June 19, 1932 on the occasion of the One Hundred Sixty-second Anniversary at Indian Castle Church.

Sir William Johnson's Indian Mission church stands just to the south of the roadway at Indian Castle about midway between Little Falls and Fort Plain on the improved south shore highway. It is one of the interesting relics of the valley. Built in 1769 on order of Sir William Johnson the first services were conducted June 17 by Rev. Harry Munro of St. Peter's Episcopal Church of Albany. The services were held for "whites and Indians" and was instituted at a season "when all have returned from hunting" was arranged by Sir William Johnson himself who had paid Daniel Muller out of his own pocket the sum of 459 pounds 1 shilling for building the church.

No invitations will be issued but all friends of the historic Mohawk valley are invited to attend and take part in the services.

Indian Castle church stands at the cross roads in American History. It starts at the dividing line between the colonial and revolutionary period. It was erected in 1769 and first used June 17, 1770. Its inception and erection was in keeping with the Indians policy of Sir William Johnson, sole superintendent of Indian affairs in North America and the most powerful figure on the continent at that time. The little church still stands and is a perpetual memorial of the traditional friendship of the Dutch and later the British and the Mohawk Indians. At the time the church was erected this friendship had existed well over 100 years and the process of "brightening the chair of friendship" and the Indians expressed it was an impressive ceremony. As a link in this chain in the Indian Castle church was erected in the then heart of the Mohawk country, then know as Canajoharie or the upper castle. Here dwelt Joseph Brant and other chieftains. It had been the home of the noble King Hendrick who had been killed at Lake George in 1755 and it was here that the missionaries of the Protestant faith made their stand for England and Protestant faith against the encroaching black robes of the order of the Jesuits who carried the cross and lilies of France into the very heart of the Iroquois country and whose influence was equaled only by the powerful Sir William Johnson who taxed his resources to counteract the invasion and preserve the natives to the British government.

The little mission stands today in the midst of a peaceful and pastoral scene. Fitted into the green of the sloping shoulders of the south bank of the Mohawk it seems to belong both to the past and the present. Going inside the quaint leaded windows, the velvety feel of old wood and the lofty balcony all tell the story of dead years. It is a marker beside the pathway of history and one of the few survivals of a bloody revolution which swept nearly every landmark from the surface of the valley.

Policy of Sir William Johnson

For several years before the church was erected the correspondence of Sir William Johnson shows that he had the step in mind. His correspondence with the Rev. Ezra Wheelock of the Lebanonn school shows he had in mind the education of the Indian to be afterwards used as missionaries. Reports on the progress of his own son William were encouraging. His correspondence with various ministers and his gift of prayer books translated into the Mohawk language all show his interest in the spiritual side of the red man. That he alone built the church is shown by his letter to the Rev. Charles Inglis written from Johnson Hall November 1770, he says in part, "I have built a handsome church there (at Canoharee so called at that time, now Indian Castle) at my own expense, tho I had been promised the assistance of others but the times did not admit of it, and as that village is equal in zeal and attachment to the Mohocks and is 30 miles further up the country, M. Halls establishment and success there will contribute greatly to enlarge the design of the plan." The purpose of the letter was to discuss the establishment of Mr. Hall as a missionary pending his final orders. All through the immediate and succeeding years the correspondence shows a desire to attach a permanent missionary at the Indian Castle mission but lack of financial support and the inability to find men fitted to cope with the language and customs of the natives seems to have defeated the ends sought.

Wages of the Period

The church was completed apparently in May, 1770 and the account shows the builder charged for 276 days work which makes it well into the year 1769 when it was begun.

It is noteworthy that while the boss carpenter received seven shillings per day for service the cook, Sovia Parr must be content with a modest one shilling per day. A perusal of the names reveals many individuals who were to take part in the battle of Oriskany only seven years hence, some never to return. The blacksmith work was done by Adam Thumb (called Thurn in the account) who had his shop at Palatine church while lumber came from George Klock now the Hillabrandt farm near East Creek and from Ebenezer Cox whose monument is just across the river from St. Johnsville and who was to be one of the first to die at Oriskany. Johannes Nellis for provisions whose store was at Fort Nellis now obliterated but which stood a quarter of a mile east of St. Johnsville. Names to conjure with these. There are Dygert, Herkimer, Zimmerman, Fox, Dillenbeck, Syfert (Seeber), Walrath and many others who were in a few brief years to lay aside the hammer and take up the rifle and march to Oriskany there to lay forever in the bloody ground the high aims and ambitions of Sir William Johnson who was doomed to pass away only four years later on the eve of a great conflict which toppled his power and wealth into the discard and swept his descendants from the country.

Relic of the Colonial Period

As one looks at this simple little church it is hard to believe that here is a remaining pawn on the great political chess board in which Louis XV of France and George III of England matched wits for an empire the extent of which neither had the slightest conception. And but for the sagacity of an Irishman the game would have gone to France. And the key to the situation was the Six Nations. Had they gone over to the Jesuits and the Lillies of France there would have been no Revolution and we would all have become subjects of France. The church has been well cared for thanks to the zeal of the local residents. It should continue to receive good care for it is one of the many shrines to be found in the valley. Perhaps the best sketch of this interesting church is that found in Simms' Frontiersmen which is here given. Vol. I, page 275.

Simms' History

In 1769 Sir William Johnson erected of wood, a small church at his own expense of nearly $1,150 at the Canajoharie or Upper Castle, 50 by 32 feet, mainly for the benefit of the Indians. This edifice is still standing, but its interior, as also its steeple have been modernized. The Indians were always fond of bells, and at their earnest solicitation this church was furnished with one. It also had a gilded ball on the steeple above its weathercock. On its completion the Rev. Harry Munro of Albany, preached its dedicatory sermon in June, 1770. Its desk was occasionally supplied by the Episcopal clergymen of Queen Anne's chapel or some other; but for the want of a clergyman of its own, it could have accomplished but little, when, a few years later, the Indians in a body removed to Canada. Spafford in his Gazeteer of 1824 in speaking of this church bell, says: "The Indians were so fond of it that on retreating to Canada, they tried every effort of art to carry it away with them." He added, "The church is repaired and still has the old bell, and object of no little curiosity or interest. It ought to be returned to the Indians as an act of Christian charity, and recommended its being sent to them as an example of Christian tenderness, etc., and though it would prove a better missionary to send among them than troops of young theologians;" and he was probably more than half right. The tradition about the bell is as follows: The Indians got the bell down from the church in the night--its weight was less than 100 pounds--and fortunately concealed it until such time as it could be spirited away. Thinking that time had arrived, they started one night with it on a pole; but having failed to muffle or fasten its clapper, they had not proceeded far when it ding dong betrayed its whereabouts and several armed neighbors rallied in pursuit for its coveted ownership and the natives abandoned it and fled. Another tradition says they were in the act of placing it in a canoe to transport it by water, when its clapper betrayed the position and being pursued, the Indians threw it overboard and abandoned it and that before they could fish it out and start with it again, the white citizens in the neighborhood recovered and restored it to its former place in the church tower. As the church and bell were provided for the Indians, I think they should have had the bell. This "Castle Church" has for many years occupied by Calvanistic or Reformed congregations. I stated in 1845 on what seemed good authority that the Indians succeeded in obtaining the bell, but it appears they did not.