Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys

History of The OLD FORT HERKIMER CHURCH
German Flatts Reformed Church, 1723
By W. N. P. Dailey, D. D.
Published by the
St. Johnsville Enterprise and News
Lou D. MacWethy, editor
St. Johnsville, NY (Price 35 cents)

Thanks to Betty Hoagey for sending this for the web site!

Organized in 1723. Land given 1730 and 1773. Present edifice begun about 1730. A story of the Palatine people and their early struggles. Many names of first settlers. By Rev. W. N. P. Dailey, DD. Author of History of the Montgomery Classis, R.C.A.

Religious Worship in the Wilderness

The other picture is afforded us in the second volume of the Buffalo Historical Society Collections, in which among other letter of Francis Adrian VanderKemp about a trip he made from the Hudson to Lake Ontario, in 1792, he describes a Sunday spent with Col. Hendrick Staring, then first Judge of Herkimer County, who lived in the town of Schuyler, near Staring's Creek. When he came to Judge Staring's house he found he had gone to the church service which was being held in the colonel's barn. He continues, "I went thither; and assembled congregation was very numerous; our Lord's Supper was celebrated with decency, and, as it appeared to me, by many with fervent devotion. Four children were baptized by the Rev. Rosenkrantz of the German Flatts, who made this pastoral visit, to direct the religious solemnities. After the service the flock crowded promiscuously in the Colonel's house, and used sparingly some refreshments. The presence of the Rev. Pastor, the solemnity of the sacred festival, the presence of the Fathers of the baptized children, some of them related to the Colonel, procured me a good dinner. A very good Soup, Salad, roasted Chickens, beef and port, with bread and butter were soon destroyed by 15 or 16 hungry guests. The Rev. Rosenkrantz was born in the Dutchy of the Paltz-Tweebruggen, from a respectable family of Swedish origin. Endowed with a learned education he was not a stranger in elegant literature, a serious preacher who knew the art to enliven Society with a well regulated hilarity. At nine miles distant at old Fort Schuyler I crossed the Mohawk River for the last time." On his return trip Mr. VanderKemp made a call on the domine.

The parish of Dominie Rosenkrantz was wherever there were German settlers in the Mohawk Valley, from Schoharie to Fort Stanwix. A graduate of a German University, he was regarded as the most learned divine west of Schenectady. He was thought to have had Tory feelings towards the colonists but there was no overt action showing this while his connection with the Herkimer family undoubtedly held him above suspicion by the provincial authorities. He had four sons and some daughters. The sons were Henricus J., Georgius, Johan Jost Herkimer and Nicholas. A son of Nicholas, Henry Rosencrantz had a son Nicholas Rosencrantz, whose daughter Josephine Rosencrants, lives at Ogdensburg, NY. During the last year of two of Rev. Rosencrantz's pastorate he was aided in the church work by Rev. Peter Fish of Rome, NY. He died on Dec. 29, 1796, in the present town of Little Falls, on Fall Hill, and at his request was buried under the pulpit of the old stone church at Fort Herkimer where it is said his brother also was buried.

Shortly after the decease of Rev. Rosencrantz the consistories of the two churches were seeking another minister. Rev. Dr. Dirck Romeyn, pastor of the old Dutch church at Schenectady had some correspondence (printed in the Cox history) with the churches regarding Rev. John Jacob Wack of New Jersey. When they could not obtain Mr. Wack they turned to Rev. Dietrich C. Andreas Pick, his full name, as found in the old Fort Plain (Canajoharie) records was, "Dietrich Christoph Carl Andreas Pick," but he rarely used the "Carl August." Rev. Pick came to America in the early part of 1788 and on May 18th of that year accepted a call from the Stone Arabia and Canajoharie ("Sand Hill") churches. At first he lived in the "Sand Hill" manse. On March 10, 1789 he was married to Elisabeth, daughter of Capt. Adam Leib of the Canajoharie district, by Rev. John Henry Dysslin of the St. Johnsville Church. Nearly two years elapsed before he was installed at Stone Arabia, Jan. 31, 1790, the sermon being preached by Rev. Dr. Dirk Romeyn who also that day preached the dedicatory sermon of the new church just erected. Rev. Pick finished his pastorate at Stone Arabia May 6, 1798. His work at the "Sand Hill" church seemed to have ended about the close of 1796, his entries in the records ceasing with that year. Rev. Mr. Pick had been in touch with the Fort Herkimer consistory since the death of Domine Rosencrantz, installing their consistory and aiding them to secure a minister. When they failed to find one they turned to Rev. Pick himself and offered him a call which was accepted by him May 14, 1798. German Flatts called Rev. Pick on a stated salary but arranged with both Coenradstown (Columbia) and Herkimer for a part of his time, but what ever monies were raised toward his salary were to be paid to the consistory of the Fort Herkimer Church.