When was schenectady settled

Broom-corn was for many years very extensively cultivated, but of recent years it has declined in importance, owing to western competition. The exact location of the Union College dome, in the city of Schenectady, is in north latitude 42 degrees, and west longitude from Greenwich 73 degrees.

The name Schenectady is derived from Schau-naugh-ta-da, which in the language of the Iroquois signifies "over the pine plains," or "across the pine plains," and is said to have been used by them at first to designate Fort Orange now Albany. The Dutch afterward applied it to the place where Schenectady now stands, as being over the plains from Albany. By the census of , the population of Schenectady city was 80, The earliest European settlers of Schenectady County came from the Netherlands.

They were descended from a noble race, their ancestors, even as far back as to the times of the Romans, having been distinguished for their brave spirit and love of liberty. During a large part of the middle ages, the Netherlands were divided into a number of feudal principalities, whose chieftains held a nominal allegiance to the German emperors or the kings of France. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Netherlands, then comprising what is now Holland and Belgium, had between two and three hundred walled cities, numerous towns and villages, and a population of three millions.

The great cities grew in wealth and power, chiefly by manufactures and commerce. Having acquired chartered rights, they became in reality city republics, regulating their own local affairs, choosing their own magistrates, and sending their representatives to the general assembly of the provinces. When their rights were invaded by the Emperor Charles V. The heroic struggle for civil and religious liberty was continued by the Netherlanders for thirty years longer, until it resulted in the acknowledgment of their independence in In that memorable year, Henry Hudson, an English navigator, then in the service of Dutch East India Company, discovered the river that is now called by his name.

Sailing up this river for about miles, he took possession of the country in the name of the States-General of Holland. To the territory which they had thus acquired the Dutch gave the name of New Netherlands. In they erected a few buildings on Manhattan Island, where New York city now stands.

In they built a fort and storehouse on a little island just below Albany, and in they built Fort Orange on the site where the city of Albany now stands. The early history of Schenectady County is interwoven with that of the native Indians found in this part of North America.

These belonged to two great families, the Algonquin and the Iroquois. The latter were distinguished for their intelligence and warlike spirit. They formed a confederation of five tribes, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, to which was added later, in , the tribe of the Tuscaroras. In the contests waged by rival European nations for the possession of this country, the Iroquois were hostile to the French, and friendly to the Dutch and the English.

In , they made with the Dutch a treaty of peace, which was long and faithfully observed on both sides. The Dutch, always intent upon traffic, secured the rich fur trade. In exchange for furs the Indians received European trinkets, fire-water and fire-arms. Among the confederated Indian tribes, the Mohawks were the most powerful. Along the banks of the Mohawk River they had five fortified posts, called castles, one of them at the mouth of the river, another at Schenectady, and others farther west.

They claimed ownership in the soil extending still more widely, northward to Canada, eastward to the Hudson, and southward to the Catskills.

At first, as their only object was trade, they made no effort to acquire possession of land, but afterward they concluded to attempt a more permanent occupation. For the purpose of encouraging colonization, the company gave to any of its members who would buy land from the Indians and form a colony of fifty persons nearly absolute control of such land and the colonists. These owners were called patroons, and they acquired very extensive landed property. One of them, Killian Van Rensselaer, owned a tract of land containing over , acres, including all of the present county of Albany and the greater part of the counties of Rensselaer and Columbia.

This large estate was named Rensselaerwyck, and the name of Beaverwyck was applied to the district, or hamlet, which included Fort Orange. Van Rensselaer did not himself come over to this country, but intrusted the care of his colony to Arendt Van Curler or Corlaer , who came to this country in , and under whose able management the colony was greatly prospered.

As Arendt Van Curler subsequently became the founder of Schenectady and left upon the men and institutions of his day the permanent impress of his character, it is proper here to describe his character and deeds. We find in him a most worth illustration of the sterling traits inherited from a noble ancestry. To a mind of great natural strength and energy he added a firm will, a cultivated intellect, high moral purpose, unyielding integrity, along with persuasive power and large practical knowledge.

It was his to place himself on the side of right, and then to win others to that side. These qualities commanded for him the respect and won the love of the civilized Europeans and the uncivilized Indian. So highly was he regarded by the Indian tribes that after his day they applied his name, Corlaer, as the official title of respect by which they addressed the governors of New York. In the lexicon of the Iroquois language it is stated that their word kora is derived from the name of the celebrated Arendt Van Corlaer, that it was applied as a title to the Dutch governors of Orange and New Amsterdam, afterward to the English governors of Albany and New York, and to all the governors of New England.

The Governor-General of Canada is vested with this title of honor, and for Her Majesty, the late Queen of Great Britain, they were accustomed to exalt more highly her glory by adding the epithet kowa , that is, "the great," so that Queen Victoria were styled, in the language of the Iroquois, Kora-kowa , "the great Corlaer.

It was largely owing to his influence, in fact more to him than to any other one man, that the friendship of the powerful Iroquois was secured for the Dutch and the English, and thus the country came under a Germanic rather than a Latin race and civilization. With all his other admirable qualities he united a spirit of humanity that often found exercise in relieving the captives whom the Indians had taken. It was on an errand of mercy, to save some prisoners from their cruel captors, that he made in September, , his first westward journey through the Mohawk valley.

He was charmed with the country, and described it as "the fairest land the eyes of man ever rested upon. In , Killian Van Rensselaer died, leaving his colony in the hands of his son. Van Curler, then recently married, having obtained a farm in Rensselaerwyck, settled down in private life. But he always retained a liberal public spirit.

Many of the settlers near Fort Orange were restive under the restrictions imposed upon them by the patroon. They wished to hold their lands, not by a feudal tenure, but in fee-simple, or absolute possession.

This desire Van Curler shared with them. In June, , he with fourteen others applied to Governor Stuyvesant for permission to purchase from the Indians the "Great Flat," a tract of land on the lower Mohawk, including the present site of Schenectady. Permission having been obtained, the land was bought in the following month. The description given in the deed was somewhat indefinite, but the area comprised was comparatively small.

The right of trading with the Indians was not granted till , so that at first the settlers were restricted to agriculture. The land thus acquired was apportioned among the original proprietors by giving to each of them a house-lot in the village, a farm on the Great Flat or on the islands, a pasture-ground east of the village, and a garden-lot on the west, near the Binne Kill.

The original village plat comprised only the area extending from the main Binne Kill on the west to Ferry street on the east, and from the Mohawk River on the north to the lowlands on the south. It was divided into four blocks, or squares, and these were subdivided into house-lots. The entire area of the village was inclosed and fortified with stockades, or palisades. The streets were laid out regular and at right angles.

They were named:. The alluvial tract of arable land Dutch, bouwland extending from the river and State street on the north to the sand bluff on the south, and from the line of Centre street continued on the east to the hills west of the first lock on the canal, comprising an area of several hundred acres, was called the Great Flat Groote Vlachte.

When it first came into the possession of Europeans, it was mainly cleared land, and its fertile soil had for many years been cultivated by the native Mohawks.

The influence of Van Curler was strongly felt, and always for good, not only in the settlement which he had formed, but far more widely. In , when the New Netherlands came into the possession of the English, he was consulted with great deference in regard to the policy to be pursued with the Indians.

Two years later, his humanity appeared in rescuing from threatened starvation the French soldiers under Courcelles, who, starting from Montreal, made an unsuccessful expedition against the Mohawks. In , while on a journey to Canada, in compliance with a friendly invitation from the French governor, Tracy, having embarked in a canoe to cross Lake Champlain, he was overtaken by a storm and drowned. He left no children. His widow continued to reside at Schenectady until her death, in Of the original settlers of Schenectady, all were natives of Holland except one, Alexander Lindsay Glen.

He was a native of Scotland, but leaving that country as a refugee, he found an asylum in Holland, whence he emigrated to the New Netherlands.

In , he received a patent for some land which he had purchased on the north side of the Mohawk, and on which he had erected a mansion of stone. Retaining a warm affection for his native country, he named his estate Scotia Latin for Scotland. From him, also, came the subsequent name of the township of Glenville. The area of land originally purchased by the settlers of Schenectady soon proved insufficient to meet the wants of the increasing population. In , they purchased additional lands from the Indians and made application to the Governor and Council for a patent, but this was for some time denied, for the alleged reason that permission had not been first obtained from the Governor to buy the land, and that full information of the premises was not given.

Besides, some obstacles were interposed by the Mohawks themselves. Finally, in , the settlers obtained from Governor Dongan the desired patent for the ancient township of Schenectady. This patent confirmed and secured to them a territory of square miles, being 16 miles in length by 8 in breadth, including the present area of Schenectady city and the towns of Rotterdam and Glenville. Schenectady, as is shown above, was patented as a township with certain municipal rights in It was chartered as a borough in , and incorporated as a city March 26, The extensive area comprised within the city limits was divided into four wards: the first including all the compact portion of the city between Union street and the Mohawk River; the second, that part south of Union street and including a small portion of the bouwland; the third, what is now the town of Rotterdam; the fourth, what is now the town of Glenville.

In course of time it became evident that one municipal government was not adopted to the wants of the increasing population, with their diverse interests, the inhabitants of the third and the fourth ward being engaged mainly in agriculture. Accordingly, in compliance with the general petition of the people, the legislature, in , passed an act by which the third ward was set off and became the town of Rotterdam, and the fourth ward was set off and became the town of Glenville.

At various times in its early history, Schenectady suffered from the attacks of the French and the Indians. The most memorable of these attacks was in February, The text of the "bond" posted by borough officials in is now online. Heading the list of borough fathers was John Sanders - one of a number of Schenectady people with roots deep into the Albany community as well.

Throughout the eighteenth century, notables including Daniel Campbell appeared on the rolls of the city of Albany as well - thus technically qualifying them for inclusion. These individuals are profiled by us but concentrating on their Albany context while acknowledging that they primarily are identified with the history of Schenectady.

The Second Regiment of the Albany County Militia both officers and soldiers was composed chiefly of Schenectady residents. By , Schenectady's overall population had grown to more than 4, with 3, people living south of the Mohawk. With the opening of the frontier to settlement, people streamed through Schenectady on their way west. The following year, the street grid was laid out and the original streets renamed! The census breakdowns for the city and its hinterland in are now online.

At that time, Schenectady was composed of four wards and two adjacent towns Duanesburg and Princetown. Schenectady County was formed from Albany in At that time, the town of Niskayuna was established separately. Schenectady Timeline Mid-nineteenth century perspective description of the city from Munsell's Annals notes The purpose of this page is to explain Schenectady in its Albany context - in other words, Schenectady's founding, growth, and development in relation to its older and more advantaged forebear - the city of Albany!

However, the resources cited below could make an "old dorp digression" mighty tempting! Settlement was led by Arent Van Curler of Nijkerk in the Netherlands, who was granted letters patent to Schenectady in On February 8, , the town was attacked and overrun by forces of France and their Indian allies, who burned the town and killed all but 60 of the inhabitants.

It was chartered as a city in Founding Companies Union College was founded here in In , Schenectady became the headquarters of the General Electric Company. She told me her story from the beginning and how it was that she became a Christian. This girl lived with her parents and brothers and sisters.

Sometimes she went with her mother to the settlements to trade, and sometimes the people from the settlements went to the place, where she lived, to trade. Some of the whites took a fancy to the girl as she seemed to be more of a Christian, in many ways, than an Indian. When they proposed to take her to the settlement and bring her up according to white ideas her mother would not hear of it and the little girl was at first afraid.

After repeated visits by the settlers and requests to take her to the settlements the little girl discovered that the Christians were not all that her mother had told her they were. She seemed to be naturally drawn toward Christianity, the love of God and of Christ. This caused her family to hate and abuse her. Finally they drove her out and she went to the white settlers, who had been so kind to her.

She was gladly welcomed and lived for a long time with a woman who taught her to read and write and household duties. When she had learned the Dutch language she studied the New Testament with such good purpose that she made a confession of faith and was baptized.

Gerrit Bancker was on the south-west corner of Union street and Washington avenue, opposite the residence of D. Cady Smith, on Washington avenue. William Teller was on the south-west corner of Union street and Washington avenue. His lot included the lot of Judge Jackson, on Washington avenue, and of W. Scott Hunter, on Union street. He was the first of the name to come to the Colony from Holland, in , in the service of the West India Company.

He was possessed of ample means and great influence. Arent Andries Bradt was on the north-east corner of State street and Washington avenue, where the apartment house, "The Alexandria," stands, opposite the Freeman House.

As Bradt died before the apportionment, Bastian De Winter's name, as attorney for the widow, appears on the apportionment. Pieter Danelse Van Olinda's location is not known. He married Hillitie, one of the half-breed daughters of Van Slyck.

She owned large tracts of land, by gift from the Mohawks. Jan Barentse Wemp - later spelled Wemple - was on the west side of Washington avenue where is now the hotel called the Freeman House. Peter Jacobse Borsboom was on the south-west corner of Front street and Washington avenue, where is now the residence of John Keyes Paige.

He was survived by several daughters, but only one son, who died, unmarried; so the name is extinct. Jaques Cornelius Van Slyck was on the little public square, between State and Water streets at the place where the bronze tablet stands. He kept one of the two inns of the village. The settlement of Schenectady was due to a desire on the parts of a few men to be rid of the arbitrary power and oppression of the powers in Albany.

That they succeeded in making a permanent settlement, was ever a cause for jealously on the part of Albany; and the Schenectady settlers and their successors were frequently made to feel in many ways the littleness of Albany's spite. Up to Schenectady was a part of Albany. In that year, the war with the French being over and the resulting prosperity beginning to be felt, Schenectady became the most active and important shipping center north of New York, for it was here, as has been mentioned in another chapter, that the really great trade between the west and east was most felt, Schenectady being the river port for it all.

This brought a great number of outsiders to Schenectady, many of them being of a reckless class, especially the river men who worked the batteaux and durham boats.

These latter were of the same style as the canal boat of to-day, only they were broader and sharper at the bow and had a mast rigged with large, square sails.

In order that these persons might be kept within bounds, the people of Schenectady desired a government of their own, independent of Albany. With this idea in view a petition was presented to the Governor, on April 19, , asking for a charter. At the time Schenectady secured freedom of trade, in , Albany raised heaven and earth to prevent it, but without success, and now that it was trying to secure independence, Albany raised the other place in the hope of preventing that.

On the second of the next month Albany presented a counter petition to the Governor. The mayor, town clerk and recorder were appointed by the Governor and the other officers were elected by the people, with the exceptions of the high-constable and treasurer, who were appointed by the mayor and council, and the sergeant, who was appointed by the mayor.

The laws of the borough were made by the mayor, or recorder and three or more aldermen or assistants. The voters were freemen, who had been born in the borough, or who had resided there for ten years previous to the granting of the charter, or such had been granted the privilege by the council.

Only freemen were permitted to "use any art, trade, or mystery" or to sell goods at retail. The charter was elaborate in detail, more like a city charter than a borough's and there is no record that the mayor and council met after the first time when they took the oath of office, but the right and power to meet and make laws was there and that satisfied the people.

By an oversight, the charter did not settle an old dispute in regard to the control of the common lands by the original settlers or trustees and their successors, so the trustees appointed by the will of Arent Bradt still controlled the town's property. The interest and excitement of the prelude to the Revolution settled all local disagreement of this nature. After the war had given Independence to the Colonies, the freemen and trustees arrived at an agreement which culminated on March 26, , in the incorporation of Schenectady as a city, and the control of the public lands was in the hands of the mayor, aldermen and commonalty.

The city contained four wards. The first was that portion King between Union street and the Mohawk river; the second was south of Union street to the limits of the original grant and both wards were bounded on the east by the line of the original grant; the third ward was the present town of Rotterdam; and the fourth was the present town of Glenville.

The erection of these wards into towns has been described elsewhere. Up to March 7, , Schenectady was a part of Albany County, a fact that was a cause of irritation to the people of Schenectady, but on that date in that year, the discord ceased for the western portion of Albany County, lying entirely outside of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck, was set off and given all the rights and privileges that the other counties of the State possessed, being entitled to two members of assembly.

The County's first senior judge was the Hon. Gerret S. Veeder, a lineal descendant of the original proprietor, Simon Valkertse Veeder, and the first surrogate, Hon. Teller, was a lineal descendant of the early settler, William Teller. In addition to the territory already mentioned from the earliest days, included in Schenectady, the towns of Glenville, Rotterdam, Duanesburg and Princetown , the town of Niskayuna was added.

Niskayuna was settled by people from Albany at about the same time Schenectady was and for the same reason, to be out of the control of the officials of the great trading company and the Patroons, who kept the Indian trade and its profits for themselves. Niskayuna was set off from that portion of Albany County lying within the western limits of Watervliet. Most notable among these pioneers was Captain Martin Krygier, a soldier of Holland and one of Governor Stuyvesant's most trusted friends and officers, the man whom he chose for important missions requiring diplomacy.

In Captain Krygier was the first burgomaster of New Amsterdam. When, after taking an active part in the affairs of the Colony and in many fights and battles, he decided to retire from public service, he settled on the banks of the Mohawk "where the Indians carried their bark canoes over the stones," in Niskayuna.

He died in honored and reverenced by all who knew him. Princetown was made a township in March, It was and is a long narrow strip of land and was made up of a grant of the original Schenectady Patent which had been granted to the old Dutch Reformed Church, of Schenectady, and from land patents owned by George Ingoldsby and Aaron Bradt in These original owners sold to William Corey, who affected a settlement, for many years known as Coreybush.

Corey sold to John Duncan. The town was named in honor of John Prince, a resident of Schenectady who represented Albany County - before the forming of Schenectady County - in the Assembly. Chapter II. Trade, Protection, Customs.

FROM the first settlement down to the settlers of Schenectady were prohibited from trading in any manner, especially with the Indians. This was by order of the Governor and Council of Albany, who intended to keep the rich profits from Indian trade to themselves. They feared that the more advantageous location of Schenectady for trade with the Indians would reduce the fastness of the fortunes which were being made by a favored few in Albany.

The settlers as a whole remonstrated against this order and Van Curler added a personal letter to the Governor in which he said, among other things: "It would be lamentable were the settlers and their posterity to remain forever under the ban of slavery and be excluded from bartering their bread, milk or the produce of their farms for a beaver, so as to be able to purchase some covering for their bodies and their houses. Of course the people of Schenectady, who had cut loose from Albany to be rid of just such arbitrariness, were indignant and it was not so very long before individuals began to trade secretely with the Indians.

This fact, or a rumor of it, having been brought to the attention of Governor Lovelace in , he issued an order prohibiting trade with the Indians at Schenectady. In he authorized Captain Sylvester Salisbury, Commandant of the Fort in Albany, to search houses in Schenectady for furs and other Indian goods and to punish such persons as had them in their possession.

But the Dutch, like the Irish, were "hard to keep down," especially the Schenectady Dutch. They defied the porcine officials of Albany and traded secretely and profitably so, in , Governor Andros took a hand in the matter and issued what would be called to-day an injunction. It was that no wagons or carts of any kind should pass between Albany and Schenectady without a permit granted by the magistrates and that even then no passengers or merchandise should be carried.

This original "government by injunction" was in force for three months. There is an infinitesimal bit of irony in that fact that in the wealth and trade of which Albany boasted in has traveled across the "Great Sand Plains.

The sheriffs from Albany made visits to Schenectady for a number of years to search houses for contraband goods and they met with resistance frequently and several prominent citizens were arrested and fined for resistance. These men who defied unjust laws, made for the few who possessed power and wealth, exhibited exactly the same spirit - which is the spirit of the American of to-day who has inherited his citizenship from Colonial ancestors - as was shown by their Anglo-Saxon brothers when they threw the tea into Boston harbor.

This was in Four years later, in , Adam Vrooman put up such a stiff and courageous fight in his house, for the safety of his loved ones, that he excited the admiration of the Indians and their French friends to the extent that they promised no harm should be done him if he would surrender. For a wonder the promise was kept. All these years the regulation of trade was in the hands of the Governor and Council, but in , when Albany received its city charter, the Magistrates took a hand in the monopoly business; the "protection of infant industries;" and went far beyond the Governor and Council.

They passed laws in protection of trade - for Albany - not even dreamed of by the advocates for the protection of America's infant industries of The charter gave to Albany the enjoyment of the privilege and advantage of having within its own walls the sole management of the entire trade with the Indians north, west and east of Albany.

They could not monopolize the atmosphere, the sunshine nor the rain and that was the only reason they did not do so. In , Robert Livingston wrote to the Board of Trade proposing that the people should be encouraged to extend the settlements into the country by granting them free trade with the Indians, without being imposed upon by the City of Albany or any other city or town. He called the board's attention to the fact that Albany had always done everything possible to discourage settlement because it was feared their monopoly of the Indian trade would be somewhat reduced by such settlements.

He told the board that the Indian trade would induce persons to settle further inland and that this would enhance the value of the land which would not otherwise be increased in value for many years.

The Albany sheriffs kept up their searches; tabooed goods were frequently found and fines were as frequently imposed. In the "worm" in Schenectady turned. In that year J. Wendell and Robert Roseboom informed the Albany authorities that Johannes Myndertse, of Schenectady, had taken Indians into his house on the corner of Mill lane and State street, who had beaver and other skins with them.

Myndertse was arrested, taken to Albany and said that the information was correct. Habeas Corpus proceedings were begun and he brought suit against the Aldermen of Albany for trespass and false imprisonment. Schenectady had demonstrated that the principle of free trade meant greater general prosperity for the Colony than protection for a few wealthy monopolists. In modern parlance, "the lid was always off," all over the Colony, so far as the free selling of rum to the Indians was concerned.

This was a grave fault of the early Dutch settlers and Schenectady was not an exception to the rule. In a "letter on the subject in , Colonel Peter Schuyler told the Governor that the selling of liquor to the Indians was a great evil and kept them from being about their business "as they stayed at Schenectady continually drinking.

The Dutch trader liked the business very well for if he could exchange rum for pelts or valuable furs and at the same time so confuse the mind of the Indian with the rum that he would give ten times its value in skins, so much the better. The Colony tried to stop the sale but without much success.

The first protection from Indians and other enemies at Schenectady was a stockade, which was, no doubt, erected as soon after the houses for the pioneers, as possible. This stockade was made of the trunks of the immense pines which were in great number then. They were twenty feet long and were set close together in a trench about the outer limits of the settlement.

Where they touched they were hewn flat and then pinned at the top together, the tops being cut to a point to add to the difficulty of scaling. These great posts were of sufficient thickness to be bullet-proof, to the bullets of at least, and of course arrows were harmless, unless shot over the top. The stockade surrounding Schenectady inclosed the original four squares bounded by State and Front streets; Washington avenue and Ferry street, the great posts being placed on the outer line of those streets, so that the street proper was between the stockade and the front lines of the four blocks.

In those days and for many years thereafter, Front street did not bend to the north at Church street as it does now, but was in a line at right angles to Church street and intersected Ferry street where the angle now is in Ferry street, opposite the northern boundary of St.

George's Church yard. This stockade was entered by gates at Church and Front streets and at Church and State streets. The first blockhouse was at the junction of Front street and Washington avenue, that being the point which would be first attacked by Indians, who would approach the settlement from the river.

After the destruction of the settlement by the French and Indians in , another block house was erected on land belonging to Isaac Swits - who was taken prisoner to Canada by the Indians - west of the end of Union street, that is, Union street and Washington avenue.