Ten years of missionary work among the Indians at Skokomish, Washington Territory, 1874-1884Eells, Myron
Religion
Ten years of missionary work among the Indians at Skokomish, Washington Territory, 1874-1884
Eells, Myron
Clallam Indians -- Missions; Missions -- Washington (State); Skokomish Indian Reservation (Wash.); Twana Indians -- Missions
Knowing of four new ones who wished to join the church in April, 1882, I
thought that the time had come to organize them into a church by
themselves. So letters were granted by the Skokomish church to seven who
lived at Jamestown, and the church was organized April 30, 1882, with
eleven members, nine of whom were Indians. The services were in such a
babel of languages that their order is here given: Singing in Clallam
and then in English; reading of the Scriptures in English; prayer by
Rev. H. C. Minckler, of the Methodist-Episcopal church, the
school-teacher; singing in Clallam; preaching in Chinook, translated
into Clallam; singing in Chinook; baptism of an infant son of a white
church member in English; prayer in English; singing in English;
propounding the articles of faith and covenant in English, translated
into Clallam, together with the baptism of four adults; giving of the
right hand of fellowship, in English, translated into Clallam; prayer in
Chinook; singing in Chinook; talk previous to the distribution of the
bread, in Chinook, translated into Clallam; prayer in English;
distribution of the bread; talk in English; prayer in Chinook, followed
by the distribution of the cup; singing in English a hymn in which
nearly all the Indians could join; benediction in Chinook. A number of
their white neighbors gathered in, to the encouragement of the Indians,
six of whom communed with us.
The next fall three more joined, and seven more in 1883, one of whom was
a venerable white-haired white man, over seventy years old. In the fall
of that year five infants were baptized, the first belonging to the
Indians in the history of the church.
In the fall of 1883 three of them accompanied me on a missionary tour to
Clallam Bay. They gave their time, a week, and the American Missionary
Association paid their expenses. It was the first work of the kind which
they had done, and I was pleased with their earnestness and zeal. The
previous spring I had been there, and there were some things which made
me feel as if such a trip might do good. Still it is a hard field
because a majority of the men are over fifty, and, being in the
majority, practise and sing tamahnous, and go to potlatches a good share
of the time during the winter. There is very little white religious
influence near them.
When the day-school first began, in 1878, the teacher, Mr. J. W.
Blakeslee, began also a Sabbath-school. His successor, Rev. H. C.
Minckler, carried it on until he resigned in April, 1883, and no other
teacher was procured until early in 1884; but then they chose one of
their own church members, Mr. George D. Howell, who had been to school
some, and still carried on the school. He served until November, when he
temporarily left to obtain work, and Mr. Howard Chubbs was chosen as his
successor.
In 1880 they procured a small church-bell, the first in the county, and
added a belfry to the church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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