A couple days ago I posted the old illustration that was supposedly Philip Schuyler’s mansion. That originated from Loessing’s Pictoral History of the Revolution.
I managed to dig out some images of the Schuylers’ two homes in upstate New York, and I posted them on the relevant wilderness wiki page.
There is still a lot of data to be filled in for Schuyler, but you might find the photos interesting as they give you some sense of what I was working with as I wrote some crucial scenes — such as Elizabeth’s and Nathaniel’s wedding.
You've stumbled across my official website and landed on the front page of my weblog.
How do you decide whether to trust Loessing’s pictures? More specifically, how do you decide to trust and use someone else’s information?
I had some immediate reactions to the mansion picture and dismissed it as an incorrect rendering. Not enough chimneys. I could only see one in the middle, and there were trees judiciously placed so I couldn’t see chimneys on the sides where I think they should be. The one in the middle didn’t seem right, apparently coming out of the middle of the house. The trees were too tropical looking. The one on the right had a trunk that wasn’t nearly large enough in diameter to support its height. The house looked to me like it should be from a swampy, hot region, not upstate New York.
Obviously you dismissed it since you saw the actual mansion. But generally speaking, how do you decide if the information is correct?
Greetings from the Sacandaga area where spring has arrived, but you’d never know it! Your research on this little known part of the world is great. The Schuyler homes are just the beginning. There are people around here who are unfamiliar with the western branch of the Sacandaga and the ruins at White House where you’ve placed Paradise. My question is about about the Mohawk who lived Barktown (Trees-Standing-in Water ????) I know that when the Sacandaga was dammed up in the 1920s or 30s two or three “Barktowns” were demolished. One stood in or near the large swamp known as the “Great Vly” on the western end of the valley near Johnstown, Mayfield and Gloversville, NY, but I haven’t been able to find out much more about it. Was there actually was a Mohawk group there that sided with the American colonists during the Revolution? Local historical accounts have most of the loyalists and Mohawk in this area fleeing to Canada with Molly Brant (“wife” of Sir William Johnson and sister to Chief Joseph Brant.) Thanks for the books. Thanks for Storytelling 2. Hope to add to the Johnstown, NY Wikki at some point.
Asdfg: You can’t really trust anything in a resource like Loessing, unless you find some other source that verifies it. In some cases it’s not hard to find evidence, especially for geographic landmarks. Otherwise you have to use some common sense — as you did, on the basis of the trees, etc.
Lisa: I’m so glad you delurked. It’s always great to hear from Sacandaga area natives. (Although sometimes your neighbors scold me for leaving the Great Sacandaga Lake off the maps. One person was absolutely sure I was wrong about the dam that made the lake.)
But you clearly know your part of the world — have you been to White House?
I hope you’ll find some time to add information about Johnstown and environs to the Wiki. That would be hugely helpful.
As far as the Mohawk are concerned, they did indeed have a village on the Big Vly — at least one, and maybe more. And there were some internal divisions of loyalties during the Revolution, but you’re right, most of them took off for Canada after they got burned out one time too many. Kenzie (who contributes on the forum and to the wiki) is Mohawk and she has provided some great information.
Welcome, at any rate. Hope you stick around.