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| Birth: | 1602 in Netherlands |
| Death: | 1699 in Schenectady, NY |
| Sex: | M |
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Individual:
Kinship to Author: 11th Great-grandfatherResource: James & Betty Kittle http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:662835&idCame to America from Holland aboard the ship "Prince Mauritz" asa boatswain. They lived in Albany a short time after theirmarriage, and then moved to Beverwyck (today is known asSchenectady, NY, which means a place beyond the pines). Theymoved to an area that is now known as the "Stockade" where theyowned quite a bit of land. They had 6 sons and 3 daughters.They were farmers and church going people.The fate of Schenectady was sealed in the middle of January,1690, when 114 Frenchmen and 96 Sault and Algonquin Indians,started from Montreal to attack English outposts to the south.It was part of the master plan to fulfill the wishes of FrenchKing Louis XIV to "build a new empire in America". They came down the frozen ice on Lake Champlain and in about sixdays, down to a point that is known today as Fort Edward, itwas here where they met with the Indian leaders and decided toattack Schenectady instead of Fort Orange. They continued ondown and crossed the icy Mohawk. It was then that spies weresent to scout the Stockade and see if it was secured. Seeingthe doors open, and noone guarding them, they reported back to their leaders, and thedecision was made to attack.February 9, 1690, during the raid on Schenectady many men, womenand children were killed. Symon and Rebecca's 5 sons, Symon,Dyrk, Abraham, Claas and Philip (Cornelius died when just ayoung boy) were taken captive by the French and Indians andmarched up into Canada. Symon and Rebecca were not inSchenectady at the time of the massacre, they had gone toAlbany to attend a Baptism.Imagine their fright when they got the news of what had happend.The people of Schenectady were secure in their feelings thatnobody would go out on such a night like this, freezing coldand so much snow. Most had gone off to bed and were sleeping. Anight like this not even the foolhardy Frenchmen would be out.Now why the gates to the fort were not closed is a question noone at this time can answer. Some say that maybe they were sosure that no one would be out they just got careless, andothers say maybe the gates were frozen open and they could notbe closed. Whatever the reason they were left open and whathappend during the night shall always be remembered by allSchenectadians. The half-frozen invaders crossed the river onthe windswept ice and soon wereinside the stockade. Suddenly the high-pitched war cries of thewarriors split the silence, the signal for a bloody massacrethat was to last for two full hours.Houses were quickly put to the torch and the people who came outin the night were tomahawked and their scalps were taken orthey were shot. Symon Schermerhorn though wounded mounted ahorse and rode to Albany to tell them of the French invasionand to try and get some help. That morning the French roundedup their prisoners and started back to Canada. As they passedby Scotia, Glen Sander was able to help, he was told that hewould be able to choose his relatives from among the prisonersin return for having been kind tosome French captives when they were in the hands of the Mohawksa few years earlier. He tried to claim as many as he couldwithout arousing their suspicions.About 60 persons were killed outright, including 10 women and 12children. And some were taken prisoner. As mentioned above Symonand Rebecca's sons were some of those taken captive. All thesons did return to Schenectady after a years time, exceptClaas, and we are not sure what happened to Claas. There aremany stories as to what did happen but nobody knows for sure.
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