Morrison's Pensions

Death Notice for Hugh Mitchell

          In Cherry Valley, Otsego County, N.Y. on Saturday, the 5th of January, Hugh Mitchell, aged 101 years and 9 months. — The deceased was a native of Carricfergus, in Ireland, and emigrated to this country about 1764, with the little Irish colony who came out with the Rev. Mr. Dunlap, who were the first settlers of this town.  At the time of the Indian massacre in this place in Nov. 1778, Mr. Mitchell was compelled to witness a scene, the recital of which excites all our sympathies.  A party of savages "burst into the house, and in a most barbarous and shocking manner murdered his wife and four children, and after setting fire to the house, carried off his then only remaining child into captivity.  He himself only escaped death or captivity by running up a ravine near the house, in which the bushes were so thick that he was enabled to elude his pursuers.  After the enemy withdrew from the place he was compelled alone to put the bodies of his wife and and children upon a sled and draw them a mile to the fort for interment. The next year while here to see his property, he was walking through the woods unarmed, an Indian with a draw knife chased him a great distance, but he was enabled by his swift running to escape from him. He endured all these afflictions with Christian fortitude, and has through life preserved a fair and unblemished reputation. — Cherry Valley Paper.
(Amsterdam Mohawk Herald, Wednesday January 30, 1822, Vol. 1, No. 6, P. 3)        

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