John F. Schermerhorn

John Freeman Schermerhorn (September 24, 1786–March 16, 1851), Indian Commissioner, was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Barnard Freeman Schermerhorn and Ariaantje Van der Bogart. In 1809 he graduated from Union College with the degree of A.B. Immediately after graduation he was sent out by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. His report to the Trustees of the Missionary Society of Connecticut was published in pamphlet form in Hartford in 1814, and was entitled: "A Correct View of that Part of the United States which lies West of the Allegheny Mountains, with regard to Religion & Morals"; by John F. Schermerhorn and Samuel J. Mills.

He entered the ministry of the Congregational Church, which he left in 1813 for the Dutch Reformed Church. He first settled at Middleburgh, Schoharie County, New York, where he was pastor of the Reformed Church there from 1816 to 1827. In 1816 he was Chaplain of the 9th Regiment New York Infantry.

In 1817 he visited upper Canada with Reverend Jacob Van Vechten and worked three months among the Dutch Churches there. In 1819, he was constituted a Life Member of the American Bible Society, by subscriptions raised by his congregation in Middleburgh. He preached his first Protestant sermon in New Orleans, where he went with a letter of introduction to Pére Antoine, a well loved priest of that city. He made most of the trip to New Orleans on horseback. As well as being a personal friend of President Andrew Jackson, he visited him on more than one occasion at "The Hermitage," Jackson's beautiful home, a few miles outside the city of Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1828 he was appointed Secretary of Domestic Missions by the Northern Board of the Missionary Society of the Reformed Church, which resulted in the organizations of Reformed Churches in Utica, Ithaca and Geneva, and others in less prominent places. Serious difficulties embarrassed his administration and though they were eventually amicably adjusted, he resigned the office in 1832. He never afterwards held a pastoral charge, but was frequently a leading member of the ecclesiastical assemblies, and continued to interest himself in the benevolent movements of the Church.

In 1832 President Andrew Jackson appointed him one of a Commission to remove the Cherokee and Chickasaw Indians beyond the Mississippi River (later to be known as the Trail of Tears). While Indian Commissioner, he acquired large tracts of land in Highland, Grayson, Bath and Wythe Counties, Virginia, in all about 400,000 acres (1,600 km²). After long litigation the disposition of this property finally resulted in favor of his heirs. John F.Schermerhorn moved to Carroll County, Indiana, in 1840. He married twice, first on August 6, 1813 to Catharine Yates, and second on April 6, 1837 to Elizabeth Louisa Hening. He died in Richmond, Virginia.

His daughter by his first wife, Harriet Adriana Schermerhorn (August 13, 1815 - December 23, 1886), lived in Buffalo, New York, and after the death of her husband, Aurelian Conkling (elder brother of Roscoe Conkling), went abroad and remained four years, most of the time in Paris, France. She travelled extensively through Spain, Germany, and Switzerland. During the Franco-Prussian War, she was in Paris, and was Directress of the Woman's Department of the American Ambulance Corps, organized by Dr. Evans, dentist to the Emperor. It was to his house that the Empress Eugenie fled when she left the Tuileries Palace. Mrs. Conkling assisted Dr. Evans in effecting the escape of the Empress, whom he took in his private carriage to the coast. She remained in Paris during the reign of the Commune and witnessed many blood-curdling scenes.

In popular culture

• Gangs of New York

References

• Schermerhorn, Richard A., Schermerhorn Genealogy and Family Chronicles. New York: Tobias A. Wright, 1914: 93-97.