USA > New York > Oneida County > Kirkland > History of the town of Kirkland, New York > Part 5
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The orator pursued his illustration still further, and applied it with so much ingenuity and force that the white man's overture was rejected, and, for the time being, the hunting-grounds of the Oneidas were no further reduced. That other counsels prevailed at a later day, we all very well know.1
1 Judge Jones wickedly surmises that Messrs. Dean and Kirkland kept these orators supplied with materials for their speeches! See Tracy's Lect., p. 8.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
In September, 1799, Dr. Timothy Dwight, President of Yale College, accompanied by Tutor Jeremiah Day, started on a tour of observation through this State, in- tending to visit Niagara Falls and Buffalo. At Lairds- ville, in this county, they turned aside to visit Rev. Mr. Kirkland, missionary to the Oneidas. From Clinton the President writes : -
" In the morning of September 26th, we made an ex- cursion to Brothertown, an Indian settlement in the town of Paris. I had a strong inclination to see Indian life in the most advanced state of civilization found in this country, and was informed that it might probably be found here.
" Brothertown is a tract of land about six miles square, which was given to these Indians by the Oneidas. ... Here forty families of these people have fixed themselves in the business of agriculture. They have cleared the land on both sides of the road, about a quarter of a mile in breadth, and about four miles in length. Three of them have framed houses ; the rest are of logs. Their husbandry is generally much inferior to that of the white people.
" They are universally civil in their deportment. The men and boys took off their hats, and the girls courtesied as we passed by them. . . . These people receive an- nually $2160 from the State, ont of which their school- master and their superintendent receive pay for their services.
" At this season of the year they unite with the Oneidas in gathering ginseng, and collect a thousand bushels annually. It brings them two dollars a bushel. Most of it goes to Philadelphia, and thence to China. It is, however, an unprofitable business for the Indians.
53
SAMSON OCCUM.
They are paid for it in cash, which many of them employ as the means of intoxication. This is commonly followed by quarreling and sometimes by murder ; but much less commonly than among the Oneidas." 1
Another aboriginal name worthy of special mention in this history is that of Samson Occum. He was born at Mohegan, near Norwich, Conn., in the year 1723. When quite young, he attended upon the ministrations of Rev. Mr. Jewett, of New London, at which time he be- came the subject of deep religious impressions, and made a public profession of his faith. He now desired to ob- tain an education, that he might become a teacher among his own people. Having learned to read, he entered Rev. Dr. Wheelock's school at New Lebanon, Conn., where he remained four years. In the year 1748, we find him the teacher of a school in New London ; and next he appears as master of an Indian school at Mon- tauk, where he remained ten or eleven years, greatly respected and beloved.
It would seem that during his preceptorship he found time for theological studies, for it appears that before leaving Montauk he frequently officiated as a licensed preacher at Montauk, and among the Shinecock Indians, thirty miles distant. In August, 1759, he received ordi- nation from the Presbytery of Suffolk.
Dr. Wheelock continued to feel a paternal interest in his dusky pupil and a pride in his success. Partly on this account, as well as to show the world what his school could do for the Indian, Occum was appointed to visit England, with Rev. Mr. Whittaker, of Norwich, to solicit aid for the seminary at Lebanon. His visit was quite successful. For, being the first Indian preacher 1 Dwight's Travels, p. 182.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
ever seen in a British pulpit, he attracted much atten- tion and was greeted with large audiences. During the year and a half which he spent in England, he preached upwards of three hundred sermons. George Whitefield invited him to officiate in his tabernacle in London. King's Chapel opened its doors to him, and, while minis- tering in that pulpit, George III. was one of his auditors. He not only gained personal and professional considera- tion, but received large gifts in money, amounting to nearly ten thousand pounds. The king gave him a gold-mounted cane, which he carried, on great occa- sions, the rest of his life. His Majesty also presented him a library of books, and induced several of his nobles and many persons of wealth to become patrons of the Charity School.
The attentions which he received abroad did not spoil him for humbler work at home. On his return, he engaged in missionary labors among his people at Montauk and at other stations quite distant. In the year 1786, he nnited with others in effecting the removal of several broken and dismembered tribes of New England to central New York. He took with him one hundred and ninety-two Montauks and Shinecocks from Long Island, several Mohegans from Connecticut, and a number of Narragansetts from Rhode Island. These, as well as a few representatives of some other half-decayed tribes, he collected together on the banks of our Oriskany, within the borders of this town and the town of Marshall.
Established in his new field, he addressed himself to his chosen work with much assidnity. He labored not only among his own people, but among the neighboring Stockbridges, under the ministerial charge of Rev. Mr. Sergeant. Between him and Mr. Kirkland, also, there
55
GOOD PETER.
grew up a warm friendship. He enjoyed the respect and confidence of the white settlers in this region, being called upon by them frequently to celebrate marriages and attend funerals and preach sermons. He wrote an ac- count of the Montauk Indians which is still preserved. A discourse delivered by him at the execution of Moses Paul, an Indian, was published at New Haven, Conn., September 2, 1772. On which of our hillsides he com- posed the hymn beginning, -
" Awaked by Sinai's awful sound,"
we do not know, but that it will long be sung on many a hillside is evinced by its adoption into nearly all our standard books for Sabbath worship. Dr. Timothy Dwight says of him: "I heard Mr. Occum twice. His sermons, though not proofs of superior talents, were decent, and his utterance was in some degree eloquent." He was no ordinary man, and, considering his origin and his opportunities for improvement, his attainments were respectable. Pleasing in his manners and address, his life exemplified the spirit of the gospel. Even to this day, the name of " Priest Occum " is revered by the descendants of all who knew him. He died at New Stockbridge, New York, July, 1792, aged sixty-nine years.
If the limits of this chapter permitted, I should like to introduce here a sketch of the Oneida chief, Good Peter, a convert to Christianity under the labors of Mr. Kirkland. It is related of him that upon a certain Sun- day, when Mr. Kirkland was too unwell to proceed with his sermon, he asked Good Peter to speak a few words of exhortation. Peter arose, and with much modesty began to address his countrymen upon the great good-
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
ness and mercy of God in sending his only Son to take upon Himself the form of sinful men, and to suffer and die for their redemption. After depicting the human life and character of Christ in various aspects, he said : " And yet He was the great God who created all things. He walked on earth with men, and had the form of a man, but He was all the while the same Great Spirit ; He had only thrown his blanket around Him."
In his address to the New York Historical Society in 1811, De Witt Clinton asserted that " one may search in vain in the records and writings of the past, or in the events of the present times, for a single model of elo- quence among the Algonquins, the Abenaquis, the Dela- wares, the Shawanese, or any other nations of Indians except the Iroquois." We will not assume to affirm or deny the truth of this statement, but surely tlie brief specimens we have been able to give will show that the Iroquois of this region were not lacking in eloquence, and that for this, as well as for their bravery, they have been well styled " the Romans of North America."
Without dwelling longer upon incidents connected with the history of the aborigines in this town and its vicinity, I pass to mention a few other items of general interest to the inhabitants of Kirkland.
When the first settlers on Dean's patent (embracing the present town of Westmoreland) heard of the arrival of the emigrants at Clinton, they started out to find them. They knew only that their new neighbors were several miles south upon the Oriskany, above an Indian clearing on the site of the present village of Manchester. They took the Indian trail, - which was also the army- trail of General Armstrong in the French War, - crossed the creek at the clearing, and took a southerly course up
57
BEARS IN THE CORNFIELDS.
the valley. When about a quarter of a mile this side of Manchester, they fell in with a number of cows graz- ing on the wild vegetation of the woods. One of the cows wore a bell. Mr. Joseph Blackmer, a leading man in this party, full of frolic, raised his coat-tails above his head, shook his hat, and made a succession of such hideous noises that the frightened cows started for home on a run, and thus showed the company the way to the settlement at Clinton. Many and hearty were the greet- ings between the new neighbors ; and the good-will which then sprang up continued to grow and flourish ever after- ward.
It is often related by our older inhabitants that bears were very annoying to the first settlers, destroying their young pigs, and trampling down and devonring their half-ripened corn. There is a tradition of a farmer in a neighboring settlement who, while feeding his drove of swine, discovered that Bruin had covertly joined himself to the flock, and that when the hogs perceived it, with porcine instinct they straightway formed themselves into a circle, with noses outward, and thus made a sharp and decisive resistance until the farmer's gun came to their relief and dispatched the intruder. Judge Williams records that in the fall of 1790, "as Mr. Jesse Curtiss and three or four others were returning from meeting one Sunday afternoon, - their path lying through a field near the house now occupied by Mr. Gunn, - they heard an unusual rustling in the corn ; and on searching for the cause, soon discovered two bear-cubs busily engaged in breaking down and destroying the ripening corn. Forth- with they set upon them, and, despite their grunts and cries, by dint of kicks and blows, soon dispatched them. The same afternoon, Mr. Bronson (who lived in the
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
house now occupied by Samuel Brownell), on returning from meeting, found the old mother-bear sitting quietly on the steps of his door, little dreaming of the sad calamity which had even then overtaken her children."
The streets and cross-roads of the town were early designated by names. The street leading past the home- stead of the late James D. Stebbins was called Brimfield Street, because it was wholly settled by inhabitants from Brimfield, Mass. The present borough of Franklin was long styled Sodom, though we never knew that it was noted for its depravity. Post Street, running southeast from Franklin, was so called from Darius Post and his three sons, Titus, Ethan, and Darius Post, Jr., who came from Vermont at an early day, and settled on adjoining farms in that distriet. The street leading to Utica once rejoiced in the name of Toggletown, because the roadside fences were once "toggled " together at the end of each section. That portion of the town which lies between one and two miles east of Clinton, has long been christened Chuckery. Judge Williams says, " The story goes that in Massachusetts, according to established custom, the governor's proclamation for Thanksgiving was read in all the churches. Then, as now, he called upon the people to render a tribute of gratitude for the blessings of Providence upon their farms, their fisheries and their merchandise. In Egremont, some mischievous wag, possessing himself of the copy of the proclamation which the clergyman had prepared to read to his congre- gation the next Sabbath, changed the word fisheries to chuckeries, and so the unsuspecting pastor read it, to the no small edification of his audience! Soon after this, a company of colonists from Egremont came westward, and settling on the hill east of this village, gave this odd
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THE FIRST BURGLARY.
name to their resting-place." But the joke did not end here. For a colony of Kirkland people who removed, many years ago, to the town of Fenner, in Madison County, dubbed their little settlement New Chuckery. Modern degeneracy has since corrupted it into Perry- ville.
And now that we are in the story-telling vein, let us record the first burglary known to have occurred in this town. Judge Jones is my authority. It was in the year 1801, when Ephraim Hart, one of the early mer- chants of this town, and whose store stood on the site now occupied for the same purpose by James Cook, had collected about $1800 in silver coin, with which he expected soon to start for New York to purchase goods. One Samuel MacBride, an Irishman, learning of this treasure, broke into the store by night and carried it off. It would seem that he had not laid his plans very adroitly, for within twenty-four hours he was captured and brought back to Clinton with all his booty. While lying in confinement awaiting his trial, he managed to escape, and took to the woods. Steering northward, he found, near what is now Middle Settlement, a hollow stump about ten feet high, into which he climbed, and let himself down, intending to remain there the next day, and at night start anew on his travels. When night came, he found that the inner sides of the stump were so smooth that it was exceedingly difficult to climb them. He tried repeatedly, but in vain, and had well nigh concluded that he must lie there 'and die of starvation. Just at day- break, he made another despairing effort, and, as St. Patrick would have it, he reached the top ! The world vas all before him where to choose. Down he leaped rom his covert, and bounded like a deer for the forest,
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
but had run only a few rods, when an officer of justice sprang upon him and took him prisoner. He was sen- tenced to the States Prison for fourteen years. This was an event of no great consequence, surely, but in those early times, it produced a sensation in the quiet little town of Kirkland.
We were just about closing this chapter of events not unmixed with romance and adventure, when we caught sight of flowers. It was " Squire Foot's flower-bed," so called, a large border of cultivated ground on the south side of his house, which stood on the north side of College Street at its junction with the village Park. The stern- faced Puritan, who had fought in the battles of the Revo- lution and afterwards led a company of pioneers into this wilderness, had brought with him to Clinton some pack- ages of flower-seeds and a few perennial plants and shrubs, with which he sought to grace the patch of soil near his door-step. Here were marigolds and pinks, morning- glories, lilacs and roses. Hither came the bees, attracted by the mellifluous fragrance. Hither came the wind from the sweet south, giving and receiving odor. Hither flocked the children from a school just opened in Squire Foot's new barn, a few rods away. As a special favor, the old gentleman now and then gave them bouquets, which they carried home with pride and rejoicing. Some of these chil- dren had doubtless gathered the hepatica and violet and blood-root in the adjoining woods, but these brilliant flow- ers from old Connecticut, if they did not surpass the former in beauty, were at least a greater novelty. The Indians, as they came to the village for trading, sometimes loitered, and leaned over the white man's fence, wondering of what use such a garden could be. Some of the children of Moses Foot are with us unto this day, and the de-
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MRS. ELIZABETH LUCAS.
scendants of his flowers are still blooming in the gardens of Kirkland. Among the children in the school just re- ferred to, and whose eyes rejoiced in those flowers, was Elizabeth Bristol, now Mrs. Lucas, still a resident of Clinton, and rounding out her life in a serene and beau- tiful old age of ninety-two years.
D
CHAPTER III.
REV. SAMUEL KIRKLAND.1
FEW personages figure more prominently in the early history of this region, than the Rey. Samuel Kirkland. It would seem that the first inhabitants of this place held him in high honor, since they gave his name to their town. It will not be inappropriate, therefore, to devote a chapter of this history to a sketch of this good man's life.
Mr. Kirkland was born in Norwich, Conn., Decem- ber 1, 1741. His earliest ancestor of whom any trace remains, was one John Kirkland, of Silver Street, Lon- don. The family, for several generations, held influ- ential posts in society and in the church. Miles Standish was one of his progenitors. Particular mention is also made of Daniel, his father, who was pastor of a church in Norwich, and is recorded as being " a devoted minis- ter, an accomplished scholar, a man of fine talents, of a ready wit, and an amiable disposition." Of the incidents of Samuel's childhood and youth little is known. It may be supposed, however, that he was trained, like other Puritan boys of the time, to habits of industry and self-dependence. As Cotton Mather wrote of Thomas Hooker, so it may be said of him, that "he was born of parents that were neither unable nor unwilling to bestow
1 The substance of this chapter was contributed to the North American Re- view, for July, 1863.
D. C Hmmmnan Se
SAMUEL KIRKLAND
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MR. KIRKLAND'S STUDIES.
upon him a liberal education ; whereunto the early, lively sparkles of wit observed in him did very much encourage them. His natural temper was cheerful and courteous ; but it was accompanied with such a sensible grandeur of mind as caused his friends, without the help of astrology, to prognosticate that he was born to be, considerable."
When about twenty years of age, we find him at the academy of Rev. Dr. Wheelock, at Lebanon, Conn., pre- paring for college. Among his companions here were several Indian youth, with one of whom he studied the Mohawk dialect, and made a good degree of proficiency in it. He entered the sophomore class at Princeton, where he maintained a high rank as a scholar. Here, if not at Lebanon, he entered upon the christian life. At some time during his college course, he determined to spend his days in missionary service among the Indian tribes of the West; and when this purpose was once formed, it gave a new impulse to his mind and inspired him with fresh ardor in study.
The senior year in college seems to have been a little too long for his fervent zeal ; since we find him starting off, several months before its close, on a tour of explora- tion and inquiry among the Seneca Indians in western New York. Though not present to graduate with his class, he received the usual bachelor's degree at Com- mencement. Young Kirkland was now twenty-three years of age. The Senecas were the most remote of the Six Nations, if not the most powerful and warlike of them all. His undertaking was regarded by his friends as bold and hazardous. The journey thither was toilsome and difficult. No Protestant missionary had ever dwelt among this tribe ; indeed, all proposals to enlighten and convert them had hitherto been scornfully rejected.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
·
Nothing daunted, our young apostle resolved to visit these savages, and, if he could persuade them to receive him, he meant to live among them as their teacher and spirit- ual guide. This enterprise was doubtless undertaken by the advice of his patron and friend, Dr. Wheelock, and its expenses were defrayed out of funds deposited with him by certain benevolent gentlemen in Scotland. The journey thither, in view of all its circumstances, is worthy of detailed recital.
He started early in November, 1764, attended by a young Mohawk Indian, and arrived on the 16th at John- son Hall, the residence of Sir William Johnson, his Majesty's Agent for Indian Affairs, near the present village of Johnstown, N. Y. Much to his regret, he was obliged to remain here until January, for want of a suit- able guide through the wilderness. But he did not spend his time in idleness or vain repining. Every day he gained some new information from his host touching the manners and customs of the Senecas, and soon acquired a good general knowledge of all the leading characters in the Six Nations. At length, two friendly Senecas, pass- ing westward, offered to conduct him to their country. On the 17th of January, the party set out. The weather was severely cold, and the snow so deep that it was necessary to walk with snow-shoes. Besides this, each traveller had to carry a pack of clothes and provisions weighing upwards of forty pounds.
" It would have been a fine study for a painter," says Dr. Lothrop, his grandson and biographer, " to watch his countenance, and trace its lines of high thought and holy purpose, as he turned his back upon Johnson Hall, the last vestige of civilization, and, amid the dreary desolation of winter, in company with two savages, . . . with whom he could hardly exchange a word, struck off into the forest on a journey of nearly two hundred miles." - Memoir, p. 24.
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MR. KIRKLAND AMONG THE SENECAS.
He did not suffer as much hardship on this journey as he had expected. His companions opened with their hatchets the path before him whenever it was obstructed; they halted to rest when he became weary ; they chafed his limbs when they were swollen by the friction and weight of the snow-shoes ; and at night they made for him soft and fragrant beds of evergreen boughs. At Kanonwarohale, the chief village of the Oneidas, and at Onondaga, they were kindly treated and invited to tarry; but, after a day's rest at each place, they pressed forward until they reached Kanadasegea, the principal village of the Senecas. The day after their arrival, a council was called to receive and hear a letter brought by Mr. Kirk- land from Sir William, in which, among other things, he commended the missionary to their confidence, and enjoined it upon them to treat him with kindness and respect. The head-chief and a majority of his people received him with frank cordiality, though a few were silent and sullen. The sachem even adopted him into his family ; of which ceremony the graceful forms and courtesies were truly remarkable, as the acts of sav- ages who had learned little from the usages of civilized life. A Dutch trader, happening to stroll into the settle- ment the next day, acted as interpreter between the par- ties. It is remarkable that nearly every one who ad- dressed the missionary began with this inquiry : " What put it into your mind to leave your father's house and country, to come so many hundred miles to see Indians, and live among them ?" Did they suspect some sinister design, or were the poor creatures unable to appreciate his christian philanthropy ?
Having been domiciled in a small family near the wigwam of the sachem, Mr. Kirkland applied himself to
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
learning the language, and acquainting himself with the habits of the people. For a time everything went on smoothly. But lo! in a few weeks his host died sud- denly in the night. " What means this ?" inquired the superstitious red men. Some of his enemies avowed that he had caused this death by magic; others, that the Great Spirit was angry because they had permitted the strange teacher to come among them ; and they clamored for his life. A council was called to consider this matter, and held its sessions for six days. At first the result seemed doubtful. On the third day, one of his friends, apprehensive as to the issue, put a gun into his hands, and led him into the woods, as if for hunting partridges, but, in reality, to conceal him in a distant and secret hut until the public excitement should pass over. At length, after long deliberation, the missionary was acquitted, and restored to general confidence. Several days after the dispersion of the council, the chief took Mr. Kirkland aside, and observed to him, quite naïvely, that " some Indians were afraid of writing, as it would speak for a great many years afterward, and that, whenever he wrote to Sir William, therefore, it would be good for him to call several of the chiefs together, and interpret to them what he had written : this would please them, and make their hearts glad." The young missionary was shrewd enough to see that this speech was designed to prevent his writing to Mr. Johnson an account of the late diffi- culty. They were heartily ashamed of it.
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