CHAPTER XXXVI.
Contents—Mississauga Indians—Father Picquet’s opinion—Remnant of a large tribe—Their Land—Sold to Government—Rev. Wm. Case—John Sunday—A drunkard—Peter Jones—Baptising Indians—At a camp-meeting—Their department—Extract from Playter—William Beaver—Conversions—Jacob Peter—Severe upon white Christians—Their worship—The Father of Canadian missions—Scheme to teach Indians—Grape Island—Leasing islands—The parties—“Dated at Belleville”—Constructing a village—The lumber—How obtained—Encamping on Grape Island—The method of instruction—The number—Agriculture—Their singing—School house—The teacher—Instructions of women—Miss Barnes—Property of Indians—Cost of improvements—A visit to Government—Asking for land—“Big Island”—Other favors—Peter Jacobs at New York—Extracts from Playter—Number of Indian converts, 1829—River Credit Indians—Indians removed to Alnwick.
THE MISSISSAUGA INDIANS—THEIR CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY.
We have learned that the French missionary, Father Picquet did not entertain a very high opinion, at least he professed not to, of the moral character of the Mississaugas, and their susceptibility to the influence of Christian religion. We will now see what was accomplished by the agency of the Rev. William Case. We refer to that branch at present called the Mississaugas of Alnwick, and formerly known as the Mississaugas of the Bay of Quinté. They were the remnant of the powerful tribe, which ceded a large tract in the Johnstown, Midland and Newcastle districts to the Government. This block contained 2,748,000 acres, and was surrendered in 1822, for an annuity of £642 10s.
In 1825 the Rev. William Case visited the Bay. Among the first to come under the influence of religion, from the preaching of the Methodists was John Sunday. The writer has conversed with many, who remember Sunday as a very filthy drunkard. Peter Jones and John Crane, Mohawks who had been converted to Methodism at the Grand River, visited Belleville. Peter Jones with simple eloquence, soon reached the hearts of the Mississaugas. The writer’s father has heard Peter Jones preach to them in Indian near the banks of the Moira, just by No. 1 school-house in Belleville. In the spring of 1826 Case baptized 22 Indian converts, while 50 more seemed under the influence of religion. In June, a camp-meeting was held in Adolphustown, the Mississaugas attended. Special accommodation was afforded them. Their arrival is thus graphically given by Playter, and it supplies an excellent idea of Indian character in connection with religion.
A message came that the Mississauga fleet was in sight. A few repaired to the shore to welcome and conduct the Indians to the ground. The bark canoes contained men, women and children, with cooking utensils, blankets, guns, spears, provisions, and bark for covering their wigwams. The men took each a canoe reversed on his head, or the guns and spears; each squaw a bundle of blankets or bark. The men marched first, the women in the rear, and in file they moved to the encampment, headed by two preachers. The congregation seeing the Indians passing through the gate, and so equipped, was astonished. Reflecting on the former condition and the present state of these natives of the woods, gratitude and joy filled every bosom. God was praised for the salvation of the heathen. After the natives had laid down the burdens, they all silently prayed for the blessing of the Great Spirit, to the surprise and increased delight of the pious whites. The Indians next built their camp, in the oblong form, with poles, canoes, and bark. The adults numbered 41, of whom 28 had given evidence of a converted state, and the children were 17: in all 58. The natives had private meetings by themselves, and the whites by themselves; but in preaching time, the Indians sat on the right of the preaching stand. At the close of each sermon, William Beaver, an Indian exhorter, translated the main points for the Indians, the other Indian exhorters, Sunday, Moses, and Jacob Peter spoke to their people on different occasions. Beaver’s first exhortation was on Friday, and produced a great effect on the natives.
On Sunday Beaver spoke to his people with great fluency. Upon being asked what he had been saying, “I tell ‘em,” said he, “they must all turn away from sin; that the Great Spirit will give ‘em new eyes to see, new ears to hear good things; new heart to understand, and sing, and pray; all new! I tell ‘em squaws, they must wash ‘em blankets clean, must cook ‘em victuals clean, like white women; they must live in peace, worship God, and love one another. Then,” with a natural motion of the hand and arm, as if to level an uneven surface, he added, “The Good Spirit make the ground all smooth before you.”
“On Monday, the Lord’s supper was given to the Indians and the whites, of the Indians 21 were also baptized, with ten of their children. The whole number of the baptized in this tribe was now 43, 21 children. As yet these Indians knew but one hymn, “O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer’s praise,” and one tune. This hymn they sung, over and over, as if always new, and always good.”
It has been the custom, of not alone the United States, but some in our midst, to regard the Indians as altogether degraded below the whites in intelligence, in natural honesty, and in appreciation of right and wrong. At the camp-meeting above referred to, there was a convert by name of Jacob Peter. He is described as “a sprightly youth of 18 years.” At some subsequent date during the same year, the Indians held a prayer-meeting at the village of Demorestville. Mr. Demorest being present with other white inhabitants, to witness the Indian’s devotion, requested Jacob to speak a little to them in English; which he thus did:
“You white people have the Gospel a great many years. You have the Bible too: suppose you read sometimes—but you very wicked. Suppose some very good people: but great many wicked. You get drunk—you tell lies—you break the Sabbath.” Then pointing to his brethren, he added, “But these Indians, they hear the word only a little while—they can’t read the Bible—but they become good right away. They no more get drunk—no more tell lies—they keep the Sabbath day. To us Indians, seems very strange that you have missionary so many years, and you so many rogues yet. The Indians have missionary only a little while, and we all turn Christians.”
“The whites little expected so bold a reproof from a youth belonging to a race which is generally despised.”—(Playter).
Camp-meetings were peculiarly calculated to impress the Indians with solemn thoughts. These children of the forest deemed the shade of trees a fit and true place in which to worship the true God, just as seemed to the first settlers who had for so long a time had their homes within the quiet glades. And no more inconsiderate step could have been taken than that pursued by Governor Maitland, who, at the instigation of others, forbade the converted Indians at the River Credit to attend camp-meetings. The conversion of the Mississaugas at Belleville, and the Credit, soon became known to the other branches of the tribe scattered throughout Canada, and in time the whole nation was under the influence of Methodist teaching. Their change of life was as well marked as it has been lasting.
The Rev. William Case, “The father of Canadian Missions,” determined to permanently settle the tribe, to teach them the quiet pursuits of agriculture, and their children the rudiments of education, as well as of Christian knowledge. To this end the plan was adopted, of leasing two islands, situated in Big Bay, which belonged to the tribe, and establish thereupon the converted Indians. The parties to whom the tribe granted the lease for 999 years, for the nominal sum of five shillings, were “John Reynolds, Benjamin Ketcheson, Penuel G. Selden, James Bickford, and William Ross.” The Chiefs, Warriors, and Indians conferring the lease, and who signed the indenture, were “John Sunday, William Beaver, John Simpson, Nelson Snake, Mitchell Snake, Jacob Musguashcum, Joseph Skunk, Paul Yawaseeng, Jacob Nawgnashcum, John Salt, Isaac Skunk, William Ross, Patto Skunk, Jacob Sheepegang, James Snake.” It was “signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of Tobias Bleaker, and Peter Jones.” Dated Belleville, 16th October, 1826. The islands thus leased were Huff’s Island, then known as “Logrim’s,” containing about fifty acres, and Grape Island with eleven acres.
Steps were promptly taken to carry out the object aimed at by the projectors, and arrangements were made to construct a village upon Grape Island. The lumber for the buildings was obtained by cutting hemlock saw logs upon the rear part of Tyendinaga, by the river Moira, under the direction of Surveyor Emerson, which were floated down to Jonas Canniff’s saw mill, and there sawed into suitable pieces. These were again floated down in small rafts to the island. During the ensuing winter, the buildings not being as yet erected, a large number encamped upon Grape Island, while the rest went hunting, as usual. Instructions commenced immediately. Preachers visited them from time to time, and two interpreters. William Beaver and Jacob Peter taught them the Lord’s Prayer and Ten Commandments. In January the hunting party returned, and “a meeting, lasting several days, was held in the chapel in Belleville, to instruct them also.” “The tribe mustered about 130 souls, and the Society embraced every adult, about ninety persons.”
A branch of the tribe living in the rear of Kingston, forty in number, came in May, the following Spring, and joined those at the island, and became converts. In this month the buildings were commenced, and some land ploughed and planted. The condition of the people was every day improving. As many as 130 would assemble for worship. Their voices were melodious, and delightful was the singing. A school and meeting-house was built in July, 30 feet by 25 feet. William Smith was the first school-teacher, having thirty scholars in the day school, and fifty in the Sabbath school. The farming operations were under the superintendence of R. Phelps. The girls and women were instructed in knitting, sewing, making straw hats, and other work, by Miss E. Barnes.
“The public property of the Indians comprised a yoke of oxen, three cows, a set of farming tools, and material for houses, as lumber, nails and glass,—contributions of the benevolent. The improvements of the year were expected to cost £250, to be met by benevolence in the United States and Canada. In October, the meeting-house was seated, in connection with which was a room provided for a study and bed for the teacher. The bodies of eleven log houses were put up; eight had shingled roofs, and they were enclosed before winter.”—(Playter).
Soon after, a deputation from Grape Island visited York, with a deputation from Rice Lake, and the Credit Indians, to seek an audience with the Government. A council was held with the Government officers on the 30th January, 1828. The speeches were interpreted by Peter Jones. John Sunday, after referring to their conversion, and having settled by the Bay Quinté, said, “that when they considered the future welfare of their children, they found that the island they claimed would not afford them sufficient wood and pasture for any length of time, and that they had now come to ask their great father, the governor, for a piece of land lying near them.” “He then proceeded to ask the Government in what situation Big Island was considered; whether or not it belonged to the Indians? and, if it did, they asked their father to make those who had settled on it without their consent, pay them a proper rent, as they had hitherto turned them off with two bushels of potatoes for 200 acres of land. In the last place, he asked permission of their great father to cut some timber on the King’s land for their buildings.”—(Peter Jones).
In April of this year, Mr. Case, with John Sunday and Peter Jacobs, attended the anniversary of the Missionary Society in New York. The manifestation of Christianity displayed by these sons of the forest touched the hearts of the people present, and led to a considerable augmentation of the contributions previously supplied by private individuals. They visited other parts of the United States, and returned to the bay, May 12, “accompanied by two pious ladies, Miss Barnes, and Miss Hubbard.” “The ladies came with the benevolent design of assisting the Indians in religion, industry, and education.”
“In the tour Mr. Case received many presents of useful articles for the Indians; and among the rest ticking for straw beds. This was divided among twenty families, and made the first beds they ever slept upon.” Among the conversions of this year, was an Indian woman, practising witchcraft, as the people believe, and a Roman Catholic.
The people were not only persevering in religious duties, but made progress in industry. Mr. Case collected the Indians together one evening, to show what they had manufactured in two weeks. They exhibited 172 axe handles, 6 scoop shovels, 57 ladles, 4 trays, 44 broom-handles, 415 brooms. “The Indians were highly commended for their industry, and some rewards were bestowed to stimulate greater diligence.”—(Playter).
According to the Annual Report of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States, there were “two hundred and twenty natives under the Christian instruction of one missionary, one hundred and twenty of whom are regular communicants, and fifty children are taught in the schools.” Lorenzo Dow visited Grape Island, and writing July 29, 1829, says, “viewing the neatness and uniformity of the village—the conduct of the children even in the streets—and not a drunkard to be found in their borders. Surely what a lesson for the whites!”
The other communities of the Mississaugas that came under the religious teaching of the Methodists are the River Credit Indians, the Rice Lake Indians, and those at Schoogog, Simcoe, and the Thames River.
When the Indians from the Bay Quinté, and from Kingston, left Grape Island, they removed to Alnwick. A Report on Indian Affairs, of 1858, says, “they have now a block of land of 2000 acres divided into 25 acre farms.”