APPENDIX.

DR. KIRKLAND'S DESCENT FROM MILES STANDISH. P. 13.

This descent was asserted by the Rev. Dr. Belknap, at the end of the Life of Standish in his American Biography, vol. ii. p. 336, and is repeated on his authority by Judge Davis, in his edition of Morton's Memorial, p. 263; but neither of them gives a single link in the genealogy. Dr. Kirkland himself used to take pleasure in mentioning his descent from the Great Captain; but I am not apprized that he was possessed of the chain of evidence that establishes the fact. I will endeavour to furnish it.

Dr. Kirkland's mother, Jerusha Bingham, was the daughter of Mary Wheelock. Her mother's name was Mercy Standish, of Preston, Conn., who died Nov. 4, 1748. This is one end of the chain; now for the other. Capt. Miles Standish's third son, Ensign Josiah, went to Connecticut, and in 1687 bought 150 acres of land in Preston. He had four sons, Josiah, Miles, Israel, and Samuel. Josiah was admitted to the church of Preston, Dec. 25th, 1700, and his wife the year before. Mercy Standish was admitted March 30, 1718. I conclude that she was the daughter of the second Josiah; for I have the names of all the children of the two last named brothers, Israel and Samuel, and the name of Mercy is not among them. Miles, the other brother, was not married till Dec. 5, 1700, and could not have had a daughter old enough to be admitted to the church in March, 1718; for at that time no child of his could have been much more than sixteen years of age. I infer, therefore, that Mercy was the daughter of the second Josiah. At any rate she must have been the granddaughter of Ensign Josiah. The genealogy then is as follows:-1. Capt. Miles Standish; 2. Ensign Josiah; 3. Josiah; 4. Mercy; 5. Mary Wheelock; 6. Jerusha Bingham; 7. John Thornton Kirkland.

These statements may be relied upon, as they have been obtained from the town records of Preston, Duxbury, Bridgewater, and other places, and from the most authentic private sources. The church in Preston was formed Nov. 16, 1698. Mercy Standish was probably born before that time, and therefore her baptism would not be recorded in the church books. Before the formation of the church in Preston, her father, Josiah, probably belonged to the first society in Norwich, which town was settled in 1660, and her baptism would be recorded there; but unfortunately the records of that church previous to 1716 are missing. There were two other churches in Preston; in the records of one of them, which still exists, there is no mention of the name of Standish. The other church, which included a large portion of the Standish farms, became extinct about forty years ago, and the records are not to be found. This absence of the records accounts for the fact that I am not able to ascertain with certainty the name of Mercy Standish's father. I have no doubt, however, that it was Josiah.

THE KIRKLAND FAMILY. p. 14.

The name of Kirkland (or Kirtland) is found among the thirtysix heads of families who were the early settlers of Saybrook in Connecticut, and who came there in 1635 and 1639. The first of the family, John, is said to have come from Silver-street, London, and to have been of Scotch descent. He had a son John, who was the father of ten children, John, Elizabeth, Priscilla, Nathaniel, Philip, Lydia, Martha, Samuel, Daniel, Parnel. The ninth in order, Daniel, was the minister of Norwich. I am informed by the Rev. Mr. Hotchkiss, the venerable pastor of the church in Saybrook, that "the connexions and marriages of this numerous family have been ever of the most respectable class. The above mentioned genealogy I received this day from the oldest man in this place, not far from ninety years, but of a most tenacious memory, and a very venerable character, who was personally acquainted with Daniel, the President's grandfather, and who now lives opposite to the house where the family of the Kirtlands lived and were born."

Mr. Kirkland continued his labors as a Christian missionary among the Oneidas, in the employment of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, till a few years before his death, which occured at Clinton, in the neighbourhood of Oneida, March 28, 1808, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. For forty years, he was a faithful, laborious, and intrepid missionary, and deserves to be classed with Eliot, and the Mayhews, and Brainerd. The Scotch Secretary, in one of his letters, calls him "that apostolic missionary;" and Dr. Wheelock calls him "that dear man of God." Mr. Sparks says, "he lived many years with the Oneidas, and had the satisfaction to see that his toils were not fruitless. The Indians revered him as a father; they had the wisdom to respect and sometimes to follow his counsels; a visible change took place in their character and modes of life; the rough features of the savage were softened, famine and want chased away, and the comforts of life multiplied. These advantages the sons of the forest saw and felt. No man has ever been more successful than Mr. Kirkland in improving the condition of the Indians, and to the last day of his life he continued to receive from them earnest demonstrations of affection and gratitude." Among other expressions of regard they presented him a valuable tract of land in the town of Clinton, part of which he gave to found Hamilton College in that place.

Mr. Kirkland rendered important services to his country during the Revolutionary War. He was frequently employed by the Government as an interpreter, and it was solely through his influence that, whilst all the rest of the Six Nations joined the British in that struggle, the Oneidas and Tuscaroras remained neutral. He might, had he chosen, easily have induced them to espouse the cause of the colonies; but he preferred they should stand aloof and be at peace. In the Journals of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, lately published, page 118, will be found a letter addressed to him by the Congress, April 4, 1775, exhorting him to engage the Mohawks in the contest on our side, or at least to secure their neutrality. The high opinion which General Washington entertained of him and his services may be gathered from a letter written

to the President of the Continental Congress, from the Camp at Cambridge, 30th September, 1775. "The Rev. Mr. Kirkland, the bearer of this, having been introduced to the honorable Congress, can need no particular recommendation from me. But as he now wishes to have the affairs of his mission and public employ put upon some suitable footing, I cannot but intimate my sense of the importance of his station, and the great advantage which may result to the United Colonies from his situation being made respectable. All accounts agree that much of the favorable disposition shown by the Indians, may be ascribed to his influence." And in a letter to the Indian Commissioners, written at Valley Forge, 13th March, 1778, he says, "the Oneidas have manifested the strongest attachment to us through this dispute. Their missionary, Mr. Kirkland, seems to have an uncommon ascendency over that tribe."

Mr. Kirkland's Life remains to be written; and it ought to be written. There are ample materials for it in his journals and letters; and his descendants owe it to his good name, and to the cause of Christian truth, and philanthropy, and missionary effort, to see that it is written.

Mr. Kirkland had six children. 1. John Thornton, the President. 2. George Whitefield, who was graduated at Dartmouth College, in 1792. 3. Jerusha, who was married to John Hosier Lothrop, Esq. of Utica, N. Y. 4. Sarah, who was married to Francis Amory, Esq. of Milton, Mass. 5. Samuel, who was graduated at Cambridge in 1803. And 6. Eliza, who was married to Professor Edward Robinson. Of these, Mrs. Lothrop is the only survivor. Her son, the Rev. Samuel Kirkland Lothrop, is the present pastor of the Church in Brattle Square, Boston.

THE PRAYER. p. 34.

O most merciful God! who hast declared thyself ready to hear and answer the prayers of thy sincere worshippers, thou has revealed thyself to the race of man by thy Prophets and Son, and hast by them discovered all the doctrines to be believed and the

laws to be obeyed by them in order that they may obtain eternal life and happiness. Thou hast also commanded teachers and explainers of this revelation to be set apart from among the believers. O God of truth and light! as thy most unworthy servant is soon to enter upon this arduous and solemn work, in which he is to unfold the designs, dispensations and requirements of heaven to men, and to teach and exemplify the religion of thy Son, in thy kind compassion shed on him the influence of thy enlightening, sanctifying, and comforting spirit. As I am weak, timid, and irresolute, give me strength and boldness to encounter all the trials and toils which are before me. Let me not shrink from the sufferings which may await me in the cause of my Saviour. Purge me from those unlawful desires and passions which corrupt and pervert the heart; from the love of sensual gratification, of worldly honors and power, and of filthy lucre. Let me be free, in my temper, in my conduct, and in my conversation, from all those sins and follies which, as a minister of the pure and perfect religion of Christ, it will be my duty to condemn in others; and O! my God, endow and inlay my soul with all those excellent and lovely moral qualities which I am to aim to produce and cherish in others submission, reverence, love, gratitude, confidence and trust toward Thee-justice, charity, peaceableness, fidelity, sincerity and meekness toward all my fellow men sobriety, purity, and modera

tion of all desires with respect to myself. O grant me a rational, efficacious, and saving faith in Jesus Christ, who died for the sins of the world, the image of the Father's glory, and the pattern of every sublime and lovely virtue. O let me repent with a godly sorrow for my sins, and a firm and holy resolution to turn from them; and grant the aids of thy grace to produce, preserve, and increase these sentiments and feelings in my heart.

Let a most ardent desire of making Thee appear glorious to the eyes of men, and of rendering them the objects of thy favors, and thus children of thy kingdom, uniformly predominate in my breast; so that I may be made faithful to my God and Redeemer, and faithful to the souls of my fellow men.

For the sake of him who is full of grace and truth, let my intellectual endowments be adequate to the mighty work. Impress me