ms-number: 774672.3
abstract: Occom's journal describes his travels as an itinerant preacher during the period from December 19, 1774, to February 9, 1775.
handwriting: Occom's hand is small but consistently clear and legible. As is common with Occom, there are several uncrossed t's and crossed l's; these have been corrected by the transcriber.
paper: Several small sheets folded into a booklet and bound with thread or twine are in good-to-fair condition, with light-to-moderate staining and wear. One recto/verso is heavily damaged, which results in a significant loss of text.
ink: Brown ink varies in intensity throughout.
noteworthy: Although the missing text on one recto/verso makes it difficult to tell for certain, the "Indian Town" mentioned on one recto is likely Farmington. On four recto, it is uncertain to where Occom refers when he mentions the "Indian Place." Illegible person and place names have not been tagged. An editor, likely 19th-century, has overwritten several letters, words and phrases, as well as punctuation. These edits have not been transcribed.
[gap: tear] River
[gap: tear]Some Time: I reachd
[gap: tear] [illegible]
[gap: tear] kept Sabbath at this
[gap: faded] Preachd at m[gap: faded]
[gap: faded] to a tronged A[gap: faded]
[gap: faded] very [gap: faded] [guess: pleaſent ] Day
Monday Decr 19:
about 10 [gap: faded] and [illegible] my way, and
it was a Dreadful Storm of
Rain and [illegible] in it all
[gap: faded] Farmingtown got
[gap: faded] before Sun Set
[gap: faded] very wet Lodged at E[gap: faded]h[gap: faded]
Dec.r 20
[gap: faded]
[gap: tear]
hig[gap: tear]od [gap: tear]
a g[gap: tear]
Wedneſday Decr 21:
Indian Town about [gap: tear] the
morning, and it w[gap: tear] Cold;
towards Night Stopt a[gap: tear] [guess: t] one Mr
Wiard's and the People were urg⇑ent
to have me Stay till next Day and
give them a Diſcourſe and I Com
plyd; that Night it Snowd very
hard, all Night— —
Thirdſday Decr 22
Still Yet a great Number of People
Came together at the apointed Time
after meeting went home with one
Mr Weſt . Seven Day Baptiſt Preacher.
a godly man I believe a very
meek and humble man and
well reported by his Neighbours,
his wife is a Moravian woman
by Profeſsion a Pious woman by
[gap: tear] with
them, this Night
Fryday Dec[illegible] [guess: r] 23
Mr weſt all Day Lodged with
them again —
Saturday Decemr 24:
their Sabbath So the People got
together for meeting at their Uſu
al Hour and I preachd to them
as Soon as I had done Mr green
preachd, a Short Diſcourſe, and
after meeting, I went back to Mr
Wiards and Lodgd there—
Monday ⇑Sabbath Decem 25:
together about 11: a great Numbr
and I preachd to them twice in
the evening went to M.r Mechams
my good old Friend, he Came from
Weſterly and Lodgd there I was
very Poorly this Night I was Trou
bled with a Diſorder in my Bow
els very much — —
Monday Decem 26:
fortable this morning my Diſorder
was gone, about 10 went to Hering⇑‐ton
Meeting Houſe Calld on one [illegible]
from there went to Mr Wooddroff [illegible] [guess: 's] ,
and there put up my Horſe at
and went to meeting Preached to
a large aſsemble, and the People
attended with great Solemnity —
in the evening went to See Mr
Batholomew the old miniſter of the
Place he has layd down Preaching
by reaſon of Infirmities, he Seem
ed to be a good ſort of a man— Lodgd
with Mr Wooddroff
Tueſday Decer 27
on my Journey, Stopt at Letchfield a
few minutes Juſt to eat at a Tavern
and then Sot off again, and directed
my Courſe towards New Milford; reachd
the Place Juſt before night. Calld on
one Mr Balwin and Tarried there
all night, and appointed a meeting
10 o:c for the next Day, this Night
we had a Terrible Storm of Snow —
Wedneſday Decemr 28:
nued very Hard Yet we went to meet
ing and there was a Conſiderable Num
ber of People, went to Mr Tallor s the
miniſter of the Place and was very
kindly and tenderly entertaind —
Thirdsday Decr 29 :
M.r Tallor to attend upon a Lecture
which Mr Ta⇑ [illegible] [guess: y] llor had appointed Some
Days before a bout 7 miles South from
the Town, I preachd, and there
was a Number of People got toge‐
ther, Conſidering the Deep Snow; after
Service, the people were very urgen[gap: faded] [guess: t]
to have another meeting in the even
ing, and I Conſented, and So preachd
again; and we had very Solemn
meeting, the people in general
were greatly affected — after mee⇑t
[illegible] [guess: ing] went home with one Mr Hitchcoc⇑k
and Lodgd there, I believe the man
and his wife were true Chriſtians,
Sot up till late and then went to
Bed qui⇑etly Mr Ta⇑ [illegible] [guess: y] llor went home
this evening and I deſird ⇑him to Send
word to New Preſton , that I woud
be there on the next Day and give
them a Short Diſcourſe towards
evening,
Fryday Janr ⇑ Decr 29:
returnd to N. Milford got about 12
and found Mr Tayl[illegible] [guess: a]r had not Sent
word to N Preſton , and I Past by
as Soon as Coud, one Deacon Hoge
kins accompanyd me, and we got
there a little before Sun Set, and
they gave notice to the People, and
begun our Meeting in the evening
and there was a great Number of
People, and they attended well,
as Soon as the meeting was done we
went back again to New Milford
This Night Lodged with one Mr
Camble a Seperate Miniſter and
a very man I believe, — — —
Saturday Decr 31
at one Deacon Balwin s, among
the Seperates , had a Comfortable
meeting, after meeting went into
Town, Lodgd at Mr Taylor, —
Sabb Decemr ⇑ Janr 31
Place all Day to amazing Num
ber of People —
is a very good woman, was very
kindly entertaind, this evening
two young women Came to me
under great Concern of Soul and
I gave them a word of advice
and Coun[illegible] [guess: c]el
Monday Janr 2
early in the morning and went
on to New fairfield got there about
10 o:c Call in at Mr Sills the
Miniſter of the Place a few minue⇑tes
and then went to meeting, preachd
to a large Number of People, after
meeting went to Mr Sills and Dind
and Soon after Dinner left the
Place and went on towards
Kint Mr Sill went with me, went
thro Pe [illegible] ſ[illegible] ttokook, Stopt a few
Minutes at the Indian Place
but there was no Indians at home
Scarſely, and So we paſt on, got
to Mr Bodwell about 7 in the eveng
and they Sent word all round that
Night to have a meeting next
Day about 10 in the morning
Tueſday Janr 3:
about 10 and had a great
Number of People to Preach to
and the People attended with
great Solemnity and affecti
on, after meeting went to Mr
Bodwells and Din'd there, and
Soon after Dinner went on my
towards 9 Partners and got to
Esqr Hopkinss about 7 in the
evening and Lodgd there —
Wedneſday Jan.r 4:
at the red meeting Houſe, —
Thirdsday Janr 5:
at a priv[illegible] [guess: a]tt Houſe, in the
Place — —
Fryday Janr 6:
Knibloes in Esqr Hopkinss
Slay, got there before noon
about 1 went to meeting
and it was extre[illegible] [guess: am] Cold, I
deliverd a Short Diſcourſe,
after meeting went to mr
Plat's and Dind there, and
than went on our way Home
to Esqr Hopkins, got there
Juſt after Sun Set — — —
Saturday Janr 7:
Esqr Hopkins all Day —
Sabb Janr 8:
all Day, jut at night left
the Place and went over
the Mountain to Mr Wood's
Weeting Houſe, and preachd
there, and it was extre[illegible] [guess: eam]
Cold, went home with Mr
Fowler in his Slay and
Lodgd there — — — —
Monday Jan r 9:
in the morning and went on towards
Pleaſent Vally , Got to mr Caſe 's before
Night, Mr Caſe was not at Home
in the evening he Came Home
and we had a Joyful meeting he
and his Family were very well,
and his People Lodgd there —
Tueſday Janr 10:
went to the Hollow and Mr Caſe went
with me I preachd at the Houſe of one
Mr Struit, a Young Dutchman who
is under great Conviction of Soul
we had a great Number of People and
very Solemn meeting we had, — —
Wedneſday Janr 11:
miles Northweſt ward to one Mr Saml
Smiths and preachd there in the eveg
to a Crowd of People, and they attended
e[illegible] [guess: c]eeding well — Lodgd in the Same
Houſe one Mr ward brought heither
in his Slay from mr Caſe 's —
Thirdsday Janr 12:
early in the Morning towards States
bourough got there about 10 in the
morning put up at Mr Struits young
Mr Struit brought ⇑us here, mr Ham
Came with us in the after noon about
1 began a meeting, there was not a grea⇑t
Number of People at this time they
Came by miſtake the meeting
was appointed at evening, —
in the evening a great Number
Came together, and I gave them
another Diſcource, the People here
are Chiefly Dutch, and I found
Some excellent Chriſtians amongſt
Lodg'd at Mr Struits [illegible] [guess: T]
Fryday Janr 13:
early in the morning towards
Pleaſent Valley, for we had
appointed meeting there at 1
o'c this Day, got there juſt a
bout meeting Time, and there
was a great Number of People
I preachd, — after meeting I
went with one Mr Newcom a Bap
tiſt Brother, a man of great Riches
was very kindly entertaind, Lodgd
here, with much Satiſfaction —
Saturday Janr 14:
I made uſe of my Printed Notes or
Christian Cards — [illegible] about
11 I walkd Down to Mr Caſe 's
Mr Newcom went with me,
Spent [illegible] the reſt of the Day
with Mr Caſe , he is quite a
Clever Sort of a man —
Sab: Janr 15:
the place again to a vaſt
Crowd of People, and we had
a very Solemn meeting many
were brought to Floods of Tears
[illegible] [illegible] it was
a Sacrament with the People
and I Join the People it was
a Comfortable Seaſon, — as Soon
as the service was over we
went to a Place Calld Oswago
about 6 miles off, got there
in the Duſk of the evening
found a prodigious Number
of People, preachd to them,
Mr Caſe made the last Prayer
I Lodgd with one Mr Plat
: Monday Janr 16:
nother part of Oswago about
7 miles off, to a Baptist meet
ing Houſe , meeting began abot
1 in the afternoon, and there
was a great multitude of
People of all Sorts and Deno
minations, the greater part
of the People Cou'd not get in
to the Houſe, and we had a
Solemn meeting — as Soon as
the meeting was done we went to
wards Poughkeepsy , and had a
meeting in the evening at one
Capt Hagmans and had a pro
digious great Number of People
and the People attended with much
affection —
Monday Tueſday Janr 17:
in the morning went on to Pough
keepſy and Stopt a Little while at
a publick Houſe, and So paſt by
and went on towards the Ferry
about four miles Down the River
Mr Caſe and Mr Ward went with
me about a mile out the Town
and there took leave of me each
other in Friendſhip — and I wen⇑t
to the Ferry, there met with mag
major Durgee of Norwich in
his return Home from Suſqueha
nah , got over before Sun Set &
went Down to Mr Debois's and
Lodgd there Found them all
well except his wife, they were
very glad to See me, and receivd
with all kindneſs — —
Wedneſday Janr 18:
faſt went Down to New Windſor Calld
on Mr Luml Co[illegible]ling and alſo one
Mr Cl[illegible] [guess: ea]rk my old friends and ac
quaintances they were extree[illegible] [guess: m]ly
glad to See me and Stopt no more
till I got Butter Hill where one
Mr Joſeph Wood Lives he is an old
Diſciple indeed, we had a joy‐
ful meeting, we had not Seen each
other in Ten Years I felt as if
I was in my Fathers Houſe S[illegible] [guess: o]t
up till good bed Time and then
took our Repoſe for the Night
Thirdſday Janr 19:
Woods till towards Night, then
went to meeting at mr Cl[illegible] [guess: ea]rk s
there were So many People they
Coud not all get in, and we
had a Comfortable meeting
after meeting returnd Home
with Mr Wood again and S[illegible] [guess: o]t
up Some Time after we got Home
Fryday Janr 20:
Mr Woods again till toward Nig⇑ht
again and went to New Windſor
for Meeting had a meeting in
one of Elders Houſe, returnd
home again with Mr Woods —
Saturday Janr 21:
early in the Morning and on
towards Malborough. Stopt at
New Windſor Breakfaſted with
Mr Cloſe , after Breakfaſt wen⇑t
on my way got to Malborough
before Night Stopt at Mr Cl[illegible] [guess: ea]r⇑k s
Mr Caſe the general Postmas‐
ter Brought me here in his
Slay from Newborough he
is one of my good old Friends
here I ⇑went Lodgd and mr Caſe wen⇑t
home, and Lodgd with him —
Sab Janr 22:
went to the meeting Houſe and
a Multitude of People Came to
meeting, and we had a Solemn
meeting in the evening went
to Mr Deboiss Houſe and had
a meeting there and a great
Number of People were toge‐
ther again I Baptized two
Children we had the power
of god with us many were
brought to floods of Tears —
I Lodgd here,
Monday Janr 23:
went back again to Newborough
and preachd there in the Church
of England to a great Number of
People as Soon as the meeting was
over I went up to Malborough &
preachd in the School Houſe to
a Crowded People and they atten
ded with affection — after meetg
—went back to mr Cl[illegible] [guess: ea]rk s and
Lodgd there — —
Tueſday Janr 24:
early in the morning Mr Cl[illegible] [guess: ea]rk
went with me. and Mr Dayton
alſo went to wards Wall Hill got
to Mr Tolton's about 11 where
we were to have a meeting, a
bout 12 [illegible] we begun Meeting &
there was a Multitude of People
I had Some freedom in Speaking
this Night Stayd with Mr Tolton
Wedneſday Janr 25:
a meeting not far from Mr
Tolton's in a Dutch mans H
a great number of People
came together again — —
in the evening had another
meeting not far the Place
where had a meeting in the
Day and I believe the Lord
was with us of a Truth there
was great Trembling in the
Congregation This night
Lodgd with one Mr Norton —
had a long Converſation with
them, the were Baptiſts —
Thirdsday Janr 26:
morning went away to anothe⇑r
place, about 6 miles off, g
where we had apointed a
meeting at a Dutch mans
Houſe, we got there about 11
about 12 went to meeting in
a Barn, the Peopl Crouded
like Bees and we had a Solem
meeting, after meeting I went
with a gentleman 2 or 3 miles
Norward, in the evening a Numr
of Neighbours Came in to
meeting tho we did not men‐
tion any meeting, and I gav⇑e
a word of HExhortation
Lodgd here — —
Fryday Janr 27:
the morning and to Blooming
grove, about 20 miles off got
there about 5 in the after
Noon was kindly entertaind
by one Mr Brewster Lodgd
there — —
Saturday Janr 28:
Mr Brewsters all Day in
the evening one Hoseah Came
to See me he is a multoe man
Reckend a Christian man
we had Some Converſation
together in Prodigious mat
ters — —
Sab: Janr 29:
Place to a vast Croud of People
and I had but little Senſe of
Divine things, ho[illegible]e however,
the People attended with great
attention — — towards Night went
Oxford about 4 miles off there
we had an evening meeting to
a Crouded Audience and I had
Some Senſe of Divene things &
the People were much affected
I believe Lord was with us of
Truth,— Lodgd at Deacon Little's
Monday Janr 30:
quite early I Sot off for Smiths
Clove Deacon Little accompanied
me, got the there about 10 a
bout 12 we began Div[illegible] [guess: e] Service
and there was a great multi
tude of People, and I had much free
dom in Mind and Speech and many
People were melted into floods of
Tears, as Soon as the Meeting was
done I went Down to Murtherers
Ch Creek got there before night
went to Mr Woods found them all
well, in the evening went meet
ing towards the Creek, and had
Some what Solemn meeting, af
ter meeting went to the Creek
and Lodgd there with one [illegible] [guess: Mr –]
Tueſday Febru Janr 31:
in order to get over the River,
Stopt a little while with Mr Cloſe
at New Windſor there was no
paſsing there, and So I went to
Newborough , Breakfaſted at
Mr [gap: omitted] and then went
to the ferry, about 11 went over
to Fiſhkill s Side, and went one
to the Center of the Place, got to
the Preſbyterians Meeting Houſe
about 3 in the after-Noon, the
People Stopt me to have a meetng
on the next Day, and I went
to one [gap: omitted] and Lodgd
there, and was very kindly
treated and entertaind, —
Wedneſday: Febr 1: 1775 —
and there was a great multi
tude of People, and had a Solemn
meeting, As Soon as the meeting
was over, I went on towards the
mountains, Lodgd with one Mr
Judge — and was very kind
ly entertaind and he Sayd, yt
ever I Shoud Come there again I
Shoud make his Houſe my Home
Thirdsday: Febr 2:
early in the morning, to a Place
Calld the Mills, there I had a meet
ing, begun about 12: preachd
in a Barn to a vast great Concorſ⇑e
of People, and the Power of God
was manifeſt amongſt us, there
was great trebling among the
People after meeting went with
one Mr Lawrence a Baptiſt Minis
ter he lives in the mountains, and
I Lodgd at his Houſe, —
Fryday: Febr 3:
to meeting, preachd to Amazing Num
ber of People in the woods, and we ⇑had
very good meeting the Spirit of god
moved upon the people, after meet
ing went Home with Mr Lawrence, in
the Evening Mr Lawrence and I went
to Capt Champlin s, and we had long
and Friendly Converſation together
in Religious Matters, Lodgd here this
Night, and was extre[illegible] [guess: am]ly we[illegible] [guess: ell] uſ'd
and entertain —
Saturday Morning Febr 4:
to Dover Mr Miller went with
me we got to Mr Waldos about
10: he is a Baptiſt Miniſter of
the Place, and he receivd me
with Brotherly kindneſs and Love
Lodgd here —
Sabb Febr 5
to meeting, and there was grea⇑t
Number of People Got toge‐
ther, and I preachd with
much freedom the People were
affected many of 'em, after
meeting, went Down to New
Fairfield, got to Mr Sills be‐
fore Night, the meeting was
appointed at his Houſe, and
the People Came in So thick
there was not half Room ⇑enough for
them, and juſt as we were
about to begin Divine Service
a Meſsenger Came from the
meeting Houſe which ⇑is a mile
off and Said there was great
Number of People got together
there, and we were obligd to
remove to the ⇑ meetg Houſe and when
we got there we found a great
Number of People, the meetig
Houſe was Crouded, and the
Lord gave me freedome in
Speaking, after meeting
went back with Mr Sill and
Lodged there —
Monday: Febr 6:
ing went Down to a Town Houſe
of Fairfield and there Preac⇑hd;
began about 12 and there was
a great Number of People got
together and we had a Comfortable
meeting, as Soon as the metetg
was over I went towards New
Milford, got there towards Nig⇑ht
Stopt at Mr Hindss: and
there were very urgent to have
me Stay and have a meeting
they Pled So hard it was very
hard for ⇑me to paſs by the them,
there was one Young Convert
in particular Intreated with
Tears in her Eyes to have me
Stay they pul'd very hard
upon my very Heart Strings
and it Hard work to get
a way from them, however
I did get a way, and went
on towards New Preſton , got
there Some Time in the eveng
put up at Mr Cogswell s a
Tarvern and he gave me my
Entertainment —
Tueſday Febr 7:
early in the morning, and
reachd to Farmington Some
Time in the Evening, put
up at Elijah Wympy's
found them all well — —
Wedneſday Febr 8,
off very early in the morning
and Got So far as Mr
Cornwells East Side of the
Connecticut River a bout
10 miles, I intended to have
gone further, but the Land
Lord Cornwell u⇑rgd to have
me Stay, and I Conſented
at laſt, and preſently it
was Noiſed about I was
there, and they had a Notio⇑[below]n
of haveing a meeting, and
at last I Conſented, this
was about half an hour
after Sun Set, and in about
more the Houſe was Crouded
with People. and I preached
and I had Some Freedom—
and after meeting went
to Reſt quietly, —
Thirdsday Febr 9:
leave of [illegible] [guess: 'em] very early
in the morning, and on
my way, made but little
Stops by the way, arriv'd
to my Houſe Juſt before
Night, and found all my
family in good State of
Health, — Bleſsed be the
Lord god of Heaven & Earth
for his goodneſs to me and
to my Family, that he has
carried me out and brought
The Tunxis Indians first established a village on the east side of a river (now named the Farmington River) and called it Tunxis Sepus, meaning at the bend of the little river. English settlers renamed it Plantation at Tunxis in 1640, and in 1645, the Connecticut General Assembly incorporated the land, in central Connecticut, as the town of Farmington. Throughout the 18th century, the Tunxis Indians attended church and school with the settlers. In a letter to George Whitefield, Wheelock wrote of a 14-year-old Farmington Indian who demonstrated a gift for learning and knew how to read and write English, indicating that the young Indian might make a great addition to his school. At least six male students who were possibly from Farmington entered the Indian Charity School between 1761 and 1762. Also, Occom's son-in-law, Joseph Johnson, resided in and wrote a letter from Farmington prior to establishing the Brothertown settlement in upstate New York. According to Calloway, the possible Farmington students were Moses, Samuel Ashpo, Daniel Mossuck, and Jacob Fowler, Enoch Closs, Samuel Tallman. However, the letter does not indicate whether the student Wheelock mentions ever attended the school.
The town of Litchfield is located in central Connecticut. The land was inhabited by the Potatuck Tribe, members of the Paugussett confederacy, when the British colonists arrived in the seventeenth century. In the earliest written records, the town’s Native American name is referred to as Bantam, or alternatively Peantam, meaning "he prays" in Algonquian. The name Peantam may have derived from Christian Indians who lived in the area. In 1715, colonists John Mitchell, Joseph Minor, and John Minor purchased a 44,800 acre tract of land for fifteen pounds from the Potatucks, but a provision in the deed stipulated that the Potatucks reserve a piece of land near Mount Tom for their hunting houses. The town was incorporated in 1719 by the Colonial Assembly of Connecticut, and the name was changed to Litchfield after a market center in England. Throughout the 1720s, colonists inhabiting the town built forts and sent alerts to stave off the threat of Native American raids, but throughout the 1730s and 1740s, threats diminished and the town began to stabilize. During the American Revolution, Litchfield served as a center of patriotic activity.
New Milford is a town in Litchfield County on the western border of Connecticut along the Housatonic River. At almost 62 square miles, it is the largest town in the state. The Weantinock Indians, a sub-group of the Paugusset Nation, lived in the area of modern-day New Milford before and during the colonial period. They farmed and fished in freshwater areas. In 1702, 14 Indians conveyed a deed of "A Certain Tract of Land called Weeantenock" to the "Proprietors of New Milford" for "Sixty pounds Current money of this Colony of Connecticut and Twenty pounds in Goods." The Weantinocks left their Fort Hill land, where they had a large settlement and a fort. In 1707 the earliest settlers arrived and began creating farms and homesteads; they petitioned and were granted the privileges of a town in 1712. Many residents fought in the colonial wars and the Revolutionary War. Occom passed through New Milford at the end of December in 1774 during a fierce snow storm, but preached to a large gathering of people.
Norwich is a city in New London County in the southeast corner of Connecticut. It was founded in 1659 when Major John Mason and Reverend James Fitch led English settlers inland from Old Saybrook, CT, on the coast. They bought land from Uncas, sachem of the local Mohegan tribe, and divided it into farms and businesses mainly in the three-mile area around the Norwichtown Green. In 1668, a wharf was built at Yantic Cove and in 1694 a public landing was built at the head of the Thames River, which allowed trade with England to flourish. The center of Norwich soon moved to the neighborhood around the harbor called "Chelsea." During the revolutionary period, when transatlantic trade was cut off, Norwich developed large mills and factories along the three rivers that cross the town: the Yantic, Shetucket and Thames, and supported the war effort by supplying soldiers, ships, and munitions. Norwich was the largest town in the vicinity in which Occom, Wheelock and their associates lived and worked, and it was possible to get there by water because of the harbor and access to the Long Island Sound. Lebanon, CT, the site of Wheelock's school, is 11 miles north and present-day Uncasville, the center of the Mohegan tribe, is a few miles south of Norwich. James Fitch did missionary work among the Mohegans in Norwich until his death in 1702, and Samuel Kirkland, the most important Protestant missionary to the Six Nations trained by Wheelock, was born in Norwich in 1741. On his evangelical tour of North America in 1764, George Whitefield planned to travel to Norwich to meet with Wheelock. The Connecticut Board of Correspondents of the Scottish Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge frequently met in Norwich, and many letters by people involved in the missionary efforts of Wheelock were written from Norwich.
Newburgh is a city located in southeastern New York state along the Hudson River. It is also the name of an adjacent town, which was part of the city until 1865 when the city split off from the town. Before the arrival of Europeans, the area was inhabited by the Waoranek Indians, members of the Lenape Tribe of the Algonquin people. In 1684, the governor of New York bought the area that would be Newburgh, along with the land comprising New Windsor, from the Waoranek Tribe for $200, cooking pots, scissors, cloth, shoes and other domestic items. In 1752, England officially recognized the Parish of Newburgh, named after Newborough, Scotland. Newburgh served as an encampment site for many troops during the American Revolution, and the British occupation of New York City caused the population of Newburgh to swell with colonial refugees. In 1800, Newburgh was incorporated.
Blooming Grove is a town in New York's Orange County, on the western bank of the Hudson River north of New York City. The area was originally inhabited by the Minisink Indians, an Algonquian-speaking part of the Lenni-Lenape Nation, before colonists pressured them to sell their lands in the 17th and 18th centuries. By 1765, only 750 Minisinks remained in Orange County. When Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River in 1609, he dropped anchor near what would become Cornwall, NY. Blooming Grove was an area of the town of Cornwall until 1799, when it separated to form its own town. In his journal for 1775, Occom records a visit to Blooming Grove, which had a Presbyterian Church and, thus, an interested populace, as part of his preaching tour. He stayed with John Brewster, the Cornwall town clerk, and preached to the townspeople. In another undated journal entry, Occom fondly recounts a past visit to Blooming Grove during which he gave a young girl a book, and his later encounter with this woman as an adult while visiting near Fort Hunter, NY.
The Connecticut River is the largest and longest in New England. It originates in northern New Hampshire, runs south through western Massachusetts and Connecticut and empties into Long Island Sound. Although Governor Wentworth offered several parcels of land in the colony of New Hampshire as potential sites for the Indian school and college, Wheelock lobbied hard to locate them in Hanover, on a parcel that bordered the Upper Connecticut River, in part because the waterway provided an important means of transportation in unsettled territory with few roads. It gave him access to western Massachusetts and Connecticut, where, in fact, many of the settlers already in the area had come up the river from Connecticut, and also provided proximity to the Canadian Indian tribes, who, after the Oneidas pulled all their children from the School in 1769, became Wheelock’s prime target for recruitment.
Poughkeepsie is a city in New York’s Dutchess County on the eastern shore of the Hudson River, located about halfway between Albany and New York City. The area was originally inhabited by the Algonquin-speaking Wappinger Indians who named the area Apokeepsing, meaning "safe harbor." Europeans were slow to colonize the eastern bank of the Hudson, but in 1683 the expanding English presence in New York prompted a Wappinger named Massany to sign a deed granting Wappinger land to two Dutch settlers who planned to build a mill on the land. In 1687, a colonial land patent given to Thomas Sanders and Myndert Harmse superseded this deed, and Wappinger land was quickly parceled off to the Dutch and English as homesteads. Wappingers continued to inhabit the area until the mid-1700s, when disease and overcrowding forced them to migrate to Stockbridge, MA, an Indian Town to which many New England Indian tribes fled. Occom often preached in Poughkeepsie beginning in the 1760s until the end of his life, though it was to a primarily European audience. He stopped by the town while traveling between Albany and New York on a route known as the Indian Trail. Poughkeepsie was spared during the American Revolution and, as a result, it became the capital of New York in 1778, until Albany took that honor in 1797.
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.
Theophilus Baldwin served as the Separatist Congregationalist Deacon of New Milford, Connecticut. According to Occom's journal, Occom lodged at his home and met with him on at least two occasions.
Ebenezer Little was a Massachusetts merchant and a supporter of Wheelock's school, who shipped goods to Wheelock and helped the design however he could. His commitment to Wheelock's Indian School was such that the Reverend Parsons mentioned it in his sermon at Little's funeral. Manuscript 764662, not included in the Occom Circle, relates to Wheelock and Little's trade relationship. Little was very involved in the Presbyterian Church at Newburyport, as well as local government.
Elijah Wympy was a prominent Farmington Indian who was instrumental in establishing Brothertown, yet he subsequently led a group that disregarded the primary vision of the community. In his early years he was a student at the school in Farmington, CT, and in 1757 he served in the Seven Years’ War. During negotiations around 1773 between the Oneida and New England Indians concerning a tract of land, Wympy acted as a delegate for Farmington and asked other tribes to send envoys too. The Oneidas granted the territory the following year, and in 1775 Wympy was among the first to move to what became Brothertown. He was chosen as a trustee of the town in 1785, but around this time the Oneidas attempted to reclaim the land. Accordingly, Wympy participated in the effort to maintain the territory. Fortunately, when the state of New York gained Oneida territory in 1788, it acknowledged the Christian Indians’ right to the tract as it had originally been granted; the state passed an act in 1789 that recognized the Indians’ property and instituted a 10-year limit on leases for lots. Wympy and his followers, comprised mainly of outsiders, thus leased numerous parcels, including invaluable ones, to white settlers. Occom strongly opposed this and petitioned the Assembly, which passed an act in 1791 restricting the power to lease lands to the council. While Occom and Wympy had previously been friends -- Wympy had even partaken in the movement to establish Occom as the local minister -- their disagreement on the issue of leasing Brothertown lands to whites opened a strong divide between them. Wympy apparently regretted his actions, for in 1794 he was among the signers of an address to the governor seeking to remove the whites. He remained in Brothertown until his death around 1802.