USA > Ohio > Circuit-rider days along the Ohio; being the journals of the Ohio Conference from its organization in 1812 to 1826 > Part 6
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17 For an authoritative account of the formation of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, see Bangs, History of the Missions Under the Care of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, pp. 23-48. Nathan Bangs was one of the preachers present at the organization of the Society and was one of the three appointed to draw up a constitution.
See also letters from Bishops McKendree and Roberts on the founding of a Mis- sionary Society, Methodist Magazine, 1819, vol. ii, pp. 397-399.
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was evident that such an organization could probably raise much more money and consequently do more good than under the present arrangement.
With the above considerations in mind the preachers resident in New York and the book agents, at a meeting held in New York in 181818 proposed that such an organi- zation be formed and a committee of three, consisting of Freeborn Garrettson, Laban Clark, and Nathan Bangs, was appointed to draft a constitution. Each of the mem- bers of the committee prepared constitutions and when they next came together the constitution prepared by Nathan Bangs was adopted, with some slight amendment. The next move was the calling of a meeting of all those interested in the missionary cause at the Forsyth Street Church on the evening of April 5, 1919. Here after several addresses the constitution was adopted and the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was thus launched.19
Besides the president, vice-presidents, and secretaries, and the treasurer, the Society was to have thirty-two managers, elected by the Society annually, and each An- nual Conference was to have the privilege of electing a vice-president from its own body. The Constitution pro- vided for auxiliary societies, and these societies were to be supplied with Bibles and Testaments at cost, provided they agree to turn over to the general Society all surplus money after they have supplied their own needs. Accord- ing to this provision, the Ohio Conference at its session in 1829 resolved that an auxiliary society should be formed at Chilicothe.20
The amount collected during the first year by the Gen-
18 The following preachers were at the meeting: Freeborn Garrettson, Samuel Mer- win, Joshua Soule, Thomas Mason, Laban Clark, Seth Crowell, Samuel Howe, Thomas Tharp, and Nathan Bangs.
19 The first officers of the Society were: the Rev. William McKendree, president; Enoch George, Ist vice-president; Robert R. Roberts, 2d vice-president; N. Bangs, 3rd vice-president; Mr. Francis Hall, clerk; Daniel Ayers, recording secretary; the Rev. Thomas Mason, corresponding secretary; and Joshua Soule, treasurer.
20 MSS. Journal for 1920. See the Circular sent out by the Society, Bangs, pp. 23, 33.
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eral Society was $823.04.21 The income of the Society steadily increased year by year and in the fourth year an income of $5,521.061/2 was reported.22 Of this total sum $1,899.46 was appropriated for the Wyandot Mis- sion. Among the auxiliary societies was the Juvenile Finleyan Mite Society organized in Baltimore, the purpose of which seems to have been to raise money for the education of Indian children at the Wyandot Mission.
During the year 1820-21 the mission was continued on the same plan as the year previous with varying success. The presiding elder in charge of the work came to the conclusion during this year that more was necessary than simply to hold preaching among the Indians if they were to benefit permanently. He accordingly urged them to allow a school to be established on manual labor prin- ciples. In their last treaty a section of land had been set apart for school purposes, but the Indians hesitated. Finally after long delay they at last drew up an address to be presented to the Ohio Conference at its next ses- sion at Lebanon, Ohio, in August, 1821. The address states, "Our council have resolved to admit a missionary school to be established among us, at Upper Sandusky ; and have selected a section of land for that purpose, at a place called Camp Meigs, where there is spring water, and other conveniences." They further ask that the school-teacher to be selected be a preacher, who will be able to preach and baptize their children and marry their people. Further, they ask for a man who "loves our nation ; that loves us and our children; one that can bear with our ignorance and weakness."23 The address was signed by seven chiefs and certified as being done, in the presence, and by the interpretation of "William
21 "First Annual Report of the Missionary and Bible Society," held in John Street Church, New York, April 17, 1820, Methodist Magazine, vol. iii, pp. 185-194. 1820.
22 Fourth Annual Report of the Missionary Society, bound with the Methodist Maga- zine for 1823, vol. vi.
28 Finley, Life Among the Indians, pp. 278, 279.
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Walker, United States Interpreter, and Moses Hinkle sr. missionary."
The request of the Indians for a school and a settled teacher and preacher was well received by the Ohio Con- ference at their next session, and James B. Finley was ap- pointed to take charge of the work and the following re- port on the subject was adopted :
1. That the Conference immediately establish a School at Camp Meegs, for the education of the Wyandot Indians, and others,
2. That the Missionary who may be stationed at Camp Meegs shall have the superintendence of the above School and the said Missionary is hereby authorized and required to select and em- ploy a missionary family, likewise to erect such buildings as may be necessary.
3. That a special committee be appointed in or near the town of Xenia to whom the Superintendant of the above School may make known the wants and necessaties of the Missionary family & school which committe is to take charge of all provisions, clothing &ct. which may come into their hands; they are also to give such instructions to other commites as they may learn from the Superintendant to be necessary.
4. That subscriptions be printed and put into the hands of every preacher in charge of a circuit or station, to obtain monies for the above Mission and School.
5. That the Presiding Elders be authorized & required to ap- point a committee or committees in every district for the purpose of obtaining provisions, clothing &ct for the support of the In- dians at school which provisions when collected shall be subject to their order or the order of the Superintendant.
6. The above Missionary is hereby authorized and requested to purchase all the impliments and utentials he thinks necessary for house keeping and farming for the above school and Mission.
7. That an appropriate address be drawn up and presented to the above Indians.
8. That an address be drawn up and sanctioned by this Con- ference and put into the hands of every preacher who has the charge of a Circuit or Station to obtain signatures petioning Congress not to repeal the existing laws which regulate our commerce with the Indians: These petitions when signed are to be returned to the P. Elder of each district and forwarded by him to Congress as soon as it can be done.
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9. The committe also examined the accounts of Moses Hinkle, and James B. Finley and find that the expenditures of the Indian and Mission are less than the monies recd. by (errors excepted) $3.57.
10. We likewise beg leave to report that the Superintendent of the Indian School be allowed a salary of $500. including what he may get as a Missionary.4
The appointment of James B. Finley as the mission- ary to the Wyandots marks the beginning of a new period in the mission. Placing his furniture and household effects upon a suitable wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen, the missionary family set off through the woods on Octo- ber 8, 1821, for the Indian reservation. For sixty miles the road lay through a dense woods, and in that distance there were but three cabins. Besides his own wife and children Finley had employed two men and a young woman, while Miss Harriet Stubbs volunteered to ac- company them as a teacher. Arriving at their destina- tion, they were permitted to unload their goods at a new cabin belonging to the blacksmith, until their own was built. The next Sabbath the new missionary conducted service at the council-house, assisted by John Stewart, who at this time, however, was suffering from consump- tion.
It was imperative that Finley and his two assistants set to work at once building the necessary buildings to house the mission. Finley had not worked at manual labor for years and the work of felling trees and prepar- ing the logs for the houses soon blistered his hands, until there was little skin left in the palms, but he states: "I took oak bark, boiled it, and washed my hands in the decoction, and they soon got well, and became hard." Finally a cabin was built twenty by twenty-three feet and "on the very day snow began to fall" the family moved in. The cattle found shelter in one of the old
24 MSS. Journal of the Ohio Conference, 1821.
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block houses, but there was still to be constructed a large house to be used as a school. Undaunted by winter the missionary and his one assistant-for the other young man had left-began preparing the timbers for this larger building. Finley says, "I think I can say that neither Brother Riley nor myself sat down to eat one meal of victuals that winter but by candlelight, except on Sabbath days."25
One of the problems which Finley had to meet was that of enforcing discipline. Up to this time there had been no church organization among the Indians, and those who desired came and enjoyed the church ordinances without formal admission. When it was proposed to the Indians that their names be placed on paper as members of the church and that they be formed into classes there was considerable objection. Calling them to account for their conduct seemed to them like enslaving them. Fin- ally, after three months of preparation and the frequent reading of the General Rules, Finley proceeded to form classes. At Big Spring twenty came forward and gave their names as members of the church; at the council- house only ten, and among these ten were four chiefs, making a total of thirty, out of the whole nation. One condition laid down was total abstinence; not a single Indian was admitted that tasted liquor on any occasion.
Immediately after the formation of these classes, op- position was aroused against Finley and the Methodist Church by traders who lived on the border of the reserva- tion and who made their living selling whisky to the Indians. Due to this opposition it was some time be- fore there was much increase in the classes, but in the early spring one of the principal women, opposed to the mission, was thoroughly converted which led to a con- siderable revival among them.
26 For Finley's own account of this experience see Finley, Life Among the Indians, pp. 283-286.
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During the month of February nearly all the Indians went to the woods to trap and make sugar. The mission- ary decided that preaching ought to follow the Indians, and accordingly he, with Armstrong and Mononcue, set off through the woods for their hunting ground, having announced a meeting to be held at the camp of Between- the-Logs about the first of March. The camp lay twenty- five miles through the forest, without path or blazed tree. Finally reaching their destination, Finley, Monon- cue and Armstrong were joyfully received, the women and children running to meet them.26 It was Friday morning when the missionary arrived at the hunting camp and the first night, as Finley says, was mostly spent "laboring with an Indian man who was of the heathen party," the brother of the chief of the Beaver tribe.
The next morning many Indians came from their camps and pitched their tents, and that evening there was a congregation of about one hundred and fifty. Sunday morning the love feast was held and at eleven o'clock came the preaching, and at that service several joined the church. Finley says: "I made strict inquiry how they attended to their duties in the woods, such as family and private prayer, and especially how they spent the Sabbath. Whether on that day they looked after their traps, or made sugar, or gathered the water. But I found that all their duties were most sacredly attended to; and on the Sabbath as many as could, came together, and sung and prayed, and held class meeting."
The last Quarterly Meeting of the year was interesting, and showed the effect of Finley's teaching and his attempt to establish discipline among the Indian Christians. In examining the character of the leaders an objection was made to one that he had cut wood on Sunday. This he
26 Finley most interestingly describes the Indian camps, their methods of trapping and the process of sugar-making in his Life Among the Indians, pp. 294-299.
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acknowledged, but stated that it was very cold and he either had to cut wood or freeze. Finley then asked what he had been doing the Saturday previous, and stated "your neglect on Saturday made you break the Sabbath." Another was accused of having sold some sugar on Sun- day, which he admitted, but stated he had forgotten it was Sunday and that he would not do so again. A third was accused of being too dirty in his clothing and person. The accused excuse was that he had no wife and that he was a poor hand to wash. In reply his accuser said : "Your want of a wife is no excuse. We have women enough in our nation that have no husbands, and feel themselves lost for want of a head. They would marry if asked, and will make wives good enough for any of us; but some of our men are afraid to get wives now; they cannot throw them away when they please, but must stick to them. Our women do not now cultivate our corn, cut our wood, and do all our work as they used to do." The result of this admonition was most fruitful, for within a week or two the missionary was called upon to marry the old dirty Indian class leader.
Another interesting event of this first year of the mis- sion under James B. Finley was the camp meeting held in the Delaware Circuit, which was attended by many of the Wyandots. This meeting resulted in the conver- sion of a number of Indians and nine of them joined the church.
Meanwhile the mission school and farm were not neg- lected. By the end of July the double mission house, forty-eight feet long, was nearly finished. This work, however, was interrupted by the severe sickness of both Finley and his wife, and from this illness they were not fully recovered until late fall. Stewart also had been at work all the year, doing what he could in his feeble state of health. Reports were circulated that Stewart had been thrown out with no support. To quiet these rumors
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Bishop McKendree collected a hundred dollars and a farm of sixty acres was purchased for Stewart and his wife, for he had married a woman of his own color in 1820. On this farm Stewart lived, adjoining the reserva- tion, until his death in 1823.
The Conference of 1821 had requested the preachers to gather provisions, clothing, and other things necessary for the mission. The following articles were forwarded to the mission from Cincinnati, Xenia, and Dayton. I give the list just as it appears in the original manu- script :
Rec'd from Cincinnati. 1 Bible worn, I Companion for the Alter, 1 the reformed -? ,3 small primmers, 2 Doz. American prim- mers, 1/2 Doz. Spelling, 6 slack locks, 4 Pad. Do., 4 pr large B hinges and screws, 5 pr smaller do do, 2 papier scriens, 2 do --------- -? I Doz Tea Spoons, 1/2 Doz pr scissors, 4 door knobes, 2 bed cords, 2 sickles, 1 coffee pot, 1 hoe, 35 tin cups, 1 matlock, 2 Kegs nails different sizes-each 100 1b-54 1b. 151/5 4 d pails, 8 10 do. 51/2 8d do., 3 small pieces bacon don't know from whom.
Xenia neighborhood.
1 collar, 1 Blanket, 1 big wheel, 119 1b bacon, 13 1b dried beef, 2 bed cords, 81b . hard soap, 63/4 lb tallow, 34 1b sugar, 1-12 Gal Kittle cost $1.80, 1 hoe, 11/2 bush of dried apples, 1 tub cost $1.50, 2 wask boards, 64 1b bacon, 17 lb Do.
Dayton.
1 Bull plough, 4yds callico, 4 yds, cotton shirting."
The letter, evidently accompanying the above list of articles, states : "I feel much mortified that so much exertion has produced so little . be assured I have travelled for the mission. I meet with the avericious devil at every point and when he is pierced he flounces and spouts like a whale with a harpoon in him."28
Some of the Methodist brethren were not slow to avail
27 From a MS. found in the Library of Ohio Wesleyan University.
28 From & MS. letter.
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themselves of the missionary and the Methodist mission for the purpose of trade as the following letter indicates :
WILMINGTON 25 Dec. 1821.
Dear brother as I contemplate visiting your place in about four weeks if the Sleighing will answer for the purpose of pur- chasing some furs such as muskrat mink and otter. I want to get some information what articles I can bring to give in ex- change. I expect to start with some hats please give a descrip- tion of those that will answer to bring. I also wish you to direct the best rout to come in a sleigh the distance etc.
The writer also inquires whether Detroit can be reached from Upper Sandusky, while he closes his letter with considerable church news, which gives a rather in- teresting example of how business and religion can be mingled, at least to the advantage to business.29
During this year Finley received the following letter from Bishop McKendree which gives considerable in- formation as to the interest the church at large was taking in the new missionary venture in Ohio. The bishop writes from South Carolina and the letter is dated January 24, 1821.30
I have not had the pleasure of receiving any intelligence from the Conference relative to the progress of our Missionary busi- ness; some however, from the Book agents has afforded me consolation. I can but rejoice to hear that that the great and good work is going on and hope that you may be encouraged to continue your labours. The school particularly deserves our most serious attention and utmost exertions. I suggest the propriety of procuring in the first instance an effective teacher, who will not only teach the art of reading. but the ruduments of agriculture and husbandry.
Let Br. Stewart know that his brethern in the South encourage and pray for him. In passing along the sea shore from Wil- mington to Charleston, I communicated something relative to
29 MS. letter in the Library of Ohio Wesleyan University.
30 From an unpublished letter in the collection at Ohio Wesleyan University. The one hundred dollars collected by Bishop McKendree is evidently the sum used to purchase the sixty acres of land adjoining the reservation, which was presented to John Stewart.
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his labours and had the pleasure to receive at conference one hundred dollars-which sum was collected in Wilmington, Georgetown, an' Charleston, chiefly among the blacks, and sent on to me to aid Br. Stewart in his good work.
Our brethern here seem to regard the poor Indians as ob- jects worthy of their most serious attention. We have ap- pointed a missionary to travel through the bounds of the So. Carolina Conference to form out societies &c for the purpose of aiding in establishing schools among them. Br. Wm. Capers goes on the work and is to visit the Choctaws and others.31
W. McKendree.
At the session of the Ohio Conference, held at Marietta in August, 1822,32 the Rev. Charles Elliott was appointed missionary to the Wyandots, while James B. Finley was made the presiding elder of the Lebanon District and superintendent of the mission. There was an under- standing that if Finley's health permitted, he was to be relieved of the duties of the district and return to the mission during the year. Besides Elliott, William Walker, who belonged to the nation and understood the Indian language, and Lydia Barstow were employed as teachers.
Throughout this year the mission and the school were very flourishing, and the membership of the mission church grew from sixty-five to near two hundred. Charles Elliott spent much of his time in the field making col- lections for the mission while James B. Finley gave up his district and gave all his time to the mission. The
31 William Capers became the outstanding missionary in the south under the direc- tion of the Methodist Episcopal Church, not alone to the Indians, but he was also later employed in establishing mission work among the negroes. (See letters from the Rev. William Capers in the Methodist Magazine.)
32 The Conference Journal for 1822 contains the following reference to the visit of the Wyandot chiefs: "The chiefs of the Wyandote Mission appeared before the Con- ference and each addressed it through an interpreter in a pleasing manner, and they were replied to in like manner through the same by Bishop McKendree." (MSS. Journal for 1822.)
The following letter to J. B. Finley from Bishop McKendree, written by D. Hitt, for the Bishop explains itself. It is dated May 4, 1822:
"As respects the Indians visiting the Conference at its next session, the Bishop is unwilling to give advice therein; but thinks, as you know the place and country round about the seat of Conference, you must judge of the propriety or impropriety of their attending, at the same time not doubting, but their attendance might be productive of salutary effects in various points of view." (From an unpublished letter, Ohio Wesleyan University.)
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very success of the mission aroused to greater activity the heathen party among the Indians which was led by the brother of Between-the-Logs, Bloody-Eyes. During the winter the Christian and the heathen party met at the Council house on a Sabbath and after much speechmak- ing on both sides the controversy finally ended, though the head chief De-un-quot said, "This religion may go into all the houses on this reservation, but into mine it shall not come." Soon after this the head chief died, and immediately afterward his wife and children ac- cepted Christianity and came into the church.
In the winter of 1823 Finley made a visit to neighbor- ing tribes in company with several of the Christian chiefs. They visited some Mohawk towns and spent a Sabbath at a Seneca village and made frequent visits to some Delawares living on the Sandusky. On these trips he was always accompanied by some of the leaders among the Christian Wyandots who aided him greatly in his work.
In the early summer of 1823 the mission was favored by a visit from Bishop McKendree. His visit took place at the time when they were engaged in cultivating the fifty acres of corn and Finley describes how the good bishop went to the field with the Indian boys and worked with a hoe, to the delight of the boys. He stayed five days, making frequent visits to the school, and observed the progress and behavior of the Indian children. On this visit he states: "These visits were highly gratifying to us, and they afforded us an opportunity of observing the behavior of the children both in and out of school, their improvement in learning, and the whole order and management of the school; together with the proficiency of the boys in agriculture, and of the girls in the various domestic arts. They are sewing and spinning hand- somely, and would be weaving if they had looms. The children are cleanly, chaste in their manners, kind to each other, peaceable and friendly to all. They promptly
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obey orders, and do their work cheerfully, without any objection or murmur."33
During the good bishops stay he held an informal coun- cil with their principal men and six chiefs, which we will let the bishop describe :
On the third day after our arrival, we dined with Between- the-Logs and about twenty of their principal men, six of whom were chiefs, and three interpreters; and were very agreeably and comfortably entertained. After dinner we were all comfortably seated-a few of us on benches, the rest on the grass, under a pleasant grove of shady oaks, and spent about two hours in council. I requested them to give us their views of the state of the school; to inform us without reserve, of any objections they might have to the order and management thereof, and to sug- gest any alteration they might wish. I also desired to know how their nation liked our religion, and how those who had embraced it were prospering ?"
In reply to the bishop's questions, the Indians ex- pressed great satisfaction both with the school and the general condition of the mission and were anxious that they be continued among them.
The condition of the mission in 1823 is well described in a letter addressed to Bishop McKendree by the Indian Agent, Mr. John Johnson. The letter dated August 23, 1823, was written from Upper Sandusky, and is as fol- lows:
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