Ethnicity, Alliance, Family and War: Scots-Irish Immigration, the Old New York Frontier and the Cherry Valley Massacre

The presentation centers on the settlement of the western frontier of colonial New York beginning about 1740 by Scots-Irish settlers and examines the development of these borderland communities in the Mohawk Valley and the upper Susquehanna River watershed. Examining the immigration of these “northern dissenters” who left the Province of Ulster for religious and economic liberty, we will look at their geographic settlement patterns in New England and their later migration westward, settling undeveloped lands between Schenectady and Schoharie Creek (the current towns of Florida, Princetown and Duanesburg) and the settlement of Cherry Valley and Unadilla. The white European-Americans who established the western frontier of New York saw their farms and villages transformed into a theatre of death and destruction as a result of the political turmoil of the Revolutionary War. This presentation looks at 18th century Native American settlements of the Mohawk and upper Susquehanna regions, including Tiononderoga (Ft. Hunter), Canajoharie, Schoharie and Onaquaga, the influence of missionaries on these villages, and the cultural, political and religious influences which united some peoples and made enemies of others. Joseph Brant’s alliance with the William Johnson family and his raids on frontier settlements play an important role throughout this story.
Presented by Terry McMaster. Terry McMaster is an independent researcher examining ethnicity, settlement patterns and family connections throughout the Mohawk and Upper Susquehanna Valleys prior to and during the American Revolution.