Haveng Seen and heard
Several Repreſentations, in
England and
Scotland,
^made wrote^ by
Several
^Some^ gentlemen in
America,
Concerning
, me, and Finding many
miſsrpreſentations and
groſs
Miſtakes in their Ac‐
counts,
— I thought it
my
Duty to give a Short Plain
and Honeſt Account of my
ſelf, that thoſe who may
ſee
my Account hereafter
^See it^, may
Know the
^Truth^ Concerning me. — —
Tho' it is againſt my mind
to give a Hiſtory of my ſelf
^&
publiſh it^
whilſt I am alive, Yet to do
Juſtice to my ſelf and to th
[gap: worn_edge][guess: ]e
who may
^deſire^
have ^mind^ to know Some
thing
^concerning^
of me— and for the Honor
[gap: hole][guess: of] Religion I will venture
to
give a Short Narrative of
my Life. — —
From my birth till I receivd the Chriſtian Religion.—
I was Born a Heathen and
Brought up
in In Heatheniſm
till I was between 16 & 17 years
of age, at a Place Calld
Mohegan in
New London
Connecticut, in
New England —
my Parents Livd a wandering
life,
So
^as^ did all the Indians at
Mohegan; they chiefly Depended
upon
Hunting, Fiſhing,
^&^ Fowling
and Claming, for their Living
and had no Connections with
the Engliſh, excepting to Tr
[gap: worn_edge][guess: af]fic with them,
with the in
^their^ Smal
[gap: tear][guess: l]
Trifles — and they Strictly
maintain'd and follow'd their
Heatheniſh ways, Cuſtoms
&
Religion — tho' there was Some
Preaching among
^them^
theſe Indi
ans, once a Fortnight, in y
[gap: tear][guess: e] Summer Seaſon, a Miniſter
from
N London
[illegible]uſed to come
up — and the Indians
uſe to
attend; not that they regard
ed the Chriſtian Religion,
But they had Blankets give
^n^ to them
every Fall of the year
and for theſe things they wou
^d^ attend — and there was a
^Sort^
^of a^ School kept, when I was
quite young,. but I
believe
there never was one that
even Learn to read any
thing — and when I was about
10 years of age there was
a ^Sort^
of a School again in our Place— a man
^who
went^
uſed to go a about among the Indian
Wigwams, and where ever
he Coud find the Indian Child,
r
he
woud make them read —
but the
Indian Children uſd
to take Care to keep out off
his way — and he uſ'd
^to^ Catch
me Some times and make me
Say over my Letters, and I be
believe I Learnt Some of [illegible]them.
Litters, But this was soon over too — and all this Time there was
^not^ one amongſt us, that made a
Chriſtian
Profeſsion
^of Chriſtianity^ — Neither did we Cultivate our Land, ^nor^
and kept any Sort of Creatures, excep^t^ Dogs,
which we uſed in Hunting, and Dwelt in Wigwams, the[illegible][guess: y] are ^a^ Sort of Tents Coverd with
Matts, and theſe
Matts are made of Flags — And to this Time we were ^[illegible]^
unaquainted with the
Engliſh
Tonug in general, ^tho'^ there
^were^ a few, who underſtood a little of ^it^
the Engliſh —–
From the Time of our Re‐
formation till I left
Mr Wheelock —
When I was 1[illegible]6 years of
age— we heard a Strange Rumor amon^g^ the Engliſh, that there were Ex‐traordinary Miniſters Preaching from Place to Place and that there was a Strange
Concern among the white People — this was in the Spring of the
year.
But we Saw nothing of theſe things, till
Some Time in the Summer, then Some Miniſters began to viſit us and Preachd
to us the Word of god; and the
[illegible]Common [illegible]People ^alſo^ Came freequen^t^ly
to us, and exhorted ^us^ to the things of god,
and^which^ it pleaſed the Ld, as I humbly hope, to Bleſs and
acompaniy
^with^
their Endeavours by
^with^him Divine Influences, to the Conviction and
Saving Converſion of a Number of us; Amongſt which I was one that was Impreſ^t^ with the things, which we had hear^d^
and
tTheſe Preachers did not only Come to us, but we ^frequently^ went to their meetings and Churches Conſtantly, after I ^was awakened convicted^
found Trouble of mind I went to all the meetings I ^Coud^ Come at; thus I&
Continud under Trou‐ble of Mind about 6 Months,
and almoſt as Soon as I found
uneaſineſs in my Mind,
so I
^at which time I^ began to Learn the Engliſh— Letters; Got me a Primmer and uſed to go to my Engliſh
Neighbours freequently for
Aſsiſtance in Reading, budt went to no School — and my
Neighbours were very ready to help me — And when I was
1[illegible]7 years of age, I hope I had
^as I truſt,^ a Diſcovery of the way of Salvation through J[illegible][guess: esus] 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 removd, and I found Serenity and Pleaſure of Soul. in Serving god, by this time I
Juſt began to try to Read in the New Teſtament without Spelling,— and I had 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 Brethern According to the
Fleſh, I uſd to wiſh, I was Capable of Inſtructing my poor Kindred, I uſe to thin[illegible]k if I Coud once Learn to Read
I woud
Inſtruct poor Children
in Reading— and uſd
freequent‐
ly to talk with our Indians Con‐
cerning Religion.— Thus
I Con
tinued, till I was in my 19
th year;
by this Time I Coud Read a lit
tle in the B
[illegible]ible, at this Time
my Poor Mother was going to
Lebanon, and having had
Some Knowledge of
Mr Wheeloc^k^ and hearing he had a
Number
of Engliſh
^youth^ under his Tuition,
I had a great Inclination to
go
to him and to be with a week
or a Fortnight, and Deſired
my Mother to Ask
Mr Wheelock,
whether he woud 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 poſsible,— So I wen
^t^ up, thinking I Shoud be back
again in a few Days; when
I got up there, he receivd me
with kindneſs and Compaſsion
and in Stead of Staying a
Fortnight or 3 weeks, I
Spent 4 years with him —
After I had been with
him
Some Time, he began to a‐
quaint his Friends of my
being with him, and his Inten
tions of
Educating me, and
my Circumſtances,— and the
good People began to give
Some Aſsiſtance to
Mr Wheelock,
and gave me Some old and Some
New Cloaths — Then he repreſ
ted the Caſe to
the Honorable Com‐miſsioners at Boſton, who were
Commiſsion'd by
the Honorable Society in London
for Propagating ye
goſpel among the Indians in New England and parts adjacen^t^ and they alowed him 60 £:
pr
An: both in old Tennor, which
was about 6 £: Sterling, and
they Continu'd it 2: or 3: years
I Can't tell exactly — while I
was at
Mr Wheelocks, I was
very weakly and my Health
much Empard, and at the
End of 4 years, I over Straind
my Eyes to Degree, I Coud not perſue my Studies any Longer; and out off
theſe 4 years, I Loſt
Juſt about one Year; — And was obligd to quit my Studies — —
As Soon as I left
Mr Wheelock,
I endeavourd to find Some Em‐
ploy among the Indians; went
to
Nahantuck, thinking, they
may want a School Maſter, bu
^t^ they
^had^ one; then
went to
Naroganſet, and they were Indeferent
about School, and went back
to
Mohegan, and heard a Num‐
ber of our Indians were
going
to
Montauk
on
Long Island,—
and I went with
them, and the
Indians there were very deſirou
^s^ to have me keep a School among
^ſt^ them, and I Conſented, and
went back a while to
Moheg^an^ and Some in November I wen
^t^ on
the Iſland, I think it is 17
17 years ago laſt
Nov
r I agreed to keep a School with
them Half a year, and left it
with
them to give
^me^ what they
Pleaſd, and they took turns
to Provide Food for me — I had
near 30
Scholars this winter,
I had evening School too for thoſe
that Coud not attend Day School
— and began to Carry on their meet
ings, T
[illegible] they
^had^ a Miniſter, one
Mr
Horton,
the Scotch
Society's Miſ
ſionary, but he Spent, I think,
two thirds of his Time at
Sheene‐cock, 30 Miles from
Montauk,
We met together 3 times for Di‐
vine Worſhip every Sabbath
and once on
^every^
Wedneſday even‐
ing— I
to read the Scriptures
to them and uſed to expound
upon Some perticular
Paſ
ages in my own Tonuge I
viſited the Sick and attended
their Burials — when the half
year expird, they Deſird me
to Continud with them, which
I Complyd with, for another
half year, when I had fulfild
that, they were urgent to have
me Stay Longer So I Continud
till I was Married amongſt
'em
which was about 2 years after
I went there —
And I Continu'd to Inſtruct them
in the Same manner as I did befor
^e^ after
I was maried a while, I found
there was
^need^ of a Support,
more, than
I needed while I was Single,— and
I made my Caſe Known to
Mr
Buell and to
Mr
Wheelock, and
alſo the Needy Circumſtances,
and the Deſires of theſe Indians
^&^ of my Continuence
amongſt
them, and
Mr
Wheelock and
other gentlemen, Repreſented
my Circumſtances and the Cir
cumſtances, and the Deſires of
theſe Indians of my Continuing
amongſt them, and the Com‐
miſsioners were So good as to
grant
^£^15
per An: Sterling — —
And I kept on in
^my^ Service as
uſual, yea I had additional
Service, I kept School as I
did before and
Carried on the
Religious meeting as often as
ever, and attended the Sick
and their Funerals,
and did
what writings they wanted,
and often Sat as Judge
to reconcile and Deſide their
Matters between them, and
had viſiters of Indians, from
all Quarters; and, as our
Cuſtom is, we freely Entertain
all viſiters,— And was fetchd
often from my Tribe and
from others
[gap: stain] See
into
their Affairs Both Religious
^&^ Temporal,— Beſides my
Domeſtick Concerns,— and
it Pleaſed the Lord to Increac
^e^ my Family faſt — and Soon
after I was Maried,
Mr
Horton left theſe Indians, and the
Sheenecock Indians
^& after this I was licencd to p^ and then
I had the whole Care of theſe
Indians at
Montauk, and
uſed to
viſitd the
Shenecock
Indians often — uſed to Set
out Saturdays towards Night
and back again on Mondays
I
have
^been^ obliged to Set out from
Home after Sun Set, and Ride
30 Miles in the Night, to Prea
^h^ to the
^se^ Indians
at Shenecock —
And Some Indians at
Shenecock Sent their Children to my School
at
Montauk, I kept one
of 'em Some Time, and had
a young Man half year from
Mohegan, A Lad from
Na‐hantuck, who was with me
almoſt a year,—
[illegible]
& had
had very little for all theſe and had little or nothing
for Keeping them, —
My
Method in the School
was, as Soon as the Children
got together, and have
took
their proper Seats, I Prayd
with them, then began to
hear them, I generaly began
(after some of 'em
Coud Spell and Read,) with thoſe, that were yet in their Alphabets; So around, as they were
pro‐perly Seat, till I got thro' and I obligd them to Study their Books, and to help one another, when they Coud not make out a hard, they Brought to me — and I Uſu‐ally heard them, in the Summer Seaſon 8 Times a Day 4 in the morning, and in ye
after Noon — In the MWinter
Seaſon 6 Time a Day, as Soon as they coud Spell, they were obligd to spell when ever they wanted to go out; Conclud‐ded with Prayer, I ^generally^ heard my
AEvening scholars 3 ^T^ Rou^n^d, And as they ^go^ out the School,
every one that Can Spell, is obligd to spell a word, and So go out Leaſurely one after another, — I Catechiſed
3 or 4 Times a weeks according to the Aſembly's Shor^t^er C[illegible]atechiſm, and many Times Propoſ'd
Queſtions of my own, and in my own Tonugue, — I found
Som D[illegible][guess: e]fficulty with Some Children, who were Some‐what Dull, moſt of theſe Can Soon learn to say over their Letters, they Diſtingu^iſh^ the Sounds by the Ear, but their Eyes Can't Diſtinguiſh the Letters, and the way I took to cure 'em, was by taking making an Alhphabet on Small
bits of paper, and glued them on Small Chips of Cedar, after this manner
[illegible] A B ^[right]&c. I put theſe on^
^[right]Letters in order on^ a Bench, than point to one Letter and bid a Child to take notice
of it, and then I
dorder the Child
to fetch me the Letter from y
e Ben
^ch^ if it Brings the Letter, it is well,
if
not it muſt go again and
again till it bring
^ye^ right L
r
Wheny they Can bring any
of Letters, this way, then I Juſt
Jumble them together, and
b
[illegible]d them to Set
them in Al‐
phabetical order, and it is
a Pleaſure to 'em; and they Soon
learn their letters this way —
I freequently
Diſcouſd or
[illegible]Exhor
ted my Scholars,
in Religious
matters — My Method in
our Religious Meetings was
this;
Sabbaths Mornings we
Aſsemble together about 10:o.C.
and begin with Singing; we
generaly Sung
Dr Watts's
Psalms or Hymns, I diſting
^ly^,
read the Psalm or Hymn firſt,
and then give the meaning of
it to them, after that sing, then
Pray, and Sing again, after Pray
r
then proceed to Read Some
Sutable portion of Scripture,
and So Juſt give the plain
Senſe of it, in Familiar Diſcourſe
and applyd to them,
[illegible]So Con
[illegible]clude with Pray, and Sing
ing, In
the after-Noon and
Evening we Proceed in the
Same Manner, and So in
Wedneſday Evenings, — Some
Time after
Mr Horton left
theſe Indians, there was
a remarkable revival of
religion among theſe Indi
ans and many were hope
fully Converted to the
Saving
knowledge of god
a in J
[illegible] It is to
be obſerved, before
Mr Horton left theſe Indians
they had Some Prejudices infuſd
in their minds, by Some
Inthuſiaſtical Exhorters from
N. England, againſt
Mr Horton, an
[illegible] Many of 'em
had left him, by this means
he was
[illegible]
Diſcourag'd, and Su
[illegible]d
a Diſmiſsion, and was diſmiſt
from theſe Indians, — And being
acquainted with the Enthu‐
Siaſts in
New England, &
the make and the Diſpoſiſti
ons of the Indians, took a
mil
[illegible][guess: e] way to reclaim them,
I oppoſd them not openly
but let them go on in their
way, and when ever I
had an opportunity, I
woud read Such paſages
of the Scriptures, as I
thought, woud Confound
their Notions,
[illegible] and I woud
come to them with all Au‐
thority, Saying thus
Saith
the Lord, and by this
means, the Lord was
pleaſd to Bleſs my poor
Endeavours, and they were reclaimed, and Brought to hear moſt any of the Miniſ‐ters — I am now to give an Account o[illegible]f my
Circumſtances and manner of Livineng, — I Dwelt in a wigwam, a Small Hutt, fraim^d^ with Small Poles and Coverd with Matts made of Flags, and I was oblig'd to move twice a year, about 2 Miles
Diſtance, by reaſon of the Scarcity of wood, for in our Neck of Land they Planted
their Corn, and ^in^
anather, they had their wood,— and I was
obligd to hire my Corn Carted and my Hay alſo, — and I got my Ground Plow'd every year, which Coſt me about
[illegible]^[illegible]^ 12 an Acre; and I kept a Cow and a Horſe, for which I paid ^£^ 21: every year
York Currency, And went 18 miles to Mill for every Duſt of meal we uſ'd in my family I Hired or Joined with my Neighbours to go to Mill
wit[illegible]h a Horſe or ox Cart, or on
Horſe Back, and Some tim^es^
go^went^
my ſelf; my Family In‐creaſing
faſt, and my viſiters
alſo, I was obligd to Continue every way to Support my Family; I took all opper‐tunities, to get Some thing, to feed my Family daily, — I Planted my own Corn, Po‐tatoes and [illegible]Beans; I uſe to be out whoeing my Corn
Some times before Sun Riſe and after my School is
Diſmiſt, and by this means I was able to raiſe my own Pork, for I was alowd to keep 5 Swine, Some Mornings & Evenings I woud be out with my Hook and Line to Catch
fiſh, and in the Fall of
year and in the Spring, I
uſ'd my Gunn, for we livd
very handy for Fowl, and I
was very expert with gunn,
and fed my Family with
Fowl, I Coud more than pay
for my Powder &
Shott, with
Feathers, at other Times I
Bound
^old^
Books for
Eaſthamp^ton^ People, Made wooden Spoons
and Ladles, Stackd Guns, &
workd on
SCedar to make Pails,
Piggans and Churns &c —
beſides all theſe Difficulties
I
wMet with adverſe Providence
^s^,
I bought a Mare, had it bu
^t^ little while, and She fell into
the Quick Sands and Died, after
a while Bought another, I kep
^t^
^her^ about half Year, and She was
gone, and I never heard
nor
Seen her from that Day to
this, it was Suppoſd Some
Rogue Stold her, and got
another and Dyed with a Diſ
temper, and laſt of all I Bou
^t^ a Young Mare, and kept
her till She had one Colt, and
She broke her Leg and Died
and Preſently after the Col
dt
Died alſo,
In the whole I
Loſt 5 Horſe Kind, all theſe
Loſes helped to pull me down
and by this Time I got greatly
in Debt, and
acquain
^t^ed my
Circumſtances to Some of my
Friends, and they Repreſented
my Caſe to the
Commiſsioners of Boſton, and Interceeded with
them for me, and
[illegible]they
^were^
pleaſed
to
[illegible]Vote 15 for my Help; and
Soon after Sent a Letter to my
good Friend at
N. London,
acquainting him, that they
had Superſeded their vote; &
my Friends were So good as to
repreſent my Needy Circumſta
^nces^ Still to them, and they were So
good at Laſt, as to vote
^£^15
and Sent it, for which I
am
very thankful, and
^the good^
Mr Buell was
^So^ Kind as to write
in my
behalf to
the gentlemen of Bos‐ ton; and he told me they
were much Diſpleaſ'd with
him; and heard alſo once
and again, that they blaimed
me for being Extravagant, I
Cant Conceive how theſe
gentle
n
woud have me Live, I am rea
dy to
^[illegible][guess: i]mputed [illegible][guess: it]^ their Ignorance,
and woud
wiſh they had Changd
Circumſtan
^es^ with me but one Month, that
they may know, by experience
what my Caſe really was, but
I am now fully Convincd, that i
[illegible]t
was not Ignorance For I
believ
^e^ it Can be provd to the world, that
theſe Same Gentlemen, gave a
young Miſsionary, a Single
man,
one Hundred Pounds for
one
year, and fifty Pounds for
an Interpreter, and thirty Pounds
for an Introducer,
So it Coſt them
[illegible]one
[illegible]Hundred & Eighty Pounds
in one Single year, and they
Sent too where there was
no
Need of a Miſsionary,
Now you See what difference they made between ^me^ and other
Miſsionarys, they gave me 180 Pounds for 12 years Service, which they gave for one
years Service in another Miſſion — In my Service, (I Speak like a fool, but I am Conſtrain'd) I was my own Int[illegible]erpreter I
was both a CSchool maſter, and Miniſter to the Indians, yea I was their Ear, Eye & Hand, as well Mouth, — I leave it with world, as wicked as it is, to Judge, whether I ought [illegible]
not to have had haldf as much, they gave a young man Juſt
mention'd, which
woud have been but ^£^50 ^a^
Year; and if they ought to have given me that, I am not under
obligations to them, I owe them nothing at all; —Now wha^t^ Can be the Reaſon? that they
uſed me after ^this^ manner; I Can't think of any thing, but this as a poor Indian Boy Said, who was Bound out to an Engliſh Family, and he uſ'd to Drive Plow for a young man, and he whipt and Beat him allmoſt every Day, and the young man found fault with him, and
Complaind of him to his maſter and the poor boy was Calld to
anſwere for him^ſelf^ before his
maſter, — and he was aſk'd, what it was he did, Cthat he was So Complaind of and beat
almoſt every Day? he Said, he did not know, but he Suppoſd it was, becauſe he Coud not ^drive^ any better, but Says he, I Drive as
well as I know ^how^ and at other Times he Beats me, becauſe he is mind to beat me, but Says, he, ^I
believe^ he Beats for the moſt of the
[illegible] Time, becauſe I am an In‐dian—
So I am ready to Say, they have
uſd thus, becauſe I Cant Inſtru^ct^ they Indians So well as other
Miſsionaries, but I Can aſure them I have endearvourd to teach them as well as I how — but I
muſt
Say, I believe, it is,
becauſe I am poor Indian, I Cant help that [illegible] God
has made me So; I did not make my Se[illegible][guess: ft] So —
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