Activist: William Apess of the Pequot

William Apess of the Pequot accomplished many milestones during his short and turbulent life.  He became an ordained Methodist minister, a rarity for a Native, even one of mixed-race descent.  He also published his autobiography, also rare for the time period. 

William Apess (1798-1839) was born in Colrain, Massachusetts to William, Sr., and Candace Apess.  His paternal grandfather was white.  His mother claimed descent from King Phillip of the Wampanoag, and also had European and African ancestry.  William's life fell apart at the age of five when his parents separated.  William, Jr. and his siblings were placed in the care of their maternal grandparents, who drank and were abusive.  A neighbor intervened and brought the matter to the attention of the town authorities.  The children were taken from their grandparents, separated and placed as indentured servants with white families.  It was a common practice for abused or orphaned children in the years before juvenile and family court systems and modern social services. 

His foster mother introduced him to Christianity and he enjoyed attending Baptist sermons until his foster father forbade him to continue going.  Though he was happy with his foster family, he still yearned for his own culture and ran away.  At age thirteen, his indenture was sold, then resold to General William Williams.  Young William had discovered the Methodists and again took refuge in Christianity, but at age 15 ran away to New York and joined a militia unit there, fighting in the War of 1812.  By this time, he too had succumbed to alcohol abuse, a disease that would plague him the rest of his life.  After drifting to Canada and various odd jobs there, he decided to return to Massachuseetts and reclaim as much of his Pequot identity as he could  He was baptized as a Methodist in 1818.

He married Mary Wood, a mixed-race Pequot like himself, settled down and had three children.  It was around this time that he discovered his vocation to preach.  He was ordained a lay minister of the Protestant Methodist Church in 1829.  Also that year he published his autobiography entitled A Son of the Forest.  It was one of the first autobiographies written by a Native.  By this time, Apess had become aware of the growing movement toward Indian Removal.  He learned Wampanoag, and began to minister to the Mashpee Wampanoag.  Massachusetts had taken the remaining Wampanoag land in the state and placed it under the care of White trustees known as Overseers.  The Overseers were allowing Whites to use the land, selling firewood and committing other abuses.  Along with other leaders, Apess organized the Mashpee Revolt of 1833, really a series of demonstrations and civil disobedience.  With Apess' help, his Wampanoag parishioners wrote to state authorities, prevented settlers from taking firewood and staged protests.  Apess was jailed for a month on charges of inciting riots. 

Apess began writing articles in the Boston newspapers arguing that laws which interfered with Native sovereignty were null and void.   He also published a volume of his sermons dealing with the rights of Natives.  However, his alcoholism was beginning to takes its toll, causing both Natives and White allies to distance themselves from him.  In his final effort, Apess published a funeral eulogy for King Phillip, centuries after the Wampanoag leader's death, extolling him as a leader who had been martyred by the early colonists.  After this sermon in 1836, he left for New York to try and find work and start over in life.  He died of a brain hemorrhage in 1839 at the age of 41.