1806 Autograph Letter Signed from Gideon Hawley, Stockbridge and Mashpee, Massachusetts Indian Missionary to son-in-law and Kingston, Rhode Island merchant, Crocker Sampson.

Hawley preached on behalf of the Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians


ALS from notable Massachusetts Indian missionary, Gideon Hawley (1727–1807) to his son-in-law, Crocker Sampson (1749–1823) of Kingston, Rhode Island.

Reverend Gideon Hawley, a Connecticut native and Yale graduate, first preached in 1752 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts among the Housatonic Indians. Under the aegis of Jonathan Edwards, Hawley accepted a position with the Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians and also preached to Mohawk, Oneida, and Tuscarora Indians. Hawley then taught among the Six Nations in near what is now Windsor, New York.

The French and Indian War forced his exit in 1756. He was a pastor to the Indian tribes at Mashpee from 1758 until his death on 1807.

Crocker Sampson married Gideon Hawley’s daughter, Rebecca Hawley in 1794. Sampson was a Harvard graduate and a Quarter Master under Colonel Gamaliel Bradford’s Regiment in the Continental Army. A merchant in Kingston, Rhode Island, he was also an underwriter of the Ohio Company in 1786.

This letter, one year before Hawley’s death, is primarily concerned with the health and business activities of family, work at Spring Hill, and their comings and goings, e.g. Hawley notes that Sampson’s brother James is terribly ill voiding “…considerable matter, bloody and black” and notes that Gideon [Jr.?] “…labors hard. He drinks sweetened water, but not much rum or brandy…”


Description: 1806 Autograph Letter Signed from Gideon Hawley, Stockbridge and Mashpee, Massachusetts Indian Missionary to son-in-law and Kingston, Rhode Island merchant, Crocker Sampson.

Mashpee, Massachusetts. July 28, 1806. Quarto. Two pages plus integral address leaf. Wax seal, small hole from seal, former folds, a few splits along fold lines, else very good.

[145280]

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