IN CHAPTER. VI. DAVID BRAINERD IN KAUNAUMEEK.* N 1743, David Brainerd, then a young man twenty-five years of age, was selected by the Committee of the before-mentioned "Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge" to begin a mis * Since this chapter was written, we have received the following letter and the sketch from the Rev. Mr. Barbour, pastor of the Presbyterian church at Brainerd's Bridge, the site of the ancient Kaunaumeek. We can testify to its accuracy of detail. The old appletree, we have no doubt, was planted in the days of David Brainerd: "REV. AND DEAR SIR: "BRAINERD, June 25, 1864. "Your short visit at our place nearly two years since, and our ramble through the neighborhood and fields in search of traditions and relics of the Kaunaumeek Indians who inhabited this beautiful valley one hundred and twenty years ago, will long be remembered with interest. "You will readily recall, as I often do, the peculiar interest we felt in passing along the bank of the Kinderhook Creek, where tradition alone marks the Indian burying-ground, over which was waving a luxuriant growth of oats: and in pausing at the turn of the road, on the western margin of the valley, where tradition also points out the spot where David Brainerd built his house, and in which he lived for about one year while serving the Indians in missionary labors. That small house which stood upon that spot, a few foundation-stones of which only now remain, had cost the worthy missionary many days of weary toil; but it added not a little both to his temporal and his spiritual comfort, judging from an extract from his diary, July 30, 1743:— sion among the Indians at Kaunaumeek, in Nassau township, N. Y., near the site of the town of “Just at night moved into my own house, and lodged there that night; found it much better spending the time alone, than in the wigwam where I was before.' "There Brainerd 'boiled his corn,' made his 'hasty-pudding,' baked his 'corn-cakes,' ate his 'sour' and 'mouldy bread;' there he fasted, prayed, and humbled himself before God again and again; there he read his Bible, consecrated and re-consecrated himself to Christ and his missionary work; there he wrote his diary, studied his sermons, and taught rude savages the way of salvation; there he enjoyed that retirement for which his panting soul often longed. "Diary, November 29, 1743.—Was perplexed for want of more retirement. I love to live alone in my own little cottage, where I can spend much time in prayer.' "It is no ordinary privilege to look upon even the foundationstones of a house which once contained so devoted and self-sacrificing a Christian minister as was David Brainerd. But the last, though not the least, of those interesting objects we viewed that day, pointing back to the time when the Indians dwelt here, must not be overlooked. I refer to the huge old apple-tree standing in the rear of the ample farm-house, whose owner tills these classic fields to reap abundant harvests. Its massive trunk and giant limbs and towering top show that it has come up through many generations. "At your request, I send you a rude sketch of this old century plant, which still continues not only to bud and blossom as in its youth, but also to bear a fair, sweet apple, some years in great abundance. "You will remember its trunk measured thirteen feet and four inches in circumference. Since you were here I have met with the following tradition among some of the old inhabitants of the place respecting the name of the old Indian settlement. "Kaunaumeek was a name given to a mountain about three-quarters of a mile southwest of the head of the valley where the village of Brainerd now stands. The Indians who dwelt in the valley on the east of this mountain would occasionally hear a noise, which they understood as saying, Kau-nau-meek, Kau-nau-meek. They imagined that this sound always proceeded from the top of this mountain, and that it was a warning to them that the deer were now around, and that the chase might be commenced with prospects success. The Indians gave this name to the mountain on this New Lebanon, Columbia county. His letter to his brother John in college, already quoted, describes his fare and his labors. He studied the language, composed simple forms of prayer, translated the Bible, taught the children to sing, set up a school, living in a hut erected by his own hands, and bringing his bread, when he had any, a distance of fifteen miles. He entered on his labors at Kaunaumeek April 1, 1743, and continued them until March, 1744. His Indians were then advised to go to Stockbridge and put themselves under the care of the Rev. Mr. Sergeant. Mr. Brainerd himself was instructed to found a new mission in North Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania; making the Forks of the Delaware, the present site of Easton, Pa., the centre of his labors. May 9, 1744, he left New England, crossed the Hudson River at Fishkill, and went to Goshen; and from thence began his journey of one hundred miles from the Hudson to the Delaware "through a desolate and hideous country above Jersey." There were few settlements. He was alone in a strange wilderness, and was, he says, "considerably disconso account; afterwards the name was given to the Indians of the settlement. Our village now bears the name of the Indian missionary. "And now, dear brother in Christ, may the savory influence of the several memoirs of David Brainerd, and that of his brother John, which you are about to add to them, permeate the whole membership of the Church, enlarged and extended, over the entire world. "Yours, fraternally, late." May 13, he reached the Forks, and entered at once on his labors. Then, as now, the region was one of great picturesque beauty. Indeed, in the wildness of nature the scenery around must have approached the sublime; but the missionary was too much absorbed in his work to note attractions of river, hill, or mountain. These Forks of the Delaware Brainerd has made classical by his residence and labors. Travellers seek out the places associated with his name, and Easton has honored his memory by naming one of the sanctuaries there the "Brainerd Church." May his spirit ever characterize that congregation.* The term "Forks of the Delaware" was not applied exclusively to the point of junction of the rivers Delaware and Lehigh, but also designated the whole delta or triangle back to the Kittaning Mountain, the first range of the great Appalachian chain. Into this triangle a few Irish and German settlers had penetrated as early as 1730. The presence of these white settlers did something to mitigate the solitude and insulation of the early missionary. In the Historical Collections of Pennsylvania it is said: "With the aid of a poor interpreter he translated prayers into the Delaware language. He speaks of the Indians of this region as excessively given to idolatry, as having contracted strong prejudices against Christianity on account of the wicked lives of the whites with whom they had intercourse; as being extremely attached to the customs and fabulous notions of their fathers, one of which was, 'that it was not the same God made them who made the whites, but another god, who commanded them to live by hunting, &c.' Besides this, they were made mad by their powaws, who were supposed to have the power of enchanting them in a very distressing manner. Nevertheless, some converts were gathered, and among them his interpreter, Moses Finda Fatuary, and his wife. |