"Few personages figure more prominently in the early history of this region than the Reverend Samuel Kirkland." So said Reverend AD Gridley in his "History of the Town of Kirkland." (1874)

Samuel Kirkland was born in Connecticut and educated at the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University. He was ordained in 1766 and commissioned a missionary to the Iroquois, specifically assigned a post with the Oneidas at Kanonwalohule (Oneida Castle.)

During the Revolutionary War, Kirkland served as a chaplain in the Continental Army, and was influential in keeping the Oneidas and Tuscaroras on the side of the colonists. In 1788 he decided to establish a permanent home base near what is now Clinton. As a reward for his services as a mediator during the revolution, New York State made grants to Kirkland of over 4,000 acres of land which lay west of the "Line of Property" extending from the Oriskany Creek to near Skyline Drive.

At about this time Kirkland was formulationg his "Plan of "Education" which included a school for both Indian and white boys. In 1793 the New York State Board of Regents granted a charter to Kirkland's school which became known as the Hanilton-Oneida Academy. Kirkland's donated some 300 acres of his land near the top of the hill to the academy which eventually became Hamilton College in 1812.

Meanwhile in 1791, Kirkland, who had been a widower for three years, decided to bring his family then living in Stockbridge, Massachusetts to Clinton. He undertook the building of a small 17 x 24 foot house, which became known as the Kirkland Cottage, originally located at the foot of college hill. By 1796 Kirkland had remarried and began building a much larger house south of College Hill Road, now known as Harding House, which still stands.

The cottage was sold, changed owners several times, and deteriorated badly until the 1870's when a local citizens group acquired and repaired it and donated it to the college. It was hauled up the Hill and placed just west of the college cemetery in January 1876. There it remained, largely ignored, until 1925 where, through the efforts of Elihu Root, the Kirkland Cottage was entirely rebuilt and moved to its present location on the main quadrangle to become a permanent memorial to the Reverend Samuel Kirkland.

Samuel Kirkland died in 1808 and was buried in the garden of his home on Harding Road. In 1856 his remains were transferred to the Hamilton College cemetery where a monument was erected in 1873.