[208] Hugh White of Middletown, Connecticut, was one of the four purchasers of a confiscated Tory patent known as Sadequahada, he being the first settler west of German Flats, on the Mohawk. Coming out to his purchase in 1784, with his entire family of sons and sons-in-law, he settled what was for a time known as Whitestown, whither a number of Connecticut relatives and friends followed in succeeding years. Judge White was a man of ability and much physical strength. He attained considerable influence with the Oneida, who adopted him into their tribe. Dying in 1812, he left many descendants. Originally known as Whitestown, the village surrendered that title to the township, and was incorporated (1811) as Whitehall Landing, a name changed two years later to Whitesborough. The Oneida Historical Society in 1884 celebrated the centennial of the founding of this place by erecting a granite shaft upon the village green. Whitesborough at one time bid fair to rival Rome and Utica, but has now a population of only two thousand.—Ed.
[209] The village of New York Mills, the site of the first cotton factory in the state, was founded in 1808 by Walcott and Company. In 1825 a partnership was formed with Benjamin Marshall, of New York City, who retired in 1847. The mills are still owned and managed by the Walcott family.—Ed.
[210] Skenandoah (Skenando) died in 1816, reputed to be a hundred and ten years old. He favored the Americans in the Revolutionary War, and was long known as the white man's friend, an eloquent advocate for peace, and a Christian of strong character. His grave is at Clinton, Oneida County, near that of his friend, the missionary Samuel Kirkland.
The incident in relation to White's granddaughter (not daughter) is well authenticated. See D. E. Wager, History of Oneida County, New York (Boston, 1896), p. 618.—Ed.
[211] At the close of the American Revolution a grant of 300,000 acres upon Grand River, Ontario, was secured from the British government, and the entire tribe of Mohawk removed thither, accompanied by British sympathizers from the other Iroquois tribes. The reservation is now reduced to about 60,000 acres. Mohawk also live at St. Regis, Caughnawaga, and Bay of Quinte, Quebec. A descendant of Joseph Brant, the great Mohawk chief, recently stated that there were still 30,000 Iroquois in Canadian boundaries. See F. W. Halsey, Old New York Frontier (New York, 1901), p. 320.—Ed.
[212] At Utica, originally a ford on Mohawk River, a small fort was erected during the French and Indian War, named Fort Schuyler, but it was abandoned before the Revolution. The first two houses were built upon the site in 1786; the early prospect for growth was not bright, and the increase was slow. The village was incorporated in 1798, when the new name was selected by lot. The city charter was received in 1832.—Ed.
[213] German Flats was the original seat of the Palatines who emigrated to New York in large numbers in 1710, and began to settle as early as 1712 on land patented to them by the Mohawk. The settlement was for many years the outpost of the Mohawk Valley, and thus was sadly harassed in Indian wars. In November, 1757, French and Indians led by Belestre fell upon the village, carried away captive many of its inhabitants, and burned the entire settlement. A similar fate befell the place in 1778, when the Mohawk chief Brant advanced against this valley, and continued attacks were maintained by his people until the close of the war. The Germans were loyal to the American cause, and under General Nicholas Herkimer formed the bulk of the army that won the day at Oriskany. About 1784 there was a large influx of new settlers of American stock. The chief town of the settlement is now known as Herkimer, with a population of about six thousand.—Ed.
[214] Canajoharie, in Montgomery County, was the site of a Mohawk village where Joseph Brant had his early home. In 1750 Philip Van Alstine built the first house upon the site, and ten years later erected thereon a mill. The early settlers were chiefly Germans, and the place suffered severely during the Revolutionary War, being raided successively in 1780 and 1781. By 1790 the settlement had taken on new life, and by 1829 was incorporated as a town.
Near Rotterdam, an early Dutch settlement, is located the oldest house of that region now extant, thought to have been built in 1680, and known as the Jan Mabie house.
Schenectady (also called Corlaer in early days) was laid out in 1662 by Arent Van Curler and fourteen associates. As a frontier settlement in King William's War, it suffered an attack and massacre by French and Indians (1690). In 1705, Queen's Fort was built therein, and it was garrisoned until the Revolution. The first town charter was obtained in 1763, and the city incorporated in 1798.—Ed.