Occom, Aaron, 1753 - 1771

Born in Montauk, New York, in 1753, Aaron Occom was the eldest son of the Rev. Samson Occom and Mary Fowler.  He entered Moor's Indian Charity School in 1760 but soon became a problematic student and left the following year.  Occom returned to school in December 1765 but the following spring, Eleazar Wheelock wrote his parents that he was "not a good boy" and suggested that he be indentured out.  Occom's mother sent him back to school in November 1766 to stop him from marrying "very bad girl" and sending her into debt by forging orders on her name. He finally left Moor's in 1767 and became a mariner for a year.  After his return to Mohegan, he married Ann Robin, a Wangunk-Tunxis woman, and began a family at Mohegan.  Aaron Occom died in the winter of 1771, leaving Ann a widow with a young son, Aaron, Jr.

Brooks, Collected Writings, 78, 97.  Aaron Occom, The Occom Circle, Dartmouth College.