Surnames: Clark, Herkimer, Keyser, Ludlow, Reynolds,

Shoemaker, VanSchaack, Winne, Wormuth.

Towns and villages: Albany, Auburn, Kinderhook, Oswego, Palatine Bridge.

Counties: Albany - Cayuga - Columbia - Montgomery.

Source: History of the Mohawk Valley - Gateway to the West - 1614-1925
Covering The Six Counties of Schenectady, Schoharie,
Montgomery, Fulton, Herkimer and Oneida.
Volume IV, Illustrated; Page 698
Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1925

Samuel Ludlow Frey was born December 1, 1833, in the present Frey homestead, and passed nearly all his life in Palatine Bridge. He was married to Miss Adelle Reynolds of Oswego in 1863. Mr. S. L. Frey died in 1903, leaving no children.

Mr. Frey was well known i historical circles from one end of the Mohawk Valley to the other. He was a deep student of American history, with a special bent for that of the Mohawk Valley, which he loved with the devotion of an enthusiastic student and historical writer as well as with the natural regard for the land of his birth, as head of the pioneer family of the Middle Mohawk Valley. S. L. Frey early began his study of and research into the history of the Mohawks and developed a keen insight into and an intimate knowledge of this most famous Indian tribe of North America. In this work Mr. Frey had as a companion, General John S. Clark of Auburn. Together Mr. Frey and General Clarke located practically all the chief Mohawk towns, from the period of the Mohawk advent into the valley, about 1580, until their hurried departure from their homes along the river in 1775 to join the Canadian British army during the Revolution. The investigation involved in this work occupied a long period of time and a great amount of labor, as Mr. Frey personally worked over many of these Iroquois town sites. In this way he gained an intimate knowledge of the Mohawks, which was not equaled by that of any other archaeologist in the state.

Mr. Frey published a monograph on "The Mohawks", which is the best study of our valley Indians so far produced. Among his many writings on Mohawk valley historical subjects, Mr. Frey produced "The Story of Our River", which has had recent publication in the Mohawk Valley Democrat of Fonda. His "Early Canajoharie" is now on the press and will be published this year. Another work was a historical tale entitled "The Major and the Colonel" covering the Revolutionary activities of the patriot Major John Frey (Mr. Frey's great-grandfather) and Colonel Hendrick Frey, brother of John, and a Tory.

One of Mr. Frey's most important historical labors, "Tryon County Minute Book of the Committee of Safety", in which he collaborated with Mr. J. Howard Hanson of Amsterdam. The publication of this Revolutionary record of the famous Tryon County committee evoked great interest among the historical circles of New York state. The priceless manuscript of these minutes is the property of the Frey family, having been inherited by Samuel Ludlow Frey from his Revolutionary ancestor, Major John Frey, a famous member of the committee, who was responsible for its original preservation.

While Mr. Frey's historical writings, aside from those concerning the Mohawks, were largely local and intimately familiar with the pioneer settlers, they take on national interest because they deal with the most historically important national trade route of America, the railroads, waterway and highway of which lie close to and in plain view from the Frey homestead.

Samuel Ludlow Frey was a member of the New York State Historical Association, the Montgomery County Historical Society and the Mohawk Valley Historic Association.

S. L. Frey's work as a historical writer was conspicuous but it was not generally known that he, and his brother, Augustus B. Frey, had great artistic talent as wood carvers. Mr. Frey's interest in Colonial woodwork led him, in 1876, to acquire the fine Dutch mantel, which now adorns the Frey home until which formerly was installed in the Governor Bouck house in Schoharie.

The Frey home at Palatine Bridge has unusual historical interest. Fort Frey which stands near the present Frey home, was built in 1739 on the site of the original log house built by Heinrich Frey, the pioneer settler of the middle Mohawk valley, when he located here in the wilderness in 1689. This was a fortified British army post in Queen Anne's War of 1701-1713, and was the most western Colonial fortification of that period.

The 1739 stone house was not called Fort Frey, although it was stockaded. The original palisaded log house was the Fort Frey, but the name has popularly descended to the 1739 stone house.

The Frey family has occupied the same homestead site for two hundred and thirty-five years. Fort Frey was an important Revolutionary center and the home of Major John Frey, a famous patriot, member of the Tryon County Committee of Safety, major of the Palatine Regiment of Tryon County Militia, (which fought at Oriskany where Major Frey was made a captive), first patriot sheriff of Tryon County and great-grandfather of Samuel Ludlow Frey.

Major Frey was a historian of his time and collaborated with Judge Campbell of Cherry Valley in the preparation of the "Annals of Tryon County", our first valley history. From Major Frey, his great-grandson, S. L. Frey, doubtless inherited his taste for historical study and writing.

Mr. Frey was descended from the original settler, Heinrich Frey (who came from Switzerland in 1688 and who settled on the site of Fort Frey in 1689), through his son, Henry Frey (born 1712, died 1763, who married Margaret Keyser). Two of Henry Frey's sons were Colonel Hendrick Frey (of the French war) and Major John Frey (born 1740, (died 1833), who married Anna Gertrude Shoemaker (daughter of Rudolph Shoemaker and Gertrude Herkimer, sister of General Nicholas Herkimer), widow of Lieutenant Matthew Wormuth, who was slain by Brant and his Indians, near Cherry Valley in 1778. Major Frey had a son, Henry I. Frey (born 1780, died 1832) who married Elizabeth Van Schaack of Kinderhook, and who built the present stone Frey mansion in 1808. Their son, John Frey (born 1806, died 1886), married Caroline Ludlow of Kinderhook. Their children, who grew to maturity, were Samuel Ludlow Frey, Augustus B. Frey, Henry A. Frey and Caroline Frey, who married Colonel Charles K. Winnie of Albany.

It was but natural, with his family antecedents and with his historical background, that Samuel Ludlow Frey turned to the study and writing of the history of the land of his ancestors.

Mr. Frey died on March 6, 1924, at his home in Palatine Bridge, aged ninety years. He was interred in the burial plot, near the Frey homestead, which has been the family cemetery for over two centuries.

Mr. Frey was honorary chairman of the Board of Advisory Editors of the History of the Mohawk Valley, Gateway to the West, from the beginning of the editorial work on this publication, in October, 1923, to his death on March 6, 1924. The editor of this work acknowledges a great debt to Mr. Frey in the cheerful and whole hearted assistance which he always gave the writer in all his historical work Mr. Frey was greatly interested in the History of the Mohawk Valley, Gateway to the West, and it is regrettable that he did not live to see its publication.

(Surname variations: Van Schaick, Van Schaik, Warmuth, Warmouth, Winne, Wormouth)