The wonderful picture below reminds me of Samuel the Lamanite. My friend “Red Ant” shared this picture with me and I wanted to use it for one of my blogs. As you know I love the Native American Lamanites and I think you will love this information about the first ever Native American who was a Christian preacher named Samson Occom who was similar to Samuel the Lamanite preaching to the Nephites.
“ANOTHER IMPORTANT PREACHER who lived among the Oneida Indians was Samson OCCOM (1723-92), the famous early Native American minister from Connecticut. Like Samuel the Lamanite in the Book of Mormon (Helaman 13-16), Samson Occom created a sensation among those who were not Indians. As the first Native American preacher to visit Great Britain, he delivered hundreds of sermons to large crowds (1766-67) and raised donations of more than £12,000 from such distinguished figures as George III and Lord Dartmouth. This money was intended for Eleazar Wheelock’s Indian Charity School. It in fact made possible the establishment of Dartmouth College with Moor’s Charity (“Indian”) School which young Hyrum Smith may possibly have attended less than half a century later (Porter, 25-26). (See article below titled, Hyrum Attends Moor Indian School). Disgruntled with Wheelock’s use of this money for a non-Indian college, Samson Occom turned to itinerant preaching among the New England tribes, and later procured a homeland for some of their members among the Oneida, where he relocated near the end of his life. According to Leon B. Richardson.
His appearance was dignified, his voice pleasant, his fluency in English sufficient to enable him to preach without notes, while in the Indian language his brethren esteemed him a great orator. He paid little attention to the dogmas of theology, but centered his efforts upon the emphasis of rules of personal conduct with the citation of simple and pertinent illustrations. His Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul, an Indian, a moving plea for temperance delivered in New Haven in 1772, was published and went through nineteen editions. He composed a number of hymns, the best known of which is “Awaked by Sinai’s Awful Sound,” and published an Indian hymnal, A Choice Selection of Hymns (1774), which attained three editions. He was a sturdy and uncompromising leader of his people in resisting white encroachment upon Indian lands, an activity which brought upon him great unpopularity in Connecticut, and which was successful in preserving to his followers their possessions in New York.
Samson Occom & Samuel the Lamanite
In the Book of Mormon, Samuel the Lamanite also complained of worldly pride and the misuse of money by non-Indians (Helaman 13:18-36). The title of Occom’s most famous hymn (above, “Awaked by Sinai’s Awful Sound”) reminds me of Samuel the Lamanite trying to arouse the wicked to righteousness with allusions to the law of Moses (Helaman 13:1; 15:5). And, precisely as Horatio Spafford, Salmon Case, and Skenandoa suggested, the people whom Samson Occom championed became like the Lamanites who were praised by Samuel the Lamanite in the Book of Mormon:
. . . behold, salvation hath come unto them through the preaching of the Nephites; and for this intent hath the Lord prolonged their days. . . . Yea, . . . the more part of them are . . . striving with unwearied diligence that they may bring the remainder of their brethren to the knowledge of the truth; . . . And ye know also that they have buried their weapons of war, and they fear to take them up lest by any means they should sin; yea, . . . they will suffer themselves that they be trodden down and slain by their enemies, and will not lift their swords against them, and this because of their faith in Christ. . . . and notwithstanding they shall be driven to and fro upon the face of the earth, and be hunted, and shall be smitten and scattered abroad, having no place for refuge, the Lord shall be merciful unto them. [Helaman 15:4, 6, 9, 12]
The similar Oneida of central New York State were certainly appreciated in such a context by Protestant ministers and missionaries of the early United States. The venerable Christian Oneida Chief SKENANDOAH (mentioned above, also known variously as “Schenando, Scanondo, Shenandoah, Schenandoah,” or “Johnko’ Skeanendon”) died in 1816, his days indeed prolonged – reputedly to a century or more. He was evidently a drunkard until about 1755, when . . . he was converted to Christianity by Samuel Kirkland. A firm friend of the colonists, he fought against the French in the French and Indian War, and at the outbreak of the Revolution, with Samuel Kirkland and Thomas Spencer, he was responsible for keeping the Oneida and Tuscarora from joining the rest of the Iroquois Confederation in fighting for the British. . . . He is said to have prevented the massacre of many settlers at German Flats, now in Herkimer County, NY.
After the war he shared the fate of the rest of his people, living on year after year in a situation gradually becoming more narrow and more uncomfortable. He grew to be a very old man, . . . and he died at his home near Oneida Castle strong in the white man’s faith. (“Skenandoa,” giving his most extended claimed lifespan, “(1706?—March 11, 1816”)]
Skenandoa
“John Skenandoa (c. 1706[1] – March 11, 1816), also called Shenandoah among other forms, was an elected chief (a so-called “pine tree chief”) of the Oneida. He was born into the Iroquoian-speaking Susquehannocks, but was adopted into the Oneida of the Iroquois Confederacy. When he later accepted Christianity, he was baptized as “John”, taking his Oneida name Skenandoa as his surname. Based on a possible reconstruction of his name in its original Oneida, he is sometimes called “Oskanondonha” in modern scholarship. His tombstone bears the spelling Schenando.” Revolvry.com
Mormon Parallels continues, “In the fall of 1819, the Northern Missionary Society erected a monument (left) to Skenandoa where he had been buried three years earlier, in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, next to his friend, Rev. Samuel Kirkland (1741-1808, founder of Hamilton Oneida Academy, now Hamilton College, in 1793). The following contemporary account offers a compelling witness to the powerful image of the ONEIDA in the minds of many Americans who would later read of the Hill Onidah in the Book of Mormon . . .
Hill Onidah Where the Weapons were Buried
“To “bury the hatchet” is an American English idiom meaning “to make peace.” The phrase alludes to the figurative or literal practice of putting away the tomahawk when hostilities ceased during the formation of the Iroquois Confederacy. Weapons (tomahawks, hatchets, swords, etc.) were to be buried, or otherwise stored, in time of peace.” Annotated Book of Mormon Page 251
Compare the name of Oneida, and Onidah in the Book of Mormon. Isn’t it quite amazing that Onidah means a place of arms, and the Oneida Indians buried there weapons anciently?
“And now he had got the command of those parts of the Lamanites who were in favor of the king; and he sought to gain favor of those who were not obedient; therefore he went forward to the place which was called Onidah, for thither had all the Lamanites fled; for they discovered the army coming, and, supposing that they were coming to destroy them, therefore they fled to Onidah, to the place of arms”. Alma 47:5
Mormon Parallels continues, “On the 26th ult. [October 1819] the committee repaired to Hamilton College where they were met by a deputation from the Oneida Nation, accompanied by Mr. Williams their catechist and minister. The Utica Gazette states, that, “having assembled in the chapel of the college, they proceeded from thence to . . . an airy and commanding site, conspicuous from the village and surrounding country.
The procession moved in the following order: Mr. Williams, the missionary; the relatives of Schenando; other Oneidas; the students of the college; the trustees; the faculty; the president; attending citizens; the committee.
The urn, which was to complete the summit of the monument was borne immediately before the committee, and the procession having arrived at the burial ground and opened to the right and left, the urn was carried forward and placed on the top of the obelisk. The committee having followed, the Oneidas were collected before the monument, and Mr. Williams translated into their own tongue the inscription on its base; which is as follows:—
SCHENANDO, a Chief of the Oneida
THIS MONUMENT was erected by the NORTHERN MISSIONARY SOCIETY, in testimony of their respect for the memory of SCHENANDO, a chief of the Oneida nation, who died in the peace and hope of the gospel on the 11th of March, 1816. Wise, eloquent and brave, he long swayed the councils of his tribe, whose confidence and affection he eminently enjoyed. [p. 588 ends]
In the war which placed the Canadas under the crown of Great Britain, he was actively engaged against the French. In that of the revolution, he espoused the cause of the colonies, and ever afterwards remained a firm friend to the United States.
Under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Kirkland, he embraced the doctrines of the gospel; and having exhibited their power in a long life, adorned by every christian virtue.
He fell asleep in Jesus, at the advanced age of one hundred years. Prayer was then offered up to Almighty God by the Rev. Dr. Blatchford, and immediately after, the Oneidas were addressed on the occasion by the Rev. Mr. Stansbury. The address was rendered, sentence by sentence, into the Oneida tongue, by Mr. Williams, who consented to act as interpreter. The ceremony closed, on the part of the committee, by shaking hands with all the Indians present.—The daughter of the departed chief and several of his grand children were present; and when the address was concluded, the daughter requested Mr. Williams to say that “she should reply on the part of her family, but her heart was too full.” [The Christian Spectator (New Haven, Connecticut) 1:11 (November 1819), pp. 588-89]
Joseph Smith’s Native American Land
Young Joseph Smith likely passed near this spot not long after Skenandoa’s death, at a time when the Smith family moved from Vermont to Palmyra, New York. “The great chief,” explains Frank K. Lorenz, full of years (exactly how many cannot be said with certainty), died at his home near Oneida Castle on March 11, 1816. According to his often expressed wish “that I might cling to the skirts of his garments and go up with him at the great resurrection,” he was buried alongside his old friend Samuel Kirkland in the garden of Kirkland’s home, now the Harding Farm. [Lorenz, 26]
Looking west at the “. . . Hamilton college buildings as seen from the [Chenango] canal in Clinton village, about one mile and a half distant, beautifully situated on a commanding eminence westward of the Oriskany valley, overlooking the village, having a delightful distant prospect.” Engraving from a drawing done ca. 1840, in Barber & Howe, 361, bearing caption, “Distant view of Hamilton College, Kirkland.”
Rev. Kirkland’s residence on what is now Harding Road (just south of its intersection with College Hill Road) stands two miles south of the old pioneer road, the Seneca Turnpike (State Route 5). It was very few miles west of this point that Lucy Mack Smith had to appeal to the patrons of a tavern to oblige her wagon driver, Mr. Howard, not to abandon her family and steal her team (Lucy Mack Smith 1853, 69), evidently near the town of Vernon, just east of Oneida Castle. (See complete words of Lucy Mack Smith below)
“In 1856,” adds Lorenz, “the remains of both [Kirkland and Skenandoa] were transferred to the newly expanded and refurbished Hamilton College Cemetery, where the Northern Missionary Society erected a monument to Skenandoa’s memory within a few yards of Kirkland’s own gravesite.” Finally, on September 21, 1999, “a delegation of Oneida once again gathered on what is now College Hill for a ceremony.” The old gravestone, “weathered by the storm of years,” was replaced by one of identical design, unveiled following the observance of . . . a solemn rite, the burning of tobacco, a sacred plant to the Nation, conducted by Brian Patterson and Chief Stanley Buck . . . It incorporates the inscription on the old one, supplemented by new inscriptions reaffirming the historical ties between the College and the Oneida Nation, concluding with, “May the friendship of Skenandoa and Kirkland continue to inspire our two communities.”
. . . In his youth he was a brave and intrepid warrior, and in his riper years one of the noblest counsellors among the North American tribes; he possessed a vigorous mind, and was alike sagacious, active, and persevering. As an enemy, he was terrible. As a friend and ally, he was mild and gentle in his disposition, and faithful to his engagements. His vigilance once preserved from massacre the inhabitants of the little settlement at German Flats. In the revolutionary war his influence induced the Oneidas to take up arms in favor of the Americans.
Among the Indians he was distinguished by the appellation of the ‘white man’s friend.’ “Although he could speak but little English, and in his extreme old age was blind, yet his company was sought. In conversation he was highly decorous; evincing that he had profited by seeing civilized and polished society, and by mingling with good company in his better days.
“To a friend who called on him a short time since, he thus expressed himself by an interpreter: ‘I am an aged hemlock. The winds of an hundred winters have whistled through my branches; I am dead at the top. The generation to which I belonged have run away and left me: why I live, the Great Good Spirit only knows. Pray to my Jesus that I may have patience to wait for my appointed time to die.’
“Honored chief! His prayer was answered; he was cheerful and resigned to the last. For several years he kept his dress for the grave prepared. Once and again, and again, he came to Clinton to die: longing that his soul might be with Christ, and his body in the narrow house near his beloved Christian teacher. While the ambitious but vulgar great, look principally to sculptured monuments and to riches in the temple of earthly fame; Skenandoa, in the spirit of the only real nobility, stood with his loins girded, waiting the coming of the Lord.” [obituary in the Utica Patriot of March 19, 1816, as abridged in Barber & Howe, 364] Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source© 2014 Rick Grunder
More Information Below:
https://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/digital/collections/manuscripts/occom-samson/index.html
https://www.dartmouth.edu/~occom/occoms-biography/
Hyrum Smith Attends Moor Indian School
“In 1811, the Smith family moved to West Lebanon, New Hampshire, where Catherine was born on July 28, 1812.22 By then, things were looking up for the family. Lucy remembered, “We settled ourselves down and began to contemplate, with joy and satisfaction, the prosperity which had attended our recent exertions.” Hyrum and his siblings had received little formal education to this point, but their parents made arrangements for Hyrum to attend the academy at Hanover and for the other children to attend a “common school.”23
The academy, or Moor’s Charity School, was associated with Dartmouth College in Hanover, a few miles north of the Smith home and on the same side of the Connecticut River. Lucy did not explain why Hyrum was chosen to attend, but it may have been simply because his cousin of about the same age, Stephen Mack, was already a student there. One of the school’s tutors, Andrew Mack, was also a distant relative.24
Eleazar Wheelcock founded the Moor’s School in Lebanon, Connecticut, in 1754. Its curriculum extended beyond simply educating students; rather, it focused on preparing them to become teachers and preachers. In 1769, the school relocated to Hanover, New Hampshire, and became associated with the newly founded Dartmouth College. With the establishment of a common school in Hanover in 1808, the academy further refined its focus to prepare able students for additional scholarly education. But it maintained its religious influence, and students attended daily chapel services at the White Church on campus. If Hyrum attended in 1811, as Lucy seems to indicate, he joined a class of thirty-one students, which grew to fifty-six by 1814. 25
School records are incomplete, but the “Hiram Smith” listed in the August 1814 record was one of the “charity scholars” studying arithmetic.26 Charity scholars were not merely students with limited financial means. The designation also implied remarkable intellectual potential. School president John Wheelcock personally followed the progress of these student scholars, who were supported from his limited funds. Hyrum’s designation as a charity scholar in 1814 implies that he performed well academically during his previous years there.
The outbreak of “typhus fever” in late 1812 interrupted Hyrum’s education.27 He came home sick from school, perhaps at the end of the quarter in February 1813. His whole family was eventually infected, but Hyrum, despite his own illness, was determined to do his part to alleviate their suffering. He relieved his mother and sat at Joseph’s side for days or weeks until Nathan Smith—an attending surgeon at Dartmouth College, whose daughter Malvina attended class with Hyrum—operated on Joseph’s leg to eradicate the infection. Whether Hyrum and Malvina’s association was significant or even known to those involved is not recorded.
As Joseph’s leg improved, his family sent him to his Uncle Jesse’s home in Salem, Massachusetts, in hopes that “the sea-breezes would be of service to him.” The rest of the family, financially devastated by a year of illness, moved to Norwich, Vermont. Hyrum’s return to the Moor’s School now required him to travel about four miles east of his home and across the Connecticut River. His youngest brother, Don Carlos, was born in Norwich on March 15, 1816. 28.” Hyrum Smith, Patriarch http://deseretbook.com/Hyrum-Smith-Patriarch-Pearson-H-Corbett/i/b791 by Pearson H. Corbett
Lucy Mack Smith Rebukes Mr. Howard:
“After one whole year of affliction dis we were able once more to look upon our children and each other in health, and I assure you my gentle reader we realized the blessing for I believe felt more to acknowledge the hand of God in preserving our lives through such a desperate siege of disease pain and trouble than if we had enjoyed health and prosperity during the interim When health returned to us it found us as may well be supposed in very low circumstances as we had hired nurses all the time and been upon continual expense Sickness with all its attendant expenses of nurses medical attendance and other necessary articles It Reduced us so that we were now compelled to make arrangements for going into some kind of buisness to provide for present wants rather than future prospects as we had previously contemplated.
My Husband now determined to change his residence accordingly we moved to Norrige in New Hampshire and established ourselves on farm belonging to Squire Moredock, The first year our crops failed and we bought our bread with the proceeds of the orchard and our own industry the 2nd year they failed again In the ensuing Spring Mr. Smith [Joseph Smith Sr.] said if that he would plant once more on this farm and if he did not succeed better he would go to New york where they farmers raised wheat in abundance This year was like the preceeding seasons blig vegetation was blighted by untimely frost and which well nigh produced a famine, My Husband now decided upon going to New York and one day he came to house and sat down and after meditating sometime he said if he could so arrange his buisness he would be Glad to set out shortly for New York one Mr. Howard who was going to Palmira [Palmyra] and [p. [3], bk. 3] but said he I cannot leave for you could not get along without me besides I am owing some debts that I must pay I told I thought I that he might call upon both his debtors and creditors by so doing make an arrangement between them that would be satisfactory to all parties and As for the rest I thought I could prepare myself and my Family to follow him by the time he might be ready for us He called upon those with whom he had any dealings and settled up his accounts but there were some who neglected to bring their books but however wittesses were called in order that there might be evidence of the settlement— having done this Mr. Smith left Norrige for Palmira New York with Mr. Howard my sons Alvin [Smith] & Hyrum [Smith] followed their Father with a heavy heart some distance.
After the departure of my Husband we toiled faithfully until we considered that we were fully prepared to leave at a moments warning we soon received a letter from Mr. Smith requesting to make ready to take up a journey for Palmira immediately And a messenger soon arrived with a team conveyance for myself and family to take us to him As we were near setting out those gentlemen who had demands against him us and who settled with my husband pre before he left now visited me bringing the accounts that had been withheld heretofore. Thus I was compelled to pay out $150 out of the means reserved for bearing our expenses in traveling this I made shift to do and saved 60— or $80 for the Journey We set out with Mr. Howard a cousin of the Gentleman who went with Mr. Smith on his journey I had prepared a great quantity of woolen Clothing for my Children besides I had on hand a great deal of diaper and pulled cloth in the web. [p. [4], bk. 3]
My Mother was with me and as She she had been assisting in my preparations for traveling She was now returning to her home when we arrived there I had a task to perform which was a severe trial to my feelings one to which I shall ever look back with peculiar sensations that can never be obliterated I was here to take leave of that pious and affectionate parent to whom I was a indebted for all the religious instructions as well as most of the educational priviledges which I had ever received The parting hour came My Mother wept over me long and heartily She told me that it was not probable She should ever behold my face again but My Dear Child said She I have lived long my days are nearly numbered I must soon exchange the things of Earth for another state of existence where I hope to enjoy the society of the Blessed.
And now as my last admonition I beseech to continue faithful in the exercise of every religious duty to the end of your days that I may have the pleasure of embracing you in another fairer World above— After this I pur[s]ued my Journey but a short time untill I discovered that the man who drove the team in which we rode was an unprincipled unfeeling wretch by the manner in which he handled my Goods & money as well as his treatment to my children, especially Joseph who was Still somewhat lame of foot> but we bore patiently with repeated aggravations until we came 20 miles west of Utica when the was one Morning we were preparing as usual for starting on the days journey my oldest son came to me Mother said he Mr. Howard has thrown the goods out of the waggon and is about Setting off with the team I told him to call the man in [p. [5], bk. 3] I met him in the bar room where there was a large company of travelers male and female I demanded of the man his reason for such procedure. he answered that the money which I gave him was all exhausted and he could go no farther I turned to those present said I.
“Gentlemen and ladies Please give me your attention for a moment. As Now as there is a God in Heaven that Waggon and those horses as well as the goods accompanying them are mine And here I declare that they Shall go This man is determined to take away from me every means of proceeding on my journey leaving me with 8 little children utterly destitute but I forbid you Mr. Howard from stiring one step with my Wagon or horses but for I here I declare that the team Goods and children with myself shall go together to my Husband and the Father of my children as for you sir I has no use for you and can ride or walk the rest of the way as you please but I shall take charge of my own affairs.” I then proceeded on my way and in a short time I arrived in Palmira with a small portion of my effects my babes <&> & 0 cents in money but perfectly happy in the society of my family. The joy I felt in seeing throwing myself and my children upon the care and affection of a tender Husband and Father doubly paid me for all I had suffered for when I saw The children surrounded their Father clinging to his neck an covering his face with tears and kisses that were heartily reciprocated by him— “Joseph Smith Papers, Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845 9 (Not edited or corrected)
To read more about the Iroquois Confederacy and the Oneida Indians, see my blog here: https://www.bofm.blog/the-onandaga-joseph-smiths-indians/
