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1755 Daniel Olendorf
Born: July 1, 1755 at Baden-Baden, Germany
Died: May 14, 1830 at Cooperstown, Otsego County, NY USA
Burial: Unknown
His father was Unknown.
His mother was Unknown.
Event: Revolutionary War Military
Daniel was a native of Germany; was in the Revolutionary war;
was taken prisoner with his wife by the Indians at Cherry Valley,
in 1780 and they were prisoners some two years, held in Canada.
Source: Vol 68, p 33 NSDAR Record # 67095
Source: Vol 25, p 39 NSDAR Record # 24104
Daniel was married about 1778 or 1779 to 1760 Catherine Hilton;
they had these children together:
1. Daniel Olendorf Jr. b: 1780 (born in captivity in Canada); died 1847; innkeeper at Cooperstown, NY
2. Henry Olendorf b: About 1782 (maybe as late as 1786); died 1869
3. Betsey Olendorf b: 3 SEP 1783
* 4. Catherine Olendorf b: About 1788 in New York State *
5. Mary Olendorf b: 1789 in New York State
6. Peter Olendorf b: About 1793 in New York State; died 1856 (innkeeper in Fort Plain, NY)
7. Jacob Olendorf b: 3 OCT 1794 in New York State; died 1873
8. Garret Olendorf b: 1797 in New York State; died 1837
9. Arnold Olendorf b: About 1800 in New York State; died 1835
(*) NOTE: The entry for Catherine Olendorf in this list may be
in error; Henry Olendorf was reportedly married to a Catherine
Swink, born about 1788; I think this may be the same person.
As far as I can tell, the Lineage from him to us goes like this:
Daniel Olendorf + Catherine Hilton
Henry Olendorf + Catherine Swink
John Jackson Olendorf + Clarissa Abiah Newton
John and Clarissa's Daughter, Lydia Abiah Olendorf
married Schuyler V. Sherman.
On another subject, I took the family kayaking on the Delaware river
yesterday. We put our kayaks in the water at Hancock NY. I was
thinking about Manville, Bessie, John, Paul, and Ruth, and their
stories while I was there.
Dan (my cousin Daniel Burke)
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Jim,
Here is some census information that gives my thinking about the lineage
from Daniel Olendorf to us some credit. The information below shows
John J. Olendorf and Henry Olendorf lived in the same house, and that
Henry was the father.
1840 US Census: NY, Chenango Co., Bainbridge Village, page 209:
D. Olendorph: 1 male 20-30 [HofH];
2 females 20-30 , ;
1 male under 5: ;
1 male 5-10:;
2 males 15-20:, ;
1 male 50-60
1850 US Census: NY, Chenango Co, Town of Bainbridge, page 458b:
Daniel A Olendorf, 36 [NY, farmer];
Emeline, 31,
Oscar, 11;
Albert, 9;
Jane A, 6;
Juliet, 4;
Robert M, 1;
James Olendorf, 19 [farmer] (brother); (page 459):
Henry Olendorf, age 60 (father) all NY
1860 US Census: NY, Chenango Co., Afton, page 226:
Emeline Olendorf, 41 [seamstress];
Oscar, 21;
Albert M, 19;
Jane A, 16;
Juliette, 14;
Robert M, 11 all NY
1870 US Census: NY, Chenango Co., Afton, page 11;
Oscar Olendorf, 31 [NY, house carpenter];
Emeline, 54 [NY];
Robert, 21 [NY, house carpenter];
Jane, 26 [NY, teacher];
Juliet, 24 [NY, teacher]
1880 US Census: NY, Chenango Co., Afton, ED89, p4C;
Emelia Olendorf, 61 [mother-in-law, NY NY Can] [HofH: Andrew Boice]
(this is probably spelled "Boyce", not "Boice").
1900 US Census: NY, Broome Co., Vestal twp., ED49, p220A;
Emeline Olendorf, 81 [mother-in-law, Feb 1814, Wd,
5 children, 3 living, NY - - ] [HofH: William Mudge ]
A few years ago when you visited Greene, you and I visited the
cemeteries at West Bainbridge where John Jackson Olendorf is
buried, and at Afton where Henry is buried.
Dan (my cousin Daniel Burke)
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Jim,
The following is copied from the book "The Frontiersmen of New York" by
Jeptha Root Simms. The heading of the paragraph taken from the book says
"David Olendorf". I'm sure this is a misprint, as the rest of the story
after the heading references "Daniel Olendorf". This is the story about
the Indians I told you at the cemetery.
"The Frontiersmen of New York" by Jeptha R. Simms, Albany, NY 1883
- Captivity of David (s/b Daniel) Olendorf and his Wife.
Vol II, Page 362-364.
This couple who had then been married about a year were also among the
prisoners made August 2, 1780, near the Geisenberg. Olendorf was John
Rother's miller at this period, and when surprised they, himself and wife,
were engaged in a barn, he in pitching wheat from a wagon, and she in
mowing it away; a duty that often devolved on women during the war. When
he, before the muzzle of a gun, was ordered down from the wagon, she was
not insight, and on being asked if anyone else was in the barn, he replied
in the negative, thinking thus to save his wife from captivity. One of the
enemy suspicious he was not alone, said to him; "If anyone else is in the
barn, call them out, for we are going to burn it." True to their word, they
did burn it, and after it was set on fire she was called down from the
loft. They also burned their dwelling after plundering it of all they
desired.
The little settlement at the Geisenberg, usually pronounced Gaasaberg,
called after the war Hallsville (after Robert Hall, an early merchant
there), was ravaged and burned; and with other prisoners, the Olendorfs
were hurried off to Canada; suffering in common with their captive
neighbors on the way, from privations and excessive fatigue. Soon after
this long journey began, the Indians asked Olendorf if he could run pretty
well, and he replied in the affirmative. He was then required to take a
foot race with an athletic Indians, being assured that if he could beat his
competitor, he should be set at liberty. He easily won the race to be
rewarded by treachery, and found when too late why his pedestrian powers
had been tested; for instead of being liberated, he was securely bound
every night after the race, until the arrived at the end of his journey.
During the long and dreary march he once came near losing his life, by
incurring the displeasure of his red masters in a frolic, and a tomahawk
hurled at his head, sunk deep into a tree behind which he sprang for
shelter; when an old Indian interfered and saved his life.
On reaching Canada, Olendorf and his wife were separated, he being
imprisoned with many others. After some weeks imprisonment, not finding
an opportunity to escape, he agreed to enlist into the British service,
resolving to embrace the first opportunity to desert. He was of German
descent. While on his way with the enemy in force to the frontier
settlements of New York, under Sir John Johnson, two prisoners were brought
in by a party of the enemy. Being near them, Olendorf overheard one ask the
other in German, if he had any tobacco? he replied in the negative. The
former chanced to have a small bank of pigtail, and unwinding a coil or
two, he found opportunity unobserved to place it in the hand of its seeker.
The latter turning to his fellow prisoner with an expression of joy, said
of the donor: "Ar is an Dutchman!" (Probably this was Deutsche, German. ajb)
Olendorf shook his head significantly, saying in effect, caution, you
may be overheard.
When encamped in the evening, Olendorf, who was a sergeant in his new
position, found opportunity to speak with the prisoners. He inquired if
they dared to attempt their escape, and being answered in the affirmative,
and also that they could find their way back to the place of their capture,
he told them to be in readiness that very night, and he would fly with
them, for he was determined not to war against his friends. It became his
official duty that night to post sentinels, which favored the design; and
after stationing the most distant one, he took occasion while returning to
log several twigs, that he might pass the outer watchman unobserved.
Securing what provisions he could, he went to those prisoners about
midnight, and conducted them in silence without the camp; when, by
observing great caution, a part of the time crawling upon their hands and
feet, the trio found the broken boughs and passed all the sentinels in
safety. "Now," said the sergeant, "If you know the way to the settlements,
lead on, for we have not a moment to lose." One of the liberated captives
became pilot, and in a few days the trio reached Fort Plain in safety,
where they were joyously welcomed by their friends, whom they forewarned of
the invader's approach.
Mrs. Olendorf, then most delicately situated, feared longer to remain in an
Indian family, to whom she had been taken, and, watching her opportunity,
when the family were all drunk; to which condition so far as possible, she
had contributed by freely passing them liquor, she fled for refuge to the
residence of an English officer for protection. The family were at first
afraid to conceal her, fearing the revenge of the savages, who they rightly
inferred would seek for her there; but her condition excited their pity,
and when the Indians approached, she was concealed in a closet, and they
left without finding her; and soon after they were paid a ransom for her.
On the birth of her little son, two English gentlemen acted as sponsors;
from whom she had a certificate of his birth, etc. She was finally taken to
Halifax, exchanged with other prisoners, and reached Fort Plain some 13 or
14 months after her captivity; presenting her husband, on her return, with
a little namesake about nine months old. This Daniel Olendorf, Sr., was one
of a scout that shot Walter Butler subsequent to his return from captivity,
in the manner elsewhere described. Daniel Olendorf, named as having been
born among the Indians, long known as an innkeeper at Cooperstown, died at
his residence in Hartwick, NY in March, 1847. He also had a brother, Peter,
once an innkeeper at Fort Plain. It was the writers fortune to be well
acquainted with the *Olendorf brothers,* from whom these facts were
obtained.
Hope this helps
Dan (my cousin Daniel Burke)
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Jim here is the account of the death of Walter Butler from the book The
"Frontiersmen of New York" by Jeptha Root Simms.
*The Death of Walter Butler*.-
After the enemy had passed West Canada creek, Walter Butler lingered behind,
unconscious of being within reach of American rifles, and having dismounted,
he was in the act of drinking water from a tin cup, as he was discovered by
Daniel Olendorf, and Anthony, a Mohawk sachem, both well known in the valley.
The two, who were a scout in advance of Willet's army, readily recognized
the tory chieftain, and both fired upon him. He fell, and the Indian,
casting off his blanket and upon it his rifle, dashed through the stream,
tomahawk in hand, to him. He was lying with one elbow upon the ground, the
hand supporting his aching head, and as his foe approached, he raised the
other hand imploringly and cried, " Spare me - give me quarters ! "
Remembering the onslaught at Cherry Valley, and the part the suppliant
had there acted amid the unheeded prayers of weeping mothers and orphan
children, the Indian replied, " Me give you Sherry Falley quarters ! "-
burying, with the words, his keen-edged tomahawk in his brain.
At the moment he fell, Col. Willett and several of his officers arrived
upon the bank of the creek. Informed by Olendorf of Butler's proximity,
he instantly forded the stream, attended by Col. And. Gray of Stone Arabia,
and John Brower of the Mohawk valley, on foot: the two latter walking
together to stem the current. They reached the spot just as Anthony raised
his knife to perform the last act in the tragedy.
Seeing his chief he asked him if he should do it, making a circular
motion around the bleeding head. The red colonel asked Willett if he
should be scalped, who replied, "He belongs to your party, Col. Lewis."
An approving look was sufficient, and the reeking scalp-lock was torn
off, in the presence of those witnesses, as the victim lay quivering
in death. Such was the fall of Walter Butler.
-Daniel and Peter Olendorf, sons of Daniel Olendorf *named in the
context; and *John I. Brower*, son of John Brower, above named.
Which of the American scout shot Butler is uncertain, but Olendorf
stated to his friends that he aimed at the cup, which, as the sun
shone upon it, afforded him a good mark ; and as Lodowlch Moyer,
who was of the pursuing party, assured the writer that he saw his
remains on his return, and believed his body was not buried. Said
his father: "Col. Butler offered a large sum to have his remains
delivered in Canada, but it was not done."
Butler was wounded in the head, it is highly probable the ball of
Olendorf's rifle brought him down. The Indian, having stripped
his victim, re-crossed the creek to his companion, and hastily
putting on the regimentals began to strut about and assume the
airs of a British officer. "I be Brish ofser !" said he to Olendorf.
"You are a fool." replied the latter. "Me fool ?" responded the
Indian with warmth - " Me fool ? No, me Brish ofser !" and again
the bushes had to bow their submission to his assumed character.
Said Olendorf again, "You are a fool! and if any of our men should
see you at your back, they would mistake you for the villain who
once wore those clothes and instantly shoot you down."
This was a view of the case which the Indian had not taken, but the
words were hardly uttered by his comrade ere he doffed them and
resumed his blanket.- *The Olendorf brothers*.
*Walter Butler* (1752 ? October 30, 1781) was a British
Loyalist
officer
during the American Revolution
.
He was born near Johnstown, New York ,
the son of John Butler ,
a wealthy Indian agent
who worked for Sir William Johnson:
.
Walter Butler studied law, and became a lawyer in Albany, New York
.
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Hope you enjoy these stories,
Dan (my cousin Daniel Burke)