456 



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE 



Sergeant (J. ), the elder — Continued, 

 later the degree of Master of Arts was also con- 

 ferred upon him. In 1731 he was made a tutor 

 in the college, which position he held for about 

 four years. 



At this time the Muhhekaneok or Mohe- 

 gan Indians, commonly called the River In- 

 dians, were the largest tribe of any near the 

 English settlements in New England. They 

 dwelt mostly along the eastern border of New 

 York, partly in the northwest corner of Con- 

 necticut, and in the southwest part of Massa- 

 chusetts, on Housatunnuk river. 



In July, 1734, proposals were made to send 

 a missionary to the Indians of the last-named 

 place, under the direction of the Honorable 

 Commissioners for Indian Affairs at Boston, and 

 at the expense of the Society for the propaga- 

 tion of the gospel in foreign parts. Mr. Ser- 

 geant was also recommended as a fit person to 

 undertake the work. The conditions having 

 been arranged, he was appointed to go to them 

 in the following September, at a salary of 1001. 

 a year. In October and November, 1734, and 

 again in May, 1735, he made two preliminary 

 visits to Housatunnuk, and preached to the na- 

 tives throui!h an interpreter. Their number, 

 great and small, was then short of fifty. In 

 July, 1735, on the termination of his official la- 

 bors at the college, Mr. Sergeant determined 

 "to spend the Rest of the Summer, and indeed 

 of his Life, with the Indians." On the 31st of 

 August, he was regularly ordained to the min- 

 istry, and his salary as missionary was raised 

 to 1501. An assistant, Mr. Timothy "Wood- 

 bridge, had already been engaged to aid him in 

 the work of teaching and catechizing. 



Mr. Sergeant now commenced his missionary 

 labors at Housatunnuk in earnest, and before 

 the close of the year had baptized nearly forty 

 persons. He "soon became sensible," Mr. Hop- 

 kins relates, " that the Method he was at first 

 oblig'd to use of instructing the Indians by 

 an Interpreter, would not answer his End." 

 He therefore entered upon ' ' the new and diffi- 

 cult Study of their Tongue, and prosecuted it 

 with utmost Application. He found it, upon 

 Trial, extreamly difficult to learn, being entirely 

 different from any Language he was acquainted 

 with; and often express'd his Fears, that he 

 should never be able to make himself Master of 

 it." Perseverance, however, soon brought its 

 reward. By the middle of February, 1736, he 

 was able to pray with the Indians in their own 

 language. In March, 1736, when the Indians 

 went on their annual trip into the woods to 

 make maple sugar, Mr. Sergeant accompanied 

 them and stayed in their camp six weeks. "I 

 was treated very well," he writes, " while I was 

 with them ; and learn'd more of their Manners, 

 and Language, than ever I had before." Dur- 

 ing this period he was "employ'd, in the Day 

 Time, in teaching the Children to read ; and in 

 the Evening he taught the Indians to sing, in 

 which they took great Delight. He pray'd with 

 them Morning and Eveniner. in their own Lan- 



Sergeant (J.), the elder — Continued. 

 guage, and said Grace before, and after Meat, 

 in the same. He also preach'd to them on the 

 Sabbath by an Interpreter, and pray'd in their 

 own Language ; which he began to do on Feb- 

 ruary 18th, and continu'd it ever after. For 

 they being desirous, that Prayers might be 

 madp in their own Language, Mr. Sergeant (by 

 the Assistance of Interpreters) had compos'd 

 Prayers for such Occasions, in the Indian Lan- 

 guage." 



In April, 1736, "the General Court granted 

 to the Indians a Township, six Miles square, 

 above the Mountain ; comprizing in it Wnahk- 

 tukook, or the Great-Meadow." Here a new 

 town was laid out, which was named Stock- 

 bridge, and to this place the Indians removed 

 in May. At the suggestion of Mr. Sergeant, 

 accommodation was made for several English 

 families, partly that he "might have the Com- 

 fort of their Neighbourhood, and Society ; but 

 especially to civilize and anglicize the Indians, 

 and to be a Help to them in their secular Af- 

 fairs." The number of Indian inhabitants in 

 June was upwards of ninety, of whom fifty- 

 two had been baptized. Mr. Sergeant had hith- 

 erto lived in English families, below the mount- 

 ain, but in January, 1737, he also moved up 

 into the Indian town, and lived with Mr. "Wood- 

 bridge. Under the date of August, 1737, it is 

 related that as he "had, by the Help of Inter- 

 preters, before this, translated some Prayers 

 into the Indian Language, for their daily use ; 

 so now he had translated Dr. "Watts first Cate- 

 chism into the Indian Tongue, that the Chil- 

 dren might understandingly read and learn it. " 

 About the same time he also translated the form 

 for marriage into Indian. 



On the 7th of August, 1737, according to Mr. 

 Hopkins, Mr. Sergeant began to preach to the 

 Indians in their own language, "by the Assist- 

 ance of an Interpreter; who aided him in the 

 Translation of his Sermons. And, in about 

 two Years more, by constant Use, he obtaiu'd 

 an exact Pronunciation of their Tongue, tho' 

 very hard to gain: so that the Indians were 

 wont to say. Our- Minister speaks our Language 

 better than we ourselves can do." In August, 

 1739, he was married. Ninety Indians attended 

 the wedding, and conducted themselves with 

 great gravity and propriety. 



Besides attending to his own charge at Stock- 

 bridge, Mr. Sergeant visited the Indians in 

 many other places, both in Connecticut and 

 Massachusetts. In May and June, 1741, he un-- 

 dertook a missionary journey to the Shawanoes 

 on Susquehanna river, and also to the Dela- 

 wares on Delaware river, in the province of 

 Pennsylvania, the villages of the former being 

 about 220 miles distant from Stockbridge. On 

 the 6th of May, 1743, he wrote concerning the 

 progress of the Indian boys in their studies, 

 that one of them in particular had made extra- 

 ordinary progress in his learning, and appeared 

 truly pious, and had been singularly service- 

 able to him, " assisting him in his Translations, 



