Trappers of New York;
"°. ^' -nf ^^ < <^ll<' -^ J,-^ o * .0' A' MAJOR NICHOLAS STONEl'., As accf)ntre(i for tho forest. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK, OR A BIOGRAPHY OF NICHOLAS STONER & NATHANIEL FOSTER; TOGETHER WITH ANECDOTES OF OTHER CELEBRATED HUNTERS, AND SOME ACCOUNT OF SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON, AND HIS STYLE OF LIVING. BY JEPTHA Rr^SIMMS, AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY, AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK. He lifts the tube, and levels with his eye ; Straight a short thunder breaks the frozen Bky.— Pope. ALBANY : J. MUNSELL, 82 STATE STREET. 1871. Fli.3 Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1850, by JEPTHA R. SIMMS, In tlie Clerk's Office for the Northern District of New York. It Trp-sfer PEEFACE. " To be ignorant of all antiquity," says a popular • writer (I. D'lsraeli), " is a mutilation of the human mind; it is early associations and local circumstances which give bent to the mind of a people from their infancy, and insensibly constitute the nationality of genius." This is a truism which can not be contra- travened, and although the world is now full of books for good or ill, yet 1 venture to add another. Well, as this is only a duodecimo, may I not bespeak for it a little share of public favor ? For if it is but a small volume, it has nevertheless required considera- ble time and care to collect and arrange its minuti^. the author does not claim for it a place among classic works, which sparkle with literary gems; but he does claim for it the merit of candor. In a work purporting to be one of truth, he would not impose upon the credulity of others, what he could not be- lieve himself. This book has been written with the view of giving the reader some knowledge of the peril-environed life of a hunter; in connection with the early and topo- graphical history of a portion of northern New YorK. As the forests disappear, the country is settled and wild game exterminated; that hardy race of indi- viduals which followed the chase for a li vin- will have 4 PREFACE. become extinctj indeed, those who would have been called professional hunters, have now nearly or quite all left the remaining woods of New York, and most of them sleep with their fathers. Many of the names with their daring adventures are now forgotten. How important is it, therefore, to place on record what can still be gathered respecting them, to live in future story; when some American Scott shall have arisen to connect their names and deeds forever, with the rifle-mimicking mountains, the awe-inspiring glens, the hill-encompassed lakes, and the zigzag- coursing rivulets — upon, within, around, and along which they sought with noiseless footstep the bounty- paying wolf, the timid deer, and fur-clad beaver. 1 may remark, that one motive in producing this book has been, to contribute materials for the future history of the state. Says an American scholar (W. A. Whitehead), "The general historian must gather his facts from the details of local annals, and in proportion as they are wanting must his labors be imperfect." A small budget of antiquarian matter, and some interesting incidents of the American Re- volution are here introduced; and in connection with this subject, I will take occasion to say, that I am collecting original matter of an historical character, with the intention of publishing it at a future, not distant day. There are yet unpublished, many reminiscences either of, or growing out of our war for independence, both thrilling and instructive. PREFACE. 5 Not a few such are now in the writer's possession. They are generally of a personal and anecdotal na- ture, and many of them were noted down from the lips of men whose heads are whitened by the frosts of time, or are now laid beneath the valley-clods. If such an anecdote should still linger in the mind of a reader of this page, or any old paper of interest remain in his or her keeping, that individual would confer a favor by communicating the same to my address. Our Revolution is destined, in its fullness of benefit, to emancipate the world from tyranny; and every minute incident relating to that great struggle is not only worthy of record, but highly important, for the proper understanding of its cost to the young, to whose guardianship its principles and advantages must soon be confided. The difficulty of preparing a work for the press where much of the matter is to be obtained by con- versational notes, IS only known to those who have experienced the task; and such best know its liability to contain error. The biography of Major Stoner has nearly all been read over to him since it was written out, and corrected; I can with confidence, therefore, promise the reader, as few errors in this as he will find in any work similarly got up. In con- clusion, I would fain express my grateful thanks to those individuals who have in any manner contributed towards making this volume. Fultonville, m Y. J. R. SIMMS. INTKODUCTORT NOTE TO THIRD EDITION. An impression seems to have stolen upon the credulity of many- persons, that a full account of Maj. Stoner's eventful life had not been given in this work ; but that after his death, the reader would be startled by the narrative of a score of tragic scenes, vieing with each other in horrid detail. Desirous of making the work as authentic as possible, before the first edition of it was published, the matter relating to Mr. Stoner was r6ad over, not only to him, but to Jacob Shew, a compatriot in arms, and after as well as before the war, a resident of the same county. At its conclusion the latter observed that my Leatherstocking had been very candid with me, and as he believed, had told me of all the fatal rencontres he had ever had with Indian hunters, which were much talked of at the time of their occurrence. Mr. Blakeman, a hunter whose name appears in the book, thought Mr. Stoner had killed one Indian whose death I had not recorded, but the senior hunter at a later interview explained the whole matter. The Indian, as he said, did not wait to be killed, and the blood seen near the deserted cabin, which confirmed Blake- man's suspicions, was that of a deer. And here let me add, I never conversed with a more candid and seemingly conscientious man than Nicholas Stoner. He died Nov. 24th, 1853, and was buried at Kingsborough. As some credulous people are looking for what is never to appear, unless in a workof ^diow, the reader is assured, that after each of the preceding editions of this work were issued, Mr. Stoner, who had read it himself, informed the writer in all candor, that although he had frightened very many Indians, this book contained a true account of all that he had actually killed. He good-humoredly added, that some knowing ones told stories about him which had no foundation in truth, and appearing desirous to make him a very bad man. 1857. J. R. S. CONTENTS. Chapter L *arentage of Nicliolas Stoner — Description of his person — His trapper's dress — His schooling — First settlement of Fonda's Bush — Signification of the name — First settlement at Fish House — Some account of Sir William Johnson — His style of living at Johnson Hall — His household — First school-house in Johnstown — School children how treated — Manners taught — Anecdote of Jacob Shew at school — Schools of former days in New England and New York — Johnson's Fish House when built — Its site — Fonda's Bush — Plank roads and stage routes — Village of Northville — Its first settlers — First settlers at Den- ton's Corners ------- Page 15 Chapter II. Reasons for Sir Wm. Johnson's locating in Johnstown — Scenery between the Mohawk and Sacondaga rivers — The great Sacou- daga Vlaie — Vlaie Creek — Its source and Indian name — Origin of the marsh — Singular discovery of a lake — Stacking- ridges — • Cranberries — Johnson's cottage on Summer-house point — His carriage road — Nine mile tree — Sacondaga Patent — Summer- house how built and painted — Its Garden — Creek entering the Vlaie — Origin of their names — Summer-house point in fresh- ets— Wild game — Visit to the point in 1849 - - 30 O CONTENTS. Chapter III Signification of Sacondaga — Its great angle — Name for Daly's oreek how originated — Residence of Henry Wormwood — Inti- macy of Sir William Johnson with his daughters — His signal for a housekeeper — Four in a bed at the Fish House — Disposal of Wormw ood's family — Sale of Fish House and its farm — Cost of Sacondaga bridge — Summer-house point fortified — Fate of Johnson's cottage — Willie Boiles drowned — Sale of Summer- house point — Mayfield settlement — Its first mill — First mill on the Kenuyetto — Anecdotes of Sir William Johnson — Dunham family 1-42 Chapter IV. Nicholas Stoner's boyhood— He enters the army— Gen. Arnold's device to raise the siege of Fort Stanwix — Evidences of the Oriskany battle — Gen. Arnold in the battle of Saratoga — Stoner -end Conyne how wounded — Three Stoners on duty in Rhode Island— Anecdote of a theft— Stoner a prisoner— Capture of Gen. Prescott— Attempt to capture Stoner and others near Johnson Hall — Signification of Cayadutta — A prisoner from necessity ---------55 Chapter V. Baker for Johnstown Fort — Singular incident at his house, and dangerous situation of Stoner — Residence of Jeremiah Mason — His daughter Anna— The Browse family — Stoner pigeon hunt- ing— He takes his captain on a hunt — Hunters how alarmed — Browse family remove to Canada — Maj. Andre's gallows how constructed — Stoner eats pie near it — How he got two flog- gings— How the British Army surrendered at Yorktown — Er- rors in pictures — Stoner's first day at the siege — First fire on the British works — Nicholas Hill finds many friends — Henry CONTENTS. 9 Stoiier leaves the army — Is murdered by the Indians — Trea- chery of Andrew Bowman — His treatment at Johnstown fort — Prisoners made at Johnson Hall ----- 70 Chapter VI. ^ohn Helmer in jail — Escapes from it three times — Stoner in New York at the close of the war — Is one of the band per- forms at Washington's leave taking — Stoner and his stool pigeon before Col. Cochrane — His return to Johnstown — First marriage of Anna Mason — Her husband how slain near John- son Hall — Stoner 's marriage — Is deputy sheriff— The Stoner brothers again in the army — British invasion of New York — Battle of Beekmantown — Anecdote of Maj. Wool — Battle of Lake Champlain and death of Commodore Downie — Gen. Macomb fires a national salute — Burial of his remains — Mourn- ers at his grave — Celebration at Plattsburg  — Hunter's law — How accoutred for the forest — Intemperance an attendant on war — De Fon- claiere keeps a tavern in Johnstown — How his horses ran away — Indian hunters at his house — Stoner obtains an ear jewel — An Indian boasts of killing his father — Is branded with a fire- dog — The Indians leave the place — Stoner in jail— How lib- erated— His celebrity in Canada - - - - 111 Chapter VIII. ;oner's bear-trap — Precaution in its use — Bait for beaver — Sea-^ son for hunting — Accident to Capt. Jackson — Dunn in Jack- son's place — Hunters' lodges how constructed — their larder how supplied — Johnstown hunters meet Indian trappers — Fierce quarrel at Trout lake — An Indian falls upon the shore — 10 CONTENTS. Dunn transfixed to a canoe — Stoner in the enemy's camp — Trophies he there obtained — Hunters return home — Stoner and Mason hunt together — Mason discovers bear's tracks — Stoner seeks an interview with Bruin — Discovers him on a log over the Sacondaga — A rifle is heard and the bear falls into the river -------- ]23 Chapter IX. Stoner annayed by a bear in his wheat and corn-fields — How he loses one leg of his pantaloons and kills the bear — A deer hunt — Hunters swamped at Stoner's Island — Have a gloomy night — Frederick's gratitude towards Stoner for saving his life — Stoner and Mason on a long hunt — Food how cooked — A peep at a hunter's camp— Out of provisions the hunters seek a settlement — Stoner almost shoots another blanketed bear — Mason arrested in Norway as a spy — Is liberated — Hunters return to the woods — They meet two Indians — Stoner mis- taken for the hunter White — A quarrel — An Indian's death yell — His comrade takes leg-bail — Johnstown hunters return home with three guns — Stoner suspected of smuggling mer- chandise— Anecdote of Green White - - - 134 Chapter X. Hunter's moccasons how made — Stoner hunts with Griswold — A dog eats a moccason for Griswold — The loss how repaired — Stoner hunts with Capt. Shew at the Sacondaga Vlaie and there shoots a wolf — Stoner and Forest on a hunt trap an eagle — Diflferent trappers with whom Stoner is associated — With an Indian partner visits the head of Grass river — There met a white hunter with a squaw — Stoner makes a map for him to go to Johnstown — Hunts with the Indian Gill — Latter spears the beaver — Stoner hunts with Obadiah Wilkins who encoun- ters an Indian — Magic of Stoner's name — Stoner's last diffi- culty with Indian hunters — How he loses a trap and fur — How CONTENTS. 1 1 he gets his trap and pay for the fur— The Sabbath how regarded by hunters— Admonition of a young Indian— Stoner's dog in trouble— Spirit of Mary Stoner - - - 146 Chapter XI. Major Stoner a widower— His voluntary marriage— Again a widower— His last marriage— His present residence— Garoga and Fonda plank road— Chase's patent— Foohsh expression of Capt. Chase— Stoner a pilot for surveyors— Signification of Piseco — Goes to a settlement for food — Has a warm job of it — Law students in the forest— Ice discovered— Fourth of July how celebrated— Stoner skins a hedgehog— Description of the country— Prospective view of it— Newspaper notes of Lake Byrn— Sundry other lakes— Lake Goodluck, why so called— Water privileges of Hamilton county — Description of the country, by Dr. Emmons — Stoner and others discover a dead man near Jesup's river— Importance of preserving Indian Chapter XII. Birth place and marriage of Nathaniel Foster— Settles in Salis- l3ury — Description of his person — His success the first year in hunting — Large game killed by him — Anecdotes of his wolf killing— 'Supplies Museums with moose skins— Is near being shot— His rifles— A tussle with a deer— A wolf for a pet- Where Foster learned to write — Brown's tract of land — Source of mill stream — Brown attempts to settle his lands — His death — Herreshoff goes there — His birth place and person — Clears up land— Builds a forge— Expends large sums of mo- aey — Becomes discouraged and commits suicide — Time of his death — Inquest — Place of burial — Inscription to his memory — Cost of his iron — His taxes — Brown's tract when and by whom surveyed — Its townships — Survey of roads — Moose lake — In 12 CONTENTS. dian clearing — Distance from Boonville to forge — Huckleberry lake — Surveyor kills a hedge-hog — Anecdotes of Herreshoff 175 Chapter XIII. Benchley's description of Brown's tract — Usual route to it — Use of drays — Size and power of Moose river — Present condition of early improvements on the tract — Its ore — Effect of erecting a dam — Lakes how numbered — First lake — Dog Island — Second lake — Foster's Observatory — Third lake — Grass Island — Fourth lake — Line between Hamilton and Herkimer counties — Extent of tract — Respect for the Eagle — Description of ' the Indian Foster killed — Effect of liquor — Foster's vision — Five Echoes — North Branch lakes and outlet — Fifth and Sixth lakes — Carry- ing place — Foster at sixty — Prospective use of a lock — Seventh lake — Beautiful view — Character of Green White — His tragic fate — His success in hunting — The hunter Williams — Place for trout — Pitch pine grove — How Foster shoots a deer — Why he would kill a doe — Eighth Lake — Racket inlet — Grave of Fos- ter's victim — Floating for deer — Jerseyfield lake — Jock's lake — Little Salmon and Black River South lakes — Physical outline of this region of country, by Lardner Vanuxem - - 191 Chapter XIV. Brown's tract tenantless — Is a resort for hunters — Premises leased — Lease assigned to Foster who moves there — Indian Peter Waters or Drid — A debt — Drid threatens Foster's life — Goes to his door to shoot him — An interview — Indian attempts his life — Foster before a peace officer — Apprehensions of Foster's family — Last interview between Foster and his foe — Their threats of vengeance — Foster on Indian's point — Drid's ap- proach— His death — Foster aids in getting his body home — Foster is arrested — Note explaining cut . - - 208 CONTENTS. 13 Chapter XV. Foster is arraigned before Judge Denio — Is tried and acquitted — How he received the verdict, and leaves the court room — His acquittal how received by th« public — Anecdote of Joseph Brant - - 218 Chapter XVL Foster's answer to Gen. Gray — Stoner's opinion of Foster's and his own skill as marksmen — How Drid's friends received his death — Advice to Foster's- family — Drid's wife returns to the St. Lawrence — Foster removes to Pennsylvania — Returns to Boonville and dies there — The Indian Hess — Importance of a country tavern— How Foster and Hess meet and part — Run- ning fight with a moose bull — Sudden appearance of Hess — He threatens to kill Foster — Falls from a log over his own grave — Mysterious sayings — How he shot eighteen otters — His eye-sight improved by venison — Signification of Oswegatchie — How Foster carried bullets — Anecdote of his rapid firing — How he made his camp in the woods — How he accoutred for the chase -------- 241 Chapter XVII. Incidents in the life of Jock Wright — His birth, habits and ap- pearance— Is a soldier — Captures British officers — How he parts with one of them — He scalps a British ally — Visits his former prisoner in Boston — Again a hunter — The rattle snake Hunter — A snake fight — Death of a panther — Wright removes to Norway — His family — How he lost and found his jug — The hunter Nicholas — His stock in trade — A reason wanted for his habits — He hunts with Wright — Finds lead ore — His death — Jock's lake — Crookneck the hunter — How he almost caught a deer, and got caught himself — How uncle Jock kills two 14 CONTENTS. moose — Hi j opinion of a certain prayer — Gets sick and prays himself — Crookneck on snow shoes — Beaver's meat — Uncle Jook draws a pension — When he made huts — His death - 253 Chapter XVIII. Some account of the heaver — Peculiarity of its flesh — Its food — Bait used for its capture — Its social hahits — Its dams and dwellings how constructed — A beaver community how fore- warned of danger — Hahits of the otter — Its food — Form of its feet — Its sagacity in preparing its burrow — The muskrat — Not easily exterminated — Its fate in freshets — Habits , of the pine marten — Its size — The wolverine — How it annoys hunters — Its great strength ----.--- 272 J TEAPPERS OP NEW YORK. CHAPTER J. Incidents of greater or less interest occur in the lives of almost every member of the human family, which only need be known to be justly appreciated, or sub- serve some good and wise purpose j but occasionally an individual crosses the broad landscape of life, whose career may be said to consist of a bundle of incidents — the greater part of whose existence is in fact so full of novelty as to claim, for at least a por- tion of it, a record for the benefit or amusement of mankind. Of the latter class is Major Nicholas Stoner, some of the most romantic and daring of whose ad- ventures are presented in the following pages. To say that a man lived through the American Revolution and participated in its perils, is alone sufli- cient guaranty that he can, if at all intelligent, recount unique and thrilling scenes as yet untold in history; but when we meet with one who has not only been exposed to the perils of an eight years' war, but has shared in the dangers and hardships of a second war — one, in truth, whose life has been chequered with a thousand hazardous exposures between and subse- quent to those wars J we may expect, almost as a m? t- 16 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. ter of course, to learn from him not a little that will prove acceptable to the general reader, nourishing " The seeds of happiness, and powers of thought." The facts here given of this celebrated warrior, were noted down by the writer from his own lips at personal interviews; not a few of which have been corroborated by the testimony of others. It is the fortune of very few individuals to pass through a long life surrounded by such a variety of perils, without receiving more personal injury. Henry Stoner, the father of Nicholas, emigrated from Germany to the American colonies, as is believed, nearly twenty years before their emancipation from British tyranny. He landed at New York, and after a short residence in that city removed to the colony of Maryland, where he married Catharine Barnes, by whom he had two sons, Nicholas and John. Nicholas Stoner, who was about a year the senior of his brother, was born Dec. 15, 1762 or '63; which year is not now known with certainty, the family record having been burned with his father's dwelling in the Revolution. He is five feet eleven inches high, of slender but sinewy form; and though his light brown hair is now ( 1848) silvered by the frosts of fourscore winters, and his body is a little bent, yet his step is still firm without a cane, and his intellect vigorous. He has from boyhood worn a pair of small rings in his ears. His complexion, owing to his mode of life, is now swarthy. In his younger days he must have been a man TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 17 of uncommonly prepossessing personal appearance; for his acquaintances of forty years' standing, speak of him " as one of the likeliest looking men they have ever known." His walk — in(ieed,alraost every motion, betrays his forest life, for he moves with the caution of a trapper and the stillness of a panther; added to which he becomes impatient and vexed at restraint. The frontispiece, which gives a good likeness of hiff at the age of about eighty-three, exhibits him accou tred as a trapper. He usually wore a fur cap when hunting, and a short coat, or cloth roundabout. A belt encircled his waist, at the foot of which was fastened a bullet pouch, and beneath which upon the leftside were thrust a hatchet and knife; while under his right arm hung a powder horn of no mean capacity. When trapping for beaver, he was often loaded with a bun- dle of double-spring steel traps; which were suspended beneath the left arm. The frontispiece was engraved from two daguerreotype likenesses, one of which was taken in the village of Johnstown, on the 10th of Sept., 1846; and as there was a militia general train- ing in the village on that day, the old hero was not only accoutred with little trouble to visit the artist, but was greeted at every turn by numerous friends and acquaintances, all eager once more to grasp his hand and give him a friendly salutation. The other min- iature, although it does not exhibit the old trapper in his forest garb, was taken subsequently at his place of residence, and is by far the best likeness. A bor- 18 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. rowed cap seen in the picture, conceals much of his intelligent brow. New York city again became the residence of Henry Stoner while his children were quite young, during which Nicholas went to school and learned to read. He was sent to school by John Binkus (if I have the orthography correct), a man of wealth, who had mar- ried Miss Hannah Stoner, a sister of the young stu- dent's father. During the Revolution, this Binkus became a refugee officer in the famous corps of Gen. De Lancey. Henry Stoner, who had been a kind of trafficker or speculator in a small way since his arrival in the colonies, after a second residence in New York of a few years, resolved to become a pioneer settler, and removed with his family to Fonda's Bush, a place in the Johnstown settlements, so called after Major Jelles Fonda, who took a patent for the lands. The place is situated about ten miles north of east from the village of Johnstown, and the same distance west of north from Amsterdam* Fonda's Bush signifies the same as if it were called Fonda's Woods, a dense forest covering the soil at that early period — bush being the usual term for woods on the frontiers of New York. Indeed, the Sugar Bush is the present appellation given to woods from which maple sugar is made. A t the time of Stoner's arrival, Johnstown, though but a small village, was becoming known abroad, as it was the residence of the baronet, Sir William Johnson (after whom it was called), whp TKAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 19 as Indian agent for the Six Nations, and as a military man of repute, was notorious in what was then Western New York. As Stoner was the first settler at Fonda's Bush, he left his family in Philadelphia Bush, while he was erecting a log dwelling four miles distant. The last mentioned place, now in the town of Maryfield, ob- tained its name from the fa^t, that one or more of its first inhabitants were from Philadelphia, or the vicin- ity of that city. Some tw^o years after Stoner fixed his residence in the wilderness, Joseph Scott, and about the same time Benjamin De Line, also located in his neighborhood. I say neighborhood because they were the nearest neighbors of the Stoner family, although from one to two miles distant. His residence was still on the wild-wood side of his pioneer brethren. The next man w^ho fixed his residence in the vicinity of Stoner, was Philip Helmer, who drove the wild beasts from their haunts and broke ground two miles to the eastward of him. Andrew Bowman, Herman Salisbury, John Putnam, Charles Cady, and possibly one or two others, also settled in and about Fonda's Bush before the Revolution. Cady, w^ho married a daughter of Philip Helmer, was one of the first settlers at the west village. He is believed to have gone to Canada with Sir John Johnson. It must have been about the time of Stoner's loca- tion in Fonda's Bush, that Godfrey Shew, a German, made the first permanent location near Sir William 20 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Johnson's fishing lodge, denominated the Fish House, and situated on the Sacondaga river, eight miles north-east of Stoner's dwelling. Before Shew planted himself at the Fish House, several families of squatters had been there, who had gone " to parts unknown," and desirous of getting a wholesome citizen to remain there, the baronet held out liberal inducements to Mr. Shew, of which he accepted. In my History of Schoharie County, etc.,, I have given some account of Sir William Johnson, with several anecdotes of him — described his stately man- sions, and told the manner of his death, &c., &c.; but at the time of publishing that work, I was not aware that he had a more celebrated summer residence in the latter part of his life, than that denominated the Fish House. From conversations held within the past year ( 1849) with the aged patriot Jacob Shew, who is a son of Godfrey Shew named above, I am enabled to garner up some more incidents in the life of this no- bleman, and authentic memoranda of the classic grounds under consideration, which can not fail to prove interesting to future generations, even though they are little appreciated by the present. Sir William Johnson, after establishing himself at his Hall in Johnstown, no doubt lived in greater affluence, or more in the style of a European noble- man of that day, than ever did any other citizen of New York. His household was quite numerous at all times, and not unfrequently was much increased by TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 21 distinguished guests. He had a secretary named Lafferty, who was a good lawyer and did all his legal business. He had a houw-master, an Irishman named Flood. Bouw is a Low Dutch word signifying har- vest— or as here used, an overseer or manager of the laborers of the Hall farm. From ten to fifteen slaves usually performed the labor on the farm, and they were under the immediate direction of the bouw-master. The slaves, some of whom had families, lived across the Cayadutta creek from the Hall, in small dwell- ings erected for them. They drest much as did their Indian neighbors, except that a kind of coat was made of their blankets by the Hall tailor. He had a family physician named Daly, who prac- ticed but little out of his own household. Doct. Daly was a very companionable man, and often accompa- nied Sir William in his pleasure excursions. He had a musician, a dwarf some thirty years old, w^ho an- swered to the name of Billy. He played a violin well, and was alw^ays on hand to entertain guests. He had a gardener, who cultivated a large garden, and kept that and the grounds about the Hall as neat as a pin. He had a butler, named Frank, an active young German, who was with him a number of years, and who made himself very useful to his master. Frank remained about the Hall until the Revolution began, when he went to Albany county. He had a waiter named Pontioch, a sprightly, well disposed lad of mixed blood, negro and Indian, who was generally 22 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. with him when from home. He had a pair of white, dwarfish-looking waiters, who catered to his own and his guests' comfort: their surname was Bartholomew* and they are believed to have been brothers. The secretary, physician, bouw-master, and all the waiters remained, after the death of Sir William, with his son. Sir John Johnson, until the Revolution began, and then followed his fortunes to Canada. The Ba- ronet had also his own mechanics. His hlacksmith- and his tailor, had each a shop just across the road from the Hall. They did very little work for any one^ out of the royal household. Sir William was a large, well-looking and full-favored man. *' Laugh and^ grow fat," is an old maxim, of which his neighbors were reminded, when they beheld this fun-loving man- He was well read for the times, and uncommonly well versed in the study of human nature. Near the Hall- he erected two detached wings of stone, the west one' of which was used by his attorney Lafferty, for an office, and the other contained ?i philosophical appara^ tus, of which he died possessed. The room in which the apparatus was kept, was called his own private study. On seeing him enter it,Pontioch used to say: " JYow massa gone into his study to tink oh somesin me know not what.'' Sir William erected a school-house in Johnstown soon after he located there. It was an oblong building with a desk at one end, and stood on the diagonal corner of the streets from the county clerk's office — ^ TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 25 on the present site of Lucus I. Smith's store. To be^in a village, he also erected at the same time six dwelling-houses in the vicinity of the school-house. They were each some 30 feet long fronting the street, by 18 or 20 feet deep, were one and a half stories high, with two square rooms on the floor. Those dwellings and the school-house were all painted yellow. One of the earliest if not in fact the first teacher of this school, was an arbitrary Irishman named Wall, who taught only the common English branches. An Epis- copal church was also erected in Johnstown under the patronage of Sir William, several years before his death. In the street in front of the school-house, public stocks and a whipping-post were placed, the former of which were a terror to truant boys, whose feet not unfrequently graced them. Before Godfrey Shew removed to the Fish House, he resided a mile west of the Hall, at which time his children, with those of a neighbor or two, went to school. In the vicinity of the Hall were usually to be seen a dozen or more In- dians, of whom the children were afraid; and the fact coming to the knowledge of Sir William, he spoke to a chief in their behalf, and then assured the little urchins, with whom he liked to chat, that they need borrow no more trouble about their red neighbors. He had six children at that time by his handsome brown housekeeper, Molly Brant; and the three oldest, Peter, Betsey and Lana, went to school — George and two little girls being thought too young to send. 3 26 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Wall was very severe with most of his pupils, but the Baronet's children were made an exception to his clemency — they ever being treated with kind partial- ity and pointed indulgence. He observed the most rigid formality in teaching his scholars manners ; a very important branch of education, and quite too much neglected in modern times. He required his pupils, however, not so much to respect age and in- tellect in others as in himself. If a child wished to go out, it must go before him with a complaisant — 'please master may 1 go out? accom.panied with a bow, a backward motion of the right hand, and drawing back upon the floor the right foot. On returning to the school-room, the pupil had again to parade before the master, with another three-motioned bow, and a very grateful — thank you, sir! The lad Jacob Shew, on becoming initiated into the out-and-in ceremony, accompanied his first bow with a scrape of the left foot. Tak the other fid, you rascal ! was roared with such a brogue and emphasis by old Pedagogue, as to confuse him, and he flour- ished the left foot again. Tak the other fut, I tell ye! came louder than before, attended with a stamp that carried terror to the boy's heart. Comprehending the requirement, he shifted his balance — scraped with the right fut — heard a surly that'll doh ! and went on his way rejoicing though trembling. In nearly every school of New England and New Yoik twenty-five years ago, the scholars on entering and on leaving the school-room during the hours of TKAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 27 school, had to make their manners — the boys to bow, gracefully if they could, but at all events to bow, and the girls to courtesy, genteely, of course. Nor were the manners of the children confined to the school- room; for on meeting any sober person in the street, they had to make their obeisance, and learned to take pleasure and pride in so doing. It was then a very pretty spectacle to pass a country school-house at noon, or when the children were out at play, and see them parade as if by military intuition, and give the traveler a united evidence of good breeding. This sight is occasionally seen at the present day, where female teachers are employed. Traversing the forest in the French war, from Ticonderoga to Fort Johnson, his then residence, no doubt first made Sir William Johnson familiar with the make of the country adjoining the Sacondaga river; and soon after the close of that war he erected a lodge for his convenience, while hunting and fishing, on the south side of the river, nearly eighteen miles distant from his own dvrelling. The lodge was ever after called The Fish House, It was an oblong square framed building, with two rooms below, and walls sufficiently high (one and a half stories) to have afibrded pleasant chambers. Its site was on a knoll within the present garden of Dr. Langdon I. Marvin, and about thirty rods from the river. It fronted the south. Only one room in the building was ever fin- ished; that was in the west end, and had a chimney 28 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. and fire place. The house was never painted, and in the Revolution it was burnt down, but by whom or whose authority, is unknown. The ground from where the building stood, slopes very prettily to the river. No visible trace of this building remains. A village has grown up at this place, containing several hundred inhabitants, and bearing the historic name of Fish House, although the post office is im- properly called Northampton, the village lying mostly in one corner of that town. The village is built upon gentle elevations, and a degree of neatness and thrift pervades it, that agreeably disappoints the visitor. Among its early influential inhabitants, were Asahel Parkes, John Trumbull, John Rosevelt, Alexander St. John, and John Fay. The last one named located here in ]803, and the others a few years before. Where the Stoner family settled in Fonda's Bush, a pretty village has also sprung up. It is built mostly upon level sandy land, and contains double the popu- lation of Fish House. It is situated in the town of Broadalbin, and like its sister village, has the mis- fortune to have its post-office called after the town instead of itself, a discrepancy that should never exist where it can be avoided. A plank road went into operation in 1849, from Fish House to Fonda's Bush, a distance of eight miles; and another from the latter place to Amsterdam, a further distance often miles, bringing the three places within a few hours' ride of each other. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 29 The villages of Fish House and Fonda's Bush must grow in importance with their improved facilities for business — indeed, the travel to those places has been on the increase for several years. From Edinburgh, a little hamlet in Saratoga county, six miles down the river from Fish House, a stage runs twice week to Ballston Spa, stopping at Fish House; and another runs through the place three times a week, from Northville to Amsterdam. Both are mail routes. Northville deserves a passing notice in this place: it is a charming inland village in the town of Northamp- ton, containing two or three hundred inhabitants, romantically embowered among the hills on the north bank of the Sacondaga, six miles above the Fish House, and is fast increasing in importance. The first settlers at this place were Abraham Van Aernam, Paul Hammond, John Shoecraft, Daniel Lobdell and Daniel Bryant. It is now in contemplation to build a plank road from Northville to connect at Johnstown with the one from that place to Fultonville, on the Erie canal. At a little place about equidistant between Fish House and Northville, on the south bank of the river, with a post-office called Denton's Corners, settled Garret Van Ness, Abel Scribner and John Brown. They located there soon after the war of the Revolu- tion closed; and as they had all three been participa- tors in its perils, they must often have met of a long winter evening and fought their battles over. There is at this place, a bridge across the Sacondaga. CHAPTER II. Sir William Johnson was no doubt induced to locate in Johnstown, partly on account of the greater facili- ties it would aiford him for hunting and fishing about the Sacondaga river, over a residence in the Mohawk valley, and partly to obtain more favorable grounds to accommodate the numerous Indians, who at times came to receive presents from the royal bounty. North of the Hall was a forest in which those visitors were occasionally encamped in great numbers. The Sacondaga and Mohawk rivers are about twenty miles apart, from the Fish House westward, for some distance. The Mayfield mountain stretches across from the former river south-easterly to the latter, and there forms what is called The Nose, while on the north side of the Sacondaga, mountain ranges of hills towering one above the other, bound the view. The lands, on gaining the summit level, a few miles north of the Mohawk, are not mountainous between the rivers, but gently rolling from the Mayfield mountain, some twenty miles to the eastw^ard, until they strike what is denominated the Maxon hill; the northern termination of which at the river the In- dians called Scow-a-rock-a. The scenery, therefore, to the northward of Johnstown and Fonda's Bush, is verv fine. 