Our County and It's People

Chapter 1

Preliminary History

Those who do not clearly understand the preliminary history of this part of New York, nor fully appreciate the important part it has played in shaping the destiny of the country and determining whether we should be a part of the English speaking people or under the domination of France, it is essential to go back far enough in the past to obtain a bird's-eye view of the condition of affairs on this continent when England and France were struggling for its mastery. Not far from a century before the footsteps of the white man pressed the soil of what is now known as the Empire State, there dwelt along the borders of the Mohawk river and so on westerly to within the sound of Niagra's eternal roar, a powerful race of Indian statesmen and warriors, called by the French, the "Iroquois¹ Confederacy",by the English, the Five and later Six Nations. Their names and location, commencing at the Hudson and going westerly, were as follows:

The Mohawks, the Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and the Senecas. The easterly boundary of the Oneidas was a line extending from the north to the south bounds of New York and nearly on a line between the present counties of Oneida and Herkimer. The westerly boundary was on a line running from the north to the south bounds of the State, passing through or near "Deep Spring" (Manlius, in Onondaga county),

1. The meaning of the word is thus explained: Their people, when making a speech or any emphatic declaration, generally concluded with the words, "I have said it." So the French characterized them as "the people who say, Iro" or "I have said, Kaue," hence Iro-quois.

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but making a detour far enough to the west to include the whole of Oneida Lake within the domain of the Oneidas. In 1712, or there-abouts, the Tuscaroras came from North Carolina and were adopted as the Sixth Nation, and assigned occupancy of lands within the territory of the Oneidas, mostly in what is now Chenango county. In primitive times, when the savages roamed at will over this entire continent, and their routes lay entirely by Indian paths and trails and by bark canoes over the water courses, it is easy to see that between the east and the great west, the water route by the Hudson and the Mohawk to what is nowt he site of Rome and then by a short carry of only a mile or so overland to Wood Creek, and thence down that stream to Oneida Lake, and by that outlet and Oswego River to Lake Ontario, and so on to the great lakes of the west and the head waters of the Mississippi River, would be the shortest, most convenient and expeditious of any that could be selected; so, too, in later times, when the white men were pushing their trade and settlements into this region, before the age of canals, railroads, or common roads even, this same route, traversed by larger boats and by commerce and by more dangerous munitions of war was selected by imperative necessity. A glance at the map will show that the location of the Oneidas was more favorable than any of the other nations; the scenery within the territory was magificent, the soil proved to be rich and productive, and by reason of the topography of the country, and the course of the streams, the Oneidas, by means of their light and fleet canoes, could easily glide by water into the domains of the other nations. The territory of the Oneidas was the summit level, or the great divide, from which streams flowed in every direction. As with the Oneidas, so with Oneida county; it is perhaps pardonable to say, that in the galzxy and in the setting of the counties, she is indeed the central gem. England and France commenced explorations and settlements on this side of the Atlantic (1609) about the same time. The former in New England and southerly along the Atlantic seaboard; the French taking possession of Canada and the St. Lawrence, pushing their discoveries to the Mississippi, and down the sullen tide of that stream to the Gulf of Mexico, before 1700 occupying Louisiana. Along these routes from Canada to the head waters of the Mississippi and down that river, the

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French had established a chain of trading posts, missionary stations, and forts, sixty in numberm with a view of ultimately surrounding the English and driving them into the ocean. Each nation tried to woo and to win the friendship of the Iroquois Confederacy; the French in a great measure by their Jesuit missionaries, who, with their religious zeal, endeavored to imbue the Indians with love of the French nation as well as with a love of the Savior, and hatred of the English. As before incidentally stated, the members of this Confederacy were skilled in diplomacy, brave and fierce in battle, and powerful in union. They were important factors in determining the result of the conflicts between France and England in the struggle of over a century, for supremacy in America. The skill, bravery and power of that Confederacy were near their zenith when Champlain, the daring French explorer, sailed up the St. Lawrence and founded the city of Quebec in 1609; when the English discovered Cape Cod and explored the Atlantic coast; about the same time when Capt. John Smith made the settlement at Jamestown; when Hendrick Hudson sailed up the Hudson; when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, and that influence and power continued and went on increasing during the years in which the two European nations were fighting for supremacy in America and until that Confederacy, or a majoirty of its members, made the fatal mistake of linking their fortunes with the English in the struggle of the American Colonies for independence. When that struggle ended the Six Nations as a Confederacy (called the Romans of America) ceased to exist, and their power and influence vanished from the land as effectually as if they had never been. It does not, however, fall within the design nor the scope of this work to give anything more than an outline sketch of those Six Nations, nor to do more than to briefly mention such historical facts as seem to be required in order to better understand the history in hand.

The portage at R ome was called by the Indians "De-o-Waim-Sta", signifying the place where boats are carried from one stream to another. The Dutch called it "Trow Plat", and the English in early times called it "the Great Carrying Place", to distinguish it from the "Little Carrying Place", where boats and their cargo were carried around the rapids of the Mohawk at what is now Little Falls. It may be of interest to state in this connection that in Washington county in this State

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there is another Wood Creek, called by the French, Rive au Chicot, (or river of logs), which flows into Lake Champlain, and that between that stream and the Hudson is a portage of six to ten miles, which in early times was also called "the Great Carrying Place", and students of history in this locality sometimes become confused in reading of Wood Creek and the Great Carrying Place where the tragic events around Lakes George and Champlain are described in the old French war and the war of the Revolution. In later times the portage at Rome was called the "Oneida carrying place", as it was within the territory of the Oneidas, and that name prevented it from being confounded with any other carrying place.

In 1693 Albany county was formed and extended to the west bounds of the province and so continued until 1772. It was one of the original ten counties of New York.

Prior to 1755 the territory within Oneida¹ county was without a history. It was scarcely mentioned, except perhaps incidentally.

In 1705 the Oriskany Patent was granted and in that the Oneida carrying place is mentioned. In 1725 it is again mentioned in a petition to the Assembly relative to the Indian trade; and again in 1736, when the Assembly is asked to erect forts at this carrying place. Those three are the only places where this locality is found to be especially mentioned in history. Neverthe less, this route was traversed by Indians, by traders and others, as was well known by the men of that period. A fort was erected at Oswego in 1727 and men and materials went over this route to erect it. After its erection, Indians ususally went there in May with their furs and remained until the last of July to dispose of them. In the summer of 1725, fifty-seven canoes went from Albany over this route and returned with 738 packs of beaver and deer skins; it was estimated that 150 hogsheads of beaver and other fine furs and 200 hogsheads of dressed deer were exported annually from this county.

The above sufficiently indicates the importance of this route, and that the French and English were very anxious to control the Indian trade and the influence of the Confederacy. It must also show that this portage was of immense importance,

1. It will be observed that the name, Oneida county, is used in this work long before it was organized with its present boundary.

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and that forts were essential to guard and protect it. This becomes more apparent when it is borne in mind that a dense swamp covered with cedar and undergrowth, with a soil too miry and porous to uphold a person, extending alongside of the whole length (four miles and more) of this carrying place, and two miles in width, forming a barrier as formidable as a solid stone wall of those dimensions; and that if this protage could not be crossed, a circuit of several miles must be made to the south through the unbroken wilderness. This impassable swamp continued in existance until the fore part of the present century. Neither history or tradition gives the dates of the erection of the first forts on the Oneida Carrying Place. The first full and reliable account of forts at this point is given in Paris Document XII, obtained by our State government from the archives in France, which account appears in the next chapter, including an account of the destriction of Fort Bull. In 1736 the New York Assembly was petitioned, as before stated, to erect a fort at this point, and was shown the necessity for it; but there is no account as to what action if any, was taken under that petition, nor as to when the first fort was erected at this carrying place; nor is there any previous plan for the construction of a fort here, until that of Fort Stanwix in 1758; although it is undisputed there were forts at this place as early as the spring of 1756.

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Information that is found in this collection has been donated to Oneida County, NY GenWeb page by Jane Stevens-Hodge. Copyright©2002
Jane Stevens-Hodge