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Samuel Kirkland
Overview
Samuel Kirkland (1741–1808) was a Protestant missionary who lived among the Oneida Nation for more than forty years and was the primary founder of Hamilton-Oneida Academy, the institution that became Hamilton College. His career bridged the colonial missionary enterprise, the Revolutionary War, and the early republic’s debates about Indian policy and education.
Relevance to Research
Kirkland is the originating figure in Hamilton College’s founding story. He conceived the plan to educate Oneida and white youth together, recruited prominent supporters including Alexander Hamilton, Philip Schuyler, Timothy Pickering, and Baron Steuben, and organized the subscription and charter application that led to the incorporation of Hamilton-Oneida Academy on January 29, 1793. The Documentary History of Hamilton College (1922) — based largely on Kirkland’s own journals and letters — treats him as the indispensable agent of the college’s founding.
Notes
Born: 1741, Norwich, CT; son of Rev. Daniel Kirkland
Died: 1808
Education: Student at Eleazar Wheelock’s school in Lebanon, CT from 1761 (age 19); entered Princeton as a sophomore in 1762; received his degree in 1765; did not wait for commencement — departed immediately on expedition to the Senecas
Missionary commission: Commissioned June 19, 1766, by the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge; commission signed by Eleazar Wheelock
Missionary career: Resident among the Oneidas for 40+ years beginning in 1766
Revolutionary War: Described as “brilliantly successful agent of Washington during the Revolutionary War for the management of the Iroquois”; a most trusted advisor to Washington’s administration on Indian affairs; the Oneidas sided with the American cause
Plan of Education: Proposed educating Indians and white settlers together; the plan enlisted support from Alexander Hamilton, Philip Schuyler, Timothy Pickering, and Baron Steuben
Academy founding: Organized the founding subscription and charter application for Hamilton-Oneida Academy (1792–1793); the academy was chartered by the Board of Regents on January 29, 1793
Later life: Planted the row of Lombardy Poplars along the hillside road at Hamilton in 1805
Death and monument: Remains moved to the College cemetery in 1820; monument erected there; the Kirkland Monument was later dedicated with an address by Horatio Seymour
Sons: Joseph Kirkland became a general, the first long-term president of the Board of Trustees, and mayor of Utica; John Thornton Kirkland became president of Harvard University