John Sergeant (missionary)
| John Sergeant | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1710 Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died |
(aged 39) , Massachusetts |
| Occupation | Pastor |
| Spouse(s) | Abigail Williams |
John Sergeant (1710 – July 27, 1749) was an American missionary in , who converted many of the Mahicans to Christianity. Reverend Sergeant was a graduate of Yale, who became an ordained Puritan minister. He helped establish a day school at what became Stockbridge, and laid the groundwork for a boarding school, before his early death.
John was born in 1710 to Jonathan and Mary Sergeant, in Newark, New Jersey. His father died while he was still young, and his mother married Colonel John Cooper, who raised him. Due to a farming accident, he was left unable to move his left hand, which consequently led him to seek a career in academia, as opposed to following in the footsteps of his father, and stepfather, as a farmer. He enrolled at Yale in 1725, and graduated as valedictorian in 1729, and his valedictory speech has since been published. In September 1731, he was appointed as a tutor and was described as "one of the most successful holders of that office in the early history of the College", serving through 1735. He earned a second bachelor's degree from Yale, in theology, in 1732, while continuing to serve as a tutor.
In 1734, the Reverend Samuel Hopkins, having heard of Chief Konkapot's well-known good character and disposition towards Christianity, decided to meet with John Stoddard, an authority on the local Native Americans, on the subject of a possible mission to the so-called "River Indians" living near the Housatonic River. With encouragement from Stoddard, he informed the Reverend Stephen Williams, and, together, they asked the Reverend William Williams to write to the Commissioners for Indian Affairs in Boston. The commissioners recommended a trip to consult with the Native Americans there regarding the possibility of a missionary being installed to live among them. When they consented, Jonathan Belcher and the commissioners authorized the mission on August 16, 1734, granting a salary of 100 pounds per year for a minister. Hopkins already had John Sergeant in mind as the ideal candidate, as he had privately expressed that he would rather work among the natives than the English.
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