Southern Schoharie County

Before 1848, Blenheim and Broome were two large towns. This posed problems for the citizens and politicians, therefore people petitioned the Seventy-first Legislature to divide the towns and form a new one. A bill, passed on March 16, 1848, created the town of Gilboa. The 20^th of the next month, the citizens of Gilboa held their first meeting, and elected their first officials.

During the “anti-rent” troubles of the 1840s, Gilboa was involved, yet there was no violence, except an incident where men dressed as “Injuns” threatened to tar-and-feather a deputy in he would not destroy rent papers. He did so. Nearly all people in Gilboa were Antis, actually, but they did not want to harm anyone, just scare landlords.

It is supposed that the first settlers of Gilboa was the Dise family. John Dise built a

grist-mill around the 1790s. The town’s prosperity attracted people to it. A man by the name of Archibald Croswell settled in Gilboa, having moved there from Connecticut. Mr. Croswell purchased the Dise mill property, and rebuilt a stone grist-mill. The wall cracked and fell after several years, and another mill was built. After a few years, business in Gilboa expanded, and in little time, Gilboa had a tannery, fulling mill, a hemlock-bark extraction factory, a sawmill, and a pottery factory. It even had a cotton factory, called the “Gilboa Cotton Mill Co.”, but it was subsequently destroyed in the flood of 1869.

In 1797, Gilboa built it’s first tavern. It also had three churches, the Reformed Church of Gilboa, the Methodist Episcopal Church of Gilboa, and the Flat Creek Baptist Church. Job Tibbetts founded the Broome Centre, notice the British influence in spelling. Interestingly, since Tibbetts founded the Centre, the hamlet was called “Tibbetts” by people, and, in fact, was the only name known, by some, of the Hamlet.

David Elerson was a soldier alongside with Timothy Murphy, settled in Schoharie after the battle of Monmouth. He was considered a hero, and is known mostly because of a pamphlet, written by an unknown person.

Also included in the chapter is the transcript by which Gilboa was created, and a picture of Thomas Colby’s home and farm.

The times and dates of these events, big and small, make you feel, pardon me for being generic, but you feel so insignificant. Yes, these events are not worldly important, but their age alone makes you think.

Southern Schoharie County

Before 1848, Blenheim and Broome were two large towns. This posed problems for the citizens and politicians, therefore people petitioned the Seventy-first Legislature to divide the towns and form a new one. A bill, passed on March 16, 1848, created the town of Gilboa. The 20^th of the next month, the citizens of Gilboa held their first meeting, and elected their first officials.

During the “anti-rent” troubles of the 1840s, Gilboa was involved, yet there was no violence, except an incident where men dressed as “Injuns” threatened to tar-and-feather a deputy in he would not destroy rent papers. He did so. Nearly all people in Gilboa were Antis, actually, but they did not want to harm anyone, just scare landlords.

It is supposed that the first settlers of Gilboa was the Dise family. John Dise built a

grist-mill around the 1790s. The town’s prosperity attracted people to it. A man by the name of Archibald Croswell settled in Gilboa, having moved there from Connecticut. Mr. Croswell purchased the Dise mill property, and rebuilt a stone grist-mill. The wall cracked and fell after several years, and another mill was built. After a few years, business in Gilboa expanded, and in little time, Gilboa had a tannery, fulling mill, a hemlock-bark extraction factory, a sawmill, and a pottery factory. It even had a cotton factory, called the “Gilboa Cotton Mill Co.”, but it was subsequently destroyed in the flood of 1869.

In 1797, Gilboa built it’s first tavern. It also had three churches, the Reformed Church of Gilboa, the Methodist Episcopal Church of Gilboa, and the Flat Creek Baptist Church. Job Tibbetts founded the Broome Centre, notice the British influence in spelling. Interestingly, since Tibbetts founded the Centre, the hamlet was called “Tibbetts” by people, and, in fact, was the only name known, by some, of the Hamlet.

David Elerson was a soldier alongside with Timothy Murphy, settled in Schoharie after the battle of Monmouth. He was considered a hero, and is known mostly because of a pamphlet, written by an unknown person.

Also included in the chapter is the transcript by which Gilboa was created, and a picture of Thomas Colby’s home and farm.

The times and dates of these events, big and small, make you feel, pardon me for being generic, but you feel so insignificant. Yes, these events are not worldly important, but their age alone makes you think.

Visit Schoharie County-- Breadbasket of the Revolution

Schoharie County is one of the most beautiful areas of the state, encompassing the northern Catskill Mountains and the scenic Schoharie Valley. There are many points of interest here, including Howe Caverns, which is the second-most visited natural attraction in the state. Schoharie County also contains the infamous Gilboa Dam. We also are fortunate to have Minekill and Max V. Shaul State Parks.Also, the area is rich in history, including many fights in the Revolutionary War. Schoharie County once had three forts. The last remaining one is a museum now, the Old Stone Fort. Famous entrepreneur and founder of the company Westinghouse, George Westinghouse was born in Central Bridge. The largest single-span covered bridge in the world is located in Blenheim. Another nice covered bridge is in Schoharie, just down the street from the Old Stone Fort.There are nice places to eat around the area, like the Alley Cat or the Tory Tavern in Schoharie or M+J's Cafe in Middleburgh. There are nice hotels, like the Super 8 in Cobleskill or the American Hotel in Sharon Springs.

We're convieniently located less than an hour away from Oneonta, Schnectady, and Albany. We're two hours from Binghamton and about three from Plattburgh and New York.So give us a shot, you'll be glad you did.

History of Blenheim

Amongst the first to settle in Blenheim was Henry Hager. Henry came from Germany, along with three of his brothers. The Hagers were forced to flee when the Indians and Tories invaded the valley in 1780. Mr. Hager had to cut his own dog’s throat during the escape, so as to not give them away. In the swift escape, Mr. Hager forgot articles he wished to bring with him, and thus he returned home. He arrived to find the enemy occupying his premises, and he was captured and made their prisoner. The Indians and Tories burned all of the Hager’s property, and made Henry march to Canada. Upon the way, Mr. Hager thought he was going to be executed, but was surprised to find kindness in an Indian, who gave him food. After eleven months, Hager was involved in a prisoner exchange, and returned home.

Beacraft, a despised Tory, who, during the Revolution, killed and jeered Americans, returned to the valley. It was a short matter of time before ten men took him from a house, and lashed him on his bare back, for the crimes he had committed. After each group of ten lashes, they told him a different crime that he had committed, and after the punishment, they told him to “flee the country and never return.” But time was not of the essence, and he died before such action could occur.

Freegift Patchin was captured by Brant and his Indians and Tories. Brant and a group of Indians crept and captured Patchin, and the group’s commander, Alexander Harper. Brant flatly asked Harper if there any soldiers in Schoharie. Harper, who was privy to the fact that there none, told Brant that there were three hundred troops stationed there. This lied convinced Brant to turn back. Beacraft, who was amongst the Tories with Brant, wanted to kill the prisoners, but Brant resisted. On the way to Canada, the party met with Tories that aided Brant. An old man, who was completely bald, became too weary to travel on, and was scalped. The patriots tried to escape one night, but were later confronted by Brant. Their lives were narrowly saved, by an Indian who came from Schoharie, who plead for them. In Niagra was Harper’s niece, who had been captured at Cherry Valley. Also in Niagra was Captain Butler, who was the director of Indian attacks. At Niagra, the patriots met a woman who had been sold to the British for eight dollars. Upon the war’s end, the patriots were returned to Boston.

There was a silver mine that was believed to be in Blenheim, and after the Revolution efforts were made to harvest this silver. Sadly, the mine was buried and lost. There were three churches in Blenheim, the Methodist Church of North Blenheim, the Methodist Episcopal Church of Eminence, and the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of North Blenheim. Also mentioned is the Blenheim Bridge, which is summarized in a quick paragraph. Apparently, it was no big deal back then.

The only actual incident of the Anti-Rent problems occurred in Blenheim, where two officers were captured, but they were not tarred-and-feathered after a vote. The tavern of William Fink still stood from revolutionary times. Amongst the supervisors of Blenheim were Chauncey Vroman, Hezekiah Dickerman, who helped build the Blenheim Bridge, and John Hager.