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PAPERS RELATING TO THE SIX NATIONS.
REVD. MR. HANNA TO SIR WM. JOHNSON.
Honorable Sir, The many Favours I have received at your Hand, lay me under IndispensibleObligations to acknowledge your Generosity ; & acquaint you that as it is notin my Power to returnthem in this Life : You are therefore to look for your Reward where the most of Good Benifectorshave done before you, viz in Heaven ; But can assure you, that I bear a sincere & grateful Sense ofyour Kinnesses in my Breast & shall never forget them while I am mindful of myself: particularlyyour last Letter to the Governor in my Favour which was of Singular Service to me.
Sir, Since my Return from your House, I have attended close at M r . Silvesters Office, to acquaintmyself with the Formalities & proceedings of the Court , have got my Licence, & qualified last Tues-day, am come to Schenectady , with a Design to settle : & should be glad to have it in my Powerto serve you or any of your Friends, all from
Honorable Sir your most hum le . & obe d . serv 1 .
William Hanna'
MR. JOHN ARBO, SECY TO THE MORAVIANS , TO SIR WM. JOHNSON.
Bethlehem the 6 th Januar. 1768.
Sir The high and important Station in which the Providence of GOD and onr Gracious Sovereignhave placed You, together with Your well known benevolent Disposition towards the Indians ingeneral, occasions my Addressing Your Excellency at this Time.
I presume Your Excellency cannot be unacquainted with the Missions and Labours of theBrethren, begun and hitherto subsisting for upwards of Twenty five Years amongst the NorthernIndians, and that their Zeal, in bringing many of them to the Knowledge of GOD our Saviour JesusChrist , has been crown’d with great Success. True it is, the Troubles and Calamities attending thelate Indian War, in which the Missionaries and their Converts met with such a Variety of Distress,Vicissitudes and Interruption in their Labours, as even threatened their total Extirpation ; Yet it hasnevertheless pleased the Almighty GOD in his great Goodness, after very many of them had departedthis Life in Faith and Love to Jesus Christ , still to preserve a Remnant of them, who now live together
1 Rev. William Hanna, the first Presbyterian clergyman at Albany, was educated at the Revd. Dr. Finley’s Academy atNottingham in Maryland; he next was assistant at Rev. Dr. Robert Smith’s School at Pequea, Pennsylvania , and graduatedat Princetown College. In 1759 he received the degree of A. B. from Kings College, New York , and that of Master of Arts,in 1765, from the same institution. He was licensed to preach by the Litchfield Presbytery, Connecticut , 28 May, 1760. Hebecame pastor of the Presbyterian Church organised for the first time in Albany in 1762, of which congregation he continuedpastor for the space of about five years. But “ having taken a civil commission from the governor,” and “ as it was notcustomary for any member of the church to which he belonged to bear a civil office,” the congregation requested his Dismis-sion, which followed accordingly. It seems that he next moved to Schenectady , after having studied law with Mr.Silvester of Albany , and was admitted to practice, as appears above, in May 1767. But his success at the bar was not com-mensurate with his expectations, and in 1771 he expressed a desire to be admitted to orders in the Church of England . Theclergy of New York , for reasons to he found in Dr. Auclimuty’s letter (post) of the 11th June 1771, thought it would not do* for them to recommend him for ordination, but suggested his application to Lord Baltimore. He thereupon proceeded toMaryland , and having been furnished with letters to Col. Washington and other leading gentlemen of Virginia, he went next tothe latter Colony. His reception, here, was so favorable that he, forthwith, sailed for England, where the Bishop of London conferred orders on him, 14 June 1772 —Ed.