Chapter 22
People Who Made a Difference
Jeptha Simms - Historian of the Mohawk Valley
In
the 1830s there were veterans of the Revolutionary War still alive in the
Mohawk Valley. There were many more first and second-generation descendants
who recalled accounts of the war that were passed down through their families.
Jeptha Simms traveled the length and breadth of the valley interviewing
witnesses to the war or their offspring, and collecting information, documents
and relics along the way. This was no easy task. There were no telephones
to arrange meetings, and the modes of travel at that time were foot, horse,
carriage and canal boat.
Simms---with no public funding or college grants---compiled
this information and published much of it in an 1845 book entitled History
of Schoharie County and Border Wars of New York. Thirty-seven years
later he reworked this book and broadened its scope, adding much more information
in The Frontiersmen of New York - Volume One. He had completed
much of the work on Volume Two when he passed away in 1883 at the age of
76. Volume Two was published soon after his death.
Simms' contributions to understanding the history
of the Mohawk Valley during and right after the Revolutionary War are themselves
historical. His collection of personal anecdotes, documents and research
material became the grist for newspaper articles, the books previously
mentioned, and his 1850 book, Trappers of New York - A Biography
of Nicholas Stoner and Nathaniel Foster.
Simms has been criticized for publishing inaccuracies and unsubstantiated events, and for embellishing or dramatizing personal accounts. At least one historian called him the "Gossip of the Mohawk Valley." Nevertheless, he is the pre-eminent source of information about the hardships endured by the residents of the Mohawk Valley during the Revolutionary War. I suspect that some of his critics never read the Preface to his first book. I offer a portion of it here because it lends credence to his work.
"This volume does not profess to contain a detailed narrative of
all the tragic scenes enacted on the frontiers of New York; for the reader
is aware that several large books filled with such matter have already
been published. I have aimed, therefore, to present incidents which have
escaped the knowledge of previous writers, or transactions to which I could
add new facts, generally noticing in their place, however, the most important
events published by other authors.
"When writers are obliged to rely principally
on oral testimony for what they publish, they are liable, from the treachery
of memory in some, and the fondness for the marvelous in others, to imposition,
to be practised in turn upon their readers. Aware of this, in matters of
importance I have principally confined my inquiries to individuals sustaining
a character of conscientious regard for the truth. More than this, I have
had the same stories related by as many different persons as possible,
often strangers to each other; and then, on carefully examining their testimony,
have been enabled to arrive, as I believe, very satisfactorily at the truth.
These antiquarian researches should have been made at an earlier
day, but the stale maxim, "better late than never," will surely hold good
in this instance if any."
History of Schoharie County and Border Wars of New York -1845
Jeptha Root Simms was born in Canterbury, Conn. on
December 31, 1807. He was educated in the common schools and the
Plainfield Connecticut Academy. In 1824, when he was 17 years old, he moved
with his family to Otsego County, NY. He taught school at Bridgewater,
but gave it up after a "trying" experience. He moved to Canajoharie and
began his long career in merchandising. For a time he lived and worked
in New York City where he became a member of the Young Men's Mercantile
Library Association. When he wasn't working, he was reading and attending
lectures. He returned to Canajoharie in 1832 to go into business
with his former employer. When the business failed, he moved to Schoharie.
It was at Schoharie that he began collecting information about the Revolutionary
War. A few years later he moved to Fultonville where, in 1850, he built
a unique cobblestone house.
"Cobblestone Hall" is still standing. Amazingly,
every cobblestone is the same size. Simms used a board with holes in it
to select the stones. The selection and collection of cobblestones, and
the construction of his home in Fultonville say much about the man.
He was, without a doubt, meticulous, well-organized, determined . . . and
patient.
While living in Schoharie and Fultonville he amassed
and catalogued a collection of documents and relics from Schoharie Valley
and the Mohawk Valley. His collection was so historically valuable
it was purchased by New York State for $5,000 (a tidy sum at the time)
and placed in the State Museum in Albany.
From Fultonville he moved to Fort Plain where he
became an agent for the New York Central Railroad and completed work on
The Frontiersmen of New York. When he passed away on May
31, 1883, local newspapers bid farewell to the "Historian of the Mohawk
Valley."
Armed with information about how Simms graded the
stones, we drove around Fultonville looking for Cobblestone Hall. The village
has been significantly altered by the construction of the Thruway and the
new Route 5S. Gert suggested that I ask someone for directions, but sticking
to my explore-and-discover approach to locating historic sites, I drove
up and down main roads and back streets, not finding a single cobblestone
house. Finally in the middle of the village, on a dead-end street, we discovered
what had to be Cobblestone Hall.
After taking several photographs, we drove across
the Mohawk River to the Montgomery County Department of History & Archives,
located in the old courthouse in the village of Fonda. The director confirmed
we had indeed discovered Cobblestone Hall, and she provided additional
information about Simms and his Fultonville home.
We learned that at the time that Simms built the
house, Broad Street was a major road (Route 5S) through the village. Except
for a few minor repairs, the cobblestone part of the house is original,
but over the years two large additions were added. For a time the much
enlarged building was an industrial school and village library. In recent
years it was converted to apartments.
