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THE QUAKER Misslon to the SENECA INDIANS ( 1798 - 1831)

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THE QUAKER Misslon to the SENECA INDIANS ( 1798 - 1831) THE QUAKER MiSSlON TO THE SENECA INDIANS ( 1798 - 1831) Thesis for the Degree of M. A. MICHEGAN STATE UNWERSJTY JACK T. VANDER VEN 1967 \x;N \1 \N\ \MN N N N, 5718 L N 29 lchigan State . U Dunn-sit), Afte government Indian p0] find“ its invited a1 Christian denominat and to th the mass Quakers, pluralism technique The the degr‘ Objectiv‘ markedly ABSTRACT THE QUAKER MISSION TO THE SENECA INDIANS (1798 - 1831) by Jack T. Vander Ven After the War for Independence, the federal government adopted as one of the objectives of its Indian policy the civilization of the Indian.tribes within its jurisdiction. To achieve that objective, it invited and received the assistance of a number of Christian missionary groups. Most of the Protestant denominations saw as their principal service to God and to the Indians the propagation of the Gospel and the mass conversion of Indians to Christianity. The Quakers, however, having accepted the idea of religious pluralism, emphasized instruction in the white man's techniques of rural husbandry. The major purpose of this study is to determine the degree to which the Quakers, whose primary missionary objectives and predispositions distinguished them markedly from evangelical Protestant missionaries, believed themselves to have been successful in their efforts between 1798 and 1831 to bring about the civilization and moral rehabilitation of the Seneca Indians 01 Quaker mi? some in 0 written b delphia a Committee ”(tending 0f the p] Iith the in the 11' Th‘ the gem“ to a few aid preg: Project; of the S Jack T. Vander Ven Indians of western New York State. This history of the Quaker mission is based primarily on a series of diaries, some in original manuscript form, some edited, that were written between 1798 and 1823 by Quakers of the Phila- delphia area, and on printed reports of the Indian Committee of the Philadelphia Meeting for Sufferings extending to 1831. An understanding and appreciation of the problems encountered by the Quakers in their work with the Senecas required, in addition, extensive reading in the literature of Iroquoian ethnology. The major conclusions of this study are: (1) that the economic acculturation of the Senecas was accomplished to a remarkable degree largely through the Quaker technical- aid program, a kind of aid-to-underdeveloped-peoples project; (2) that the moral rehabilitation, or revitalization, of the Senecas was also effected; (3) that the principal instrument of the revitalization of the Senecas, and perhaps also a stimulus to their economic acculturation, was the New Religion of Handsome Lake, the Seneca prophet, which syncretized aboriginal Iroquois concepts with selected Quaker ideas and values; and (4) that, by and large, Quakers evaluated favorably the moral and material results of their missionary effort, together with the moral and material influences of the Handsome Lake religion, during the period 1798-1831. UPPI CM. Frontiepioco LAKE ONTARIO QUSCAMM mm WVMDA w I ‘ WM?!“ tilllp' ‘nmk ‘Ililllll '1... .6“ N. 3%“ LAKE ER“: CATTA RAUGUS “RYAN“ L‘WM'W’“ MWAR‘UG US can K LAKE cwumwwm\ ““ \N'r‘ Aumawnr «35.5“. IV mr HOV“ __E_NN$YZ.VANM (we. scrr.) ' Area of Quaker Missionary Activity (Based on tho Holland Land Company mp or 18011) THE QUAKER MISSION TO THE SENECA INDIANS (1798 - 1831) by «W Jack TP‘Vander Ven A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of History 1967 This 0f origina 1“ Ann Ar't literature diaries, . In - Seriously to the Se area in 3 long and River. A there WEI and Value lands alc inuncietec at a “an ii PREFACE This thesis began with an examination of a group of original manuscript diaries in the Clements Library in Ann Arbor, and led to a reading of the secondary literature so essential to an understanding of those diaries, which had, perforce, to be re-examined. In the summer of 1960, having by then become seriously engaged by the history of the Quaker mission to the Senecas, I visited the Allegany Reservation, an area in southwestern New York State some forty miles long and half a mile wide on each side of the Allegheny River. At that time, the Seneca Indians still residing there were living under a dark cloud. The most habitable and valuable parts of their reservation, the rich bottom lands along the river, were scheduled soon to be inundated by waters built up behind a dam being constructed at a narrows called Kinzua, in Pennsylvania, only twelve miles down-river from the Indian settlements. An unsuccessful legal battle had been fought for several years to prevent construction of the dam, a part of a flood-control program for the Ohio River Basin. Scattered about the reservation were the houses of the Indians, many of those nearest the river suffering greatly from the neglect of their proprietors, who saw the futili men norhec reservatic entire po; In late AL‘ their colc Green Cor; hundreds c of 531mm: attraCted Provided S 1{ire‘Water Some lithe“ Sc Migrating (Jefleratior and towns the “he the regen Handso me I LonghOUse iii the futility of patching and painting. Many of the men worked on the three railroads that traversed the reservation. During the berry-picking season, the entire population seemed to disappear into the woods. In late August or early September, the Senecas donned their colorful ceremonial garments and performed the Green Corn Festival, a spectacle which annually attracted hundreds of visitors, both Indian and white. The town of Salamanca, New York, situated on reservation lands, attracted those in quest of entertainment, and its jail provided short-term accomodations for the victims of fire-water. Some of the Allegany Senecas, few of whom were without some trace of non-Indian blood, were considering migrating to other reservations in New York. Large numbers, especially of the more sophisticated younger generation, had already established themselves in cities and towns off the reservation, some even marrying into the white community. Meanwhile, older inhabitants of the reservation continued to adhere to the religion of Handsome Lake, with its Allegany center at Cold Spring Longhouse. For them the ancient folk-lore and rituals still possessed deep meaning, and they saw in the impending disaster just another episode in the long history of attempts by greedy white men to deprive them of their lands. f1 In 1 of the the several p1 Ewing, mar Library, ; diaries; 1 Pen“Sylvar ‘enrw'w-shl C°PY of t) American E Ethnologis ‘2..___._ who was Sc to the A1] of the res into the I To I: not °n1y r the thesis as "911 f0 iv In the collection of materials and the preparation of the thesis, I have received invaluable aid from several persons. Special thanks are due to William S. Ewing, manuscript curator of the William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor, who introduced me to the Bonsall diaries; to Anthony F. C. Wallace, of the University of Pennsylvania Department of Anthropology, who sent me a c0py of the important Bulletin 149 of the Bureau of American Ethnology; and to Merle H. Deardorff, amateur ethnologist extraordinaire, of Warren Pennsylvania, who was so generous with his assistance during my visit to the Allegany Reservation. Oscar Nephew, a resident of the reservation, took me on some delightful excursions into the Iroquois past. To Dr. Gilman M. Ostrander I am deeply indebted not only for infinite pains taken in reading and criticizing the thesis during its various stages of development, but as well for agreeing to give the project, already well underway when he became associated with it, and sorely lacking in purpose and direction, the benefit of his wisdom and experience. My wife, Elizabeth B. Vander Ven, made it possible for me to carry the project through to its present conclusion by shouldering many of my family responsibilities as well as her own and by contributing numerous hours of rough-draft typing besides. Jack T. Vander Ven Chapter I N I II. FEEL III. THE IV. HAN THE EPILOGUE BIBLIOGR: TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I. INTRODUCTION 0.0.0...C....OCCOOOOOOOOOOOIOOOOO 1 II. PRELUDE TO THE QUAKER MISSION ................ 25 III. THE FIRST YEARS OF THE QUAKER MISSION ........ 50 IV. HANDSOME LAKE AND THE NEW RELIGION ......... .. 80 V. THE QUAKER MISSION IN THE ERA OF THE NEW RELIGION ...... ................ ...... 116 EPIme .00... OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCI44 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................ ....... 150 u . p - w a n a w a c . - o w - , a Q a 1 o . a- u v . - o . o The convinced to the res 7 Sharing th ..... °f the res l’eSpect tc hericen I mtlined j NSsed a 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The Revolutionary generation of Americans was convinced that it had an obligation to be a good example to the rest of the world. A number of wise statesmen, sharing this sense of obligation, were acutely conscious of the responsibility which rested upon the white man with respect to the American Indian. As early as 1776 the American policy of aid to underdeveloped peoples was being outlined in the Continental Congress which, otherwise distracted from Indian affairs by a myriad other concerns, passed a resolution which declared that "A friendly commerce between the people of the United Colonies and the Indians, and the propagation of the gospel, and.the cultivation of the civil arts among the latter, may pioduce many and inestimable advantages to both." It further instructed the Commissioners for Indian Affairs to examine locations among the Indians for the residence of ministers and teachers. At the end of the War for Independence, the United States faced numerous problems created by the presence of 1Quoted in Francis Paul Prucha, American Indian Phlicy in the Formative Years: The Indian Trade_gnd Intercourse Acts 1790-1834 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1535;, p.
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