads fit (or passage, but Indian toot pahs They stanped and also peeled their corn by h^^lp of lye. and then cooked it to eat. Their wheat they earned to Schenectady to grind, a space of nineteen miles, 11 every man about a skipple to his load : sometimes there uould CO tNvei.lv in a drove, often men and woiuen togetti- er. fills the/ had to do for ihjee or four years, until a grist-mill vvas built by one Willara Fox. By now, the people bei^an to lhii»k themselves very well otr, having plontv io eat, began to have stock-used hor- .es-made ihei'r own block sleighs for use at home, and wooden shod s!ei;v a new one and a rai-hty great one was born. Ignorance mav be said was the mother ; she brought forth twin upon twin, so that she damped all hopes of their ever doing u ell in Schoharie any more. Some pulled up stakes, iA wtiicti the German flats were settled : Otliers went down to the Susquehaunah, ar d down to Pennsylvania, by which the iMill-Creek in Torpehahen has been peopled. Tb^- great evil they saw was this : here I cannot pass by, without exposing ibe mighty stupidity and black igno- rance of my German brethren, ia order to do justice to the truth. Queen Anne supposed that her Germans by this time, might be handsomely settled, sent her agent, by the name of^NichoUs Bayard, a man wno had lost one eye, with full power to give a deed to every man ot what- soever land he did possess, provided he made known his boundaries. Mr. Bayard was the grandfather of Stephen M. Bayard, now living in Albany or Schenectady, with whom I have conversed ; and he did yet remember of this tiansaction. i u r Mr. Bayard came to Schoharie, put up at the house ot Hansyerry Smidt, from whence he issued his order, that every householder should bring in the boundaries of his possession, and receive his deed. But the poor ignorant souls, struck like with thunder, supposed it to be a trick, to get themselves and children under that hateful yoke ot 12 tyrannic land holders, to be again enslaved forever, and had now for some years tasted perfect liberty, resolved to Kill ttie agent and die iree. On the next morning they arose all like one man—sur- rounded the house of Smith, some weaponed with anns some w'l.h pitch-forks-women with hoes, ond others'w th clubs, demanding Mr. Bayard alive or dead : on relus I hred sixty balls through the ruof of the house, which was all the ammunition they had. Mr. Bayard was well arrn- €d with pistols, sometimes fired back,' but did no execu- tion JN.ght came on, and they left the house. Mr. Bay- ard le t the house, and in dark of the night, travelled 20 miles to Schenectady : from thence he again sent a mes- sage that if any man should appear, and acknowledge him to be the King's agent, nith the gift of one ear of corn, he so doing shonld have a free deed of Jl his pos- session. Mr. Bayard waited for some time, but not one did appear. Mr. Bayard, no doubt, felt crusty, as he could do noth- tng with those fools; went to Albany and sold the whole to seven partners I will name such as 1 remember, to D /*";. V^^^r?^""' Le^^'s Morris, Mvndert Schnvler, eter Vanburg Livingston, and three ot"^hers, who a'fter- vards went by the name of the Seven Partners of Scho- lane, fcchoharie now soon found out that there was a new land at the bellows. They were scon called upon take eases and to pay rent, or to purchase. Thev refused all. he seven paitners seeing they could gain nothing, tho't bout trying tne law: sent their Sheriff, by the name of idams, to apprehend the most principal men and ring- Naders of the whole, to bring them to terms of justice.— .ut when the Sheriff began to meddle wi>h the first man, mob of women rose, of which Magdalene Zee was cap- iin. He was knocked down, and dragged through every ud-pool in the street ; then hung oifa rail and carried ur miles, thrown down on a bri fge, where the captain ok a stake out of the fence, and struck him in the side, at she broke two of his ribs, and lo^^t one eve ; then she ssed in his face, let him lie and went ofT. 13 Poor Adams, bruised nnd woiinded as he was, had no other uay left, but to help himself as well as he was able ; made himself uj> and made for Albany : on the third day arrived at the Veneber^h, and from the.,ce he was fetched wTth a wagon to Albany. Thus ended this affray. I have mvself seen this very Adams, pnd have the relation frorn hi; own mouth, together with the confirmation of several of the old Schoh^jrie people. After this circumstance, the Schoharie people got ver} shv to o-o to Albany— made the practice to send their wives for salt, or not to enter Albany but on Sundays, and then out again. This the seven partners well obser- ved, held themselves quiet, till after a whde got them tame, so that they supposed all was now again at rest, when at a time, a pretty good drove happened to come down after salt The seven partners had their sher.fl and posse rea- dy, took every one of them, and clapped them to jail.— The most notorious were put in the dungeon, among whom was young ('onradt Wiser. . „ o . i • This news like lightning, went through all Scnohane, and alarmed them to the highest degree ; and im their rage resolved to delegate old Mr. Conradt Wiser to Eng- land, to obtain redress for their grievances, and to have amends made for their frequent and several abuses, also praying the King for future safe protection. Young Con- radt VViser soon got tired of his dungeon, resolved to a- gree to take a lease and pay rent ; so did all the rest that were in jail. But before they were permitted to leave their confinement, they were compelled to witness, swear and sign the whole of their conduct and transaction in the cause of Adams and Bayard. This done, they were per- mitted to depart home in peace, bewailing tlieir misery as they went, whilst the seven partners carefully, and with all convenient speed made the whole business known to King and Parliament. Old Conradt Wiser now arrived at England with his petition, and went to lay it before the King and Parliament, in order to solicit the desired redress. But Oh ! how was he there mortified, when he found the King and Parlia- ment fully informed, from Bayard's mission down to the 14 cruel and unlawful dealing with ihe King's officer, the High Sheriff, Mr. Adams. The consequence was, that the Germans of Schoharie, were looked upon ab a pack of monstrous outlaws, denying the King's legal authoril)', and ought to be treated as such : and old M. Wiser was clap- ped into the Tower, where he had to remain one whole year, before he got out with permission to return to Amer- ica again. But for being murderously disappointed and fully beat at last, got so embittered against the seven partners, that many, together with VViser, conclu led to leave Schoharie, in order to get rid of their troublesome company at once forever. Conradt Wiser after his return, soon persuaded a great many to leave Schoharie, and seek an asylum under the great William Penn. They marched from Schoharie, a southwest direction, for the Susquehannah, with an Indian guide, together with their cattle and families, where they arrived in a five day's journey, at a place called Cook- house. 1 here they made canoes, so rmvigated their fam- ilies down by water: their cattle followed by land all a- long the shore, until they arrived in Pennsylvania, at a place called Tolpelrahen. There they all settled on a large brook, called in the German Muehiback, in the Kng- lish Milbrook, where some of their descendants dwell un- to this day, Here I must remark a curious instance, name- ly : twelve of their horses run away, and in 18 months af- ter, ten of them arrived in good health and strength in Schoharie, a distance no less than 300 miles. By this time the people had learnt to buy their land of the seven partners peaceably; but began to get a little wiser: next made Indian purchases and took Indian deeds for large tracts, then went to the governor and council to obtain their letters patent. The governor and council who understood themselves, very well too, were not apt to grant any patents, before they had secured a good slice to themselves, or some of their friends. At or about the year 1759, Sir William Johnson became the King's Jack or agent, with full powers, not to permit an Indian purchase to be legal, unless it was made in his 15 presence and wii<>:nificant company of old countrymen undertook to dig ; andas they were a blasting, they came on a run of water (lridlir;g from the rock and dried by the sun, ap- peared to he the best Spanish green. Now a division came between tliem : s:^me were for following the wafer, and others for blasting deeper. Tlie consequence was, that t!ie party for lollovving the waier, broke off. The other party kept the work untd they got through the rock, 16 where they found nothing but low land soil ; there it en- ded, and the last French war begun. This relation I have personal]) of one of the workmen. Next 1 shrdl take notice oi Plattekill, just below what was called Dices Manner, now in the town of Bristol, where there is an inexhaustible quarr}^ of stone, for grind- stone ; and hundreds are made there now, equal to any imported. Thirdly. I shall mention Minekill and Mine patent, go called, because the Indians would sometimes bring silver ore from there. However, they would never discover the very spot where they got it, as also because ccippcr ore was tljere found : for that reason a patent of 5,000 acres was taken to cover this ground. Samples of this copper ore, may be seen at the Court-House, with Judge Bouck at this day. On the west side of the Schoharie creek, nearly oppo- site the Court-House, at the beginning of the revolutionary war, a mine was opened by one Mr. Stout, a chemister, of Hessian Castle, under the superintendence of the Provin- cial Congress, in ordei to make brimstone; who made 1700 weight in a winter. He also made what they call English salt, out of a kind of black slate, which he found there in abundance. Some say that he made a great ma- ny cf cur old sort of coppers ; but for this I have no proof. From hence proceeds a rocky and ledgy country, for several miles backwards, and ends in and about the town ol Warren, in Herk»mer county ; all in a distaiice from twelve to twenty miles, south of the Mohawk River. The stones are chiefly lime, fire stone, and a kind of a silvery black slate. In the town of Carlisle, ten miles west from the Scho- harie creek, v\ herein I now reside, and have lived these forty-five years, are brimstone waters; the spring mny be smelt tor 'miles distant. The great brimstone spring in the town of Sharon, and brimstone hill in Cherry- Valley, are remarkable for this. In this town, are also found samples of plaster of Paris, and there are also discovered signs of sea coal. It is also said, that some of our Bear swamps contain as good Marl and Turi, as any in Ireland. 17 Schoharie creek cannot afford any profitable water nav- igation, but affords many good places for water machine- ry, and is very scant of tish. I have now gone through as far as I understood, the Circular Letter, and shall now dis- miss the subject, well knowing it merits no great praise. If any be bettered, and if any be benfitted by my infor- mation, it shall suffice. Finally, I have my reward, and let it go for what it will fetch. Postscript'^ With this request, that if ever any should come to print, that some better hand should put it in a better dress, as to grammar and phraseology. As to the facts herein contained, they are plain in my memory and knowledge. Dnce more finally, 1 have taken no time to make corrections. I am, with much esteem, Dear Sir, your most obedient humble servant. (Signed.) JOHN M. BROWN. To Mr. De Witt Clinton. Carlisle^ County of Schoharie^ March IQth, 1816, May \^lh> Since the above was finished, it is almost reduced to a certsinty, that there is and must be, an inexhaustible bed of iStone Coal m ihif town, in ihe place called New Rhio'-beck, where (h^re is a veiy remarkable high and round hill sepa- rate from all strings ol hills, and can bt fe< n ever al! our mountains, and by the In- dians talltd Ovpelus Sowlus. The meaning I do not understand. It f.ny panif uUrs of some heads- s^h uld be desired, I hall have no objection to give the exp.auati'in that I am capable of, being alive and well. I -hall cntinue now to relate the reasons ol- some old occurreme?, and names of Ihe county ofSthhwrie. It must then be remarked, ihat ihe Germans, when 'eltlirig, settled al' in towns, which ia Vheif language wa? called ve little i?< hoharie creek, to the west side of ihe groat Schoharie creek, lai a great fiat, over which Adam Vroman alterwards took a patent !or six liiin(h>d acres, vesied by certain ui. moveable b>u^ . aries ; and when it was afterwards surveyed by Uie King's surveyor, it proved to coniain 1400 acres of full the be-t lowland in all Schoharie, fiere "ihey now settled all t'.ji.ther; Ihe whole Kangh Ondonte tribe. Their Chiefs, thai remained in my lirne, were eih, ilansyer- ry, Josep Hanelie, and Aggy Awi er, logfther with iheirSquaws, of the direct lii.e of Karigh Ondonte, namely : Lisiqnet, Wawly and Ci'.toline, who always [ eielended (o have the exclusive title of (he soil, .n the very best of this tract Ihey sellled ; and King George, I suppose, caused a Pi( quet Fort and some Barracks to he built theiein, wh.cii was d -ne \.j one young Johauf-s Bei ker, for the sum of eight pounds. IJere (hey gave names to (aree particular hilis, namely :— Onisto Graw, Conegena, ano Mohe- gan, by which liiey continue to b^; named this diy. Conradt Wi.ser. so often named, seltied about two miles lower down than tl is In dian setllemeni, wifhin an hundred rods of the stamp block 'T boundiiy ther afier raemioaed, (or as the Indians called i(, the high water mark, though it was nevei b. - lieved by white men, ti/at (he Indians had seen water there, until the year 1784 and 1785, when they witnessed tiie (io ofl, which had ri'en lour or live (eet above the mon- ument o( (he stump block,) together wit.', ail lho>e belonging to his list. Here now (iiey built a farmer's town alter the manner of a city, all in streets. This now was Ihe very place where the abuse of Snerifl' Adam? aforesaid, first begun, and was calS- ed VVisersdorp, now in (he town o' Miodlebursjh. At or aboui iivo milojs lower down lo north, Hartman Wintekkerand his company, settled an I IjuiIi their (own in the same lasiiion. And I have heard the old ptoj"ie say, (hat thi (own < on-is(ed of sixty -Ce houses. Her" were the fi>st ap|)le tires pJHn- ted to an orchard in iDchoharie, by "iiuns V/iihelm Kcmmer, and Ihiii was called iiart, 20 man's Dorff. Next down was Brunnendorff, in the English, the town of Springrs, or Spring Town, settled chiefly by the men that belonged to Johans Yerry Smidt'* list. Here is now the Court and Meeting House, and a village by the name ol Somerville, in the town of Schoharie. Then adjoining Hansyerry Smith, settled together with the remainder of the ^>ec- ple, remaining of his list. He had the best house in the town, which was Ihaiched with straw, and at the time when the mob rose against Mr. Bayard, whereof pariirular mention has been made before. Here is nothing more to observe, but on the low land was an Indian village and burying ground, o/ which I never saw any thing wor- thy of remark. This was called Schmit's Dotff. Next did William Fox settle together with the men of his list. Here a creek comes down from the town of Bern, and runs west till it here falls in the Schoharie creek, and takes his name Foxen Kill, and is a stream on which a good deal of business is done by water ; together called Foxendorff. Then next did Elias Garlock settle together with the men of his list. Here was an Indian castle, though on the west side of the Schoharie creek, in which Lambert Sternbergh raised the first wheat that was ever faised in Schoharie. The mighty in- crease as mentioned before, will be doubtful perhaps, to every reader ; yet my inform- ers were many, and of the most credible characters in Schoharie : and here it was cal- led Gerbach's Dorff. And lastly, did John Peter Kniskern settle together with the men of his list ; and he is the onU one of all the list men, whose offspring remained in his town to this day. And this wa? called Kniskern's Dorff. Opposite to this town, Cobleskill creek falls in the great Schoharie creek, so called after the name of a certain man who cleared a spot at the outlet, under pretence of building a mill Ihreon, but never was brought to pass ; bit by the Indians was called Ostgavawge. Up this creek, are fouii'l veiiis of brimstone ore, running through the rocks in the bottom of the creek. Further up lies the town, called by the same name. This creek first springe in the highest ground in the t3wn of Wooster, between Schoharie and the Susquehannah. At this same place, where the Scenevers creek before made mention of, springs and runs to the southwest and empties i^to the Susquehannah river. This Cobleskill creek in the town of the same name, is fed by another stream or creek, springing at East Hill, in the town of Cherry- Valley, and runs the whole lcnpire a grain than a grass country. It is, however, in a jreat measure declined. The pea bug had made its appeaianre, as I have been told, eighty or Binety years ago, but did depart again. About nineteen years ago, they made us another visit, and troubled us for several years, so that we despaired of rais- ing peas ; bgt now seem entirely to have left us, and we raise them again about as good as ever. The Hetsian fly or insect, also has been here, but never done a gensr- al damage, and now tor two years have done us no damage at all. FOOT-PATHS, HIGHWAYS, and TURNPIKES. In the year 1712, there were no other roads to Schoharie, but five Indian- foot paths, the iirst beginning at Catskill, leading up that stream to a large swamp orflye, where it springs, about seven miles southeast from the stamp block, or boundary monument of Queen Anne's patent before mentioned, the Lonenburs; turnpike now following that same rout ;. The Lonenburg turnpike continues on to Wbersdorff through Schoharie, C'bleskill, and Sharon, ontii it intersects the Gieat Western Turnpike, in the town of Cherry Valley, in the county of Otsego. The second, beginning at Albany, led over the Helleberg, which is the most north- erly point, or the end of that notable hill called Ihe Blue Mountains. Thence on Westerly, until it struck Foxenkill, and thence down the stream into Schoharie, at Foxendorff. Th s was the road which the first settlers travelled, when they moved up into Schohune. On this route, with but very little variation, went the first Schoharie 22 f road to Albany. I did not however, learc that any wagon went through (hat wSy, betoie the year I75U, or thereabout, when the farmers began, six, eight, or ten to- gether, and made one trip to Albany, with a w^gon, in order .o get their rum. pep- per and tea, ror harvest. Theyqjjiad no other road for market, until the year i762, when a new road was opened from Foxendorff, through Duane-burgh. intersecting the old Schenectadj road at the half way house, at Truax's. The third I .dian footpath, beginning at Gerlachdorff, leading through Duaneshurgh to Schenectady lowland, whereul before is made meotioa of. So with that, fh»-y wtnt sometimes twenty men, women and children in a drove, each a grist on his head or on his back, to Schenec- tady lowland, to get ground. The (ourth took its start from Knisknernsdorff, leading down the Schoharie creek to Fort Hunter. This was for the mist part travelled but by the Indians, for relation- ship of the Karigh Ondonte family. They also sometimes travelled through Schohar- ie to the Susquchaniiah, lo a place called by the Indians, i^wquawge, where the first Gospel was taught unto the I dians, by one ElishaGan. The last also took its beginning at Kniskernsdorff, and led farther up the river, into Canajoharie, and struck just r.;iove Anthony's nose, in order to have a higher cut to the upper castle, at or near ttie Little Falls. This foot path ha- been much travelled by the Germans ; in the summers for most part, on barefoot : yet in my lime, by (he people of Schoharie, and the people of the German Flats, on account m connections, friends and relations. This foot path continued in full us" in the year 1762, at a time when Sir Wi.liim J ihnson h^ld a general review of the Schenectady Brigade of Mili- tia, at the upper cas le, and hdd there an ox roasted whole, the first lever heard or saw. 1817. Now we have sufficient turnpikes in lieu of Indian roads, going through the couiiiy of Schoharie, and very likely, more of them than will be able to maintaiti themselves, Irom the loll they will raise these many years. THE COMMENT and CONCLUSION. For this, I shall now (or the first, remark, that there never was a philosophic insti- tution, but (or the sole purpose of making men wiser, heiter, and consequently, more hap|)y. A great argument, that mankind is, and always was corrupt, and that lh^re is a probabiliiy ol mending ; so far this is all very right, and a duty on all to pursue. But none brought it to any thing like perfection; neither did any e'er find perlect satislaction therein, even (or h'mself at all, as the writings of them, yea tlic very he»t of them, when considered, prove to a demonstration. But the philosophy of Jesus Christ, ii I may so call it, or the religion of the Son ot God, has infinitely far oveiwent them all. His Gospel plan has proved the only one, wherein perfect satisfaction ever Was (ound. That word of the great I AM, his revealed will in the Gospel, has bro't thi- ar lO'-tances occur, so many w'wic ^^^^ obligation be, ^We I, if ail thi. be in any ^vay «;""f'^«^^/,7t7hi youth may be ta«sht that of Ttf .hose whose duty it is m part,cul»r to see to >t, th^ J J^. ^^ ^^ ^^^^ ,_ "vi'dom which is alter Gmiliness, and .^profitable in th.. I.le ^^ ^^.^ ^ Sd shocking must be »he judgment hat w II fall on ea^^ S ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^,^ t^ A generalevi; cannot be averted, but „ St break^m ^.^g^^. ^^^^ ^^^^ ^:;^z:::^^:^;:^^'s^^^^^^^^ our ood. ^ '>!- V^^ x^ -^A V^ V ,^^ "^"^^ ^^A >^^ ^ -0-' / -^c.. o^'" A<^' .; "^A v^' A^ *^^ ^^ ^.;V^v^ ^^^ -^^ ..^^ ♦^ O- A' v\^' \'' < ^X' * ^^yf:% "o % A' V <- A^^'^^. .■-V-' ^ -n*-. ...0-, ''. '^. A^ l\ 5-' ^^ >^. ^r^" ^^^^^ .V ,^^ ^ ^l3 -^ ' / 1- ,0- ^5 " .^^ -^^^^ ^ -^^ .;■* *'<^. .-N^ ^. '^' ''■"If a"^' *t^' ^0 r