Samson Occom - Education

Education

From 1749-1761, Occom served as a teacher, preacher, and judge to Native American people in Montauk, Long Island, where he married a local woman, Mary Fowler, on fall 1751. He contributed to the assimilation of the Pequot to adopt European-style houses, dress and culture. He was officially ordained a minister on August 30, 1759, by the presbytery of Suffolk. Occom was never paid the same salary as white preachers, although promised that he would be, and he lived in deep poverty for much of his life. He was paid by the "Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge". In 1761 & 1763, he made visited the Six Nations to preach. Without winning many converts, he returned to teach at Mohegan, Connecticut.

Wheelock established an Indian charity school with a benefaction from Joshua Moor in 1754. 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 III donated 200 pounds, and William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth 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 was dismayed that Wheelock put the funds toward establishing Dartmouth College for the education of Englishmen, rather than of Native Americans.

In 1768, Occom wrote the 10-page A Short Narrative of My Life, which was kept in Dartmouth College'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.