Hamilton College Cemetery, Clinton, NY

We visit the campus of Hamilton College from time to time. My eldest, The Historian, loves their library– Burke Library– and knows a few of the professors there. The place is steeped in American history. Although Alexander Hamilton never visited the campus, he whole-heartedly supported this venture begun by Reverend Samuel Kirkland, a Connecticut native who came to wilds of Upstate New York to bring Christianity to the Iroquois. The Historian is quite the Samuel Kirkland expert; someday I hope she writes a biography of him. Kirkland’s history is truly fascinating. She includes a brief history about the college below my entry.

Modern Hamilton College was in the mainstream headlines a year ago, mostly due to their decision to host a lecture by Kook of the Year, Ward Churchill. Nutsy Churchill was thankfully pressured out of the schedule by outraged Hamilton alumni and the public. However, there remain the strangest and disconcerting associations for the college, such as the college visiting professor Brigitte Boisselier, a member of the Raelian Cult Movement (who claim to have cloned a human and that we descend from aliens). It’s really weird for an Ivy League college to do some of the things it does. Yow. Poor Sam Kirkland– his vision of “solid American education for Christian boys” is in the toilet.

We love the college for its history and its inception by Rev. Kirkland as an out reach for Indians. The kooky leftward tilt of the college is tragic. But there are some great professors in the history department who do still preserve the honor and dignity of it’s history and mission.

My girls and I have attended a few lectures at the campus, one by author Ron Chernow. He was there to speak about his book, Alexander Hamilton. It was an interesting lecture. Chernow didn’t deny Hamilton’s obvious religious convictions by calling him a deist, as many modern authors do. However, Chernow’s insinuations in his book that Hamilton was homosexual or was a British spy went too far.

My daughter wants to someday pick up where Hamilton left off politically, and perhaps get involved in some kind of Christian Constitutional Society, the brain child of Hamilton. After his tempestuous time as Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton had given some thought to the existing political parties of his time, and he and George Washington both saw the danger of a two-party political scene. Hamilton also saw the degeneracy and corruption of politicians within the system, and believed only Christianity could keep our nation together under liberty.

“I have carefully examined the evidences of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as a juror upon its authenticity I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor. I can prove its truth as clearly as any proposition ever submitted to the mind of man.” –Alexander Hamilton

Infamous Aaron Burr ended Hamilton’s plan for a new political society, in July 1804.

We paid a visit to Samuel Kirkland’s grave site. The kids are very patriotic.

Buried next to Kirkland is Oneida Indian Schenando (also known as Skenando, Skenandoah, or Shenandoah).

Skenandoah was instrumental in persuading the Oneida Indians to resist the British and join the American Patriot cause. The Oneidas were the only members of the Iroquois nation to fight with the Americans. Skenandoah had become a devout Christian under the teaching of his “father,” Samuel Kirkland.

From The Annals of Tryon County:

From attachment to Mr. Kirkland he had always expressed a strong desire to be buried near his Minister, and Father, that he might (to use his own expression) “Go up with him at the great resurrection.” At the approach of death, after listening to the prayers, which were read at his bed side by his great granddaughter, he again repeated the request. According the family of Mr. Kirkland having received information by a runner that Skenando was dead, in compliance with a previous promise, sent assistance to the Indians that the corpse might be carried to the village of Clinton for burial.

You can read a little more about the mysterious Skenandoah Boulder that we visited a month or two ago.

Elihu Root, Secretary of War for McKinley and Roosevelt, and holder of other distinguished titles and accomplishments, is buried nearby, as is Ulyssess S. Grant III!

The Mohawk Valley is indeed very, very rich in history. It was George Washington who referred to New York as the “Seat of the Empire,” probably giving us our nickname “The Empire State.”

From The Historian: Hamilton College in Clinton New York is one of the oldest colleges in New York State. The college was first founded by the Reverend Samuel Kirkland in 1793 as an academy (an institute to help aspiring young men prepare for higher education in universities). The academy would admit and instruct young Oneida Indian men and young white men from around the country.

As an experienced Christian missionary and diplomat among the Iroquois tribes of New York, Kirkland believed that this academy would be a great educational aid to the Indians, since they were “to be instructed in the principles of human nature, in the history of civil society, … and in the principles of natural religion, the moral precepts, and the more plain and express doctrines of Christianity.” Kirkland also expressed the hope that by educating white and red men together, this would create a stronger tie of friendship between the two peoples than they had been able to enjoy much before.

In 1793, Samuel Kirkland traveled to Philadelphia (the unofficial capitol of the United States at that time) to solicit financial and influential aid from Alexander Hamilton, signer of the Constitution, co-author of The Federalist Papers, and the then current Secretary of the Treasury. In his journal, Kirkland records that Hamilton agreed to lend the college any power in his aid and to become a premier trustee, which post he served till his death in 1804.

In honor of its benefactor, the institution was named the Hamilton-Oneida Academy, and, since Hamilton never received an opportunity to visit the grounds of the site, the noble Baron von Steuben laid the cornerstone of the first building on campus.

Kirkland anticipated the growth of the academy, and although neither he nor Hamilton (who never set foot upon the grounds of the institute) never lived to see it, the academy received its charter as a college in 1812.

A Peek Inside the Samuel Kirkland Home at Hamilton College

We adore Reverend Samuel Kirkland. We are history buffs, and there are a few people in history that we hold dear to our hearts for their tireless efforts, their virtue, their great accomplishments. Samuel Kirkland is one of these men. He is the man who founded the Oneida Hamilton College, in Clinton, NY– now known as Hamilton College.

Samuel Kirkland was born in Connecticut in 1741, but moved to the wilderness in New York State when his heart was burdened by the need to reach out to the Iroquois Indians with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He moved in with the Oneida Nation, and became like a brother to them. He led the famous Oneida Chief, the Great Skenandoah, to Christ. It was Skenandoah who later encouraged the Oneidas to side with the Americans during the Revolutionary War (the Oneida Nation was the only nation of the Iroquois to do so).

The Oneidas expressed to Reverend Kirkland their desire to become educated. Kirkland began a small school for the young males amongst the Oneidas and amongst the white settlers in the wilds of Central New York. It was called the “Oneida-Hamilton Academy,” named in part for Kirkland’s good friend and benefactor, Alexander Hamilton. Their friend, Baron von Steuben, who lived in nearby Remsen, NY, laid the cornerstone of the first building at the college.

The Reverend Kirkland built this tiny house in 1794 on the Hamilton College campus. Imagine the president and founder of a school living in such a modest and humble home! That is one of the many reasons we love Rev, Kirkland: he was one of the people, and didn’t exalt himself over them.

This is the history we revel in. These were great men, men like us but who had vision for our country and who persevered through hardship to see it through.

The house is lovely– small and simple but just very pretty. And there is a surprisingly amount of good clear light in the home, without any electric lighting at all.

Read more

I’ve Found the Oneida Stone!

My quest has ended. I have finally seen the historic Oneida Indian Nation Stone! I extend my heartfelt and sincere thanks to the Oneida Indian Nation, who contacted me about the Stone and allowed me to see it. I am truly honored! It is always so thrilling to tangibly encounter history like this.

The Oneida Stone now rests on the Oneida Indian Nation land, that 32-acre tract of land south of Oneida, NY. It has been quiet the New York Traveler, as well! It has been located in various Oneida Indian camps since the Oneidas first settled in this area (400+ years ago), was given to White Men for safekeeping in 1849 and rested on a granite pediment in Utica, NY, for many decades; and then was deemed back to the Oneida Nation in the 1970s, when the tribe began to express interest in returning to their ancestral lands. (My statements are a VERY condensed version of a tangled, detailed history of the Oneidas and of New York State!).

I first became interested in the Oneida Stone after seeing the Skenandoah Boulder outside the city limits of Oneida Castle, NY. My kids and I have a great interest in Skenandoah, because we have a great interest in early American history, of Alexander Hamilton and Reverend Samuel Kirkland, of Chief Skenandoah of the Oneida Indians, and how their histories (and ours) is entwined. As I researched the Skenandoah Boulder, I learned about the great Chief Skenandoah himself, how he became a Christian under the ministry of missionary Samuel Kirkland (who founded Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, and is buried there beside Skenandoah); and how Skenandoah rallied his people to support the Americans against the British in the Revolutionary War. The Oneidas were the only Iroquois tribe to join us, so it was with great sacrifice that the Oneidas fought beside us.

After the Revolution, the Oneidas were promised that a large tract of land in Central New York State– the land of their ancestors– was solely theirs, and the State could not claim it. Unfortunately, the Oneidas dwindled in numbers, and New York State (starting in the late 1700s but especially in the 1800s) began to bamboozle and litigate the Oneidas out of their lands. This problem remains with us today: WHO owns that land? It’s still in the courts, I believe. So all the things from 250 years ago are still as relevant today as they were then.

Well, back to the Oneida Stone. I did extensive research on the history of this very odd stone– it’s not native to Central New York and the Oneidas say the stone “moved” as the Oneidas moved from camp to camp. This is why the Oneidas are called “People of the Turning Stone,” and it’s where the Turning Stone Casino in Vernon, NY, (owned and run by the Oneida Indian Nation) gets its name.

So the Oneida Stone, that ancient stone that the Oneidas revered as sacred, has seen a lot of action, both on Indian land and White Man’s land. The history is riveting. I’ve tried my best to condense it and provide photos of all the places I’ve been. You can click the links for more about the Oneida Nation, the Oneida Stone, the Skenandoah Boulder, Samuel Kirkland, and Hamilton College.

Hamilton College Cemetery, Clinton, NY
Hamilton, Smith, and the Turning Stone Casino
People of the Standing Stone: The Skenandoah Boulder in Oneida
The Shako:wi Oneida Indian Cultural Center
Return to Shako:wi, and Where’s the Stone?
Playing Detective for the Oneida Stone
Oneida Indian Settlement, Nichols Pond, in Smithfield
Forest Hill Cemetery, Utica, NY
The Oneida Stone and Things Worth Knowing About Oneida County

The Oneida Stone and Things Worth Knowing About Oneida County

Aha! I am one marvelous step closer to my hunt for the Oneida Stone! I am thrilled! Look what my daughter discovered while surfing Google Books!

That is a very old photo of the Oneida Nation sacred stone, taken sometime over 100 years ago, when the Stone sat on a pedestal at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Utica, NY. I’d visited the Cemetery a few summers ago, looking for the Stone, but all I found was an empty granite stand where it had once rested.

The story of the Oneida Stone and my search for it is a long one. I’ve written about in times past. The Oneida Stone is a glacial erratic, not native to the area of Upstate New York. It once sat where the Oneidas (one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois League) settled. Their oral history says it “appeared” one day, so they considered it sacred. The Oneida name for themselves, Haudenosaunee, means People of the Standing Stone.

My quest– a long one with many twists and turns–  began a few years ago when I stopped my car on Route 5 near the city of Oneida to inspect the curious Skenandoah Boulder. It seemed so lonely at a four corners, with only a faded old historic marker and whizzing traffic to keep it company.

I wanted to read the plaque and know why it was there. You can click the link to read the extensive history I found about this boulder. In researching it, I learned about another boulder, the Oneida Stone. I became intrigued with the Oneida Stone, especially because of its curious migration to the area of Central New York, and its subsequent disappearance after the White Man had taken it and returned it to the Oneidas.

Oneida legend says that the Oneida were led to these lands by following a moving stone; where it stopped, they settled. There is another ice-age linkage here because glaciers move staggering amounts of loose stone and boulders (glaciers are made up of about one-third stone and two-thirds ice) and deposit these stones as erratics. Erratics are non-native stones and boulders which can be found all over New York. Syenite is one type of erratic and is frequently found in Oneida territories. The Skenandoah Boulder is perhaps the largest syenite erratic. It is named for a very famous Oneida Chief Skenandoah… As you pass through village of Oneida Castle, on NY 5, note that this was once the site of the principal Oneida village, known as Kanonwalohale.

…Tradition ascribes their origin to a stone [the Oneida Stone, it is called today], which, says Schoolcraft, “is a large, but not enormous, boulder of syenite, of the erratic block group, and consequently geologically foreign to the location,” there being “no rocks like this till we reach the Adirondacks.” “This stone,” says the same author, “became the national altar,” and “when it was necessary to light their pipes and assemble to discuss national matters, they had only to ascend the hill through its richly wooded groves to its extreme summit,” an eminence in the town of Stockbridge, where, he says, this stone, and the first castle of the Oneidas was located.

The Skenandoah Boulder is not the Oneida Stone. When I asked around about where the Oneida Stone rests today, it seemed no one knew where it had gone. Even when I asked the Oneida Indians at the Cultural Center in Oneida, NY, they had no answers. Weird. Where did the Stone go?

I traced it’s history. And I found out that there were quite a few Oneida Stones. There is a very large stone here at Nichol’s Pond in Madison County, in Smithfield, NY, near Stockbridge. This is an ancient settlement of the Oneidas, their old lands. The area here was very wild, very creepy– there’s a swamp and some excavated ancient grain pits. Click the link to read more.

It was here in the Smithfield/Stockbridge area, in 1615, that Samuel de Champlain and his allies the Huron Indians traveled from Canada, to attack the Oneidas. The Oneidas managed to ward off the attack, but their settlement was later abandoned and the people moved slightly westward. (They eventually settled in the area known as Oneida Castle, in 1784.)

As you can see, that’s a mighty big stone. But this wasn’t “the” Stone I was looking for, that sat on the little plaque at Forest Hill. So while I was very happy we’d discovered the ancient settlement of the Oneidas, and a stone, I still wondered where the smaller Oneida Stone, that glacial erratic, was located.

That smaller Oneida Stone has a long history. Apparently, it used to be in the area of Smithfield/Stockbridge (incidentally, I am a direct descendant of the first white settler to live in this area of the Oneidas, talk about coincidence!), but was removed from the Oneida Nation land in 1849, when it was thought that the tribe was nearly extinct and dissolved. (It was also at this time that New York State abandoned her treaty with the Oneidas and started confiscating the Indian lands– a hotly contested legal entanglement that continues to this day).

So the Oneida Stone was taken from the Oneidas and placed here at Forest Hill Cemetery in Utica, during the cemetery’s opening ceremony. I went to Forest Hill to see the place where it sat, and to see if perhaps the cemetery records had any mention of it’s removal. Nothing. No one at the cemetery knew of it. But the granite display stand with the plaque was still there, since 1849!

It was just all so puzzling. Then, I read that the Oneida Stone had been given back to the Oneidas, in 1974. According to Anthony Wonderley in his book, Oneida Iroquois Folklore, Myth, and History, the stone now sits at the Oneida Nation council house, on their historic land given to them after the American Revolution (on the old Honyoust tract).

I went to that area, and did not find it. I asked around, and no one knew, either. I don’t know where the old Honyoust tract is, though; so I suppose that is my next step.

Back to the beginning of this post and that marvelous old photo my daughter found– this is the first time I have ever seen the Oneida Stone! So now I know what the stone looks like! I do believe this may be the ONLY existing photograph of the Stone, too. Believe me, I have searched! She found the photo and more information about the Oneida Stone in an old book, Things Worth Knowing About Oneida County by William Walker Canfield and J. E. Clark. Ya gotta love Google Books for this! It’s a treasure! The history of the Oneidas is especially riveting in the book.

P.S. Here’s a bit of trivia for you: Did you know that Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, was founded by a reverend missionary (Samuel Kirkland) to serve the Oneida Indians? The school was started as a means for educating young men– Indians and white settlers alike– who lived out in the “boonies” of Upstate New York.

And did you know that one of Samuel Kirkland’s converts to Christianity, an Oneida Indian Chief named Skenandoah, was influential in getting the Oneidas to side with the Americans during the American Revolution? The Oneidas were the only tribe of the Iroquois who sided with us. They suffered total devastation as a people because of it; it is because of their sacrifices that President George Washington made a treaty with them, guaranteeing the Oneidas their sacred lands as long as they remained a united tribe.

Return to Shako:wi, and Where’s the Stone?

Earlier this week, we took a small road trip out toward Oneida, NY, and had some time to stop in again to see the Shako:wi Cultural Center, a small, beautiful museum built and maintained by the Oneida Indian Nation on their land. We had visited the museum before, gathering much knowledge about the history of this small tribe of the Iroquois Five Nations League. This time, we spent less time studying and more time admiring the various pieces of artwork and artifacts.

The building itself is a work of art. It is crafted of native white pine, constructed by deft Oneida craftsmen, without nails or spikes. It’s lovely. And the logs are impressive.

Read more

Next Page »