Features
Hamilton history: The story of Samuel Kirkland
By Jon Cohen ’17
November 6, 2015
Students and faculty at Hamilton College are familiar with the name Kirkland but most know very little about the man who spent his life educating the people of upstate New York.
Samuel Kirkland was born on Dec. 1, 1741 into a well-educated family of ministers. While in the 18th century clergy occupied the top social class in America, Samuel’s father, Daniel, lost his job as a minister and as a result raised Samuel in relative poverty. However, from their time in the Church the Kirklands made many connections, one of which, Reverend Eleazar Wheelock (who later in life founded Dartmouth College), agreed to pay for Samuel’s schooling.
Samuel attended the equivalent of high school in Lebanon, Connecticut. The school was designed to educate American Indian children and ultimately convert them to Christianity. At the school, Samuel showed promise as a missionary and, with the financial backing of Reverent Wheelock, enrolled in the College of New Jersey (which today is known as Princeton).
Kirkland left school a year early and traveled to the Mohawk Valley in New York with the goal of converting its residents to Christianity. Kirkland lived with the Seneca Tribe for over a year and while he became proficient in their language, he failed to convert any members. However, Kirkland studied the Seneca language and customs carefully, and was able to graduate from the College of New Jersey in absentia. This was likely the first “study abroad” year in the history of higher education in America.
While the trip to the Mohawk Valley was not successful, Kirkland was not deterred and left for his second missionary trip in 1766 to work with the Oneida Tribe in the village of Kanonwalohale. Kirkland preached for hours every Sunday, in the Oneidas’ native language, in front of hundreds members of the Oneida Tribe. One of his first tasks was a crusade against alcohol, which was tearing apart the Oneida community.
In Kanonwalohale, Kirkland had success. In 1773, the Oneidas built a Church and many in the community quit drinking. However, in 1775, the Revolutionary War interrupted Kirkland’s missionary work.
During the war, Kirkland received $300 from Congress to secure neutrality between the patriots and the Oneidas. Later in the war, Kirkland met with George Washington and received funds to persuade the Oneidas to join the war on the United States’ side.
After the war, the Oneidas gave Kirkland a large plot of land as a reward for all of his pastoral service. Kirkland sold it and became wealthy. However, Samuel felt restless and returned to his original mission of educating and converting the Oneidas. Kirkland met with George Washington, who donated funds, and Alexander Hamilton, who agreed to be a trustee for the school Kirkland wanted to establish. Alexander Hamilton provided the influence Kirkland needed and the Hamilton-Oneida Academy was established in 1794 to educate both Oneidas and white students.
Unfortunately, the school was a disaster. The first class included only four Oneida children and 25 white students. Furthermore, the main building burned down only three months into the school year and after only one year, the school was closed.
The trustees built a new, grander school, but Kirkland was forced to take a secondary role due to his failing health. While the improved school quickly became a successful institution of higher learning, it deviated from Kirkland’s founding mission. In the first 10 years after the school was rebuilt, only two Indians students enrolled and none graduated.
Samuel Kirkland died on Feb. 28, 1808. While he dedicated his life to the Oneidas, his efforts were, in several ways, unsuccessful. Walter Pilkington, a librarian and historian of Hamilton College sums up Kirkland’s life rather unenthusiastically, writing, “In [Kirkland’s] lifetime the Oneidas have fallen from their independent state and showed few positive results from their white father’s forty-year mission.” However, Kirkland was paramount in the establishment of Hamilton College, which quickly grew to be a leader in liberal arts education.