Indian Castle

Mohawk Valley Indian Notes:Red Men Honor Hendrick, an article noting King Hendrick's outstanding life.

St. Johnsville Enterprise and News

  (Sorry, no date appears on this article, but I would guess in the 1930's)

Canajoharie-Special services at the Indian Castle Mission church, the sole remaining church of the early Indian missions in New York State, were attended Sunday afternoon by a congregation of nearly 300 persons from Montgomery, Herkimer, Schoharie and Fulton counties.

The seating and even the standing capacity of the church was taxed and many were unable to gin admittance for the service.

Arrangements were made by Lou D. MacWethy, St. Johnsville, a vice president of the Mohawk Valley Historical Society and a committee of Tariajoras Tribe 148 Improved Order of Red Men of Canajoharie, Members of the Tus-ks-willa Council of Red Men of Canajohaire. Members of the Tus-ks-willa Council No. 198 Degree of Pocahontas assisted the local tribal committee and guests of the afternoon were members of Nokomis Tribe and Nokomis Council of Ilion, all these presenting a colorful scene with beaded degree costumes and feathered war bonnets.

The Indian Castle Church was built at the order of Sir William Johnson and was dedicated on Sunday, June 17^th, 1770 with appropriate services. It stands on the route of 5-S on lands once property of Joseph Brant, Mohawk chieftain.

The ringing of a bell-the same bell that was stolen by the Mohawks who were thwarted in an attempt to carry it to Canada-heralded the opening of the service. It was rung by Douglas M. Spencer, this village.

The meeting was called to order by Harry V. Bush, president of the Mohawk Valley Historical Society and the invocation was given by Harry R. W. Spencer, past grand master of the Great Council of New York. Mrs. Harry V. Bush served as song leader and Mrs. Harry B. W. Spencer was organist.

Speakers were N. Berton Alter, Nelliston, division superintendent of schools, Montgomery County, who discussed early customs of ancient churches.

He drew a word picture of the church service of half a century ago in which whole neighborhoods attended as a duty. He described the reverence and devotion of the times and said that the influence of these modest rural churches shaped the destiny of the people of that time. In his own time as a child he recalled the services in the old Minden church when the elders led the prayers in Mohawk Dutch.

Lou D. MacWethy, vice president of the Mohawk Valley Historical Society who spoke on King Hendrick noted chief of the Mohawks.

The speaker described the tragic death of King Hendrick who died from a French thrust at the battle of Lake George on September 8, 1755. He died defending the land of his people, land he had sold to the valley settlers and which he defended to the last breath. The lesson of King Hendrick was pointed out as the rigid adherence of the Indian to the sanctity of contract. King Hendrick was the friend of the white settlers. He sold the lands of the Mohawk Valley and never went back on his word. He knew all the pioneers and was their friend. No Indian troubles arose during his administration. He left a name for fair dealing and high principles. No Indian stands out above him in American history. A humble son of the forest, uneducated and untutored, but his name goes down in history as among the truly great men of his time, white or red. He walked and talked with men who made history. Among them Sir William Johnson, Israel Putman and it is possible that he met Washington himself. He lived in the period of transition when the white men supplanted the red in the Mohawk Valley and he saw the supremacy of the whites coming and fought for his people especially against the practice of selling rum to the savages. His character will ever remain in history as a fine example of diplomatic leadership in a most difficult period of American history.

Harry E. W. Spencer thanked the assemblage for the attendance and also the visiting tribe and council for their cooperation. He also thanked Lyman Greene and his daughter, Miss Margaret green for placing at the disposal of members of the fraternity, their home, adjacent to the church. Mr. Spencer also urged those present to visit the site of the Upper Castle of the Mohawk which is located on the Greene farm and many visited the spot at the close of the service. Later at the Greene home, Mr. Spencer on behalf of the Red Men and Pocahontas presented Mr. Greene and daughter with a Beech Nut gift box. After the service closed many inspected the King Hendrick painting executed by Calvin L. Ashley, Jr. and also several ancient documents of early Mohawk Valley history on display on the walls of the vestibule.

KING HENDRICK

It is fitting that the order of red Men and the Mohawk Valley Historic Society should hold observances at Indian Castle, the home of King Hendrick, once a year. Too often communities forget their duties to those famous personages who brought their respective localities to the attention of historians. King Hendrick adorns the pages of history as an outstanding representative of his people He was a Mohawk of the Mohawks, a prominent tribe in the far flung confederacy of the Six Nations of the Iroquois. He was a magnificent figure of a man, standing well over six feet and of a weight requiring a heavy horse to carry him. He walked and talked with the white settlers. Born about 1768 (NOTE: this is an old typo, he was born between 1680-1690) he was of an age contemporary with the first white settlers of the middle Mohawk. He knew Hendrick Klock, Jacob Zimmerman, Christian and William Nellis, John Jost Petrie and all the pioneers who settled Stone Arabia and German Flatts and along the river between Nelliston and East Creek.

He died in battle at Lake George, Sept 8^th, 1755. At the close of his career he occupied a unique positing in the history of the red race. He could look back down the years to the coming of the white man and review in retrospect the deteriorating influence on his people. He stood at the cross roads of two great cultures, that of the Red Men who in the Iroquois typified the highest development of the red men of all the ages. He could look back down the years to the coming of the white man and review in retrospect the deteriorating influence on his people. He stood at the cross roads of two great cultures, that of the Red Men who in the Iroquois typified the highest development of the red men of all the ages. He could look back on the beginnings of a vanishing race and forward on the conquest of the European cultures which even then were making inroads on the hunting grounds of his fathers. He knew the end was approaching and took such steps as he could to safeguard the interests of his people. He sought sumptuary laws preventing the sale of rum to the red men who he saw were unable to cope with this deadly poison to his unresisting body. He sought restrictive laws governing the unscrupulous traders. He advocated and practiced the sanctity of contract between the races and to his credit it must be written that he never welched on a contract of his making. He was a powerful personality, a great orator and a true and lasting friend not alone of Sir William Johnson's but of all the white settlers who came here under his sanction and protection. A striking analogy between the present and the past may be drawn.

Today the white successor of King Hendrick stands at the cross roads. Even as he looked back to the coming of the white man we look back to the coming of the succeeding race whose inventions and energy have made the valley great. The red man has passed and the giant figure of King Hendrick is but a page in history. But even as he saw the vanishing red race, so we of the present may look forward where the present culture is dwindling to the vanishing point. In Hendrick's time the term vanishing American meant a vanishing Red Man. In the present time vanishing American means the extinction of the kind of Americans who succeed the Red Man. The descendants of the first white settlers are scattered to the four winds. They are swallowed up by another culture who neither know or care who their predecessors were nor what has become of them. If the loyal few who remain fail to record the doings of the pioneers it will soon be too late. The vanishing American of 1755 has become reality. He has gone down the sunset trail never to return. Following his footsteps today is another vanishing race. The race of hardy Nordics who cleared the forests, harnessed the streams, fought for their homes, gathered their children about them in family prayer and made their wills with an invocation and closed with a benediction. Simple, God fearing, honest, stubborn and brave, they carved from the wilderness a mighty empire. They are gone and their descendants are fast disappearing. Perhaps a greater empire will follow but it is a fact that the present period of time is a period of transition and we who stand today may look back on a period of greatness in which our ancestors played a prominent part and we may look forward to a future which may hold promise but in which the culture of which we are a part will be of diminishing influence. The shade of the noble King Hendrick still lingers over the valley, and the emotions which kindles his being can perhaps be better understood today than at any time in intervening history. Vanishing American takes on a new meaning through contemplation.