Rev. Gideon Hawley: "An Account of his Services among the Indians of Massachusetts and New York, and a narrative of his Journey to Onohoghgwage," (typed copy), 1794 July 31
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An account by Gideon Hawley of his work as a missionary and teacher among Mohawks, Oneidas, and Tuscarora families from Kanajoharry (also spelled Canajoharie) and Onohoghgwage (also spelled Oquaga) in New York, 1752. Hawley writes that "I was their schoolmaster and preached to them on the Lord's day." Another segment of the letter describes his trip to Susquehanna and Onohoghgwage, with companions Mr. Woodbridge and Mrs. Rebecca Ashley (the interpreter, who had learned Iroquois language as a child after being captured at Deerfield in 1703). Tribes mentioned include the Mohawk, Stockbridge, Houssantannuk, and Onohoghgwage. Hawley's descriptions include his white Christian paternalistic overtones and slurs, particularly when discussing traveling hardships he encountered as well as the drunken behavior of different indigenous people. Ultimately he believed that the journey was successful, writing that "they appeared to be religiously moved, convicted, and even converted." The account is a copy transcribed by Nelson J. Hawley from an original 1795 letter held at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
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