Symon GROOT

                   NOTE:
      Came to America from Holland aboard the ship, "Prince Mauritz".  In Jan 1690, while away at a baptism with his wife, the Indians and the French raided their village and massacred or kidnapped many there.  Their 5 sons were taken captive to Canada.  More details of this event is found in PAF Notes.

marriage, and then moved to Beverwyck (today is known as Schenectady, NY, which means a place beyond the pines). They moved to an area that is now known as the "Stockade" where they owned quite a bit of land. They had 6 sons and 3 daughters. They were farmers and church going people.The fate of Schenectady was sealed in the middle of January, 1690, when 114 Frenchmen and 96 Sault and Algonquin Indians, started from Montreal to attack English outposts to the south. It was part of the master plan to fulfill the wishes of French King Louis XIV to "build a new empire in America". They came down the frozen ice on Lake Champlain and in about six days, down to a point that is known today as Fort Edward, it was here where they met with the Indian leaders and decided to attack Schenectady instead of Fort Orange. They continued on down and crossed the icy Mohawk. It was then that spies were sent to scout the Stockade and see if it was secured. Seeing the doors open, and noone guarding them, they reported back to their leaders, and the decision was made to attack.February 9, 1690, during the raid on Schenectady many men, women and children were killed. Symon and Rebecca's 5 sons, Symon, Dyrk, Abraham, Claas and Philip (Cornelius died when just a young boy) were taken captive by the French and Indians and marched up into Canada. Symon and Rebecca were not in Schenectady at the time of the massacre, they had gone to Albany to attend a Baptism.Imagine their fright when they got the news of what had happend. The people of Schenectady were secure in their feelings that nobody would go out on such a night like this, freezing cold and so much snow. Most had gone off to bed and were sleeping. A night like this not even the foolhardy Frenchmen would be out.Now why the gates to the fort were not closed is a question no one at this time can answer. Some say that maybe they were so sure that no one would be out they just got careless, and others say maybe the gates were frozen open and they could not be closed. Whatever the reason they were left open and what happend during the night shall always be remembered by all Schenectadians. The half-frozen invaders crossed the river on the windswept ice and soon wereinside the stockade. Suddenly the high-pitched war cries of the warriors split the silence, the signal for a bloody massacre that was to last for two full hours.Houses were quickly put to the torch and the people who came out in the night were tomahawked and their scalps were taken or they were shot. Symon Schermerhorn though wounded mounted a horse and rode to Albany to tell them of the French invasion and to try and get some help. That morning the French rounded up their prisoners and started back to Canada. As they passed by Scotia, Glen Sander was able to help, he was told that he would be able to choose his relatives from among the prisoners in return for having been kind tosome French captives when they were in the hands of the Mohawks a few years earlier. He tried to claim as many as he could without arousing their suspicions.About 60 persons were killed outright, including 10 women and 12 children. And some were taken prisoner. As mentioned above Symon and Rebecca's sons were some of those taken captive. All the sons did return to Schenectady after a years time, except Claas, and we are not sure what happened to Claas. There are many stories as to what did happen but nobody knows for sure.