CHAPTER XXII. MISSIONARY WORK DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. The following is but a brief and imperfect summary of a great and important work. To fully set forth all that has been undertaken and accomplished for the Indians by the various religious bodies during the present century would require a volume in itself. The facts given below are taken from letters furnished by the secretaries of the boards connected with the different churches and their published reports. The difficulty of obtaining details and condensed statistics will be readily appreciated, as these require time and laborious research among the archives of the societies, and this additional labor was impossible in the midst of the pressing duties of the hour. The missionary labors among the Indians have been as largely educational as strictly pertaining to the church work. It should be borne in mind that until within a score or so of years all Government aid to Indian education passed through the hands of the various missionaries. To these workers, many of whom represent more than one generation, the children succeeding the fathers in the labor of humanity, the Indians owe much of their present ameliorated condition. The Christian sentiment of the country has now all that has been gained in the slow process of uplifting a race. AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FCR FOREIGN MISSIONS. This board, the oldest missionary society in the United States, was organized June 29, 1810, at Bradford, Mass. The first annual meeting was held at Farmington, Conn., on the 5th of September, in the same year, at which five persons were present. The receipts for the first year were $999.52. From these small beginnings the board has increased till its annual receipts have risen in some years to over $500,000. It has had under its care 48 different missions, with which have been connected over 1,600 missionaries, of whom 512 have gone to the North American Indians. The board was originated by the Congregational Church, but soon became the organ of the Presbyterian and Reformed Dutch Churches, who shared in its management. In 1837, upon the division of the Presbyterian Church, the Old School branch formed a separate organization for missionary labor. The Re The churches omitted could not be heard from, although application was made by letter for a statement of their work. formed Dutch withdrew, to act through a separate board, in 1857. From this time the board represented mainly the Congregational and New School Presbyterian Churches of the United States until 1870, when, upon the union of the two branches of the Presbyterian Church the New School Churches withdrew, leaving the board to the Congre gational Church having in charge foreign missions. The following missions among the Indians, which were founded under the auspices of this board, have been closed or transferred to other soci eties: To the Cherokees (1816-60), 113 missionaries. In 1860, 12 churches and 248 members. To the Choctaws (1818-59), 153 missionaries. In 1859, 12 churches and 1,362 members. To the Osages (1826-37), 26 missionaries, 2 churches of 48 members. Large schools of 354 scholars. To the Maumees (1826-35), 6 missionaries. A church of 35 members. To the Mackinaws (1826–36), 17 missionaries. A church of 35 members. To the Chickasaws (1827-35), 10 missionaries. A church of 100 members and school of 300 pupils. To the Stockbridges (1828-48), 8 missionaries. A church of 50 members. To the Creeks (1832-37), 6 missionaries and 80 church members. To the Oregons (1835-47), 13 missionaries. Broken up by the mas sacre of 1847. To the Senecas (1826-70), 47 missionaries and 600 church members Transferred to the Presbyterian Board in 1870. To the Tuscaroras (1826-60), 10 missionaries. To the Ojibways (1831-70), 28 missionaries. Transferred to Presbyterian Board in 1870." To the Dakotas (1835–70), 40 missionaries and 1,000 church members. Transferred in part to Presbyterian Board in 1870. To the Abenaquis (1835-56), 1 Indian missionary and 75 church members. Summary of Indian missions. Twelve missions closed; 2 in part transferred; 498 missionaries; 45 .churches; 3,700 members. The whole number of Indians reached by these missions was not far from 100,000. In 1873 the Choctaw mission resumed. Missionaries, 2; churches, 3; members, 123.1 1 Brief sketch and statistics of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreigu Missions, 1876. AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION (CONGREGATIONAL). This association was formed in September, 1846, by the consolidation of the Union Missionary Society, the West India Missionary Committee, and the Western Evangelical Missionary Society. The principal mission work among the Indians was at Red Lake and Leech Lake, established in 1813. The Chippewa bands have had the care of this association from that time until the present day. Upon the inauguration of President Grant's peace policy in 1869, the Green Bay and La Pointe Agencies in Wisconsin, the Sisseton and Fort Berthold Agencies in Dakota, and S'Kokomish Agency in Washington Territory were assigned to this association. The aggregate amount expended by this society for missions among the Indians, from the year 1847 to 1875, was $64,959.56. In 1877 the church at Red Lake was transferred to the Protestant Episcopal Church. At the other agencies the association had 3 missionaries, 2 churches, 37 church members, 7 teachers, 5 schools, and 287 pupils. In 1879 the association contributed $1,500 toward the Indian department recently established at the Hampton Institute, Hampton, Va., and has been interested there ever since. In 1880 the church at S'Kokomish numbered 36 members. These Christian Indians contributed for benevolent purposes $265.62, and for their pastor's support and the Sunday-school $230.25, making a total of $495.77. In 1882 a boarding-school was opened at Leech Lake, and the mission at Spokane Falls, Washington Territory, assisted. In 1883 the Indian missions formerly under the American Board of Foreign Missions were transferred to the American Missionary Association. This threw upon the society the work at Fort Berthold, at Fort Sully with its out-stations, and the normal school at Santee Agency. The school work at Sisseton Agency was soon transferred to the Presbyterian body under whose care the church work had been conducted. Thus there passed directly to the association 5 stations, and the work at Devil's Lake, 4 ordained missionaries, 21 assistant missionaries, 2 churches, 3 native preachers, 5 native teachers, and 194 church members. The Normal Training School at Santee, under the management of Mr. Alfred L. Riggs, has recently been enlarged. At this school industries are taught, technical training given, and teachers prepared. The school is the centre of a wide influence and work. In 1886 there were 210 pupils, 20 of them students in theology. The report of the association for 1886 gives as under its charge 5 churches, 348 church members, 15 schools, 685 pupils, 56 missionaries and teachers, and an expenditure of about $40,000.1 1 Statement given by Rev. Dr. Strieby, and the Fortieth Annual Report of the American Missionary Association, 1886. AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION. The Ouray Agency was assigned to this denomination during the peace policy of President Grant. The mission work of this association was entered upon January 1, 1886. Rev. Henry F. Bond, who had been agent of the Ouray Utes in 1874, accepted the appointment of the association to take charge of the proposed school among the Utes. He, with his wife, left Boston April 9, 1886. Finding it impossible to begin a school among these Indians, they proceeded at once to the Crow Reservation, in Montana, where a more hopeful state of affairs was found. A site was chosen on Big Horn River, and 202 acres assigned to the school. A substantial building has been erected, and the school opened with promises of success. The expenses of maintaining the school, above the contract with the Government, will be about $5,000 per annum. BAPTIST CHURCH MISSIONS. The Baptist Church began its work for the Indians by establishing in 1807 a mission among the Tuscaroras and other tribes in north-western New York. In 1818 a missionary was sent to the Indians of Indiana and Michigan and to the Cherokees in North Carolina. The Hamilton (N. Y.) Baptist Missionary Society sent delegates in 1819 to inquire into the needs of the Oneida and Stockbridge Indians. A mission was established at Fort Wayne in 1820, and a school was main tained for over two years. Then the mission was permanently located on the St. Joseph's River, in Michigan, 25 miles from its mouth, where a school was begun and buildings erected in 1822. A mission was supported among the Creeks from 1823 until 1839; from 1824 to 1850 among the Oneida, Tuscarora, and Tonawanda Indians of New York; from 1826 to 1844 among the Choctaws; from 1828 to 1857 among the Chippewas at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan; from 1833 to 1843 among the Otoes and Omahas; and from 1833 to 1864 among the Delawares and Stockbridges. The missions of this church were almost obliterated by the hostilities of the border contests during the Civil War, but after the war missionaries resumed their labors. The Home Mission Society sent its first missionary in 1865. Others followed until in 1877 there were thir teen in the field. The Union Agency, comprising the five civilized tribes of the Indian Territory and the Nevada Agency, Nevada, were assigned to this denomination under the peace policy of 1869. The Report of 1882 states that nine native and three other missionaries engaged in Indian mission work, a church membership of 896, and a Sunday-school attendance of 1,148. The Baptist denomination has aided Indian education by establishing not only day schools, but also boarding and manual labor schools. These include the Levering Mission School at Wetumka, and the Indian University at Tahlequah, Indian Territory. The number of pupils at the university in 1882-83 was 95, of whom 75 were Cherokees.' In 1885 this church had among the Indians fourteen missionaries, and expended $3,010.42.2 EPISCOPAL CHURCH MISSIONS. Schoolcraft, in his History of the Indian Tribes in the United States, gives 1815 as the date of the organization of Protestant Episcopal missions among the Indians. This mission was among the Oneidas of New York. In 1825 a mission was established at Green Bay, Wis., for the Menomonees, and later, among the Oneidas at Duck Creek, Wis., the Ojibwas in Minnesota, and the Indians in Michigan. The following agencies were assigned in 1869 to this denomination: White Earth, in Minnesota; Crow Creek, Lower Brulé, Cheyenne River, Yankton, Rose Bud, and Pine Ridge, in Dakota Territory; Shoshone, in Wyoming. The annual report for 1886 of the Foreign and Domestic Missionary Society of this church contains the following statement: Twelve Indian clergymen and more than 1,000 communicants. There is no report of the important work at the White Earth Reservation, in charge of the Rev. J. A. Gilfillan, under Bishop Whipple. The mission to the Oneidas, under Bishop Brown, that at the Shoshone Agency in Wyoming, that in the Indian Territory, and that in Washington Territory ought each to be reported as being conducted under appropriations from the Board. Bishop Hare's painstaking report of his large work in the Niobrara deanery must suffice for an account of Indian missions. Bishop Hare, in his report for 1885-86, gives an account of the work in the Niobrara deanery, which includes all the Indian reservations within the jurisdiction of South Dakota. The growth of this mission will appear when it is remembered that in 1872 none of the missions had any existence except those under the Santee and Yankton missions. There are now (1886) four churches in the Santee mission, four in the Yankton mission, three in the Yanktonnai mission, three in the Lower Brulé mission, six in the Cheyenne River mission, ten in the Rosebud mission, one in Standing Rock mission, seven in the Ogalala mission, four in the Sisseton mission; there are also four boarding-schools in successful operation. At St. Paul's boarding school (boys), Yankton Reserve, the average attendance is 36; at St. Mary's (boys and girls), Rosebud Reserve, 35; at St. John's (girls), Cheyenne River Reserve, 30; at the Hope School (girls and boys), Springfield, Dak., 30. There are in the vast and once desolate region twenty-five churches and chapels and eighteen mission residences. All this has been done without Government aid. Thirty-six congregations have been gathered; seven faithful Indians are serving in the ministry; the offerings of the native Christians amount to about $2,000 per annum. 1 From Report of Baptist Home Missions, and Catalogne of Tahlequah University, p. 21. 2 Fifty-third Annual Report of A. B. H. M. Society. ទ |