Jerusha Bingham Kirkland

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Jerusha Bingham Kirkland
Born
Jerusha Bingham

October 15, 1743
Windham, Connecticut, U.S.
DiedJanuary 23, 1788
Clinton, Oneida County, New York, U.S.
Other namesJemima Bingham
Occupationmissionary
Spouse
​
(m. 1769)​
ChildrenJohn Thornton Kirkland
Relatives

Jerusha Bingham Kirkland (October 15, 1743 – January 23, 1788) was a prominent colonial American pioneer in the missionary cause.[1] During the years of her residence and labors among the Oneida people, where she and her husband, Rev. Dr. Samuel Kirkland, brought about many conversions to Christianity, Mrs. Kirkland was noted for her kind deeds as a nurse and medical benefactor to the Native Americans. Both she and her husband gained a wide influence among the indigenous people of the region, many of whom they were afterwards and during the American Revolutionary War, able to win over to the colonialist cause.[1]

Early life[edit]

Jerusha (sometimes referred to as "Jemima") Bingham,[a][b] was born in Windham, Connecticut, October 15, 1743.[4] Her parents were Joseph Bingham of Windham, and Sarah Wheelock,[5][c] sister to Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, D. D., a successful laborer in missionary work among Indigenous Americans.[2][3][1] Kirkland came of a devout Christian family, and was reared amid the privileges of her Connecticut home.[1]

Career[edit]

In Connecticut,[1] in 1769,[3] she married Rev. Dr. Samuel Kirkland, the missionary.[2] who had taken up the missionary work among the Oneidas. Entering with a sustained enthusiasm into the plans of her husband, she shortly, after her marriage, accompanied him to his post of duty in the wilderness near Fort Stanwix, where Rome, New York, is now situated. This was literally on the frontier, in the midst of a dense forest which extended for hundreds of miles in every direction, and was the abode of numerous Native American tribes, some of which were hostile to the colonial settlers. Their forest home, near the "Council House” of the Oneidas, was in the center of the forest. There, the couple, alone and unaided, commenced their joint missionary labors. The gentle manners, courage, and energy of Rev. Kirkland, were supplemented by the admirable qualities of his wife. With sweetness, gentleness, simplicity, and delicacy, her energy and courage were strong, even in danger.[1]

Prior to his marriage, Rev. Kirkland made his home and pursued his missionary labors at the "Council House"; after a house had been prepared for Mrs. Kirkland, he still continued to preach and teach at the "Council House", addressing the Native Americans in their own language, which both he and his wife had acquired.[1]

In 1772, Rev. Kirkland purchased a small homestead in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, for Mrs. Kirkland and their children.[7]

Mrs. Kirkland visited the wigwams and instructed the women and children, who in turn flocked to her forest house. The women and children of the tribe were her chosen pupils. Seated in circles on the greensward beneath the spreading arches of giant oaks and maples, they listened to her teachings.[1] She taught the women and children and by her example and patient work brought about a changed condition among these people.[3] She prayed for them in the Oneida language.[1]

Mrs. Kirkland and her husband had the distinction of being recommended by the Continental Congress as adapted to labor among the Native Americans, and as alone able to preserve their neutrality toward the Revolutionary War. During the period when the early wars threatened the destruction of the new nation by the Native Americans, she worked faithfully with her husband in that arduous and responsible work of pacification.[2]

Personal life[edit]

In the midst of her missionary labors,[1] she was also a wife and mother of eleven children.[4]

  • twins, George Whitfield Kirkland (1770–1806) and John Thornton Kirkland (1770–1840)
  • Mary Kirkland (1772–1772)
  • Sarah Kirkland (1774–1828)
  • Jerusha (Kirkland) Lothrop (1776–1862)
  • Elizabeth Kirkland (1779–1779)
  • Julia Kirkland (1781–1861)
  • Samuel Kirkland (1782–1805)
  • Joseph Kirkland (1783–1872)
  • Eliza Kirkland (1784–1819)
  • Timothy Kirkland (1785–1785)

The twins, George and John, were born at Herkimer, New York, August 17, 1770.[7] When John achieved national prominence as president of Harvard College,[1] his biographer wrote, “It was from a mother of distinguished public spirit, energy, wisdom and devotedness that he received the rudiments of his high intellectual and manly resolutions.”[2]

Daughter Jerusha was the mother of the clergyman, Samuel Kirkland Lothrop.[8]

Jerusha Bingham Kirkland died in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, January 23, 1788.[4]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Logan (1912) confuses her as two different women. The biography of "Jerusha Bingham Kirkland" is on page 516.[2] The biography of "Jemima Bingham" is on page 510.[3]
  2. ^ Fowler (1876) also refers to her as "Jemima".[1]
  3. ^ Young (1840) attempts to furnish a record of John Thornton Kirkland's descent from Miles Standish, by stating, in part, that Jerusha Bingham was the daughter of Mary Wheelock, whose mother's name was Mercy Standish.[6] This is rebuked by Weaver (1860).[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Fowler, William W. (1876). "MRS. KIRKLAND AMONG THE ONEIDAS". Woman on the American Frontier. pp. 363–65. Retrieved 29 May 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ^ a b c d e Logan, Mrs John A. (1912). "JERUSHA BINGHAM KIRKLAND". The Part Taken by Women in American History. Perry-Nalle publishing Company. pp. 516–17. Retrieved 29 May 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ a b c d Logan, Mrs John A. (1912). "JEMIMA BINGHAM". The Part Taken by Women in American History. Perry-Nalle publishing Company. p. 510. Retrieved 29 May 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. ^ a b c "Jerusha Bingham 15 October 1743 – 23 January 1788 • 2SV3-YSZ". ident.familysearch.org. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  5. ^ a b "NOTES AND QUERIES. STANDISH, WHEELOCK, KIRKLAND. By Wm. L. Weaver.". The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Vol. 14. New England Historic Genealogical Society. 1860. pp. 376–77. Retrieved 29 May 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. ^ Young, Alexander (1840). "APPENDIX. DR. KIRKLAND'S DESCENT FROM MILES STANDISH.". Discourses on the Life and Character of John Thornton Kirkland, and of Nathaniel Bowditch. C. C. Little & J. Brown. pp. 77–78. Retrieved 29 May 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. ^ a b Mace, Emily. "Kirkland, John Thornton (1770-1840)". harvardsquarelibrary.org. Harvard Square Library. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  8. ^ "LOTHROP, SAMUEL KIRKLAND". The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans ... Biographical Society. 1904. p. 15. Retrieved 29 May 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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