In 1766, while in Britain raising money for Revd Eleazar Wheelock's Indian Charity School in Connecticut, the Revd Samson Occom wrote a letter to his wife which has been described as a rare example of his humor, and dismissed accordingly:

Wheelock's erstwhile Indian pupil was demonstrating his mastery of English epistolary conventions in a satirical performance that could easily be construed as confirming readings of Occom which saw him, through missionary texts and missionary eyes, as an “educated” and “civilized” Indian. Missionary-based accounts of Occom's life have tended to agree with James Ronda that “the Indian who embraced Christianity was compelled in effect to commit cultural suicide.” As a result, they have represented Occom as an Indian who had whole-heartedly embraced European ways, or judged him in terms of how well he met the expectations and demands of his teacher and patron, Eleazar Wheelock.