Francis Whiting Halsey

“ Sir William said in reply that it would be "highly improper to attempt any settlement in their country as they (the Indians) are greatly disgusted at the great thirst which we all seem to show for their lands, and therefore I must give it as my opinion that any settlement on the Susquehanna may prove fatal to those who should attempt to establish themselves thereon, as the Indians have all declared, not only their greatest aversion thereto, but have all threatened to prevent such settle-ment." ”

“ Dr. Eleazer Wheelock had begun to teach Samson Occum. In 1759 Occum became an ordained minister, and then in 1761 went among the Oneidas as a missionary, with a letter from Johnson. He was sent out by the Boston commissioners, and perhaps visited Oghwaga. Dr. Wheelock’s success with this Indian and others – and Occum rose to considerable repute afterward as a preacher – induced him to receive Indian children from New York, and as reports from Mr. Hawley at Oghwaga reached him, his hopes and plans for the civilization of the red man assumed large proportions. ”

“ Wheelock proposed that "a tract of land, fifteen or twenty miles square, or four townships, on the west bank of the Susquehanna river be given to form an Indian school." To this scheme Johnson was not favorably disposed; he thought the education of Indians could be best carried on in places remote from Indian influence – a view to which, after some further experience, Dr. ”