From collection Kosti Ruohomaa Collection
Indian Castle Church Mohawk Valley
Sunlight falls on an 18th century church in a field in Danube, New York. Mohawks living in the Canajoharie area asked William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, for a church. He paid for this clapboard building to be constructed in 1769 on land given by Mohawk leader Konwatsi'tsiaienni and her brother Joseph Brant in Little Falls, New York.
William Johnson lived with Mohawk leader Konwatsi'tsiaienni, (1735-1796) or Molly Brant, and they had eight children. Johnson was a successful Superintendant of Indian Affairs in part because of his relationship with Konwatsi'tsiaienni. At William's death in 1774, Konwatsi'tsiaienni returned to her birthplace, Canajoharie. Konwatsi'tsiaienni continued to be an influential leader and loyalist through the Revolutionary War, after which she and her family fled to Canada.
"Johnson Hall State Historic Site." New York State. Accessed March 16, 2024. https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/johnsonhall/details.aspx.
In 1945, Kosti Ruohomaa produced a photo essay for LIFE Magazine titled "Mohawk Valley." The accompanying article begins: "Along its 150-mile course from Rome, N.Y. to Cohoes, where it flows into the Hudson, the Mohawk River lies in a fertile rolling valley which, since before remembered history, has been a vital corridor through the eastern mountains” p. 103.
The article is a history lesson, touching on Mohawk Native Peoples, brutal 17th and 18th century wars, and the construction of the Eerie Canal. Kosti Ruohomaa took over 500 photographs for this assignment for LIFE Magazine. Ruohomaa's images include rolling farmland, historic structures, memorial monuments, and dramatic natural wonders. Over 20 of Kosti Ruohomaa’s photographs were published in the November 12, 1945 issue of LIFE Magazine on pages 103-111.
