Hezekiah Calvin, letter to Eleazar Wheelock, 1766 August 11
Date11 August, 1766
Call Number766461.2
abstractCalvin writes about his frustrations with trying to keep a school at Fort Hunter.
handwritingHandwriting is neat, formal and legible.
paperLarge sheet folded in half to make four pages is in good condition. There is a tear near the remnants of the seal which results in no loss of text.
signatureSignatures on both the body of the letter and the postscript are abbreviated.
layoutLetter begins on one verso, not one recto; one recto is the address page. The first page of the letter (one verso) is in portrait orientation; all other pages are in landscape orientation.
noteworthyOn one recto, in the address to the letter, "V.D.M" after Wheelock's name is an abbreviation for "Verbi dei minister" an informal designation for a Christian minister. The "A.B" after "Sir Wheelock" is an abbreviation for "artium baccalaureus," Latin for bachelor of arts.
Hand to try to write You a Letter, & thereby to inform you that we arrived at But
lers berry the 11th of July Well & safe, & Mr Pomroy & Sir Wheelock arrived the 17th
Sir Wheelock went in the Castle to settle a school there, & the Indians were very
much Pleaſed with his Discourſe, & liked very well to have a school there & they
made fair Promiſes that they would send their Children every Day Steady; &
so I entered the Cast
dians yt I should have been glad to open’d the school on the 23,d but the Indians
were very loth to send their Children, for what reaſon I know not, I went to
the Indians day after Day to get some of their Children to School, but all this
signified nothing, the Indians would make excuſes that they had work for
them to do, so that they could not send them yet, but they would send them
Tomorrow, & so on till the 30th I told them I would leave ‘em, that I could
not stay with them Doing Nothing & on the Morrow they sent Five
Children, & so on till Mr Wheelock came from the Upper Castle;
And then I related him all what was done, He told the Indians yt
Mr Kinney would Preach to them on Sunday following Two of the Clock
in the afternoon, so the Indians gathered but they could
terpreter, for the Preacher,
to interpret what he had to say, & so he told them that it was God’s
Day that he would have it kept for him &c. at last he told them
that he had let them have the Benifit of a Schoolmaster to teach
their Children & when he came in the Castle
pected to find a Doz– or Forteen Children in the School all
buſy with their Books, but at his expectation, he found but
Five Children which made his heart ake & the Indians so
unwilling to send their Children “it seems that they wanted no Schooling &
then he asked th
was given them or no, but he would fain try them a little longer he would let me
stay with them till the’ fall & so he ended. The Indians replyed yt they would give
an Answer Wednesday following, and on Wednesday the Indians met they said they
thanked him for his good will in trying to do them a little good but what can we
do their are some that do not want schooling & we are mixt some good & some bad
they said they had been & sought out as many as wanted to have a school & they
said they could send 15 Children to school the greatest part of the time & if
Sir Wheelock thought fit to take me away why they could not help it there was
as many as were at home, by and by the rest of the Indians
have a mind to send their Children at School too, they say alſo that they are
going out to hunt & that they must needs take their Children with them
that they cant leave their Children alone &c &c — — — —
will bring it write I cant tell it no Straiter. I have now Eighteen Schollars which
come very Steady, but it his very hard to bring them too I do my best that I can &
yet the Indians will complain that I am not severe enough will it do for me to
be a thrashing them continually, how oft have I corrected them within a Week
sometimes twice or thrice a Day I hate forever to be a whipping, whipping too
much wont do, I told them if I was not severe enough they must in consequence get a Severer one but I hope Sir in time to bring them too by the help of God
which I cannot do without, all theſe means wont do, they are stubburn People
sometimes I am ready to give out With theſe Indians & with the Pains I have, I have
a hard head acke certain time in the afternoon which sometimes is so hard that I
hardly know that I am about &cc The Indians say that I shall not come home theſe
three years they think that I am their Serwant & are obliged to keep school for Yem & yet they wont send their Children
It is true I should be glad to keep School here all my Days but all the
faint hearted together my wanting to see my father Mother & relations —
I think Indians will be Indians they will still follow their evill Practices. &c
But Sir I hope you will overlook the many Blunders I have made in my haste & so re
membering my Love to your Family & School
Tho unworthy Servant
Hez- Calvin
by David Fowler if it pleaſes the & a pair
of shoes &c Yours Hez- Calvin