Schenectady on the Mohawk is a quaint old town of Dutch foundation,
now devoted considerably to hops and butter, and largely to the trade
in brooms. The Indians called it Skaunoghtada, or "the village seen
across the plain," and hence the name. It was an early outpost of the
Patroon at Albany, who sent Arent Van Corlaer to build a fort and
trade in furs with the Indians in 1661. There were two horrible
massacres here in the colonial wars. This comfortable city spreads
broadly on the southern bank of the river and has over twenty thousand
people. It is the seat of Union College, the buildings, upon a height
overlooking the valley, being prominent. The college is part of the
foundation of Union University, organized by the coöperation of
various religious denominations, embracing medical, law and
engineering schools, and also the Dudley Observatory at Albany. Such
eminent men as Jonathan Edwards and Eliphalet Nott have been its
presidents. Some distance up the Mohawk is Amsterdam, another
flourishing town, and the whole region thereabout is covered with
fields of broom-corn, the Mohawk Valley being the greatest producer of
brooms in America, and the chief broom-makers the Shakers, who have
several settlements here. To the northward of the river above
Amsterdam is Fort Johnson, a large stone dwelling which was the home
of Sir William Johnson, the noted pioneer and colonial General. In
1738, at the age of twenty-three, he came out from England to manage
Admiral Warren's large estates in the Mohawk Valley. He soon became
very friendly with the Indians, the Mohawks adopting him as a sachem,
and he had much to do with the Indian colonial management. He finally
became the superintendent of the affairs of the Indian Six Nations,
the Iroquois, and got his title of baronet for his victory over the
French in 1755 at Fort William Henry, on Lake George. He was in the
subsequent campaigns, captured Fort Niagara in 1759, and was present
at the surrender of Montreal, and finally of Canada, the next year.
For his services in these important conflicts the King gave him a
tract of one hundred thousand acres north of the Mohawk, long known as
"Kingsland" or the "Royal Grant." He brought in colonists and started
Johnstown on this tract. He was active in his duties as head of the
Indian Department, his death in 1774 resulting from over-exertion at
an Indian Council. He was the great pioneer of the Mohawk, his
influence over the Indians being potential, and his village of
Johnstown, about eight miles north of the river, now having about five
thousand people. He had a hundred children by many mistresses, both
Indian and white, his favorite, by whom he had eight children, being
the sister of the famous Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant.