#^'"4-%\ 05 038 
 
 The 
 
 Oneida Historical Society, 
 At Utica, N. Y. 
 
 CHARLES S. SYMONDS. 
 
 Vice-Presidents^ 
 EDWARD COMSTOCK, 
 GEORGE M. WEAVER, 
 JOSEPH V. HABERER. 
 Corresponding Secretary^ 
 CHARLES W. DARLING, A. M. 
 Recording Secretary^ 
 DONALD McINTYRE. 
 
 Librarian^ 
 
 DANA W. BIGELOW. 
 
 Treasurer^ 
 
 SYLVESTER DERING. 
 
 ^lUca, 91. % 
 
 1902. 
 
 Su-&ieC't 
 
 ^CCl/t- Si-t 
 
 9ge izz fri0 
 
 3UOMn'% trs. 
 
(35fo3^ 
 
 It is the mission of this Society to cover in its collecti< rs and 
 researches the entire territory embraced in the original .".il di- 
 vision of central New York — the County of Tryon, erected n 1772, 
 rechristened Montgomery in honor of Gen. Montgomerv, and in 
 contempt of a royal governor, in 1784; divided in 1791 irto the 
 counties of Montgomery, Otsego, Tioga, Ontario and Herkimer, 
 Oneida County bein^ erected out of the latter in i7g3. It is h wide 
 field, for the boundaries of Tryon County included all the terri- 
 tory lying west of a line running nearly north and south tlirough 
 the present County of Schoharie. All the State of New York 
 west of that line is our particular field; but we go beyond this, 
 and exchange publications with many kindred societies in the 
 United States and Europe. The County of Tryon included the 
 hunting grounds of the Five Nations of Iroquois, who were the 
 owners of this soil before our fathers possessed themselves of it, 
 and whose civil and military achievments form a glorious chapter 
 in the aboriginal history of America. We are the centre of the 
 famous "long house" within fifty miles of the spot where the 
 council fires were held, and so directly in the home of the Oneida 
 tribe of Iroquois — the only one of the original Five Nations which 
 stood by the colonists in their struggle for independence— 'hat 
 Utica is the custodian of its "Sacred Stone." In many ways the 
 original Tryon County is peculiarly interesting, in a historical 
 point of view. Here lived, labored anddied. Sir William J<>hns<in, 
 in many respects the most prominent figure in the colonial atinals 
 of America. Here also lived his sons and their ally, Joseph Brnndt, 
 who made the Mohawk Valley forever memorable as the scene of 
 the fiercest and most relentless Indian and Tory massacres. 
 Hither migrated the chief segment of the exiled Palatinates; and 
 the story of their pioneer battles with the wilderness, their revo- 
 lutionary patriotism under circumstances the most perilous that 
 tested the nerves of any colonists, with the later record of their 
 remarkable assimilation with the Atnerican race -a story never 
 yet fully written out — offers inspiration for song, romance and 
 history Here, also, were the frontier and defensive forts and 
 castles of the French, the Indians and the English, as well as the 
 colonists-Fort Bull, Fort Plain, Fort House, Fort Hill, Fort 
 Hunter, Fort Dayton, Fort Schuyler, Fort Stanwix, Fort Oswego 
 and Fort Brewerton. Here passed and repassed along the water- 
 courses, over the Indian fords and through the trackless forests, the 
 military ex jeditions of French and English, until the prowess of 
 the later at length determined that the English race and civilization 
 should predominate upon the continent. Here were fought the bat- 
 tles of I Jriskany and Saratoga, upon whose fields the war for inde- 
 pendence ceased to be a rebellion and became a revolution. Here 
 the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company made the first at- 
 tempt at artificial water navigation in America, an attempt which 
 soon developed into the Erie Canal, upon whose waters the com- 
 merce of a continent traverses from the lakes to the Atlantic. 
 Here wis the scene of the romantic adventure and the unto 
 fate of the Castorland Company, and here is the grave and mon- 
 ument of the brave Baron Steuben. Here was tested one of the 
 first railroads ever built. Here was organized the first express 
 company. Here the telegraph was put to its first practical utility. 
 Here were erected the first cotton factory and the first woolen 
 factory chartered by the State of New York, and here has been 
 the home of more than a due proportion of the statesmen whose 
 life-work is a part of the history of New York and the Nation. 
 
 The Oneida Historical Society is the proper custodian of the 
 documents, manuscripts, relics and memorials, of every kind and 
 description, which relate to and illustrate this remarkable history. 
 And it remains for us to faithfully gather and preserve the valu- 
 able materials of local history that still remain scattered, and are 
 fast disappearing. 
 
 The Oneida Historical Society has in no way done more to 
 preserve and keep alive our local history, than by the monuments 
 which it has helped to erect. The beginnings of our city are de- 
 fined and perpetuated by the memorial of ot 1 Fort Schuyler. The 
 settlement of the country is forever traced back to its pioneer bv 
 the monument to Hugh White in the town which bears his name. 
 The towering column at Oriskany teaches for all the strategic and 
 commercial relations of the valley of the Mohawk to the conti- 
 nent, while it gives immortality to the yeomen who withstood the 
 armed hosts of invasion. For these this Society may claim its 
 share of credit. The monument to Baron Steuben, due in large 
 part to the thoughtfulness of our German fellow-citizens, at all its 
 stages had the favor of our distinguished president, the late Gov. 
 Horatio Seymour, whose eloquence crowned its dedication. He 
 also contributed to the memorial to that early soldier— the soldier 
 of the cross— Samuel K.irkland, missionary, leader in education in 
 Central New York, and efficient patriot, by whose grave the hill- 
 side above Oriskany Creek is made ever consecrated ground. 
 
Fac Simile of the Sij^natures to the Preliminary Articles of Peace with the Senecas. N. Y. Coi. 
 Doc. VII, 621-3. Engraved from a tracing, procured by Mr. Berthold Fnerow for Geo. S. Conover, from 
 the original document in the Public Record Office, London, in " America and West Indies, No. 121, 
 Military, 1763 to 1765," being an enclosure to a letter of Maj. Gen'l Thos. Gage, dated New York, April 
 14, 1754. The signature of Sayenqueraghta is that of Old Smoke or Old King, the "smoke bearer" or 
 head chief who resided at Kanadesaga, the Capital of the Senecas. His totem is conclusive evidence 
 that he was of the trreat Turtle clan. 
 
 
 fJc/in4072 (/CcciZJ, 
 
 Sy,u^rux2^(:^ fjL ^^^y'^^'y^"^ 
 
 
 
 >^ 
 
 W(lru^ 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 |dll'i||i''i|||!rii;i'Jlilli> 
 
 014 221 355 2 ♦ 
 
 Hollinger 
 
 pH8.5 
 
 Mill Run F3.1719