Fluent Essays

Request in the picture S A M S O N O C C O M | 5 8 5 5. Urging. me if I was really of Opinion that no Injury would be done the Proprietary Estate in the Execution of the Act. I said, Certainly. Then says he, you can have little Objection to enter into an Engagement to assure that Point. I answer’d None, at all. He then call’d in Paris, and after some Discourse his Lordship’s Proposition was accepted on both Sides; a Paper to the purpose was drawn up by the Clerk of the Council, which I sign’d with Mr. Charles, who was also an Agent of the Province for their ordinary Affairs; when Lord Mans"eld return’d to the Council Chamber where " nally the Law was allowed to pass. Some Changes were however recommended and we also engag’d they should be made by a subsequent Law; but the Assembly did not think them necessary. For one Year’s Tax having been levied by the Act before the Order of Council arrived, they appointed a Committee to examine the Proceedings of the Assessors, and On this Committee they put several par tic- u lar Friends of the Proprietaries. After a full Enquiry they unanimously sign’d a Report that they found the Tax had been assess’d with perfect Equity. The Assembly look’d on my entering into the "rst Part of the Engagement as an essential Ser vice to the Province, since it secur’d the Credit of the Paper Money then spread over all the Country; and they gave me their Thanks in form when I return’d. But the Proprietaries were enrag’d at Gov- ernor Denny for having pass’d the Act, and turn’d him out, with Threats of suing him for Breach of Instructions which he had given Bond to observe. He however having done it at the Instance5 of the General and for his Maj- esty’s Ser vice, and having some power ful Interest at Court, despis’d the Threats, and they were never put in Execution. 1771–90 1868 SAMSON OCCOM 1723–1792 Born in a wigwam on Mohegan land near New London, Connecticut, Samson Occom (or Occum, as it is sometimes spelled) belonged to the northernmost branch of the Pequot tribe. When the religious revival known as the Great Awaken- ing began, his mother, Sarah Occom, was among the "rst Mohegans to convert to evangelical, or New Light, Protestantism. In 1741, Occom himself converted to Chris tian ity after hearing a sermon by the radical New Light preacher John Daven- port. The following year, he was appointed to the Mohegan tribal council, where he served with his father, Joshua Occom. Two years later, he attended hearings in the Mason case, a land dispute between the state of Connecticut and the Mohegans where historic deeds and treaties played a large role. The case was deci ded in favor of Connecticut. Convinced that literacy was a crucial skill for defending native 5 8 6 | S A M S O N O C C O M sovereignty in their historic domains, Occom sought out the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, a Yale gradu ate and New Light minister who kept a small school at Lebanon Creek, in Mohegan territory. From 1743 until 1747, Occom studied En glish, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin with Wheelock. After completing his studies, he taught school for a short period, then prepared for the ministry under the Reverend Benjamin Pomeroy in Hebron, Connecticut. In 1749, Occom moved to Montauk, at the southeastern tip of Long Island, New York. There, with the support of the local Montaukett community and the Boston branch of the Com pany for the Propagation of the Gospel in New Eng land, he started a school for about thirty Native and white children. He married a Mon- taukett former pupil, Mary Fowler, in 1751, and together they formed a traditional home in a Montauk wigwam and started a family. After eleven years with the Mon- tauks, during which time Occom served not only as a teacher but also as a healer, judge, and counselor, he was ordained by the presbytery of Suffolk, on Long Island. In 1761, he wrote An Account of the Montauk Indians, on Long Island, an early example of an indigenous author writing an ethnographic account of a Native community. That same year, he undertook a mission to the Iroquois, establishing a school in Oneida, in upstate New York, and recruiting students for Moor’s Indian Charity School, a small institution that Wheelock had recently opened in Lebanon to help develop a Native ministry. Occom went to Eng land on a speaking tour with the Reverend Nathaniel Whitaker to raise funds for the Indian Charity School in 1765. Before his departure, Occom wrote a short autobiography to clarify some details about his background for the group sponsoring his trip. Over the next two years, he delivered some three hun- dred sermons across Eng land, Scotland, and Ireland, while collecting around twelve thousand pounds for the school—an enormous sum of money for the time. During his stay in London, he testi"ed in an appeal of the Mason land case. Whee- lock had promised to care for Occom’s family while he was away, but when Occom returned, he found his relations sickly and in extreme poverty. In dire "nancial straits, alienated from Wheelock, and feeling vulnerable as an “Indian preacher” in the Presbyterian Church, Occom wrote a ten- page autobiography by way of self- justi"cation. Dated September 17, 1768, A Short Narrative of My Life was not published until 1982. It provides fascinating details of the day- to- day life of a rural minister in eighteenth- century North Amer i ca. Occom describes how he tended his garden, his animals, and his congregation, and how he preached to his Native parishioners and used innovative pedagogy to teach their children to read. He speculates that some of the criticisms leveled against him arose simply because “I am a poor Indian.” When Occom learned that Wheelock intended to use the money raised on the speaking tour to expand the Indian School into a college and move it to Hanover, New Hampshire, he angrily predicted to Wheelock that his college had too much “Gran- deur for the Poor Indians, they’ll never have much bene"t of it.” He was right. The newly renamed Dartmouth College soon ceased to focus on educating Native Ameri- can students, and in 1773 Occom and Wheelock broke off their long relationship. By that time, however, Occom had established himself as a public "gure. On September 2, 1772, he preached at the execution of Moses Paul, a Wampanoag man convicted of murder. His sermon was densely packed with Scriptural allusions, and it addressed several audiences at once. Noting that he was preaching “at the earnest desire and invitation of the poor condemned Criminal,” Occom called upon the assembled ministers to do the work of the Lord and exhorted his Native audience to avoid “the sin of drunkenness.” A Sermon, Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul, an Indian was "rst printed on October 31 and went through three further editions by the end of the year. Nineteen editions were ultimately published, an extraordi- nary number for any work in this period. S A M S O N O C C O M | 5 8 7 Meanwhile, Occom preached widely, especially in New Eng land, often to con- gregations of Native Christians. In 1774, he published his Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, which included six hymns of his own composition. A prominent fea- ture of Christian worship for centuries, hymns had become a source of friction between traditionalists and evangelical New Lights, who preferred the new hymns of the En glish theologians Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley to the older hymns in collec- tions such as the Bay Psalm Book (excerpted earlier in this volume). Despite these ten- sions, hymn singing had become a central ele ment of worship in Native Christian Samson Occom. Made during Occom’s speaking tour of the British Isles, this famous print shows him pointing at a Bible. A bow and arrows hang directly above. 5 8 8 | S A M S O N O C C O M 1. The text is from Collections of the Mas sa chu- setts Historical Society, Vol. ser. 1, Vol. 10 (1809). 2. Or (as below) “powaws,” and often spelled “powwows,” are religious leaders, sometimes referred to as priests. communities. Occom’s hymnal appealed to a wide audience, appearing in four edi- tions, the last in 1792. It had a lasting impact on the American tradition of hymnody. A few months after Moses Paul’s execution, Occom had attended the "rst orga- nizational meeting of the Brotherton group, a pantribal movement to establish a Christian Indian town in Oneida territory. The aim of the town was to provide residents with a space where they could exercise self- governance, sheltered from white induence and encroachment. Occom was closely involved with the Brother- ton community for over a de cade. Shortly after moving his family to Brotherton in 1789, however, Occom became frustrated by condicts within the community over the disposition of lands to whites. In 1791, the family moved to the Native Christian town of New Stockbridge, some "fteen miles northwest of Brotherton. When Occom died there the following year, of natu ral causes, three hundred indigenous people attended his funeral. From An Account of the Montauk Indians, on Long Island1 III. Concerning their gods. They imagined a great number of gods. There were the gods of the four corners of the earth; the god of the east, the god of the west, the god of the north, the god of the south; and there was a god over their corn, another over their beans, another over their pumpkins, and squashes, &c. There was one god over their wigwams, another of the "re, another over the sea, another of the wind, one of the day, and another of the night; and there were four gods over the four parts of the year, &c. &c. But they had a notion of one great and good God, that was over all the rest of the gods, which they called Cauhluntoowut, which signi"es one that is possessed with supreme power. They also had a notion of a great evil god, which they called Mutcheshesunnetooh, which signi"es evil power, who they say is mischievous, &c. And to these gods they call for help under every dif"culty, and to them they offered their sacri"ces of vari ous kinds, &c. As for their images, they kept them as oracles. The powwaws2 consult these images to know the minds of their gods; for they pretend these images tell what the people should do to the gods, either to make a dance or a feast, or give something to the old people, or sacri"ce to the gods. IV. As for the Powaws, they say they get their art from dreams; and one has told me they get their art from the devil, but then partly by dreams or night visions, and partly by the dev il’s immediate appearance to them by vari- ous shapes; sometimes in the shape of one creature, sometimes in another, sometimes by a voice, &c. and their poisoning one another, and taking out poison, they say is no imaginary thing, but real. I have heard some say, that have been poisoned, it puts them into great pain, and when a powaw takes out the poison they have found immediate relief; at other times they feel no manner of pain, but feel strangely by degrees, till they are senseless, and then they will run mad. Sometimes they would run into the water; sometimes into the "re; and at other times run up to the top of high trees and tumble A S H O R T N A R R A T I V E O F M Y L I F E | 5 8 9 3. Vari ous. 1. The text is from American Indian Non#ction: An Anthology of Writings (2007), edited by Bernd C. Peyer. Some of the bracketed insertions are Peyer’s; others have been added for this anthology. down headlong to the ground, yet receive no hurt by all these. And I don’t see for my part, why it is not as true, as the En glish or other nation’s witch- craft, but is a great mystery of darkness, &c. V. Concerning their dead, burial, and mourning. They use[d] to wash their dead clean, and adorn them with all manner of ornaments, and paint the face of them with divers3 colours, and make a great lamentation over their dead. When they carry the corpse to the grave, the whole com pany, especially of the women, make a doleful and a very mournful and loud lam- entation, all the way as they go to the grave, and at the grave; and they use[d] to bury great many things with their dead, especially the things that belonged to the dead, and what they did not bury they would give away, and they would never live in a wigwam, in which any person died, but will immediately pull it down, and they generally mourned for their dead about a year, and the time they are in mourning the women kept their faces blackt with coal mixt with grease, neither would they wear "ne cloathes, nor sing, nor dance, nei- ther will the mourners mention the name by which their dead was called, nor suffer any one in the whole place to mention it till some of the relations are called by the same name; and when they put off their mourning habit, they generally made a great nightly dance. They begin it in the eve ning and hold it till morning. VI. Concerning their notions of future state. They believed the exis- tence of their souls after their bodies are dead. Their souls go to the west- ward a great way off, where the righ teous, or those that behaved themselves well in this world, will exercise themselves in pleas ur able singing and danc- ing forever, in the presence of their Sawwonnuntoh or their western god, from whom they have received their beans and corn, their pumpkins, squashes, and all such things. They suppose the wicked go to the same place or country with the righ teous; but they are to be exercised in some hard ser- vile labour, or some perplexing exercise, such as fetching water in a riddle, or making a canoe with a round stone, &c. These were common notions with all Long Island Indians. 1761 1809 A Short Narrative of My Life1 From My Birth till I Received the Christian Religion I was Born a Heathen and Brought up In Heathenism, till I was between 16 & 17 years of age, at a Place Calld Mohegan, in New London, Connecticut, in New Eng land. My Parents Livd a wandering life, for did all the Indians at Mohegan, they Chiedy Depended upon Hunting, Fishing, & Fowling for their Living and had no Connection with the En glish, excepting to Traf"c with them in their small Trides; and they Strictly maintained and followed their Heathenish Ways, Customs & Religion, though there was Some 5 9 0 | S A M S O N O C C O M 2. In 1729, the Harvard gradu ate and Congrega- tionalist minister Eliphalet Adams occasionally preached to the Mohegans. 3. In 1733–38 the Yale gradu ate and Presbyte- rian minister Jonathan Barber occasionally taught the Mohegans. 4. I.e., woven mats, which were placed over birchbark frames. 5. I.e., the Great Awakening was underway. 6. I.e., awakened spiritually to a sense of sin. Preaching among them. Once a Fortnight, in ye Summer Season, a Minis- ter from New London used to come up, and the Indians to attend;2 not that they regarded the Christian Religion, but they had Blankets given to them every Fall of the Year and for these things they would attend and there was a Sort of School kept, when I was quite young, but I believe there never was one that ever Learnt to read any thing,— and when I was about 10 Years of age there was a man who went about among the Indian Wig- wams, and wherever he Could "nd the Indian Children, would make them read;3 but the Children Used to take Care to keep out of his way;— and he used to Catch me Some times and make me Say over my Letters; and I believe I learnt Some of them. But this was Soon over too; and all this Time there was not one amongst us, that made a Profession of Chris tian ity— Neither did we Cultivate our Land, nor kept any Sort of Creatures except Dogs, which we used in Hunting; and we Dwelt in Wigwams. These are a Sort of Tents, Covered with Matts, made of Flags.4 And to this Time we were unaquainted with the En glish Tongue in general though there were a few, who understood a little of it. From the Time of Our Reformation till I Left Mr. Wheelocks When I was 16 years of age, we heard a Strange Rumor among the En glish, that there were Extraordinary Ministers Preaching from Place to Place and a Strange Concern among the White People.5 This was in the Spring of the Year. But we Saw nothing of these things, till Some Time in the Summer, when Some Ministers began to visit us and Preach the Word of God; and the Common People all Came frequently and exhorted us to the things of God, which it pleased the Lord, as I humbly hope, to Bless and accompany with Divine Induence to the Conviction and Saving Conversion of a Num- ber of us; amongst whom I was one that was Imprest with the things we had heard. These Preachers did not only come to us, but we frequently went to their meetings and Churches. After I was awakened6 & converted, I went to all the meetings, I could come at; & Continued under Trou ble of Mind about 6 months; at which time I began to Learn the En glish Letters; got me a Primer, and used to go to my En glish Neighbours frequently for Assistance in Reading, but went to no School. And when I was 17 years of age, I had, as I trust, a Discovery of the way of Salvation through Jesus Christ, and was enabl’d to put my trust in him alone for Life & Salvation. From this Time the Distress and Burden of my mind was removed, and I found Serenity and Plea sure of Soul, in Serving God. By this time I just began to Read in the New Testament without Spelling,— and I had a Stronger Desire Still to Learn to read the Word of God, and at the Same Time had an uncommon Pity and Compassion to my Poor Brethren According to the Flesh. I used to wish I was capable of Instructing my poor Kindred. I used to think, if I Could once Learn to Read I would Instruct the poor Children in Reading,— and used frequently to talk with our Indians Concerning Religion. This continued till A S H O R T N A R R A T I V E O F M Y L I F E | 5 9 1 7. Instruction. 8. Prob ably worth about $1,400 in pres ent- day American currency. 9. A village of the Western Niantics, in pres ent- day East Lyme, Connecticut. 1. A village of the Narragansetts, in Charlestown, Rhode Island. 2. The Presbyterian minister Azeriah Horton, a Yale gradu ate, ministered primarily to the Shin- necocks on Long Island and in Rhode Island. I was in my 19th year: by this Time I Could Read a little in the Bible. At this Time my Poor Mother was going to Lebanon, and having had Some Knowl- edge of Mr. Wheelock and hearing he had a Number of En glish youth under his Tuition,7 I had a great Inclination to go to him and be with him a week or a Fortnight, and Desired my Mother to Ask Mr. Wheelock whether he would take me a little while to Instruct me in Reading. Mother did so; and when She Came Back, She Said Mr. Wheelock wanted to See me as Soon as pos si ble. So I went up, thinking I Should be back again in a few Days; when I got up there, he received me With kindness and Compassion and in Stead of Staying a Forthnight or 3 Weeks, I Spent 4 Years with him.— After I had been with him Some Time, he began to acquaint his Friends of my being with him, and of his Intentions of Educating me, and my Circum- stances. And the good People began to give Some Assistance to Mr. Whee- lock, and gave me Some old and Some New Clothes. Then he represented the Case to the Honorable Commissioners at Boston, who were Commission’d by the Honorable Society in London for Propagating the gospel among the Indians in New Eng land and parts adjacent, and they allowed him 60 £ in old Tender, which was about 6 £ Sterling,8 and they Continu’d it 2 or 3 years, I cant’t tell exactly.— While I was at Mr. Wheelock’s, I was very weakly and my Health much impaired, and at the End of 4 Years, I over Strained my Eyes to such a Degree, I Could not persue my Studies any Longer; and out of these 4  years I Lost Just about one year;— And was obliged to quit my Studies. From the Time I left Mr. Wheelock till I Went to Eu rope As soon as I left Mr. Wheelock, I endeavored to "nd Some Employ among the Indians; went to Nahantuck,9 thinking they may want a School Master, but they had one; then went to Narraganset,1 and they were Indifferent about a School, and went back to Mohegan, and heard a number of our Indians were going to Montauk, on Long Island, and I went with them, and the Indi- ans there were very desirous to have me keep a School amongst them, and I Consented, and went back a while to Mohegan and Some time in Novem- ber I went on the Island, I think it is 17 years ago last November. I agreed to keep School with them Half a Year, and left it with them to give me what they Pleased; and they took turns to Provide Food for me. I had near 30 Scholars this winter; I had an eve ning School too for those that could not attend the Day School— and began to Carry on their meetings, they had a Minister, one Mr. Horton, the Scotch Society’s Missionary; but he Spent, I think two thirds of his Time at Sheenecock, 30 Miles from Montauk.2 We met together 3 times for Divine Worship every Sabbath and once on every Wednesday eve ning. I [used] to read the Scriptures to them and used to expound upon Some par tic u lar Passages in my own Tongue. Visited the Sick and attended their Burials.— When the half year expired, they Desired me to Continue with them, which I complied with, for another half year, when 5 9 2 | S A M S O N O C C O M 3. Samuel Buell, the Presbyterian minister and Yale gradu ate, who preached at Occom’s ordina- tion, in 1759. 4. Somewhat slow to learn. I had ful"lled that, they were urgent to have me Stay Longer, So I continued amongst them till I was Married, which was about 2  years after I went there. And Continued to Instruct them in the Same manner as I did before. After I was married a while, I found there was need of a Support more than I needed while I was Single,— and made my Case Known to Mr. Buell3 and to Mr. Wheelock, and also the Needy Circumstances and the Desires of these Indians of my Continuing amongst them, and the Commissioners were so good as to grant £15 a year Sterling— And I kept on in my Ser vice as usual, yea I had additional Ser vice; I kept School as I did before and Carried on the Religious Meetings as often as ever, and attended the Sick and their Funerals, and did what Writings they wanted, and often Sat as a Judge to reconcile and Decide their Matters Between them, and had visitors of Indians from all Quarters; and, as our Custom is, we freely Entertain all Visitors. And was fetched often from my Tribe and from others to see into their Affairs Both Religious, Temporal,— Besides my Domestic Concerns. And it Pleased the Lord to Increase my Family fast— and Soon after I was Mar- ried, Mr. Horton left these Indians and the Shenecock & after this I was [alone] and then I had the whole care of these Indians at Montauk, and vis- ited the Shenecock Indians often. Used to set out Saturdays towards Night and come back again Mondays. I have been obliged to Set out from Home after Sun Set, and Ride 30 Miles in the Night, to Preach to these Indians. And Some Indians at Shenecock Sent their Children to my School at Montauk, I kept one of them Some Time, and had a Young Man a half year from Mohegan, a Lad from Nahantuck who was with me almost a year; and had little or nothing for keeping them. My Method in the School was, as Soon as the Children got together, and took their proper Seats, I Prayed with them, then began to hear them. I gen- erally began ( after some of them Could Spell and Read,) With those that were yet in their Alphabets, So around, as they were properly Seated till I got through and I obliged them to Study their Books, and to help one another. When they could not make out a hard word they Brought it to me— and I usually heard them, in the Summer Season 8 Times a Day 4 in the morn- ing, and in [the] after Noon.— In the Winter Season 6 Times a Day, As Soon as they could Spell, they were obliged to Spell when ever they wanted to go out. I concluded with Prayer; I generally heard my Eve ning Scholars 3 Times Round, And as they go out the School, every one, that Can Spell, is obliged to Spell a Word, and to go out Leisurely one after another. I Catechised 3 or 4 Times a Week according to the Assembly’s [Shorter] Catechism, and many Times Proposed Questions of my own, and in my own Tongue. I found Dif"culty with Some Children, who were Some what Dull,4 most of these can soon learn to Say over their Letters, they Distinguish the Sounds by the Ear, but their Eyes can’t Distinguish the Letters, and the way I took to cure them was by making an Alphabet on Small bits of paper, and glued them on Small Chips of Cedar after this manner A B & C. I put these on Letters in order on a Bench then point to one Letter and bid a Child to take notice of it, and then I order the Child to fetch me the Letter from the Bench; if he Brings the Letter, it is well, if not he must go again and again till he brings A S H O R T N A R R A T I V E O F M Y L I F E | 5 9 3 5. The works of the great En glish hymnodist Isaac Watts (1674–1748). 6. Enthusiastic lay preachers. 7. Turned away from. 8. Inclination. 9. Move. 1. Particle, bit. “York”: prob ably New York. 2. I.e., dismissed. [the] right Letter. When they can bring any Letters this way, then I just Jumble them together, and bid them to set them in Alphabetical order, and it is a Plea sure to them; and they soon Learn their Letters this way.— I fre- quently Discussed or Exhorted my Scholars, in Religious matters.— My Method in our Religious Meetings was this; Sabbath Morning we Assem ble together about 10 o’C and begin with Singing; we generally Sung Dr. Watt’s Psalms or Hymns.5 I distinctly read the Psalm or Hymn "rst, and then gave the meaning of it to them, after that Sing, then Pray, and Sing again after Prayer. Then proceed to Read from Suitable portion of Scripture, and so Just give the plain Sense of it in Familiar Discourse and apply it to them. So con- tinued with Prayer and Singing. In the after Noon and Eve ning we Proceed in the Same Manner, and so in Wednesday Eve ning. Some Time after Mr. Horton left these Indians, there was a remarkable revival of religion among these Indians and many were hopefully converted to the Saving knowledge of God in Jesus. It is to be observed before Mr. Horton left these Indians they had Some Prejudices infused in their minds, by Some Enthu- siastical Exhorters6 from New Eng land, against Mr. Horton, and many of them had left him, by this means he was Discouraged, and was disposed from7 these Indians. And being acquainted with the Enthusiasts in New Eng land & the make and the Disposition8 of the Indians I took a mild way to reclaim them. I opposed them not openly but let them go on in their way, and whenever I had an opportunity, I would read Such pages of the Scrip- tures, and I thought would confound their Notions, and I would come to them with all Authority, Saying “ these Saith the Lord”; and by this means, the Lord was pleased to Bless my poor Endeavours, and they were reclaimed, and Brought to hear almost any of the ministers.— I am now to give an Account of my Circumstances and manner of Living. I Dwelt in a Wigwam, a Small Hut with Small Poles and Covered with Matts made of Flags, and I was obligd to remove9 twice a Year, about 2 miles Distance, by reason of the Scarcity of wood, for in one Neck of Land they Planted their Corn, and in another, they had their wood, and I was obligd to have my Corn carted and my Hay also,— and I got my Ground Plow’d every year, which Cost me about 12 shillings an acre; and I kept a Cow and a Horse, for which I paid 21 shil- lings every year York currency, and went 18 miles to Mill for every Dust1 of meal we used in my family. I Hired or Joined with my Neighbours to go to Mill, with a Horse or ox Cart, or on Horse Back, and Some time went myself. My Family Increasing fast, and my Visitors also. I was obligd to contrive every way to Support my Family; I took all opportunities, to get Some thing to feed my Family Daily. I Planted my own Corn, Potatoes, and Beans; I used to be out hoeing my Corn Some times before Sun Rise and after my School is Dismist,2 and by this means I was able to raise my own Pork, for I was allowed to keep 5 Swine. Some mornings & Eve nings I would be out with my Hook and Line to Catch "sh, and in the Fall of Year and in the Spring, I used my gun, and fed my Family with Fowls. I Could more than pay for my Powder & Shot with Feathers. At other Times I Bound old Books for 5 9 4 | S A M S O N O C C O M 3. I.e., et …