rnished them
by the Department of Indian Affairs and by the Mission Board which has
taken them in hand.

CHAPTER LXX.

Death of Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft--Perils of the revolutionary
era--Otwin--Mr. Bancroft's history in the feature of its Indian
relations--A tradition of a noted chief on Lake Michigan--The collection
of information for a historical volume--Opinions of Mr. Paulding, Dr.
Webster, Mr. Duer, John Quincy Adams--Holyon and Alholyon--Family
monument--Mr. Stevenson, American Minister at London--Joanna
Baillie--Wisconsin--Ireland--Detroit--Michilimackinack.

1840. _June 7th_. The first of June found me in Detroit, on my way to
Washington, where I was in a few days met by the appalling intelligence
of the death of my father (Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft), an event which
took place on this day at Vernon, Oneida County, New York. He had
reached his eighty-fourth year, and possessed a vigor of constitution
which promised longer life, until within a few days of his demise. A
dark spot appeared on one of his feet, which had, I think, been badly
gashed with an axe in early life. This discoloration expanded upwards in
the limb, and terminated in what appeared to be a dry mortification.

In him terminated the life of one of the most zealous actors in the
drama of the American Revolution, in which he was at various times a
soldier and an officer, a citizen and a civil magistrate. "Temperate,
ardent and active, of a mind vigorous and energetic, of a spirit bold
and daring, nay, even indomitable in its aspirations for freedom, he
became at once conspicuous among his brethren in arms, and a terror to
his country's foes." [97]

[Footnote 97: Nat. Intell. July 31, 1840.]

His grandfather was an Englishman, and had served with reputation under
the Duke of Marlborough in some of his famous continental battles, in
the days of Queen Anne, and he cherished the military principle with
great ardor. He spoke fluently the German and Dutch languages, and was
thus able to communicate with the masses of the varied population,
originally from the Upper Rhine and the Scheldt, who formed a large
portion of the inhabitants of the then frontier portions of Albany
County, including the wild and picturesque range of the Helderbergs and
of the new settlements of Schoharie, the latter being in immediate
contact with the Mohawk Iroquois. The influence of the British
government over this tribe, through the administration of Sir William
Joh