This article first appeared in In Writing
Samson Occom 1723-1792 Mohegan Pastor His fund raising trip to the British Isles 1765-1767 in the company of Nathaniel Whitaker that led to the founding of Dartmouth College. Part Four.
On tour in the west, July 25-October 23, 1766
At the end of July, Occom and Whitaker headed west. From this point on there is no Occom diary so it is difficult to be sure where they were when. It has been said of their itinerary, “its specifics cannot be reconstructed”. We get a general idea from letters and the carefully kept accounts that list most places visited and how much individuals and churches and individuals gave.
The trip west can be divided into two parts in that having come back to London by October 24, they headed off again in some haste on October 29, urged by Whitefield, and continued on this second trip into the new year.
The first trip included Abingdon, Berkshire on July 28 (preaching for Baptist Daniel Turner 1710-1798) and probably Bristol, Bath and the Somerset towns of Frome (including John Kingdon c 1731-1801 and the Baptists), Glastonbury, Bishops Hull near Taunton, Wellington and Bridgwater; then in Wiltshire, Bradford on Avon (Baptist Richard Haynes d 1768, Congregationalist Scotsman John Skirven d c 1771, ther Anglicans and others); in Gloucestershire, Gloucester and Chalford (Nicholas Phené) and perhaps Kidderminster, Worcestershire, where they would have preached for Presbyterian Benjamin Fawcett 1713-1780, a friend of Newton.
In Devon, they visited Barnstaple, Bideford, Topsham (preaching for Independent Aaron Pitts d 1771), Chudleigh (preaching for Indepenendent Joel Orchard d c 1771), Culmstock, Cullompton, Exeter (preaching for Arian controversialist Micaiah Towgood 1700-1792) and Plymouth (preaching for Baptist Philip Gibbs d 1800).
Some specific Lord's Day dates we have for Bristol are these from printed sermon extracts. Each time but one the preacher is Occom.
August 10 Tucker Street Meeting (These people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my people Isaiah 43:21)
August 17 Tucker Street Meeting (And it repented the Lord, that He had made man on the earth, and aggrieved Him at His heart Genesis 6:6)
August 17 Callow Hill Meeting (Looking for that blessed Hope and the glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour JESUS CHRIST Titus 2:13) by Whitaker
August 24 Broadmead Meeting (And these shall go away into everlasting Punishment But the Righteous into Life eternal Matthew 26:46)
September 7 Pithay Meeting (My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me John 10:27)
We know that on September 18 they were in Westbury and Tuesday, 23, Warminster, both in Wiltshire, and in Croscombe and Shepton Mallett, Somerset, 20 miles further west. By October 24 they were back in London.
On tour in the west, October 30-December 31, 1766
After spending a week in Bath preparing, they headed down to Devonshire again, where they visited Crediton (and preached for Anglicans and Presbyterians), Ashburton, Totnes, Dartmouth and Kingsbridge.
They then came back to Bath and were there and in Bristol for two weeks, probably December 1-14. Between Monday, December 15 and Lord's Day, December 21, they visited Wilton and Salisbury, Wiltshire and Blandford Forum, Dorset. It was then
Monday 22 Sherborne, Dorset (21 miles north west of Blandford)
Tuesday 23 Yeovil, Somerset (six miles west of Sherborne)
Wednesday 24 South Petherton, Somerset (10 miles further west again)
Thursday 25 Martock, Somerset (just over three miles further south west)
Lord's Day 28? Crewkerne, Somerset (seven or eight miles more south)
Monday 29 Beaminster, Somerset (seven miles south of Crewkerne) and Bridport, Somerset (another six miles south)
Tuesday 30 Dorchester, Dorset (15 miles east of Bridport) and Wareham, Dorset, another 18 miles east (preaching for Independents Simon Reader c 1716-1789 in Wareham and Joseph Lamb in Dorchester)
Wednesday 31 Poole, Dorset (nine or ten miles east of Dorchester, preaching for Olney born Independent Edward Ashburner 1734-1804 and Presbyterian John Howell 1719-1804)
On tour in the south, January 1-13, 1767
We know their itinerary, more or less, for January 1-14, 1767, when they were in Hampshire.
Thursday 1 Ringwood and Romsey (preaching for Baptists Joseph Horsey 1737-1802 and James Fanch 1704-1767 and others)
Lord's Day 4 Occom went the 10 miles across to Broughton to preach for William Steele (1689-1769) father of hymn writer, Anne Steele (1717-1778). Occom himself was the author of a number of hymns.
Monday 5 Winchester (16 miles further on again). Just Occom again
Tuesday 6 Southampton, 13 miles south of Winchester (preaching at Above Bar for Independent William Kingsbury 1744-1818)
Wednesday 7 They headed to the Isle of Wight and took meetings in Newport (for the Anglicans and General Baptist John Sturch d 1764)
Friday 9 Portsmouth and Gosport (preaching for Presbyterian Thomas Wren 1725-1787 and Congregationalist Thomas Williams 1725-1770)
No doubt they also visited Basingstoke and Whitchurch, both in Hampshire, at this time. On Tuesday, January 13, they headed back to London, arriving in the early hours of January 14.
London and on tour in the north, January 14-July 31, 1767
They then spent an extended period in London laying plans and in March set out on a trip north that would eventually bring them to Scotland.
Places visited en route to Coventry, which they reached on March 26, appear to include Hitchin, Olney, Kettering, Northampton (March 16) then Wellingborough and Welford (probably preaching for Independent Samuel King c 1715-1788) and after Coventry
Warwick (preaching for Independent James Kettle 1716-1806)
Evesham (preaching for Presbyterian Paul Cardale 1705-1755)
Bromsgrove (preaching for Baptist James Butterworth d post 1794 Phillips Jenkins)
Pershore (preaching for Baptist John Ash 1724-1779 and others)
Tewkesbury (preaching for Baptist John Haydon 1714-1782 and others)
Upton (preaching for seventh day Baptist Philip Jones 1736-1770)
Hooknorton (preaching for Baptist Benjamin Whitmore 1728-1804)
Bourton-on-the-water (preaching for Baptist Benjamin Beddome 1717-1795, as mentioned in the Bourton church book)
Cirencester (preaching for Anglican Samuel Johnson)
Worcester (on April 19 for Baptist John Poynting 1719-1791, Independent Thomas Urwick 1727-1807 and Presbyterian Francis Blackmore d 1760).
By April 27 they seem to have been back in Kettering. It was probably at this time that they also visited Leicester, Loughborough, Hinckley, Oakham and Uppingham in Rutland, Derby (preaching for Presbyterian Thomas White) and Manchester, arriving in Liverpool by May 2, which Whitaker called “a pool of error and wickedness”.
They appear to have reached Edinburgh by May 1767. Other places visited en route to Scotland no doubt include Nantwich (where they preached for Presbyterian John Houghton c 1730-1800), Lancaster, Preston and Carlisle. On June 9 they were called back to London by the board but that took some time to expedite.
They spent June 12-17 in Glasgow. They also appear to have visited St Andrews, Dundee and Dumfries. By July 8 they were back in Edinburgh. On July 19 they arrived in Ireland but did not stay there long as they had missed the church's synod and a man from Rhode Island was already there soliciting funds for another project.
No doubt it was on the way back to England that they visited places like Morpeth (preaching for Robert Trotter 1729-1806 and the Presbyterians), Newcastle, Sunderland, Darlington, Whitby, Hull, York, Leeds (where givers included Lady Ingham 1699-1768, wife of Moravian Benjamin Ingham 1712-1772), Wakefield, Halifax (givers there including the Independent church pastored by Titus Knight 1719-1793), Sheffield, Nottingham and Lincoln,
On tour in the east, August 1-October 31, 1767
There was a third brief trip to nearby Hitchin in August but in September and October they covered places in the east of the country, places such as Halstead, Braintree and Bocking, Thaxted, Castle Hadingham, Coggeshall, Clavering and Dedham, all in Essex, then in Suffolk - Sudbury, Woodbridge, Long Melford, Bury St Edmunds, Wattisfield, Southwold (Hurrion), Nayland, Wrentham (Sweetland), Stowmarket and Ipswich (on September 28) – and in Norfolk - Great Yarmouth, Denton, Norwich (Dr Samuel Wood, d 1767, etc), Bungay and Hadley (Mr Tom's). It was probably on this trip that they visited Boston and Stamford in Lincolnshire and Cambridge.
Berkshire and Kent, November, 1767
On November 9, we know they were in Watford, Middlesex, preaching for Baptist Samuel Medley (1738-1799) newly installed there and a friend of Gifford. They also covered High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire and Reading and Newbury, Berkshire. Later in the month they were in Kent, in Tunbridge Wells on the 26th and in Ashford, Appledore, Tenterden and Canterbury too.
The return home, 1768
Whitaker and Occom appear to have fallen out increasingly towards the end of the trip and returned to America on separate vessels. Whitaker appears to have left England for Boston on March 2, 1768, arriving. He arrived on June 6, a long journey of more than three months.
In September, 1768 Occom wrote to Robert Keen explaining how he had been sick for much of his journey home but had recovered. He was taken ill two or three days into the voyage and was seriously unwell for the first four weeks of an eight week journey. He must have arrived in Boston around April 29 or May 6. He began his ride home the next day. His wife had been ill but by the time of writing, she was improving.
From a financial point of view, the trip had proved successful with £12,000 being raised, including 200 guineas from King George III himself.
From other points of view, things were not so good. On his return Occom learned that Wheelock had failed to care for his wife and children while he was away. Furthermore, Wheelock moved on to New Hampshire where he used the funds raised to establish Dartmouth College (named for the English earl) for the education of the sons of American colonists, rather than Native Americans as had originally been envisaged.
In 1764, Occom had opposed the sale of tribal lands and was involved in the “Mason Controversy,” a long lasting dispute over land between colonists and Mohegeans. The Mohegans formed an alliance with the Mason family to plead a case for the governor of Connecticut to give back the lands to the Mohegans. When Occom came back to Mohegan territory, he expressed his support for the Mason family and the Mohegans which caused the missionaries to make threats to take away his preacher's license and stop financing his missionary work. The colonists also started to spread rumours about Occom, that he was an alcoholic and that he converted to Christianity just to look good. In a 1769 letter, Wheelock wrote to Occom about the rumour that he was an alcoholic. The rumour hurt Occom's reputation after the success of the fundraising trip to England. Wheelock suggested that Occom truly did not care for Christianity. He even raised the idea that his conversion was false and could not be trusted as a preacher. The stereotype of the drunken Indian was foisted on Occom and inevitably undermined his work. Wheelock benefited from the defamation of Occom as it bolstered his authority.
