The Schuylkill County Creek Named for a Witch-hunting Tory

 

A tributary of Deep Creek, Hans Yost Creek originates in the coal fields just south of the Schuylkill County Airport and joins with Deep Creek near the village of Weishample. While many locals I've talked to believe the stream is named for a forgotten early settler to the region, old maps (such as the F.W. & Beers Co. 1879 map of Barry Township, pictured below) label the waterway as Hanyost Creek, and therein lies the true origin of the name. 

Hanyost Schuyler (born Johannes Justus Schuyler) was an important, but little-known figure in Colonial American history. Born to a poor Dutch family in the colony of New York in 1744, Hanyost (also known as Hon Yost) was lonely child; variously described as "dim-witted", a "lunatic", and a "half-wit" to his white neighbors, Hanyost befriended the nearby Mohawks, who were "Tories" loyal to the British at the time. Perhaps because of his strange, aloof nature, the Mohawks viewed Hanyost as a prophet of sorts. 

 

In 1777, he was captured by patriots during a raid of a secret Tory meeting in Herkimer County and sentenced to death. While being held prisoner at Fort Dayton, his mother and brother pleaded with General Benedict Arnold to spare Hanyost's life. Because of Hanyost's influence with the Mohawks, Arnold came up with a plan-- he would shoot Hanyost's clothing full of holes, then send him to Fort Stanwix (which was under seige by the British at the time) with an exaggerated story about the size and strength of Arnold's troops and his narrow escape from Arnold's men. Long story short, this ruse scared the snot out of British commander Colonel Barry St. Leger and Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, and, as a result, the enemy beat a hasty retreat across Lake Oneida. 

While Hanyost may have saved the day, he (much like Arnold himself) turned traitor, eventually running away to fight with the British. According to a 1956 article by James Thomas Flexner in American Heritage Magazine, after the war, Hanyost lived among the Oneida as a shaman of sorts and went on to tomahawk two Oneida women to death on suspicion of being witches. Though it is doubtful Johannes Justus Schuyler ever visited Pennsylvania, Hans Yost Creek in Barry Township is named in his honor, perhaps making it the only creek in the state named for a witch-hunting Tory shaman.