have been favored by the influence and good will of the celebrated
Jonathan Edwards, Mr. Hawley was sent to Oquaga on the Susquehanna.

Oquaga was the Indian settlement near the site of the present village
of Windsor in Broome county. Mr. Hawley's journey was from Albany up
the Mohawk, across the mountains to Schoharie, thence along the valley
to Schenevus creek and westward. As his letter, in the form of a
journal, contains the earliest account that is known of the presence
of white people within the present territorial limits of Oneonta, I
hope the quotations I make from it may prove of some interest. The
letter is dated July 31st, 1794. The first entry is as follows:

JULY 31st, 1794.

"It is forty years this date since I was ordained a
missionary to the Indians, in the old South Meeting House,
when the Rev. Dr. Sewall preached on the occasion and the
Rev. Mr. Prince gave the charge. The Rev. Mr. Foxcroft and
Dr. Chauncey of Cambridge, assisted upon the occasion, and
Mr. Appleton. I entered upon this arduous business at
Stockbridge, under the patronage of the Rev. Mr. Edwards.
Was instructor of a few families of Iroquois, who came down
from their country for the sake of christian knowledge and
the schooling of their children. These families consisted of
Mohawks, Oneidas and Tuscaroras. I was their school-master
and preached to them on the Lord's day. Mr. Edwards visited
my school, catechised my scholars, and frequently delivered
a discourse to the children."

This quotation may serve to show what kind of man this early
missionary was, and the deep interest then felt in the education and
civilization of the aborigines. The formality with which the clerical
harness was put on in the historic Old South Church, is strikingly in
contrast with the way the missionary to the Indians is equipped
now-a-days.

In the following quotations the dates are of the year 1753. May 22d of
that year, a party consisting of Mr. Hawley, Mr. Woodbridge, a Mr.
Ashley and Mrs. Ashley, set out from Stockbridge for Oquaga.

May 30th, 1753, a little more than a week after leaving Stockbridge,
the party had its first view of the Susquehanna at Colliers. As the
journal gives some description of our valley as it was then--one
hundred and thirty years ago--I quote freely:

"Our way was generally obstructed by fallen trees, old logs, miry
places, pointed rocks and ent