876 



MISSIONS 



[b. a. e. 



missionary work among them appears to 

 have been that of the mysterious Chris- 

 tian Priber, supposed, though not proven, 

 to have been a French Jesuit, who estab- 

 Hshed his headquarters among them at 

 Tellico, E. Tenn., in 1736, and proceeded 

 to organize them into a regular civihzed 

 form of government. After 5 years of 

 successful progress he was seized by the 

 South Carolina authorities, who regarded 

 him as a French political emissary, and 

 died while in prison. In 1801 the Mora- 

 ria))s Steiner and Byhan began the Cher- 

 okee mission of Spring Place, n. w. Ga., 

 and in 1821 the same denomination es- 

 tablisheil another at Oothcaloga, in tlie 

 same vicinity. Both of these existed 

 until the missions were broken up l)v the 

 State of Georgia in 1843. In 1S04 Rev. 

 Gideon Blackburn, for the Presln/lrrinns, 

 established a Cherokee mission school in 

 E. Tennessee, which did good work for 

 several years until compelled to suspend 

 for lack of funds. In 1817 the American 

 Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 

 sions, under joint Congref/alional and 

 Presbyterian management, estal)lished its 

 first station in the trilie at Brainerd, not 

 far from the present Chattanooga, Tenn., 

 followed within a few years by several 

 others, all of which were in flourishing 

 concUtion when broken up in the Re- 

 moval controversy in 1834. Among the 

 most noted of these missionaries was 

 Rev. S. A. Worcester, one of the princi- 

 pals in the founding of the 'Cherokee 

 Phcenlx' in 1828, the author of a large 

 number of religious and other transla- 

 tions into Cherokee and the steadfast 

 friend of the Indians m the controversy 

 with the State of Georgia. He ministered 

 to the trit)e from his ordination in 1825 

 until his death in 1859, first in the old 

 nation and afterward at D wight, Ark., 

 and Park Hill, near Tahlequah, Ind. 

 T. Of an earlier period was Rev. Dan- 

 iel S. Buttrick, 1817-47, who, however, 

 never mastered the language sufhciently 

 to preach without an interpreter. A na- 

 tive convert of the same period, David 

 Brown, completed a manuscript transla- 

 tion of the New Testament into the new 

 Cherokee syllabary in 1825. 



In 1820 the American Board, through 

 Rev. Mr Cliapman, established Dwight 

 mission for the Arkansas Cherokee, on 

 Illinois cr., about 5 m. above its iunction 

 with the Arkansas, near the present Dar- 

 danelle. Ark. Under Rev. Cephas Wash- 

 burn it grew to be |)erhaps the most im- 

 portant mission station in the S. W. until 

 the removal of the tribe to Indian Ter., 

 about 1839. From this station some atten- 

 tion also was given to the Osage. Of these 

 missions of the American Board, Morse 

 says officially in 1822: " They have been 

 models, according to which other societies 



have since made their establishments." 

 As was then customary, they were largely 

 aided by (government apjiropriation. On 

 the consolidation of the whole Cherokee 

 nation in Indian Ter. the missionaries 

 followed, and new stations were estab- 

 lished which, with some interruptions, 

 remained in operation until the outbreak 

 of the Civil war. 



In 1820 a Baptist mission was established 

 at Valleytown, near the present Murphy, 

 w. N. Car., in charge of Rev. Thomas Po- 

 sey, and in 1821 another of the same de- 

 nomination at Coosawatee,Ga. A few years 

 later the Valleytown mission was placed 

 in charge of Rev. Evan Jones, who con- 

 tinued with it until the removal of the 

 tribe to the W. He edited for some time 

 a journal called the ' Cherokee Messen- 

 ger,' in the native language and syllabary, 

 and also made a translation of the New 

 Testament. The mission work was re- 

 sumed in the new country and continued 

 with a large measure of success down to 

 the modern period. Among the promi- 

 nent native workers may be named Rev. 

 Jesse Bushyhead. 



After many years of neglect the Musk- 

 hogean tribes again came in for attention. 

 In 1881 the Congregational- Presbyterian 

 Ainerican Board, through Rev. Cyrus 

 Kingsbury, established the first station 

 among the Choctaw at Eliot, on Yala- 

 busha r. in n. Miss. Three years later 

 it was placed in charge of Rev. Cyrus 

 Byington, the noted Choctaw philolo- 

 gist, who continued in the work there 

 and in the Indian Ter., for nearly half a 

 century, until his death in 1868. The 

 Eliot mission in its -time was one of the 

 most important in the southern country. 

 In 1820 a second Choctaw mission, called 

 May hew, was begun, and became the 

 residence oi Rev. Alfred Wright, also 

 known for his linguistic work. On the 

 removal of the tribe to Indian Ter., about 

 1830, it became neces.sary to abandon 

 these stations and establish others in the 

 new country beyond the Mississippi. 

 Among the most noted was Whee- 

 lock, organized by Rev. Alfred Wright 

 in 1832. Others were Stockbridge, Ben- 

 nington, Mt Pleasant, and Spencer Acad- 

 emy. The American Board alsoextended 

 its effort to the immigrant Creeks, estab- 

 lishing in their nation, under the super- 

 vision of Rev. R. M. Loughridge, Kowetah 

 (Kawita) mission in 1843, and Tulla- 

 hassee shortly after, with Oak Ridge, 

 among the removed Seminole, a few 

 years later. Most of these continued 

 until the outbreak of the Civil war, and 

 were reorganized after the war was over. 

 The school at Cornwall, Conn., was also 

 conducted as an auxiliary to the mission 

 work of the earlier period (see A^ew Eng- 

 land). Among the Presbyterian workers 



