Chapter 3 – Europeans Arrive: The Dutch and the French

Europeans first arrived in New York State as early as 1524, when Verrazano sailed into New York Harbor, and on that occasion the Native Americans of that area saw European ships for the first time. There appears to have been no actual contact then, however. Later, in 1609, Henry Hudson’s expedition sailed up the river that would later bear his name, and residents of the Hudson Valley met and interacted with the crew.

In 1614, the Dutch government granted a trading patent to the New Netherland Company giving them exclusive rights to trade between the 40th and 45th parallels. Meridian’s location, just north of the 43rd parallel, was within that area of the trading patent. A settlement, Fort Nassau, was established on an island in the Hudson, near present-day Albany, as a trading outpost.

The trade in which the Dutch were interested was the fur trade, and the Iroquois of Central New York became active participants in that trade, trapping animals (especially beaver), preparing fur pelts and delivering them to trading posts along the Mohawk and Hudson rivers.

By 1624, New Netherland became a province of the Dutch Republic, but the northern border of Dutch territory moved south to the 42nd parallel (the east-west line that today defines the border of upstate New York and Pennsylvania). Meridian’s location therefore technically became British territory, and would remain so for the next 159 years.

It is doubtful that many Europeans, if any at all, actually visited this area, however, until the 1650’s. In 1653, the Iroquois sent representatives to the French at Montreal, asking for peace to end hostilities with the French allies, the Hurons. The French sent missionaries to the Iroquois in response. Father Simon LeMoyne arrived in Iroquois territory in 1654, spending nine weeks among the Onondagas. There he was visited by delegates from the other nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.

In 1655, Jesuit priests, Father Joseph Chaumonot and Father Claude Dablon also paid a visit to the Onondagas, and were met by a delegation of Cayugas soon after their arrival. The natives were eager to learn about Christianity, and that set the stage for the missions that were to follow.

A large expedition left Quebec in 1656, heading for the Onondagas. The party consisted of 4 priests, 2 brothers, 10 soldiers and a number of French colonists, along with a company of Hurons, Senecas and Onondagas. They had a hard journey, running out of food by the time they reached present-day Port Ontario (called by them “Famine Bay”), but they persevered, eventually reaching Onondaga Lake via the Oswego River. The purpose of this expedition, according to their journals, was not to trade, but rather to convert the natives to Christianity.

After their arrival, an elderly delegate from the Cayugas asked that a priest come to their territory to teach them about the faith of the French. Accordingly, Father René Menard, Father Joseph Chaumonot and two other Frenchmen traveled westward to become the guests of Chief Saonchiogwa at the Cayugas’ principal village, Gol-O-Gouen, located about three miles south of present-day Union Springs.

This, the Mission of St. Joseph, was the first of three Jesuit missions to the Cayugas. Eventually the Mission of St. Stephen, at Tichero (at the North end of Cayuga Lake) and the mission of St. Rene, at Onnontaré (at Fox Ridge, near Port Byron) were established. The missions to the Cayugas lasted four years, ending in 1660 as war between the French and the Iroquois began. The war was to last for eight years.

At war’s end, the Iroquois asked that the missions be re-established, and the Jesuits returned to their labors among the Cayugas. During their tenure, they converted and baptized many members of the Cayuga nation. These French missions continued despite the fact that the Colony of New York had been officially established as a British Colony in 1664. In 1683, however, New York Governor Thomas Dongan began efforts to expel French missionaries from his Colony, and the missions closed in 1684, although the French clergy continued to travel among the Iroquois.