Samson Occom
Encyclopedia
Mohegan
The Mohegan tribe is an Algonquian-speaking tribe that lives in the eastern upper Thames River valley of Connecticut. Mohegan translates to "People of the Wolf". At the time of European contact, the Mohegan and Pequot were one people, historically living in the lower Connecticut region...
nation near New London, Connecticut
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
. He has the distinction of being the first Native American person to ever publish documents and pamphlets in English.
Early life
Born to Joshua Tomacham and his wife, Occom is believed to be a direct descendant of the famous Mohegan chief, UncasUncas
Uncas was a sachem of the Mohegan who through his alliance with the English colonists in New England against other Indian tribes made the Mohegan the leading regional Indian tribe in lower Connecticut.-Early life and family:...
. In 1743, at the age of sixteen, Occom was exposed to the teachings of Christian evangelical preachers in the Great Awakening
First Great Awakening
The First Awakening was a Christian revitalization movement that swept Protestant Europe and British America, and especially the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American religion. It resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of personal...
. He began to study theology at the "Lattin School" of Eleazar Wheelock
Eleazar Wheelock
Eleazar Wheelock was an American Congregational minister, orator, educator, and founder of Dartmouth College....
in 1743 and stayed for four years until leaving to begin his own career.
Occom served as a missionary to Native American people in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and Montauk
Montauk, New York
Montauk [ˈmɒntɒk] is a census-designated place that roughly corresponds to the hamlet with the same name located in the town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York, United States on the South Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 3,851 as of 2000...
, Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, where he married a local woman. It was also on Long Island where he was officially ordained a minister on August 30, 1759, by the presbytery of Suffolk. Although promised otherwise by the church leaders, Occom was never paid the same salary as white preachers, and he lived in deep poverty for much of his life.
Education
Wheelock established an Indian charity school with a benefaction from Joshua Moor in 1754, and he persuaded Occom to go to England in 1766 to raise money for the school, along with the Rev. Nathaniel Whitaker. Occom preached his way across the country from February 16, 1766, to July 22, 1767. He delivered in total between three and four hundred sermons, drawing large crowds wherever he went. By the end of his tour he had raised over twelve thousand pounds for Wheelock's project. King George IIIGeorge III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
himself donated 200 pounds, and William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth
William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth
William Legge 2nd Earl of Dartmouth PC, FRS , styled as Viscount Lewisham from 1732 to 1750, was a British statesman who is most remembered for his part in the government before and during the American Revolution....
subscribed 50 guineas. The friendship between Occom and Wheelock dissolved when Occom learned that Wheelock had neglected to care for Occom's wife and children while he was away. Occom also took issue with the fact that Wheelock put the funds toward establishing Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
for the education of Englishmen rather than of Native Americans.
Ministry and later life
Upon his return from England, Occom lived at MoheganMohegan
The Mohegan tribe is an Algonquian-speaking tribe that lives in the eastern upper Thames River valley of Connecticut. Mohegan translates to "People of the Wolf". At the time of European contact, the Mohegan and Pequot were one people, historically living in the lower Connecticut region...
, then moved in 1786 with some New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
Indians to Oneida
Oneida tribe
The Oneida are a Native American/First Nations people and are one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy in the area of upstate New York...
territory in what is known today as New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He then helped to found Brothertown, and lived among the Brothertown Indians
Brothertown Indians
The Brothertown Indians are Native American descendants of the Pequot and Mohegan tribes in southern New England...
. Later Stockbridge (Mohicans) people moved to the area. In 1768, Occom wrote the 10-page A Short Narrative of My Life, which was kept in Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
's archive collection until publication in 1982. He also published Sermon at the Execution of Moses Paul and A Choice Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 1774.
Occom died on July 14, 1792, in New Stockbridge, New York. He is buried just off of Bogusville Hill Road outside of Deansboro, New York
Deansboro, New York
Deansboro is a hamlet in Oneida County, New York, United States.The Deansboro Railroad Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.-References:...
(formerly known as Brothertown).
Legacy
In the first half of the 1800s many Brothertown IndiansBrothertown Indians
The Brothertown Indians are Native American descendants of the Pequot and Mohegan tribes in southern New England...
people moved to what is now known as the Town of Brothertown in Calumet County, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. The Brothertown Indians
Brothertown Indians
The Brothertown Indians are Native American descendants of the Pequot and Mohegan tribes in southern New England...
are currently petitioning the federal government to be federally recognized
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
- in effect, re-recognized. Federal recognition was initially stripped from the Brothertown people when they accepted United States citizenship in an effort to avoid being displaced yet again. Since then, United States policy has changed and Native American people are, quite obviously, both American citizens - as well as citizens of their respective Nations. However the policy as implemented among the Brothertown Indians, the first Native Americans granted US citizenship, at the time stripped them of what today is called tribal sovereignty
Tribal sovereignty
Tribal sovereignty in the United States refers to the inherent authority of indigenous tribes to govern themselves within the borders of the United States of America. The federal government recognizes tribal nations as "domestic dependent nations" and has established a number of laws attempting to...
.
Several locations around Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
in Hanover, New Hampshire
Hanover, New Hampshire
Hanover is a town along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 11,260 at the 2010 census. CNN and Money magazine rated Hanover the sixth best place to live in America in 2011, and the second best in 2007....
, are named after him. Occom Pond and Occom Ridge are located on the northern edge of the college campus. At Dartmouth, historian Colin Calloway is the Samson Occom Professor of Native American Studies. The Occom Commons community space is part of Goldstein Hall, in the recently opened McLauglin Residential Cluster. Elsewhere, an upperclassmen residence hall named after Occom is located on the campus of Eastern Connecticut State University
Eastern Connecticut State University
Eastern Connecticut State University is a public, coeducational liberal arts university and is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Eastern is located in Willimantic, Connecticut on . Founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest campus in the Connecticut State University System...
in Willimantic, Connecticut
Willimantic, Connecticut
Willimantic is a census-designated place and former city located in the town of Windham in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was estimated at 15,823 at the 2000 census. It is home to Eastern Connecticut State University, as well as the Windham Textile and History Museum....
.
Veneration
Occom is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA)Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)
The veneration of saints in the Episcopal Church is a continuation of an ancient tradition from the early Church which honors important people of the Christian faith. The usage of the term "saint" is similar to Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Those in the Anglo-Catholic tradition may...
on July 14.
Works of Samson Occom
- A Choice Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, New London, Connecticut : Press of Thomas and Samual Green, 1774.
- A Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul, An Indian Who Was Executed at New Haven on the 2nd of September 1772 for the Murder of Mr. Moses Cook, late of Waterbury, on the 7th of December 1771, New Haven : Press of Thomas and Samual Green, 1772.
- A Short Narrative of My Life. The Elders Wrote: An Anthology of Early Prose by North American Indians 1768-1931. Ed. Bernd Peyer. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1982 [1762], 12-18. (The 10-page A Short Narrative of My Life was kept in Dartmouth College's archive collection until publication in 1982. This work has also recently been published in The Norton Anthology of American Literature.)
- Journals, 1754 and 1786(?), Unpublished manuscript in collection of New London County Historical Society.
- Herbs and Roots, Unpublished manuscript in collection of New London County Historical Society.
- The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan. Ed. Joanna Brooks. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
External links
- Indian Country Wisconsin-Brothertown
- Another Short Biography
- Papers at Connecticut Historical Society
- The Betrayal of Samson Occom
- Ordination of Samson Occom
- The Mohegan Tribe: Heritage: Samson Occum.
- Native American Authors: Samson Occum.
- Francis Whiting Halsey, The Old New York Frontier, Part 2, Chapter 5: New Men at Oghwaga.