Sergeant Preached "in Indian"

Although John Sergeant [Sr.] met the Housatonic Mohicans and spent time with them in the autumn of 1734, he had to return to Yale and complete his duties as a tutor there. In order to learn the very different (that is to say difficult) Mohican language, Sergeant took two boys back to Yale with him. They were Konkapot's nine-year-old son and Umpachenee's eight-year-old son (this is often mentioned and I think first noted by Samuel Hopkins).

Nowadays, of course, it is understood that missionaries will speak the language of the people that they are ministering to. This wasn't an expectation back in the 1700's, but in the course of speaking through interpreters, John Sergeant understood that he wouldn't be able to connect with his flock without learning their language. In August of 1737 he proudly recorded "I preach'd in Indian" in his journal (as quoted in Hopkins, 60).

In the introduction to his history of the Stockbridge Nation, J. N. Davidson gives us the beginning of Sergeant's "Prayer Before Sermon,"

"Oe Taupaunnumeauk pohtummauwaus, maukhkenun, quauwauntum, wouk knoi Keyuh keshehtouwaunoop wauweh ohquauntum, wouk kaukhhunnouwauntunnun mauweh ohquolekeh."

I would guess that this is a translation of an existing Calvinist prayer, but Davidson doesn't actually say so.

Wisconsin's Past and Present

Wisconsin's Sesquicentennial was celebrated in 1998 with the publication of Wisconsin's Past and Present: A Historical Atlas (University of Wisconsin Press). The Wisconsin Cartographer's Guild (author of the book) managed to simplify the coming of the New York Indians to Wisconsin in the graphic below (page 7 in the book). I wish they hadn't referred to the Brothertown nation as "Brotherton," and some of the years given could be debated, but overall the map is accurate enough.




The purpose of this second map (also on page 7) is to diagram lands lost by the Menominee, an Algonkian Nation that once covered much of Wisconsin. The Stockbridge and Brothertown Reservations of the 1830's on the east shore of Lake Winnebago are outlined - they were a carve-out of Menominee lands. In 1854, the Menominee Nation signed a treaty which gave them a rectangular reservation (approximately in the center of this map) and only two years later, the Stockbridge Mohicans' new reservation was another Menominee carve-out.

This map shows Wisconsin in 1998. Reservations are denoted by a dull purple color - they include the Lac Courte Oreilles, Bad River, Lac du Flambeau, Menominee, Stockbridge, and, of course, the Oneida reservation (the Oneidas also came from New York but they spoke an Iroquois dialect). Maybe you can also see the Red Cliff Reservation which looks like a thick line on the shore of Lake Superior. The Mole Lake Sokoagan Band has such a small reservation that it doesn't show up on this map. Also the Forest County Potawotami and the Ho-Chunk (formerly known as Winnebago) have checkerboard land holdings that are impossible to depict on this kind of a map.

Women's Preaching

After spending time with the Oneidas, Brothertowns, and others, Dorothy Ripley returned to New Stockbridge, New York towards the end of August, 1805. At least two clergymen were visiting John Sergeant (Jr.) on that day and Ms. Ripley overheard one of them saying that if she had "Come to teach them to knit and sew it would be very well"(page 110). According to Ripley's journal,"Catherine Quachemut, an Indian sister, "was so "grieved at the incivility of the missionary who opposed women's preaching" that she wrote Ripley a letter and walked eight miles to deliver it.

That letter starts out as a very conventional confession of Christian faith and then proceeds to address the issue of female preachers:

"I fully believe that thou art sent by the great and good Spirit into this part of the world to do good to thy fellow creatures, to preach the gospel to every kind of people; and although many people are led to believe that it is not the duty of women to preach, still I pray God that thou mayest not be discouraged, there being many infallible proofs in the scriptures of women labouring in the gospel; one great encouragement is our Lord Jesus appeared to a woman first after his Resurrection" (pages 117-118).

After several more lines of sisterly well-wishing, Catherine Quachemut signed her name and wrote Neyuh Dinnaukomuh [which means "I will do it"], New Stockbridge, 8th mo[nth] 1805 (page 118).

That same day the other Stockbridge women dictated another letter to Captain Hendrick:

"Dear sister,
We the poor women of the Muheconnuck [Mohican] nation, wish to speak a few words to you, to inform you, that while our forefathers were sitting by their ancient fire-place, about eighty years ago, our father, Rev. Sergeant's father, came amongst them with the message of the Great and Good Spirit."

The letter went on to describe the esteem they had for John Sergeant Sr. and the compassion with which John Sergeant Jr. had towards their "dismal situation." The letter continues:

"Sister, While we were sitting by the side of our fire-place here, we saw you coming, and when you opened your mouth we believed you was sent by the Great and good Spirit to visit us (poor natives of this Island.) We feel thankful to Him that he has put such a love in your heart, that you was willing to undertake such a long and tedious journey on purpose to deliver His message to us... Sister, In behalf of the rest of our women, we now heartily thank you for your kindness and for the pains you have taken to visit us."

The letter continued on with more pleasantries and Captain Hendrick listed Lydia Suhquawkhuh (wife of Hendrick), Catherine Quaquwchon, Elizabeth Maukhtoaquawusquch, Catherine Quinney, and Eve Knohtcaunmeau as the authors. John Sergeant [Jr.] gave Dorothy Ripley his horse and ten days later she was on a sloop back to New York City.

The Bank of Faith

The Bank of Faith and Works United contains Dorothy Ripley's journal during her mission trip to the New York Indians in 1805. On August 12 she first preached in New Stockbridge:

"I went to their church, which is distinguished by a steeple, that you can see some distance off. It is a neat, clean, wood building, with glass windows, and a handsome entrance, having a gallery all round excepting where the minister sits.... The Indians, fantastically dressed, sung a psalm feelingly, which moved my passion of love, so that I wept tears of joy. After this [Rev.] Serjeant [sic] prayed in Indian, then in English, and gave out a second psalm, which was sung as the other admirably. The minister then read part of the fourteenth chapter of Mark, which Captain Hendrick, a Chief, read also in Indian; and I was at the liberty to preach to them, and had Captain Hendrick to interpret for me as long as I thought proper.... When I came out, many Indians gladly took me by the hand, which affectionately I saluted after the same manner, knowing One God was our Father, redeemer, and Sanctifier of all"(101-102).

The Bank of Faith and Works United has been reprinted (I think in 2007) and is also available online.

Who Was Dorothy Ripley?

I just looked Dorothy Ripley up on Wikipedia and it says that she was an Enlishwoman who "spent thirty years in the United States trying to secure better conditions for slaves." It also says that she may have been the first woman to ever address the Congress of the United States. But the Wikipedia article doesn't say anything about Ripley's acitivity in the course of Algonkian church history.

Like Samson Occom, Dorothy Ripley is a hero because she managed to have a career as a preacher at a time when mission societies rarely gave any kind of support to anybody that wasn't a white male. In an upcoming post, I'll describe how Ripley preached to the New York Indians, including the Stockbridges and Brothertowns, in 1805. (I'm also going to keep the title of her book under wraps for now - so it can be the title of the upcoming post.)

I chose five verses of a poem Ripley wrote that appear to illustrate her life:

Western Abenaki Dialect

From the Smithsonian Libraries Blog, here's a post about the western Abenaki dialect.

This is the Algonquin dialect once spoken in the area between what is now Montreal and what is now Quebec City.

The Collected Writings of Samson Occom and Other Book Recommendations

Books -->

discussed on another blog:

Searching the blogosphere, I came upon some book recommendations that are highly relevant to Algonkian Church History.

The books include the following:

• On Our Own Ground: The Complete Writings of William Apess, a Pequot

• The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan: Literature and Leadership in Eighteenth-Century Native America

• To Do Good to My Indian Brethren: The Writings of Joseph Johnson 1751-1776

• The Tutor'd Mind: Indian Missionary-Writers in Antebellum America

Please see:
Native Voices from the Revolutionary Era: New Primary Source Texts (Post title)

In RELIGION IN AMERICAN HISTORY (Blog title)

Paul Harvey is the author and Blogmeister.

The State of Christianity at New Stockbridge: Fall, 1787

It is well known that a split in the Stockbridge tribal church occurred as a result of a falling out between Samson Occom and John Sergeant Jr. But it is seldom said that the two men were allies, if not friends, for a long time before their falling out. They both had a legitimate claim to being the minister to the Stockbridge Mohicans and although we can't know for sure what their disagreement was about, I think Harold Blodgett was correct in saying it had something to do with "doctrinal differences." I'll explain why I think so in another post. On the other hand, Sergeant did have some advantages on account of being a white man. As I said, both men had legitimate claim to ministering to the Stockbridges, but I don't think the brand new Society for Propagating the Gospel Among the Indians and Others in North America (SPGAIONA?) even considered appointing Samson Occom. In an October 25th, 1787 letter, John Sergeant was appointed to live and work among the Indians at New Stockbridge and to receive 50 Pounds Sterling as salary.

In another letter, written by a Mr. Wigglesworth to a Mr. McFarlan on November 13, 1787, the following account of the state of Christianity at New Stockbridge, New York is given:

More than twelve families regularly maintain the worship of God morning and evening; and catechize their Children with as much Propriety as is done by more civilized People among them. On Lord's days, when they have no Preacher among them they assemble together for Religious Worship. Besides Singing, praying and [illegible] together on religious subjects, some portion of the scriptures and other books of piety are read by those who can understand the English language and translated into Indian. Some of them are so fully appraised of the importance of religious Instruction that they [illegible] and their Future prosperity will greatly depend on the Continuance of a Missionary among them.

Maybe Wigglesworth didn't know that some of the tribal leaders had recently invited Rev. Occom to be their minister. Over the next nine months, Rev. Sergeant and Rev. Occom carried on a cooperative ministry. Their falling out is something that I'll save for a later post.

Occom's Most Remarkable Sermon

The reference book, Notable Native Americans provides us with a good two-plus page biography of Rev. Samson Occom. It tells about his most famous sermon. Moses Paul was an Indian who, after being thrown out of a tavern, "enacted revenge on the first person to emerge"(page 295). Paul requested that his execution sermon be preached by Samson Occom and such sermons in those days attracted a lot of people, including Indians and white authorities (lawyers, etc.). The book describes the situation Occom was in:

"...an Indian preacher having to preach a sermon for a condemned Indian on the topic of sobriety to whites and Indians that, from a rhetorical standpoint, demanded formidable skills of balance in referring to the effects of alcohol; he realized how the English used strong drink to weaken the spirit of his people"(295).

Occom quoted scripture first, then addressed Moses Paul, then the whites, and finally reminded the other Indians present of the seriousness of the sin of drunkenness.

I think I read somewhere that this sermon marks the first time that an Indian's intellectual property was published and Notable Native Americans calls the printing history of this sermon "phenomenal." In a period of eight years it went through ten printings!

Occom's descendants migrated to what is now Wisconsin in the 1820's. To a large extent, the Brothertown Indians are now scattered throughout the country, but nevertheless, Fond du Lac, the nearest city to their old reservation, serves as their capital. I talked to one of the Brothertown elders over the weekend. He told me that a few of Occom's descendants still live in Fond du Lac and, ironically, the family business lately has been tavern keeping.

----Today, almost three years after that post was written, it received its first comment from Diane Sampson who says that "only a small percentage" of Occom descendants in Fond du Lac make their living from tavern keeping.

Well, Diane, I hope you didn't take offense at what I wrote, it was not meant as an insult, but I'm sorry for having made it seem that many, most, or all of the family was involved in the hospitality business. Thank you for correcting my error.

The Mohican Catechism

So you want to know about Algonkian language? This is the Mohican dialect spelled out in the English alphabet. "Pohtommawwaus" is translated as "God," (one of only two or three Mohican words that I've memorized).

There are a few whites as well as a committee on the Stockbridge-Munsee reservation working on reviving the Mohican language and I've heard that Christian documents like this one are their only written sources for doing it. They also have taken some cues from the Munsee/Mohican Indians in Ontario, but of course, Munsees are Delaware (or Lenape) Indians and didn't necessarily use the same pronounciations as the Mohicans did. So how do you pronounce a Mohican word? One Indian told me that there are disagreements.

The Mohican catechism includes the following Calvinist documents and Biblical passages: The Assembly's Shorter Catechism, Dr. Watt's Shorter Catechism for Children, the 3rd Chapter of John, the 5th and 7th Chapters of Matthew, and select Psalms. The translation took place in the 1810's. In a letter to the Mohican News (10/15/2005), Lion Miles noted that while John Sergeant, Jr. got credit for the translation, it is most likely that three Stockbridge Mohican boys attending the mission boarding school in Cornwall, Connecticut did a large amount of the work. The boys were John N. Chicks, Jacob Seth, and John Newcome.

Thanks to the Wisconsin State Historical Society, the Mohican Catechism is now online.

As They Were Faithful

I finished up yesterday's post by saying that I doubted if the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians would be around today if not for the success of John Sergeant Sr.'s mission work. If you know me, you know that I'm not saying that all the credit for a whole tribe's survival is thanks to one white man. Too many Native nations didn't survive the European invasion intact and it wasn't because one tribe was "better" than another. Rather the amount of devastation the fur trade did to each group of Indians probably depended more on laws of geography than anything else. The coastal Algonkians were the most devastated by the fur trade and the Iroquois (e.g. Oneidas and Mohawks), being farther inland, had time to make a more gradual adjustment to the fur trade.

A scholarly article by James Ronda and Jeanne Ronda is relevant to this discussion: "'As They Were Faithful': Chief Hendrick Aupaumut and the Struggle for Stockbridge Survival, 1757-1830."(American Indian Culture and Research Journal 3:3 (1979) pages 43-55). A recurring theme in that article is a comparison between Captain Hendrick and Tecumseh. While Captain Hendrick was the first non-white diplomat employed by the United States, Tecumseh was an enemy of the United States. Captain Hendrick described himself as "the front door" through which Christian missionaries could access what were then known as "the western tribes," in the Ohio River Valley. He also promoted "civilization" to the Delawares and other Indians.

Tecumseh was trying to promote Indian survival by attempting to bring the tribes together against the United States. But Captain Hendrick saw it differently. In a speech to the Delawares recorded in John Sergeant Jr.'s Journal, Captain Hendrick explained

All the [Indian] nations who thus rejected civilization and Christian religion, and embraced the wicked practices of the white people were poor and finally became extinct from the earth. But, on the other hand, all the Indians who accepted the offer of the good white people were blessed. So far as they were faithful, they prospered, and the remnants of them remain to this day.

The Rondas point out a few other things: Captain Hendrick wasn't naive, he knew that his people weren't getting a fair shake from the white government. But his work on behalf of the United States gave him the opportunity to lobby for compensation for the tribe's service and losses in the Revolutionary War (the treaty of 1795 finally did that). And finally they tell us that Captain Hendrick Aupaumut's place in American history deserves more recognition. I agree.

Brothertown Exhibit

The Fond du Lac [WI] Public Library had an exhibit about the Brothertown Indians recently (above).