Experience is generally conceded to be a good teacher but a hard one. To profit by the experience of others is therefore a wise course. History is the story of experience. Herein lies its greatest value. If we know the past we can better conceive the struggle humanity has endured to elevate itself and we will be more appreciative of the present, more tolerant of its problems, more hopeful of the future, and above all, more jealous to preserve our heritage of government of the people, by the people and for the people. Good government involves wisdom. Good rulers have invariably been remembered as wise. It therefore becomes evident that if the people are to rule themselves they need to acquire the wisdom that history reveals. If it makes them realize that "man's inhumanity to man", fostered by his selfishness, is responsible for most of the heart-aches and suffering the race endures, it will have performed its greatest possible mission.

Children invariably love to hear stories of the lives of their elders. Adults are but grown children. History, well told, becomes a very interesting subject. When one can link his own family with important events of the past, the interest is greatly enhanced. Descendants of Mohawk Valley pioneer families, now scattered all over this country, are rich in this kind of historic lore. We all like tales of adventure. The discovery and development of America has been full of adventure so magnificent that to tell its story requires many volumes. In this historic work we are attempting to give source information, based on reliable authority, official records and documentary evidences, with quotations from the historical works of the men and women who have covered the periods embodied therein. The far flung and well merited fame of the placid beauty of the Mohawk Valley is a fitting background for its history. Nature so formed her that her natural advantages and strategic location rival her beauty. The rulers among the savages who first inhabited this country found and appropriated these advantages to their own use. The white men who followed found Indian sagacity an exceedingly helpful guide in exploring and developing the country. The seat of the Iroquois Confederacy is still the white man's Empire State, and the Mohawk Valley is still the gateway to the continent; no equal rival exists.

In the very heart of the valley nestles St. Johnsville, a modest village of 3000 inhabitants. Within half a mile of its Eastern limits Colonel Jacob Klock dwelt continuously during his life time. He was of Dutch descent and his entire life, of nearly one hundred years, encompassing our French and Indian War and War of the Revolution was, of necessity, so much involved in the romance, conflicts, adventures, and heartaches of that ''first one hundred. years" of our national development that we are led to wonder if he ever knew a day of peace. Around his life centers a story so absorbing as to give even a casual reader a thirst for more. His home was the Fort Klock of the Revolution, and here was fought the battle of Klock's Field, the only place today in the Mohawk Valley where the main highway crosses an actual battlefield.

The school awards of this writer for scholarship in Greek, Roman, English, United States, and even New York State history, represented only a recollection of memorizing dates of disconnected events that meant little or nothing but irksome hours and aching head. He could recite the battle of Thermopylae, but knew practically nothing about Oriskany. Years later, an aroused curiosity to learn more about the lives of his pioneer ancestors led him into a most fascinating research. Repeating the story revealed such a widespread interest on the part of others less able to obtain the material discovered that it has led to this attempt to outline a guide for such readers. This story has never been put in a sufficiently concrete form to be of real service, and is, therefore, practically unknown to most of the present generation. To rescue it from oblivion, and to bring to light the truth and preserve it in readily accessible form for all future time, is the object sought.