Another Voice from the Past

Reverend Samson Occom

Samson Occom was a Mohegan. He lived around the same time as Venture Smith. He was born in 1723 and died in 1792. Like Venture, he wrote about his life. In a short piece he wrote in 1765, he described his childhood (his words are in bold and this is his spelling and punctuation):

My parents Liv’d a wandering life, as did all the Indians at Mohegan; they Chiefly Depended upon Hunting Fishing & Fowling for their Living and had no Connections with the English, excepting to trade with them in their Small Trifles,—and they Strictly maintain’d and follow’d their … Ways, Customs & Religion—tho’ there was Some English ministers preaching Christianity among them. … and when I was about 10 Years of age there was a man who went about among the Indian Wigwams, and where ever he Could find the Indian Childn, he would make them read—but the Children Usd to take Care to keep out of his way;—and he Us’d to Catch me Some times and make me Say over my Letters, and I believe I learnt Some of them. But this was Soon over too—and all this Time there was not one amongst us, that made a Profession of Christianity—Neither did we Cultivate our Land, nor kept any Sort of Creatures except Dogs, Which We Used in Hunting; and Dwelt in Wigwams, These are a Sort of Tents, Coverd with Matts—And to this Time we were unaquainted with the English Toung in General tho there were a few, who understood a little of it.

As a young man, Occom was inspired to become a Christian minister. He became a missionary. A missionary lives among people of another culture and tries to get them to change to their religion. Occom worked his whole life to help the Mohegan and other Native peoples but life as a missionary had many challenges. Read more about Occom at VentureSmithColonialCT.org/library.