Simon, Daniel

last name (variants): Symon; Simons; Symons
Affiliation

Charlestown Narragansett Tribe; Moor's Indian Charity School; Dartmouth College; Presbyterian Church

Education

Moor's Indian Charity School; Dartmouth College Class of 1777

Faith

Hired by Presbyterians

Nationality

Narragansett

Occupation

Minister, Schoolteacher, Missionary

Residence(s)
  • Charlestown, Rhode Island ( to 1768)
  • Moor's Indian Charity School in Lebanon, Connecticut (from 1768 to 1770)
  • Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire (from 1770 to 1778-01-19)
  • Stockbridge, MA (from 1778-05-01 to 1780-05-01)
  • Cranbury, New Jersey (from 1783)
  • Brotherton, NJ (from 1785-04)
Events

In 1777, Simon became the first Native American graduate of Dartmouth College, and the only graduate during Wheelock's lifetime. In 1784, Simon was suspended from ministry on charges of intemperance.

Marital status

Married to Hezekiah Calvin's sister.

Biography

Daniel Simon was a member of the Narragansett Simon family (Mrs. Sarah Simon, Miss Sarah Simon, Abraham Simon, Daniel Simon, James Simon, and Emmanual Simon—all five children attended Moor’s Indian Charity School for at least some time). Daniel arrived at Moor’s Indian Charity School with his brother Abraham either very late in 1768 or early in 1769. The two brothers remained with Eleazar Wheelock during his relocation to Hanover, New Hampshire. Daniel Simon graduated from Dartmouth College in 1777 (the college’s first Native American graduate, and the only one during Wheelock’s lifetime). He was licensed as a minister by the Grafton Presbytery on January 19, 1778. After a stint keeping school at Stockbridge, MA, he took over John Brainerd’s ministry at Cranbury, NJ in 1783 (John Brainerd, the long-term Anglo-American missionary in the region, had died in 1781). In 1784, Simon was suspended from the ministry on charges of intemperance, and began serving “informally” as minister at Brotherton, NJ, until at least 1788. He married a sister of Hezekiah Calvin (a Delaware who had attended Moor’s, and who became prominent at Brotherton), which may explain why he settled at Brotherton, NJ, instead of Brothertown, NY (where all four of his siblings resided).

Sources

Brooks, Joanna. The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan: Leadership and Literacy in Eighteenth-Century Native America. Oxford 2006: Biographical details, including marriage (423). Bross, Kristina, and Wyss, Hilary. Early Native Literacies in New England. UMass Press 2008: Family history (98). Calloway, Colin, The Indian History of an American Institution. Dartmouth College Press 2010: Biographical details (13, 28, 49-50). Jarvis, Brad. Preserving the Brothertown Nation of Indians. UMinnesota Dissertation, June 2006: Post-Dartmouth Career (142). Love, Deloss. Samson Occom and the Christian Indians of New England. Pilgrim Press 1899: Biographical details. McCallum, James. The Letters of Eleazar Wheelock’s Indians. Dartmouth College Press 1932: Biographical detail (219).Walling, Richard S. (ed). “Primary Documents Related to Brotherton Indians.” In Brotherton & Weekping: A Documentary History. Accessed via http://brotherton-weekping.tripod.com/index.html 2/14.

General note

Daniel wrote 771500, 773116, 778557, and 778657 to Wheelock, and Wheelock wrote his recommendation (778129).