Samson Occom was a Mohegan leader and ordained Presbyterian minister. Occom began his public career in 1742, when he was chosen as a tribal counselor to Ben Uncas II. The following year, he sought out Eleazar Wheelock, a young Anglo-American minister in Lebanon, CT, in hopes of obtaining some education and becoming a teacher at Mohegan. Wheelock agreed to take on Occom as a student, and though Occom had anticipated staying for a few weeks or months, he remained with Wheelock for four years. Occom’s academic success inspired Wheelock to open Moor’s Indian Charity School in 1754, a project which gave him the financial and political capital to establish Dartmouth College in 1769. After his time with Wheelock, Occom embarked on a 12-year mission to the Montauk of Long Island (1749-1761). He married a Montauk woman, Mary Fowler, and served as both teacher and missionary to the Montauk and nearby Shinnecock, although he was grievously underpaid for his services. Occom conducted two brief missions to the Oneida in 1761 and 1762 before embarking on one of the defining journeys of his career: a fundraising tour of Great Britain that lasted from 1765 to 1768. During this journey, undertaken on behalf of Moor’s Indian Charity School, Occom raised £12,000 (an enormous and unanticpated amount that translates roughly to more than two-million dollars), and won wide acclaim for his preaching and comportment. Upon his return to Mohegan in 1768, Occom discovered that Wheelock had failed to adequately care for his family while he was gone. Additionally, despite the vast sums of money that he had raised, Occom found himself unemployed. Wheelock tried to find Occom a missionary position, but Occom was in poor health and disinclined to leave his family again after seeing the treatment with which they had met while he was in Britain. Occom and Wheelock’s relationship continued to sour as it became apparent to Occom that the money he had labored to raise would be going towards infrastructure at Dartmouth College, Wheelock’s new project, rather than the education of Native Americans. After the dissolution of his relationship with Wheelock, Occom became increasingly focused on the needs of the Mohegan community and increasingly vocal in criticizing Anglo-Americans’ un-Christian treatment of Native Americans. In September of 1772, he delivered his famous “Sermon on the Execution of Moses Paul,” which took Anglo-American spiritual hypocrisy as one of its major themes, and which went into four printings before the end of the year. In 1773, Occom became further disillusioned when the Mason Land Case was decided in favor of the Colony of Connecticut. The details of the Mason Case are complicated, but to summarize: the Colony of Connecticut had gained control of Mohegan land early in the 18th century under very suspect circumstances, and successfully fended off the Mohegan’s 70-year-long legal challenge. The conclusion of the case came as a blow to the Mohegans, and further convinced Occom of Anglo-American corruption. Along with David Fowler (Montauk Tribe), Occom's brother-in-law, and Joseph Johnson (Mohegan), Occom's son-in-law, Occom helped found Brothertown, an Indian tribe formed from the Christian Mohegans, Pequots, Narragansetts, Montauks, Tunxis, and Niantics. They eventually settled in Oneida country in upstate New York. Occom moved there with his family in 1789, spending the remaining years of his life serving as a minster to the Brothertown, Stockbridge, and Mohegan Indians. Harried by corrupt land agents, the Brothertown and Stockbridge groups relocated to the eastern shore of Lake Winnebago, though Occom died in 1792 before he could remove himself and his family there. Occom's writings and legacy have made him one of the best known and most eminent Native Americans of the 18th century and beyond.

Olive was the fourth child and third daughter born to Mary Fowler Occom and Samsom Occom during their residence in Montauk on Long Island, where Occom served as minister and schoolteacher to the Montaukett Indians. She would have moved with the family back to Mohegan in Connecticut in 1763, but little else is known about her life. From a letter Occom wrote to Joseph Johnson on April 14, 1775 (manuscript 775264), we know that Olive married Solomon Adams, a Farmington Indian. Love reports that they had three children, that Solomon died around 1783, and that Olive lived on her husband's land in Farmington. However, Occom records in his journal for 1786 visiting Olive on his preaching and fundraising tours of New England to raise money for the Brothertown project, and she is living between Old Windsor and Bolton, CT, a location northwest of Farmington and on the other side of Hartford. The following year, Occom twice mentions in his journal "Olive's affair," that he "searched into" it "and Say Writings about it to my Satisfaction," and then "left" it with a Mr. Wadsworth (manuscript 787660.1). Love notes that Olive emigrated to Brotherton, and that her children sold the family plot at Farmington in 1801. J. Brooks speculates that the "affair" Occom negotiated for his daughter probably concerned the disposition of Olive's husband's Farmington lot.

Esther Poquiantup was a Mushantuxet Pequot, the daughter of Samson Poquiantup (Pequot, 1725-1787) and Esther (Mohegan, 1725-1822) and sister of Prude Poquiantup Harry (1752-1828). The Poquiantups (also spelled Pouquenup, Pauhqunnup, Uppuiquiyantup) were a prominent family of Christian Indians with one branch living in Groton and the other at Niantic, CT. In 1766, Samson and Esther were living at Groton. Samson was a church deacon who occasionally hosted Occom's religious meetings. We don't know when Esther married Jacob Fowler, a Montaukett Indian, younger brother of David, and Samson Occom's brother-in-law, but we do know that by 1774, Esther and Jacob were living in Hanover, NH, in a Dartmouth College building down the hall from Elizabeth Walcutt and her daughter Lucy. Jacob, who attended Wheelock's School, had become a preceptor there. Esther and Jacob were part of the first group to emigrate from New England to Brothertown in Oneida country. By 1787, Occom refers to Esther as a widow, and lodges frequently at her house.

David Fowler was Jacob Fowler's older brother, Samson Occom's brother-in-law, and an important leader of the Brothertown Tribe. He came to Moor's in 1759, at age 24, and studied there until 1765. While at school, he accompanied Occom on a mission to the Six Nations in 1761. He was licensed as a school master in the 1765 mass graduation, and immediately went to the Six Nations to keep school, first at Oneida and then at Kanawalohale. Fowler saw himself as very close to Wheelock, but their relationship fragmented over the course of Fowler's mission, primarily because Wheelock wrote back to Kirkland, with whom Fowler clashed, but not to Fowler, and because Wheelock refused to reimburse Fowler for some expenses on his mission (767667.4 provides the details most clearly). Fowler went on to teach school at Montauk, and played a major role in negotiations with the Oneidas for the lands that became Brothertown. He was among the first wave of immigrants to that town, and held several important posts there until his death in 1807.

Hannah Fowler (née Garrett) was a Pequot woman who married David Fowler. The Garrett family boasted sachems and interpreters and was influential among the Stonington Pequots. Hannah grew up among the Charlestown Narragansetts, as her parents had affiliated with that tribe (a not-uncommon occurrence, given the close ties between the groups, especially in the realm of Christian spirituality). At Charlestown, Hannah received her basic education and was recruited for Moor’s Indian Charity School. She studied at the school from 1763 until she married David Fowler in 1766. Hannah and David’s marriage is especially noteworthy because it is the only instance where a female Moor’s student married a Native American missionary from Moor’s and joined him on missions — which had been Wheelock’s intent in admitting Native American women in the first place. Hannah assisted David on his mission to Kanawalohale from the time of their marriage in 1766 until his departure for Montauk in 1767. In 1783, the pair moved to Brothertown, where their house was the town center. Both Fowlers proved influential in town affairs, and their children and grandchildren also played a central role in the town’s administration.

Jacob Fowler was a Montauk Indian whose life was dramatically shaped by Samson Occom, his brother-in-law. Occom taught Jacob when he was a child, and in 1762, Jacob followed his older brother David Fowler to Moor's. After three years he was approved as an usher in the 1765 examination, and in 1766 he went to assist Samuel Johnson at Canajoharie. He taught among the Six Nations until at least mid-1767. In early 1770, Occom procured him a job teaching at Mushantuxet through the Boston Board of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. Jacob taught and preached among the Pequots at Mushantuxet and Stonington until 1774, when Wheelock hired him to teach at Moor's, which had relocated to Hanover, NH as a complement to Dartmouth College. During this time, Jacob also assisted Joseph Johnson with efforts to rally the New England Christian tribes for a move to Oneida territory (the Brothertown Movement). By 1776, there were no Indians enrolled in Moor's and Jacob moved on to serve Governor John Trumbull of CT as a messenger to the Six Nations during the Revolution. After the Revolution, he continued organizing the Brothertown Movement and was among those who initially emigrated in 1784. He was elected clerk at Brothertown, and died sometime in the spring of 1787.

Christiana Occom was born in 1757 in Mohegan, CT as the ninth child of Samson Occom and Mary Fowler. Christiana spent her childhood in Mohegan, where she married the Reverend Anthony Paul in 1777. The couple eventually settled in Brotherton in 1784. There, they raised at least six children, four of which Samson Occom baptized. Occom's journals tell of many joyful visits he paid to his daughter and son-in-law while on his travels. Christiana and Anthony finally left Brotherton in 1797 to settle in Lake George, NY.

Conrad Folts was the son of Jacob Melchert Folts (1710-1808) and Anna Catherine Petrie Folts (1714-1799), who settled in the area around Herkimer, near the Mohawk River in central New York. The Folts were probably part of the large German settlement concentrated around German Flatts. Conrad was a Captain, though the records do not indicate where or whom he served. In the 1780s, when Occom, David Fowler and others from Mohegan and Stockbridge began moving Christian Indians up to the Oneida lands they had been given to settle, Occom met and befriended Folts and his family, who lived close to the settlements of Brothertown and New Stockbridge. On October 21, 1785, Occom recorded the first time he lodged with "one Mr. Folts," a phrase he used to denote this as an initial meeting. By September 11, 1786, however, Occom noted, "put up at my good friends Mr Conrod Fols." He lodged and "tarried" with the family several times during 1787 after visits to and from Brothertown. Folts is buried in the Oakview Cemetery in Frankfort, Herkimer County, NY.

Mrs. Latham was the wife of Captain Robert Latham, who was part of the extensive Latham family in Groton and New London, Connecticut. She lived in Groton with her husband, who was a friend and supporter of Occom. We know from Occom's journals for 1784-89 that he held meetings at the Lathams' house, lodged, dined with and called on the Lathams on several occasions as he crossed back and forth from Groton to New London on the ferry, which was likely operated by a descendant of Cary Latham, the first ferryman there in the 1680s. Occom notes several intriguing facts about Mrs. Latham: that she "looks quite young," which suggests she was Captain Latham's second wife, that they have no children, and that on occasion -- for example, after William Avery's funeral in January 1786 -- he calls on her specifically .

Buell was a popular Presbyterian minister during the second half of the 18th century in Long Island, as well as a close friend of Samson Occom. He was ordained in November 1743, and was a popular itinerant minister before settling at Easthampton. He preached at Occom's ordination, published the sermon in 1761 to raise funds for Occom (he also wrote the letter addressed to Bostwick prefacing his publication), and stayed in close contact with Occom even after Occom's public break from Wheelock. Occom's diary is full of references to visiting Buell and to their close friendship. During the Revolution, Buell was the only minister on Long Island for 40 miles, and was very active in assisting the American cause. He also founded Clinton Academy on Long Island in 1785, which was the first private school chartered by the New York Board of Regents. This academy was also remarkable in that it admitted women. Multiple historical sources have misconstrued Samuel Buell as Sol or Solomon Buell, likely because Buell sometimes signed his name Sa.l, a creative abbreviation of Samuel. However, there was no Reverend Solomon Buell in Easthampton, or, it seems, Long Island, in the second half of the 18th century: Samuel had no brothers, and were there to be two Reverend S. Buell's within 10 miles of one another during the same period, related or not, doubtlessly someone would have commented on it. In addition, the handwriting in letters ascribed to "Sol" and those assigned to Samuel is identical. Lastly, the only source besides collection manuscript 765530.3 describing a "Solomon Buell" is an anthology of letters from the Revolution, which contain letters from a Rev. Sol. Buell, or S. Buell, about aiding the American cause. These letters correspond well with descriptions of Samuel's life in an 1809 biography of his life, and, as he was the only Reverend but one for 40 miles during the Revolution, it is likely that these letters belong to him.

A family in Cherry Valley, New York, whose members include, at least, Nicholas, Adolf, Jona and Susanna (spelling uncertain). Occom lodged with members of the Pickard family and preached at Nicholas Pickard's home during his travels in 1786 and 1787. There appear to be no published sources that verify this family. Some amateur genealogy sites suggest that a family by this name had been residing in Cherry Valley before and after the "Cherry Valley Massacre" in 1778, including one Nicholas Pickard who was killed in 1776.

Jesse Kimball was a member of the extensive Kimball family, whose ancestors immigrated from England at the end of the 17th century and settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts. His father was John Kimball (b. December 12, 1731) of Preston, CT, and his mother was Ruhama Sanders of Lyme, CT; they married on September 21, 1752 and had three sons and 13 daughters. Jesse was the second son. John served in the Revolutionary war and Jesse, though quite young, took the place of his brother Samuel, who contracted measles on the eve of his enlistment. Jesse served three years under Captain Adam Chapley and was stationed in New London, CT. After his service, Jesse moved to the frontier settlement of Bowman's Creek, in the present-day town of Canajoharie in Oneida country, and joined the militia. There he entertained Occom several times on Occom's preaching tours of 1785-87; the two often fished in the creek, to Occom's delight. The date when Kimball's Bowman's Creek house burned down is uncertain, but real estate records have him buying and selling land in Bowman's Creek as late as 1790, and he is listed in the first US Census for New York in 1790 as being the head of a household. His first marriage ended in divorce and in 1793 he married Elizabeth Roelofson (d. 1843). By that time, he had moved to Kentucky, where he was a farmer and miller and started his family. Some records report that he also made whiskey, and when he would not sell it to the local Indians, he was driven from his home and settled in Posey County, Indiana, where he died in 1857.

Elijah Wympy Jr. was a Farmington-Tunxis Indian involved in the Brothertown movement. He was born in 1765 in Farmington, Connecticut to Elijah and Eunice Wympy. Wympy Sr. was a key figure in the establishment of Brothertown, and Wympy Jr. supported his father. Like the Mohegans, Pequots, Narragansetts, Niantics and Montauketts, the Tunxis Indians shared a history of encroachment by Europeans and increasing governmental authority that produced the shared identity fueling the creation of Brothertown. Occom notes Wympy Jr.'s presence in Brothertown several times in his journals for 1786-87. Wympy Sr. was a controversial figure who initially supported leasing lands to white settlers in Brothertown, but when he changed his position on this policy, he and his son signed a petition identifying white settlers as trespassers. Wympy Jr. married the widowed Elizabeth Peters, who had a daughter from her first marriage. Together, he and Elizabeth had a son and a daughter. In 1796, Wympy Jr. served as the schoolmaster for the school in Brothertown, but he was discharged after three months and replaced by Hannah Fowler, David Fowler's daughter. Wympy Jr. died in Brothertown in 1812.

Benjamin Lathrop was a farmer, blacksmith, and minister of a Separatist church that had seceded from the local Congregationalists; several independent congregations in Connecticut at this time were called "Seperates" or Seperatists. Lathrop was well known for his charity.

William Harper was the oldest brother of the Harper family, prominent in the settlement of central New York and the Revolutionary War. His grandfather, James Harper, emigrated from county Derry in Ireland to Maine in 1720, but because of conflicts with the Indians there, moved the family to Boston. His youngest son, John (1705-1785), married Abigail Montgomery of Hopkinton, CT in 1728. They had eight children: William (b. 1729), James (b. 1731), Mary (b. 1733), John (b. 1734), Margaret (b. 1740), Joseph, Alexander and Abigail (b. between 1747 and 1749). John Sr. moved the family from Middletown to Windsor, CT and then to Cherry Valley, NY in 1754, where they purchased land, and began to clear and cultivate. In 1768, John Sr. signed a patent for land between the Delaware and Charlotte Rivers purchased from the local Indians where members of the family moved in 1771, establishing the town of Harpersfield, selling lots to emigrants from New England, and distinguishing themselves. William became a member of the Provincial Congress, a judge in Montgomery and then Otsego Counties, and a member of the State Assembly from Tryon in 1781, 1782, 1784, and from Montgomery from 1785-89. James died of smallpox in 1760. John Jr. attained the rank of Colonel and was appointed commander of the Fifth Regiment of the New York State Tryon County militia during the Revolution, in which his younger brothers, Joseph and Alexander served as Lieutenant and Captain of a company, respectively. Joseph served on the committee of safety of Harpersfield. Alexander kept the first tavern in Harpersfield after the war, the site of town meetings, and served as justice of the peace and treasurer. Abigail married William McFarland, who served as town clerk, and moved, in 1798 with Joseph and Alexander to Ohio where they founded Harpersfield in that state. A history of Harpersfield reveals that during his youth, John Jr. (and possibly William and Alexander) attended Wheelock's School in Lebanon, CT, where he became life-long friends with Joseph Brant, a Mohawk Indian who attended between 1761 and 1763, and became a leader of the Tribe and supporter of the British. This friendship, and the Harper brothers’ knowledge of the Mohawk language and customs, made them valuable leaders and even saved lives; when Harpersfield was destroyed by Indians and British soldiers in 1777, Brant sent John Jr. a secret warning, which allowed the settlers to flee to safety. Occom records visiting "Esquire Harper" in or near Fort Hunter in 1786 and 1787. While this could refer to any of the Harper brothers, it is most likely William, who had the best claim to the title of “Esquire” (whereas John and Alexander would have been titled with their military ranks) and who was the only brother to move to Montgomery county, in which Fort Hunter is located. The Harper family history illustrates how the connections forged at Wheelock's school had wide effects on the course of late eighteenth century political events.

Simon Fordt was a resident of Niskayuna, a town in east central New York State on the Mohawk River just east of the city of Schenectady and the site of a blockhouse built by Governor George Clinton in 1746. Fordt was probably of Dutch descent, as were many of the settlers in this area. He hosted Occom several times in 1786 and 1787 as Occom preached across the area, and should not be confused with a Mr. Fordt (also spelled Ford), who on June 19, 1787, had his slave give Occom breakfast and then took him over the Mohawk River to the house of Simon Fordt. The name Simon Fordt also appears, with only one other name, on the first page of Occom's journal for June 1786. There were many Fords and Fordts in this area of New York. A Roster of State Troops in New York during its colonial history lists 17 Fords, one Forde and eight Fordts, including two Simons: a quarter master who served in Van Schoonhoven's Regiment and a private who served in the same regiment, Vandenburgh's company.

Mr. Fordt (also spelled Ford) was a resident of a settlement called Boght, which is now in Cohoes, a town in east central New York State, east of Schenectady. This was an area of primarily Dutch people in which Occom preached in 1786 and 1787. On one occasion after preaching Occom lodged with Mr. Fordt; on another, Mr. Fordt ordered his slave to give Occom breakfast and then took him over the Mohawk River to Niskayuna to the house of Mr. Simon Fordt. These two Fordts should not be confused, but are probably related. There were many Fords and Fordts in this area of New York. A Roster of State Troops in New York during its colonial history lists seventeen Fords, one Forde and eight Fordts, including two Simons: a quarter master who served in Van Schoonhoven's Regiment and a private who served in the same regiment, Vandenburgh's company.

Jellis Douw (also spelled Jelles Douwse) Fonda was a prominent merchant and land speculator in the Mohawk Valley. He was the son of Douw Jellese Fonda (1700-1780) and Maritjie Vrooman, part of the extensive Fonda family in the area descended from Jellis and Hester Jans Fonda who immigrated from the Netherlands to Albany in 1651. Before the American Revolution, Douw Jellis (the father) founded the Dutch village of Fonda at the site of the Mohawk hamlet of Caughnawaga along the Mohawk River about 30 miles west of Albany. Jellis Douw, his son, was the most prominent of the early Fondas. He was the first merchant in the Mohawk Valley west of Schenectady and was a close friend and associate of Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Fonda fought in the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War, and though he was a Captain commanding a company of exempts in that war, he was known thereafter as Major Fonda, perhaps as an expression of respect. He served as a county judge, justice of the peace, county supervisor in Tryon and Montgomery counties, and Commissioner of Indian Affairs after Johnson's death. Fonda was also one of the executors of Johnson's will and designated guardian of his children. He was elected a state senator from 1779-81 and 1788-91, and died in office. In his preaching tours of the Mohawk Valley, Occom records lodging with Major Fonda several times during the period of 1786-89, and using the "ferry" Fonda had over the Mohawk River.

David McClure was an Anglo-American charity scholar at Moor’s Indian Charity School. He went on to become a minister, and remained exceptionally loyal to Eleazar Wheelock throughout his life. McClure is important as a primary source on Moor’s Indian Charity School: his diary (more accurately, an autobiography that he composed between 1805 and 1816) includes eyewitness accounts of the school, Samson Occom’s home life, and Separatist worship among the Charlestown Narragansett. McClure also became Wheelock’s first biographer (Memoirs of the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, 1811). McClure was a typical charity scholar, in that he attended Moor’s primarily to obtain an education that his family could not have afforded otherwise. After a year at Moor’s, McClure enrolled in Yale, where he attended sporadically between 1765 and September 1769, when he received his degree. After graduating, McClure kept school at Moor’s (then in New Hampshire) for several years, until he undertook his only career mission in 1772. McClure was exceptionally ill-suited to the missionary business. He was a city boy from Boston, and was so unfit for farm labor at Moor’s that Wheelock had him copy out correspondence instead. Aside from a brief 1766 foray into teaching at Kanawalohale under Samuel Kirkland’s tutelage, McClure’s only mission was an aborted sixteen month effort (1772-1773) to proselytize the Delaware of the Muskingum River, during which he spent far more time preaching to Anglo-American congregations. McClure had a long career as a minister, teacher, and writer. He remained close to Wheelock throughout his life: he married into Wheelock’s family in 1780, served as a trustee of Dartmouth from 1778 until 1800, consistently informed Wheelock of Dartmouth’s PR problems, and took Wheelock’s side in his dispute with former charity scholar Samuel Kirkland.

Anthony Paul was born in Charlestown, Rhode Island, to Mary and James Paul. His family was a part of the Narragansett peoples who lived in Charlestown. There is not much information detailing Paul's early years, but he is believed to have attended Wheelock's school in Connecticut. It is through this connection that Paul is likely to have met Christiana Occom, daughter of Samson Occom and Mary Fowler. Paul married Christiana in 1777 and, after spending some time in Mohegan, the two settled in Brotherton in 1784. Paul worked as a preacher and helped raise at least six children with Christiana. Occom was fond of his son-in-law, and his journals tell of many happy times visiting the couple, including fishing trips and the day in 1787 when Samson baptized Paul and four of his children. As further indication of Occom's fondness for his son-in-law, he is believed to have left the books and papers that he kept in his New York home with Paul. In 1797, Paul and Christiana left Brotherton to live in Lake George, NY, where they spent the rest of their years.

Unidentified Smith.

William Avery was born in 1724 to the prominent Avery family of Groton, Connecticut. From January 1768 until his death, Avery served as Groton's town clerk and treasurer. During the American Revolution, Avery served on several war committees. In 1779, he represented Groton at a general convention in Hartford, and then served on a committee to secure bounties for Revolutionary soldiers by selling Groton "public lands." From 1772 until 1810, North Groton did not have an official minister, and South Groton did not have one between 1798 and 1810; it appears that religious activity waned during this time. In his journal for 1785, however, Occom recalls an experience preaching in Groton, where Avery followed his sermon with an exhortation, an extemporaneous outpouring by a layperson that in New Light churches of the time often followed the more formal sermon. Occom notes that the audience was so rapt on this occasion that they did not want to leave, and begged Occom to preach to them again. Avery died at the age of 63 and was buried in the Starr Cemetery in Groton.