JOHN ARCHER

Inscription

JOHN ARCHER
AS A CHILD, HID IN CORNFIELD
DURING 1782 RAID ON HOME IN
MOHAWK VALLEY. BECAME
KNOWN AS ‘CORNFIELD JOHN’.
BURIED HERE IN 1864.
NEW YORK FOLKLORE SOCIETY
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2018

The story passed down is found in an Archer Genealogy compiled by Dr. E. A. Archer. Multiple lines of Archers state it was an oral story passed down by other Archers. “Cornfield John” and his sister, Amy, were living in the Mohawk Valley with their mother during the Revolutionary War. Their father had been killed the prior year while serving in the militia. A raid commenced in 1782 and their mother instructed them to hide in the cornfield. When the raid was over they went home to find their mother had been killed. Suddenly orphans, a neighbor took them in and from that day on, John was known as “Cornfield John”.