Following the Revolutionary War Hans Georg's son, Wandel moved northwest about 35 miles to the Mohawk Valley in
Montgomery County, New York. His niece and some nephews also moved there about the same time. They were the daughter and sons of his brother, Jurry. The Overacker's who moved to that area were;
Wandel, wife, Anna Barbara Diver, and four children
George and wife, Johannetya Merill
William and wife, Maria ?
Anna Barbara and husband Cornelius Cronkhite
They lived near the south bank of the Mohawk River in an area known as the
Canajoharie District. (This name was derived from the Indian word, Gana-jo-hi-e, meaning a kettle shaped hole in the rocks) The Mohawk and Canajoharie tribes had lived there prior to white settlement. At the Indian burying ground in Canajoharie Village, Indian skeletons have been found in sitting positions with hatchets, arrowheads, beads etc.
The area is hilly with steep slopes leading down to the streams. Most of the first white settlers in this valley were Dutch and German Palatines who had arrived around the 1720's. Those early settlers had suffered devastating losses before and during the French and Indian wars. Many historians believe the British would not have been able to hold back the French and Canadian Indians if it had not been for the courageous efforts of the Palatines and the Iroquois Indians in the Mohawk Valley. Many people were killed or captured, and their property destroyed.
After these wars ended about 1763, the people had little more than a decade to rebuild their homes, barns, and mills, and make their farms productive again before the start of the Revolutionary War. The wheat and other food products grown by the Palatines in the Hudson, Schoharie, and Mohawk Valley's was desparately needed by the families of those areas throughout the war.
The settlers suffered devastating losses time and time again. One of the worst losses suffered in the Mohawk Valley was in the fall of 1780 after the crops had been harvested. The British Colonel who led the attack reported to his commander that they had destroyed 13 grist mills, many sawmills, 1,000 homes and barns containing about 600,000 bushels of grain. Many people went hungry during that winter. When the Overacker families arrived around 1785, the rebuilding process was probably still underway.
Overacker births or baptisms are found in the records of five different Mohawk Valley churches;
*German Flats Reformed Church,
*St. John's Dutch Reformed Church in St. Johnsville
*Saint Paul's Lutheran Church in Minden
*Stone Arabia Church
*Trinity Lutheran Stone Arabia Church
There's an interesting story about two of the churches they attended. The original Trinity Lutheran Church was a log building. It was built in 1729 by both Lutheran and Dutch Reformed people. They worshiped together in this church for four years. As the congregation grew, they started building a new church about 250 feet from the old church. A dispute arose over the naming of the church, and eventually the Lutherans went back to the log church. In 1780 it was burned to the ground in a raid lead by Sir John Johnson, an Irishman, who was the Superintendant of Indian Affairs for the British in the Northern colonies. For twelve years the people worshipped in homes or other churches. But in 1792 a new wooden church was built. Many years later Reverend Martin J. Stover was pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church. (1839-1844). He was a descendant of Maria Catherine Overacker and Jacob Stover Jr.
Overacker baptisms are also found in the records of the Stone Arabia church, which is located just 250 feet from Trinity Lutheran. This church was built of limestone in 1788. Services are still sometimes held in it as well. Both churches have been restored, and are still in use.
Wandel's 38 year old son, John, died in January of 1817. He left his wife, Phoebe Klock, and seven children. At the time of his death, the oldest was sixteen and the youngest, little Sally, just three months old.
In August of that same year Wandel wrote his last will and testament. He died before the end of the year. In his will he gave one farm to his son, Jacob, and another to his deceased son, John's children, his daughter, Elizabeth, was given his bed and bedding. His son, William, received all his clothing, clothing chest, and three books printed in German. His sons, William and Daniel each received $250.
Wandel's nephew, George, and his wife Johannetya Merill had eight children. Little is known about most of them, but an obituary written in 1874 tells us a good deal about his daughter, Susanna. She was born in 1797, and was orphaned at an early age. She married Henry Seeber, who was a blacksmith and a farmer. They moved to Brownville, NY around 1825. He was very well-respected in the community. They had 14 children, 37 grandchildren and 18 greatgrandchildren. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Here is a summary of some of the glowing tributes to Susanna from her obituary; "Sister Seeber was a person of great amiability, mild, sedate, and yet cheerful, making all to feel there is much more sunshine in the world than darkness. As a companion, Mother and Christian, she was a worthy example."
FOOTNOTES:
Last May I visited this part of the Mohawk Valley, and was pleased to discover many historical sites being preserved through the efforts of the Palatine Society, which was organized to preserve the memory of the Palatine German immigrants who came to America in the early 1700's. I met Helen Nellis who lives in the parsonage between the two churches. She took my husband and me on a tour of them, as well as, the Old Palatine Church, built in 1770, which is known as The Shrine of Lutheranism in the Mohawk Valley. It has also been restored to its original colonial style, and is in use today.
Some of the other buildings being preserved are Fort Johnson (built 1749), Fort Klock (built 1750), the Nellis Tavern (built 1747), and the Van Alstyne Homestead (built 1745).
Construction of the Erie Canal started in 1817, the year Wandel and his son died. This canal stretches 363 miles on the Mohawk River from the Hudson River in Albany to Lake Erie. There is a lock in Canajoharie.
Canajoharie is also known as the town where paper bags were invented in 1862. They were developed during the Civil War because of a shortage of cotton sacking.
The Adirondacks
Around 1799 my fourth great grandfather, Michael J., and his brother, Adam, made another daring move. They took their wives and about ten children, and moved thirty-five miles northwest into the Adirondack Mountains. Some relatives and friends who went with them were the Vanderhoof's, Francisco's, Garrisons, Gages, Craig's and Lacy's.
Thanks to Ann Palmer, another Overacker descendant , who lives in Southern California, we have good information about Michael J. and Catherine Vanderhoof Overacker's children. About two years ago, Ann discovered handwritten family records in a Bible in her attic. They were written by Michael J. and Catherine's son, Adam. He listed the birth dates of all their children in the following order Sary, Anna B., Eve, Henry, Louisa, Michael, Adam, and Sarah, all born between 1784 and 1807.
They settled in what had been the mountain hunting ground of the Iroquois Indians. Since the Iroquois often survived by eating tree bark during the long cold winters, their old enemies, the Mohawks, mocked them by calling them, the Ad-i-ron-daks, or tree eaters. The Indians sold over a million acres of land to developers for about four cents per acre. Later this whole mountainous region become known as the Adirondacks.
This land was heavily forested, and contained numerous lakes. The Gazetteer written by Horatio Spafford describes the area where they lived as, "....a wild waste of mountain and swamplands abounding with small lakes...." French's Gazetteer says "The highest peaks are 2,000 to 2,500 feet high, and are covered by masses of naked rock. It is intersected by mountain ranges separated by deep, narrow valleys. " Three branches of the Sacandaga River come together in the southern part of the area where the Overacker's and friends settled.
In 1800 Michael J. purchased 312 acres of land in Jessup's patent. He paid $883.80 ($2.83 per acre) to Joshua and Sarah Wells for the land. Joshua was the agent for the developers, and one of the few white settlers who lived there prior to that time. The deed was witnessed by William Wells, Moses Craig, from Pittstown, and Michael's brother, Adam Overacker. Adam also purchased land in Jessup's Patent.
The settlements where Michael J. and Adam lived were known as Mayfield and Northhampton. As the settlements grew, the need for roads and organization increased. People had to travel from one town to the other along a primitive road through the woods along the Sacandaga River. So in 1805 a meeting was to be held at the home of Moses Craig. But deep snows of the previous winter had left trails and roads wet and muddy. In spite of this, many men traveled as far as fourteen miles to attend.
A vote was taken at the meeting, and the town of Wells was formed from Mayfield and Northhampton. It was named for the first settler, Joshua Wells. Michael J. must have been at that meeting, because he was elected Assessor and Fence Viewer. Constables, Highway Commissioners, and Pound Masters were also elected. As Fence Viewers, Michael J. and Joel Sweat were responsible for establishing the legal dimensions of fences, and making sure they were constructed. The Highway Commissioners soon started road building. In 1805 they reported the need for an extra $75, of which $40 was to be used on a road from Michael Overacker's to Lake Pleasant, and $35 on the road from Overacker's to Zebulon Alger's.
On September 7, 1807, at the age of 39, Catherine Vanderhoof Overacker died. She left five children aged three months to seventeen years, plus three married daughters. Her eldest daughter had her first child just three months after Catherine died. Michael J. soon married Lorana Craig, who was the widow of his friend, Moses Craig, another early settler of Wells.
In those early years there were few businesses. They didn't have a store, but there were two small sawmills, a gristmill (for grinding grain),, an ashery (for making of soap), and a small inn. A blacksmith came along sometime before 1809. Apparently they didn't have a church at that time either, because the following note was found in the journal of Reverend Elisha Yale, a Presbyterian minister regarding a visit to Wells "On Wednesday, June 20, 1810, preached at the home of John Vanderhoof. " The town of Wells wasn't added to the Montgomery circuit of the Methodist Church until about 1820.
Early Wells was primarily an agricultural community. A town pound (enclosure to confine stray animals) was authorized in 1811. Michael J. and two other men were chosen overseers to build a thirty foot square enclosure. Michael J. was named Poundmaster. Each farmer was assigned a mark to use for his cattle and sheep. The mark Michael J. used was a half penny out of the under side of both ears.
Some of the laws made to protect and benefit the farmers were that swine couldn't, "Run on the commons unless they are yoke and ring. Rams is not to run at large from the first of September until the fifteenth day of November." A law was enacted regarding the Canada Thistle which was a big problem for farmers. " If a man knowingly shall suffer one to go to seed on his farm or possession, shall forfeit and pay to the Supervisor the sum of $5.
In 1812 a new war broke out between the United States and Great Britain. The state of New York started building a road to transport men and materials to the Northern New York frontier. This road was to go directly through Wells.
Several Overacker men served in that war. What is known about their experiences was found in the pension application file of Washington Craig of Wells. (Washington was Michael J.'s stepson) The application was made sixty years after the war. One of the letters in that pension file was written by Richard Peck. Here are some excerpts from his letter "My dear sir...In reply to yours of the 26 October will state that immediately after declaration of war against Great Britton, June 18th, 1812, the inhabitants of Wells and Lake Pleasant were terror stricken in fear of an attack from the Canadian Indians who were roaming in all their wildness through the wilds of Hamilton County, hunting, trapping, and fishing."
"The inhabitants considering themselves on the Northern frontier boundary of the St. Lawrence fled from their homes and scattered themselves over the Counties of Saratoga, Rensellaer, and Montgomery. All the inhabitants of Lake Pleasant except my father left , and a large majority of Wells. Under this ruinous condition of things, application was made by a remaining few to the patriotic Governor Tompkins of the state for an order to raise a company of volunteers from the above mentioned towns to be denominated the Wells and Lake Pleasant Guards in order to allay the fears of the inhabitants and protect them from the apprehended massacre of the savages, and to invite them to return to their desolate home."
"The petition was granted, my brother, William B. Peck was commissioned Captain, John L. Francesco Lieutenant, Cornelius Francesco 2nd Lieutenant - with orders [to] enlist a Company of Volunteers, which were armed and equipped with all the munitions of war. The Company was drilled, and disciplined in the art of war, and continued to be enrolled until the Treaty of Peace signed by the two nations at Ghent."
"The company was then disbanded and discharged, and the arms and unexpended ammunition returned to the Arsenal at Albany...........As to the service of that Company there is proof as strong as Holy writ."
"If you can dress up this Skelliton so as to obtain a slice of publick bounty you will confer a favor on the few living that witnessed the Heartrending scenes of that Campagne. Most Respectfully yours, Richard Peck."
The volunteers in that company included Henry Overacker, Michael Overacker, Washington Craig, several Vanderhoof men, and many more.
Some progress was made in the town in spite of the war. A few bridges were built. One across the river near Michael J. Overacker's home. In 1813 the first School Commissioners were named, and in 1814 an election was held, and Michael J. and four other men were elected as School Inspectors. By 1815 Wells received $14.08 from the county of Montgomery to be used for schools, and the townspeople voted to raise more money. In an 1824 Gazetteer Horatio Spafford wrote the following about the town of Wells "Population 331; 58 farmers, 5 mechanics, taxable property $86,807, 3 schools, 1259 acres of improved land, 276 cattle, 61 horses, 447 sheep, 2285 yards of cloth, 2 grist mills, 3 saw mills, and one ashery.
Both Michael J. and his son Michael spent the rest of their lives in Wells. Michael J. died in 1834. On the 1850 Wells census, his son, Michael, is in the lumbering business, and the value of his property is $1,000. By the 1870 census he is 70, a farmer, and his property is valued at $11,075. He died later that year.
FOOTNOTE
Francis Scott Key wrote a poem during the War of 1812 at the battle for Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland harbor. His poem later became the lyrics for The Star Spangled Banner, the American national anthem.
Last spring I went to the Adirondacks and stopped in Wells. It is beautiful country. The town of Wells is still very small. The population is currently 5,279. There is a summit named Overrocker Mount.
