464 



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE 



Simerwell (R.) — CoDtiuued. 



[Vocabularies, verbal conjugations, 



and short sentences, in Englisli and 

 Potewatemi.] 



Manuscript, 20 leaves, 10 of which are blank, 

 40. In possession of Mr. John B. Dunbar, 

 Bloomfield, N. J. 



The text commences at one end of the vol- 

 ume with the word : Man + «t nin eh, etc. At 

 the other end (reversing the volume), it begins : 

 Food or Meat = me chim, etc. The orthogra- 

 phy is apparently earlier than 1834, in which 

 year Mr. Meeker's system was adopted. 



[Vocabulary, Englisb and Potewat- 

 emi. J 



Manuscript, 36 leaves, of which 10 are blank, 

 sq. 18°. In possession of Mr. John B. Dunbar, 

 Bloomfield, N. J. Contains about 650 words, 

 alphabetically arranged, and written apparent- 

 ly before the adoption of the new system of 

 orthography in 1834. 



and Noaquett. Potrwatome nkum- 



winin, | epe | natotatewinin. j Sise- 

 minwrn epe Norqit, | okena'tonawa 

 I Pukon Kesis, 1835. | [Three lines Po- 

 tewatemi.] I 



Shawanoe Baptist Mission : | J. Mee- 

 ker printer : | 1835. 



Title verso explanation! 1. text entirely in the 

 Potewatemi language pp. 3-83, index p. 84,18°. 



Primer lessons, pp. 3-6.— Katekism, pp. 7- 

 46.— Hymns, pp. 47-83. 



Copies seen: Boston Athenaeum. 



Robert Simerwell was born in Ireland, May 

 1, 1786. At the age of nine he was sent to 

 school, which he attended regularly for two 

 years, and afterwards occasionally until he was 

 fifteen. In the spring of 1803, his parents em- 

 barked for America with their family, which 

 consisted of five boys and one girl, and in May 

 they arrived at Philadelphia. Soon after land- 

 ing, sickness came into the family, and in 

 three months Robert was a homeless orphan. 

 He found employment soon after as an appren- 

 tice to the blacksmith trade. At the age of 

 twenty-two years he united with the Baptist 

 church, and in the summer of 1824 he joined 

 the Baptist mission among the Putawatomie 

 Indians, at Carey station in Michigan territory. 

 He was persuaded to devote himself to this 

 work by Rev. Isaac McCoy, who had estab- 

 lished the mission there in 1822. On the 17th of 

 March, 1825, he was married to Miss F. Good- 

 ridge. During tae next five years he and his 

 wife resided at Carey station, where they as- 

 sisted Mr. and Mrs. McCoy in teachmg and 

 taking care of the Putawatomie children. In 

 these labors they had the help of Mr. John- 

 ston Lykins and Mr. Jotham Meeker, the lat- 

 ter of whom had been induced by Mr. Simer- 

 well to join the mission. Through the influ- 

 ence of Mr. McCoy, Mr. Simerwell received the 

 appointment of government blacksmith to the 



Simerwell (R.) — Continued. 



Indians, at a salary of 365 dollars a year, " all 

 of which he, like those of the other mission- 

 aries who received salaries from the Govern- 

 ment, threw into the common missionary ac- 

 count, as money belonging to the board, and to 

 be accounted for by a report." 



In 1830 it was decided to discontinue the 

 Baptist mission in Michigan, and to remove to 

 the new Indian territory with as many of the 

 Indians as would accompany them. In the 

 following year Mr. McCoy and Mr. Lykins 

 started for the west to select a site for the new 

 mission. Mr. and Mrs. Simerwell remained be- 

 hind to look after the Putawatomies. The 

 school at Carey having been discontinued, with 

 the exception of seven or eight Indian children 

 whom the missionaries kept with them, "Mr. 

 Simerwell employed his time in the study of 

 the Putawatomie language, " of which he soon 

 became a master. In the latter part of 1833, 

 he and his wife started from Michigan, and on 

 the 13th of November they arrived at the Shaw- 

 anoe mission house, in what is now Johnson 

 county, Kansas, where Mr. Lykins and the 

 other missionaries had preceded them. 



In 1834, the emigrant Putawatomies who had 

 reached the Missouri river and were waiting 

 for the selection of a reservation numbered be- 

 tween four and five hundred individuals. This 

 company was being continually increased by 

 the arrival of others from Michigan and In- 

 diana. While Mr. Simerwell kept his family 

 at the Shawanoe station and in the vicinity, he 

 frequently visited these Putawatomies, whose 

 encampment was about forty miles distant. 

 He usually remained among them several days 

 at a time, "for the purpose of imparting re- 

 ligious instruction, and of teaching a few to 

 read in their own language." For their use 

 "he compiled, and had printed," Mr. McCoy 

 relates, "a small book ia Putawatomie." This 

 was probably the primer of thirty-two pages 

 described above. The new printing press had 

 only recently been set up at the mission, under 

 the care of Mr. Jotham Meeker. Among the 

 first things printed on it (March, 1834), were 

 " 50 copies of the alphabet for several tribes," 

 in the new system of orthography; One of 

 these alphabets was probably in the Putawato- 

 mie language, prepared by Mr. Simerwell. In 

 1835, with the help of his Putawatomie inter- 

 preter, Noaquett, whose English name was Lu- 

 ther Rice, he compiled another book in the 

 same language, containing a catechism and 

 some hymns. Two other books in Putawato- 

 mie, the titles of which have not been ascer- 

 tained, were printed before 1840, according to 

 Mr. McCoy. These were all printed according 

 to the new system, an account of which, with 

 a specimen of Mr. Simerwell's alphabet, is giv- 

 en under Meeker (J.) 



In 1836 application was made to the depart- 

 ment of Indian affairs at "Washington for the 

 requisite authority for Mr. Simerwell to prose- 

 cute his missionary labors among the Putawat- 



