Kirkland, Samuel. The Journal of Samuel Kirkland, November, 1784 - February, 1765. Clinton, New York: The Alexander Hamilton Private Press, 1966. [8651]
Brown cloth, white printed title label to front, 9 x 6 3/4 inches, gold end papers, drawn portrait of Kirkland, vi., 20, [1] clean pp. Near fine. Hardcover.
No. 4 of 150 copies printed.
"This, the first book of the Press, was set by hand in 14 pt. Garamont Monotype and printed on a 9 x 12 Chandler & Price platen press on Linweave Laid Text., The frontispiece illustration by Austin Briggs of Redding, Connecticut, was drawn especially for the Alexander Hamilton Private Press. The binding was done by the J. F. Tapley Company of New York." - colophon.
This journal section begins with Kirkland's visit to the Oneida Chief Good Peter, to introduce Joseph Wolley as the new schoolmaster for the children at Onohoghqwage. After returning to Johnson Hall Kirkland is sent to Onondaga and Kanadasegea with messages for the Seneca chiefs. He is accompanied by two Seneca men who provide protection for him on the journey. This interesting account reveals some customs and conditions of the Senecas of central New York.
Samuel Kirkland (1741-1808), b. Norwich, CT; d. Clinton, NY. He was associated with Rev. Eleazar Wheelock and his Moor's Indian Charity School in Connecticut, (later moved to New Hampshire as Dartmouth College). He was a missionary in the territory of the Oneida's and the Tuscarora's after the French & Indian War, and was instrumental in those tribes siding with the Americans during the Revolutionary War. The Mohawk Valley was the scene of bitter and bloody frontier warfare; Kirkland became chaplain of the American army sent to invade the Indian territories in 1779 (the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition). After the war he remained committed to missionary and educational work among the Oneidas, founding Hamilton-Oneida academy, accepting both Indian and white students; this institution is now known as Hamilton College, in Clinton, NY.