Missionary Work Among the Ojebway IndiansWilson, Edward Francis
History
Missionary Work Among the Ojebway Indians
Wilson, Edward Francis
Indians of North America -- Missions; Ojibwa Indians
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.
It was very encouraging to me to find that our cause was being taken
up in England; a little circular had been printed and distributed, and
by the middle of October L64 had been contributed towards the erection
of our Mission buildings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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