Samuel Kirkland says that after his visit to Boston in September of 1803 he was granted $100 from the Society for Propagating the Gospel. Kirkland assumed that this society would continue to give him annual relief. But since the withdrawal of his salary by the Society of Scotland, he has had to sell much of his property to support his family. He desires pecuniary relief.
Samuel Kirkland needs boxes of glass and paints to finish his house: he requests that George pack them in a wagon for Schenectady. The Russel farm, of 300 acres plus the improvements, would bring Samuel Kirkland 3000 dollars.
Kirkland 185b Samuel Kirkland to John T. Kirkland Paris 16th November 1795. Dear Son Yours of the 12th ultimo by Mr. Johnson came safe to hand. I need not mention the gratification it afforded me, for your letters have always that happy influence. I am sorry, however, that temporalities should oppress you, when scarcely setting out in life. I have long borne them, and they have become familiar. If your finances will not admit of affording me a little present relief towards completing my house, m Show moreKirkland 185b Samuel Kirkland to John T. Kirkland Paris 16th November 1795. Dear Son Yours of the 12th ultimo by Mr. Johnson came safe to hand. I need not mention the gratification it afforded me, for your letters have always that happy influence. I am sorry, however, that temporalities should oppress you, when scarcely setting out in life. I have long borne them, and they have become familiar. If your finances will not admit of affording me a little present relief towards completing my house, make yourself entirely easy. I can cheerfully encounter a thousand difficulties rather than see a favorite Son attacked by a single one. My embarrassments and disappointments from almost every quarter I shall not mention. Should it be consistent with your present situation, I wish you to enclose me, in a letter by post, 50 or 100 dollars or more if convenient. I believe it may come safe. It is probably your Brother George will visit you early in the winter, if there be snow. All things considered, I think my daughter Jerusha ought to show you the purport of the enclosed, and take your advice being so far from family connexions. The The subject is very delicate. Who at present can be a more faithful, judicious and affectionate counselor than a dear Brother? Amidst all the variety and little cares of life I can't forget your important office and the situation in which you are placed. I wish you every day to thank Christ Jesus your Lord who hath enabled you, for that he wanted you faithful, hath put you into the ministry. Set the Lord always before you as your teacher and example. As a preacher he gave himself wholly to his work; he loved it; it was his meat and his drink. Let the nature, importance, and success of your office follow you into all places and into all companies and direct the whole course of your conduct. May your time and talents be all consecrated time and talents. Where much is given, the requirement will be proportionable. My heart's desire is, that the Lord may keep you, and make you an able, faithful, and skillful minister, and wise in winning souls to Christ. I expect to write you again shortly - and be a little more particular as to domestic affairs, with some Indian information. Yours, etc. S. Kirkland . P.S. This moment received yours of the 5th instant - thank you for the enclosed. Shall be very glad of the next quarterly payment by the time; accept ( ) P.S. I am exceedingly anxious for the education of my son Sammy, but cannot at present advance anything towards it. P. S. 2d. Please seal the enclosed - having no wafers. Show less
Samuel Kirkland regrets that his son should so early in life be worried about temporalities. George will probably be visiting Thornton soon. Jerusha ought to show Thornton the gist of the enclosed and take Thornton's advice. P.S. Just now received Thornton's letter of the 5th -- thank you for the enclosed. P.S. At this point, Samuel regrettably cannot contribute for the education of Sammy.
Kirkland 179c Samuel Kirkland to John T. Kirkland . Clinton, May 18th 1795. My dear Son, I hope my last reached you before this time. I don't enjoy quite so good health as I flattered myself I had in prospect when I wrote. The fatigues I underwent at Oneida for the first Sabbath or two after I began to recover, were too severe for me. The time for you expected visit to the family is fast approaching. May you have a prosperous journey. I have a quarter's salary from Dr. Storer which bec Show moreKirkland 179c Samuel Kirkland to John T. Kirkland . Clinton, May 18th 1795. My dear Son, I hope my last reached you before this time. I don't enjoy quite so good health as I flattered myself I had in prospect when I wrote. The fatigues I underwent at Oneida for the first Sabbath or two after I began to recover, were too severe for me. The time for you expected visit to the family is fast approaching. May you have a prosperous journey. I have a quarter's salary from Dr. Storer which becomes due the 30th instant. I wish you to call for it and give your receipt, at the time it shall become due, and forward it to me. It will be peculiarly acceptable at this juncture. You can procure a 50 dollar bank bill from the Branch Bank. Enclose in a letter, to be left in the Post Office in Stockbridge, and I believe it will come safe. If your circumstances would admit, I wish you might put in another 50 dollars It would enable me to procure some choice materials for my building. The Academy has drained me so low, I have no way to help myself at present. Dr. Hopkins sets out for Stockbridge on a visit, this afternoon or tomorrow morning. He hopes to have your company back, if you come that way. Your Brother is now, I suppose, in Hartford. He does not enjoy good health. I feel much concerned for him. Your sisters are well. Yours, etc. S. Kirkland . Reverend J. T. Kirkland Mr. Andrews of Stockbridge is requested to forward this by post.- Stockbridge Way May 25- Reverend John T. Kirkland Boston Reverend S. Kirkland May 18, 1795 Show less
Samuel Kirkland's health is not so good as previously reported. Since his quarter's salary of 50 dollars will soon come due, he requests that his son send it to him, along with an additional fifty dollars of his son's own, if possible. The Academy has drained most of his own personal funds.
Kirkland 132b Letter from Samuel Kirkland to Reverend Mr. Thacher . Stockbridge January 14, 1791. Reverend and Dear Sir, I have now to acknowledge your favors of the 8th and 30th of October last. They were sometime detained in Stockbridge, as my family were in expectation of my coming down from Oneida sooner than it was convenient for me to leave the Indian country, that I did not receive them till about four weeks ago. Their contents shall be duly attended to, so soon as my situation will admit Show moreKirkland 132b Letter from Samuel Kirkland to Reverend Mr. Thacher . Stockbridge January 14, 1791. Reverend and Dear Sir, I have now to acknowledge your favors of the 8th and 30th of October last. They were sometime detained in Stockbridge, as my family were in expectation of my coming down from Oneida sooner than it was convenient for me to leave the Indian country, that I did not receive them till about four weeks ago. Their contents shall be duly attended to, so soon as my situation will admit. Permit me, Sir, to acquaint you, that I am just now returned from a tour to Philadelphia, where I was unexpectedly desired to meet a number of the Seneca Chiefs, who were at Philadelphia on business of importance with Congress; and partly on account of the disturbed and hostile situation of the Indians in the vicinity of the Miamis. I expect to set out early tomorrow morning for Oneida. -- You inform me that the Society in Scotland have determined to erect to schools in the Indian country. I congratulate the Honorable Board on this additional fruit of their extensively benevolent institution, which embraces objects of charity and the cause of religion and humanity, at so great a distance as the wilds of America. It will gladden the hearts of many of the poor Indians. May their pious care and liberal benefactions be productive of the most desirable effects, and they hereafter meet a divine reward. I am apprehensive, however, you will meet with some difficulty in finding persons, who are qualified for the business of teaching them and will cheerfully undertake it. I can as yet get sight of no one, who has the necessary and desirable qualifications for the difficult and self-denying employment, and is willing to make the absolutely unavoidable sacrifices. And should no one be procured by the ensuing summer, the expectations of the Senecas would be greatly disappointed, and the cause thereby injured, which you will readily conceive from the representation I gave of the state and disposition of that nation in my last year's journal--since which I have had many long conversations with some of that nation upon that subject.-- I shall write the Honorable Board more particularly and largely upon this head, when I have had an interview with Mr. Sergeant , with whom they desire me to consult on the subject of their letter. In the meantime it might be well to know of Mr. Crosby (whom I mentioned in my journal) if his usual state of health and bodily firmness be equal to the business, and if he would engage for life. his integrity and piety are undoubted. He would be very useful to the Indian Settlements on the West side of the Genesee River; river; which consist of seven small villages and contain in the whole about one thousand and eighty souls. In your favor of the 6. November I have the grateful information that the Society have authorized the Commissioners to make me a consideration for my uncommon expenditures among the Indians, during the famine in the year eighty nine: and you request me to exhibit to the Board an account of those extra expenditures, so that they may compensate me and if the account be reasonable, they will without doubt allow it". I am sorry it is not now in my power to produce a particular and minute account of those expenditures--as it might probably contribute to the more general satisfaction of the Honorable Board in their result upon the subject. Some of the memorandums I had taken were not reserved after I had made the estimation referred to and mentioned in my Journal, which was to the amount of one hundred and sixty dollars. At that time I was furnished with the means of making a pretty accurate statement of those extra and uncommon expenditures. All I can now say further upon the subject is that I then endeavoured to make a just but moderate account of those expenses, and what at that time would have made me good, or been considered as a bare reimbursement. And were the disadvantages I was subjected to in consequence of it, and the injury I sustained in my own interest to be considered, the sum I then stated would now be quite inadequate. But I do not wish, it would be most unreasonable in me to expect, that the Society should make up all the losses I am liable to meet with in the course of my mission. The famine, which so generally prevailed among all the Indians at that time was uncommon and distressing. No pecuniary consideration could induce me to be even a spectator of another such scene. I pray God, I may never be subjected to it. - I shall refer this compensation to the discretion and justice of the Commissioners and contentedly abide their judgement. I would not wish to have it in better hands unless of those who were experimentally taught. And every principle of benevolence would forbid the feeblest wish that any of that Honorable body might pass through the scenes, which fell to my lot among the Indians the year before last. I will add one word more; if it were a real charge or demand upon the principles of equity, I believe I could not with any justice to myself set it lower than I did. - I have distributed for the relief of the distressed, and in some instances for the encouragement encouragement of husbandry among them the year past about one half that sum. And I did it voluntarily and cheerfully, and without any expectation of an after consideration. I received a compensation from some gentlemen in the State of New York for some extra services rendered there not immediately connected with the duties of my mission nor interfering with them, which furnished me with the means of affording them this comfort and help. I trust a mere existence on personal subsistence is not my object in living among the Indians. I must see their good and happiness promoted, or my enjoyments are diminished and my happiness interrupted. Whenever I have received a charity myself or any consideration for any extra service, I have always considered myself as under peculiar obligations to do as much the more for the Indians; and the poor/emphatically they have always among them. I am confident however the Commissioners will consider my situation with that candour, tenderness and wisdom, with which their treatment of me has been distinguished. - The charge of a motherless family lies heavy upon me; and my long connection with the Indians and situation in their country exposes me to more expense than a stranger would be. There are six small villages in the neighborhood of Oneida ( all of which I visit and occasionally preach to) and there is not a one, which will not apply to me in cases of difficulty and distress - they have been more or less always accustomed to it. I have borne and must still continue to bear the burden and heat of the day. - I have been enabled through a kind providence to complete the Collegiate education of one Son and the other is now in his third year at College. My orphan family, while they reside at Stockbridge ( and without a head must necessarily be very chargeable. I have been with them but little more than two months for more than 2 years. These things I mention not by way of complaint, but as reasons for my being embarrassed. Whatever be, the reason, whether I have conducted unwisely or wickedly; I am, by some individuals grossly it may enviously and wickedly misrepresented, as to property circumstances and views. My outgoings have been so great, with the disadvantages under which I am obliged to support my family (altogether by hire and at the distance of 150 miles from my place of general residence, that I have sunk in my interest within two years more than 150 pounds including those extra expenditures among the Indians during the famine. I am sensible that my situation in the wilderness and influence with the Indians renders me an object of jealousy; but surely no person, who has but a small knowledge of what I suffered and have undergone for 26 years in the Indian country (unless of a very selfish and contracted mind) will grudge me or my children the small tract of wild land uncultivated which the Indians and the State of New York presented to both them and myself. If I may but have wisdom and grace to be faithful and be enabled to discharge the trust committed to me, so as to gratify my benevolent employers and meet the approbation of my God and Savior, all shall work together for good. - If any person, I am under great obligation to be thankful and humble, in regard to the extending of religious knowledge among the Indians. I am of late much encouraged from the disposition some individuals express, particularly of the Senecas, and they are very influential characters in that nations. - I am exceedingly sorry that I have not found leisure to transcribe my journal in order to forward by this opportunity, I pray the Honorable Board to have patience with me till the next month if I have been apparently negligent in this instance. As I am obliged to return to Oneida and my want of money is pressing, I have directed by Son Thornton to be the bearer of this to you; by him you will be so kind as to send me the consideration for the above mentioned extra expenditures. I should be very happy in paying my respects to the board in person and am very desirous of an interview with them; but I apprehend it will not be consistent with my situation and the state of things among the Indians, at least sooner than next May or June. My journey to Philadelphia at this time has very much deranged my plan of business for this winter particularly that of translating and composing some Psalms etc. into the Indian language, which are exceedingly wanted, likewise the making further preparations for the moving my family into the vicinity of Oneida, which must now be deferred till the ensuing summer or autumn. I have concluded by leave of Providence to move my motherless children into the wilderness where I may be able to pay some attention to them, which prosecuting the business of my mission. It is exceedingly difficult in their present situation to discharge the duty I owe them and pursue the great objects of my mission with that application, which is desirable and necessary. They must either remove to me or I come to them and leave the Indians, and the situation of the Indians is such and their expectations from me, that I had rather sink half my interest than relinquish my mission at present. My friends are divided in their opinions respecting the propriety and expediency of moving my family. May I have that wisdom, which is profitable to direct and be enabled so to commit my ways to the Lord that he may direct my steps. With sentiments of high esteem and sincere affection, I am, Reverend and Dear Sir Your obedient humble Servant Samuel Kirkland P.S. Upon reading over my letter I find that soon after I began I insensibly slid into a freedom of expression more consonant to the ideas of unintentional friend than an official character. The only apology I can make is that the character of the person to whom I was writing, naturally led to that freedom. You will please, Sir, to suppress any personalities in it which you may think unnecessary or unsuitable to communicate to the Board. Show less
Recently returned from Philadelphia, where several Seneca chiefs met with Congress. Knows of no schoolmaster for the new Indian Schools. Suggests that the LBCB consult with Crosby. Apologizes for laxness in submitting journals. Kirkland family may join Samuel Kirkland in the wilderness.
In his last letter Samuel had asked Ralph to have Eli or Joel Bristol bring a horse for Ralph's aunt. However, she now plans to take the stage with General Cortland to Whitestown.
He received the reverend's letter of February 23, 1802. Samuel Kirkland says his life has been dedicated to the teaching of the Indians. He sent his daughter to be educated at the reverend's school, and then took under his wing the son of a Tuscarora Chief in order to educate and support him like his own son.
Samuel Kirkland received Nott's letter of November 8 [see 227a] and is pleased with the interest and support of the Board. Combined with the compensation from the Eastward, the $100 will allow Samuel Kirkland to continue the work. The $30 to educate Isaac will be a great help, and it will not go to waste, because Isaac is a very worthy recipient.
Samuel Kirkland is copying the remaining entries of his journal, up until his resignation from the Society. He tells Thacher that he has paid for the education of several Indians, asking for 228 dollars as reimbursement.
Since his resignation of his office, Samuel Kirkland admits to the Board that he has undergone many misfortunes of monetary concern. He asks the Society for some relief. He explains that he resigned because he thought the Society wanted him to do so. In addition, he believed he could live on his own without the Society's stipend, especially working for the Corporation of Harvard College. However, it is not the case, and he feels that in his old age the Society could help him financially in recognition of all his hard work in earlier years.
Pickering saw some papers in the hands of the Oneidas. He requests Samuel Kirkland to copy one of them, a letter from the governor regarding employment of white people in farming. He also asks Kirkland to find the name of the surveyor of land leased by Peter Smith from the Oneidas.
Reply for Samuel Kirkland's request for bread for the Sacrament is refused by Gregory because of the divergent manner in which Kirkland performs the ceremony.