The school was intended to educate students of non-Christian cultures, including Native Americans, in Christianity and Western culture so that they might become missionaries and emissaries to their own peoples. It had students from Hawaii, India and East Asia, in addition to those of Native American tribes primarily from east of the Mississippi River.
History
The school was called a seminary, "for the purpose of educating youths of Heathen nations, with a view to their being useful in their respective countries", according to Jedidiah Morse.[2] The school was established in the last few months of 1816, and opened in May 1817. The first principal was Edwin Welles Dwight (1789–1841). After the first year, Dwight was replaced by Reverend Herman Daggett, who ran the school for the next six years.[3]
A sketch of the village by John Warner Barber (1835) shows the buildings used by the Foreign Mission School, to the right of the church at center.
According to Morse,
there belong to it (the school) a commodious edifice for the School, a good mansion house, with a barn, and other out-buildings, and a garden for the Principal; a house, barn, &. with a few acres of good tillage land for the Steward and Commons; all situated sufficiently near to each other; and eighty acres of excellent wood land, about a mile and a half distant.
In the constitution there is a provision, that youths of our own country, of acknowledged piety, may be admitted to the school, at their own expense, and at the discretion of the Agents.
Under the instruction of the able and highly respected Principal, the Rev. Mr. Daggett, and his very capable and faithful assistant, Mr. Prentice, the improvement of the pupils, in general, has been increasing and satisfactory, and in not a few instances, uncommonly good. Besides being taught in various branches of learning, and made practically acquainted with the useful arts of civilized life; they are instructed constantly, and with special care in the doctrines and duties of Christianity. Nor has this instruction been communicated in vain. Of the thirty-one Heathen youths . . . seventeen are thought to have given evidence of a living faith in the Gospel; and several others are very seriously thoughtful on religious concerns.[6]
From its founding, the school rapidly became a symbol of American Protestant Christianity's Second Great Awakening and expansion of missionary efforts, especially in New England. It also connected the small farm town of Cornwall in Connecticut's Litchfield Hills to the early 19th century's clash of civilizations areas of interest to the US and Great Britain. It had students from Hawaii, India, and Southeast Asia, in addition to Native Americans. According to a 1929 article, Cornwall had been chosen as the site for the school because the town residents were believed committed to the missionary cause. They were thought ready to donate their efforts, money, and property to the cause.[6]
The Four Hawaiian Youths: Thomas Hoopoo, George Tamoree, William Tenooe, and John Honoree by S. F. B. Morse, 1816
Henry Opukahaia, the school's first pupil, was an 18-year-old Native Hawaiian who had been working as a sailor on a US merchant ship but was abandoned in 1810 in New Haven, Connecticut by his ship. He traveled widely to promote the school, but died in Cornwall in 1818 at 26 before he could return home. He recruited four more Hawaiians, including one known as George Prince, who reportedly had fought in the War of 1812. The school printed a pamphlet with their stories to raise money.[7]Samuel F. B. Morse, son of Jedidiah, painted their portraits. Other students came from distant countries, as well as several Native American tribes, primarily from those east of the Mississippi River.[6] Some 24 different native languages were spoken at the school.[5]
In its first year, the school had twelve students; seven Hawaiians, one Hindu, one Bengali, a Native American, and two Anglo-Americans. By the second year, there were twenty-four; four Cherokee, two Choctaw, one Abenaki, six Hawaiians, two Chinese, two Malays, one Bengali, one Hindu, and two Marquesans, as well as three Anglo-Americans.[6]
Principal Daggett observed in a letter to Morse that, in contrast to the Native American students, three of the students from the Pacific Islands had become ill and "fallen a sacrifice". He attributed their deaths to the different, colder climate. He mused that "it is probable, that Divine Providence intends this school to be chiefly useful to the Aborigines of this country."[citation needed]
In time, public doubt began to build in Cornwall and the mission community about the purpose of the school, and support began to wane. But the major catalyst against it were the marriages of two Cherokee students (high-ranking cousins in their tribe) to local European-American girls. Concern about potential marriages of other such interracial couples generated strong animosity to the school among local residents.[5]
Leaders of Native American tribes who sent their sons there had their own concerns. The Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast, and others, had a matrilinealkinship system. Status and property passed through the maternal line. Therefore children born to Native fathers and white mothers would have no place in the tribe and would not be considered members. This jeopardized tribal leadership, as the young men sent for education were being groomed to become leaders in the tribes and continue to have major roles, along with their children.
After these two marriages, other interracial relationships developed, and at least two students were dismissed by the school. But local opposition grew: the school closed in 1826 or 1827, and townspeople burned it down.[5]
Native American students
Sons of some of the most prominent Native American leaders of the time were educated at the Foreign Mission School. They were often of mixed ancestry, typically with Native American mothers and white fathers, reflecting the tribal history of interaction with whites in the Southeast and unions with white traders and others. Because these tribes had matrilinealkinship systems, these youth were raised in the tribes, considered born to their mother's clan and people, whether Cherokee, Choctaw or other. Later, a number of such young men became distinguished leaders as adult members of their nations in the rising generation. Tribal leaders had wanted them to learn more about European Americans and their culture in order to prepare for such leadership roles.
In the fall of 1818 three Cherokee and a Choctaw youth enrolled in the school. In his report, Morse stated that there were twenty-nine students in the school in 1820, half of whom were Native American youths from the leading families of five or six different tribes.[6]
David Brown (Cherokee, one-quarter white on his father's side); his half brother was a chief and judge. He assisted in developing a spelling book for the Cherokee as well as a Cherokee grammar. He later became a notable public speaker, studied Hebrew and divinity, and attended Andover School. A leader in the Cherokee nation, he served as clerk of a delegation to Congress.
James Fields (Cherokee), a kinsman of Brown, became a planter and major landowner, known to take care "of his considerable property."[citation needed]
Leonard Hicks was a son of Chief Charles Renatus Hicks, the first Cherokee to convert to Christianity, and considered the most influential man in his nation. After Leonard became homesick and left the school, he served as clerk of the Cherokee nation.
Tah-wah (Cherokee, renamed David Carter) was a grandson of Nathaniel Carter of Killingworth and Cornwall. David's father (also named Nathaniel Carter) grew up in Pennsylvania. He and his sisters were taken captive as children by Cherokee after their parents were killed in the Wyoming Valley massacre c.1763. His sisters were ransomed and returned to family in Connecticut, but Nathaniel was adopted by a Cherokee family and became assimilated, remaining with the tribe. He married a Cherokee woman, and their children included Tah-wah, or David. David was dismissed from the school at the time of the marriage scandals. (see below). He later became an editor of the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper, the first established by a tribe, and a judge of the Cherokee Supreme Court. He died about 1863.
John Vann (Cherokee) was the son of a European American, Clement Vann, and his Cherokee wife Mary Christiana, who had converted to Christianity. He attended FMS from 1820 to 1822. He also later served as an editor of the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper.
McKee Folsom and Israel Folsom (Choctaw), sons of Nathaniel Folsom and a Choctaw wife, were the first Choctaw recorded at the school, which they attended from 1818 to 1822. Their family was very prominent in their nation. They later assisted in creating a Choctaw alphabet, preparing Choctaw school books, and translating the Scriptures to Choctaw.
Adin C. Gibbs (Delaware), was from Pennsylvania and had white ancestry in his paternal line. He attended the school from 1818 to 1822. He later spent many years as a teacher and missionary among the Choctaw.
Holbochinto (Osage, renamed as Robert Monroe), was a relative of Tally, Chief of the Osage Nation, which was still located in its traditional territory in what became Missouri. He attended the school from 1824 to 1826, financially supported by the Foreign Mission Society.
Wah-che-oh-heh (Osage, renamed as Stephen Van Rensselaer, after General Stephen Van Rensselaer III, president of the United Foreign Mission Society which supported him financially) was also a relative of Chief Tally. He attended FMS from 1824 to 1825. He remained in Cornwall for a time after the school closed. He later studied at what is now Miami University in Ohio. In 1832 he was one of five alumni from FMS to act as missionary helper. Later he served his tribe as an interpreter and blacksmith.
John Ridge (Cherokee), a student at the school in 1819, was a son of Major Ridge, who was a commander of Cherokee forces that were allied with the US in the Seminole War. Suffering from a problem with his hip, he was nursed for two years by the family of John P. Northrup, steward of the school. Ridge and a daughter of the family, Sarah Bird Northrup, married in 1824. This union was opposed by local citizens. Ridge subsequently became a prominent leader of the Cherokee nation.
Kul-le-ga-nah (renamed Buck Watie. He chose the name Elias Boudinot after Elias Boudinot, who sponsored him at the school in 1818.) Boudinot calculated the date of the lunar eclipse of August 2, 1822, using only the information supplied in his textbook. He became engaged to marry Harriet R. Gold in 1825; she was another Cornwall girl. This marriage was bitterly opposed by the bride's family and the citizens of Cornwall, who burned the couple in effigy. They married nevertheless.
Miles Mackey (Choctaw), had a white father. He attended the school from 1823 to 1825, and was dismissed "for a proposed matrimonial union", as was James Terrell (Osage).
Both Cornwall residents and leaders of the Native American nations generally opposed these marriages. But, the Cherokee recognized that times were changing. In order to ensure that the Ridge and Boudinot descendants would be members of the Cherokee nation, the Cherokee changed their rules of tribal membership to accommodate these marriages.[8][9] Otherwise, in their matrilineal society, the children of these white mothers would not be considered Cherokee and would have no place in the tribe. The leaders had been grooming Ridge and Boudinot for leadership roles in the tribe. In addition to the marriage issue, leaders of some of the Southeastern tribes became concerned that residence in the northern states was harming the health of their students. Support for the school rapidly dwindled, until it was closed in 1826 or 1827.[6]
Legacy
The Foreign Mission School and the issues of interracial marriage (of white women by Cherokee men) was dramatized in an episode of the PBSAmerican Experience television series in 2009.[10]
In 2014 Yale historian John Demos published The Heathen School: A Story of Hope and Betrayal in the Age of the Early Republic, a historical narrative about the school that included modern perspectives about the cultural issues.[11]
The Steward's House, the only relatively unaltered remnant of the school's historic Cornwall campus, is now a private residence. In 2016 it was designated a National Historic Landmark in recognition of the school's significance.[12]
The Cherokee people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern North Carolina, southeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, edges of western South Carolina, northern Georgia and northeastern Alabama consisting of around 40,000 square miles
Dwight Presbyterian Mission was one of the first American missions to the Native Americans. It was established near present-day Russellville, Arkansas in 1820 to serve the Arkansas Cherokees. After the Cherokee were required to move to Indian Territory in 1828, the mission was reestablished in 1829 near present-day Marble City, Oklahoma. The mission is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Elias Boudinot, also known as Buck Watie) was a writer, newspaper editor, and leader of the Cherokee Nation. He was a member of a prominent family, and was born and grew up in Cherokee territory, now part of present-day Georgia. Born to parents of mixed Cherokee and European ancestry and educated at the Foreign Mission School in Connecticut, he became one of several leaders who believed that acculturation was critical to Cherokee survival. He was influential in the period of removal to Indian Territory.
Elias Cornelius Boudinot was an American politician, lawyer, newspaper editor, and co-founder of the Arkansan who served as the delegate to the Confederate States House of Representatives representing the Cherokee Nation. Prior to this he served as an officer of the Confederate States Army in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War. He was the first Native American lawyer permitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Osage Nation is a Midwestern American tribe of the Great Plains. The tribe developed in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 700 B.C. along with other groups of its language family. They migrated west after the 17th century, settling near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, as a result of Iroquois expansion into the Ohio Country in the aftermath of the Beaver Wars.
John Ridge, born Skah-tle-loh-skee, was from a prominent family of the Cherokee Nation that had a lot of status, then located in present-day Georgia. He went to Cornwall, Connecticut, to study at the Foreign Mission School And was very educated. He met Sarah Bird Northup, of a New England Yankee family, and they married in 1824. Soon after their return to New Echota in 1825, Ridge was chosen for the Cherokee National Council and became a leader in the tribe.
The Cherokee Phoenix is the first newspaper published by Native Americans in the United States and the first published in a Native American language. The first issue was published in English and Cherokee on February 21, 1828, in New Echota, capital of the Cherokee Nation. The paper continued until 1834. The Cherokee Phoenix was revived in the 20th century, and today it publishes both print and Internet versions.
Samuel Austin Worcester, was an American missionary to the Cherokee, translator of the Bible, printer, and defender of the Cherokee sovereignty. He collaborated with Elias Boudinot (Cherokee) in Georgia to establish the Cherokee Phoenix, the first Native American newspaper, which was printed in both English and the Cherokee syllabary. The Cherokee gave Worcester the honorary name A-tse-nu-sti, which translates to "messenger" in English.
Elias Cornelius (1794–1832) was an American Christian missionary and ordained minister.
American Indian boarding schools, also known more recently as American Indian residential schools, were established in the United States from the mid-17th to the early 20th centuries with a primary objective of "civilizing" or assimilating Native American children and youth into Anglo-American culture. In the process, these schools denigrated Native American culture and made children give up their languages and religion. At the same time the schools provided a basic Western education. These boarding schools were first established by Christian missionaries of various denominations. The missionaries were often approved by the federal government to start both missions and schools on reservations, especially in the lightly populated areas of the West. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries especially, the government paid religious orders to provide basic education to Native American children on reservations, and later established its own schools on reservations. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) also founded additional off-reservation boarding schools based on the assimilation model. These sometimes drew children from a variety of tribes. In addition, religious orders established off-reservation schools.
Humehume, known by many different names during his time, such as George Prince, George Prince Kaumualiʻi, Tamoree or Kumoree by American writers, was a son of the king of part of the Hawaiian Islands. He traveled widely, served in the U.S. military, and led a failed rebellion on the island of Kauaʻi.
Harriet Ruggles Gold Boudinot (1805–1836) was notable as the wife of Cherokee Elias Boudinot, who became a leader in the Cherokee Nation and editor of its newspaper The Cherokee Phoenix. Harriett was the youngest of fourteen children of Colonel Benjamin and Eleanor Gold of Cornwall, Connecticut; they were a prominent Congregationalist family of English descent.
The Brainerd Mission was a Christian mission to the Cherokee in present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee. The associated Brainerd Mission Cemetery is the only part that remains, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
On the eve of the American Civil War in 1861, a significant number of Indigenous peoples of the Americas had been relocated from the Southeastern United States to Indian Territory, west of the Mississippi. The inhabitants of the eastern part of the Indian Territory, the Five Civilized Tribes, were suzerain nations with established tribal governments, well established cultures, and legal systems that allowed for slavery. Before European Contact these tribes were generally matriarchial societies, with agriculture being the primary economic pursuit. The bulk of the tribes lived in towns with planned streets, residential and public areas. The people were ruled by complex hereditary chiefdoms of varying size and complexity with high levels of military organization.
Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia was one of the first Native Hawaiians to become a Christian, inspiring American Protestant missionaries to come to the islands during the 19th century. He is credited with starting Hawaii's conversion to Christianity. His name was usually spelled Obookiah during his lifetime. His name Henry is sometimes Hawaiianized as Heneri.
Cherokee language is the indigenous American Iroquoian language native to the Cherokee people. In 2019, the Tri-Council of Cherokee tribes declared a state of emergency for the language due to the threat of it going extinct, calling for the enhancement of revitalization programs.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas slave ownership refers to the ownership of enslaved people by indigenous peoples of the Americas from the colonial period to the abolition of slavery. Indigenous people enslaved Amerindians, Africans, and —occasionally— Europeans.
Benjamin Gold (1762–1847) was one of two members of the Connecticut State Assembly representing Cornwall, Connecticut in 1809. His daughter later married prominent Cherokee leader Elias Boudinot. He was first elected to the state legislature from the area in 1802 and served on and off until 1814.
Native American newspapers are news publications in the United States published by Native American people often for Native American audiences. The first such publication was the Cherokee Phoenix, started in 1828 by the Cherokee Nation. Although Native American people have always written for state and local newspapers, including the official publications of Native American boarding schools, periodicals produced by Native people themselves were relatively few and far between until the 20th century.
↑ William Buell Sprague; Timothy Stone (1859). "Herman Daggett". Annals of the American Pulpit: Trinitarian Congregational. Vol.2. Robert Carter and brothers. pp.291–756.
↑ Douglas Warne (2002). "George Prince Kaumualiʻi, the Forgotten Prince". Hawaiian Journal of History. Vol.36. Hawaiian Historical Society. pp.59–71. hdl:10524/203.
↑ Yarbrough, Fay. "Legislating Women's Sexuality: Cherokee Marriage Laws," Journal of Social History 38 (2004), p. 388
↑ Gaul, Theresa Strouth, Ed. To Marry an Indian: The Marriage of Harriett Gold and Elias Boudinot in Letters, 1823-1839. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2005, p. 16
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.
