It Happened Here -- "King of the (Indian) Traders"
They called him "King of the (Indian) Traders." George Croghan was born in Dublin, Ireland about 1718 and came to America in 1741. In a short time he became a major player in the fur trade in the Ohio Valley, developing trading posts in Indian settlements, as the French did, instead of locating his operations in white settlements and waiting for Indians to bring their furs to him, as most English traders did. Taking advantage of war with the French (King George's War 1744-1748) which closed off French access to trade goods via the St. Lawrence and put English traders at a tremendous competitive advantage, Croghan rapidly expanded. He had several trading posts deep into the Ohio country, and scores of employees manning his storehouses, and leading packhorse trains along the trails that led through Indian country and back through Pennsylvania. His expansion in the Ohio Valley and trading activities right up to the French fort at Detroit would become a major source of concern for the French and create tensions that would contribute to the outbreak of hostilities between the French and English in 1754 at the start of the French and Indian War.
Semi-literate, Croghan wrote letters and documents filled with idiosyncratic spellings and syntax, a challenge for modern historians (and probably his contemporaries) to read, but few European-Americans had a better knowledge American Indians in contact with the colonies of New York and Pennsylvania. Croghan became fluent in Seneca and Delaware dialects, so could communicate to some degree with most Iroquoian and Algonquin peoples. Beyond simple understanding, he became a skilled orator adept at the highly figurative oratory his Indian audiences respected. Because of his skills he became Sir William Johnson's Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs for fifteen years.
Like Johnson, Croghan mixed public business with private speculative schemes. Like Johnson, in time, Croghan's involvement in buying and selling land surpassed his fur trading interests. Croghan became a major land speculator, buying large tracts of land from Indians, working to gain title on them and retailing small parcels out to settlers. Frequently cash poor, Croghan made a career of enlisting partners, buying tracts of land, mortgaging those properties to get cash to buy other properties and pay off his most ardent creditors, and managing to stay clear of debtor's prison.
Like most land speculators, Croghan preferred to obtain new grants of Indian land, (far cheaper) rather than those already "patented". To do this he had to work his way around several laws/regulations designed to protect the Indians from wholesale exploitation. Individuals were allowed to buy only 1000 acres of Indian land; they had to be granted a patent--a certificate giving them the right to own the land; and only the government could directly buy land from the Native Americans. Croghan, and other land speculators, would typically form a company. A 100,000 acre tract of land would require Croghan to enlist 99 other petitioners who would sign their names, collect a fee from Croghan and withdraw after the deal was consummated. Next, Croghan would apply to the governor for permission to negotiate with the Indians to buy the tract. (Usually, before this, a deal had already been informally agreed upon with the Indians.) Croghan would then get together his finances--usually a collection of loans, investments from partners, monies from mortgaged properties, etc.-- and the Governor, (for a sizable fee) would make the purchase. Then the land would be surveyed and Croghan would be issued his patent. The process was time consuming and fraught with the potential of collapse at any number of points and Croghan usually had several schemes going at the same time.
At the end of the French and Indian War the British government attempted to prevent interminable conflicts between western Indians and settlers by establishing a line setting off Indian territory, beyond which white settlers would not be allowed to settle. Unfortunately for George Croghan, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 officially shut him out of several tracts of land he was negotiating or had already bought and was waiting for the confirmation of his patent. After a few years it became obvious that the British government could not prevent a flood of squatters from crossing that line and their presence in Indian territory made for tensions that resulted in bloodshed. Croghan used his extensive contacts to begin a letter writing and lobbying campaign to the British government to get the line moved west, to forestall another Indian war. A treaty meetings convened at Fort Stanwix in 1768 with Sir William Johnson presiding and Croghan presenting the assembled chiefs of the Six Nations and other vassal tribes with gifts and cash amounting to nearly £ 10,500, underwritten by the crown.
With the line moved west, and (temporarily) fewer squatters on Indian land, and the chiefs mollified by presents and bribes, the incidences of bloodshed declined. A full scale Indian war would not break out until 1774. The big winners were Johnson and Croghan. Johnson secured lands promised to him earlier by Iroquois sachems, and Croghan was able to proceed with several large land deals previously negotiated, lands in the fertile Cherry Valley, and "Croghan's Forest", a 250,000 acre tract around Lake Otsego, south of Johnson's holdings.
On the southern shore of Lake Otsego, Croghan would build his "hutt", a massive six chimney-ed log cabin he furnished with imported figured wallpapers on the interior walls, a dinner table covered with the finest damasks cloths and ivory handled knives and forks. Eight indentured servants, a mason, five
laborers and a gardener would staff his "hutt". Five or six outbuildings were erected; a sawmill, a gristmill and a bridge over the Susquehanna were planned, as well as a road to the riverport town of "Kaatskill on the Hudson."
For me, one of the most distressing things about writing this blog has been to realize how many NYSHMS have disappeared over the years. (The gratifying side of this is to realize how many of these signs that have been damaged, have been restored, put back together or replaced.) This week I passed the site of the Bender Melons sign, in New Scotland, which I featured as a Marker of the Week on June 9, 2013 and realized it was gone and only its post remains. I hope it wasn't stolen. I hope, when the weather warms up it will be restored if it was damaged, and returned to its original site! --Tom
Semi-literate, Croghan wrote letters and documents filled with idiosyncratic spellings and syntax, a challenge for modern historians (and probably his contemporaries) to read, but few European-Americans had a better knowledge American Indians in contact with the colonies of New York and Pennsylvania. Croghan became fluent in Seneca and Delaware dialects, so could communicate to some degree with most Iroquoian and Algonquin peoples. Beyond simple understanding, he became a skilled orator adept at the highly figurative oratory his Indian audiences respected. Because of his skills he became Sir William Johnson's Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs for fifteen years.
Like Johnson, Croghan mixed public business with private speculative schemes. Like Johnson, in time, Croghan's involvement in buying and selling land surpassed his fur trading interests. Croghan became a major land speculator, buying large tracts of land from Indians, working to gain title on them and retailing small parcels out to settlers. Frequently cash poor, Croghan made a career of enlisting partners, buying tracts of land, mortgaging those properties to get cash to buy other properties and pay off his most ardent creditors, and managing to stay clear of debtor's prison.
Like most land speculators, Croghan preferred to obtain new grants of Indian land, (far cheaper) rather than those already "patented". To do this he had to work his way around several laws/regulations designed to protect the Indians from wholesale exploitation. Individuals were allowed to buy only 1000 acres of Indian land; they had to be granted a patent--a certificate giving them the right to own the land; and only the government could directly buy land from the Native Americans. Croghan, and other land speculators, would typically form a company. A 100,000 acre tract of land would require Croghan to enlist 99 other petitioners who would sign their names, collect a fee from Croghan and withdraw after the deal was consummated. Next, Croghan would apply to the governor for permission to negotiate with the Indians to buy the tract. (Usually, before this, a deal had already been informally agreed upon with the Indians.) Croghan would then get together his finances--usually a collection of loans, investments from partners, monies from mortgaged properties, etc.-- and the Governor, (for a sizable fee) would make the purchase. Then the land would be surveyed and Croghan would be issued his patent. The process was time consuming and fraught with the potential of collapse at any number of points and Croghan usually had several schemes going at the same time.
At the end of the French and Indian War the British government attempted to prevent interminable conflicts between western Indians and settlers by establishing a line setting off Indian territory, beyond which white settlers would not be allowed to settle. Unfortunately for George Croghan, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 officially shut him out of several tracts of land he was negotiating or had already bought and was waiting for the confirmation of his patent. After a few years it became obvious that the British government could not prevent a flood of squatters from crossing that line and their presence in Indian territory made for tensions that resulted in bloodshed. Croghan used his extensive contacts to begin a letter writing and lobbying campaign to the British government to get the line moved west, to forestall another Indian war. A treaty meetings convened at Fort Stanwix in 1768 with Sir William Johnson presiding and Croghan presenting the assembled chiefs of the Six Nations and other vassal tribes with gifts and cash amounting to nearly £ 10,500, underwritten by the crown.
 |
| Rte 26, Augusta |
On the southern shore of Lake Otsego, Croghan would build his "hutt", a massive six chimney-ed log cabin he furnished with imported figured wallpapers on the interior walls, a dinner table covered with the finest damasks cloths and ivory handled knives and forks. Eight indentured servants, a mason, five
laborers and a gardener would staff his "hutt". Five or six outbuildings were erected; a sawmill, a gristmill and a bridge over the Susquehanna were planned, as well as a road to the riverport town of "Kaatskill on the Hudson."
 |
| Main Street, Cooperstown |
Grogan left Groghan's Forest in 1770. During the American Revolution most of Groghan's properties became unsaleable with widepread Tory and Indian raids on the frontier. He was forced to sell off most of his Otsego land holding but deeded the "hutt" to his daughter Susannah Prevost when he died in 1782. Three years later she sold the property to Judge William Cooper in 1785 who laid out the town of Otsego the following year, that became Cooperstown in 1812.
Marker of the Week -- Gone Missing?
For me, one of the most distressing things about writing this blog has been to realize how many NYSHMS have disappeared over the years. (The gratifying side of this is to realize how many of these signs that have been damaged, have been restored, put back together or replaced.) This week I passed the site of the Bender Melons sign, in New Scotland, which I featured as a Marker of the Week on June 9, 2013 and realized it was gone and only its post remains. I hope it wasn't stolen. I hope, when the weather warms up it will be restored if it was damaged, and returned to its original site! --Tom
No comments:
Post a Comment