Kindred Spirits Gathering for the Holidays

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2022, Brothertown, Brothertown Indians, Eeyawquittoowauconnuck, nation gathering

The Brothertown Peacemakers and Brothertown Forward would like to invite all Brothertown descendants (enrolled and non-enrolled) to our end of year family gathering via Zoom. The event will take place Saturday, December 10th, at 3pm Central/4pm Eastern/1pm Pacific. The Zoom link can be found at https://brothertownindians.org/events/kindred-spirits-gathering-for-the-holidays/. Below, please find an agenda and ground rules. We can’t wait to see you!

Proposed agenda:

1. Welcome from both Chief Peacemaker and Brothertown Forward and opening prayer
2. Acknowledge any elected officials who attend and thank them for their service
3. Get-to-know you breakout session (10 minutes) Possible topics: give individuals the option of either once in the session.
   a. Which ancestral lines do you descend from? AND/OR
   b. Share one story of one grandparent.
4. Back to the main gathering where we can lead a discussion on hopes and dreams for our Nation in 2023 (5 minutes)
5. Breakout session (10 minutes)
   a. Share ideas about what they would like to see the tribe accomplish in 2023.
   b. Ask for a recorder to write the list and share it in the main chat room.
   c. Ask for a speaker to present one or two ideas to the main room.
6. Ask for one or two ideas from each group to present and ask for each group to paste their ideas into the chat so that we can capture it for later. (10 minutes)
7. Breakout session (10 minutes) where individual can share their family holiday plans.
   Update on offices up for election in 2023 and encourage people to step in and step up
8. Closing prayer – blessings for safe and joyful holidays and acknowledging the losses families endured the past few years.

Ground Rules:

· We will treat each other with mutual respect
· We will maintain a decorum which exemplifies how our Ancestors lived
· Focus upon issues affecting our community today and tomorrow
· Arrive at this particular time with a good heart and spirit

Photo credit: antiquesandteacups.info

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2023 “Brothertown Botanicals” Calendar Now Shipping

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2023, Brothertown Indians, Calendar, Calumetand Cross Heritage Society

Our 2023 calendars, “Brothertown Botanicals”, are now available to ship! These are printed by Calumet and Cross Heritage Society, a 501(c)3, as our yearly fundraiser. Please check out all the wonderful things Calumet and Cross does at CalumetandCross.org.

Calendars can be purchased for $15 each; 2 for $25; 5 for $50; or 10 for $100. To receive yours, please pay the appropriate amount through this Paypal link.

Happy Eeyawquittoowauconnuck Day, family!

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brotherton, Brothertown, Brothertown Indians, eeyamquittoowauconnuck, Eeyawquittoowauconnuck, New York Indians, Samson Occom

237 years ago today, on another Monday, November 7, 1785, Reverend Samson Occom recorded our public formation and naming.

But now we proceeded to form into a Body Politick,— We Named our Town by the Name of Brotherton, in Indian Eeyawquittoowauconnuck— J: Fowler was chosen clerk for this town Roger Waupieh, David Fowler, Elijah Wympy, John Tuhy, and Abraham Simon were Chosen a Committee or trustees for the Town, for a Year and for the future, the Committee is to be Chosen Annually,— and Andrew Acorrocomb, and Thomas Putchauker were chosen to be Fence Viewers to Continue a Year (https://collections.dartmouth.edu/occom/html/diplomatic/785554-diplomatic.html p15v-16r)

While Occom is always readily remembered, today, let’s also be mindful of Roger Wauby, Elijah Wampey, John Tuhi, Abraham Simon, Andrew Curricomb, Thomas Patchauker, their wives and families, and all of our many courageous ancestors who worked hard to make the Brotherton dream a reality.

Planning and building Brothertown was an arduous task (read Joseph Johnson’s diaries for more details—-To Do Good to my Indian Brethren by Laura Murray) and many many more people were involved in the years between the first multi-tribal planning meeting on March 13, 1773 and our official formation on November 7, 1785. Over 12 years, the Revolutionary War, and several lives came and went, including the spark who began it all—Joseph Johnson (see his letter to Governor Trumbull in Murray, p 234).

The original wave of settlers were burned out of the community in 1777. Many moved to Stockbridge to wait out the war. Between 1783-1785, when some semblance of safety and normalcy had returned, they again made the long, expensive journey back to our reservation land (thank you, Oneida!) where they started over for a 2nd time. These ancestors included, besides those already named, “old Uncle Cornelius”, Daniel Mossuck, John and Sarah Adams, Samuel and Hannah (Squamp) Adams, David Tousey family, James and Barbara (Poquiantup) Niles, and many others.

Today, let us also remember all of those, over the years, who have devoted themselves to our tribe and have passed on. This is but a small sample—Irene Shady and her daughter, Linda Shady (who passed only a couple weeks ago), Lani Bartelt, June Ezold, Will and Rudi Ottery, Joan and Frank Waldvogel, Mark Baldwin, and Dick Welch.

Finally, let us also remember those who continue to carry the Brothertown torch each and every day—our Peacemakers, Council, volunteers, and citizens all across the US and around the world. Taubotni!

Happy Eeyawquittoowauconnuck (Brothertown) Day!!

Happy Samson Occom Day!

In honor of Samson Occom Day today, below is reprinted a letter written by Samson to his wife, Mary, and sister-in-law Esther Poquiantup Fowler. This was written in 1766 when he was in Great Britain and shows a lighter side of the Reverend. This is reprinted (with some spelling and punctuation updates) from Joanna Brooks’ book, The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan (/Brothertown); p78.

My dear Mary and Esther

Perhaps you may query whether I am well; I came from home well, was by the way well, I got over well, am received at London well, and am treated extremely well, yea I am caressed too well. And do you pray that I may be well; and that I may do well; and in time return home well? And I hope you are well, and wish you well, and as I think you’ve begun well, so keep on well, that you may end well, and then all will be well.

And so, farewell,

Samson Occom

Taubut’ne, Oneida!

https://oneida-nsn.gov/blog/2022/06/10/brothertown-indian-nation-reacquires-tribal-collection-from-oneida-nation/?fbclid=IwAR1H-78dCU9FjHivSHQCjyjMhVO6We2mDz9AjHnrdfrGzuNTXEru0IZEAmU

https://brothertownindians.org/2022/06/09/great-news-on-the-brothertown-collection/

Taubut’ne, Oneida brethren! You became our elder brothers when you welcomed us through our forebear, Joseph Johnson in January of 1774. Thank you for always keeping the promise you spoke to us then to, “be ever ready to defend [us] and help [us].”

Mark Baldwin Memorial Bench Fund Raiser

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Brothertown, calumet and Cross, Mark Baldwin, Union cemetery

Calumet and Cross Heritage Society is raising funds to purchase and install a bench in Brothertown, Wisconsin’s Union Cemetery in honor of our friend and founding President, Mark Baldwin. Please go to https://gofund.me/663ae6f8 to learn more. All donations are appreciated.

https://gofund.me/663ae6f8.

Even a small donation could help us reach our fundraising goal. If you can’t make a donation, it would be great if you could share the fundraiser to help spread the word.

UPDATE: Thanks to all who donated, we reached our goal within two days. Thank you!

Happy Eeyawquittoowauconnuck Day!

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Brothertown Indians, eeyamquittoowauconnuck, Eeyawquittoowauconnuck

Peacemaker’s Meeting Saturday

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Brothertown, peacemakers, zoom meeting

This Saturday at 11 am CT is the monthly Peacemaker’s meeting via Zoom. Per head Peacemaker Elsen, ALL Brotherton, enrolled or not, are invited to attend.

The Peacemakers are the judiciary branch of our tribal government and have been an important part of Brothertown since at least September 4, 1797 (the first written record we have from them). Our current Peacemakers work hard to protect our people and to ensure that they, and the tribe, are operating according to our constitution. They are a welcoming group; always happy to speak to their constituents and to offer support and counsel.

Please contact me, or the Peacemakers via email, for login information.

The Brothertown Indian Nation’s Joseph Johnson Award

The Joseph Johnson award was instituted by our Tribal Council in 2008. This award has only been given out three times in our history. The first recipient was Bernard “Boots” Sampson, the 2nd was Caroline K. Andler and today, the 3rd recipient is Mark Baldwin. Mark’s award is unique in that he is the only member to whom this award was bestowed posthumously. Thank you to Tribal Council for honoring Mark’s dedication and outstanding service to the Brothertown Indian Nation.

For more information, please see the following blog post by Brothertown Forward: https://brothertownforward.wordpress.com/2021/06/20/joseph-johnson-award-bestowed-on-mark-alan-baldwin-june-20-2021/

July 14, 2020: The Brothertown Indian Nation Celebrates First Annual Samson Occom Day

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Brothertown holidays, Resolutions, Samson Occom Day

Today, July 14, 2020, is the first annual Samson Occom Day to be formally celebrated by the Brothertown Indians.  The Nation’s Council issued a decree establishing the holiday during their monthly meeting this past June.   The resolution, which passed unanimously, cites, in part, the Reverend Occom’s sizeable role in the organization and the propagation of the Brothertown tribe.  While festivities will certainly be muted with this year’s pandemic, the event will not go unnoticed.

To commemorate this special day, tribal citizens will be offering up prayers in gratitude to God for the gift of Samson Occom’s life; speaking with their family members “about [his] story and what he stood for”; reading portions of his journals, letters, and sermons; watching YouTube videos about him; and, in imitation of one of the ways in which Occom supported his family financially, one person is planning to carve a wooden spoon.

If you are interested in participating in Samson Occom discussions, you might like to join the Calumet and Cross book club for our Wednesday evening chapter chat. We are currently on chapter 12 of William DeLoss Love’s, “Samson Occom and the Christian Indians of New England” (available online at https://archive.org/details/samsonoccomchris00love). For book club login info please click “contact me” above. Everyone is welcome.

 

For more about Samson Occom, please visit these links:

**A Short Narrative of My Life, Occom’s autobiography, is available to read at Dartmouth https://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/Library_Bulletin/Nov1999/Hoefnagel_Close.html Occom originally wrote his autobiography in 1765.  He wrote this 2^nd draft in 1768.

 

Samson Occom; a book by Harold Blodgett: https://archive.org/details/samsonoccom0000blod/page/n241

 

“SAMSON OCCOM”: A clipping from the Utica Morning Herald dated February 1894. Contains a lot of accurate (and some inaccurate) information on Samson Occom: Occom  

 

Samson Occom and the Christian Indians of New England by William DeLoss Love and published in 1899: Includes an index with all of the known Brothertown Indians. samsonoccomchris00love  

 

The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan by Joanna Brooks is available to preview on Google: https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Collected_Writings_of_Samson_Occom_M.html?id=R9ELRhEdupMC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Occom’s 1774 hymn book, A Choice Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs: Intended for the Edification of Sincere Christians, of All Denominations, (published as words only; no musical notation) contains many reprinted songs and a few of Occom’s own: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N10659.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext).

 

Occom’s 1^st publication, A Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul in 1772.  https://archive.org/details/sermonatexecutio01occo

 

Dartmouth College hosts the Occom Circle site which contains both scans and transcripts of a significant number of Samson Occom letters and journals: https://www.dartmouth.edu/~occom/

 

Other original Occom documents are available through the Connecticut Historical Society at http://connecticuthistoryillustrated.org/islandora/search/occom?type=dismax

 

4 sermons recovered from Occom’s trip to England and not included in the Joanna Brooks book, The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan:  https://brothertowncitizen.wordpress.com/2017/06/13/recently-discovered-samson-occom-sermons/

 

“A Brief Narrative of the Indian Charity School in Lebanon in Connecticut, New England”briefnarrativeof00whit_bw  This is an interesting collection of letters, endorsements, and accounts from the early to mid-1760’s which, seemingly, were to be used by Reverends Occom and Whitaker on their mission trip to England.  Some highlights are a detailed account of Occom’s 1761 meeting with the Oneida and the wampum belt received, Wheelock’s very clear statement of intent as to what he planned to do with the money raised by the Rev.’s overseas, and an appendix added in this second edition which provides updates from 1766-‘67.

 

Occom programs:

 

Radio program on Occom with NPR’s Alex Nunes and Brothertown’s Kathleen Brown-Perez: https://thepublicsradio.org/episode/ep-4-the-betrayal-of-samson-occom

Joanna Brooks gave a Zoom video presentation to our citizens in 2017 which is available to watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxDDcpbiSYw&t=2s.

Tim Eriksen sings a Samson Occom carol called “O Sight of Anguish”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhO34_w1yW4

Brad Dubos, Rutgers graduate student, who is, in part, researching Samson Occom and the importance of place for the Brothertown Indians talks with Brothertown Forward: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SOeEt28rby0

CNAIR Symposium at Rutgers 2019 (Brad Dubos is the 2nd speaker in this episode – episode 2): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4B7Ka5V5zxE&list=PLJl9Zsw3ptuJ9eCjyLr9XcUPufzyhxk9_&time_continue=727

 

 

Samson Occom