Jeptha Simms was a well-known and respected historian of the Mohawk and Schoharie Valleys. He was born in Connecticut and came to New York State in 1824. He clerked in a store in Canajoharie, NY until 1829 after which he started a dry-goods store in the village. In 1832 he moved to Schoharie County and started a business that eventually failed. Simms moved on and became a toll collector on the Erie Canal at Fultonville and then became a ticket agent for the New York Central Railroad at Fort Plain. Moving around the Mohawk and Schoharie Valleys allowed him the opportunity to acquaint himself with the history of the regions and the veterans of the Revolutionary War who were still living. He took the information he gathered and compiled it into the following books:                              The History of the Schoharie Valley,                                                                                                                                             Trappers of New York,                                                                                                                                                                      Frontiersman of New York                                                                                                                                                                         The American Spy.