Samuel Nott (11 September 1788 – 1 June 1869) was one of the pioneers of

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

foreign missions. He was one of the first five foreign missionaries under

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and established Bombay Mission station, the first Americans overseas mission station at

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, then-headquarters of the

Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

. He published several

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. El ...

s and books, notably ''Sixteen Years' Preaching and Procedure at Wareham'', ''Slavery and the Remedy'', and many more.

Biography

Nott was born on September 11, 1788, in

Franklin, Connecticut Franklin is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,863 at the 2020 census. The town includes the village of North Franklin. History Franklin incorporated as a town in 1786. The town is named after Benjamin F ...

. His father Samuel Nott Sr. (1754–1852) was the

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

of the

Congregational church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

in Franklin and patriarch of the

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 ...

clergy. Nott Jr. was admitted to his father's church in 1805. Under the guidance of his father, his education commenced in his early childhood. He graduated from

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

in July 1808, and from

Andover Theological Seminary Andover Theological Seminary (1807–1965) was a Congregationalist seminary founded in 1807 and originally located in Andover, Massachusetts on the campus of Phillips Academy. From 1908 to 1931, it was located at Harvard University in Cambridge. ...

in 1808. While studying at Andover, a group of like-minded Christians, namely

Adoniram Judson Adoniram Judson (August 9, 1788 – April 12, 1850) was an American Congregationalist and later Particular Baptist missionary, who served in Burma for almost forty years. At the age of 25, Judson was sent from North America to preach in B ...

Samuel Newell Samuel Newell (1784–1821) was an American missionary and one of the pioneers of American foreign missions. He served with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in India and Ceylon, where he founded the first American ''Ceylon M ...

Luther Rice Luther Rice (25 March 1783 – 27 September 1836) was an American Baptist minister who, after a thwarted mission to India, returned to America where he spent the remainder of his career raising funds for missions and advocating for the formation of ...

Gordon Hall Gordon Hall (8 April 1784 – 20 March 1826) was one of the first two American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions missionaries to Bombay, then-headquarters of Bombay Presidency. He was instrumental in establishing ''Bombay Missionary ...

, and

Samuel John Mills Samuel John Mills Jr. (April 12, 1783 – June 16, 1818) was an American preacher and missionary from Connecticut. He is known for contributing to the organization of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and to the formation of t ...

, presented their enthusiasm for overseas missionary service to the General Association of Congregational Churches,

Bradford, Massachusetts Bradford is a village and former town, in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Eastern Bradford is the current town of Groveland, while western Bradford was annexed by the city of Haverhill, and today consists of the part of Haverhill o ...

; later, in 1812 Mills led the establishment of the

(ABCFM), the first foreign mission agency in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. He, including Newell, Judson, Hall, Rice, and Mills, were

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

by the ABCFM on February 6, 1812; accordingly, Judson, Newell, Nott and their wives, Hall, and Rice were sent as the first five American missionaries to India in 1812. However, Mills stayed back in the United States to oversee their cause. In 1812, upon reaching

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, they were denied residence and were ordered to be deported by the colonial

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

; hence, the group went to neighbouring lands. Samuel Newell and Harriet Newell tried to start a mission station outside of the British territory on the Isle of France (present-day

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

) and finally started a mission in

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and

became

Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

during their voyage to the

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

and resigned from the ABCFM. The Judsons later made their way to

Serampore Serampore (also called ''Serampur'', ''Srirampur'', ''Srirampore'', ''Shreerampur'', ''Shreerampore'', ''Shrirampur'' or ''Shrirampore'') is a city of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarter of the Srirampor ...

to work with the Baptist mission operating there. Luther Rice returned to the United States to solicit funds for the establishment and maintenance of the Baptist Mission in India. Unlike their fellow missionaries, Samuel Nott and

left Calcutta and found refuge in

, where they started a covert mission work. The mission station was later to be called "Bombay Mission", the first mission station by Americans overseas. Over the period, Hall and Nott established mission stations at

Thane Thane (; also known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city in Maharashtra, India. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven talukas ...

and

Mahim Mahim (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɦiːm(Marathi language, Marathi: माहिम) is a neighbourhood in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The Mahim Junction railway station on the Western Railway zone, Western Railway and Harbou ...

. Their missionary activities included preaching the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

, translating the

scriptures Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual prac ...

into local languages, publishing

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

Christian literature Christian literature is the literary aspect of Christian media, and it constitutes a huge body of extremely varied writing. Scripture While falling within the strict definition of literature, the Bible is not generally considered literature. Ho ...

, and operating schools; one school operated by them instructed

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

children in the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

languages. With broken health, Nott returned to the United States in 1816, and worked as a schoolteacher in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

till 1823. Between 1823 and 1829, he served as a pastor in

Galway, New York Galway () is a town located in Saratoga County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 3,589. The town contains a village also named Galway. Both the town and village are located in the western part of ...

, and in

Wareham, Massachusetts Wareham ( ) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 23,303. History Wareham was first settled in 1678 by Europeans as part of the towns of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Plymouth ...

, from 1829 to 1849. Later, he founded a private Academy at Wareham, where he served between 1849 and 1866. After he retired from active labours, he resided at Wareham and

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

, and died in Hartford on June 1, 1869.

References

External links

Samuel Nott, Jr. (1787-1869), of the first company of missionaries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nott, Samuel 1788 births 1869 deaths Congregationalist missionaries in India American Congregationalist missionaries American Congregationalist ministers People from Franklin, Connecticut Union College (New York) alumni Andover Newton Theological School alumni American expatriates in India