Gideon Hawley (1727–1807) was a
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
to the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
Indians in
and on the
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...
in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
.
Biography
He was born in the
Stratfield section of Stratford, now Bridgeport, Connecticut, in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
on November 5, 1727. The son of Gideon Hawley and Hannah Bennett who was the daughter of Lieutenant James Bennett. Hawley's mother died at his birth and his father died three years later. He was the grandson of Ephraim and Sarah (Welles)
Hawley from
Trumbull. He was the great grandson of
Joseph Hawley (Captain), first of the Hawley name to come to America in 1629, and was twice great grandson of
Thomas Welles
Thomas Welles (14 January 1660) is the only person in Connecticut's history to hold all four top offices: governor, deputy governor, treasurer, and secretary. In 1639, he was elected as the first treasurer of the Colony of Connecticut, and from ...
Governor of the
Colony of Connecticut
The ''Connecticut Colony'' or ''Colony of Connecticut'', originally known as the Connecticut River Colony or simply the River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settl ...
. He married Lucy Fessenden, second daughter of Reverend Benjamin Fessenden (Harvard 1718) and Rebecca (Smith) Fessenden, of Sandwich. They had three sons and two daughters. Lucy died December 25, 1777 at 50. Gideon married again to Mrs. Elizabeth Burchard, widow of Captain David Burchard of Nantucket, on October 7, 1778.
Religious education
Hawley graduated from
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
in 1749. He was licensed to preach in May 1750. In 1752, in
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,018 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, Stockbridge is h ...
, he accepted a position with the ''Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians'', under the supervision of
Jonathan Edwards who was a preacher to the whites and the Housatonic Indians in Stockbridge. Hawley taught Mohawk, Oneida, and Tuscarora Indians there, with Edwards occasionally visiting to give advice.
Missionary to the Indians
In 1753, Hawley accepted a position from the commissioners of Indian affairs to establish a mission among the Six Nations at the town of
Oquaga Onaquaga (also spelled many other ways) was a large Iroquois village, located on both sides of the Susquehanna River near present-day Windsor, New York. During the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Army destroyed it and nearby Unadill ...
on the Susquehanna, near what is now
Windsor, New York
Windsor is a town in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 5,804 at the 2020 census.
The town is on the southern border of the county and is east of Binghamton. The town includes the village of Windsor, located on the Susqu ...
, in the area where another Yale graduate, Rev.
Elihu Spencer Elihu Spencer (February 12, 1721 – December 27, 1784) was an American clergyman who served as a chaplain during the French and Indian War. During the American Revolution, he was invited to North Carolina by that colony's provincial congress ...
, had made an unsuccessful attempt at ministry in the late 1740s. Hawley left for the site in 1754. Besides acting as a missionary, Hawley also acted as an interpreter at this post.
French and Indian War
The
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
did not affect his mission until 1756, when he was forced to leave. He then went to Boston and joined the army as chaplain of Colonel
Richard Gridley
Richard Gridley (3 January 1710 – 21 June 1796) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a soldier and engineer who served for the British Army during the French and Indian Wars and for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionar ...
's regiment, and attempted after this campaign to return to the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
mission, but the enterprise proved too hazardous. He spent the winter in
West Springfield, Massachusetts
West Springfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 28,835 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is also known as "West Si ...
and tried to rejoin his mission in the spring of 1757, but an outbreak of
small pox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) cer ...
there prevented him from returning. The commissioners of the Society for propagating the gospel appointed him pastor of the Indian tribes at
Mashpee, Massachusetts
Mashpee ( wam, Mâseepee) is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, on Cape Cod. The population was 15,060 as of 2020. The town is the site of the headquarters and most members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, one of two feder ...
, where he was installed in April 1758 and remained as a missionary until his death in 1807.
Reverend Timothy Dwight IV
Timothy Dwight IV
Timothy Dwight (May 14, 1752January 11, 1817) was an American academic and educator, a Congregationalist minister, theologian, and author. He was the eighth president of Yale College (1795–1817).
Early life
Timothy Dwight was born May 14, 17 ...
in his ''
Travels in New England and New York'', writes about his visit with Hawley on October 2, 1800 and his correspondence with him afterward. Dwight wrote that after dinner he went to Hawley's house to visit and had an interview, "more interesting than words can describe" with Hawley. Dwight had not seen Hawley since he was a young man of eighteen. Dwight writes; "this gentleman was a most intimate friend of my parents. From his youth he had sustained as amiable and unexceptionable a character as can perhaps be found among uninspired men". During this visit in 1800, Gideon's son James was on his death bed. Hawley wrote to Dwight on April 29, 1801 to tell him of the death of his son James, eight days after his visit. He wrote to Dwight again on September 21, 1802 and both letters are published in Dwight's work, published posthumously in London in 1823.
*His gravestone reads:
Gideon Hawley 1807
In memory of
Rev Gideon Hawley who was
born at Stratford, Connecticut, Nov 5 O S 1727
graduated at Yale College 1749
ordained in Boston July 31, 1754
a missionary to the Indians at
Onohaguage or the Six Nations
installed at Mashpee April 10, 1758
died Oct'r 3 1807 AEt 80
There the wicked cease from troubling
and the weary are at rest
See also
*
Gideon Hawley House
References
Congregational Library: ''Gideon Hawley'' (1727 - 1807)*
Halsey, ''The Old New York Frontier,'' Pt. 2, Ch. 3, ''Gideon Hawley's Coming''
*Reverend Samuel Orcutt, ''History of the Old Town of Stratford, Connecticut'', Fairfield Historical Society, 1886
*Elias Sill Hawley, ''The Hawley Record'', Press of E. H. Hutchinson & Co., Buffalo, NY, 1890
*Franklin Bowditch Dexter, ''Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College'', Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1896
*Timothy Dwight, ''Travels in New England and New York'', William Baynes and Son, London, 1823
*
William Richard Cutter
William Richard Cutter (August 17, 1847 – June 6, 1918) was an American historian, genealogist, and writer.
Life
Born in Woburn, Massachusetts on August 17, 1847, he was the son of Dr. Benjamin Cutter and Mary Whittemore Cutter. He attended ...
, ''New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial'', Lewis Historical Publishing, NY, 1914
External links
The Society of the Hawley Family, Inc. official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawley, Gideon
1727 births
1807 deaths
People from Stockbridge, Massachusetts
American Protestant missionaries
Protestant missionaries in the United States
American Christian clergy
People of Massachusetts in the French and Indian War
Clergy in the American Revolution
American theologians
Yale University alumni
American people of English descent