"In March 1713, they were followed by a large number of their kindred, who broke their way through three feet of snow. More ground was needed for their support than the Indians had donated. Certain citizens of Albany prompted by their antipathy towards Germans, cherished at the time by the Dutch settlers and their descendants, sought to preempt the land; but, favored by the friendship of the Indians, all that they needed was procured for three hundred dollars. From the Indians they learned the use of certain roots (probably potatoes) and wild herbs (as beans, etc), and where to look for them. They refer to the fact that what was said to Adam in wrath: "Of the grass of the field thou shalt eat," was said to them in grace. To the Board of Trade, Hunter explained that he had been powerless to prevent this moment. He consoled himself with the assurance, that, while without his license, they could obtain no title to the land, they would prove, if successful, a good protection for the frontier, and a new field would be opened for the manufacture of tar. It was to a beautiful and fertile country that they were strangely led. Twenty thousand acres came into their possession. The people, numbering from five to seven hundred were settled in seven villages, named after the deputies who had treated with the Indians, and who had led the colony to Schoharie, viz., Kneskerndorf, Gerlachsdorf, Fuchsendorf, Schmitsdorf, Weisersdorf, Hartmansdorf and Ober Weisersdorf. Four children, William Bouck, Catherine Mattice, Elizabeth Sawyer and John Earhart were born the week after their arrival. They were without a pastor, but a tailor wrote to Boehme that he was acting as a lay preacher. Upon the history of Schoharie, whose details have been well preserved, both in contemporary documents, and by industrious collectors of traditions many years ago, we cannot linger. When we consider that the Palatines carried with them none of the agricultural implements with which they had been furnished on the Hudson; that, in the beginning, there was not even a wheelbarrow in the colony, much less a horse or a cow, the progress made with the most primitive appliances for tilling the soil was most surprising. A vivid picture of the hardships of their primitive mode of life has been drawn by a local authority: "For several years they had most of their grain floured at Schenectedy. they usually went in parties of fifteen or twenty at a time, to be able to defend themselves against the wild beasts. Often there were as many women as men on these journeys,and they had to encamp in the woods at least one night, the women frequently displayed , when in danger, as much courage as their liege lords. A skipple was the quantity usually borne by each individual,but the stronger often carried more. Not infrequently they left Schoharie to go to the mill on the morning of one day, and were at home on the morning of the next; performing a journey of between forty and fifty miles in twenty-four hours or less, bearing the ordinary burden; but at such times they traveled most of the night without encamping. The Palatines owed much to the continued friendly relations of the Indians. One proof is given in the fact, during the first winter, John Conrad Weiser sent his son Conrad to live among the Mohawks and learn their language. But while the Indians were conciliated, their Dutch neighbors seemed to them merciless. Looking back, as we now may do, we must concede that there were faults on both sides. Our ancestors and kinsmen in their ignorance of the process of law, and with a deep sense of injustice, undoubtedly forfeited some of their rights, but could not be persuaded that they were wrong." "They claimed the absolute right to the lands which the Indians had given or sold them, and first ignored, and then resisted every attempt of the Provincial authorities to establish the titles. When Nicholas Bayard was sent to give them deeds in the name of the Crown, upon the simple condition that each householder show the boundaries of the lands he had taken, he was driven off under a hot fire of bullets. From Schoharie, he offered a deed to every one who would bring in payment of a single ear of corn; but this offer no one accepted. In November, 1714, therefore, the lands were sold to certain Dutch citizens of Albany. The Palatines found that attempts were made to turn the Indians against them. But this was recognized as a very dangerous expedient, since Weiser's influence with the Mohawks could not be overcome. Every effort made by the purchasers to settle on the land was resisted. An interesting report is that of Adam Vrooman to the Governor concerning the ground that he had sowed with grain; upon which the Palatines drove their horses by night; and the house that he had well under way, which he found one morning razed to the ground, the Palatines concealing their operations by driving horses with bells upon them all through the night, 'John Conrad Weiser,' he continues, 'has been the ringleader of all factions; for he has had his son sometime to live among the Indians, and now he is turned their interpreter; so that this Weiser and his son talk with the Indians very often, and have made treaties for them, and have been busy to buy land at many places' The charge was afterwards made by Hunter in Weiser's presence, before the Board of Trade in England, that he had brought down the Indians of the Five Nations upon the Dutch grantees. Sheriff Adams was sent down from Albany to assert the supremacy of the law, and arrest Weiser. When he reached Weisersdorf, now Middleburg, Schoharie Co., the Palatine women took the responsibility of a defence from the shoulders of their husbands and fathers, and, under the leadership of Margaret ZEH, knocked him down, rolled him in the mud, and lifting him on a rail, carried him the distance of six or seven miles, and left him on a log bridge on the road to Albany. He returned a thoroughly bruised and humiliated man, with two broken ribs, and the loss of an eye. We must commend the forebearance of the Governor, in attempting no immediate arrests for this flagrant violation of the law. But unsuspecting members of the settlements who went to Albany on business, were arrested and imprisoned. That Weiser came to intimidate the Governor, with three or four hundred armed men, we know only from Hunter's testimony in Weiser's presence in 1720. In order to end the struggle the Governor finally summoned their representatives to Albany in 1717, and informed them that, unless they purchased the ground they would be transported to another place, and their improvements paid for at an appraised value by the Province."