These were mostly Irish and German people seeking cheap land, and seeing not the danger in wars to come.
There is an old letter from John Irons to his sister in Braintree which says that Jack, of whom he had a great pride, was getting on famously in school.

"But he shows no favor to any of the girls, having lost his heart to a young English maid whom he helped to rescue from the Indians.

We think it lucky that she should be far away so that he may better keep his resolution to be educated and his composure in the task." The arrival of the mail was an event in Albany those days.

Letters had come to be regarded there as common property.

They were passed from hand to hand and read in neighborhood assemblies.