Books: Missionary Work Among The Ojebway Indians
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Edward Francis Wilson >> Missionary Work Among The Ojebway Indians
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16 This eBook produced by Avinash Kothare, Tom Allen, Juliet Sutherland,
Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
MISSIONARY WORK
AMONG
THE OJEBWAY INDIANS.
BY THE
REV. EDWARD F. WILSON.
CONTENTS.
CHAP.
INTRODUCTION.
I. HOW IT CAME ABOUT THAT I WENT TO CANADA.
II. FIRST MISSIONARY EXPERIENCES.
III. OUR ARRIVAL AT SARNIA.
IV. KETTLE POINT.
V. INDIAN NAMES GIVEN.
VI. CHRISTMAS ON THE RESERVE.
VII. MISSION WORK AT SARNIA.
VIII. THE BISHOP'S VISIT.
IX. FIRST VISIT TO GARDEN RIVER.
X. BAPTISM OF PAGAN INDIANS.
XI. THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
XII. CHANGES IN PROSPECT.
XIII. ROUGHING IT.
XIV. CHIEF LITTLE PINE.
XV. OUR FIRST WINTER IN ALGOMA.
XVI. CHIEF BUHKWUJJENENE'S MISSION.
XVII. AN INDIAN CHIEF IN ENGLAND.
XVIII. A TRIAL OF FAITH.
XIX. LEARNING TO KNOW MY PEOPLE.
XX. A WEDDING AND A DEATH.
XXI. THE OPENING OF THE FIRST SHINGWAUK HOME.
XXII. FIRE! FIRE!
XXIII. AFTER THE FIRE.
XXIV. PROSPECTS OF RE-BUILDING.
XXV. LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE.
XXVI. A TRIP TO BATCHENWAUNING.
XXVII. THE WINTER OF 1874-5.
XXVIII. THE NEW SHINGWAUK HOME.
XXIX. RUNAWAY BOYS.
XXX. CHARLIE AND BEN.
XXXI. A TRIP UP LAKE SUPERIOR.
XXXII. COASTING AND CAMPING.
XXXIII. UP THE NEEPIGON RIVER.
XXXIV. THIRTY YEARS WAITING FOR A MISSIONARY.
XXXV. THE PAGAN BOY--NINGWINNENA.
XXXVI. BAPTIZED--BURIED.
XXXVII. THE WAWANOSH HOME.
XXXVIII. A SAD WINTER.
XXXIX. WILLIAM SAHGUCHEWAY.
XL. OUR INDIAN HOMES.
XLI. A POW-WOW AT GARDEN RIVER.
XLII. GLAD TIDINGS FROM NEEPIGON.
PREFACE.
A few words addressed by the Bishop of Algoma to the Provincial Synod
may form a suitable preface to this little book, which aspires to no
literary pretensions, but is just a simple and unvarnished narrative of
Missionary experience among the Red Indians of Lake Superior, in the
Algoma Diocese.
"The invaluable Institutions at Sault Ste. Marie still continue their
blessed work of educating and Christianizing the rising generation of
Ojebways. Founded in a spirit of faith, hope, and charity,--carrying
out a sound system of education, and in the past 'approved of God' by
many signs and tokens, the friends of these two 'Homes' may still rally
round them with unshaken confidence. Their history, like that of the
Christian Church itself, has been marked by not a few fluctuations, but
their record has been one of permanent and undoubted usefulness.
"Only a person deeply interested and directly engaged in the work, as
the Rev. E. F. Wilson is, can understand the force of the difficulties
to be encountered from the ineradicable scepticism of Indian parents as
to the disinterestedness of our intentions with regard to their
children; the tendency of the children to rebel against the necessary
restraints imposed on their liberty; the reluctance of parents to leave
their children in the 'Home' for a period sufficiently long for the
formation of permanent habits of industry, and fixed principles of
right; the constitutional unhealthiness of Indian children,
terminating, as it has here in a few cases, in death; the all but
impossibility of obtaining helpers for subordinate positions, such as
teacher or servant, who regard the question of the evangelization of
the Indian from any higher stand-point than the financial.
"Against this formidable array of obstacles Mr. Wilson has not only
struggled, but struggled successfully, till now these two Institutions,
over which he has watched with all the jealous vigilance of a mother
watching her first-born child, stand on a basis of acknowledged
success, as two centres for the diffusion of Gospel light and blessing
among the children of a people who have been long 'sitting in darkness,
and the shadow of death.' During the past year sundry improvements have
been made in the Shingwauk Home, which will largely increase the
comfort of the occupants. The most notable event, however, to be
recorded in this connection is the completion and consecration of the
'Bishop Fauquier Memorial Chapel,' a beautiful and truly ecclesiastical
structure, designed, in even its minutest details, by Mr. Wilson, and
erected by means of funds sent mainly from England, in response to his
earnest appeals for some enduring and useful memorial of the life and
labours of the late revered Bishop of this diocese. Long may it stand,
as a hallowed centre for the diffusion of Gospel light among hundreds
yet unborn, of the Indian tribes he loved so well."
MISSIONARY WORK AMONG THE
OJEBWAY INDIANS.
INTRODUCTORY.
The largest freshwater lake in the world is Lake Superior, through the
centre of which runs the boundary line between the United States of
America and the Dominion of Canada. The Indians call it the "Ojebway
Kecheguramee," that is--literally translated--the Great water of the
Ojebways, or as they are often called the Chippeways.
The Ojebways are an extensive Indian tribe spreading over a large part
of Canada, the Northern States, and the North West; specimens of their
language and customs appear in Longfellow's song of Hiawatha. Lake
Superior may be regarded as the centre of their ancient possessions.
Along its northern shores, and back into the interior they still roam
in wild freedom, hunting, and fishing, and paddling their birch-bark
canoes;--but in more civilized places, they are confined to reserved
lands set apart for them by the Dominion Government, and many of them
now gain their living by farming or by working for the neighbouring
white people.
The Ojebway Indians are now just in that transition stage in which
they particularly require a helping hand to lift them up to a
respectable position in life, and to afford them the means of gaining
their livelihood as a civilised Christian people. As one of their own
Chiefs has said, "the time is passed for my people to live by hunting
and fishing as our forefathers used to do; if we are to continue to
exist at all we must learn to gain our living in the same way as the
white people."
It is with the view of making the wants of these poor people known,
and of increasing the interest in a work which amid many difficulties,
has for the past ten years been carried on among them, that these pages
are written. The writer will tell what have been his experiences with
the Indians since he first came to settle among them as a Missionary,
and will describe how God in His providence gradually opened the way
for him, how dangers were met, and difficulties overcome, and how in
the end two Institutions for the Christian training and civilization of
Indian children were brought into existence; the one called the
_Shinywauk Home_, with accommodation for about seventy Indian
boys, and the other called the _Wavanosh Home_ with room for about
thirty Indian girls,--both of them built, and now in active operation,
at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, at the south-eastern extremity of Lake
Superior.
CHAPTER I.
HOW IT CAME ABOUT THAT I WENT TO CANADA.
All things are wonderfully ordered for us by God. Such has been my
experience for a long time past. If only we will wait and watch, the
way will open for us.
Where shall I begin with my history as a Missionary? When I was a
child, it was my mother's hope and wish that I should bear the glad
tidings of the Gospel to distant lands. She was a Missionary in heart
herself, and it was her earnest desire that one of her boys would grow
up to devote himself to that most blessed work.
However there seemed little likelihood of her wishes being fulfilled.
I disliked the idea of going to Oxford as my brothers had done. A wild
free life away from the restraints of civilization was my idea of
happiness, and after studying agriculture for a year or two in England,
I bade farewell to my native shores and started for Canada.
Then God took me in hand. I had been only three days in the country
when He put it into my heart to become a Missionary. The impulse came
suddenly, irresistibly. In a few days it was all settled. Farming was
given up, and I entered upon my course as a theological student. That
same summer I spent a month or six weeks on an Indian Reserve, and
became, as people would say, infatuated with the Indians. For this and
other reasons, I preferred remaining in Canada that I might study for
the ministry, to returning to England; and whenever opportunity
allowed, I paid a visit to some Indian Reserve, or went on an exploring
tour up the great lakes.
After rather more than two years' preparation, I returned to England,
and in December, 1867, was ordained deacon at the Chapel Royal, by the
Bishop of London, Dr. Tait, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury.
Shortly after this, it was arranged that I should go out again to
Canada as a Missionary to the Ojebway Indians, under the auspices of
the Church Missionary Society, the Rev. Henry Venn being then Hon.
Secretary, and on July 1, 1868, accompanied by my wife and an old
faithful servant named Jane, we started for Canada.
My wife, accustomed to the refinement and comforts of a beautiful old
rectory home in Gloucestershire, knew not whither she was going--she
had never been out of England before, and all was new and strange to
her. Indeed, I for my part was going out also, "not knowing whither I
went." Whether our lot would be cast in one of the older and more
civilised dioceses of Canada, or whether we should find a home on the
very outskirts of civilization, I knew not. My instructions from the
Church Missionary Society Committee, were simply to go first to London,
Ont., where the late Bishop of Huron (Dr. Cronyn) then lived, and from
thence to travel around and select what might seem to be the best spot
to make the centre for a new mission. We had thought of Cape Croker on
the Georgian Bay, and we had thought of Michipicoten, on Lake Superior,--
but nothing could be settled until after our arrival in Canada, and as
for my wife she was content to go with me wherever I went.
We had a splendid view of icebergs on the eighth day of our voyage. It
was a clear, keen morning reminding one of Christmas time, the sailors
were washing the decks and all looked merry and bright, and around on
all sides were icebergs of every size and shape, some looking like
great sea monsters bobbing up and down on the water, others as if a
large extent of Dover Cliff were floating past. Twenty-seven we counted
at one time, and during the morning fully 150 must have passed us.
"Ah," said an old sailor, "if one of them had touched us, this ship
wouldn't be here." Then came the excitement of whales, spouting in the
deep, and at 10 a.m., on July 10th, the rocky coast of Belle Isle was
in sight.
When we landed at Quebec, the heat was intense, the glass standing at 99
deg. in the shade. My wife's first experiences of Canada are described in
a letter home, dated from London, Ont., July 22nd, '68. "At 4 p.m. we
left Quebec and started by boat for Montreal. The boats for the lakes and
river are simply splendid,--such large handsome saloons and everything
very nice, except that we had only one small towel between us and very
little water. After leaving Montreal we had to go through a succession of
locks which was slow work and made us feel the heat very much. On
Wednesday it was a little cooler, and we were able to enjoy the most
lovely scenery I had ever beheld, 'the thousand isles,'--that alone is
quite worth coming out for. From Hamilton we took train to London. No one
can remember such a summer before, for the last three weeks the glass has
been standing at between 103 deg. and 99 deg. except in the evening, when
we think it cold if it goes down to 80 deg. The boarding-house we are in
is cool and clean and quite English-like about a mile from the so-called
town."
Almost immediately after settling in at our London boarding-house I
started on my first Missionary tour, the object being to choose a spot
suitable for the centre of our Mission.
CHAPTER II.
FIRST MISSIONARY EXPERIENCES.
My first service among the Indians was held in a little log-house on
the Indian Reserve, at Sarnia (south of Lake Huron), on Sunday, July
26th. Twenty-two Indians of the Ojebway tribe were present. They all
seemed most anxious to have a Church of England Mission established in
their midst, as many of them, inclusive of their venerable old chief,
Wawanosh, were already members of the Church, and had been from time to
time visited by a Missionary. I promised to visit them again on my
return from other Indian settlements and see what could be done.
The following day, Monday, I took train to Toronto, and thence to
Collingwood, from which place I intended to branch off to Owen Sound
and visit the Cape Croker and Saugeen Indians. I had with me as
interpreter a young Indian named Andrew Jacobs, his Indian name being
Wagimah-wishkung, and for short I called him Wagimah. At Owen Sound we
met with some Cape Croker Indians, and engaged their boat and two men
to take us the following day to their settlement, about forty miles up
the Lake Shore.
Soon after four the next morning we were up and dressed, and an hour
later were on our way. It was fine, but rather foggy, and the sun
scarcely visible through the mist. Not a breath of wind was stirring,
so we had to keep to our oars, sometimes one and sometimes another
rowing. At noon we reached Commodore Point, and put in for about an
hour, spending our time in eating raspberries, which were growing in
the greatest profusion, and bathing in the bay. Then on we pushed
again, past Griffith's Island, White Cloud Island, and King's Point,
and arrived at length, after a voyage of eight hours, at Cape Croker.
We found that there were about 350 Ojebway Indians in the place, the
majority of whom were Roman Catholics or Methodists: they had good
houses, some log, but mostly neat little frame weather-boarded
buildings; the land, however, was much neglected, very little attempt
being made at farming. A Church of England service was conducted on
Sundays by an Indian Catechist named Angus. The Chief's name was
Tabegwun. On the day after our arrival I held a meeting with the
Indians, and explained to them my object in coming to visit them, and
began by reading the Scriptures, and preaching to them, and baptizing
one or two children. They gave me the names of twenty-six persons who
professed to belong to the Church of England, and were desirous of
having a Mission established among them. During our stay we were guests
at Mr. Angus's house, a clean, respectable dwelling, and were regaled
with venison and huckleberry pie.
The next Indian Reserve that we visited was Saugeen. To reach this
place we had to return by boat to Owen Sound, and then go across
country in a westerly direction to the shores of Lake Huron. The
journey was accomplished by "buggy." We started at 4 a.m. on the
morning of July 31st, and stopped to have our breakfast on the roadside
about 7 o'clock, sitting one at each end of a log facing each other,
our plates and cups in front of us. We reached the Indian village at
8.30 a.m., and went to the house of the chief whose name was Madwayosh.
Only his wife was at home, but we learnt all that we wanted from her.
There were about 250 Ojebway Indians on this Reserve, and nearly all
Methodists. They had a resident Methodist Missionary and a place of
worship in course of erection. I at once came to the conclusion that it
would be unsuitable for us to attempt any Mission work in this place;
and when we bade adieu to Mrs. Madwayosh we drove on to the Sauble
Reserve, five miles further. A most dreadful road it was the whole way.
We had both to get down and lead the horse more than half the distance,
and then our traps were in the most imminent danger of jumping out as
the buggy went jolting and rolling on over huge boulders and logs and
stumps. It took us over two hours to reach the place, and when we got
there, rain was coming down in torrents. We inquired for Waubesee's
house, he being a member of the Church, and after some trouble we at
length found it, but it lay back at a distance from the road, with only
a trail leading to it, so we had to take the horse out of the buggy and
lead him after us. The little house, made entirely of bark, stood in
the most picturesque spot, surrounded by lofty pines. Near the house
was a calf shed, into which we tried to squeeze our horse, but he would
not go, so we had to take him to a stable about a mile off.
Waubesee and his family received us very warmly. They said there used
to be a great many Church people among them, but no missionary had been
to see them for many years, and now all who had belonged to the Church
were either gone away into the States, or had joined the Methodists.
Waubesee, his wife, children, and grandchildren, numbered eighteen in
all, and he said that the whole number of Indians on the Reserve was
about 250. He seemed to be an intelligent man, and got out his Ojebway
prayer-book and Testament to show us. Before we left, the family and a
few others were called together, and we had reading and prayer, and I
gave them a short address, Wagimah acting as my interpreter.
We now had to drive to Southampton, a distance of eight miles, and it
was 6.30 p.m. when we reached it. My interpreter left me here to return
to his home by the way we had come, and I took steamboat to Goderich,
and from thence by train to London, where I rejoined my wife.
My next trip was to Brantford, and my wife accompanied me. We started
on the 5th of August, and on our arrival there, were hospitably
entertained at the Rev. Mr. Nelles' house. From there I went to visit
the Indians on the New Credit Reserve, a considerable distance off. I
called on Chief Sawyer, a tall, fine man, with a sensible-looking face.
He said there were about 300 Ojebway Indians on the Reserve, and that
many of them were most desirous of having a Church of England teacher.
The result of all these visits was, that after much earnest prayer for
Divine guidance, we finally decided upon making Sarnia our
headquarters, and on the 8th of August I paid a second visit to the
Indians there, and told them that I had decided to come and live
amongst them. We expected there would be a little difficulty at first,
as the Methodists were already in the field, and might oppose our
coming; but as the Chief and quite a large number of the people were
already professed members of the Church, having been frequently visited
by the Rev. Mr. Chase, the native minister at Muncy Town, it seemed
only fair that their oft-repeated petition to the Bishop of Huron
should be attended to, and that a Church of England Mission should be
established among them. On the 11th of August a Council was held, at
which some fifty Indians attended. They sat about indiscriminately on
benches, some smoking their pipes, others chewing tobacco. In a few
plain words I told them, how it was my own earnest desire to devote
myself as a Missionary to the Indians, and how I had been sent by a
great Society in England to search out and teach the Ojebway Indians of
the western part of Canada. I had already, I said, visited the Indians
of Cape Croker, Saugeen, Sauble, and the Grand River, and had now made
up my mind to make Sarnia my head-quarters, and to build a church in
their midst. We would not, I said, put up a large expensive one,--we
would begin with a small rough one, and see how we got on,--an Indian
had already promised us land, and now I wanted all Indians whose hearts
were in the work to lend us a helping hand and aid in erecting the
church; it should be a small log building, and cost not more than 200
dollars. Mr. Chase was also present, and spoke very nicely after I had
finished. After the council was over I proposed to Mr. Chase and a few
other Indians that we should kneel down and ask God's blessing, and so
we knelt down and laid our case before God and asked Him to guide and
direct us, and to incline the hearts of the Indians to favour our
undertaking. Next morning I returned to London, and on the 15th we
moved down to Sarnia, and took up our abode temporarily at Mrs.
Walker's boarding-house.
CHAPTER III.
OUR ARRIVAL AT SARNIA.
Mrs. Walker's boarding-house was a frame, white-painted house situate
in the town of Sarnia, a little way back from the main street. The
Indian Reserve almost adjoined the town, so that a quarter of an hour's
walk would take us on to their land. In front of the town and flowing
down past the Indian Reserve is the broad river St. Clair, connecting
Lake Huron with Lake Erie, its banks on the Canadian side dotted over
with the boats and fishing nets of the Indians.
I at once invested in a horse and buggy, and also engaged Wagimah as
my interpreter. I could already read the service in Indian, but
required an interpreter's aid for conversing with the people and
preaching. Our Sunday services were held in a vacant log hut, in which
we had a little desk rigged up and some forms arranged as seats. On my
first Sunday among them I baptized two children, an infant in arms
named Jacob Gray, and a child of four or five named Thomas Winter. Both
of these boys some nine or ten years afterwards became pupils at the
Shingwauk Home.
Our great object now was to build a log church and also a Mission
house for our own use with as little delay as possible. There was a
quaint old Indian, or rather half-breed, for he was partly French, with
whom I had some conversation in regard to our proposed operations.
"Well, Mr. Leviere," I said to him one day, "what do you think the
Indians will be willing to do? Will they cut down the trees,--square
and haul the logs?" "I have been thinking about it a good deal," he
replied. "You want a church forty feet long; this will take a great
many logs, not much black ash now in the bush. I don't think, Sir, you
will find enough trees. Why not build a frame church? If you build
frame, Indians get out logs, fit the frame one day, raise building next
day, board it next day, get done quick; not cost much money, cost
perhaps $100, not much money." "Now, supposing we were to do this,
what would the Indians be willing to give? Would they work without pay?
I want the white people to see that the Indians are really in earnest;
I should like to point to our church and say, 'The Indians built this
church without pay, because it was their wish to build a house to God.'
Do you think the Indians are ready to do this? Are you ready to give a
helping hand yourself?" "Oh, indeed, Sir, yes! I mean to work, and keep
on working till it is finished; I think there are many who will do so
too, perhaps ten or fifteen altogether; we shall want no pay, only
provisions."
Our chief source of discouragement at this time was the opposition of
the Methodist party, who were considerably in the majority on the
Reserve. As Indian land is held in common by all the members of the
band, we were at one time in fear that we might be prevented from
building. A petition was sent to Government, and correspondence entered
into with the Indian Department, and in the end we were permitted to
take possession of one acre of land on the lot of a Church Indian named
Antoine Rodd. The opposition, however, was very bitter and rather
depressing, and our opponents went so far as to threaten to deprive the
old Chief, Wawanosh, of his chieftainship.
On the other hand, we had every encouragement from the conduct of our
own Indians. The opposition that they met with only seemed to make them
more determined to stand by us and assist in the establishment of the
Mission. Directly the land question was settled, three or four of them
started back in the bush with their axes, to fell the trees and hew and
square the timbers for the frame-work of the church, and I heard that
the old Chief had been to the Indian Agent's office and borrowed ten
dollars of the Annuity-money to pay a professed hewer, as none of
themselves were good hands at such work. This, I told them, was more
than I expected of them; if they would give their labour, that was all
that I asked; but no, they would not be dissuaded; they were quite
determined, they said, to raise the frame-work unaided, and they would
much rather themselves pay for any labour they might have to employ.
The "Raising" took place on the 22nd of September. About fifty Indians
were present, and all took part more or less in the work. In the
afternoon two teams arrived from the town with a large party of ladies
and gentlemen, well supplied with baskets of provisions for a feast,
which they had kindly arranged to give the Indians at the conclusion of
their work. The roughly extemporised tables looked most inviting when
all was spread out, and two or three of the Indian women were most
active and clever in getting everything ready. When the feast was over
the Indians gathered in a circle, and I expressed to them my pleasure
that we had got thus far with our work, and told them that I hoped we
should soon now, with God's blessing, have our little church open and
ready for service. Joseph Wawanosh on behalf of his father, the old
Chief, then expressed his gratitude that a Missionary had at length
come among them, and that a church was in course of erection. After
this we concluded with a short service in the Ojebway language.
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