Rev. Samuel Kirkland was a Presbyterian missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 among the 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...

 and Tuscarora

Tuscarora (tribe)

The Tuscarora are a Native American people of the Iroquoian-language family, with members in New York, Canada, and North Carolina...

 people in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. Kirkland graduated from Princeton in 1765. On September 20, 1769, Samuel Kirkland married Jerusha Bingham (1743–1788) in Windham, Connecticut. Their son, John Thornton Kirkland (1770–1840), was President of Harvard College from 1810 to 1828. Their eldest daughter, Jerusha Kirkland, (born January 8, 1776, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, died February 19, 1862, in Utica, New York,) married John Hosmer Lothrop (1769–1829) on February 1, 1797, in Clinton, New York. Their sixth daughter, Frances Eliza Lothrop (born January 30, 1809, in Utica, New York, died October 18, 1893, in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri,) married her third cousin, John Hiram Lathrop (1799–1866), on August 15, 1833, in New Haven, Connecticut. Lathrop, a graduate of Yale in 1819 with a degree in law, turned to teaching and, in 1840, became the first President of the University of Missouri at Columbia. (A large memorial stained glass window to John Hiram and Frances Eliza Lothrop Lathrop, designed by the great English stained glass artist James Humphries Hogan (1883–1948) and fabricated by James Powell & Sons, (Whitefriars,) Ltd, in 1930, sits in the south wall of Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri, in Kansas City, Missouri, where descendants of both the Lathrops and the Kirklands are members of the Parish.) Samuel Kirkland was the founder (in 1793) of the Hamilton-Oneida Academy (later Hamilton College). Kirkland was a student of Native American

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...

 languages and lived many years with Indian tribes.

Samuel Kirkland was born on December 1, 1741, in Norwich, Connecticut

Norwich, Connecticut

Regular steamship service between New York and Boston helped Norwich to prosper as a shipping center through the early part of the 20th century. During the Civil War, Norwich once again rallied and saw the growth of its textile, armaments, and specialty item manufacturing...

 and died on February 28, 1808, in Clinton, New York

Clinton, Oneida County, New York

Clinton is a village in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 1,952 at the 2000 census. It was named for George Clinton, a royal governor of the colony of New York....

. He was buried behind his home (known now as Harding Farm

Harding Farm

Harding Farm is a historic site west of the village of Clinton in Oneida County, New York, United States. It is located on New York State Route 233 and is situated south of the junction of NY 233 and New York State Route 412....

). Kirkland's close friend Chief Skenandoah was later buried beside him before both bodies were exhumed and moved to the Hamilton College cemetery.

Kirkland began his missionary work as a protégé of Reverend Eleazar Wheelock

Eleazar Wheelock

Eleazar Wheelock was an American Congregational minister, orator, educator, and founder of Dartmouth College....

, but the two parted company in 1770. He became an advisor and ambassador for the Iroquois

Iroquois

The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...

 during the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 and was able to persuade many Oneidas and Tuscaroras to assist the American revolutionaries. After the war, he maintained good relations with the Indians and helped negotiate treaties and keep peace between Indians and whites. He is considered by many to be the peace-keeper of the Iroquois and the settlers.

Kirkland played a key role in organizing fraudulent purchases of lands from the Oneidas, in the process securing large parcels of the Oneida ancestral land for himself and his friends. Kirkland's assistant James Dean was present at every land cession from the Oneidas to the state of New York between 1785 and 1818.

The town of Kirkland, New York

Kirkland, New York

Kirkland is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 10,138 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Samuel Kirkland, a missionary among the Oneidas.The Town of Kirkland is southwest of Utica, New York...

is named after him.