"We shall be able here to do something considerable towards Mr. Phelps's support; and I doubt not but others, who have ability, will be disposed to assist in promoting so good a work. I will add no more than that I have great satisfaction in being confident of your friendly and influential exertions in this important affair, and that I am, with great sincerity, yours, &c.,
"Joseph Brant." [FN]
[FN] Brant had had some previous acquaintance with Colonel Burr and his family, as will appear in a subsequent page. This letter was enclosed by Colonel Burr to his daughter Theodosia, then Mrs. Alston, in December, 1801, with the following remark:—"Yesterday Mr. Phelps, mentioned in the enclosed, delivered to me two pair of moccasins, directed—'From Captain Joseph Brant to Mr. and Mrs. Alston.' Your ship having sailed, I don't know how or when I shall forward them to you; but we will see. I send the original letter of Captain Brant, merely to show how an Indian can write. It is his own hand-writing and composition. Upon this notice of his attention you should write him a letter of acknowledgment for his hospitality," &c. The author will here remark, that the orthography of Captain Brant was remarkable and almost invariably accurate.
The application to the American Church was successful, and the Missionary was ordained. [FN-1] But whether the measure was facilitated by the exertions of Colonel Burr, is not known. The subject has been treated thus at large, for the purpose of developing with more distinctness the religious bias of the Chieftain's character, as illustrated by the earnest perseverance with which he sought the Christian improvement of his people. From other letters and documents among his papers, it is farther rendered certain that several religious gentlemen of distinction in the United States were in occasional correspondence with him upon religious and other subjects connected with the history and condition of his people. His house, likewise, seems to have been the free and open quarters of the Missionaries employed at that early stage of the modern missionary enterprise, among the borderers, both Anglo-Saxon and Aboriginal. [FN-2] As an example of this description of correspondence, the following letter is given—for the double purpose of showing the estimate placed upon the character of Captain Brant by the great and good of that day, and of embalming the name of one of the most devout and faithful pioneers of Christianity that ever made the wilderness ring with the Gospel trumpet—the Rev. Elkanah Holmes:
[FN-1] Mr. Phelps was ordained a Deacon in Trinity Church, in the city of New-York, by Bishop Benjamin Moore, on Sunday, December 13, 1801. He immediately returned to Canada, and entered upon the active duties of a missionary, holding frequent services, and traveling far and wide in the discharge of his duties. His residence then, and for several years before, was upon his farm about three miles from Burlington Bay. Captain Brant had repeatedly endeavored to induce him to accept a grant of land, probably with a view to his residence with, or near him, at Grand River, but without success—as the accumulation of wealth was not the desire of Mr. Phelps. In 1803 he was ordained as a priest in St Peter's Church, Albany, also by Bishop Moore. Thenceforward he entered upon the life of a missionary in the western part of New-York, and in 1805 removed his family from Upper Canada to Onondaga. He subsequently removed to Geneva, where he died some years since.—MS. Account of his life by Dr. Rudd.
[FN-2] Mr. Phelps had much intercourse with Captain Brant and his family. When he preached in the vicinity of the family of Brant, that household formed a part, and a very attentive part, of his audience.—MS. of the Rev. Dr. Rudd.
"Rev. John M. Mason, D. D., to Captain Brant.
"New-York, June 16, 1801.