Arent van Curler & Fr. Isaac Jogues at the Flatts in 1643

Arent van Curler and Fr. Isaac Jogues at the Flatts in 1643. Schuyler Flatts Cultural Park. , [Main Text] , In the first half of the 17th Century, European settlements and exploration of northeastern North America increased, as did their contact with Native American peoples. The Mohawk Iroquois and the Huron of Canada were mortal enemies. The Dutch and French made alliances with the tribes to supply furs for the European market. War Parties often captured their enemies, including Europeans, who faced torture, death, and sometimes adoption into the tribe. Such was the case of Fr. Isaac Jogues who was traveling with a group of Hurons when they were ambushed by a Mohawk raiding party. The Dutch determined to secure the release of Fr. Jogues despite the displeasure it might cause the Mohawks. In August of 1643, van Curler implored Fr. Jogues to escape by secretly laying out an escape plan for him., Letter from Arent van Curler to Killian Van Rensselaer, June 16, 1643: , "Last spring I had a house built on this Flatt, 30 feet long, covered with tiles, for the carpenters and the farmhands to live in. Moreover, I had contracted with Jan Cornelissen, carpenter, for a large farmhouse. [...] He must build for 700 guilders a house 120 feet long by 28 feet wide; 40 feet is set aside for dwelling purposes, leaving 80 feet for the Bouwhuys [barn]. The dwelling part is to be floored above and below, and he is to build a cellar, 20 feet long by 28 feet wide; a half-jutting chamber for the servants to sleep in; a bunk for the foreman in the Bouwhuys; box stalls for the stallions, and further a horse and cow stable and whatever else appertains thereto..... Before everything else the cattle must have their stabling. I had the thatch for the house all ready last fall and stacked up near the place where the house is to stand.", [Illustration Captions] , - "Van Curler's Landing" by LE Tantillo. , - Detail of 1639 map of Noort River., Letter from Fr. Jogues to his superior, August 30, 1643: , "Well then', the governor said to me return with the savages, and toward evening, or during the night, steal away quietly, and move toward the river. There you will find a small boat, which I will keep ready to take you secretly to the ship... , Toward evening I retired with ten or twelve Iroquois into a barn, where we spent the night. Before lying down, I went out to see in what direction I might most easily escape. The dogs of the Dutch, untied at that time, ran up to me. One of them, large and powerful, threw himself on my bare leg and seriously injured me. , Immediately I went back into the barn; the Iroquois closed it securely.... And so I spent a second night without sleeping. When day was dawning, I heard the cocks crow. Soon afterward, a servant of the Dutch farmer who lodged us in his barn entered it by some door or other.... He went out at once, and I after him.... When I was outside the barn, without having made any noise or awakened my guards, I crossed a fence that enclosed the yard around the house, and ran straight to the river where the ship was... I found the boat as they had said, but because the water had subsided, it was aground. I pushed it to try to get it into the water, I could not do this, because it was too heavy... by turning it end over end and pushing with all my might, I finally got it into the water. Once it was afloat, I jumped into it and went all alone to the ship, where I climbed aboard without being noticed by any of the Iroquois. The Dutch immediately stowed me down in the hold; and, the better to conceal me, they put a huge chest over the hatchway.", [Left Inset] , Arent van Curler 1620-1667 , Arent van Curler was a nephew of the First Patroon, Killiaen Van Rensselaer. He was just 18 years old when he was sent from Holland in 1638 to act as administrator of the Manor of Rensselaearwick. He became recognized for dealing fairly with the Indians. In 1643, he built the first substantial dwelling on this site called a hallehuis. There was an architectural difference between the earlier van Curler hallehuis and the later Schuyler dwelling. A hallehuis combines living space for people and livestock beneath one roof, sometimes separated by a wall. The later 1672 Schuyler dwelling was located nearby, just slightly northwest of the van Curler structure. Archaeological evidence indicates the site was used for Indian trade and for repair of early firearms. Van Curler left the Flatts to establish the community of Schenectady by 1661. His dwelling here collapsed shortly thereafter. Van Curler drowned in Lake Champlain while on a mission to Canada in 1667. There are no known images of him., [Illustration] The signature of Arent van Curler and the letter to the Patroon, June 16, 1643. , [Right Inset] , Isaac Jogues 1607-1646 Isaac Jogues was a French Jesuit assigned to New France (Canada) as a missionary to the Huron Indians. He wrote extensively of his American experiences and was the first European to report on the discovery of Lake George, which he named "Lac du Saint Sacrement." He was captured by a Mohawk raiding party on August 3, 1642 and taken to Ossernenon (near Auriesville, N.Y.) where he was mutilated and tortured. After about a year in captivity Jogues traveled with a group of Mohawk women and a few warriors on an annual fishing expedition to this area, and with the heroic assistance of Arent Van Curler and other Dutch leaders, he managed to escape. He eventually returned to France but within a few months came back to Canada and in 1646 ventured back into the Mohawk Valley on a peace mission and was killed by a Mohawk Indian. He was declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 1930., [Photo and Illustraion Captions] , = Isaac Jogues Memorial, Battlefield Park, Village of Lake George, NY , - "Father Jogues harangues the Mohawks" Drawn by Thure de Thulstrup for Francis Parkman's book "Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century" 1867.