USA > Connecticut > New London County > Montville > History of Montville, Connecticut, formerly the North parish of New London from 1640 to 1896 > Part 5
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" And the said Adonijah Fitch and Abraham Avery, and each of them are hereby appointed and impowered to make search after such strong drink, and to seize and secure the
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same, and to libel against it as forfeit for any assistant or Justice of the Peace, when the forfeiture is not above forty shillings, otherwise before the County Court in the County of New London, and the said Adonijah Fitch and Abraham Avery are hereby chosen and appointed Grand Jurors for the County of New London till this Assembly shall order otherwise, who shall be sworn accordingly, and they are di- rected especially to make diligent search after, and due pre- sentment of all breaches of the laws made to prevent the sell- ing strong drink to the Indians.
" And it is further enacted, That when any strong drink shall be seized as aforesaid in the custody of any of the said Indians, if such Indian or Indians shall inform of whom he bought such drink, and give evidence thereof, so as such ven- der, besides the penalties already by law established for such offense, shall forfeit to such Indian twice the value of the drink seized as aforesaid, and the authority before whom such vender is convicted shall give sentence accordingly. This Act to continue in force till the first day of May in the year 1735."
As early as 1736, Ben Uncas made a declaration that he had embraced the Christian religion. When this event was known to the Assembly, the members of that body expressed themselves much gratified, and resolved to encourage the chief in so good a course. They therefore passed a resolution de- siring the governor " to present him at the public expense with a hat and coat in the English style, and his wife Anna with a gown."
During the year 1741 there was great religious interest throughout New England. It was at this time that White- field visited many of the towns in New England, and preached with distinguished success. The Rev. Eliphalet Adams of New London, with Rev. David Jewett of the North Parish, had for some years been laboring among the Mohegans. After Mr. Jewett was settled over his parish in 1739, many of the Indians attended upon his ministry, and from fifteen to
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twenty joined the church, among whom was Widow Bete Oceum and Anna Uncas, wife of the sachem, Lucy Coche- gan, Sarah Occum, Samuel Ashpo, and Widow Hannah Coop- er. Ben Uneas died about 1749. His will, dated May 8, 1745, was probably drawn up by some of the white settlers, but some of the ideas contained therein seem to be those of his own, and for the benefit of the reader I give an extract from its opening passage:
" In the name of God, Amen. I, Benjamin Uncas, Sa- chem of the Mohegan tribe of Indians, sensible that I am born to die, and also knowing that the time when, is uncertain, do now in my health and strength, for which I desire to praise God, make and ordain this my last Will and Testament. I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God who made it, trusting in Christ for the free and full pardon of all my sins, and for obtaining eternal life. My body I commit to the earth to be buried in devout Christian burial, at and in the sepulcher of my ancestors in the common Indian Kings burying ground in the town of Norwich, and I believe that through the mighty power of God my body shall be raised at the last day, and soul and body be re-united and live together, never more to be separated."
He appointed his only son, Benjamin, as his successor. In the division of his personal property, he gave his wife, his son, and his five daughters, each one-seventh part. Hle ex- pressed the desire that all his children might be brought up and educated in the Christian religion, which he affirmed to be his own choice, and in which he declared that he hoped to live and die. Rev. Eliphalet Adams is styled in one of the petitions of Ben Uncas and his people " their venerable and faithful pastor." He died in 1753, aged 77 years. The year before his death he, in conjunction with Rev. David Jewett, petitioned the Assembly to make an appropriation for the repairs of the Indian schoolhouse, then much dilapidated from exposure. The petition was granted, and the schoolhouse repaired and enlarged for the accommodation of the teacher
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and his family. Robert McClelland, a man sent to them by the missionary society in England, became teacher of the Mohegans. He continued to exercise his office as a teacher for several years. He was a member of Mr. Jewett's church.
Two years after this appropriation a law book was pre- sented to the Mohegans by the Assembly, and Mr. McClel- land was directed to read and explain to them the contents of the book at least twice each year. About this time there were many orphans in the tribe, owing to the late war be- tween the colony and. the French and Indians of Canada, the Indians having volunteered to assist the English in driv- ing back the French and Indians. Many had lost their lives in the encounter. Much suffering on account of poverty prevailed, and it was with great difficulty that the children could be induced to attend school.
McClelland found no small difficulty in getting the mem- bers of his school together. Sometimes he would go out into the fields in search for them, and sometimes he went to the cabins of the parents to persuade them to do what they could in getting their children regularly to school. Finding these endeavors unavailing, he commenced giving each of the poorer scholars a piece of bread every day for dinner. This plan had a good effect. His means would not, however, allow him to continue that practice from his own resources alone, so he petitioned the Assembly for assistance, which was successful, and as long as he continued to feed the mind of the Indian child he fed his body. Among the Indian boys at the time when Ben Uncas the second was crowned sachem was one, who, in after years, became famous, not only among his own tribe, but throughout both New and Old England. His name was Samson Occum. He was born at Mohegan in 1723. At the age of seventeen years he became anxious about his soul's welfare, and at times was greatly alarmed at his own lost condition. For six months he was burdened with his sins, and could get no relief. At last light broke in upon his soul, and he entered into the path of the just. From the time
4
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light broke upon him, and the dreaded doom of darkness had vanished, the desire uppermost in his mind was to become a teacher of the " good news " to his brethren.
Occum was early placed in the family of Rev. Mr. Whee- lock of Lebanon, where he received his first education, being at that time quite young. Two others of the Mohegan boys were also at different times under the tutorship of Mr. Whee- lock: Joseph Johnson, who also became an eminent preacher of the gospel, and Isaiah Uncas, son of the sachem, who, when in youth, was in feeble health and of a dull intellect. Isaiah died about 1770, and with him expired the male line of the Ben Uncas family. After Occum's conversion, his education re-commeneed in Rev. Mr. Wheelock's family, and here he remained three years, when he removed for about one year to the home of Rev. Mr. Pomeroy, a clergyman of Hebron. It was the intent of the friends of young Ocem that he should complete his education at college, but his health failed him under confinement, his eyes became affected from close study, and he was obliged for a time to give up his studies. In 1748, Oecum taught school for a while in New London. After this time he was a preacher on Long Island, when on the 29th of August, 1759, he was ordained by the Suffolk Presbytery. His preaching on Long Island was to the tribe of Indians located there. Occum was ever after- wards regarded as a regular member of the ecclesiastical so- ciety. In 1766 he visited England, and preached with good acceptance in London and other principal cities of Great Brit- ain to crowded audiences. In May, 1769, died Ben Uncas, the last sachem of the tribe of Mohegans, being the sixth crowned sachem of the tribe, and the third Ben Uncas in the direct line of Uncas the first. The news of his death reaching the Assembly then in session, a committee was immediately appointed to go to Mohegan and consult with the Indians about the best method of choosing a successor, and of pre- venting any quarrel that might arise as to the lands. Three of the committee appointed, William Hillhouse, Gurdon Sal-
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tonstall, and Pyan Adams, arrived in time to attend the funeral of the deceased sachem. The funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. David Jewett, the pastor of the church at North Parish, and a sincere friend of the Mohegans. The remains of the sachem were buried in one of the burial grounds at Mohegan, but were subsequently exhumed, and re-buried in the royal cemetery of the tribe at Norwich. The committee, on arriving at Mohegan, found all the former quarrels of the Mohegans revived and broken out with redoubled violence upon the question of the sachemship. Occum, who, since his return from England had been preaching part of the time to his countrymen, was in favor of John Uncas and so was John Cooper, Jo Wyacks, and most of the leading men of the tribe. John Uncas' party had publicly recognized his title to the sachemship on the same day that Ben Uncas died, and the committee were obliged to confess that besides the family of Ben Uncas, not more than four or five Mohegans could be induced to acknowledge any person as sachem whom the assembly would approve. Another committee had been appointed soon after the first, and had been furnished with explicit directions. They were to acquaint Isaiah Uncas with all the particulars regarding what the colony had done for the first Uncas and grand sachem, the state of the suit now pending in England, and with the release in favor of the colony, which had been executed by the first Ben Uncas and his people, and then they were to recommend the appointing of Isaiah Uneas as sachem. But the committee could effect noth- ing, either as to the sachemship or the division of their lands. Those who favored John Uncas refused to say anything ex- cept that they wanted no help or advice from the colony, and that they did not choose to appoint a sachem or divide their lands until they had heard how the case had gone in England. All the efforts and propositions of the committee were useless, and they were finally obliged to give up their errand and return to Hartford to report their ill success. Soon after this the great suit before the King's Bench was at last made, and
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was again in favor of the colony. Occum, on hearing of the termination of the suit, in writing to a friend says: "The grand controversy which has subsisted between the colony of Connectient and the Mohegan Indians above seventy years is finally decided in favor of the colony. I am afraid the . poor Indians will never stand a good chance with the English in their land controversies, because they are very poor; they have no money. Money is almighty nowadays, and the In- dians have no learning, no wit, no cunning. The English have all."
The following is the copy of a paper found on file in the State Library, and to which is attached the names of more than forty of the Indians who were on the stage of action at the death of Ben Uncas the second, in 1749.
" Mohegan, June 19th, 1749.
" We, the Indians commonly called Mmovanhegunneh- vog, having had several meetings to consult about sachem, for we see that we can't be a free and Distinct People by our selves unless we have a head, and now we have Nominated Benjamin Uncas to be our sachem; i. e., if he will Consent to all the Articles which his Father Left in his Last Will or Tes- tament Concerning the matter, and this is all that we Can Say at this Time Seeing we cant do much of our Selves. And now having again had further Consideration and having Ex- amined Benjamin Uncas and heard his Consent and Com- pliance to all the Articles above mentioned, And he proposes Also, by Divine help and assistance to conform him Self to them all. And so now upon these very Terms and Considera- tions and not other We do Choose Benjamin Uncas to be our Sachem, and we do also promise to be Loving, faithful, and Obedient Subjects to Benj. Uncas as our Sachem So long as he shall maintain and walk agreeable to the Articles of his father's Last Will or Testament Concerning Sachemship.
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In Testimony Whereof We do Set to our hands,
ZACHERY JOHNSON JOHN FETCH
JOHN DANTUEQUEJAN
JOSHUA OCCOM
EPHRAIM JOHNSON
JACOB GEORGE
SAMSON OCCUM
SAMUEL ASHPO
JOSEPH JOHNSON
JOHN JOHNSON
JOHN GEORGE
ABEL AUSHKONUNTT
SAMUEL PIE
JOSHUA GEORGE
MOSES MAZZEAN
DANIEL COOPER
JAMES ROBPIN
PEGE JOWON
DAVID OCCOM
ROBERT ASHPO
JOHN ROBPIN
SAMUEL COOPER
JACOB HOSCOTT
SOLOMON COOPER
JACOB HOSCOTT, JR.
JOSEPH ASHPO
JABEZ JAMES
JONATHAN OCCOM
SIMON CHOYCHOY
ELIPHALET JOWON
NOAH CHOYCHOY
JOSEPH JOWON
CHALS. CHOYCHOY
THOMAS OCCOM
HENRY QUAMQUANQUID
JOSHUA JOGUIRE
CALEB CAUCHEGAN
JOHN NANEZCOOM
JOHN CHESWONKEH
GEORGE MEIEYETUMMIE
THOMAS GEORGE
Sworn to at New London May 10, 1750,
Before DANIEL COIT, Justice of the Peace.
After the report of the committee appointed in the interest of Isaiah Uncas, a bill was passed by the Assembly, appropriat- ing thirty pounds for presents to Isaiah and his attendants. This was in consideration of the " ancient friendship between the Mohegans and the colony." The money was expended partly in presents to Isaiah and some of his adherents, partly paying their expenses while on a visit to Hartford, and partly in purchasing various articles from the widow and family of the late sachem. Isaiah Uncas died during the year 1770, and with him expired the male line of the Ben Uncas family. No person has ever been sachem since the death of the last Ben
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Uncas. The strongest claimant to the crown was Isaiah; be- sides him was his rival, John Uncas, but neither these persons nor any others ever became sachems.
About this time William Hubbard had succeeded Robert McClelland as school teacher among the Mohegans, with a salary from the missionary society of twenty-four pounds a year. The schoolhouse, and the dwelling attached to it, both being in need of repairs, he had expended about five pounds from his own resources to make them comfortable. This sum, after several petitions to the Assembly, was by its order paid back to Hubbard, and also a grant was made to him of six pounds yearly in addition to his previous salary. It is not certainly known how long this man was employed as a teacher of the Mohegan children, but it is supposed until about 1774 or 1775. In the latter part of 1771, a Mohegan named Moses Paul was tried, condemned, and sentenced to death for the murder of one Moses Clark while in a fit of intoxication. A large assembly of English and Indians collected to witness his execution, and by request of the condemned, Samson Oe- cum preached a funeral sermon before the poor miserable man was launched into eternity. He took for his text the words, " For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus ('hrist our Lord." The following is an extract from the sermon preached from the above text, and when the condemned man was before him, and probably sitting upon his coffin.
"My poor kindred, you see the woeful consequences of sin by seeing this, our poor, miserable countryman now before us, who is to die for his sins and great wickedness. And it was the sin of drunkenness that has brought this destruction and untimely death upon him. There is a dreadful woe de- nounced from the Almighty against drunkards, and it is this sin, this abominable, this beastly sin of drunkenness that has stripped us of every desirable comfort in this life; by this sin we have no name or credit in the world among polite na- tions; for this sin we are despised in the world, and it is all
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right and just, for we despise ourselves more, and if we don't regard ourselves who will regard us ? By this sin we can't have comfortable houses, nor anything comfortable in our honses, neither food or raiment, nor decent utensils. We are obliged to put up any sort of shelter, just to screen us from the severity of the weather, and we go about with very mean, ragged and dirty clothes, almost naked. We are half starved, and most of the time obliged to pick up anything to eat. And our poor children are suffering every day for want of food, and we have nothing to give them; and in the cold weather they are shivering and crying, being pinched with cold. All this is for the love of strong drink. And this is not all the misery and evil we bring on ourselves in this world; but when we are intoxicated with strong drink, we drown our rational powers by which we are distinguished from the brute creation. We unman ourselves and bring ourselves, not only on a level with the beasts of the field, but seven degrees beneath them; yea, we bring ourselves level with the devils. I don't know but we make ourselves worse than the devils, for I never heard of a drunkard devil. They have been cheated," he proceeds to say, " by means of drunkenness, they have been drowned and frozen through drunkenness, yet, for all this, drunken- ness is not a matter of shame among them; the young men will get drunk as soon as they will eat when they are hungry; and while no sight is more shocking, none is more common than that of a drunken woman." The preacher made a long and earnest address to the doomed prisoner, pointing out the fright- ful nature of his crime, explaining the divine mode of salva- tion, and urging him with pathos and energy to accept it. He closed his discourse with the following general exhortation: " And now let me exhort you all to break off your drunkenness by a gospel repentance, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Take warning by this doleful subject before us, and by all the dreadful judgments that has befallen poor drunkards. Oh, let us all reform our lives and live as becomes dying creatures in time to come. Let us be persuaded
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that we are accountable creatures to God, and must be called to an account in a few days. You that have been careless all your days, now awake to righteousness and be concerned for your poor and never-dying souls. Fight against all sins, and especially against the sin that easily besets you, and behave in time to come as becomes rational creatures, and above all things believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall have eternal life, and when you come to die your souls will be received into heaven, there to be with the Lord Jesus in eternal happiness with all the saints in glory, which God in his infinite mercy granted through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen."
At this time efforts were being made by one or more of the Mohegans to induce the members of the tribe to leave their present homes and accept the hospitality of the Mohawks, who had offered them a settlement on the unoccupied lands of the Six Nations. Oecum sympathized with the movement, and did much to encourage it, but the principal agent in the under- taking was Joseph Johnson, whose education, as before stated, was received at the Rev. Mr. Wheelock's school, and who was afterwards sent as a schoolmaster to the Six Nations. In his efforts to induce his countrymen to move to other lands, sev- eral journeys had been made, and, having exhausted all his means, he applied for assistance to the governor and Assembly of Connecticut. By his earnest and affecting appeal, he ob- tained the sum of six pounds from the colony, and Governor Trumbull gave him a certificate of his good character, and the meritorious nature of his enterprise, to assist him in other places. In December, 1774, he presented his cause on an evening at the old Presbyterian church in New York, when a collection was taken up to aid him in his enterprise. He had formed a determination, if God should prosper him in his undertaking, to make his influence felt in the establishment of peace between the western tribes and his majesty's sub- jects, and to instruct them in the Christian religion. How many of his countrymen he induced to remove with him is unknown. A few, however, are known to have left their na-
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tive land and to have taken up their abode among the New York Indians. He became a missionary among the Indians of the State of New York, and was living with them at the Six Nations at the opening of the revolutionary war. Wash- ington, while at Cambridge, during the siege of Boston, wrote him a letter, dated the 20th of February, 1776, in which he said, " Tell the Indians that we do not want them to take up the hatchet for us unless they choose it, we only desire that they will not fight against us. We want that the chain of friend- ship should always remain bright between our friends, the Six Nations, and us. We recommend you to them, and hope by spreading the truths of the gospel among them it will always keep the chain bright."
Disagreements still continued among the Molegans, part- ly concerning their government, and partly about their lands. Zachery Johnson, Simon Choychoy and a few other old coun- cilors were determined upon taking the government of the tribe into their own hands. On the other hand, those Indians who adhered to the Mason family stubbornly refused to obey them. Another cause of difference also presented itself. A number of the Indians began to pay some attention to the cultivation of their lands, and to keep small stocks of sheep and cattle. These persons soon usurped a large part of the cleared lands, and as a matter of course those more idle and improvident became dissatisfied and made complaints about not receiving their proportion of the lands. Several tracts of the Mohegan lands had been leased to white farmers, and the overseers were puzzled as to how they should divide the rents. All these things served to create differences among the Mohegans, and the whole community was in a state of turmoil and confusion. The Assembly was often petitioned by the several parties to aid them in adjusting these difficulties. Committees were sent from time to time to assist them in removing the dif- ferences, and to promote peace and harmony among them. A code of directions were formed for the regulation of these
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affairs. The overseers were instructed and empowered to prosecute trespasses upon the Indian lands, to summon the parties, give judgment and award damages. If any Indian wanted land for himself he was to apply to the overseer, who might set off for him a suitable tract to be improved for his personal benefit.
In August, 1782, a list of all the Indians belonging to the tribe of Mohegans was made out, and sent to the Assembly for the purpose of making a division of the tribe lands. The fol- lowing was copied from the original paper on file in the office of the State Librarian at Hartford.
" List of the Mohegan Indians, Aug. 5, 1782, viz :
Mercy Uncas, widow of ye late sachem
Esther Uncas, daughter to Abimileck, 87 years old Zachery Johnson, Old Councillor
Martha Obed, his wife. No children
Lucy Dantaquechin, wife of Peter Trocomas, cast off Eliphalet, about 6 years old
Cynthia, about 4 do Children of said Lucy
Sarah Chawchoy, widow of Simon
Amey, about 30 Elizabeth, about 20 - Children of said Saralı
Simon, about 25
Mercy Uncas, widow of Noah. Son of twin John John, about 17
Noah, about 14 1
Children of said Mercy by Noah
Amy, about 7
Esther, about 3
Hannah Uncas, widow of twin John, grandmother to ye above children
Sarah Mahomet, widow of him that died in England
Betty Uncas, widow of (Mason) John deceased
Anna Uncas, widow of Ben, son of (Mason) John, said Ben killed at New London, Sept. '81
Anna, about 18 mos. old, child of said widow Anna Saml Uncas, son of said (Mason) John
CYNTHA HOSCOTT HOUSE.
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Elizabeth, his wife Joshua, about 8 years
Eunice, about 9 do
Children of said Saml and wife
George, about 3 do Polly, about 10 mos. John Dantaquegin Lucy, his wife Jerusha, about 20
David, about 18
Children of said John and Lucy
Bartholomew, about 12
Parthenia, about 7
Esther Dantaquegin, mother of said John
Betty George, widow of Pompey John George, son of said Betty in ye army
Lucy, about 11
Molly, about 10 2
Children of said Betty
Pompey, about 4
Moses Mazzeen Sarah, about 20
Hannah, about 19
Children of said Moses
Ezekiel, about 18, in the army Thomas, about 9
Sarah Occom, widow, mother of Sampson
Sampson Occom, minister
Mary, his wife Benoni, about 19 Theodosia, about 13
Children of Sampson Occom
Saml Fowler, about 12 Andrew Gifford, about 8
Jonathan Occom, brother of Sampson
Eunice Occom, widow of Joshua, disceased
Eunice, her daughter, about 17
Wm. Johnson, about 8 Jos. Johnson, about 6
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