Schoolcraft - Family History & Genealogy Message Board

Re: James Schoolcraft born 1688 and his immediate family

SandraStephens50 — 2009-11-14 17:26:27Z

Thanks for this update, David. And knowing the English habit of condensing surnames and names of places, it may well be that the name Schoolcraft was pronounced Schraff.

Sandra

James Schoolcraft born 1688 and his immediate family

DavidEllis591 — 2009-11-14 17:10:51Z

I hate starting a new thread as there may already be something on this, but I cannot see it.

Most of us probably know that records show James had wives called Madalena, Anna Christina Kammer and possibly a third wife called Elizabeth. That third one has bothered some a little, including myself, as it comes from a single record, the birth of a grandson called James in 1743 and only gives a first name. Anything that sparse should be treated with care. Well, I think I may have noticed a second reference to her, making her existence just a little more secure. Possibly I'm just slow on the uptake but a "Catharina Lisabeth Schraff" is the sponsor at the baptism of James' grand-daughter in Tulpehocken, PA in 1749.

To my mind, its too much of a coincidence between the names "Schraff" and "Schoolcraft" to be ignored. Looking at any of the relatives of Astien of suitable age to be a sponsor in 1749 there really is only one choice - James' third wife. Given the absence of standardization of name spelling in earlier times, the names "Lisabeth" and "Elisabeth" are equivalent. This grand-child is also the first known grand-daughter of James and it is very reasonable she would be named for her grand-mother.

Its only a conjecture but I think James' third wife was probably called "Catharina Elizabeth".

HRS letter 1828

gparkes_1 — 2009-08-21 11:32:56Z

This letter is to be found in container 36 of the Henry Rowe Schoolcraft papers in the Library of Congress. It is dated winter 1828, indicating that it was begun on or after January 1, 1828, but not pursued diligently, as Johnston’s death on 22 September, 1828, is mentioned on the fifth sheet. The rest of the letter is directed to his wife, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft.

HRS handwriting at this stage of his life is remarkably clear for one who has worked with his of the 1850’s. Only two of the roughly 11,000 words are indistinct, and are indicated by the word being followed by a question mark and enclosed in parentheses. This is a draft document. As in the original, HRS first thought is lined through, followed by his amended text. After-thoughts inserted above the original line are lowered to their intended place. There are several instances where HRS’ insistent lining out made the word below unreadable. These are marked (illegible). In one case, (sheet 37) HRS affixed a flysheet containing extensive text over the original but did not indicate that he wished to delete the covered text. He also inserted a full sheet, which I have designated sheet A, into sheet 13. I have done my best to follow HRS’ wishes in this regard.

Occasionally HRS inserted a year enclosed in brackets. As there are fewer than 1800 sheets in the original, no confusion with the sheet numbers should arise. Boldface numbers enclosed in brackets are pointers to sheets of the original text. Footnotes are by HRS. Endnotes are my attempt to clarify the text and identify some individuals mentioned. The original sheets are not numbered. The sheet numbers indicated are based on my own count.

Those wishing to mine for genealogical gems will be largely disappointed by this letter. Aside from HRS persistent but often repeated errors in the first three sheets, there is little here. It is rather, a brief autobiography to the year 1822.

Spelling, punctuation and syntax are rendered as HRS left them, so far as I was able.

Greg Parkes
East Aurora NY
August 2009

Letter of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft to John Johnston

Sault Ste Marie
Winter 1828

My Dear Sir

Much Leisure, and a desire to gratify the feelings of one, who attached more importance to the subject than I do your feelings, have induced me to yield to your wishes, by stating some particulars of my family, more particularly, (illegible phrase) and of the early part of my life and travels.

I know but little of the situation and circumstances of those who preceded me, genealogically, but what I have derived from my parents, from my uncle John, or from some collateral relatives. I attached little consequence to the subject. Most of my relatives attached less. And it may therefore be supposed that the topic was seldom mentioned. Many particulars are of course, forgotten and among that number, possibly some which it might be proper to mention on an occasion like this.

From such sources I have learned that my great grandfather came from England, during the reign of Queen Anne, under the name of James Calcraft, or Colcraft . He either engaged in or followed was a non-commissioned officer in the British & Colonial army, and served in the war against Canada , about the period that He was in garrison at Forts Edward and Anne were created on the source [2]of the Hudson. He had previously served in his corps of artillery under the Duke of Marlboro on the continent, and had received a severe injury lost an eye from the flash of a cannon in the capacity of gunner, in one of the Duke’s European engagements. Owing to these services he entertained a high notion of his own intrepidity, and after his discharge in his old age was in the habit of speaking of himself as a true Briton, and a subject of Queen Anne. He had crossed the Atlantic in a squadron of three public ships, which came out to New York.

After the Peace of Utrecht (1712)relieved the frontier troops he went into garrison at Albany. (I do not know the causes that prevented him from returning to England, or his seeking civil employment in the country.) Here he received an honorable discharge with two of his companions, Glen and Yates. He, for some time, practiced land surveying, and afterward acted as an English teacher. In the latter capacity he settled in Schoharie. , a German settlement and frontier town. At this place he married the only daughter of Christian Camerer , a wealthy German farmer, by whom he had seven children, James, William, Lawrence, John, Elizabeth, Helen and Margaret. He possessed a robust constitution. He lived to the advanced age of 102, and left a numerous progeny.

His eldest son, James, died a bachelor at a mature age. William , emigrated to the waters of Otter Creek in Vermont the heart of the country since called Vermont, and when the Revolutionary War broke
out, went into Canada. Lawrence, Elizabeth and Helen married and settled in the neighborhood Schoharie. Margaret, was brought up in the family of Genl. Bradstreet at Albany and married Col. Green Brush of the British army . After the death of Col Brush, the widow married Mr Wall of New York [3] a gentleman who afterward settled in Westminster in Vermont, where both he and she died. Fanny, the daughter of Mrs Wall married Col Ethan Allen of Revolutionary memory, after his return from his imprisonment in Canada, and after his death, Mrs Allen married Dr Pennington of Colchester Vt. I inquired of Mrs Pennington in the winter of I think 1814, respecting her maternal grandfather, and particularly his name which she emphatically assured me was Colcraft . He was a man of hardy & robust constitution, & lived to the age of 102. He died on Otter Creek, Vermont. Lawrence became the progenitor of persons of my name in Schoharie, and the name itself, agreeably to its present orthography, had its origin there. John migrated to Watervliet. He went as a volunteer with one of the Sir William Johnsons Sir William or Sir John on a winter expedition against Oswego, & suffered incredible hardships. He died at the age of 62, and left leaving three children, Anne, Laurence, & John.

Lawrence, my father, had arrived at the age of about 16 or 17 when the revolutionary war broke out. He joined the revolutionary mobs, which, with the Committee of Safety at their head, paraded the town, and was an active Whig during the contest. He entered the army & was present during the movements at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. He was in the invading army under of Gen. _____ I think it was which had reached the Isle aux Noix & St John’s on its way to Canada. He was afterwards in garrison during the siege of Fort Stanwix, and was a volunteer in the sortie it made under Col Willet, and was afterwards an active militia officer, after his return. He married Miss Margaret Anna Rowe. He succeeded Col John Van Renselaer as Superintendant of the extensive glass manufactory at Hamilton in Albany County. And on his removal to Oneida county, He commanded a regiment of the local [4] militia, and also a regiment of the first volunteers ordered to be held in readiness for service, during the period of alarm, which led to the late war.

I was born on the 28thof March 1793. My earliest recollections extend to the residence of the family at Swartz Kill, or Black Creek, one of the tributaries of Norman’s Kill in Albany County. And
they include the removal to Hamilton village, which was a few miles also situated on one of the eastern tributaries of this stream west of Albany. At what age I was first sent to school, I do not know, although I recollect the event very well, as it was attended with the ceremony of my father’s going to the school, &delivering me over, as it was to the care of the master. Infant schools were, in those days, unthought of: and was not customary to send children to school until they had attained their fifth or sixth years. I think it was even later, before I was brought under regular rule of the pedagogue, although I had made some proficiency in domestic instruction. The Public School Fund was then unknown, at least it was not in operation. & the subject of instruction was left wholly to individual enterprise, & supported by individual means. Masters were often changed. With them the system of instruction, and the places of instruction, were also changed. The latter were. Frequently, very inconvenient. And there were intervals, and sometimes long intervals, in which there was no instructor. I feel particularly indebted to a Scotchman of the name of Buchanon, who taught the school several years, introduced a rigid system of order &
discipline, [5] and was proud of the humble acquirement I made. a good arithmetician, & wrote a fair plain hand.

Boyhood and school-time is associated in my mind, with a passion for drawing with the pen, a
desire which was increased by the occasional use of a box of (illegible) water colours. The Hon. Jeremiah Van Rensellaer Lieutenant Governor of the State, who was a frequent inmate of the house, was entrusted with these attempts, caused the him to make necessary inquiries to be made, for placing me with an artisan in the city. But Ames, of whom the inquiries were made, the latter insisted that the apprenticeship should commence with house-painting. That put an end to further negotiations the matter.

[My Dear J__ The demise of your father, (illegible phrase) the reoccurrence of leisure, and existence of sentiments similar to those exposed at the commencement, have induced me to resume my reminiscences and to address them to you.] (brackets original)

Boyhood Youth is usually but little mindful of political events, or calamitous circumstances. But I was particularly impressed with some public events, which happened during (illegible). The death of Gen.
Washington happened in my seventh year, and is remembered by the account of the mock account of (illegible) funeral with which his memory was (illegible) at Albany. And The great fire of 17__ by the conflagration, which was distinctly visible, at night, from the distance, at which we lived. The expected rupture with France, during the administration of John Adams, is associated with personal feelings, as it was feared my father, who had been offered a commission captaincy, in the Federal army, would be induced to accept it.

At the age of about fourteen, a part of which [6] however, been devoted in the merchantile retail store, which was attached to the interests of the manufactury. I had acquired the information that was
usually taught in the primary a country schools of the period; super-adding some knowledge of geometry the system of book-keeping by double entry, and the recitation of Adam’s Latin grammar. The latter had been undertaken to preparity to prepare for my removal to Union College, which was now designed. But an apparent accident, and the advantage thereby presented for entering into active employment the appointment of had the effect, at first acting overseer, at a manufacturing establishment of which my father was superintendent, to defer, and finally to defeat, this design. The acting Overseer of the manufactury was displaced, and as although I possessed the status, although not the years of manhood, I was appointed to succeed him The business was to see that laborers and artisans preformed their duties faithfully, & to inspect & report on the purchase (illegible) of materials &c. that attend to the (illegible) of the wood employed in firing the furnaces.

I had still a portion of leisure on my hands; and which I devoted to miscellaneous reading. Most of my days, and most of my evenings were spent at home, in the (illegible) of a retired &(illegible) study, from which I went away with regret, & to which I returned with pleasure. I recollect that when quite a little boy, I had sent the first money I could call my own, to New York for a book, and that purchase was a handsome & full edition of Aesop’s Fables. And one of the earliest of more advanced years I had some types which I taught myself the use of in the garret. I was fond of drawing and painting in water colours. I drew flowers, leaves &c. from the woods. I collected every book I could lay hands in & gave my room had quite the aspect of a collection. [7]Was the buying of I bought Reed’s edition of Shakespeare, with the Sonnets, a work in three 8vo volumes, which had belonged to the library of Dirck Ten Broeck, Esqr.

I drew up a paper for the formation of a literary &debating club, procured the signaturs of the principle persons of respectability, old & young, in the vicinity, and had the satisfaction to see it go into operation & flourish during my residence there. I wrote some remarks at this time on the popular corruptions of the English language, the drift of which was to show the viscous tendency of provincialisms which I mention as the subject of philology has since engaged my attention.

Among the few of my acquaintances, which may be denominated literary, may be mentioned John V. Veeder, who has long since paid the debt of nature. He was a student of Union College, &wrote verses. In my 16th year At the age of sixteen, I published a monody on the death of Dr McKenney, a relative, which I mention as I never received a printed copy of it from the printer, Lansing, who transmitted the sheets, some days after I finally left the place. I had written, at this time, a manuscript volume of poems, the principal & longest of which was entitled “Contemplation”, and was filled up random images of men & scenery. All these I afterwards destroyed. After transferring my residence to the west, I wrote a mock heroic poem called “Physignathus,” or which a living person of obnoxious manners & pretensions, was the hero. This I also destroyed. Indeed, until my 19th year, I wrote almost annually a manuscript volume, of what I was pleased to denominate poetry, which I as surely put into the fire, after a year or two. I mention [8] this to show that judgment is developed with the advance of years. If there is anything remaining of this period, among friends, or in the columns of newspapers, to which I first contributed about my 18th year, it cannot be considered in any other light then as a pardonable folly of youth. I was very early fond of viewing scenes of an (illegible) nature. My first excursion was to Stillwater, to which place I accompanied my father, in a chaise, as he went thither as a member of a general court martial. I was made while I was very young. I expected to see the plains strewed with broken muskets and human skulls! Afterwards I went with him on a visit to Western New York. Four or five years afterward, to Utica. This place was then a flourishing village fast rising into notice. Both these excursions were very pleasant, from the new scenes & situations, which they presented. Utica was then a flourishing village fast rising into notice. After his removal to that part of the country, I was left to close his business in Albany county, and I did not rejoin the family , until some time afterwards. In the spring of 1809, I went on a mission to Philadelphia for the Oneida Company, and had the pleasure afterwards, of knowing that I had executed the trust satisfactorily. Steamboats were, at this time, not in vogue, although Fulton had the year previous visited Albany with his (illegible), and I recollect that the late Daniel D Tompkins Governor of New York Tompkins and his family were on board the sloop on the passage to New York, where we arrived at night. In the morning I found myself surrounded by masses of brick. & a forest of masts. This trip, while it taught me, that in many things, I was quite a novice in the ways of the world, had the effect to expand my views, & presented new subjects for reflection. Which could not have introduced under [9] other circumstances. And with a heart glowing with the ideas I had gathered on the excursion, I returned to Albany. That part of the country, to which I have particularly referred, was originally settled by inhabitants from the several provinces of Holland, from the circles of Germany, & form Switzerland. Hamilton contained these inhabitants as a basis, particularly of Germans, but had a large fluctuating population of Irishmen & New England men, who were employed, particularly during the winter season, in preparing wood for the furnaces. The village, and the township itself, which was by this time named Guilderland, were included in the manor of Rensellaerwyck, and a privilege of cutting wood upon the extensive pine plains in that vicinity had been acquired. Under this privilege large tracts of woodland were ravaged, which, consisting of sandy soil, were of little value but for the timber they contained Although gypsum and improved modes of agriculture have done something, in modern times, to reclaim some portions of this waste, it is a blank in productive agriculture. As long as I knew anything of it, it was famed for the packs of wolves which infested its ravines. These fierce animals frequently sallied out, & destroyed vast numbers of sheep. They seldom attacked men, but there are some instances of such attacks. And I am particularly impressed with the havoc made in the village, one night, by the entrance of a rabid wolf. He bit many cattle, [10] hogs, dogs, poultry, and finally a woman, who, alarmed by the outcries of her geese, ran out to their assistance. The villagers armed themselves with guns, clubs, &c. The wolf was finally shot. The animals infected also exhibited furious symptoms of canine madness & were also shot. But the woman, whether it was that she had not been bitten badly, or the medical efforts made to save her were effectual, I cannot say, but she survived.

I quitted Albany county went to reside in the western part of N. York in the autumn of 1809. On my arrival at Oneida, great enthusiasm prevailed on the subject of manufactures; and I was offered by Alexander B. Johnson Esqr a salary of one thousand dollars per annum, with an office and other perquisites to proceed to Ontario, for the purpose of superintending the erection & conducting the operations of a manufactury of window glass. Among the perquisites was a share in the stock of the company, for every glass blower I employed. I had not completed my 17th year, when the articles of the agreement were signed by my father & myself. Snow then lay upon the ground. As soon as the spring opened, I proceeded westward. an advantageous situation as the superintendent of a new establishment for the manufacture of glass. The site finally selected for the works was the (illegible) picturesque banks of Seneca lake, about two miles from the village of Geneva.

In 1811, I made my second journey to Philadelphia, being on a commission for the Ontario Company. At New York I saw George Frederick Cooke in tragedy. I found the academy of arts at Philadelphia, which I had before visited, shut: but the museum, which was [11] then the most extensive & varied in America, afforded the me great satisfaction. In which many things are seen, in a limited time, and few thoroughly understood. Having since visited the collection several times, I do not know, whether the mammoth bones from the drowned lands in Orange county which forms part of it were then set up. Bristol, I had formed an acquaintance, two years before, with the late Dr. Wistar of Philadelphia, one of the most amiable of men. He had gone thither for the benefit of his health. We were fellow lodgers and made several excursions in company, in which he directed my attention to natural history. I had mentioned to him, the opinion that the plastic clay formation of the Delaware was more extensive than had been supposed, that I had traced it from the neighborhood of Bordentown to Bristol, and presumed it extended quite to New Castle & christiana creek, where the substance occurs. Thinking me, probably, a little enthusiastic on the subject, and, in the pursuit of which I had engaged, He said, that his ancestors had in New Jersey, opposite to Philadelphia, & been engaged in the same business manufacture. I now took collected specimens of the argillaceous formation, & of the pyriteferous wood which is embedded in it, &c.

The expiration of my contract with the Ontario Company., which was limited to two years, brought me to the opening scenes of the late war. Feeling a degree of zeal on the subject, & some causes of personal dissatisfaction, formally declined my situation as superintendent, and In 1812, the war with Great Britain was declared, & I applied for a commission in the [12] United States service, but was unsuccessful. Whether the situation I asked for, was above my claims & capacity, or other causes intervened, I never satisfactorily knew, but although several of my intimate friends, whose names were sent forward through the same channels, got commissions, I received none.

I passed the summer of 1812 at Vernon in vain expectancy, and amused myself in miscellaneous reading and in writing. “ Oneida Castle” a poem descriptive of the ancient seat of the Oneidas. The view of the natural features & advantages & the rural beauties of this place, had, however, been expanded over western New York, and descriptions of Indian names & customs introduced. In the meantime, the war raged with gloomy forebodings. The volunteers, with whom I had been associated at Geneva, were severely handled at the battle of Queenstown. Hull surrendered at Detroit. Buffalo was burnt, & the frontier towns and settlements placed in immediate peril. I renewed my application to Washington, but without effect. Truemen Hart Esqr . Late of the New York Senate proposed to me to raise a rifle corps, to be clothed and equipped at public expense, and handed the papers of with the aid of his standing and popularity, I commenced the enlistment. to me, to get It filled up. Local discouragements however, existed; and we we received no reply to the application for arms.

In the meantime, (illegible) (illegible) a flattering offer s were was made by the Vermont Company, to have their works erected & put into operation to me to proceed to Vermont, and direct the erections of works for accompany chartered by the Legislature, with ample prestiges.

I proceeded went to Salisbury in the winter of 1813, accompanied by my brother Peter. I here received a salary of eighteen hundred dollars per annum. And greater perquisites. than [13]I had received, as Superintendent of the several works created by this company. The situation of one of these works was at the romantic site of lake Dunmore, and the other on the banks of the Middlebury river, being about four miles apart. The duty led to a frequent passage between the two places, and I devoted myself with assiduity to the task.

I had still leisure for reading, and while here, directed my attention to mineralogy and geology chemistry and mineralogy. I feel indebted to Professor Hall of Middlebury College, for (illegible) instructions in both sciences. He was so kind as to come to my office at lake Dunmore and aid me in experiments. I ordered books and tests from the city of New York, and when they arrived made an eager use of them. I kept a small chemical air furnace , for the purpose of experiment. During my residence here, I made a very agreeable tour, in company with Mr Ep Jones another person through portions of Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts to Boston. This route carried us across the Green mountains, and Connecticut river, which we crossed at Bellow’s Falls. From Boston we proceeded through a different section of Massachusetts, through Connecticut, & a portion of New York, so as to strike the Hudson at Rhinebeck. We crossed to Kingston. And extended the tour to the Woodstock mountains. My return was attended with gratifying recollections as it had exposed to my view scenes of New England life, both in city & country, which were dwelt on with pleasure.

[insertion mark, sheet A] Natural history, in the sense is which this term is used, in modern days, had presented to me, its fascinations, although the range of my observations was necessarily limited, as I had responsible power to claim my first attention. began to attract my attention. I made a subsequent excursion, by way of Rutland & Castleton, to the valley of the Hoosic; another to the town of Monckton, celebrated for its beds of porcelain earth & shorter ones to the iron ore beds of Brandon ,and its neighborhood. I procured the mineral, then denominated vaguely coccolite, from Roger’s Rock, had been brought to me A large crystal of quartz was brought in, by one of my workmen to me from a town on the Green Mountains, called New Philadelphia, and together (illegible) some masses of ore, of a heavy & metallic aspect, which had small veins of a substance resembling the red oxide of mercury. Bitter spar, pyrites &c. were found in various sections of the confining elevations of Otter Creek valley. There was, at this time, no periodical, devoted to natural science, published in America. Bruce’s Journal, although of this era, was limited in its object and duration. It had not a wide circulation, and I never heard of it, until several years afterwards. I took, & eagerly read Cooper’s emporium of Arts & Sciences, which was devoted to manufactures, but included the study of chemistry, mineralogy and geology. While out on the neighboring mountains, one day, I jumped from a rock, & my left foot doubled under me. The pain was excruciating. I mention this, not from its immediate effects, but as probably furnishing the remote cause of inflammation and lameness, six years afterward, while on the banks of Strawberry river, in Arkansas.

[continue sheet 13]The war thickened upon the frontier, and invasion [14] of the New York borders of lake Champlain by Gov Provost, with a well appointed army, threw the country into consternation. Couriers passed along the borders of the Green mountains, and although the official sanction of the State executive was wanting, great numbers of the citizens flocked to the scene of conflict. It was the first time I had seen green boughs worn on the hat. and the emblem appeared to carry with it, a spirit of patriotism. I told the ordinary workmen, that such of them as pleased might join the volunteers. And one of them returned, with a British uniform & musket &equipments, as a trophy from Plattsburgh.

The difficulties which a state of war opposed to the importation of foreign commodities, & the final interdiction of all importation, rendered goods of domestic production very high, and flattering inducements were held out for the investment of funds in manufactures. These considerations had so much weight with me, that after the refusal of the Troy Bank to redeem the Vermont Company’s paper, and the great pecuniary embarrassments under which they labored, In 1816 I closed with an offer made by a gentleman of New Hampshire, for entering, on private account, into the manufacture of flint ware. The site selected for the works was at Keene, within eighty miles of Boston. I made a visit to the latter place for the express purpose of learning some practical facts, which were supposed to be better understood by the manufacturers [15] there, than elsewhere, and accomplished the object without leading to a suspicion on the part of those whose interest it was, to have withheld the information.

I added to my knowledge of local mineralogy here, by a short excursion to the west mountains, where plumbago, & mica, in large plates, are found, and a species of agaric mineral at the bottom of a pond. By a journey across the Green mountains from Brattleboro to Bennington, & thence by way of Albany & Cherry Valley to Oneida. By an excursion along the (illegible) banks of the Connecticut to Windsor and thence by the valley of White river, across the Green mountains, to Middlebury. I had intended to accompany a party to the top of Monadnock mountain, which is said to be the first land seen on the approach from the sea, but was prevented from indisposition. Crystallized quartz from Surrey, hornstone from Blenheim[N.Y.] manganese from Bennington, & a few other metallic & silicaceous minerals, & some crystalline substances, in addition to those the minerals of the town, constituted e range of my collections at this place. I experimented upon a greenish, earthy ore from Bethel [Vt.] supposed to be tin, and upon a foreign fluate of lime &c. Experiments were undertaken at the study of Dr. Twitchell, a celebrated surgical operator & physician of the town, to determine the chemical composition of the substance called glass-gal, but they were not prosecuted to a final result.

The effects of a state of p

Intelligence of a treaty of peace was received in the winter of 1816. Its effects upon the manufactures of the country were not immediately perceived. But it soon became apparent that excessive importations, by reducing the price of certain articles, & by supplying the markets with imported goods, must prove ruinous. I endeavored [16] by personal exertion, to prevent our little concern, from being included in the number of works, which the era demanded should be shut; and, for a time, sustained them in operation. But the overstocking of the markets with British goods, & particularly, of the Boston markets, upon which we were dependent, made it impossible to enter into a profitable competition. It was not at once, perceived, that a temporary cessation of operations, would lead to a permanent one, and that the moment the latter had been decided on, the capital vested in the works, was sunk. Such, however, was practically, the case. Brick & wood & iron, however ingenious their forms, or relative position, were a sorry equivalent for bank paper and coin.

I have now arrived at a distinct era in my life. I had originally been diverted from pursuing my predilection for letters entering college, by the allurements of business. I had been engaged in business, dating from my first entry on the duties of an Overseer, about eight years, during the last six of which, I had received individually the profits of my exertions. I had accumulated a considerable amount, principally in notes. I had met with some losses in their collection, particularly from the Vermont Company. I had vested the (avails?), & put my personal services with them. I had, in a word, lost all. I had not even saved the little library, which I had collected. At the age of twenty three, I was reduced to the pecuniary condition I stood in, at [17] And when letters would have been particularly valuable, I had occasion to regret, that I had not pursued the career, which they invited, and which I was so well disposed to follow.

With a heavy heart, but a spirit of enterprise by no means subdued, but rather excited, I returned to my father’s residence at Vernon, in western New York. I passed the better part of the year 1817 there. I devoted myself to my books reading and while I awaited the results of several unsuccessful efforts which I made to procure a situation suited to my habits & inclinations, I revisited “Oneida Castle” and composed a treatise on the manipulations of the business I had just quitted, and issued printed proposals for publishing it. In this a treatise, which I entitled on Vitreology, practical knowledge was united with an explanation of phenomena, on chemical principles. A proposition of this kind, a few years earlier, would have been enthusiastically received, but as the encouragement offered was not great, chiefly confined to persons engaged in the manufacture it did not appear desirable to put by the return of the 1st subscription lists, was not sufficient to justify me in putting the work to press. Another consideration which I am now about to mention, also entered into this decision.

I had for some time, directed my attention to the western country, and sought information respecting it. During the winter of 1818, I arranged my personal affairs, put up a miniature collection of minerals, for the purpose of comparison, & a few articles of apparatus, and bidding adieu to my father & mother & family, took a seat in the stage for the westward. At Geneva, I left the Genesee road, and from this point, I was accompanied by my brother Abraham, as far as [18] Angelica, where, becoming over-fatigued with the journey he remained until I sent back the conveyance, and bidding him adieu, I proceeded to Olean. I here awaited the opening of the Allegheny river, and while this detained my friend and townsman Rufus Pettibone Esqr. & family arrived. I accompanied him, in a flat-bottomed boat, to Pittsburgh. We were the first boat for the season, & arrived at Pittsburgh on my birth-day, being the 28th of march, a circumstance with which I was pleased, probably because the heart takes slight occasions to exult. I here bid adieu to Mr Pettibone & family. After visiting the coal-beds & manufactories, I hired a horse, & rode up made an excursion along the banks of the Monongahela. to Williamsport.

I returned to Pittsburgh, and while seeking a suitable opportunity to descend the Ohio, fell into company with Mr Ebenezer Brigham, who was in search of a similar opportunity. We engaged passage in a (illegible) Monongahela boat, & descended to Cincinnati. The boat in which we were, was, most of the time, lashed to some other boat or boats, having on board passengers, and thus bringing together a variety, both of persons & character. And there was an implied obligation, on the part of the passengers, to go on deck at all hours, during day or night, when the cry of “oars” was made. This was for the purpose of pulling at two large sweeps, to keep the flotilla in the channel.

[19]Just below Wheeling we received an acquisition of a large boat, having on board Dr. Sellman of Cincinnati, who had been a surgeon in Wayne’s army, and was a gentleman possessed of dignified manners & conversation. At Marietta I was made acquainted with the Hon. Jesse B Thomas, a Senator in Congress form Illinois. He had in company a young man, who had charge of a flat-boat, freighted with machinery, in which he had descended the Muskingham. This boat was added to our flotilla, and Mr Thomas also took passage on one of the boats. The boat with machinery, being pressed against the bank, one night, the water entered above the calked seam & it sank about day break. After some exertions, the project of raising it was abandoned. It was resumed, I believe, chiefly at my instance, and with a good deal of exertion, got afloat. Without further accident we got to Cincinnati. I here bid adieu to my friends in the flotilla, an on the recommendation of Dr. Sellman, obtained lodgings at Mrs Greene’s. I spent three weeks very pleasantly at this place, in the neighborhood, and rendered myself familiar with the local geography.

Having made some acquaintance with a native of the city of Nancy, whose profession was that of teaching the sword exercise & the evolutions of troops, I purchased, in conjunction with him, a skiff, large enough to contain our [20] baggage, and we descended together to Louisville. This mode of voyaging was novel & delightful. We went ashore every evening, & took lodgings at some inn. I remained some tie at Louisville, examined the petrifactions in the falls of the Ohio, visited Jeffersonville &c. I wrote a notice if the manganese of /Sandy river, which was inserted in one of the papers, and copied at Philadelphia & elsewhere.

I took passage from this place, on board a Monongahela boat, and embarked above the mouth of Beargrass creek, on purpose that I might witness the descent of the boat over the falls. The descent was made near the Indiana shore, a pilot directed the movement, and the boat went down without accident. I remained several days at the mouth of Cumberland river, in Kentucky, and made some partial examinations of the country. In the tongue of land formed by the junction of the Cumberland with the Ohio, I first saw those singular vegetable excrescences, called cypress knees. I here exchanged the mode of conveyance to a keel-boat, commanded by Ensminger of Salina, and under the force of oars reached the usual place of landing at the mouth of the Ohio.

I have thus given you the outlines of a voyage down a river, which is estimated to be a thousand miles in length, and was clustered with incipient towns & villages, & presented a succession of sylvan objects, which were gazed on with curiosity, & would be recalled with pleasure. I kept notes of my route, thinking [21] it not improbable that I might publish the result of my observations. But it is no part of my present intention to enter into details. I have said not a word of Blannerhasset’s island the cave in Rock , fossil bones, & other objects of interest in the history or geology of the country. I have given no estimates of population & buildings. No speculation respecting the ancient mound , & fortifications, which I examined. Not even the names of many towns and villages, which I either passed, or where I landed for short periods, sometimes a day or more. I have abstained from little from little personal adventures, which befell me by the way. Finally, I have complained of no inconveniences. I went to the western country to see, & hear & learn, not to enjoy the elegancies of a refined and tasteful life. And although I was satisfied that, in the latter respect, there was , even then, an erroneous opinion held in the older portions of the Union; yet , I then believed, as I now believe, that the instances of a high refinement in dress, manners, & domestic economy, were partial & limited; and that the great body of western men found themselves sufficiently employed in procuring the substantial comforts of commerce & agriculture—in improving & paying for their lands,& in securing for their posterity the benefits of intellectual culture & political enjoyment. It ought to be borne in mind, by those who look for geographical boundaries that the Union, presenting successively, on the left bank, parts of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, & the main waters of Tennessee, [22] and on the right, Ohio, Indiana & Illinois.

I entered the Mississippi on the first-day of July—a day which has impressed itself on my memory, as I had looked forward to it, with solicitude. The first view of that scene was not the most gratifying. I did not turn form the Ohio, without regret. The turbid & hurrying character of the Mississippi was not suited to inspire pleasure. On looking at its channel and scenery more attentively, the volume of water was perceived to be great, estimating the depth of channel. Its banks were made of layers of alluvial soil, bearing a dense growth of trees & shrubs. Nothing of a consolidated character, approaching the hardness of rock, if we except the partial formation of pudding stone at the little village of “America” was to be found. And the want of stability in the banks of the river, was continually presenting itself to notice, by the falling in of large masses of earth. That the courses of the river are determined by rock strata below, I think, however, clearly evident. I believe the substrate of Kentucky, first turn its course, below the mouth of the Ohio. From this point it may be considered as washing the earth-covered strata of the Allegheny, which sustain the elevations of the Ironbanks, the high bank at Natchez, &c.

We proceeded slowly, & with great labor of men, against its strong current, & suffered considerable annoyance from insects. The slowness of the voyage was, however, [23] an advantage to one desiring to improve every opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of its principle features; and I found my collections in mineralogy & geology growing under my hands. I finally landed at Herculaneum, where I was introduced to Moses Austin Esqr. I proceeded on foot to St Louis. I hastened to the residence of Mr Pettibone, who had preceded me some time, and had resumed the practice of his profession. (the law) After surveying the place, & the localities of the vicinity, I returned to Herculaneum by water, and set out, on foot, for the mines. The mineralogical character of the country became more interesting as I approached Petosi, where I was kindly received by Mr Austin the elder, who was temporarily there, and by his son Stephen F. Austin, Esqr . a resident of the place, & one of the members of the Territorial Legislature. Both father & son offered me every facility for exploring the mines, and the latter accompanied me on several excursions. I ordered my baggage from Herculaneum, & determined to make Petosi, the center of my excursions, & the depot of my collections. I converted the abandoned smelting house of Mr Austin, into a laboratory, built a chemical furnace, & ordered crucibles & tests from St Louis. I submitted the sublimated matter of the furnaces to experiment, and also the lead ore, spar, blende, &c. Ten months, devoted particularly to the natural history & resources of the country, with frequent journies & excursions, sometimes on foot, & sometimes on horseback, or in a single wagon, gave me an intimate acquaintance with the mine country.

[24] During one of my excursions to the banks of the Mississippi, the postmaster t Herculaneum showed me a Philadelphia paper, & directed my attention to a notice of a scientific expedition up the Missouri, under the command of Major Long.

In the autumn of 1818,I undertook an (illegible) a journey from Petosi towards the Rocky mountains, following a route intermediate between the Mississippi and the Missouri. It was originally settled that Mr Levi Pettibone (brother of R Pettibone Esqr.) and Mr Ebenezer Brigham were to accompany me, but Mr Brigham having become enfeebled from illness contracted during the summer residence in the Illinois, was compelled to return after he had reached Petosi. I set forward accompanied by Mr Pettibone only. I had purchased a pack horse to convey our baggage. We encamped in the woods, the first night of our journey; and after the second third day’s journey, in which we let the hunter’s camps on the Fourche a Courtois branch of the Marameg , and the Delaware village on the Oza fork of the same stream, we not a human face, white or red for the distance of two hundred miles. We then fell in with the hunters of the north fork of the White River, and with their directions, as to courses & distances, proceeded on our way. On reaching the source of the white river, snow fell, so as to obscure the face of the country, and we turned our course down that stream. We abandoned the horse, who being used to grain, & not to prairie grass & cane break & became poor; and purchasing a canoe from the hunters, resorted to that mode of getting along. It was both convenient & speedy. The waters of this river are remarkably transparent and we glided by forests & precipices upon which the eye [25] (illegible) with pleasure. We found the hunters, everywhere, in dread of the Osages, and they expressed dissatisfaction with the proposed entry of the Cherokees into the section of country included between White & Arkansas rivers.

The deer, elk, bear & wolf were the only large animals which we personally saw. The buffalo was abundantly killed by the hunters in the district of country, lying between the White & Arkansas rivers, and occasionally in the upper part of the valley of White river, while we were there. Buffalo-beef was quite an article of traffic, and we ate the flesh of the animal the day after it had been killed, and the marrow taken from the roasted leg bone, which is esteemed a delicacy. We also ate the roasted beaver’s tail. The wild turkey was very common, and furnished us, in our peregrinations, our principal food. The honey bee was an inhabitant of those regions. The grey, and large fox-squirrel, were observed on the confines of the mine country; on the sources of Currents river; and in the open forests bordering the settled parts of White river. The number & extent of the caverns in the calcerous formation of the country, and the large & clear springs gushing from the sides of elevations, constituted by far the most striking & interesting geological facts in the region. These caves were mostly impregrated with nitrous earth. Some of them contained stalactites, in various forms. The mineralogical productions of the country were most particularly interesting. Among the metals iron, lead, zinc, & manganese were noticed. The rocks continued to be limestone, resting upon sandstone. No other general formation was observed. No fossil bones were seen in the caves, or out of them. Those portions of our track which lay on elevated & dividing grounds, were [26] sterile & destitute of water. The (valhes?) were rich, overgrown with rank shrubbery, and during the great heats of the day, contained the assembled animated creation of the region. Travelling in them was exceedingly irksome. A very interesting section of country was laid open, and although we often travelled with pain, we recollected out travels with pleasure.

On reaching the ferry of White River, where the road from the post of Arkansas to St Louis crosses this stream, we abandoned the canoe, and betook ourselves to the road. Between that point and the banks of the Strawberry river, my ankle swelled & became so much inflamed in walking, that I was obliged to ly by. I had no recollection of having sprained it. Mr Pettibone here took leave of me, and when my ankle permitted, I pursued the route to Petosi alone. Streams, & woodlands, & settlements & tracts of wilderness, made up the route. On reaching the singular granitical tract of St Michael, I devoted some days to its examination. It appears to be entirely isolated, & to rise through the surrounding beds of limestone & sandstone. I am inclined to think that its underground spurs extend towards the angle formed by the junction of the Ohio & the Mississippi, and that the secondary & alluvial deposits, are upon them.

I came with pleasure on to the undulating highlands of the mine country, and entered Petosi, with a heart grateful for an invisible protection through many hardships & dangers, and a constitution robust & glowing with robust health. About 900 miles had been passed over, most of it, a wilderness. I carried [27] a gun all the distance, and a pack, including a selection of specimens, from the ferry of White River.

Mr Austin the younger, having in the mealtime gone on his first excursion to Red river, I took lodgings fixed my residence at Mr William Ficklin’s, who, had, at one time, intended to accompany me on this route. I devoted the remainder of the winter & spring [1819] in drawing up my observations on the mines, which I submitted to two or three acquaintances, & in preparing my collections for transportation. I also wrote “Transalleghenia”. A bilious habit was the effect of a sudden transition from an active life, & sleeping in the open air, to the sedentary habits of a literary employment, and this resulted in a jaundice. Having taken the usual remedies, I finally went to the banks of the Mississippi, & took passage for ST Louis, for the purpose of drinking its turbid waters, which were said to be efficacious in cases of this kind. While at Herculaneum the postmaster showed me a newspaper, and directed my attention to a notice of a scientific expedition up the Missouri, under the command of Major Long, and the expedition itself, not long afterwards reached that place. I was introduced to the gentlemen of the party. The power of the engine employed to propel their boat, appeared to be feeble, and the contrivance by which the smoke escaped, any thing but what it had been represented.

I returned to the mines in my customary health. I had, at this time, formed the design of ascending the Mississippi [28] with the particular object of investigating its mineralogy & geology. The upper lead mines, to which some of the minors were going, and the copper of the north, were prominent among the objects that invited attention. The incipient steps for this journey were taken. But I felt the want of aid. A gentleman to whom I had written on the subject, at the seat of government made no reply. I determined to go there myself, and bidding adieu to my friends, preceded, with my collections, to St Genevieve, where I embarked on board a steamboat for New Orleans. Andrew Scott Esqr. Then recently appointed a judge in Arkansas, was a passenger as far as the mouth of the Arkansas river. On re-passing the mouth of the Ohio, I drew a sketch, in outline of that noted scene. The day after we left St. Genevieve, the captain of the boat handed me a letter. It was found to contain a sum of money, enclosed without any previous intimation, by some friends at Herculaneum, the acceptance of which, as a loan, was pressed upon me, with kind allusions to the length of the voyage, and the sickness of the climate to which I was proceeding. I did not hesitate to accept it.

It was one of the last days of June when we reached New Orleans, and as the Mississippi was in flood, no malignant fever was then prevailing. After seeing what was worth seeing, of which the handsome collection of natural history at the Museum Hotel, ought not to be omitted, I embarked on board a Brig for New York.

[29] I had formed high notions of the grandeur of the sea, and after leaving Balize kept constantly promenading the deck. By this exercise, & the prevalence of calm weather, I escaped sea-sickness. We passed within sight of the shores of Cuba, and saw indistinctly, here & there, as we passed the gulf of Florida, low, dark spots, which were said to be land & islands. Gulf weed, & seabirds & sea fish, the dolphin & the nautilus, formed the principal variations, under which the Atlantic was seen. Its deep indigo blue colour, when seen form the land, & its greenish blue, when near & nearing the shore, were gazed at. Those who liked bathing in sea water, were bathed. Some meals were eat, when it required dexterity to keep one’s seat. The domestic incidents were such as usually happen. We were frightened, one evening, at the Balize, by the report of an expected attack of pirates. I believe this comprises all that is worth relating on the voyage. The captain was a very industrious seaman, and one of the passengers said, in reference to his frequently shifting sail, that he did not believe he had lost two gallons of wind, on the passage.

The highlands of Neversink, the pilot boats of New York, and the low shores of Sandy Hook, & Long Island, were gazed at with delight. The ship dropped anchor at the Quarantine ground, at Staten Island, during the night. In the morning, those who were most ill, shaved & put on their best apparel, to stand the scrutiny of the Health office. As there was no yellow fever on board, the passengers were told that a [30] quarantine of only four days would be exacted. I procured Dr. De Witt’s permission to visit the interior of the island, the soil of which I found to be based on serpentine. It yielded plentiful asbestos, & brown oxide of iron, in their various forms. One of the farmer’s told me he had ploughed up a large crystal of quartz. Another took me to a pit, where a good deal of labour had been thrown away, in digging for gold & silver. I returned to the village of Tompkinsville, when my four days had expired, & went to the city in a steamboat.

My first object was to procure lodgings, & attend to my baggage & collections. I fixed my residence in Courtland Street, & put an advertisement in the papers inviting naturalists to view my collections. Many called, and as the collection was the first of the kind brought from the Mississippi Valley., I had reason to believe that it excited all the attention that could be expected. I offered to the late Mr Wiley to publish my travels, but he said so many discouraging things on the subject, that I gave up the idea without making any other effort. I shewed the manuscript of my remarks on the mines to the same gentleman. He observed that it had better be shewn to Dr. Mitchell, after a cursory examination, and learning from me my object, he gave his written opinion, which, with Mr Austin’s of Herculaneum, I appended to my proposals for publication. The [31] work was brought out, under the title of “a view of the Lead Mines of Missouri” late in the autumn of 1819. Mr. Goodrich asked me for a copy of my journal in the interior of Missouri and Arkansas, for the pages of miscellany which he was then publishing called the Belles letters Repository. As I attached but little pecuniary value to the journal, it was readily communicated, but in haste, & without the labour of authorship. Nothing was asked for the manuscript, & nothing was received. But this is the first, & I believe the only publication on that particular portion of the country extant. The Committee of Correspondence on Internal Improvements asked me, by letter, for information on regions I had visited, and they published the letter which I wrote in reply. After this publication, which preceded my view of the mines, I was elected a corresponding member of the New York Lyceum of Natural History. And when my longer work was published, the Historical Society of that city, also noticed me.

As soon as my work was published, I proceeded to Washington. I took letters from Mr Bogert, a gentleman of science at New York. To whom I had dedicated my work, and from another gentleman. I was mortified, on presenting my first letter from the former gentleman, which was addressed to General Van Ness, to hear the latter endeavoring to make out the signature to be some other person’s, & by finally declaring that he did not know the person who had thus complimented him. I took especial good care never to repeat my visit, and not knowing but the remaining letter, as they were sealed, might treat of the matter, deposited [32] the other two from Mr B in the post office. I never heard more of them, or the persons to whom they were addressed, one of whom was Mr Dashkoff, and the other (I think) the Secretary of the Russian legation.

As Congress were in session, I called on the Hon. Jesse B Thomas , with whom I had a passing acquaintance in the western country. He appointed a time to go with me, for the purpose of being introduced to the President, Mr Monroe, and the principal members of his cabinet. We accordingly drove to the several places of their official residence, at the time fixed. Mr. Monroe made some memorandums in the course of the interview. Mr. Calhoun, of the War Department, who was the next person visited, said that Gov. Cass of Michigan had forwarded a memorial on the subject of an expedition to the north west; & that he had recommended that a person should be attached to it, who would be competent to decide on the copper of Lake Superior, and other mineralogical features of the country. He offered me the situation, and said that the pay would be half a dollar a day, besides the expense transportation. As it fell with my Missouri plan of north western discovery, although offering a different route, the project impressed me very favorably, and I said, in reply to Mr Calhoun, that I would accept his offer. I was under the hope, that a more liberal allowance would have been made, but I thought this temporary employment, would lead to something further.

As my principal ulterior object, was an organization of the mines, preliminary to my being placed in the direction of them, I pressed the subject on the attention of the Secretary of the Treasury Department, and the Commission of the general Land Office, with whom the decision rested. Mr Meigs appeared to be decidedly in favour of the plan of raising a revenue from the public mines, and said several flattering things in relationship to it. He concluded by recommending me to Mr Crawford. The latter, although he permitted me to state distinctly my views, in writing, but came to no decision while I remained at the seat of government.

I now proceeded to New York to prepare for the execution of my trust, and as early as the opening of Lake Erie permitted, went to Detroit. Other persons had travelled this route before, but I never had. Almost Every foot of the way beyond Canandaigua, was new ground to me. And I therefore kept a journal of my remarks. When the boat reached Detroit, Governor Cass, Himself, came on board, and I was introduced to him. His affability & promptitude of manner impressed me very favourably. As I have published the result of this expedition under the title of “Narrative Journal of Travels from Detroit &c. to the sources of the Mississippi”. No details are required to make you acquainted with it. The tour afforded a fine field of view for observation, and it was a field which had the merit of novelty. More time on the journey, & more time in the preparation of the account of it, would have given additional value to the results. The art of professed authorship was not brought to bear upon my work. [34] I was content to publish hastily, and without that careful attention & examination which arithmetical deductions require.
Hamilton Fulton, Esqr . wrote to my publisher from Raleigh, in North Carolina, that an error had been committed in estimating the mean fall of the Mississippi, which, taking my own data, should be stated as only five inches & a fraction per mile. I had previously noticed this error, and determined to correct it, whenever the work was reprinted. In transmitting my journal, a question occurred, whether the domestic incidents, so to call them, should be included, in part or in full. They would render the work more interesting to general readers, but as I had kept no notes of this kind, beyond very general ones, I determined not to supply by reminiscence, what was originally wanting. I had kept, separately, a geological journal, a record of Thermometrical observations, & notes on the weather; and a book of heights and distances. And it became necessary to decide, how much of it should appear. And often, when questions of this nature arose, the printers calling for copy, decided the point. With every disadvantage of a hurried revision, & a hurried typography, the work was well received, both by the general & scientific public. The Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences sent me a notice of my election, or a correspondent. The American Geological Society, and the American Antiquarian Society sent me diplomas. And I received notices of my election as a member of several societies devoted to natural history, in the interior of the State of New York. Gov. Cass addressed a letter to Mr Calhoun, Secretary of War, approving my [35] services, and a mark of respect, I dedicated the narrative of the Expedition to the latter, the narrative of the Expedition which he had sanctioned, and which indicates the liberal & enlightened public policy, by which he is influenced.

After my return from the north, and while temporarily delayed at Detroit, Gov. Cass offered me the appointment of Secretary to the board of Commissioners, who were expect to meet at Chicago, the following year. I accepted this appointment and repaired to Detroit in the next year [1821] in season to accompany him thither. As other public duties required his presence on the Wabash, the route taken was a very circuitous one, but it had the merit of being, in great part, a new track. It linked together my Northern and Southern discoveries, and gave me the opportunity to pass in the rear, as I had before passed in the front of Ohio, Indiana & Illinois. I therefore kept a journal of the route. As I have submitted this journal to the public under the title of “Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley” its subject need not be dwelt on. It was prepared for the press with more care, it had scarcely a typographical error, or a phrase which criticism could lay hold of, yet it was received with less decided approbation than its predecessor.

The ancient French route by the Maumee and the Wabash, the prairies, and isolated mountain scenery of Illinois, the valley of the Illinois itself, so extolled by the French, and the plains of Chicago, formed the principal theatres of remark. The Mississippi & the mines were revisited, & additional facts stated in relation to them. I took this opportunity to refund, with interest, the money which had been spontaneously sent to me in 1819, from Herculaneum. I called on Mrs Austin, whose husband had died after his return from Texas, with the grant of a colony form the Spanish government: And I learned from her that her son Stephen, had proceeded to avail himself of the grant. Open hands were extended to me in the mine country, and the visit itself was attended with gratifying recollections.

At Chicago, I felt the effects of the miasma of the Illinois river. A severe bilious fever confined me to my bed. I was even prevented from affixing my name to the treaty. The commissioners returned, by an overland route, across the peninsula of Michigan. I was deprived of seeing the St. Joseph’s country, which has latterly formed the theatre of attraction, & the soil & natural advantages of which, had been represented to me in glowing colours. When well enough, I embarked on board a schooner, and passed through lakes Michigan and Huron. After my return to New York, I wrote “A Memoir on the Fossil Tree of the Des Plains”, which in mere point of style, I regard as the most verbose of my compositions. I lost, this year, three boxes of my collections consisting chiefly of minerals and fresh-water shells, after they had reached Buffalo, & been transferrred to Geneva, & put upon the canal.

In the winter of 1822, I visited Washington. Wishing to diversify, as much as possible, the route of travel, I went by [37] water, as far as Alexandria in Virginia, and had thus an opportunity of seeing the Chesapeak & the river Potomac. [insertion mark for flysheet] I visited Mount Vernon, which I had previously seen frrm the Potomac. I had made “A Report on the Copper Mines on the Ontonagon” on the return from the north western expedition. I now completed and sent in, to the War Department. A General Report on the Geology &Mineralogy of the north western portions of the United Sates”, embracing a connected account of the stratification and the imbedded minerals of the region. [continue sheet 37] Mr Monroe sent my name to the Senate as Agent for Indian Affairs at Vincennes, with the understanding that the agency itself should be removed, under a general act of Congress, to the Sault de Ste Marie. A proposition to withdraw a detachment of the army, then in garrison at Sacketts Harbour had previously been submitted by Mr Calhoun to the President, & received his sanction.

On the day following the confirmation of the appointment, Col. Bomford of the ordnance office, to which the subject on mines had been transferred, offered to send me as special agent to the mines, to examine and report upon them, with the understanding that the office of Superintendent of Mines, would be recommended to Congress by the President, in his next message, and if acceded to by that body, that I should receive the appointment. Such an offer would have been highly agreeable, if made earlier. The office itself is what I had recommended in my observations on the condition of the mines, and the attainment of which I had pursued for three years. But the proposed commission could not be accepted without resigning the appointment of Indian Agent, which I had just received, a step I should have been very willing to take, after the creation by congress of the office of Superintendent of Mines. Mr Monroe made the recommendation referred to, in his message to Congress of December 1822, but no act was based upon it, by Congress. In the meantime, while the question was discussed there, officers of the artillery corps, were ordered to perform the duties, of (illegible) leasing out mines, & receiving, on the spot, a stipulated rent.

I proceeded to Detroit to receive my instructions for the discharge of the duties of my appointment. While there, I was assailed by a fit of fever and ague, being the first I had ever experienced. When relieved of its effects, a partial paralysis ensued. My face & neck remained in a paralyzed state for a number of weeks. On the arrival of the detachment of the army destined for the Sault, under Col. Brady, I embarked with them, and reached the place of destination on the sixth of July 1822. This brings me to the period of our personal acquaintance, and I therefore conclude, with assurance of my friendship & regard.

Henry R Schoolcraft

Several careful researchers have done extensive research on the English origins of James, and demonstrated that the name was always a variant of Schoolcraft.
Johan Wilhelm Kamer, (1679-1749). Anna was not his only child or only daughter, but may have been the only one to survive childhood.
Nine: James, about 1728, William about 1730, Johannes(John), 1731, Christian, about 1732, Lawrence about 1733, Margaret, 1733, Maria 1735, Elizabeth, 1738, Catherine 1741. HRS omits all mention of a prior wife and child.
HRS here confuses William and Christian. William died in Schoharie in 1761.
HRS errs. John Bradstreet did not arrive in Albany until 1755, when Margaret was in her early twenties. There may have been some as yet undiscovered relationship between them. She married Crean Brush (abt1725-1778).
It is interesting that this legend was perpetuated in two widely separated branches of the family. It indicates that it may have originated with James himself. Perhaps he was attempting to conceal his own desertion from the British Army in 1711?
February 1783. This was an American expedition against the British held post, the only expedition against a defended Oswego in the colonial period. The attackers were discovered by the British before any assault could be launched, so they retreated. John Johnson was a noted Loyalist, and if present, would have been shooting at them.
General Phillip Schuyler (1733-1804), Commander of the Northern Department of the Revolutionary armies.
Now Guilderland, NY.
HRS first marked this passage for deletion, then later marked it “restore”.
containing or made of clay
Hart, Truman (1784-1838) of New York. Member of New York state senate 7th District, 1826-29.
HRS’ meaning is unclear. “Agaric” refers to a class of fungi, and not to any mineral. Perhaps the word had a different meaning in 1816. The word is quite legible in the original.
Fluate, a floride
Blennerhasset’s Island, Parkersburg, WV. Harmen Blennerhaset, (1764-1831) Irish born lawyer, gentleman farmer and scientist, was a supporter of Aaron Burr in his plot to establish in independent nation in the mid-west. The island was the rallying point for Burr’s people. Ruined by his arrest and Burr’s failure, he and his wife retreated to the Mississippi Valley, then to Montreal and finally back to Ireland..
Cave-in-Rock is a natural formation in Hardin County, IL. Through much of the 1790s to 1830’s, it was a haven for river pirates.
HRS offers no clue as to which burial mound he refers. There are several along the Ohio, dating from 250 BC to 1500 AD.
America IL, on the Ohio, a few miles above its mouth.
Stephen Fuller Austin, (1793-1836) for whom Austin TX is named.
Maremec River
La Balize, LA. A settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi.
Jesse Burgess Thomas (1777 - 1853) was born in Virginia. He served as a delegate from the Indiana Territory to the tenth Congress (1808) and later served as one of Illinois's first two Senators.(1818-1829)
Lewis Cass (1782 –1866) was an American military officer and politician. During his long political career, Cass served as a governor of the Michigan Territory, an American ambassador, and a U.S. Senator representing Michigan. He was the nominee of the Democratic Party for President of the United States in 1848.
Hamilton Fulton (died 1834) was a British engineer who later emigrated to North Carolina. In 1818, he was appointed State Engineer, charged with opening rivers to navigation and building canals.

Sketch of the Life of Lawrence Schoolcraft

gparkes_1 — 2009-08-07 00:59:35Z

A Sketch of the Life of
Col. Laurence Schoolcraft
by

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

This sketch, dated Washington, April 21, 1856, is to be found in the Henry Rowe Schoolcraft papers now in the Library of Congress, container 63. The papers have been microfilmed, and are widely available via inter- library loan. The original consists of 49 manuscript pages plus the printed obituary referred to on the final page. Henry began to suffer a series of strokes in 1849. By 1856, his handwriting had seriously declined from that of his youth. Henry seems to have penned this over several days, as the hand writing, rarely good, tends to deteriorate from fatigue and then rebound. It also tends to be worse when he was writing in rapid excitement. Unfortunately he tended to become excited at the most genealogically interesting parts. In a letter to John Johnston, his father-in-law, (1828), HRS stated that he is repeating family lore repeated at innumerable fireside conversations. Some of it has been shown contain error, as family stories seem always to accrete.

HRS appears to have returned to the Sketch at least twice. While little is crossed out, much was added by affixing a flysheet containing the new text over the old, with no indication that he wished to delete the underlying text. This is a draft document. Spelling and punctuation, and syntax have been preserved as well as possible, including far too many commas and too few periods. I expect he would have corrected many of the mechanical errors if it were to be published.

The brackets contain pointers to sheets in the original. The text begins on sheet two, the first being the title page. I generally did not try to guess at words difficult to make out, unless the meaning seemed clear from context. In these cases, the word is followed by a question mark and enclosed in parentheses. If it was not clear, (illegible) has been inserted. At three places in the text, HRS left an intentional blank space, obviously planning to return and add a specific number or name, but did not do so. These are indicated by an underscored blank space.

I must add my special thanks to David Ellis for his assistance in decoding Henry’s handwriting.

A formatted Word document containing footnotes is available. E-mail me at gparkes@aol.com for a copy.

Greg Parkes
East Aurora NY
July 2009

A Sketch of the Life of Col. Laurence Schoolcraft
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

[2][flysheet] History has its minor, as well as greater heroes and the former often occupy positions of usefulness & trust without which the latter would sometimes be shorn of no little trust, place and effectiveness. He who throttles a traitor & he who prosecutes a confession are alike benefactors of them and it is certain that without men of the former class, the American Revolution would have produced a failure.

[Continuation of sheet 2] The writer has often thought it his duty to put on record some memoranda of the life of a man who was one of the earliest actors in the stirring times of 1776, one who reputably occupied positions of interest & peril, military and civic, throughout the entire period of the vital conflict for American liberty. Laurence Schoolcraft was a man of genial manners & great amenity of character, a fluent talker, possessing a retentive memory, and retained, throughout life, the youthful patriotic principle, strongly at the bottom of all his reminiscences of revolutionary scenes & sacrifices. The fireside recital of these scenes was often double in intensity of interest by the perils of night & day, which were thrown around the feeble and scattered settlements of the frontiers of Albany county by lurking masses of Indians & still more remorseless & [3] hateful tories, who not only the guides of these deluded savages to the dwellings of the Whigs, but often with painted faces, & a disguised dress, committed some of the most cruel shocking murders themselves. Of the two duties to fight the British & fight the tories the latter was decidedly the most meritous task.

The era is one, which has already lost much of its interest, in vague generalities, and in the absorbing themes of our rapidly advancing national growth & prosperity, and it would be well that all that is bitter of the revolutionary times should be forgotten and forgiven. [Insertion mark for flysheet] When the Revolution broke out the words Mississippi & Rocky Mountains, California & Oregon were seldom or never pronounced in the state of New York. [Continuation of sheet 3] Nor is it proposed to recall any of these bitter transactions in these present memoranda; albeit, the border warfare of the frontiers of Albany and Tryon counties, will long remain an attraction for the pen of fiction & fancy, basing its creations on history. It is trusted that the American Republic will long outlive the institutions of Greece & Rome in duration & far surpass them in wisdom & power; but long as it may endure, it will, probably, never have [4] so hard an ordeal to pass through as the seven years intervening between 1776 and 1783, nor is it likely ever again to produce more self sacrificing, high-minded & noble patriots, definite and well defined views of human liberty, based on the revealed word of God.

The details of the revolutionary character, in which he was an actor, would doubtless have justified a full memorial, if undertaken in his life time, and even now, after a lapse of sixteen years, could be made to assume a breath & comprehensiveness, which could not but possess interest. But this expansion of design, if it were the object, cannot now be given, for the requisite leisure for it, cannot be adopted, and the only purpose of this paper is to pay a tribute to one of the minor actors of the revolution, who, if he did occupy a broad field of [5] power, was always useful, fearless, independent, ardent, cool & brave, in the field he actively pursued, & always fulfilled, in these situations, the best expectations of his copatriots. And so far as details here given, either of his genealogy or of his own acts, they will be, exclusively drawn from his fireside reminiscences & narratives.

In the Battle of Blenheim in 1704, under the Duke of Marlborough, James Calcraft held the appointment of conductor of artillery. He was the stated gunner of a company of British matrosses1 . These posts he had held during that distinguished commander’s splendid military career, on the continent, in the prior campaigns of 1702 and 1703, and he continued to serve in the British army, in the subsequent campaigns of 1706 &’7, and until 1709 or ‘10 , having been present at the siege of Liege, Masstricht, Ghent, Bruges, & other conflicts. In these battles & sieges, no scratch came nigh him but the loss [6] of an eye, which happened from the flash of the priming of a cannon, but from which he eventually suffered no disfiguration. In this brilliant series of battles and triumphs, under Marlborough, which all England & all Europe praised, he thought, with excusable pride, that no little share of the honor redounded to himself, for the artillery system was then, a leading arm, and the science of gunnery, yet in its infancy. And he had the gratification to know that he was a favorite with his commanders. He rejoiced in the glories of the reign of Queen Ann, who appears to have enjoyed unlimited popularity in England. He was a man of a robust form & constitution, of unimpaired health & great personal activity, of which there are traditions of the weights & fatigues he could bear, after he came to America, and was almost a hundred years old. It was the tradition of the family, in England, that James ancestors had come over with William the Conqueror.

The treaty of Utrecht of 1713, put an end to the continental wars, but, as between Great Britain & France treaties always left a state of perpetual watchfulness and danger, between the British [7] colonies & New France, particularly on the wide frontier between New York & the Canadas. A detachment of veteran troops was sent to America, in the interval, in which he came agreeably to his own emphatic boasts “in a squadron of three ships of Queen Ann.” He landed at New York, proceeding to Albany, which was then the British headquarters. The tradition states that he left the service with two companions named Yates & Glen. He chose the business of land surveyor, for which the period afforded abundant employment. In this capacity, he visited the new settlements along the Susquehanna, and finally located himself on the waters of Schoharie creek. This settlement dates about 1712, and was the result of a promise or alleged promise of Queen Anne, to certain Palatines from Wittemburg in Saxony, who landed at London, on their way to America, temporarily abiding on Livingston’s manor, on the Hudson in Dutchess county. Respecting this promise, fierce land disputes soon arose, other persons claiming the concession, which led to [8] unhappy disputes of title. Some persons resisted the new claimants vie et armes , some repurchased the title, & some went into the valley of the Susquehanna & obtained titles from the executive successor of William Penn and settled in Pennsylvania. Of these, the most important was Conrad Weiser Esqr., arising from the position he held under Sir William Johnson as Chief Interpreter of his general superintendency of Indian affairs in America, & from the great personal influence that gentleman exercised, so many years, over the Iroquois, & other tribes.

James Calcraft married the only daughter and only child of Christian Camerer , by whom he had a numerous family. In later years, he opened an English school in that settlement, being the first of the kind in that frontier portion of Albany county, and it is from this circumstance that the orthography of the name derives its change. One of his sons migrated to the Loyalhanna, in Clark county, Virginia where his posterity suffered severely from the bloody invasions of the Shawnee Indians between 1770-1779 no less than fourteen [9] being killed or captured. Another son went to the New York grants in Otter creek, where the Green Mountain Boys finally expelled him into Canada. His daughter Margaret was brought up in the family of Gen. Bradstreet , Albany where she married Col Green Brush of the British army. His third son, John, removed into the township of Watervliet below the range of the Helderberg, settling in the valley of the Tawasentha, or Norman’s Kill. Being an architect and millwright, he created the extensive mills of Gen. Ten Breock at the great falls of that stream at a spot which has been more recently known as French Mills or Guilderland center. Noted as a man of purpose, energy, strength, he was frequently a volunteer in the wars of the colonial outbreaks, against the Indians, who harried across their frontiers under the cruel influence of French counsels from the Gov. Gen. of New France, who so long & so unsuccessfully pursued the policy of planting a French colony in western New York. His loyalty was ever ready for this service. He [10] was one of the army who made a winter expedition to surprize Oswego on which occasion he saved his feet from the frost by pouring his rum ration into his shoes. The children of John, were Lawrence, John & Anne.

Lawrence was born February 3rd 1757. He was a young man of seventeen when the American Revolution broke out. He was, exactly, six feet high, slender, active, robust, enthusiastic. The loyalty of the Calcrafts for the British crown, by a natural transition became loyalty in the Schoolcrafts in the west frontier for the American cause. From listening to the conversations of well informed men; from reading the few political tracts which reached the interior, and from observation about him, his mind was early prepared for the cause. In 1776 or 76 (sic), when the Committees of Safety were first appointed to take the anomalous power of local government, executive and juridical, a drummer and fifer, took their places, at the head of a street, several miles long. They were followed by the three Committee men, on horseback, who preceded forward, followed by an escort of patriots or “liberty boys” as they were frequently called. At every farm house, at every shop and mill, a halt was called & the [11] sentiments of the owner, or occupant was canvassed. If he was a whig, he was left at home, if a tory, he was ordered to fall in, at a certain rank. In this way the whole settlement was canvassed, & it was positively known, who was for, & who against (sic), the revolution. Where there was a doubt, of an individual, all eyes were fixed to watch, and from that moment, the cause of liberty became the subject of eternal vigilance. These just three causes of watchfulness, the open enemy, the Indian & tory, and of these three the actual cause of apprehension & distrust, & hatred, were in the order & intensity in which they are named. To meet the open foe was honorable, to kill an Indian, no harm, and to kill a tory a praiseworthy act. If every man had been paid he could not have watched closer, but everyone appeared to watch the public interest & property as he expected no reward but the honor of serving the cause of liberty & putting down tyrants!

[Insertion mark for flysheet] Nothing could be done on the borders of the counties of Albany or Tryon, with either Indians or tories without petting down Sir John Johnson . Firmly seated as he was, in the valley of the Lower Mohawk & extending his influence south west & north over the whole colonies, the revolution hung crippled, at this point.

In January 1776, a large volunteer force under Gen Schuyer , marched against Sir John Johnson at the baronial Hall at Johnstown, where the intriguing Knight was capitulated on terms (illegible) agreed with the (illegible) General, delivered up the army of state militia (illegible) (illegible) & put on his parole, which he soon broke, & and accompanied by his tory followers, fled to Canada. All the elements of revolution were now hot, and boiled over. Captures, murders, massacres, imprisonments, were in vogue, week after week & day after day. The love of liberty was often the price of death.

[Continuation of sheet 11] The popular voice elected him lieutenant & adjutant of the 5th regiment [12] of New York State troops. He was also deputed to serve civil process against suspected persons, who were brought before the Committee of Safety. This was not an easy duty. A man had his life in his hands, & requested no little candor, & no less decision of character. Where every other house was a tory’s, every intervening piece of wood was an ambuscade. A common mode of active young loyalists, was to flee to Canada, & return, by stealth with a military commission in their pockets, & then commence secretly, to recruit men. He traced out one of these men named Schell , who returned from Canada, with a lieutenant’s commission from the Crown authorities. It was a case, which he deemed to require reference to the executive at Albany. The distance was 16 miles, through dangerous defiles. Putting spurs to his horse, he performed the journey by daylight. Gov George Clinton was at the head of affairs. Having produced the proof & obtained means & authority, the retreat of Schell was suddenly [13] surrounded and he was carried a prisoner to Albany where he was brought before the Committee of Safety. The case was stated the first day, it was adjourned for the defense & further proceeding the second & the man was hanged9 the third.

The plan of attacking Quebec, at an early day, before troops could be sent across the Atlantic to reinforce it, was one of the best & boldest conceptions of the Revolution, and it was entrusted to the man of all others best fitted to carry it out. Montgomery had already taken Montreal, & was on his way to attack the rock fortress, when a reinforcement marched to his relief. This expedition he joined, with alacrity, being his first military campaign since the short one of the capture of Sir John Johnson at Johnson Hall, which he had engaged in. And his anticipations & enthusiasm were at its height, (illegible) he set out on an expedition, which, if successful, was to give the mastery, if it did not terminate the great struggle. At Ticonderoga, the troops were formed into hollow square, to hear the declaration of independence read. This had been sent on by [14] express to overtake the troops. It expressed, he said, the universal sentiment. Every body believed the recital of grievances and the remedy. Nobody doubted that liberty was only to be won by a bold heart & a strong arm. We had, said he, his black eye glistening with (martial?), “we had long declared independence in our hearts: The troops and the people were, indeed, far in advance of their leaders, at all times. To fight, said he, was the universal sentiment, & it had been fixed, in the hearts of the people, as the (alone?) remedy, from the news of Lexington.” In passing through Lake George in boats, the beauty of the scenery made a strong impression on him, & he often, in after life referred to it, & the little (illegible) of the (illegible) & little excursions as the most surpassing of any he had ever conceived. The events of the arrival of the army at Isle aux Noix, St John's & were definitely impressed on his mind, as so many (illegible) of the march. But the brave Montgomery had fallen before the reinforcements reached, and with that fall, began a series of retrograde movements.

The arrival of Burgoyne at [15] Quebec, with a large & well appointed army to take the field, with the view of cutting the northern from the middle and southern states, by striking (the?) Hudson at Albany, had every thing in jeopardy, the next year. The contest was indeed to be won by bold hearts. Early in the spring he again joined the regular forces, with his younger brother John, yet scarce old enough to shoulder a musket. And while the latter moved to the plain of Saratoga to join Schuyler he proceed(ed) to Fort Stanwix at the head of the Mohawk.

In 1777 the cause looked black. Washington had evacuated New York & been driven across the Jersies (sic). Burgoyne was marching on Albany with ten thousand prime troops, Col St Leger, with Brant & his Iroquois, had left Oswego, to drive Col. Gansevoort from Ft Stanwix, & sweep down the Mohawk.
To lead a small reinforcement to that place was a task of hazard, which he undertook & successfully accomplished, eluding Indian & tory. He had not been many days in that fort which was rechristened Schuyler, but always popularly retained the name of Stanwix, when the British column were discerned advancing from wood creek, with a bright array of soldiers, arrayed in (illegible) & heard the notes of military music, while their flanks were (illegible) with the infuriated Mohawks, [16] The throng, of yelling Senecas, & the whole military strength of the Cayugas & Onandagas, with a few Tuscaroras. Veterans might have quited. In strength they were far out numbered. But the (illegible) soldiery looked on, undismayed, they saw the guns planted in batteries, they felt that a real struggle was at hand, & they knew that if conquered in the siege, the tomahawk and the scalping knife would end the scene. Patriotism outnumbered means and discipline. Courage & the good cause made up for men and cannon. For twenty one days, the constant of the sentries on the wall were shot or shell. I have described some of his reminiscences of this siege in another place.*

* Considerations on the Siege of Fort Stanwix, NY Hist. Soc. [1842]

It was a fortunate circumstance in this siege that St Ledger’s(sic) guns were too light for battering trains. The patriotic inhabitants of the Mohawk valley, under the brave Gen Herkimer, marched to the relief the post but were waylaid & defeated at Oriskany. [17] It could be seen, from the ramparts, that many the Indian forces had, had been drawn from the surrounding woods, to engage in this ambuscade. Sir John’s camp, also shewed the withdrawal of some troops, particularly the Royal Greens, a tory corps, who were handled very roughly, that day, by Herkimer’s men. It was decided to make a sortie, in this state of things, on Sir John’s camp. This event he graphically described. When the men were paraded in the fort, the question of volunteering for the sortie was stated by Col Willet , who announced himself as their leader. Eager for the conflict, my father was one of the first to advance. A force of ______ men was soon mustered, who issued in high spirits through the sally port. They advanced instantly to the camp of Sir John, on the banks of the Mohawk. It was warm weather. The knight was lying down in his dressing gown. So quiet was the movement that he escaped, if by minutes, but all his papers & camp items, arms etc. were taken, he flew, on foot, through the Mohawk. Numbers of [18] his men were killed in the river, the plunder of the camps was immense, & twenty one loads were drawn in to the fort by the quarter master teams. The Indian camps were then attacked, and (illegible) their thinned ranks sent howling into the forest –for they were in no plight to make a stand. That day Herkimer was defeated at Oriskany, eight miles distant, and that horrible night was the last, it is believed, in which prisoners were roasted at the stake. The Senecas, who were the most numerous, had suffered the severest in the fight and claimed, as stated by the war chief Blacksnake , the largest share of prisoners to torture. Joseph Brant , exerted his ultimate bravery& decision, and it was to him, & not his allies that the enemy owed the triumph, - if that may be called a triumph, where the victor looses about the same number as the vanquished, & the latter keep the ground. Herkimer, after being shot through a leg, which brought him to the ground, was placed by his (illegible) on his saddle, where he sat, & lighted & smoked his pipe during the hottest of the conflict.

The cry of “shot” & “shell”, still continued by [19] the sentries on walls of fort Stanwix. To lay down a few moments, at the cry of the latter, was an art which everyone was expert in. A few days after at night fall, (sic) the battle of Oriskany, a tory half breed Mohawk, called Hon Yost Schuyler, came, in a
furtive manner, into the camp of Sir John. “Fly said he to the chief, a detachment of the army at Saratoga, with cannon, are on their way. They are already at fort Dayton (now Herkimer) and will be upon you tomorrow, See, pointing to his doublet which he with the temper of a Falstaff, had riddled, with bullets, I have myself narrowly escaped!" Next morning early the British camp was seen to be such commotion. They abandoned the guns in their breastworks - much of camp equipment, & were in full retreat for Wood creek, where they ambushed, & accused each other, on the way, from the Indians being particularly severe on their confidants who had promised them an easy victory & much plunder.

In that war the first gleam of triumph, in a land atmosphere & was followed in about a month, by the brilliant victory of Saratoga. [20] and the year closed with the most important of all, the triumph of Washington at Trenton.

In returning home from the siege of fort Stanwix, he had, a little preceded his brother John from Saratoga. By a chance it happened, that the latter had left Schenectady on his way, shortly after a whig detachment had marched, in the same direction, to break up a rendezvous of tories at Langrange's on the Norman’s kill. Finding the gang assembled, they fired once & killed one or more. Soon after his brother, came on, by the same road. No persuasion could convince the surviving tories, that the soldier had not been dispatched by his service, & they took him prisoner, marched him around, determined that he should pay life for life. On coming to a fork in the road he made a demonstration which (illegible) him the hands with a charged piece, & to use his expression "the devil dancing in his eyes" and rejoin his brother Lawrence in safety .

It seems have been hard for Mohawk tribe who fled with Sir John Johnson from their lower Mohawk valley, & to Sir John himself, who there had indeed left by far the richest territorial possessions, [21] of any (illegible) the (illegible) in America - either to give up that valley, or to be satisfied with forays, & expeditions, open or secret, against it. In 1780, a new , and as it proved a final inroad was planed, and ( in 1781 final Expedition?) Sir John commanded seconded by Brant & the Seneca half breed chief Cornplanter . The motley force of regulars, tories & Indians entered the Schoharie valley by night from a branch of the Susquehanna, and had preceded as far as the middle fort, before they were discovered. But a small regular force was in the fort, & that commanded by an imbecile, who had no heart to fight, but the local militia & citizens, who opposed its surrender, notwithstanding these were the better half a regiment of elite troops before with the enraged Mohawks & Senecas yet smarting from their losses at Oriskany before them. Thrice was a flag of truce at intervals fired on by the good rifleman Murphy , contrary to the order of the regular officer, but in accordance with the warm support of the patriotic militia, who distrusted Sir John & his promises at a capitulation, as much as they did the mercy of howling Mohawks. Among those who sustained the policy of not receiving of a flag of truce & who preferred dying with arms in their hands was the subject of these reminiscences.

[22] It was a desperate state of things, and it required a desperate effort. It was late in fall , the harvests were gathered in, & the people had not expected an invasion. They were unprepared, had not much ammunition or warlike stores. The commander had but few men & no pluck, and had the garrison capitulated every man woman & child stood the chance of having been murdered between the fury of the Indians and tories. The result of this act of defiance was, that the enemy, after besieging the fort nearly all day, marched off to the lower fort, & finally to fort Hunter in the Mohawk valley. During the siege, an iron gun, which (illegible) at one of the bastions, was presented by him & his brother John, _____, at an assailable turn of the road, where, from local knowledge, they knew the regular column must wheel & they had the satisfaction afterwards, to know, that their gunnery was effect. Hordes of Indians, were constantly engaged in burning houses, barns, & haystacks, & made the air (illegible) with their yells. The destruction of property was immense, & the whole valley was filled with flames & smoke. Cattle were killed or driven off, by the enemies , & horses stolen. While this scene of pillage was going on, a party of forty [23] to protect certain points, on repress assaults. My father, who was of this number, be thought him of a fine horse, in a neighboring pasture, & went out to see that he was taken. On entering the field, he saw the animal coming towards, mounted by an Indian chief, in full dress, crouching behind a clump of bushes, he waited his opportunity & firing at the right moment, the rider dropped, & his horse came up without a burden, whom he quickly mounted & rode back to the fort. This turned out the last visit of Sir John, & his & his myrmydons of Indians & tories. [Insertion mark for flysheet] The black cloud of war rolled off, southwardly, after the defeat of Burgoyne & St Ledger [Continuation of sheet 23] and the settlement began breath from five or six years of intense watching, alarms & suffering.

His father John, had removed to the banks of the Tawasentha, or Norman's kill in the township of Watervliet , on the manor of Rensselaerwyck. To this place, Lawrence also removed, and purchased a farm on one of (the?) afluents of that stream, where he successfully cultivated a farm.

[24] As the revolutionary conflict died away, or passed off from the north to the south, he entered fully into civil, industrial & social plans of a section of country which had been desolated by a long triple war with Indians and tories & Britons who did not appear to know whether to treat prisoners of war with the full severity of culprits, or as only misguided rebels who resisted the crown. Agriculture had been more or less neglected. There were no bridges over many of the considerable streams, no well made roads or turnpikes, no schoolhouses, or buildings of public, and the civil affairs were in a disorganized condition. The skeleton system of the militia which had so often furnished minute men & volunteers, exhibited features which called for improvement & better organization. A prompt disciplinarian, & drill & field officer, he soon, after the conflict, succeeded Stephen Van Rensselaer , in the command of the militia of Watervliet & Bethlehem and Guilderland, and for many years shared the duties of the county magistracy. In 1781, he married Miss Margaret Anna Barbara Rowe, a native of Fishkill, Dutchess county, N.Y. by whom he [25] had a family of thirteen children.

The idea of assuming that feature of independent nationality, results from the establishment of domestic manufactures, appears to have sprung up, in the minds of capitalists, early after the close of the Revolution. So early as 1788, a Mr DeNeufville and other emigrant freemen at Albany, associated for the purpose erecting a manufactury of glass in the vicinity of that city, stating the import of that article into the state at $30,000. A site a few miles west of the city was selected. Difficulties, in its successful establishment, were however encountered. In January 1793 the legislature granted them a loan of $3000 for five years and the workmen, were, by a subsequent law, exempted from taxation without interest to establish the works, and in December of that year they were in full operation. In April of the same year the company were dissolved, & a new one formed in the name of Jeremiah Van Rensselaer & his associates. The obstacles to the successful prosecution of the business yet continuing, in 1796 a new organization or enlargement of the company was effected, and Major Frederick DeZeng succeeded to the management. At this time, a plan was devised of uniting the previously [26] previous desultory efforts, and a village was laid out at the site, which in allusion to the Secretary of the Treasury, who had recommended domestic manufactures, was named Hamilton. This village was pleasantly situated on picturesque eminences bounding on the Hunger Kill, a tributary of the Tawansentha, or Norman’s Kill, at the distance of eight miles west of the city - having a sanitary tract of the Pine Plains of Rensselaerwyck on the east, and the agricultural glade & uplands of the Helderberg, on the west.

At this place three large furnaces of two operative crucibles each, were finally erected. The adjacent forests of pine on the public ranges of the manor of Rensselaerwyck, of which the company, had the privilege of cutting, furnished the finest fuel for this the furnace, for as yet, coal was not used for this manufacture in America, nor its natural repositories, even known. It is a geological feature in the formation of these broad and sandy plains, stretching between Albany and Schenectady, that they develop a sub-formation of wet-grounds or marshes - or a minute kind of pseudo-prairies, covered with tufts & grass, which are based on a strata of clean, white sand, which readily fusible with mineral alkali furnishing a material suitable the manufacture of window glass.

[27] Public sentiment strongly enlisted in this enterprise, a new impulse given to the industry of the country & the village rapidly became populous. Hydraulic works rose along the winding margin of a pure, copious & never-failing stream, which had its sources in the geological formations of the county, at the precise point of deepest lime, where the arenaceous deluvions rested on the angillaceous bed of that county. Its tall chimmes & furnaces poured their fumes into the skies, & the air of business & activity of every sort formed an entirely new feature amid the sober & staid agricultural laborers of the surrounding country. The trains of loaded wagons that passed through this village, in the winter months, from the western grand distances, on their way to the city, could be counted daily by the hundred, & the (general boss often?) paused, in admiration to see the artizan whirling his glittering splendor of glass, as he stood working before, the monster red eyed many eyed furnace of roaring flames. It probably [28] never occurred, to the ancestors of the yeoman, that in taking their leases from the lord of the Manor, with a quit rent, they were laying the foundation of what their descents might construe into a species of slavery - and of up sturdy body of anti-renters.

To this new & rising village, he removed in the spring of 1796 or 7, the distance being but four miles, down the rural glades & across the Tawasentha valley which did not carry lime out of the limits of the civil or military jurisdiction, which he occupied. He took the leading interest in the cause of primary instruction, and partly by contribution from the artizens & partly at his own expense erected a convenient & substantial frame building, well lighted, for a town school which was used in place of a small (illegible) tenement. His experience during the war, in the discipline & management of men, pointed him out, as a suitable General Agent to direct the several manufactures which existed, at this place: and after they became, wholly, the interest of Lieut. Gov. Van Rensselaer, they were [29] under his management. They were enlarged by him, & an additional factory erected at a lower point in the valley. The hydraulic works, driving a set stampers & saw mills were built, and a state of prosperity given to the works, which they had never before risen to. The foreign artisans, who were chiefly drawn from Nassau, Hesse & other states of Germany communicated to him the skill necessary to direct the manipulations of this article, and knowledge of several languages was found to be no little advantage in the management & control of a motley population. Hamilton village became noted, as the site of the Albany works, not only through the state, but to some extent, in other parts of the union. And it served as a nucleus for other manufactures which were established by his clients, or personal agency, in western New York & in Vermont & New Hampshire. [Unnumbered] Addison county, Vermont, & in Chestire County New Hampshire.

[Continuation of sheet 29] The article of window glass, being [30] one of the first necessity, in new settlements, created a great demand for the multiplication of works for its manufacture at sites nearer to the scenes of consumption, & he received frequent applications for the establishment of works, in various parts of the country. What had been said by DeNeufville in 1788, became daily more & more emphatically true. Large sums were annually paid out for this article to the invigoraty (sic) of foreign nations and the consequent enfeebling of our own. Much of the article, was imported, at the period from England, and although her laws rigidly prohibited the emigration of her artisans, there were yearly, accessions from the less rigidly guarded ports of Hamburg, Bremin (sic) & the mouth of the Rhine.

[Insertion mark for four sheets marked I, II, III and IV] death of John [I] While living near the falls of the Tawasentha, & afterwards at the village of Hamilton, in Albany county, death had removed his daughter Kate, at 7 years of age, & had made repeated (visits?) on the year of infamy, with drawing from the family, uncle, three infant male children & one female Anna Maria, who died in 1801 on her first birth day. In proportion as these had numbered but few years in the subluminary scenes, & made but slight advance to individuals of character, the shock of their loss was of temporary duration. Nature has formed the heart for hopefulness, and gives it capacities of bearing the trials of life. But in the year 1806, he was destined to a far worse, heavier, & more lasting trial in the lamented death of his eldest son John. John was twenty four. There had been nothing wanting physically or intellectually, from his youth up, to render him all that is attractive. Of a perfect form and bright intellect, his manners were gentle & pleasing, yet calculated by a [II] degree of (illegible) mixed with manly decision to lead others. He was early an excellent musician on the violin & flute. None excelled him in feats of horsemanship or the (illegible) sports & trials of skill of the times. A fine disciplinarian & parade officer, he led 15th armed levies one of the finest company of uniformed volunteers. He was the leading merchant of the place; yet his tastes were of a decided literary & scientific turn. He was an expert manipulator in electricity. He formed a private literary club, of but two * persons beside himself*, who met to read and discuss, & kept their archives under lock & key. To say this of the period is to notice a trait in advance of the times. The (illegible) (illegible) of Mr Kingal & Dr Wolcott, satirical verse of Peter Pinder , constituted the recitals of gayer hours of this trio. He had, himself, decided poetic (illegible) composing with the rapidity of an improvatrice A tendency to diseases of the [III] lungs were early apparent, which, was probably promoted by the fascinating scene of knights (sic) fishing & spearing by twilight in the Tawasentha. No attention - no skill - no medical science could assist this pulmonary habit. Christmas morning of 1806 opened on a bright sunny morning, although the snow laid in a white carpet in the streets. The approaches of this disease are insidious, often (illegible) there is a reality, the least hope. About ten o'clock he called to his mother to bring him a candle. To everyone else, it was light in the room. But such was his perfect composure on the advances of death, that he did not forget, to test the phenomenon by experiment. It was scarcely perceptible when his spirit fled. But there lay the formed hopes & expectations of a family within the arms of death, with the placidity of features of childhood. And when his coffin, surmounted by his cap and sword, was taken from the door, preceded by the gayly~(illegible) ranks and (illegible) arms his favorite volunteers, with muffled drums, [IV] such a long cortege of citizen & troops, had never before followed a coffin to its burial, in that town.

* this included the poet of the time J.V. Veeder esq

[Continuation of sheet 30] The probability of war with Great Britain, which seemed more likely, after the attack in the Chesapeake, as it [31] would cut off importation; gave an additional impetus to the manufacture. The war of 1812, the occurrence(sic) of which, as years rolled by, appeared inevitable, operated strongly on the minds of capitalists & merchants, in stimulating the growth of domestic manufactures. Between the years 1808 & 1816, hundreds of thousands of dollars, were invested in each of the northern & middle states, in manufactures. Every year added to this tendency; minds indulged in the anticipation of prosperity, which (illegible) was in the end, imaginary, and when the (peace?) of the year 1814 came, it fell on many of this class like a thunderclap, producing a depreciation of property & extensive ruin, from which not all, perhaps, suffered, but many were stunned financially (illegible).

But this was a reversal more easily perceived by retrospection, than it could have been foreseen by anticipation. Up to 1808, this branch of manufacture, had the fullest [32] confidence of the community. The success of the Albany works, had originated a kind of intoxication of the mind. The legislature was literally besieged by applicants for incorporations on this subject. In the meantime changes were in operation, which threatened the prosperity of the Albany works, which had been the premier in this branch. The native resources which have been referred to, as causes of prosperity to this works, were of an exhaustive character. New deposits of the siliceous basis for this article, were indeed, still produced by search the aranacious plains, but the stock of wood, was becoming exhausted. Thousands of acres of pinus resinosa had been cut down, converted into fuel, & hauled out the plains; but the wastes produced by new glass, on the (illegible) of this (illegible) as a pseudo desert and unless coal should be discovered & conveyed, it became easy to predict the transfer of the business to other regions, more abundant in forest. [33] About 1808, yielding to the urgent solicitations of persons of persons of means & influence in Oneida county, he proceeded to that quarter, & erected similar works, which were located in the town of Vernon. These works erected under the auspices of capitalists of Utica, became, from being (illegible) into operation, successful & remunerative invests of stock, and had the effect to extend The effect of seeing the article produced, in this frontier, amid dense forests, where the wild Indian war whoop, once so dreadful, had scarcely ceased, was to stimulate the manufacturing impulse. Two of his sons were now of an age to take part, in extending this art. Early in 1810 his son Henry, accompanied Mr Alexander B Johnson, a capitalist of Utica, to the county of Ontario, proceeding to the open shore of Lake Ontario to the Onosodus, or Sodus Bay. But the works were, eventually, located at Geneva on the banks of Seneca Lake. About 1811-12 he dispatched his son Peter to (illegible) at Salisbury at the western foot of the Green mountains Vt, where works were erected on the picturesque shores of Lake Dunmore, [34] in Addison county. He went, himself, in 1813 to Keene in Chestire (sic) county N.H. where a manufactury, was established on the bank of the Ashuelot river. No person had ever occupied so wide a field of usefulness in the art, or who acquired the reputation for his skill & management of this branch of manufacture.

[Insertion mark for flysheet] In 1823 his son Peter, died at the age of 33, at Perryopolis, on the Youghohany, west of the Alleghenies, where his enterprise had carried him. A man of very active & robust habits, & great decision of character, he exercised a marked influence in the circles in which he moved. He had given his energies & skill his life through in the extension of the glass making art in which his father had attached such prosperity having exercised this art, successfully in New York, Vermont & Pennsylvania.

[Continuation of sheet 34] To submit to the distinctions of (illegible) was one of the maxims of advancing age.

A life of constant exertion, from his boyhood, began to require repose, although he still possessed activity & good health, maintained a firm & erect walk, and never gave way to despondent views of the picture of life. About 1816, he returned to his homestead & farm at Vernon, where the family had continued to be permanently located, on his final return from New England (illegible) his second daughter Catherine, from the scene of her education, at one of the most celebrated & efficient female schools, and she was united in marriage to W. H. Shearman of Oneida county. Age did not press heavily on him, as years advanced. Of a spare constitution, temperate habits, and settled mind, seeking & continuing employment of a character, which (illegible) or (illegible) (illegible) he viewed its (illegible) [35] scenes with complacency. A feeling of profound gratification at the triumph of the revolutionary struggle, has been observed to be one of the apparent causes of longevity, in its survivors. (illegible) he certainly regarded, at all times & at the advancing prosperity & power of the union which had been predicted to so speedy & disastrous a failure by the loyalists of 1776. Neither fretful nor envious at the prosperity of others; a professing Christian from early years, & having a firm confidence & trust in the triumph of virtue & modesty in every affair, however small, under the superintending moral (illegible) his life passed on the calm dignity of hope.

[Insertion mark for flysheet] At the eve of the close of the war commenced in 1812, his son Henry R, went to Mississippi valley, the (illegible) of its minerals & geography, and in 1825, on a return visit to the parents at Vernon, took to this new scene of enterprize, his youngest son James, & his daughter Anna Maria. Thinned of the faces & voices, which once surrounded the fire side, he was now admonished that he was advancing into another generation, & that the parental cares of life was drawing to a close. The desolation is the solitude of heart.

[Continuation of sheet 35] In 1829, his daughter Miss Margaret Helen, died, being in her twenty third year. This daughter was the only child left at the homestead, with her parents, the other members of the family having, at various periods gone off, & sought their fortunes in the great west, or other parts of the country. This bereavement, which so much narrowed the family circle, was followed, in a few years, by another & severer blow, which left it completely desolate. In 1832 [36] he was called to a final separation from a wife who had been the choice of his youth, the partner of his middle life, & the stay of his old age. Fifty & one years, - dating back to the close of the Revolution, had she been his prudent domestic guide & efficient counselor, in the changing scenes of weal & woe of domestic (illegible) A Christian & member of the church, from early life, of mildness, yet decision of character, ever hopeful, yet submissive to divine dictates, a woman of domestic assiduosity & neatness, & as moral pride & character of an elevating influence, she was ever a friend when counsel was meet, & a support when support was necessary. A strong taste for shrubs & flowers characterized the precincts of the dormitory, which she (illegible) when her portrait was drawn holding a (illegible) rose in one hand. It is the last blast of the tempest that sweeps away & desolates, the (illegible) which had only bowed before it before. This sacrifice he was called to make on the 16th February 1832, in her seventy second year. She was buried [37] beside her daughter on the banks of the Skenando at Vernon, where a monument is erected to her memory, with the inscription-"Her children rise up & called her blessed” Prov. His eldest daughter Catherine Ann, (Mrs Shearman) had died the year previously, and his grandchildren living in the present, were now the only immediate objects of his sympathies. For a time, he kept up the domestic hearth fire, with the aid of hired assistants, but gave up this, & took board at a neighbors house in the rural neighborhood. In 1837 he writes in his hymn book - "I thank God that I have yet eye-sight, so that I can see a little in the Holy scriptures, Amen."

While living in the upper waters of the Tawasentha, in Watervliet, about 1793, he had accidently struck a sharp axe into one of his feet, nearly severing it, in [38] two, but by daily the(sic) alcoholic refreshments, in keeping the wound clean, it was completely restored, nor did any lameness, result from it. But when the weakness of age, had whereof to complain, (the?) because a valiturious nature appeared to fall back on the old injury. Whatever the cause were, the foot assumed a dark appearance & developed a (illegible) mortification. This appeared to be (illegible) The discoloration ascended the leg, and after a few days, confinement, the disease became mortal. He died on the 7th June 1840, [in] his 84th year. He was interned on the Skenando, beside the remains of his wife & daughters, where a joint monument preserves their memory.

In an obituary notice of the National Intelligencer (31 July 1840) his demise is….

(Washington 21 April 1856)

Text of the obituary:

DIED

At Vernon; Oneida County, N.Y. ,on the 7th June, ult, in the 83d year of his age, Colonel LAWRENCE SCHOOLCRAFT, a soldier of the Revolution.

The death of a soldier of the Revolution is every day becoming an event more and more solemn and peculiar interest. The lapse of more than half a century has left but few to tell the story of the birth of American Independence; and the living evidences of the character and spirit of the men who achieved it are fast passing away. The generation is now at hand to which history will bear witness alone of their exalted patriotism and devotion to liberty. Protected amid the dangers of battle and the storms of war; suffered to live, for the most part, beyond the ordinary lot of mankind; to be witnesses of the triumphant and increasing success of the principles for which they fought and bleed; favored in the eminent usefulness of their lives; identified with the history of all the civil, political, and religious rights which we enjoy; made the object of reverence and respect by a whole nation, the people of which are indebted to them for the privilege of free American citizenship and the Republican form of Government; they have, in a most emphatic and peculiar manner, enjoyed the blessing of heaven. And while the favor of a still further prolonged existence we cannot ask for them, from the Author of our being, each inroad made by the great conqueror upon the ranks of this fast diminishing band of patriots is, and should be, a deep and fruitful source of mingled feeling and emotion.

The least we can do is to testify to our feelings of gratitude to them; individually and collectively, to bear appropriate witness of our appreciation of their lives and character, and to give renewed evidence that they are not passing from off the stage if the world without our notice, and the tribute of our hearts. To do this in a brief manner, is the object of this obituary.

To make distinctions is(in?) the personal character of the soldier’s of the Revolution, is no part of the writer’s intention; but to say that in Colonel Lawrence Schoolcraft, the Revolutionary army found one of its most fearless champions, and that in him was personified, in an eminent degree, the principles which inspired to liberty, is but due his memory. At an early age, enlisting in the regular army as a private soldier, the record of his life finds him a participator and actor in some of its most thrilling scenes.

Of a temperament ardent and active, of a mind vigorous and energetic, of a spirit bold and daring, nay, even indomitable in its aspirations for freedom, he became at once conspicuous among his brethren in arms, and a terror to his country’s foes. He rendered active service under General Washington’s movement on Canada, was at the siege of Fort Stanwix under General Gansevoort, and volunteered in the sortie on the British under St Leger and Johnson. After having served the period of his enlistment in the regular army, he returned to his native county (Albany New York) and as an officer of the militia remained in service during the remainder of the war. In his pursuit of those most bitter and dangerous of his country’s enemies—the royalists and tories—he was effective and tireless. “The Schoharie country,” to use the words of another, “was at that time the scene of many bloody encounters between the settlers and the tories and Indians, under Butler and Brand; but for the vigilance of the local militia, the whole of that fertile country would have been laid to waste, and the inhabitants butchered by the blood thirsty savage.” Often has the writer of this listened with horror to the recital of Indian atrocities committed on the inhabitants of that ill-fated district; and it would seem, as the words fell from the lips of the aged hero, that he was “fighting his battles o’er again.” On the subject of the Revolution, its causes and effects, he was ever eloquent.

A single anecdote connected with the subject of this notice, serves to illustrate the spirit of the times in ’76.--—When the declaration of Independence had been made formally by Congress, the troops, by general order, were formed into a hollow square to hear it read. This was at Ticonderoga, where Col. Schoolcraft was then present. “To assemble,” said he, “for the purpose of hearing read a formal Declaration of Independence, seemed to the troops to be singular. We had all declared independence in our hearts long before, nor did the formality of a declaration add strength to the motives which impelled us.” The fact is worthy of being noted, as evidence that that glorious instrument, penned by the immortal Jefferson, was not the creator, but the offspring of the spirit which burned in the bosoms of the people, and which impelled them onward in the cause of liberty, “conquering and to conquer.”

No man was more ardent in the cause, none looked forward with greater hopes of its ultimate triumph and success, none cherished with deeper devotion, or adhered with more fixedness of purpose, to the principles for which the soldiers of the revolution contended than did Colonel Schoolcraft.

These principles governed and actuated him, not only in his military career, but through his whole course of an active, civil and political life. His arm was sworn to liberty; his heart was wedded to its principles, and from the dawn of his public life to its close, he was ever the uncompromising foe to tyranny in all its forms.

Besides his military services, the country, and especially New York, is indebted to Col. S. for the proficiency he introduced into the art and manufacture of glass. At an early day hr devoted himself to this important, but then almost hidden branch of manufacture, and with his son, Henry R Schoolcraft, esq., of Michigan, established several works. In his native state, and in New Hampshire and Vermont. For twenty five years he held the office of Justice of the Peace in Oneida county, and during a residence of thirty two years was honored, respected, and loved as a brave soldier, a useful citizen, and an upright man. Trusting to the God of battles for the issue of his country’s fate, he was prepared when his summons came, to trust to the same source for his individual and final security. “I thank God that I have yet eyesight, so I can read a little in the Holy Scriptures, Amen,” was the last sentence he ever recorded. Sentiment well worthy a father of the Revolution!

He has finished his course; and his grave adds another hallowed spot to the soil of this land of freedom. Few of his compatriots have outlived him; but the memories of none will be forgotten. Future, unborn generations, not so fortunate as we in being permitted to receive as a parting legacy, the paternal blessing of our revolutionary sires, will consecrate the places of their repose—They have not—cannot be forgotten by their posterity.

“For they have left a tree to bud
And blossom, where their dust is laid;
“Tis freedom, bought with freeman’s blood,
And worthy of the price they paid.

“A voice calls to us from the grave;
A voice is sounding on the air;
Keep ye the boon your father’s grave
And be the men your fathers were.”
F.W.S

Russell Schoolcraft, 87,son of, Ervin and Iva Reeder Schoolcraft.

KENNELLYMARKA — 2009-08-04 02:26:31Z

Aug. 1, 2006,
RUSSELL SCHOOLCRAFT,
Russell Schoolcraft, 87, of Rosedale,
died Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2006, at Sunbridge of Glenville. He was the son of the late Ervin and Iva Reeder Schoolcraft. Surviving are seven nephews, Paul, Bobby and Gary Schoolcraft, John, Joe and Clyde Lykens and Dennis Muller; one niece, Donna Craddock; and special friend and caretaker, Fred Miller.
He was preceded in death by four brothers, Paul, Frank S., Jack and Tom Schoolcraft,
and three sisters, Mable Norman, Edith Halston and Shirley Schoolcraft.
Services were held at Christian Alliance Church, Rosedale, with Elder George Rose officiating. Burial was in Rosedale Community Cemetery.

Christian Alliance Church,"

Re: Schoolcrafts in Martinsville, IN

jschoolcraft87 — 2009-06-09 02:54:30Z

my dad is elroy jack schoolcraft his mom was pasha schoolcraft and dad chris schoolcraft he is from martinsville

Re: Caroline Elizabeth "Lizzie" Schoolcraft - Trowbridge Twp., Allegan, MI

2Archive — 2009-05-21 07:04:13Z

Sue: I would dearly love to have copies of the photos. I've tried emailing you several times at the address you provided [in your next post in this thread], but to no avail...are you still out there. I will try emailing you again.... you can also contact me at jgtemp1@yahoo.com Thanks much...J.G.

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

WilliamDesoe — 2009-04-23 23:21:18Z

Hre is my email address.
radiojukebox@yahoo.com
Thank You
Bill Desoe

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

WilliamDesoe — 2009-04-23 23:20:14Z

My email is
radiojukebox@yahoo.com
Please write.
Thank you
Bill Desoe

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

DavidEllis591 — 2009-04-23 22:04:38Z

In a posting to the Schoolcraft mailing list, Judi Montgomery asks the following:

--------------------

> Hello David and fellow Schoolcraft researchers: I follow this list due
> to my ancestor who was Scovel Schoolcraft Peterson 1864-1921 s/o Philip
> Peterson and Mary Ann Schoolcraft who was born in Stanbridge, Quebec. I
> am intrigued with your comment regarding Catherine Phelp (below). If you
> have no information regarding Catherine's parents and you have no
> information regarding Catherine's first husband, have you considered
> that her first husband may have been (unknown) Phelp and not 'nee Phelp'
>
> Thanks for the great research and shared information regarding the
> Schoolcraft family over the years.
>
> Judi
> Napanee, Ontario

--------------

That is an excellent question. I had failed to address that point earlier. The complete answer requires a tenuous trip through a number of notarial and land records, which I will try to shorten.

The first one to start with is an unnumbered document by Leon Lalanne "12th Jany 1807 Agreement of Adam Schoolcraft and Isaac Afselstine". When you get into it you find that Adam had died a couple of years earlier and that his widow, "Catherine Phelps", cannot afford to probate his estate and has gathered all Adam's relatives and abutters together to attest that they have no claim on any of his estate and that she may conclude a sale to Isaac that was commenced by Adam shortly before his death. This document identifies Adam's date of death; his widow (Catherine Phelps); that they had five children between them; that she had two children by a prior marriage; and that Adam had siblings called William and Anna who can only be proven by this document. Lastly, and crucially, Catherine states that she will disperse the inheritances to Adam's children "as fast as they Shall attain the age of twenty one years".

Next are a number of land and notarial records spanning the 1820s and 1830s that transfer land between Catherine and Adam's children. These documents can be used to prove Adam's children and, taking account of their being age 21, can be used in combination with census data to estimate their births. The first of these documents is the most pertinent to Judi's question. Leon Lalanne: 12th Feby 1820, Sale by Jonathan P. Schoolcraft to Catherine Phelps. When you get into it this, with some later ones, provides proof that Jonathan is Adam's son. It also expands that his name is "Jonathan Phelps Schoolcraft". I have not found anything after this date that shows Jonathan is still alive and suspect that his sale of his inheritance back to his mother was because he was ill and died shortly afterwards. Catherine later transferred this land to Jonathan's brother, William.

Returning to Catherine, I believe it unlikely that Adam Schoolcraft would wish to commemorate his wife's previous husband in the naming of his own first son. It is likely he would include the name "Phelps" if that were his father-in-law. While less significant, Catherine reverts her surname to "Phelps" after Adam's death and continues to use that name for the next 20 years. She clearly has no problem with bearing children so I conclude her first marriage was not likely to have been a long standing one. It was probably about five years and thus a little shorter than her marriage to Adam. It seems likely that her choice to revert her surname would be to her maiden name rather than to a previous marriage.

To sum it all up: Adam Schoolcraft married someone called Catherine [proven]. Catherine's maiden name was Phelps [very probable]. Catherine’s father was the Jonathan Phelps mention in my prior posting and who appeared in the 1785 Location List [pure conjecture].

Regarding Adam and Catherine's children, they had five between them. Jonathan; Rosannah/Susannah who married John Decker; Christopher who married two Mahannah sisters and then Roanna Hutchins; Huldah who married Benjamin Noyes and William who married Mary McIntosh. [Leon Lalanne is clear when he multiply identifies "Susannah" yet later church and civil records show her as Rosannah.] Catherine, by her first marriage had two children. Both were very young when she married Adam and both used the name Schoolcraft in later life. Whether they were formally adopted is unknown but likely they were not. Mary m. George Deline was the first of these two. I conjecture that Philip m. Eveline Decker (the sister of John Decker who married Susannah) was the second. Philip is found in Malone with his step brother's son.

I hope this has clarified this family a bit. If something is unclear please do ask.

David E.

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

DavidEllis591 — 2009-04-22 17:53:47Z

William:

If you contact me via private email I can let you have what I know about Christopher Schoolcraft's immediate family. (Genealogical report for two generations, with source information.) You have chosen to remain anonymous on this forum so it is not possible for me to see your email address and contact you directly.

David E.

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

WilliamDesoe — 2009-04-22 16:31:22Z

It seems like there were a lot of short term marriages back then.

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

WilliamDesoe — 2009-04-22 16:28:27Z

Thank You for the imfo. Looks like I got my work cut out.

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

DavidEllis591 — 2009-04-21 23:28:44Z

> There is a copy of a 1861 marriage of Christopher Schoolcraft and Roana
> Hutchins With Lorenzo and Barbara Schoolcraft as witnesses that I saw.
> But as I look closer I can see Christopher was a widow.

Correct. Roanna was his third wife. He married Catherine Clarissa Mahannah about 1825. She died 9-Mar-1845 and he married her sister, Atlanta Charlotte Mahannah, on 10-Oct-1846. She died between 1852 and 1861. He married Roanna on 9-Feb-1861.

> Does any one know the last name of Magdelena the wife of James? It seems
> like a lot confuse her with Christina Kramer. Could it be possible that
> she was Native American being there is no last name.

Magdelena's last name is not known. Her first name comes from the birth record of her son and as is customary, maiden names are often not included on birth records. She MIGHT have been Native American but there is nothing to suggest that and it seems far more likley that she was not.

I've not personally come across any claims confusing her with James' second wife who was Anna Christina Kammer, the daughter of Johann Wilhelm Kammer and Catharina Mees.

> What about Catherine Phelps there is rumor that a few Phelps married
> Native Americans.

I do not know who Catherine Phelp's first husband was nor do I have any evidence regarding her parents. I suspect she might be the daughter of a Jonathan Phelps who was mentioned in a 1785 Location List, Settlers at Sorel, 1785, Muster Roll No. 1. That suspicion is based only on the choice of the name of her first son by Adam Schoolcraft so its very vague indeed.

> Also what is Barbara Lorenzos wife last name. Some sorces list it as
> Barnes,Some as Kimble and some as Allen and some even list Kimble as her
> first name. But I know its the same person cause Lorenzos there. When
> Edward got married her last name is listed as Kimble Barnes. When Espy
> got married it was listed as Kimble and when Etta got married her last
> name was Allen.

Its very likley that Barbara was married before she married Lorenzo and that that is the reason for the multiple names. Her first child by Lorenzo is when she is 24 years old so multiple marriages are likely. I believe the best way to resolve her maiden name is as follows. Protestant church records are far less precise than Catholic ones. Historically, the Catholic church has always maintained strict records to ensure baptisms and marriages meet their religious constraints. To this end, nearly all marriages are required to include the parents of both spouses. There is one Catholic record for this family. It is the marriage of Joseph Pelletier to Clara May Schoolcraft in St. Jacques Catholic church, Clarenceville, Missisquoi Co., QC, Canada. That record lists Clara's parents as "Lorenzo SCHOOLCRAFT & Barba KIMMEL". Armed with that fact and her approximate date of birth obtained from census records one can find the baptism " Film 124.6: Kimmel, Barbary B-July 23, 1840 Bapt. Feb 18, 1843 d/o Philip and Maria Kimmel of Farnham QC. Wit: Catherine Powers". Her maiden name is "Kimmel".

I have not been able to determine who the prior husband(s) might have been or whether the other names came about for some other reason. However, I also have not spent a lot of time digging into her background so it may be fairly simple to locate those other husband(s). A good approach would be to locate Philip Kimmel family in the census in 1852, hopefully he is listing in the Agricultural one so the lot number can be determined. Then look for "Barnes" or "Allen" families nearby. Mostly young women married nearby neighbours and its always a good hunch to follow. If the cenus doesn't prove worthwhile, something like the Wallings Map can provide leads but its much harder to search.

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

WilliamDesoe — 2009-04-21 16:16:33Z

There is a copy of a 1861 marriage of Christopher Schoolcraft and Roana Hutchins With Lorenzo and Barbara Schoolcraft as witnesses that I saw. But as I look closer I can see Christopher was a widow.
Does any one know the last name of Magdelena the wife of James? It seems like a lot confuse her with Christina Kramer. Could it be possible that she was Native American being there is no last name.
What about Catherine Phelps there is rumor that a few Phelps married Native Americans.
Also what is Barbara Lorenzos wife last name.
Some sorces list it as Barnes,Some as Kimble and some as Allen and some even list Kimble as her first name. But I know its the same person cause Lorenzos there.
When Edward got married her last name is listed as Kimble Barnes.
When Espy got married it was listed as Kimble and when Etta got married her last name was Allen.

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

DavidEllis591 — 2009-04-16 13:33:41Z

Hi Melissa:

Been a while since we communicated. Your William Schoolcraft is probably the son of Martin Schoolcraft and an unidentified spouse. 1st cousin once removed to Lorenzo.

If there is a Native American connection it would need to be through Rosella Lalande. I cannot rule out that Martin's wife may have been Native American but as that marriage probably took place around Cambridge NY, its less likely.

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

DavidEllis591 — 2009-04-16 13:27:42Z

Lorenzo had six siblings, one of whom was Christopher Columbus Schoolcraft. He also had three step sisters.

Lorenzo is 3rd cousin once removed of James Schoolcraft Sherman.

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

DavidEllis591 — 2009-04-16 13:23:48Z

I would be most interested in learning about the evidence for Christopher, son of Lorenzo and Barbara, as I do not see anyone with that name in their family. Their census record is pretty complete so any 'Christopher' would presumably be a child born and died between enumerations. I show nine children: John, Ellen, Edward, Clara, Espy, Alpha, Marshall, Lorenzo and Florence. Contact me 'off list' if you need more information. I do not wish to clog up the forum with excessive detail.

Regarding Native American blood in the Schoolcraft's, I can trace that family back into England and there is no indication Native American blood in the generations prior to Lorenzo. Possibly that comes from the lateral connection to Henry Rowe Schoolcraft who married a Native American. He was Lorenzo's second cousin, once removed.

Re: JARED SCHOOLCRAFT

SH_McKenny — 2008-08-11 19:38:07Z

David: I agree that other sources would be a great addition, however since I own the "original" Julia E Moulton Bible which I supplied to you many years ago, I have not spent much time finding a second source for the other children. Since this is my family bible, I feel that the dates are reasonably accurate for my purposes and am not sure that any other sources exist outside the family for some of these dates. Here are a couple of other references if anyone is interested. Regards, Sandy Mc

Stanstead Journal Index, 1861-1875, #96m, "At the residence of the brides' father on Dec 22, 1869 by Rev. E. B. Ryckham, Jared Schoolcraft to Loellah P., Eldest daughter of Mr. Edwin Moulton, both of Stanstead."

Stanstead Journal Index, Book 1891-1905, pg 117, 17 Nov 1898 "At home of Mr. Joh O'Leary, Mr Clarence D Haselton (brother to Mrs O'Leary) & Miss Hattie H Schoolcraft of Stanstead Jct, Mr Finch officiating."

Stanstead Journal Index, 1936-1942, pg 171, "Haselton-Beebe: The funeral of Mrs Clarence Haselton was held in the United Church Aug 31, 1942."

Colby-Curtis Library Cemetery Index, Schoolcraft, Edwin M, buried Moulton, b 1871, d 1896.

Stanstead Journal Index, Book 1891-1905, pg 76, Edwin M Schoolcraft died 8 April 1896 in Stanstead of pneumonia & enlarged heart at 25 yr 3 mo.
Mrs Edwin Moulton & daughter thanked neighbors & friends for kindness during sickness & death of their beloved son & grandson.

Re: JARED SCHOOLCRAFT

SH_McKenny — 2008-08-09 19:31:33Z

Jared [prob real name Jedediah]Schoolcraft [b 31 Jan 1846] & Loelah Philura Moulton [b 29 Mar 1851]had four children:
Edwin Moulton Schoolcraft, male, b 29 Dec 1870 Stanstead, Que; d 8 April 1896 Stanstead, Que.
Florence Mary Schoolcraft, female, b 25 Sept 1872 Stanstead, Que [or 28 Aug 1872 Bedford], died 9 July 1960 Derby, Vt.
Harriet House Schoolcraft, female, b 8 June 1877 Stanstead, Que; d 29 Aug 1942 Beebe, Que.
Mildred Eva Schoolcraft, female, b 19 Jan 1884 Stanstead, Que; d 29 April 1884 probably Stanstead Co, Que.

Re: Schoolcraft database

tschoolcraft1 — 2008-11-07 05:16:22Z

Hi I have my line of schoolcrafts which I would like to add to your list please email me @ tschoolcraft@ksc.mailcruiser.com

Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

tschoolcraft1 — 2008-10-14 04:20:02Z

Im looking for people in my family tree who have pics or grave pics they would like to share or any info about the schoolcrafts, Im a relative of Christian Schoolcraft and his son William C and his Son William M+ Mary Hogle and their son Jacob s Schoolcraft from Swanton VT his son William J Schoolcraft is my GG Grandfather, anyways get in touch with me at tschoolcraft@ksc.mailcruiser.com

Re: Schoolcraft database

tschoolcraft1 — 2008-10-14 04:16:45Z

I have a ton of schoolcrafts in my family tree they go from england to ny or canada to vt to mass 13 generations in all with some grave pics so please email me id love to chat and swap info
tom

Re: Schoolcraft Monument

blinkerzs — 2008-12-28 09:34:35Z

Where was this picture taken?

Re: Schoolcraft

MNalley46 — 2008-11-19 14:01:07Z

I ran across it in an old post on one of the boards. I didnt see anything denying it though. After looking as so much information given out I thought I would check it out. Thanks for your help.

Schoolcraft

MNalley46 — 2008-11-18 18:36:50Z

I am researching 3 brothers, Adam, Christian and Jacobus(according to census) I came across information stating that the 3 of them died on different dates in Yuma, Arizona. Does anyone have any information regarding these 3 young men. Their father was Christian Schoolcraft, their mother was Elizabeth M. Becker.

James Virgil Schoolcraft & Zella Mae Lively

Hjgbey — 2009-04-14 14:01:37Z

Looking for information on James Virgil Schoolcraft who was born 1885 in Pulaski Co., Ky but moved to Missouri, Arkansas, and Kansas. His wife Zella was born around 1887 in Missouri and died in Arkansas in 1923. I can't find the family after that. Thanks for any help.

Re: John Schoolcraft and Miotoka Nyeswann

britni_irene — 2008-08-27 18:39:18Z

Ok. Thanks so much! You've been a great help!

Re: John Schoolcraft and Miotoka Nyeswann

britni_irene — 2008-08-27 15:37:06Z

Thank you. I'll have to look into that because, from what my dad tells me, I have a good amount of German in me. Native American, too, so either way the information you gave me is beneficial. I was mostly curious because my grandpa's name was John Schoolcraft. Thanks again for your help.

Re: John Schoolcraft and Miotoka Nyeswann

britni_irene — 2008-08-26 16:14:31Z

Are the Schoolcrafts you're talking about from Michigan or Missouri? I'm a Schoolcraft,too, and I was wondering if this thread was applicable to me.

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

dbmeesa1 — 2009-04-15 17:08:11Z

LOL! I understand. My great uncle (now deceased) told me he remembered his father (my gr. grandfather) picking on his mother (my gr. grandmother) all the time about how her grandmother looked just like a "squaw". He was a very strict and proper British man with a very cruel streak. My gr. grandmother's grandmother is the daughter of Peter Hauver and Rosella Schoolcraft. The Hauver's family tree is very well documented so we've concluded the Native blood had to be from the Schoolcraft side.

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

dbmeesa1 — 2009-04-15 15:48:51Z

Hi Bill, I am also descended from the Schoolcrafts of the Stanbridge QC area. My 3rd GGrandmother was Rosella Schoolcraft who married Peter Hauver. They are buried in the Vaughan Cemetery in Mystic QC just above Bedford. Rosella is suspected to be the daughter of Rosella Lalande and William G Schoolcraft. I don't remember how William G Schoolcraft is suspected to tie in with the others in that area but a great uncle told us of the Native American connection also which we cannot find record of. Best of luck in your searches.
Melissa Buckley

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

WilliamDesoe — 2009-04-15 13:59:53Z

I also know that Chritopher Columbus Schoolcraft is Lorenzos Brother.
And it looks like that you and I are distant cousins.
I also knowticed in my grandmothers guessed book at her funeral a Sherman signed it in the place for relatives to sign. My cousin Richard Schoolcraft [who is the son of Roy Schoolcraft, who is the Son of Marshall Schoolcraft ,who is the son of Lorenzo Schoolcraft ] said before he died that we are related to James Schoolcraft Sherman the Vice President of President Taft. that something.

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

WilliamDesoe — 2009-04-15 13:26:37Z

Thank you I kind of figured that.
My mother Laurain Lacombe is the daughter of Lawrence Lacombe & Majorie Schoolcraft who is the daughter of Rosa Riley & Edward Schoolcraft who is the son of Barbara Schoolcraft & Lorenzo Schoolcraft all born in Canada Clarenceville,Nova Scotia ect:. I also found that Barbara and Lorenzo had a son Christopher schoolcraft, along with a John,Edward,Phillip,Espey and more.
My mother also mention something about Native American blood through both the Lacombe and Schoolcraft lines. I am still trying to find the connection.
I have pics of many relatives from Canada and names.
Like to get to know you more and share some more of my info.
My 6th great grandfather on my fathers side was from Canada too. Joseph Desoe married a Matilda Danurand
Write back
Bill

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

WilliamDesoe — 2009-04-15 16:47:26Z

My mom said it was some one who married some one but who and who is the question

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

WilliamDesoe — 2009-04-14 17:08:28Z

Do you know if he is related to Lorenzo Schoolcraft also born in Clarenceville,Canada

Re: Robert C., William Henry & Edward Schoolcraft from Canada

SandraStephens50 — 2008-10-06 14:47:52Z

You might look at this posting. The lady who posted it is a descedant of Martin through his son William. She might have more info by now.

http://genforumgenealogy.com/schoolcraft/messages/302.html

I know you are more interested in the Canadian branch, but you are such a good researcher, and I WISH you would take on the puzzle of who John Schoolcraft's wife (the purported Miotoka Nyeswanan) really was!!!

Sandra

Re: Robert C., William Henry & Edward Schoolcraft from Canada

SandraStephens50 — 2008-10-05 22:18:56Z

David, it is Bedford, Canada, not Bidford. There may be an Adam Schoolcraft involved here - he was from there c. 1801.

Sandra

Re: Robert C., William Henry & Edward Schoolcraft from Canada

SandraStephens50 — 2008-10-05 22:11:46Z

David, I found this on the McCracken Co. page of the U.S. GenWeb site, Marriages:

Date: 15 Dec 1853
Groom: Robert Schoolcraft
Age: 23
Residence: Paducah
Condition (Mar., Single, etc.): Blank
Place of Birth: Bidford, Canada

Bride: Mary D. Gruf
Age: 15
Residence: Paducah
Condition: Blank
Place of Birth: McCracken Co.

I don't know where Bidford, Canada is, but maybe you do.

Sandra

John Schoolcraft, d. 1862 in IL, Civil War

SandraStephens50 — 2008-09-29 14:46:49Z

A John Schoolcraft from Hamilton Co., IL enlisted 9 Jan 1862 in Co. K of the 6th Illinois Cavalry, died 12 Jan 1862, only 3 days after his enlistment. The company was encamped at Shawneetown, IL from Nov 1861 through Feb 1862 and as far as I can tell, was not engaged in battle at that time, so probably John died of disease or an accident. If he is the one I am seeking (son of John and Sary/Mary), he would have been age 46 at this time, rather old to be enlisting. His wife Margaret (Right/Wright) and children are found in Dunklin Co., MO in the 1860 census, so John may have died prior to 1860.

Can anyone set this straight?

Thanks, Sandra

Re: John Schoolcraft and Miotoka Nyeswann

DavidEllis591 — 2008-08-27 16:13:34Z

Your best way to find out what line your grandfather came from is to first run through the census records and then check back on this message board for additional help.

If you know approximately when your grandfather was born and where he was born or living then look for him in the 1930 census in that location. That is available online, with a search capability, at Ancestry for a fee (they are presently offering a free trial). Then work back through 1920, 1910, etc. You should be able to find him living with his parents in one of those. Next continue progressing back to find his father in earlier census records. Records exists for 1900, 1880, 1870, 1860 and 1850 that show the entire family. That should allow you to trace back to an ancestor who was probably born before about 1830. With that information (name, approximate birth year, state or country of birth) just ask on this message board or the mailing list and there is a very good chance one of us can help you place his ancestry.

Re: Robert C., William Henry & Edward Schoolcraft from Canada

DavidEllis591 — 2008-08-18 14:26:14Z

This posting is an attempt to reach ROBERT EVANS who contacted by private email. [I cannot reply to you directly as Prodigy has chosen to block all emails from the Institute of Physics - my email account. They seem to have an incorrect listing in a SPAM filter.]

Thanks for responding.

I have spent a number of years figuring out the Schoolcraft's in Canada. Most but not all are the descendents of Christian Schoolcraft and Margaret Becker. In looking over some USA census records I first noticed Robert C. and William Henry describing themselves as wagon makers from Canada and I was wondering how they fitted in. Between the 1860 and 1870 census it would appear likely that they were brothers, probably with Edward being a third brother. Since then I have developed a suspicion that the following four MIGHT also bear some relationship to one or more of those three - George M. b. Nov 1863, John M. b. Oct 1882, Mary b. Jun 1886 and Cyril b. Sep-1888.
For example, John Schoolcraft's mother is Greada whose first husband (the Schoolcraft) died or left her and she remarried someone called Grief. That's the same family name as Robert Schoolcraft's wife.

Hence my primary question is simply, who are Robert's parents? Secondarily, are William Henry and Edward both brothers of Robert? How can one prove the answer to those questions?

David E.

Re: JARED SCHOOLCRAFT

DavidEllis591 — 2008-08-11 19:50:43Z

Thanks for the response. I did not realize it was from a family bible. I had it listed as just being a family genealogy which can be far less reliable. Family bible records are generally very acceptable. I'll update my "sources" information.

Re: John Schoolcraft and Miotoka Nyeswann

DavidEllis591 — 2008-08-26 20:16:13Z

John Schoolcraft did not come FROM either Michigan or Missouri but his descendents may well have GONE INTO those states.

John was the son of Astien Schoolcraft and Catharina Countryman. He was probably born in Schoharie NY around 1741. His father, Astien, took his family through Pennsylvania into Virginia.

Many Schoolcrafts that are found in Michigan, but not necessarily all, can be shown to be descendents of Astien Schoolcraft's step brothers. I've not found complete enough evidence of those in Missouri to form an opinion on which line the majority are descendents of.

There is disagreement concerning who Miotoka Nyeswann really is. One prevalent claim is that she is a native American. Another claim is that she might be a daughter (or other relative) of a German family called Nieswanger that lived nearby. I do not believe there is any verifiable evidence to substantiate, or disprove, either claim.

Re: Schoolcraft - Schoharie County, NY

DavidEllis591 — 2008-07-21 22:01:44Z

Greg, thanks for replying so far but I think your last reply went to the mailing list and did not get posted here. What came through the emial had some sets of three ??? every so often and there significance got obscured in the line wrapping so I may have them in the wrong place below. Ive added some commentary of my own in a few places...

Regarding Elizabeth and William Rose - I have no record of a child called Charles and would welcome the evidence to prove that he existed.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: schoolcraft-bounces@rootsweb.com
> [mailto:schoolcraft-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of gparkes
> Sent: Monday, July 21, 2008 11:50
> To: gc-gateway@rootsweb.com; schoolcraft@rootsweb.com
> Subject: Re: [SCHOOLCRAFT] Schoolcraft - Schoharie County, NY
>
>
> Bob--
>
> There is a mass of stuff on that family in the Schoolcraft
> mailing list archives, but basically, Elizabeth was the
> second youngest of nine, with an even older 1/2 brother
> Astien, who started the southern(West Virginia/Kentucky) branch.?
>
> Here is the list:
>
>
>
> James Schoolcraft amd Magdelena
> ??? Astien Schoolcraft bap 2 apr 1720, Schenectady Dutch
> Church, d. abt 1780, Harrison county, Virginia(now WV)
>
> James and Anna Kammer
> ??? James Schoolcraft b. abt 1728, Schoharie, moved to
> Pennsylvania or Virginia, has not been found ???

Virginia Marriages - SAN Vol. 2 No. 3 pp. 55, Overwharton Parish Records, Stafford Co., VA: James (Scoulcraft) Schoolcraft to Margaret Mills on 14 Oct 1753 in Overwharton, Stafford Co., VA

Virgina Birth Records - SAN Vol. 2 No. 1 pp. 69, Albuquerque Public Library: Mary Scoolcraft parents James & Margaret Scoolcraft. Born 16 Mar 1754 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co., VA

> WilliamSchoolcraft?? b abt 1730, Schoharie, d. 13 apr 1761,
> Schoharie, married Elizabeth Schneider, 9 may 1749, Schoharie

> ??? Johannes Schoolcraft, b. 2 apr 1731, Schoharie, d. abt
> 1795, Albany County NY, married Anna Barbara Boss, 12 dec
> 1756, Schoharie

Baptised 28 April 1731. I have never been able to find anything that would actually prove he was born on the 2nd. I suspect that the date of the second is a 'genealogical calculation' that is about 3 weeks before the baptism.

> ??? Christian Schoolcraft b. abt 1732,
> Schoharie, d.abt 1783, Quebec, married ELizabeth Margaret
> Bekker, 17 oct 1760, Schoharie

Christian is still alive on 25-May-1790 as General Christie's return of the inhabitants of Noyan refers to "Schoolcraft and sons". The Granby papers imply he is alive in the spring of 1795 but the list with that letter might have been compiled at an earlier date so that is uncertain.

> ??? John Lawrence (aka
> Lawrence) bap. 20 mar 1733/34, Schoharie, d. dec 1820,
> Schoharie NY, married Anna Schneider, 23 oct 1759, Schohaire.

2nd m. to Christina Sternberg bet 1778 - 1808.

Gertrude A. Barber, 1938, New York: Abstracts of Wills, (Abstracts of Wills, Letters of Administration and Guardianship, Schoharie Co., NY), Vol. 1, pp. 209 Will of Christina Schoolcraft daughter of Lambert Sternbergh and the wife of Lawrence Schoolcraft : Dated Sep 23, 1808 : Probated : Mentions daughter Rebecca wife of Daniel Budd, daughter Maria, grand-daughter Christina eldest daughter of Christian Lawyer : Executors husband Lorentz Schoolcraft, daughter Maria, daughter Rebecca : Witnesses Peter Wiesmer, Samiel Snyder, Noah Dudley.

> ???? Margaret Schoolcraft, b. 7 nov 1733, Schoharie, d. 1805,
> Westminster VT. consort of John Montresor, married Crean
> Brush, 10 aug 1765, Albany, Patrick Wall, abt 1783, New York
> City

> ??? Maria Magdelena Schoolcraft, 29 sep 1735, Schoharie,
> married Balthaser Kern, 23 sep 1764, Schoharie, not found
> after

>> ??? Elizabeth Schoolcraft bap 28 dec 1738, Schoharie,
> d. 11 mar 1822, Chenango NY, married Wilhelm Rose, but you
> know all about her.

> ??? Catherine Schoolcraft, bap 26 jul 1741, Schoharie,
> married William Heens or Hynes, 1 nov 1761, Schenectady, not
> found after.
>

I have nine children born in Schoharie. Use the surname HEENS to search the IGI and most, if not all, will pop up.

> James married a third time before 1743 to Elizabeth____, no
> known children.
>
> Greg
>

Re: JARED SCHOOLCRAFT

DavidEllis591 — 2008-08-10 17:15:03Z

Are you able to provide the names of the specific sources that can be used to prove the data?

All I have for some of this data is the Julia E. Moulton Family Record. It would be much nicer to locate the original sources used for the detailed birth dates of both parents and each of the chidlren and the death date of Luella. Other death dates and marriage can be found in vital records or the Stanstead Journal but the precise births do not seem to be in any of those.

Re: Robert C., William Henry & Edward Schoolcraft from Canada

DavidEllis591 — 2008-10-06 14:29:29Z

Many thanks for that clue. It finally nails down where he came from. Adam Schoolcraft had 6 brothers, 5 with families either in or very close to Bedford so its not quite resolved yet.

James and John can be eliminated as possible patriarchs as their families are pretty much proven. William and Peter are also well understood and as they lived in different, although nearby, towns they are very unlikely patriarchs. Adam's family is well understood except for a son called William who disappears from the records after the 1831 census - presumed dead. While he might be the father of Robert or William Henry I suspect he is not.

I am leaning towards the ones in Paducah being grandchildren of Martin Schoolcraft. He had several sons and some of their families are not well documented. A son called Simon can be eliminated as he already has a son called Robert whose life is well documented and precludes his being in Paducah. However, Martin's son called Scofield traveled to Ontario in the 1830's and has a family between 1824 and 1841 with age gaps to accommodate Robert and William Henry. The name Robert is not common at this time yet Scofield's brother has used it and another brother is suspected of having a son called Robert (he shows up in NH). It is Scofield that I now suspect of being the parent of Robert and William Henry. (Edward would probably be a cousin rather than sibling.)

If anyone reading this has information showing that Robert, William Henry, or Edward came through Ontario that could be the clincher as none of the other male descendants of Martin came that way.

Re: Schoolcraft

DavidEllis591 — 2008-11-18 19:15:38Z

All three are indeed children of Christian and Elizabeth Margaret. They were Adam born 9-Apr-1756 in Schoharie NY, Christian bapt. 25-Sep-1759 in Schenectady and Jacob (James) bapt. 19-Feb-1762 in Schenectady. There were also siblings Margaret, Martin, John, William, Peter, Anna and probably a Maria. The parents moved the family from Schoharie to Schenectady, to Anaquassacook NY (near Cambridge). Christian Sr. with Adam and James fought in the Rev War with the British, were captured at Saratoga and after their release the entire family went to Quebec. (Christian, probably with Adam, briefly went to Virginia near his 'step-nephew' before going to Quebec.) Christian Sr. and his son of the same name probably both died between 1795-1800 in Quebec. Adam died 08-Jul-1805 in Stanbridge, Quebec. Jacob (James) returned to the USA (VT) for the period between about 1800 and 1820, returning to Stanbridge Quebec after that. He probably died between 1831 and 1842 at his home in St. Ignace de Stanbridge.

I have never come across anything connecting them to Arizona. Where did you locate that fact? It might relate to different members of the Schoolcraft family. The names Jacob/James, Adam and Christian are not unique.

David E.

Re: Schoolcraft Monument

DavidEllis591 — 2008-12-28 15:06:29Z

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q...

[You may need to copy and unwrap this link in order to use it.)

Re: Schoolcrafts from VT or Canada

DavidEllis591 — 2009-04-14 21:01:57Z

The short answer is "yes". As far as I can tell all the Schoolcrafts in QC and northern VT are descendants of the Christian Schoolcraft that Thomas mentioned as the root of his tree. Its just a question of which branch and how far down.

There are quite a few called Lorenzo. I believe you are referring to Lorenzo born about 14-Feb-1837 (1901 census) who was enumerated in Clarenceville from 1871 till his death, although I do not believe he was born there. Most likely he was born either in Mystic (Stanbridge) or else the area of land where the towns of Stanbridge, Dunham and Farnham meet (the village of Farnham Centre). Those locations are where his parents were living in 1831 and 1842. He is the son of Christopher Schoolcraft and Catherine Clarissa Mahannah. Christopher is the son of Adam Schoolcraft and Catherine Phelps. Adam is a son of Christian and brother to the William that Thomas mentioned.