Samuel and Francis Cook Mount
Cranbury, New Jersey to Salisbury, New York

"Samuel Mount, son of Richard and Rebecca ______ Mount was born in 1724 and
died Aug 7, 1801 at the age of 77 years. He married, by license dated Jun 20,
1755 to Frances, a sister of Nathaniel and daughter of Abiel Cook, born Sept
16, 1731, and died Sept 16, 1806. They lived first at Upper Freehold, New
Jersey, but moved about 1772 to the Mohawk Valley of New York where he
received a land grant on the Jerseyfield patent. This was a block of land
which was established in 1772 for settlement and upon which many from New
Jersey came to live. From "Frontiersmen of New York", page 554 (published in
1882), it is stated that this patent was granted Apr 12, 1770. Samuel's land
was just north of Salisbury, New York. This work describes the account of the
people of that area and in particular that of Samuel Mount's family in the
early days of the American Revolution."

Salisbury, New York, is approximately 200 miles due north of Cranbury, New Jersey and is about 20 miles north of Root (center), New York, where a number of the Dey's and Perrines migrated in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

"In this account, the scalping of the two young sons of Samuel by the Indians
for the reward paid by the British is told. It states that as the hostilities
began, during the Revolution, the settlers, left the "valley" one by one,
leaving Samuel Mount and his family alone. Since the Mounts had always
treated the Indians kindly, they had no fear of them. However, with the
equivalent of 8 dollars a head for American scalps, the Indians began to raid
isolated families still left in the area. On one occasion, Samuel took his
family to the nearby town of Salisbury, apparently to the mill, and left three
of his sons at home alone with a young black boy. Of these sons, Richard
Aaron and Timothy were left in the barn to thrash peas, while Samuel Jr. was
in a far field with his chores. Two Indians approached the barn and asked for
milk to drink. According to the young black boy, Richard and Timothy told
them, truthfully, that they had none. Using this as an excuse, the two
Indians took out their tomahawks and scalped the two young sons of Samuel.
The black youth was spared as the British only paid for white scalps"

"The details of the Indian incident was written into a novel "Drums Along the
Mohawk, by Alexander Edmondson, and in the 1940 period was made into a movie."

"After the death of the two young sons, Samuel moved his family to Trenton,
New Jersey."

May 30, 1801: Samuel Mount made his will which was proven Sept 7, 1801 at
Trenton, New Jersey. (Will Book 39, page 484.)

Issue:

Joseph Mount, born 1757
Samuel Mount, born Apr 20, 1759
Richard Aaron Mount; mentioned in the will of his grandfather Richard Mount;
killed by Indians in the Mohawk Valley of New York in 1775.
Timothy Mount; killed by Indians Indians in the Mohawk Valley of New York 1775.
Rebecca Mount; married (1) William Potts, who was killed by Indians in the
Mohawk Valley of New York and had 6 children (2)Vincent Wainwright and had 3 children.
Margaret (Peggy) Mount
Michael Mount, born June 23, 1768


Additional information provides the setting for this story.

from the Gazetteer and Business Directory
of Herkimer County, N.Y. 1869-70

EXCERPTS:

OHIO, named from the State of Ohio, was formed from Norway, as West Brunswick, April 11th, 1823. Its name was changed May 3d, 1836, and a part of Wilmurt was taken off the same year. It lies in the interior of the County, on the north border of the settlements. The surface is moderately hilly, with an elevation of from 700 to 900 feet above Mohawk River. A range of high steep hill extends through the north part. It is drained by West Canada and Black Creeks and their tributaries. The soil is a sandy loam with some clay, well adapted to grazing. Ohio City, (Ohio p.o.) is a hamlet containing a Methodist church.

Dutch Settlement contains two churches.

There are ten saw mills in this town.

This town was settled previous to the close of the Revolutionary war, by ___ Mount, on lot 50 of the Jerseyfield Patent. During the war he was attacked by Indians and his two sons killed. He and his wife and daughter escaped and never returned to his farm. His buildings, including a mill on Mill Creek, were subsequently burned. The time of this occurrence is not known. Mr. David Thorp moved to the Mount farm soon after the war and lived there many years. John Miller, ___ Warner, Aaron Thorp, Harmanns Van Epps, and others were early settlers.




Excerpt from "History of Herkimer County" Albany, NY: J. Munsell, 1856. Page 453.

OHIO: Has been recently incorporated or erected. The territory of which this town now comprises a part, was set off from Norway in 1823, and erected into a new town by the name of West Brunswick, since changed to Ohio, in 1836. In 1823, Norway extended to the north bounds of the county, and so did the town of Russia.

Ohio is now bounded on the south by the north bounds of the Royal grant, east by the west bounds of Salisbury, north by the north bounds of Jerseyfield patent, and the same course continued to the east line of Russia, and west by the east bounds of Russia. This town covers a part of Jerseyfield patent, and contains a small triangular part of Remsenburgh patent, lying northwesterly of the West Canada creek, the north bounds of Ohio, and the west bounds of Russia.

Although this town is too recent in its origin to afford any historical events under its present name, worthy of special notice, yet when its present territory formed a part of the Kingsland district during the revolution, it was the theater of one of those cold-blooded and inhuman murders and burnings so often reiterated between 1776 and 1783, as to sicken humanity by the recital of them. Complainings now avail nothing; these astounding crimes were long since perpetrated, and would before this time have been nearly forgotten, but for historical repetition, and the uncertain agency of oral tradition in the localities where the events happened. Does it console us that retributive justice has long since adjudged the case, passed its sentence, and for many years now is executing its dread decree? If it does, let us fold our arms complacently, and await the final execution of the exterminating judgment; but never forget, no, never, the probable cause nor the occasion of these providential visitations, that may shape our course so as to avoid a similar punishment.

The sufferer's name, Mount, is not found among the ninety-four persons to whom Jerseyfield patent was granted. He planted himself on a handsome plain a few miles north of the south line of the patent, and a little northerly of the usual route taken by the enemy in traversing the wilderness between the Black river and lower Mohawk valley. He probably went there under the patronage of some of the proprietors, and might reasonably expect to end his days in the seclusion that miles of forest afforded him, with nothing "to molest or make him afraid," save the wild beasts of the wilderness. After leaving Black creek on the confines of Norway, passing over a deep clayish soil, some rather stony ground, gently unudulating, and proceeding north a few miles, the traveler will reach the plain where Mr. Mount had seated himself, and if it be in the spring season or at midsummer, he will stop and gaze with admiration at the beautiful prospect before and around him. This is the spot chosen by Mount for his home. Ohio must then be placed in the list of towns in the county settled by whites before the revolution.

The West Canada creek crosses the northwest corner of this town. A rehearsal of the murder of the two sons of Mr. Mount in Jerseyfield, would be but little more than the naked statement of the fact that the father and mother having gone to the Little Falls with grain to be ground, returned home and found their sons dead in the barn, their scalps taken, and the little negro boy alive and anxiously awaiting his master's return. Mr. Mount came from New Jersey. He must have been in Jerseyfield some years when his sons were killed, for he had made considerable improvements, built a house and barn, planted a apple orchard ,and gathered around him farm stock and utensils. His secluded position rendered it quite certain, being about twenty miles from the German settlements on the river, that neither he nor his sons participated in the conflict going on between the crown and the colonies, by any aggressive acts against the former, and if he had at any time previously been visited by any of the strolling actors in the bloody drama then being performed, he did not indulge in offensive language, as he seems not to have been molested.

Mr. Mount's buildings were not at this time destroyed, but they were afterwards burned by some one. A mill on Mill creek, a few miles north of Graysville, was burned when the young Mounts were killed. No one can now fix a time when this affair happened, but some of the men with Col. Willett, stated they dug potatoes at Mount's place when they returned from pursuing Ross in 1782. Mr. Mount, it is said made all haste to reach a place of safety, and never again returned to Jerseyfield.

Another version has been given me of this Indian murder, by a gentleman who was employed as a surveyor on the tract in 1808, and had gathered his information from persons then living near the Mount farm. From this relation the family consisted of Mr. Mount, his wife, daughter, two sons and a negro boy. Two Indians had been lurking about the place several days, but had not made any hostile demonstrations, as the young men had taken their loaded rifles with them when they left the house, but on the day they were killed and scalped in the barn, they had neglected this precaution. When the report of firearms was heard in the house, the rest of the family fled to the woods and made their way to Little Falls as fast as they could. Mr. Mount did not see his wife and daughter, after leaving his house, until they met at Little Falls. The Indians, my informant says, burned Mount's buildings when they found the family had left the place. According to this statement the family must have been prodigiously frightened. It is not improbable, nay, it is quite certain, that there were other white families settled in the town near the place called Ohio City, before the revolution.

Mr. David Thorp moved on to the Mount farm soon after the war and lived there many years. His son, David Thorp, was a member of the assembly from the county in 1832.