USA > New York > Oneida County > Kirkland > History of the town of Kirkland, New York > Part 7
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ACADEMY FOUNDED.
and a state of civilization, and know what it is that makes one nation differ from another in wealth, power, and happiness ; and in the principles of natural religion, the moral precepts, and the more plain and express doc- trines of christianity." For the convenience of both parties, he proposed to place this institution near what was then the boundary-line between the white settle- ments and the Indian territory. The scheme was well approved everywhere, but perhaps it found its warmest advocates among those intelligent families which had recently emigrated from New England and settled in the adjoining towns ; for though they somewhat doubted its success so far as the Indians were concerned, they felt sure that it would be beneficial to the white population.
On the journey of which we have spoken, he gave his first thoughts to the Academy. He solicited and obtained subscriptions to its funds. He visited the Governor of the State, and the Regents of the University, and, with their cooperation, took the first steps toward procuring a charter, which was obtained the following year, 1793. Alexander Hamilton afforded him invaluable aid, as did also Colonel Pickering. At Philadelphia he called upon General Washington, who expressed a warm interest in the welfare of the institution. Mr. Hamilton was one of the trustees mentioned in the petition for its incorpora- tion, and after him it was named the " Hamilton Oneida Academy." Mr. Kirkland's exertions did not end here. In April, 1793, he conveyed to the institution a valuable grant of land. This donation was made in connection with a subscription for erecting the academy building. On the table before us lies this original subscription- paper, now yellow and torn, on which he entered lis first donation. It reads in this simple way: "Sam1
6
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HISTORY OF TIIE TOWN 01 'RKLAND.
Kirkland, £10.0.0. and 15 days' work. Also, 300 acres of land, for the use and benefit of the Academy, to b leased, and the product applied towards the support of an able instructor."
This gift, with others from the friends of learning and religion throughout the State, placed the Academy on . substantial footing. A commodious building was erecter on the western hillside overlooking the infant settlement of Clinton, on the spot. designated by Mr. Kirkland ; an able preceptor and an assistant were procured, and the doors opened for pupils. Hamilton Oneida Academy soon became widely known, and scholars flocked to it from every quarter.
In his Historical Discourse, President Fisher, having remarked upon the time at which the corner-stone of the Academy was laid, thus pictures also the occasion : -
" The occasion is one of special interest. The chief statesmen of the nation, including the Father of his Country, have heard of and anticipated it with that peculiar pleasure which belongs to far-seeing and patriotic minds, intent upon the production of those forces which were to mould the grand future of this young nation. It has gath- ered together the leading minds from a large section of the State. The men who moulded these communities into their present form, with not a few of the earnest, stalwart workers whose hands were to subdue the forests, are there. Steuben, the brave old warrior, who came, in our hour of trial, to discipline our rude soldiery and organ- ize them into the effective battalions that beat back the invading hosts of England, has come to perform one of the last and most notable and pregnant acts of his useful life, for the country of his adoption, - to lay the corner-stone of an Institution which is to bear down into the future the name of his old compatriot in arms, one of the foremost statesmen of this or any other age. A troop of horse- men, commanded by a son of Kirkland, among whom were some who had mingled in the fight of Oriskany, and seen Cornwallis sur render his sword at Yorktown, occupy the outer circle as his escort and symbolize the patriotism that is to be nourished here ; a patriot-
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L. -- G OF CORNER-STONE.
ism that in the hour of our country's need will not shrink, sword in lund, from defending the nation's rights, be the assailants ambitious foreign despots, or equally ambitious but more malignant traitors in our own land. Reclining partly on the grass and standing around is a company of the faithful Oneidas, among whom towers the ven- +able form of their Christian chief, the brave Skenandoa: Sken- "loa, the friend of Kirkland, whose counsels in peace and war ¿ave kept them firm on one side through all the horrors of the Revolution ; his head is now whitened by the snows of ninety winters; he looks in silence upon the scene, knowing that, whatever may betide his people, his own ashes will mingle with those of his Christian father, and his body ascend with his in the resurrection of the just.
" But there is still another - the central figure of this company - around whom clusters the chief interest; one whose noble heart prompted, whose intellect conceived, whose energy carried into ex- ecution, the plan of founding this Institution. The name of Samuel Kirkland, although as yet, like that of Calvin, no marble shaft designates the spot where his dust reposes, will live while yonder walls endure, and literature, science, and religion shall cherish the memory of those whose lives have been associated with their ad- vancement in this land." - Memorial, p. 60.
We cannot now pause to trace the history of this insti- tution further than to record, that in the year 1812 it was raised to the rank of a college, and that from that time to the present it has enjoyed a fair measure of prosperity.
The establishment of this seminary of learning, which had occupied so many of Mr. Kirkland's thoughts for the fifteen years previous, was the last important act of his life. He continued his missionary labors, but they were performed amid bodily infirmities and many increasing sorrows. He never recovered entirely from the injury of his eye. In the year 1795, he was thrown from his horse, and received a blow which aggravated his other disorders. In short, he had overtasked his ener- gies by thirty years of toil and. exposure, and it was
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
not strange that his health now broke down. And that he should slacken somewhat his labors among the Indians is not surprising, nor yet that he should neglect the details of some of the other interests committed to his keeping. Accordingly, we find that, in the year 1797, the Board of Commissioners withdrew from him their appointment and support. They did not present full and satisfactory reasons for this summary procedure ; but they doubtless felt that as he had become broken in health and spirits, and was somewhat engrossed in the care of his lands, a younger man could serve the society better. It is gratifying to know that his integrity was not impeached. Shortly after this, he became involved in great pecuniary embarrassments through the failure of one of his sons ; and close upon this calamity came the death of two of his children, Samuel and George. But the brave old man bore up under his heavy and complicated trials, evincing a patience and submission truly remarkable.
In the year 1798 he received a visit from President Dwight of Yale College, and Jeremiah Day, then tutor in the same institution. These gentlemen had started from New Haven for a vacation tour on horseback to Niagara Falls; but on reaching Utica, they heard such accounts of the difficulties and perils of the journey beyond that they were constrained to abandon it. They, however, rode out to Clinton, to visit the missionary Kirkland and his infant seminary, and then returned to New England. During the remainder of his life, Mr. Kirkland continued to cherish a deep interest in the improvement of the town where he resided, in the prosperity of the Academy, and in the welfare of the Indians. He bestowed several other gifts upon the institution, and in his death did not
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MR. KIRKLAND'S DEATH.
forget it. With or without official appointment and salary, he regarded himself as missionary and friend to the natives, and he continued to serve them while he lived. His death occurred in February, 1808, after a short but severe illness. His remains were carried to the village church in Clinton, where a sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Norton. A large assemblage of Indians, from far and near, convened on the occasion, and poured out bitter lamentations over his grave. The funeral address was interpreted to them by Judge James Dean, then resident Agent of Indian Affairs.1
Mr. Kirkland seems to have been well adapted phys- ically for the life of labor which he chose. In stature he was a little above the medium height, well propor- tioned, robust, and in his mature manhood inclining to stoutness. In manners he was simple, dignified, and courteous, not without a dash of brusqueness at times, yet thoroughly polite, - a true gentleman 'of the old school. His urbanity came partly from native endow- ment and partly from his frequent intercourse with emi- nent and cultivated men. On all public occasions he wore the clerical gown and bands, and, thus robed, presented an imposing aspect. His portrait, prefixed to this chap- ter, represents him as he appeared when about forty years of age, - erect, vigorous, of commanding presence, with a penetrating eye, and an animated, buoyant expression, as if ready for adventure or the endurance of hardship. Had he possessed a feeble constitution, he could never
1 Mention has already been made of his two sons, George Whitefield and Samuel Thornton. Of his daughters, the eldest, Jerusha, was married to John H. Lothrop, of Utica, N. Y., and died about twelve years ago. The next, Sarah, became the wife of Francis Amory, of Boston. Eliza, the youngest, was married to the late Edward Robinson, then Professor in Hamilton College, and since a Biblical scholar of world-wide reputation.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
have made those long and toilsome journeys, often on foot, through mud and snow, and sometimes in open boats ; nor could he have submitted to the hard fare of the savages, and been brought, not seldom, to the verge of starvation. Some of his survivors, who saw him in their youth, tell us that, when he was about sixty years of age, he looked like a hard-worn old man, - one who had gone through the wars, and come out bronzed by exposure and well marked with bruises and scars. Only a man of great physical vigor could have endured so much and held out so long.
It will not be claimed for him that he was endowed with extraordinary mental powers. We find no brilliancy of imagination, no exuberance of wit, no philosophical profoundness. But we meet with what is of more value, - good, plain strength of intellect, ability to grasp large and small matters, solid judgment, rare executive talent, and an unconquerable will. He was a careful observer of men and of events. Early thrown upon his own resources, and disciplined by adversity, he became inde- pendent and self-sustained. His mind took on something of the freedom and rough grandeur of the scenes amid which his life was passed. It was no slight advantage for him to live in the stirring times of our Revolution, to witness its first outbreak, to watch and help on its progress, and to greet its successful termination. In such scenes the mind often acquires a vigor and clearness which do not come from simply poring over books.
He was by no means wanting in tender sensibility and generous enthusiasm, and in humor and wit, though this latter trait was only a delicate vein running through his nature, and not perceptible to every eye. It took the form rather of airy sprightliness and genial pleasantry.
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MR. KIRKLAND'S CHARACTER.
He possessed a large fund of memorabilia ; and the recital of these in his downright, hearty manner gave variety and raciness to his conversation.
We do not hear that the Indians ever said of him, as the natives once did of a bookish Puritan, that " he could whistle Greek ;" yet he was learned enough to be an oracle to them, and his learning was practical, and ever at their service. To use an ancient figure, he was a tree of knowledge which carried its heavily-laden boughs so low that even children might pluck the golden fruit. He did not, like Jonathan Edwards, while missionary to the Stockbridge Indians, spend his leisure in compos- ing theological treatises, but he gave all his time and thoughts to the well-being of his humble charge. He was made for a pioneer and for a worker in the common ways of life, and he used his talents wisely and effectively.
His moral and religious character gave tone and direc- tion to his whole career. While yet a youth, at Dr. Wheelock's school, his true spiritual life began, and he evinced the earnestness of his zeal by resolving at once to spend his days in missionary service among the Indians. He consorts with the dusky Seneca boys, that he may learn their manners and their strange tongue. From college halls his eyes look abroad with longing upon the western wilderness, and he cannot wait for his bachelor's diploma before he starts upon his first adventurous jour ney among the Iroquois. Nor does he sink under rough toil, or quail before persecution and threatened death. He does not, like David Brainerd, spend his time and exhaust his strength in torturing self-scrutiny and self- upbraiding and melancholy forebodings. No : he wisely holds that the best proof of love to God is to be found in hearty, joyous service for him. He suffers himself to
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
be adopted into the family of an Indian, sleeps and eats in their smoky, squalid wigwams, becomes all things to them, if by any means he may save some. He imbues their chil- dren with the rudiments of education and religion, and to their sages he opens the higher wisdom of the Bible. He teaches agriculture and mechanics. He mediates between men at variance. He goes on long journeys to negotiate their affairs with the whites, and to keep them at peace with those who would embroil them in war.
And does he not serve his country, too ? Indeed, as we review the history of his life during the Revolutionary War,- holding in friendly relations two savage tribes, and keeping close watch upon the movements of others, - now acting as chaplain in the army, and at the con- clusion of the war managing several difficult embassies between the natives and the whites for their mutual benefit, - he seems to us deserving of no less honor from his countrymen than many a military hero crowned with blood-bought laurels.
His plan for the education of the Indians is creditable alike to his head and his heart. He doubtless foresaw that missionary labors among them would be of little permanent value without education. The half-regener- ated savage would relapse into barbarism as soon as the living preacher should be withdrawn. Desirous that his work should outlast his own life, he resolved to lay a solid basis in education. He wanted, moreover, to pro- mote the social culture of the natives by bringing their children into daily association with those of white men. In this way he hoped to overcome the prejudices exist- ing between the two races, and to bind them together in bonds of perpetual brotherhood. The conception of this plan must have been the fruit of those frequent and
,
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FRUITS OF HIS LABORS.
touching interviews with Indian chiefs concerning the prospects of their race. These men saw that their de- cline was inevitable, unless something were done to pre- vent it ; and they came with sad hearts to their friend and teacher, imploring his help to save them from utter extinction. It seems as if his scheme were formed in fulfillment of some secret, holy vow to make one grand and mighty effort to stay their fall, and, if possible, to restore them to prosperity. Was it not a worthy en- deavor? Had he done nothing more than this, he would be entitled to a high place among christian philanthro- pists.
It matters little that his plan did not accomplish all that he had hoped. No natives ever became members of his Academy. The careless freedom of life in the woods . and the excitements of the hunting-ground were more attractive than the confinement and dull routine of the school-room. Yet of the large number trained in his primary schools, a goodly proportion became intelligent and virtuous men. To this day, their descendants, living in a Western State, revere and bless no name so much as that of Kirkland. But his scheme, so far as it related to the whites, was abundantly successful. The Academy flourished, and, as he had contemplated from the first, was soon raised to the rank of a College. He saw our day afar off, and was glad. The old landmark known as " the boundary line of property " between the whites and Indians has been almost swept away with the removal of the natives ; but the College founded by his wisdom and benevolence still stands, diffusing its light far be- yond the territory occupied by the Six Nations. It has trained its thousand youths for professional and com- mercial life, and will doubtless continue to send forth streams of healthful influence in all time to come.
CHAPTER IV.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
HAVING turned aside from the direct course of our narrative to gather up the somewhat miscellaneous facts and incidents of the two last chapters, I now proceed to consider other important events in their chronological order. And this brings me to sketch the history of the several churches in Kirkland.
" Go walke about all Syon hill, yea, round about her go; And tell the towres that thereupon are builded on a roe ; And mark ye well her bulwarks all, behold her towres there; That ye may tell thereof to them that after shall be here. For this God is our God, forever more is IIe; Yea, and unto the death also, our guider shall He be."
STERNHOLD AND HOPKINS.
I. £ THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
As I have already mentioned, this town was first settled in the spring of the year 1787. The original inhabitants, though not all of them in the communion of any church, felt that their society would be wholly in- complete without its institutions of religion and morality. Accordingly we find that on Sunday, the 8th of April, soon after their arrival, they assembled for publie wor- ship. The place of meeting was an unfinished building of Captain Foot, which stood on the corner of the present Park and Williams Street. The services consisted of prayer, singing, and the reading of a printed sermon.
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CHURCH ORGANIZED.
Religious meetings of this kind continued to be held until a church was regularly organized and a minister installed over it.
At the time of which we now speak, there were but few opportunities for the inhabitants to enjoy the stated, public ministrations of religion. The neighboring towns, some of which had just commenced their settlements, were all without ministers. The Congregational church of New Hartford was organized August 27, 1791, and its first pastor installed in February, 1792. The united congregations of Whitesborough and Fort Schuyler, received their first ordained minister August 21, 1794. The Rev. Mr. Kirkland, Indian missionary at Oneida, held occasional services here at a very early period. Rev. Mr. Sergeant and Rev. Mr. Occum also came here, now and then, for the same purpose. At wide intervals, also, ministers travelling from the East, stopped at this settle- ment and preached to attentive hearers. These meetings were held sometimes in the log-houses of the inhabitants, and often in their more spacious barns.
In November, 1788, Rev. Samuel Eells, of Branford, Conn., an appointed missionary to several feeble churches in this State, visited Clinton, at which time he held religious services and performed a number of baptisms. During his sojourn, he prepared a Covenant, or decla- ration of belief, by accepting which, any baptized person of good morals and a speculative believer in Christi- anity, could be admitted to religious fellowship, though not to the communion, and could receive for his house- hold the rite of baptism. This was, for substance, the " Half-Way Covenant" then in vogue in some parts of New England. It contained a brief and general recog- nition of certain religious truths and duties, and was
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
adopted in the present case simply as a bond of union between religiously-disposed persons, until a church with its Creed and Covenant should be regularly constituted. This compact was signed by seventeen persons, some of whom had held the Half-Way Covenant relation to churches in New England.
Several of the more intelligent and thoroughly religious members of the Society refused to sign this declaration ; and of those who did, quite a number soon became dis- satisfied with it. They desired a regularly organized church, around which their christian regards could gather and fasten, and Articles of Faith strictly Calvin- istic, and definite and full in their statement. They ac- cordingly consulted with the Rev. Dan Bradley, who had lately commenced preaching at New Hartford, and by his advice they opened a correspondence with Rev. Dr. Edwards, then pastor of the North Church in New Haven, Conn. By their urgent request, this gentleman visited Clinton in August, 1791, and organized a church with the Congregational form of government, and con- sisting of thirty members. In place of the compact, adopted by several persons three years before, he recom- mended the Articles of Faith and the Covenant of his own church in New Haven. The members of this church were so well pleased with these symbols that they adopted them as an appropriate expression of their own belief and of their desires and purposes in the christian life. These have continued, with very slight alterations, to be the Creed and Covenant of this church until the present time.
A few weeks afterward, a religious Society, called " The Society of Clinton," was formed, consisting of eighty-three of the most prominent and respectable per-
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FIRST PASTOR INSTALLED.
sons in the settlement. In looking about for a pastor, they turned to their former adviser, Dr. Edwards, and on his recommendation, Rev. Asahel Strong Norton, of Chatham, Conn., was invited to visit Clinton, with a view to his settlement there in the ministry. It was not neces- sary for the people to listen a long time to Mr. Norton before becoming satisfied as to his ability and fitness to be their spiritual teacher and guide. He was ordained to the ministry and installed pastor of this church on the 18th of September, 1793. The salary upon which he was settled was fixed at " one hundred pounds lawful money," or $333.1. ; and this continued to be his stipend for twenty years, when it was increased to $600.00, which it remained for the rest of his pastorate.1
The ecclesiastical Council by which he was ordained and installed consisted of the following persons, namely, the two missionaries Kirkland and Sergeant, Rev. Samuel Eells, of Branford, Conn., Rev. Dan Bradley, of Whites- town, and Rev. Joel Bradley, of Westmoreland. There were also lay-delegates from the churches in Paris, Whitestown, and Westmoreland. The first day was spent in the examination of the candidate. The second day, at eleven o'clock, was devoted to the ordination. That was " an high day" for this infant church and society. No Meeting-House having yet been erected, and no other building in the village being large enough to accommodate the expected congregation, provision was made for holding the exercises in the open air, upon the
1 It would seem that the good people of Kirkland thought it not meet to bestow an overplus of this world's goods upon their minister. Yet they were as generous as their fathers had been before them. The venerable John Cotton used to complain that "nothing was cheap in New England but milk and ministers." And Increase Mather, in lamenting the smallness of clergymen's salaries in his day - about $300 - thought "this might of itself account for the small harvests enjoyed by our farmers."
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
Public Green. The spot selected was near the site of the present Fountain in the village Park. A temporary pulpit was constructed, over which a canopy of green boughs was thrown, and a few seats were prepared for the comfort of ladies and infirm persons. Of the inhabit- ants of the village none were willingly absent. Many persons came from the adjoining towns, and here and there in the out-skirts of the assembly might have been seen the searching eye and strange costume of the neigh- boring Indians. Looking beyond this scene, one could discern openings made by the farmer's axe in the shadows of the forest, and could see patches of green fields smiling under the September sun. Here and there, the ascend- ing smoke marked the site of the settler's abode; but beyond, throughout the valley, and on the surrounding hills, were spread the primitive woods. It was amid such a scene that the ordination of the youthful clergy- man took place. The religious services were conducted by the clerical members of the Council : the sermon and charge to the pastor being delivered by Rev. Mr. Eells; the ordaining prayer and the address to the congregation being made by Rev. Mr. Kirkland ; and the Right Hand of Fellowship by Rev. Mr. Sergeant. The music, - surely there was something prophetic in one of the hymns which they sang : -
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