Daniel Simon, letter, to Eleazar Wheelock, 1778 December 7
Date7 December, 1778
Call Number778657
abstractSimon has been keeping school at Stockbridge, but is now uncertain as to whether he will continue there.
handwritingHandwriting is small, yet mostly formal and legible. Letter case, especially with regard to the letter S, is frequently difficult to decipher. When in doubt, the transcriber has used the lower case.
paperLarge sheet folded in half to make four pages is in fair condition, with moderate staining, creasing and wear.
noteworthyOn two recto, “Taussar’s son” could refer to Benjamin Towsey, a Stockbridge Indian student sent to Dartmouth by his father David Towsey.
layoutThe first page of the letter is on one recto, but the second page is on two recto, not one verso.
Honour,d and worthy
sir,
my worthy Patron, lays me under
the greateſt obligation to
write every opportunity not only
to unfold to you my perſonal
Circumſtances, but to enquire after
your peace, Health and well-fair,
and not only so, but the grand Cauſe
that you are engag,d in, my
Education being from there, it
becomes me to speak high of the
College, the generallity of the People
Speake well Concerning the College,
but here and there one, little teanted
or tardy, — I would inform you, sir,
that I have kept out my time
in keeping school at Stockbridge,
Blank page. and after that — I was sent as an
Agent to the Boſton Board for the
Stockbridge Tribe of Indians, and
the Memoral and Petition that I
lay,d before the Board was granted,
which was for the eſtabliſhment
of a school
and the Board aply,d to me how and in
what manner that I would reſide
among the Indians, for a number
of years, but finding the depreciation
of the Money is such, — the Board
thought fit to defer
and it is to be much with M.r
sergeant, at Stockbridge, and it is
some uncertain whether I shall
engage in the buſineſs of the Boſton
board, — I don,t know but
that I shall take the Engliſh
school, — & &, the stockbridge Tribe of
Indians are Concern,d about that
Boy who lives this Side of the College,
Tauſsar,s son, that he may not
be diſpoſs,d of in an unlawfull
way, and in a Clendeſtene manne,r
and so remain wiſhing the peace
and health of your own perſon and
family and the proſperity of all that
Conce'rns you