USA > Kansas > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Kansas > Part 3
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"'Under these views and impressions, the committee submits the following resolutions for the concurrence of the board :
"'Resolved, I. That it be, and hereby is, recommended to the Mis- souri annual conference to adopt such measures as they may consider suitable for the establishment of a central manual-labor school for the special benefit of Indian children and youth in such place and under such regulations as they may judge most fit and proper.
"'Resolved, 2. That whenever the said conference shall so resolve this board pledge themselves to co-operate with them in carrying the plan into effect ; provided, that a sum not exceeding $10,000 shall be drawn from the treasury of the missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal church for any one year for the support of the schools so established.
"'Resolved, 3. That with a view to secure the aid of the Government of the United States in furnishing the pecuniary means necessary for the establishment and support of such a school as is contemplated our
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corresponding secretary, or Dr. Samuel Luckey, be, and hereby is, re- quested to accompany our brother, the Rev. T. Johnson, to the city of Washington, and lay before the proper officer or officers having the superintendence of Indian affairs, or, if need be, submit to Congress the plan of the contemplated school, and solicit aid in such way and manner as may be judged most suitable for the establishment and support of said school.
"'All which is respectfully submitted. N. Bangs, Chairman.'
"The presiding officer (Soule), in alluding to the call for the present meeting, gave his views fully in favor of the establishment of a central school in the Indian country. The bishop had himself been in this country and was intimately acquainted with the tribes over whom Brother Johnson has the superintendence.
"Bishop Andrew concurred in the remarks of the presiding officer so far as his knowledge went.
"Brother Johnson also gave his opinion as to the wants of the tribes
in the Southwest, their present condition and prospects.
"Letters were read from Major Cummins, the Indian agent, fully according with the representations made in the 'documents' which have been read to this board.
"Doctor Bangs offered the following resolution, which was unani- mously passed :
"Resolved, That our treasurer be authorized to pay to Brother John- son the amount of his traveling expenses to and from this place, and that Brother johnson be requested, on his return, to stop at as many of the principal places as his other engagements will allow, hold missionary meetings and take up collections for the missionary society, and account with the treasurer for the amount of said collections."
At the conference session which met at Booneville, September 26, 1838, it was decided to build a manual-labor school, which was to be patronized by the six tribes among which the church labored. This school was in operation a year after action was taken.
The report of the mission committee at this conference session may be regarded as the foundation of the Shawnee manual-labor school and reads as follows :
"Whereas, The board of managers of the missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal church have recommended to the Missouri annual conference to adopt such means as they consider suitable for the establishment of a central manual-labor school for the benefit of Indian children and youth in such place and under such regulations as they may judge most fit and proper ; and,
"Whereas, The Government of the United States has stipulated to aid liberally in the erection of suitable buildings for said school, and also to aid annually in its support; and
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"Whereas, The Shawnee Nation of Indians in general council as- sembled, and in compliance with the wishes of the Government have consented to the establishment of such school on their lands near the boundary of the State of Missouri, which is deemed a most eligible situation ; therefore,
"Resolved, I. That we, fully concurring with the board of managers of the missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal church, do hereby agree to establish a manual-labor school for the benefit of Indian chil- dren and youth on the Shawnee lands near the boundary line of the State of Missouri ;
"Resolved, 2. That a committee of three be appointed, whose duty it shall be to erect suitable buildings for the accommodation of the proposed school ; secondly, to employ competent teachers, mechanics, a farmer, and such other persons as may be necessary ; thirdly, to exer- cise a general supervision over the institution, and report to this con- ference annually.
"Resolved, 3. That the above-named committee be and are hereby instructed to erect, for the accommodation of said school, two buildings, to serve as school houses and teachers' residences, each to be 100 feet long and 30 feet wide, and two stories high, with an ell running back, 50 by 20 feet, and two stories high ; thirdly, buildings for four mechanics, with shops ; fourthly, such farm buildings as they may judge necessary ; provided, however, that if in the judgment of the committee, the ex- penses of the above-named buildings are likely to be greater than such such a sum as may be estimated by the missionary cor mittee of this conference they may make such changes as they may think proper."
LOCATION AND ERECTION OF BUILDINGS.
The location selected for the manual-labor school was in a beautiful little valley about three miles southwest of Westport, Mo., and on the California road. Work on the new buildings was begun by Mr. Johnson about the first of February, 1839. At this time he had forty acres of land enclosed, twelve acres of which were planted in apple trees, it being the first orchard set out in Kansas, and 176 acres were planted in corn. Upward of about 40,000 rails were made in a short time by the Shawnee Indians. About forty hands were employed, and the build- ings were soon under way. Brick-kilns were put up for the burning of brick, while some were shipped from St. Louis, and "the lumber was all sawed at their own saw mill and worked out by hand," says Mr. William Johnson, son of Thomas Johnson, who now (1915) lives near the old mission building.
The two large brick buildings erected at this time were on the south side of the California road. The building farthest east was 110 by 30 feet and two stories high. It was used as the school house and
(3)
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dormitory for the boys and the home of the superintendent. The chapel was on the first floor of this building. This is one of the most his- torically interesting buildings in the State of Kansas, and one of its territorial capitals. Here the first territorial legislature of Kansas, which was called the "bogus" legislature, met and passed laws. Rev. Thomas Johnson, a Virginian by birth, who very naturally sympa- thized with the South, was chosen president of the council, or upper house of the legislature. The building just west of this one was built of brick and was 100 by 30 feet, with an ell. It served as the boarding house, with a large dining hall and table capable of accommodating between 200 and 300 people at a time. These two large buildings were within 100 yards of each other. Between them, and near the road, was a fine spring. Log houses and shops went up all over the place. Blacksmith shops, wagon shops, shoemakers' shops, barns, granaries and tool houses were crected; and a brick yard, a saw mill and steam flour mill were added to the mission. The latter was capable of grinding 300 bushels of wheat per day.
TEACHERS AND OPENING OF SCHOOL.
The school was opened in the new building in October, 1839. The report of the first year of the school by the superintending committee, Rev. Thomas Johnson, Rev. Jerome C. Berryman and Rev. Jesse Greene, made in September, 1840, shows that the new project was a success. The report shows that seventy-two scholars were in attendance during the school year, which opened in October, 1839, and closed in Septem- ber, 1840. The most of these were permanent scholars, though some stayed but a short time. None were counted unless they stayed a month. The different tribes patronizing the school were represented as follows: Shawnees, 27; Delawares, 16; Chippewas, 2; Gros Ventres, I; Peorias, 8; Pottawatomies, 7; Kansans, 6; Kickapoos, 3; Munsees, [ ; Osages, I. The mission at this time was incomplete and had house- room for only eighty children. Work and study alternated, the children being employed six hours a day at work and six hours in school. The girls, under the direction of their teachers, did the cooking for the entire school and for about twenty mechanics and other hands employed about the institution. They also made not only their own clothes, but those of the boys and some of the mechanics and others. Bishop James O. Andrew once visited the school, and the Indian girls presented him with a pair of trousers, all the work of their own hands. They were also taught to spin and weave, while the boys were taught farming, carpen- tering, shoemaking and brickmaking.
Four teachers were employed the first year-two to teach the chil- dren when in school and two to teach them when at work. A farmer was employed to take charge of the farm and stock, and his wife to
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superintend the cooking. The principal of the institution was a prac- tical mechanic, and conducted the building operations during the year. The crop report for the first year shows that 2,000 bushels of wheat, 4,000 of oats, 3,500 of corn and 500 of potatoes were raised. Upon the farm were 130 cattle, 100 hogs and 5 horses. Later 3 native buffalo were added.
The daily routine of the pupils at the manual-labor school was as follows: At 5 a. m. they were awakened by the ringing of a bell, when in summertime they performed light work about the farm until 7 o'clock, when they breakfasted, a horn being blown by way of signal before each meal. In winter time their morning work, before eating. was confined to the preparation of fuel, milking the cows, some thirty or forty in number, and feeding the stock. At 9 o'clock the school bell summoned them to their studies, which were kept up, with a short inter- val for recess, till 12 noon. They dined between 12 and I o'clock and then resumed their studies until 4 o'clock. Their hour for tea was 6 p. m. Their evenings were spent in the preparation of their lessons for the ensuing day until 8 o'clock.
They were then allowed to indulge themselves in indoor recreation until 8:30 p. m., when they were sent to their dormitories for the night. The only religious services which were held during the week were the reading of a chapter in the Bible, followed by prayer, just before the morning and evening meals. Saturday forenoon was given them as as a holiday. Saturday evening was spent in the bath-room in cleaning up for Sunday.
The children paid $75 a year each to the superintendent, as a receipt in full for board, washing and tuition. The first task of the instructor was to teach the children English, which they soon learned to speak well, yet a slight foreign accent was usually noticeable. The children, as a general thing, were docile, teachable, and good natured, and when well, of a playful disposition, but when sick they were usually stupid and silent. They were not quarrelsome. As to the men- tal capacity, they compared favorably with white children.
At the conference of 1841 Rev. J. C. Berryman was appointed to take charge of the manual-labor school. to which position he was also appointed by the succeeding conferences. Mr. Berryman was, like his predecessor, a man of great energy and ability. His report for 1842 is interesting and is as follows:
"From experience already made, we are fully satisfied that there is no essential difference between white and red children; the difference is all in circumstances.
"There are difficulties, however, very great difficulties, to be sur- mounted in the education of the Indian youth. The ignorance and prej- udice, instability and apathy, of the parents, and all the little whims that can be imagined as being indulged in by so degraded a people, combine.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
to hinder us and retard their own advancement in civilization; and one of the greatest hindrances to the success of our efforts to impart instruc- tion to the children we collect here is the difficulty of keeping them a sufficient length of time to mature anything we undertake to teach them ; especially if they are considerably advanced in age when they com- mence. We have found that the labors bestowed upon these children taken in after they had reached the age of ten or twelve years, have in most cases been lost; whereas, those taken in between the ages of six and ten have in the majority of cases done well. This is chiefly owing to the older ones having formed habits of idleness, so that they will not bear the confinement and discipline of school. Another thing in favor of receiving these children at an early age is, that they acquire our language more readily and speak it more correctly. They also more easily adopt our manners and habits of thinking.
"J. C. Berryman."
(Report United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1842, pp. 114, 115.)
The school opened September 15, 1843, with IIO scholars. The church statistics for this year report ten colored children as members of the mission. The conference minutes would indicate that they lived at the manual-labor school. These colored children belonged to the slaves which Rev. Thomas Johnson had brought into the territory, and who worked on the mission premises. The increase of members in our mission this year was 210.
In October, 1844, Bishop Morris visited the school and witnessed part of the examination exercises at the close of the regular term. "Their performance," he says, " in spelling, reading, writing, geography, compo- sition and vocal music was such as would do credit to any of our city schools in the United States."
The school report for the year 1845 shows 137 scholars in attendance. During this year the erection of another large brick building one hun- dred feet in length and twenty feet in width, and two stories high, was begun. It was located on the north side of the road, the three large buildings forming a triangle, but not joining each other. This build- ing had a piazza the whole length, with the exception of a small room at each end taken off the piazza. This building served as the girls' boarding-school. The superintendent and his family also occupied this building. Governor Reeder and staff and other territorial officials were quartered here in 1855, when Shawnee Mission was the capital.
In 1845 the Methodist Episcopal church was rent asunder, as the result of differences of opinion on the slavery question. At a conven- tion which met May 1, 1845, in the city of Louisville, Ky., the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, South, was organized. The Kansas missions, which at this time were embraced in the Indian Mission conferences,
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
fell into the Church, South. The Indian Mission conference for the year 1845 was held at the Shawnee Mission, Bishop Joshua Soule presiding. Bishop Soule was one of the two bishops who adhered to the Church, South. The other was Bishop James O. Andrew, a native of Georgia. Bishop Soule was a Northern man by birth and rearing, having been born in Maine, August 1, 1781. He died at Nashville, March 6, 1867.
INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL.
Rev. William H. Goode, one of the early missionaries among the Choctaws in Indian Territory, was a delegate with Rev. E. T. Peery from the Indian Mission conference which met at Tahlequah, October 23, 1844, to the convention held at Louisville in May, 1845, at which the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was organized. He has this to say in his "Outposts of Zion" concerning the division :
"The influence of the large mission established at the manual-labor school was strong. There were few to counter-act or explain ; and at the separation the main body of our Shawnee membership was carried, nolens volens, into the Church South. They have a large meeting-house and camp-ground, and exert a powerful infuence over the tribe. Our membership is reduced to about twenty-faithful band."
The manual-labor school was thus for the next seventeen years under the supervision of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1845 and 1846, Rev. William Patton was superintendent. The concluding portion of his report for 1846 to Hon. William Medill, commissioner of Indian affairs, is as follows :
"Our mills and shops are doing well, affording considerable assist- ance to the Indians around in various ways. The shops furnish the more industrious and enterprising with wagons, and such like, by which they are enabled to make for themselves and families something to sub- sist upon. Of the mills I must speak more definitely. There has nothing been done for the Indians in all this section of country, in the way of improvements, which is of equal importance, or anything like equal importance, with the erection of the steam flouring-and saw-mill at this place. Here, the Indians from several tribes around get a large quan- tity of their breadstuffs, such as flour and corn-meal. But this is not the only advantage derived-the saw-mill furnishes them with lumber for building and furnishing their houses, and, what is of still greater importance to them, the mills, and especially the saw-mill, offer to them inducements to industry. We purchase from the Indians all of our saw logs, our steam wood, etc., thus giving them employment and furnish- ing in return flour, meal, sugar, coffee, salt, and such other things, in a dry-goods line, as they or their families may need, and those things which, in many instances, they could not have without these facilities, at least to any considerable extent.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
"I have the honor to be, dear sir, your obedient servant,
"W. Patton." (Report 1846, p. 365.)
REV. THOMAS JOHNSON AND OTHER MISSIONARIES.
In 1847 Thomas Johnson was returned as superintendent of the manual-labor school, which position he held till the school was discon- tinued. The school report for this year shows 125 scholars in attend- ance, 78 males and 47 females.
The crops for 1848 were a partial failure, by reason of a prolonged drought of two years-very little rain falling in that time. The springs began to fail, the pasture suffered greatly, and they were compelled in the summer of 1848 to haul water a distance of two miles in order to keep the steam flour-mill running.
This year, 1848, Mr. Johnson decided to organize a classical depart- ment in connection with the school. In the conference minutes it is called the Western Academy. Rev. Nathan Scarrit, father-in-law of Bishop E. R. Hendrix, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, whose episcopal residence in Kansas City, Mo., was selected to take charge of this new department, in which he served three years. Mrs. Hendrix was born at the Shawnee Mission. Mr. Scarritt says, in a manuscript left by him, that the school was then in a flourishing condition, and that the new department which he was called upon to take charge of proved a decided success. He says :
"A score or more of young gentlemen and young ladies from across the line, and some, indeed, from more distant parts of Missouri, were admitted to this department. This brought the whites and Indians into close competition in the race for knowledge, and I must say that those Indian scholars whose previous knowledge had been equal to their competitors were not a whit behind them in contest for the laurels of scholarship."
Doctor Scarritt attributed the success of the school chiefly to the wise, judicious and able management of the superintendent, Rev. Thomas Johnson. Doctor Scarritt spent a considerable part of his time in preaching among the different tribes, through interpreters. He became so interested in missionary work among the Indians that at the end of his three years' professorship he entered that work exclusively. This was in the fall of 1851, when he was appointed to take charge of three missions, the Shawnee, the Delaware and the Wyandotte, with Rev. Daniel D. Doffelmeyer and several native helpers as assistants. He says that the Indian converts were as a rule consistent in their Christian conduct, and that they would compare favorably in this particular with the whites. He says: "The older Christians among them especially would manifest, in their public exercises, their exhortations and prayers
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
a degree of earnestness, pathos and importunity that I have seldom witnessed elsewhere." Of the interpreters he says: "Charles Blue- jacket was our interpreter among the Shawnees, Silas Armstrong among the Wyandottes, and James Ketchum among the Delawares. They were all remarkable men, all intelligent, all truly and deeply pious, yet each was unique in some prominent characteristic."
CHARLES BLUEJACKET.
Charles Bluejacket was born in Michigan, on the river Huron, in 1816, and came with his tribe to Kansas when a boy. His grandfather, Weh-yah-pih-ehr-sehn-wah, or Bluejacket, was a famous war chief, and was in the battle in which General Harmar was defeated, in 1790. In the battle in which Gen. Anthony Wayne defeated the northwest confederacy of Indians, in 1794, Captain Bluejacket commanded the allied forces. According to Charles Bluejacket, his grandfather had been opposed to the war, which had for some time been waged against the whites, but was overruled by the other war-chief. After the defeat which rendered the cause of the Indians hopeless, Captain Bluejacket was the only chief who had courage to go to the camp of General Wayne and sue for peace. The battle was fought in 1794, and a perma- nent peace was made in 1795. Charles Bluejacket's ancestors were war-chiefs, but never village or civil chiefs, until after the removal of the tribe to the West. His father was probably the first civil chief of his family. When Charles was a child his parents moved to the Piqua Plains, Ohio. In 1832 they removed to their reservation near Kansas City, Kan. He was then a youth of sixteen years.
Charles inherited all the noble traits of character of his grandfather. He was licensed to preach in 1859 and continued till the time of his death. Rev. Joab Spencer, in a sketch of this famous Indian, says : "In 1858, when I made his acquaintance, he was forty-two years old and as noble a specimen of manhood as I ever saw. I lived in his family for two months, and saw him at close range. An intimate acquaintance of two years showed him in all walks of life to be a Christian gentleman of high order. In looking back over all these years, I can think of no one who, taken all in all, had more elements of true dignity and noble- ness of character. He was my interpreter, and I never preached through a better. A favorite hymn of Bluejacket's, and the one which was largely instrumental in his conversion, was the familiar hymn of Isaac Watts:
"'Alas! and did my Saviour bleed, And did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head For such a worm as I?'
-
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
"Following is the verse in the Shawnee language :
"'Na peache mi ce ta ha Che na mo si ti we, Ma ci ke na mis wa la ti Mi ti na ta pi ni?'
"No history of the Shawnee Mission would be complete that omitted the names of Bluejacket, Paschal Fish, Tooly, Black Hoff, Pumpkin, Silverheels and Capt. Joseph Parks. All the above were half, and in some cases more than half, white blood."
Bluejacket died October 29, 1897, at the town of Bluejacket, Indian Territory, whither he moved in 1871, from the effects of a cold con- tracted the preceding month, while searching for the Shawnee prophet's grave, in Wyandotte county, Kansas. He was married three times, and twenty-three children were born to him. Mr. Spencer officiated at the wedding of one of his daughters, who married J. Gore.
Rev. Joab Spencer, a missionary among the Shawnees from 1858 to 1860, gives some interesting features of the work, and says in regard to the results of our missionary labors among the Kansas tribes:
"Methodism did not accomplish much for any of the tribes except the Shawnees, Delawares and Wyandottes. The Indians made a treaty in 1854, taking part of their land in severalty and selling the balance to the Government. Each Indian received 200 acres, and $110 cash a year for a number of ten years. This gave the Indians a large sum and was the means of bringing among them a large number of base men, who sold them mean whisky and robbed them in many ways."
One very important official connected with the missions was the interpreter, as the preaching was mostly done through this medium. Rev. G. W. Love, M. D., who was a missionary for nearly three years among the Peoria, Pottawatomie and Kaw Indians, has left some brief reminiscences, which are interesting. Doctor Love emigrated to western Missouri from Tennessee in 1836, and died in Wesport, Mo., October 20, 1903, at the age of eighty-seven. In his reminiscences he says :
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