Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/87

DELAWARE COUNTY. 63 Tryon county and informed them of the matter; that General Herkimer went with a party of men to Unadilla. '^WILLIAM JOHNSTON, Jun'r. Sworn and examined this 16th day of July, 1777, by me, John McKerson, Not. Public.'^ Johnston, together with his family and the rest of the little settlement, deeming their lives unsafe in the exposed situation of Unadilla, repaired immediately to Cherry Valley, as will appear from an obituary notice of one of the party, and which I consider worth an insertion here : ^^Died at Sidney Plains, October 23d, 1833, Hugh John- ston, aged 70 years. Captain Hugh Johnston was born April 10th, 1763, in Duanesburgh, Schenectady county, New York. He, together with his father, the Eev. William John- ston, and other connections, came to the Susquehanna Flats (now Sidney Plains,) in 1775. They were the first settlers in that part of the county, and for two years suffered all the hard- ships and privations of a new country. In June, 1777, they were obliged to leave their homes and flee before an invading foe — Brant, a chief, with one hundred and ten warriors, came and burnt their buildings and slaughtered their cattle. ^^The Johnston family fled to Cherry Yalley, where they remained until Nov. 11th, 1778, when seven hundred Indians and tories came unawares and burnt the village of Cherry Valley, and murdered twenty-eight women and children. The Johnston family narrowly made their escape. They then removed to Schenectady, where they remained until May, 1784, when they returned to the Susquehanna Flats, their former place of residence.'^ The ravages committed at the Johnston settlement, and