This post is about the French traders at Clyde. The local history has always stated the Blockhouse was a French trading post prior to the French & Indian War (1754-63).
Since Edgar Welch published the Grip's Historical Souvenir of Clyde in 1905, it has been known that the Blockhouse was built as an English trading post in 1722. This information would seem to contradict the notion that Clyde was a French post prior to the French & Indian War. However, recent research has shown that the famous French interpreter / voyageur named Joncaire was at a place called Ossaroda in 1709. Though historians have tended to equate Ossaroda with Sodus Bay, it was specifically described as "being upon the creek that lies opposite Cayuga". Cadwallader Colden, the Surveyor-General of New York, later wrote that Ossaroda was "near the Cayuga's Castle". Neither historic description places Ossaroda at Sodus Bay (Bay of the Cayugas).
Joncaire was at a place called Ossaroda in 1709.
Through careful research, it has become clear that Ossaroda, or Sodoms, was a name that applied to the trail that led from Sodus Bay to Cayuga territory (see also my Post regarding the 1701 Nanfan Treaty). Both names are variations on the name Assorodus. Sodoms creek (Sodus or Glenmark Creek), which belonged to the Senecas, led by means of the trail to a hill called Tegerhunkserode, which belonged to the Cayugas. Tegerhunkserode, which has been placed somewhere east of Sodus Bay, was actually south of the bay. It is almost certainly one of the prominent hills in the Town of Galen, possibly Dickson Hill. Located opposite the Blockhouse, Dickson Hill may have served as an Indian lookout. The trail from Sodus Bay to Clyde first appears on maps in 1688, the year after the Marquis Denonville attacked the Seneca Indians. The Seneca relocated near the foot of Seneca Lake, and the trail shifted to accomodate them.
Following in French Footsteps
The 1722 Blockhouse was built by an expedition that clearly built at the site of earlier French trading posts. The expedition was tasked with drawing "Far Indians" from the Upper Midwest to trade at Albany, and was also instructed to entice independent French traders known as "Coureur Du Bois". Captain Peter Schuyler, Jr.'s company first built at Irondequoit, where Joncaire had built Fort Des Sables in 1717. Schuyler built a post at Sodus Bay in 1722, and then on the Clyde River the same summer. Joncaire was at both places in 1709, and a French fort or trading post was known to have been built at Sodus Bay prior to 1722. Early pioneers in Wayne County also found a large number of "French" axes at Pultneyville, and one in Rose. When the Clyde Blockhouse site was leveled during railroad construction in the 1850's, several trade axes were found, one which was later said to have been dated to 1690. It is clear that there were French traders at Clyde a generation prior to the French & Indian War.
Though there is no direct evidence that the French actually built a blockhouse at Clyde prior to 1722, traders are thought to have occupied cabins or bark-covered huts. Joncaire is said to have had a trading post near Seneca Lake, and this may have been Ossaroda (Clyde). Joncaire did build blockhouses / forts at several places, so the possibility of a French blockhouse at Clyde, prior to 1722, cannot be ruled out.
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