Henry, Matthew (1662–1714). An Exposition of the Old and New Testament. Volume I: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Seventh edition. Edinburgh: Printed by C. Macfarquahar and Company, 1767. The volume is complete but is in very poor condition: the covers are loose and deteriorated, the frontispiece is torn and sewn together crudely, the initial pages including the title are loose and chipped. The volume will require extensive conservation. Some receipts once laid in are now in a separate file included with the volume.

Inscribed on the title page to Joseph Johnson (1751–1776/7): “For the Rev^d Mr. Joseph Johnson and his Brethren the Ministers among Mohegan, Naraganset and other tribes of Indians associated with them and their Successors in the Ministry. / New York, 15th March 1775.” Additional ownership signature of Hugh Orr.

A Mohegan Indian, Johnson was matriculated at Moor's Indian Charity School in 1758 where he studied under the tutelage of Eleazer Wheelock until 1766. After gaining experience teaching in Oneida Territory and Providence, Rhode Island, with a stint on a whaler, he returned to Mohegan in 1771. Later that year he experienced a work of Grace that brought him back to Christ. He opened a school in Farmington, Connecticut and married one of the daughters of Samson Occom (1723–1792). With his father-in-law and David Fowler (1735–1807), Johnson set about establishing a utopian community. The trio envisioned Brothertown as a settlement for Christian Indians in Oneida territory that would draw upon both Algonquin and Anglo-American traditions.

For the remainder of his short life, Johnson would devote his energies to the Brothertown project, preaching and raising funds in Albany, Schenectady, New Haven, and New York City. In New York, he appealed especially to the boards of the Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SSPCK). Writing to John Rogers, a member of the New York board of the SSPCK, on February 15, 1775, Johnson spoke of the generosity of the Society’s promise to gather books for Indian readers:

There was some Gentlemen [in New York] that gave encouragement, that they would try to get Bibles and Psalm books if any was wanting by those that goes next march, and I have acquainted my Indian friends of the good will of Gentlemen at New York, and the Indians rejoice at such glad tidings. If there is any so well disposed as to give us shuch best of gifts we will greatly rejoice, and try to make good use of them. Most of us are so poor that we cant purchase Bibles and book —[. . . ] 60 of Each I believe will be wanting. Send them to Albany. (Murray 1998, 254)

This surely was the occasion for his receipt of the present volume in March 1775, a standard exegetical work by a prominent British divine printed in Edinburgh. The donor was Alexander Glen. There were several people of that name living in New York at this time, including a recent immigrant from Paisley who arrived in New York City in February 1774 on the Commerce and several members of a family prominent in Schenectady County. Glen's note suggests that he donated all three volumes but this one is the only that seems to have survived 250 years of heavy use. The book bears the additional (later?) signature of Hugh Orr; there was a famous inventor of that name (1715–1798) who emigrated from Scotland to Massachusetts in 1737 and developed munitions for the Revoutionary War, but we do not know if this is the same person.

Johnson’s appeal for books represents be one of his last efforts on behalf of Brothertown. One month later the battles of Lexington and Concord would spark the Revolution, placing the project on hold as Algonquin and Oneida leaders negotiated a precarious political position. Johnson died in late 1776 or early 1777 without seeing his dream realized. Once the war was over, Occom and Fowler would pick up the project again and in 1785 Brothertown was incorporated at last, and with it a new tribe that still exists today.

A note on condition: This volume requires significant conservation, but because there are a wide range of treatment options -- from constructing a simple protective box to rebinding the volume entirely and repairing the pages -- we are offering this volume "as is." If you do not have conservation staff in house, we will be happy to make arrangements with our favorite binders to have the book conserved to your specifications.

Selected References

Dobson, David. Directory of Scottish settlers in North America, 1625-1825. 7 vols. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1984.

Love, Deloss. Samson Occom and the Christian Indians of New England. Pilgrim Press 1899.

McCallum, James. The letters of Eleazar Wheelock’s Indians. Dartmouth College Press 1932.

Mills, Frederick V. “The Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge in British North America, 1730-1775.” Church History 63/1 (1994): 15–30. https://doi.org/10.2307/3167830.

Murray, Laura. To do good to my Indian brethren: The Writings of Joseph Johnson, 1751-1776. University of Massachusetts Press, 1998.

Stronach, George. "Orr, Hugh." In Sidney Lee, ed., Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 42. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1895 42: 267. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Orr,_Hugh

Wyss, Hilary E. “The writerly worlds of Joseph Johnson.” In English letters and Indian literacies: reading, writing, and New England missionary schools, 1750-1830. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012, pp. 74-108.