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Iroquois

Iroquois and the Invention of the Empire State

March 22, 2023 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

“The Amazing Iroquois” and the Invention of the Empire StateFrom the Iroquois confederacy serving as a model for the US Constitution, to the connections between the matrilineal Iroquois and the woman suffrage movement, to the living legacy of the famous “Sky Walkers,” the steelworkers who built the Empire State Building and the George Washington Bridge, the Iroquois are viewed as an exceptional people who helped make the state’s history unique and forward-looking. [Read more…] about Iroquois and the Invention of the Empire State

Filed Under: Arts, Books, Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Cultural History, Haudenosaunee, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Political History

The Mystery of Joseph Brant’s Watch

February 28, 2023 by Dave Waite 1 Comment

Evening journal (Wilmington, Del.), 1888-07-14, [p ] There was a story that had been passed down in the Minthorn family for generations. It told of how an ancestor had hidden her two infants under the roots of a tree to save them during the Revolutionary War attack on Cherry Valley, NY, in 1778. It was said that in her zeal to quiet her children, the youngsters were rendered unconscious, being revived only after the attackers had departed.

While this story is most likely fiction, there is some truth mixed in. [Read more…] about The Mystery of Joseph Brant’s Watch

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: American Revolution, Canada, Cherry Valley, Genealogy, Haudenosaunee, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Jefferson County, Jefferson County Historical Society, Joseph Brant, Loyalism, Mabee Farm Historic Site, Material Culture, Mohawk, Montgomery County, Ontario, Otsego County, Schoharie Valley, watertown, William Johnson

Science & Suckers: The Cohoes Mastodon & The Cardiff Giant

February 9, 2023 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Cohoes Mastodon exhibit at the New York State Museum, Albany New York (photo courtesy Kenneth C. Zirkel)In 1866, NY State Geologist James Hall received a message from T.G. Younglove, an official at Harmony Mills in Cohoes, New York, informing Hall that while conducting some excavations to expand the mill they uncovered a “great pothole” at the foot of Cohoes Falls where the Mohawk River begins to empty into the Hudson.

The “great pothole” contained a large jawbone “of some unknown beast,” much larger than that of an elephant. [Read more…] about Science & Suckers: The Cohoes Mastodon & The Cardiff Giant

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Archaeology, Board of Regents, Cohoes, Cooperstown, Farmers' Museum, Fossils, Geology, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Journalism, Mohawk River, Native American, nature, New York State Education Department, New York State Museum, Newspapers, Onondaga County, Otsego County, Paleontology, PT Barnum, Religious History, Science History, sculpture, Wildlife

The Two Alexander Macombs: A Slaveholder & A Duplicitous Negotiator

February 7, 2023 by Alan J. Singer 1 Comment

The Alexander Macomb House in New York City served as the executive mansion for President George Washington, February–August 1790Alexander Macomb, the elder, (1748–1831) was a fur trader, land and currency speculator, and slaveholder who supported the British during the American Revolution and provided the occupying British army with trade goods. [Read more…] about The Two Alexander Macombs: A Slaveholder & A Duplicitous Negotiator

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, New York City Tagged With: Adirondacks, Alexander Macomb, American Revolution, Andrew Jackson, Battle of Plattsburgh, Florida, Harlem River, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Lake Ontario, Macomb’s Purchase, Manhattan, Military History, New York City, Slavery, St Lawrence County, St. Lawrence River, The Bronx, War of 1812

Pirates, Prostitution & The Livingston Family

January 15, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Robert R Livingston by Gilbert StuartFrom their early days on the North American continent, the Livingston family were a prominent sex-trade family. In a nutshell, they were landlords to brothel-operators from at least as early as the 1810s.

New York State Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, who reluctantly joined the patriot side of the American Revolution in 1776. Chancellor Robert was one of many Livingstons who profited from the sex trade in the aftermath of the unrest. [Read more…] about Pirates, Prostitution & The Livingston Family

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Abolition, American Revolution, Haudenosaunee, Iroquois, Livingston Manor, piracy, prostitution, Robert Livingston, Slavery, Vice, William Kidd

1,500 Artifacts Returned To Oneida Indian Nation By Museum

November 12, 2022 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

A 17th century Oneida Indian Nation ceramic potMore than 1,520 funerary objects and cultural artifacts were returned to the Oneida Indian Nation from the collections of Colgate University’s Longyear Museum of Anthropology on November 9th.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires federally funded institutions to return remains and cultural items. [Read more…] about 1,500 Artifacts Returned To Oneida Indian Nation By Museum

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Archaeology, Colgate University, Haudenosaunee, Iroquois, Madison County, Museums, Native American History, Oneida County, Oneida Indian Nation, Verona

Albany’s Harmanus Bleecker, 19th Century Ambassador to The Netherlands

October 11, 2022 by Peter Hess 1 Comment

View of New Amsterdam by Johannes Vingboons, ca. 1665In 1658, 17-year-old Jan Janse Bleecker set sail from Mappel, Overyssel in the Netherlands for Nieuw Amsterdam (now New York City) in the Dutch colony of New Netherland. He knew that Dutch traders had established a trading post there about 45 years earlier.

In 1629, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, a partner in the Dutch West India Company, had obtained rights to establish a settlement and control the fur trade at Fort Orange located about 150 miles north of New Amsterdam. [Read more…] about Albany’s Harmanus Bleecker, 19th Century Ambassador to The Netherlands

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Christmas, Dutch History, fur trade, Haudenosaunee, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Legal History, Martin Van Buren, Mohawk, New Netherland, New York City, Political History

Fort Bull – Oneida Carrying Place Archaeology Funded

September 14, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Fort Bull – Fort Wood Creek siteFort Bull and the Oneida Carrying Place were important parts of the military and Indigenous landscape that shaped the development of the Upper Mohawk Valley region.

The Oneida Carrying Place, a four-mile overland route that connected the Mohawk River and Wood Creek, was vital to British military campaign strategies beginning with the French and Indian War. The Carry also saw significant action during St. Leger’s American Revolution Campaign (1777), which included the Siege of Fort Stanwix/Schuyler and the Battle of Oriskany. [Read more…] about Fort Bull – Oneida Carrying Place Archaeology Funded

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Archaeology, Fort Bull, French And Indian War, French History, Haudenosaunee, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Military History, Mohawk River, New France, Oneida Carrying Place, Oneida County, Oneida Indian Nation, Rome Historical Society, SUNY Binghamton

Lt. John Jenkins: Guiding The Clinton-Sullivan Campaign

August 11, 2022 by John Conway Leave a Comment

Rich JenkinsOn August 11th, 1779, at the height of America’s war for independence, General John Sullivan arrived at Tioga Point on the Susquehanna River at the Pennsylvania-New York border with a large force of men and began construction of what would become known as Fort Sullivan. [Read more…] about Lt. John Jenkins: Guiding The Clinton-Sullivan Campaign

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Western NY Tagged With: American Revolution, Chemung County, Fort Sullivan, Haudenosaunee, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Military History, Pennsylvania, Sullivan_Clinton Expedition, Susquehanna River

Schenectady’s Relationship to Native America

July 7, 2022 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

Mohawk “squaw,” watercolorFor many people, “American” history begins with European exploration of the continent. From there, the narrative invariably centers on the colonial perspective and, after 1776, the perspective of the United States.

Consequently, the general public is generally uninformed about the history of Indigenous People that both predates New Netherland and the Pilgrims and persists to the present. And this article is by no means capable of addressing this broad historical issue. So let’s turn from this historical macrocosm to the microcosm of one city, Schenectady. [Read more…] about Schenectady’s Relationship to Native America

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Algonquin, American Revolution, Arent Van Curler, French And Indian War, French History, fur trade, Haudenosaunee, Hudson River, Indigenous History, Iroquois, King William’s War, Military History, Mohawk, Mohawk River, New France, Oneida Carrying Place, Oneida Indian Nation, Schenectady, Schenectady County, Schenectady County Historical Society, Seneca Nation, Sullivan_Clinton Expedition

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