This unique collaboration by academic historians, Oneida elders, and Episcopal clergy tells the fascinating story of how the oldest Protestant mission and house of worship in the upper Midwest took root in the Oneida community. Personal bonds that developed between the Episcopal clergy and the Wisconsin Oneidas proved more important than theology in allowing the community to accept the Christian message brought by outsiders. Episcopal bishops and missionaries in Wisconsin were at times defenders of the Oneidas against outside whites attempting to get at their lands and resources. At other times, these clergy initiated projects that the Oneidas saw as beneficial―a school, a hospital, or a lace-making program for Oneida women that provided a source of income and national recognition for their artistry. The clergy incorporated the Episcopal faith into an Iroquoian cultural and religious framework―the Condolence Council ritual―that had a longstanding history among the Six Nations. In turn, the Oneidas modified the very form of the Episcopal faith by using their own language in the Gloria in Excelsis and the Te Deum as well as by employing Oneida in their singing of Christian hymns.
Christianity continues to have real meaning for many American Indians. The Wisconsin Oneidas and the Episcopal Church testifies to the power and legacy of that relationship.
Author(s): L. Gordon McLester III, Laurence M. Hauptman, Kenneth Hoyan House
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 238
City: Bloomington
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
Part I: Christianity Comes to Oneida Country
Editors’ Introduction to Part I
1. The Oneida World before Christianity
2. Oneidas and Missionaries, 1667–1816
3. Flawed Shepherd: Eleazer Williams, John Henry Hobart, and the Episcopal Mission to the Oneidas
Part II: The Oneida Episcopal Mission: The First Century in Wisconsin
Editors’ Introduction to Part II
4. Another Leatherstocking Tale: Susan Fenimore Cooper, the Episcopal Church, and the Oneidas
5. A Mission of Mutuality: The Relationship between the Oneidas and the Nashotah House Theological Seminary
6. Wearing Two Hats: Cornelius Hill and John Archiquette, Oneida Nation and Episcopal Church Leaders
7. The Episcopal Mission 1853–1909: Three Church Accounts
Ellen Saxton Goodnough, “Christmastime at the Mission, 1869”
Rev. Solomon S. Burleson Describes Providing Medical Care at Oneida
Rev. Frank Wesley Merrill on Missionary Sybil Carter and the Oneida Women Lace Makers, 1899
Part III: Oneida First-Person Accounts of the Episcopal Church and Its Clergy
Editors’ Introduction to Part III
8. Six Oneidas Recount Eight WPA Oral Histories, 1938–1942, about the Episcopal Mission
Sarah Cornelius
Guy Elm
Lena Silas
Oscar Archiquette
Pearl House
David Skenandore
9. Ten Contemporary Oneidas Reminisce in Nine Accounts about the Holy Apostles Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Mission
Father Christian Puts Me on the Right Path
Reminiscences about the Oneida Mission School
Reflections on My Father, Deacon Edmund Powless
Reminiscences of Two Oneida Nuns
Recollections about the Oneida Episcopal Mission
Father R. Dewey Silas
As I Remember the Women of the Oneida Mission
Oneida Lace-Making, Then and Now
The Oneida Hymn Singers
Part IV: Reflections on Wisconsin Oneida Episcopal Church Relations
10. Putting Oneida Episcopal History in Perspective: American Indian Encounters with Christianity
11. The Wisconsin Oneidas and the Episcopal Church: Then and Now
Contributors
Appendix A: Timeline
Appendix B: Episcopal Priests, Vicars, and Deacons Who Have Served the Oneidas in Wisconsin
Appendix C: Bishops Who Have Headed the Diocese
Bibliography
Index
