Wyandot Mission Church

Last updated

Wyandot Mission Church
Wyandot Mission Church.jpg
USA Ohio location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationEast Church Street (Upper Sandusky, Ohio, U.S.)
Coordinates 40°50′10″N83°16′43″W / 40.83611°N 83.27861°W / 40.83611; -83.27861
Area3 acres (1.2 ha)
Built1824
NRHP reference No. 76001552
Added to NRHPJanuary 20, 1976

The Wyandot Mission Church is an early-19th century Methodist church in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Its single room is populated with dark, log pews and paintings of the missionary John Stewart and Wyandot converts. Surrounded by trees and a cemetery, the church is often described as peaceful.

Contents

After joining Stewart among the Wyandots, Reverend James B. Finley directed the construction of the church. Built of blue limestone, it was used by the Wyandots for two decades. Before their removal to Kansas in 1843, they met there and deeded its land to the Methodist Episcopal Church. However, the church was soon abandoned and only restored by Methodists in 1888. Ongoing summer services at the church began in 1970. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Description

The Wyandot Mission Church is located on East Church Street in the northern outskirts of Upper Sandusky, Ohio. [1] [2] Surrounded by a cemetery, it is considered the first U.S. mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church. [3] Its single room is adorned with portraits of the missionary John Stewart and prominent Wyandot converts, as well as paintings of its services during the 19th century. At the front is a raised platform and pulpit. As of 2009, the platform bore Christan and American flags alongside a Wyandot flag with a turtle, representing their belief that the world was created upon its back. On both sides of the platform are gray wooden doors with white crosses. [2] The church has hand-hewn, log benches, pews of a dark walnut color, [2] [3] and a potbelly stove. [4]

Henry Howe reported in 1847 that the church was encircled by forest and stood in a small enclosure, [1] and Ron Simon of News-Journal wrote in 1973 that "old and graceful" trees sheltered the church. He thought it "enjoy[ed] a quiet, almost melancholy setting", [3] which The Marion Star 's Lucy Wood thought enticed meditation, as well as "simple and sincere" ways of worship. [4]

History

The church in 1846 Wyandot Mission Church 1846.png
The church in 1846

In 1816, John Stewart, a Methodist son of slaves, traveled north of his home in Marietta, Ohio, after purportedly hearing a commandment from God. He met the Wyandots of Upper Sandusky, whom he began preaching and singing to in 1819. [5] Many Wyandots respected him and became his converts, including some influential chiefs. [2] Reverend James B. Finley joined him soon after, [5] though Stewart died in 1823. [2]

The Wyandot Mission Church was built In 1824 under Finley's direction. [6] He had traveled to Washington, D.C., with two chiefs to obtain its funds from the federal government. [3] John C. Calhoun, a secretary of war, granted him permission, and the government gave him $1,333. [6] President James Monroe suggested he used materials of such strength that the church would stand long after their deaths. [3] It was built of blue limestone quarried from the Sandusky River and hauled by carts and oxen, while the wood of its interior was cut from the Indian Mill a few miles away. [3] [4] Over the next two decades, many Wyandots worshipped and learned at the church. [5]

The church in decay Old Mission Church, Upper Sandusky, Ohio. - DPLA - 8f921f8742b3bf71081688becccc40ef (page 1) (cropped).jpg
The church in decay

As a result of the Indian Removal Act, the Wyandots were forced west into Kansas City, Kansas in 1843. [5] That July, hundreds tearfully met at the church to place flowers across its graves and hear chief Squire Grey Eyes give a farewell speech. [4] [7] The Wyandots sold 109,000 acres of Ohian land, but also deeded three acres where the cemetery sat to the Methodist Episcopal Church, requesting that they protect it from desecration. [5] Methodists used the church and tended to its graves until 1947, but it became abandoned, and eventually, its roof fell in and its walls crumbled. [5] [8]

In the 1870s, Reverend Nathanial N. B. C. Love became enamored with the church. In 1888, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church allotted $2,000 to restore it. Construction began the following year, to which he took part. [7] [8] The church was rededicated in September 1889. Elnathan C. Gavitt, who served for the church in the early-1830s, and General William H. Gibson were among the various ministers who gave speeches, and N. B. C. Love displayed a historical sketch. [4] [9] Margaret Grey Eyes Solomon, nicknamed "Mother Solomon", was the only departing Wyandot to be present, having returned to Ohio in 1865. She sang a Wyandot translation of the hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". [4] [10]

The church was designated a historical shrine by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1960. That decade, the local historian Thelma Marsh set up tours of the church. [7] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and is now maintained by the John Stewart United Methodist Church. [4] [7] Summer services have been held there each summer since 1970. [4] The 1973 season featured preaching from Heth H. Corl of the John Stewart United Methodist Church. Up until then, there were never less than 50 attendees, and at one point, there was a maximum of 135. Tourists explored the church daily and usually after services; the 1972 season saw 5,000 in total. [3] Services in 2009 drew between 30 and 96 people, the donations during which provided most of the church's maintenance funds. They also annually received a few hundred dollars from the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church. [2] In 2019, the church and three acres of land where it sits were formally deeded back to the Wyandotte Nation. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wyandot County, Ohio</span> County in Ohio, United States

Wyandot County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,900. Its county seat is Upper Sandusky. It was named for the Wyandot Indians, who lived here before and after European encounter. Their autonym is variously translated from their language as "around the plains" and "dwellers on the peninsula". The county was organized by the state legislature from parts of Crawford, Marion, Hardin and Hancock counties on February 3, 1845.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wyandot people</span> Native American ethnic group

The Wyandot people are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of North America, and speakers of an Iroquoian language, Wyandot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wyandotte Nation</span> Federally recognized Native American tribe in Oklahoma

The Wyandotte Nation is a federally recognized Native American tribe headquartered in northeastern Oklahoma. They are descendants of the Wendat Confederacy and Native Americans with territory near Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. Under pressure from Haudenosaunee and other tribes, then from European settlers and the United States government, the tribe gradually moved south and west to Michigan, Ohio, Kansas, and finally Oklahoma in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Cardwell McCabe</span> American methodist leader

Charles Cardwell McCabe, also known as "Bishop" C. C. McCabe and Chaplain C. C. McCabe, was an American who distinguished himself as a Methodist pastor, an Army chaplain during the American Civil War, a Church executive chiefly in the field of fundraising, as chancellor of American University, and as a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church (M.E.), elected in 1896. McCabe was credited by Julia Ward Howe as having popularized her famous piece "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" after his imprisonment by the Confederates in Libby Prison during the Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard H. Cain</span> American politician

Richard Harvey Cain was an American minister, abolitionist, and United States Representative from South Carolina from 1873 to 1875 and 1877 to 1879. After the American Civil War, he was appointed by Bishop Daniel Payne as a missionary of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina. He also was one of the founders of Lincolnville, South Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capon Chapel</span> Historic United Methodist church in West Virginia, U.S.

Capon Chapel, also historically known as Capon Baptist Chapel and Capon Chapel Church, is a mid-19th century United Methodist church located near to the town of Capon Bridge, West Virginia, in the United States. Capon Chapel is one of the oldest existing log churches in Hampshire County, along with Mount Bethel Church and Old Pine Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Morgan Walden</span> American bishop, newspaper editor and journalist

John Morgan Walden was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He also gained notability as a newspaper editor and journalist, as a State Superintendent of Education in Kansas, as an officer in the Union Army, and as an Official in his Christian denomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Mudge</span> American missionary

James Mudge (1844–1918) was an American Methodist Episcopal clergyman and writer, nephew of Zachariah Mudge, Methodist missionary in India during the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.. He authored many works centered around religion and spirituality during his missionary career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney Badgley</span>

Sidney Rose Badgley was a prominent start-of-the-20th-century Canadian-born architect. He was active throughout the United States and Canada, with a significant body of work in Cleveland.

John Stewart (1786-1823) was a missionary to the Wyandot Indians of Ohio and founder of what is often considered the first Methodist mission in America. Stewart was born in Powhatan County, Virginia to free Negro parents who were of mixed ancestry; a mix of white, black, and Indian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. James Church (Queens)</span> Church in Queens, New York

St. James Church is a historic Episcopal church building at 86-02 Broadway in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens in New York City. It is the city's oldest surviving Anglican building and Church of England mission church. It is also alternatively called the Old St. James Church to distinguish it from the St. James Episcopal Church two blocks away.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mechanicsburg Baptist Church</span> Historic church in Ohio, United States

The Mechanicsburg Baptist Church is a historic church in the village of Mechanicsburg, Ohio, United States. Constructed for a Methodist congregation in the late nineteenth century, the building was taken over by Baptists after the original occupants vacated it, and it has been named a historic site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Walker (Wyandot leader)</span> Wyandot leader, born 1800

William Walker (1800–1874) was a Wyandot Native American Indian leader and the first provisional governor of Nebraska Territory which also encompassed the present-day state of Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Splitlog Church</span> Historic church in Oklahoma, United States

Splitlog Church is a historic church building in the unincorporated community of Cayuga, Oklahoma, near Grove, Oklahoma. It is named for Mathias and Eliza Splitlog, who built the church and founded Cayuga, which was an industrial center in the late 1880s. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and still serves as a church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of St. Philip-in-the-Field and Bear Canon Cemetery</span> Historic site in Douglas County, Colorado

The Church of St. Philip-in-the-Field and Bear Canon Cemetery is a historic church building and cemetery in Sedalia, Colorado. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">York Chapel United Methodist Church (Longtown, Missouri)</span> Church in Missouri , United States

York Chapel is a former United Methodist Church in Longtown, Missouri.

The Jackson Ranch Church also called the Jackson Methodist Church in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States, was established in 1884 from land donated by Martin Jackson, the son of the settlers Matilda and Nathaniel Jackson. Previously, a church was built by the Jackson family of adobe and logs in 1874 or 1875, but it was washed away in a flood. It began as a Methodist Episcopal Church and remained so for fifty years, until the minister retired. After that, it alternatively served as a Methodist and Lutheran Church. There is a cemetery at the church and another cemetery about two blocks away, the Eli Jackson Cemetery which was established in 1865 by Martin's brother Eli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mother Solomon</span> Wyandot nanny (1816–1890)

Margaret Grey Eyes Solomon, better known as Mother Solomon, was a Wyandot nanny. Born along Owl Creek, Ohio, her father took her to Indigenous sites like the Olentangy Indian Caverns as a child. After moving to the Big Spring Reservation in 1822, she learned housekeeping and English at a nearby mission school. By age eight, Solomon began attending the Wyandot Mission Church. Two of her children with David Young, whom she married in 1833, were buried nearby. In 1842, her community succumbed to the Indian Removal Act and signed a treaty to move to Kansas. Solomon and hundreds of Wyandots met at the church the following July to commemorate. Dozens died of illness along the journey, and in Kansas, Solomon sought to protect the Huron Indian Cemetery, as by 1860, she had buried within it her husband and six remaining children. Whilst in Kansas, $865 worth of belongings, including oxen, pigs, and horses, were stolen from her.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silas Armstrong</span> American Wyandot merchant (1810–1865)

Silas Armstrong was an American Wyandot merchant and politician.

References

  1. 1 2 Howe 1891, p. 598.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Yonke, David (January 8, 2009). "Ohio Church Was First Methodist Mission". The Blade . Archived from the original on May 20, 2024. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Simon, Ron (September 2, 1973). "Old Mission Kept Alive By Church and Tourists". News-Journal . p. 13. Archived from the original on May 20, 2024. Retrieved May 20, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Wood, Lucy (June 14, 1987). "Wyandott Mission Retains Sacred Air". The Marion Star . p. 22. Archived from the original on May 25, 2024. Retrieved May 25, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lati, Marisa (September 24, 2019). "The U.S. Once Forced This Native American Tribe to Move. Now They're Getting Their Land Back". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
  6. 1 2 Howe 1891, pp. 597–598.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Wolf, Jeannie Wiley (May 14, 2023). "Old Mission Church Still Holding Services After 199 Years". The Courier . Archived from the original on April 27, 2024. Retrieved May 24, 2024.
  8. 1 2 Howe 1891, p. 600.
  9. ↑ King, I. F. (October 1901). "Introduction of Methodism in Ohio". Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications . 10: 203. Archived from the original on May 5, 2024. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
  10. ↑ Howe 1891, pp. 600–603.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.