Alan Taylor, professor of history at the University of California, Davis, presented the Victor "Torry" Johnson III lecture on October 25. Taylor's book, William Cooper's Town, won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for American history, Columbia University's Bancroft Prize, and the Albert J. Beveridge Award of the American Historical Association.
Taylor's most recent book, The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution (Knopf, 2006), made use of the Hamilton College archives, particularly the Samuel Kirkland papers. Kirkland, missionary to the Oneidas, was the founder of Hamilton College. Taylor's talk explored the stages of Kirkland's life among the Oneidas.
"Samuel Kirkland to me is really three Samuel Kirklands…his life shakes down into three acts," said Taylor. The first act was during the 1760's, when Kirkland was "an idealistic young man, willing and able to make extraordinary sacrifices…to help native people." Kirkland entered what would become Princeton University in 1762 and began his first mission with the Iroquois nations three years later. His first mission was with the Seneca, the Iroquois nation furthest west and most wary of missionaries. "It was Kirkland's misfortune to start out in arguably the most difficult place he could. Most [of the Seneca' didn't want him there," said Taylor.
Kirkland's mission with the Seneca "did not go well." He nearly starved to death, was accused of witchcraft and was almost assassinated. He stayed a little over one year before going home. Kirkland did not give up; he tried again, this time with the Oneida.
This second mission was "a phenomenal success," said Taylor. Kirkland developed a very close relationship with the Oneida people, who trusted Kirkland's advice and sought his guidance. Kirkland persuaded them to adopt elements of colonial agriculture, build frame houses and build their own frame church. "To build this kind of structure in an Indian village is a very striking statement," said Taylor. Kirkland's mission with the Oneida was an enormous commitment of time. On the Sabbath, he gave two services lasting two to four hours each. On the other days, he was constantly meeting with and advising villagers. Kirkland was "omnipresent in the village," explained Taylor. Part of Kirkland's success with the Oneida was the fact that he lived with them and suffered with them under harsh conditions. For several years Kirkland was there, the Oneida were under starving conditions. "He had to share in their hardships in order to [have such success," said Taylor. "Act one is, in many ways, an act of enormous self-sacrifice and enormous success."
Act two of Kirkland's life began with the American Revolution. The was one of "brutal dislocations," said Taylor. Kirkland was successful in rallying the Oneida in support of the Patriots, but most of the other Iroquois villages sided with the loyalists. This led to a "very brutal civil war that destroyed most of the villages," explained Taylor. The Oneida lost their village and fled. Kirkland "saw the complete collapse of the morality of his people," said Taylor. "And the Oneidas felt forsaken by Kirkland. By the war's end, Kirkland is a different man."
Kirkland's letters and writings from the time show that he seemed to have concluded that he had little to show for years of sacrifice. Around this time settlers were moving into Oneida territory, and Kirkland then began making deals with the Oneida's land. He gained four miles of land for himself and his sons. Kirkland was dealt a severe psychological blow when his wife died in childbirth, and as a result began neglecting his family as well as his mission. In the 1780's, he spent less than half of his time with the Oneidas.
Kirkland was spending most of his time at this point on land speculations and became the second richest man in the new town on Paris (part of Paris would become Clinton). During this time he founded the Hamilton Oneida Academy, which would later become Hamilton College. In 1796 the Oneidas complained of Kirkland's neglect to the sponsoring societies and Kirkland abruptly resigned in 1797, citing bad health.
Thus begins the third act of Kirkland's life. Within a year of his resignation, a series of family and financial setbacks "nearly ruined him," said Taylor. Kirkland's son George had returned home from Dartmouth and become a compulsive gambler in lands. His land retailed too slowly to pay the creditors, and George fled the state to avoid imprisonment. Kirkland had co-signed the notes on George's land and so was now responsible for his debt. George died in 1801, leaving all of his debt to his father. Kirkland had to sell most of his land, keeping only his own farm. "Once again, his life seemed futile," said Kirkland.
"At this second low ebb," explained Taylor, "Samuel Kirkland renewed his missionary career. In returning to the Oneidas, Kirkland is acting at his own expense." Kirkland petitioned for and received support from Harvard and other organizations, but, said Taylor, "I don't think it's right to say he was just doing it for the money…[missionary work] soothed his agitated soul."
During Kirkland's absence, Quakers had set up their own mission with the Oneidas, which resulted in the revival of more traditional spiritual beliefs among the Oneidas. Instead of rejecting the Quakers, Kirkland respected their influence in terms of agriculture and temperament of the Oneida and cooperated with the visiting Quaker preachers. A Quaker minister wrote about a conversation she had with Kirkland. "[He recognizes that] he was punished for attending to his own interests instead of attending to the Oneida's souls," said Taylor.
There was a pious minority of Oneida that clung to Kirkland, and in 1805 told the Board in Boston that they needed him when they suggested a new missionary. At this point, they had known Kirkland for 40 years. The devotion of this minority "gave Kirkland a new sense of peace," said Taylor. "He ultimately felt a renewed sense of community with the Oneida congregation." In 1806 Kirkland wrote, "I love them, and they love me."
Kirkland died two years later at the age of 66.
-- by Laura Trubiano '07
