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1994.THE SENECA MISSION HOUSE, BUILT 1833, STILL STANDING ON BUFFAM STREET, SOUTH BUFFALO.VI. THE SENEGA MISSION AT
BUFFALO CREEK.
The earliest attempt to evangelize the Indians in this vi-
cinity came after the permanent establishment of their vil-
lages on the Niagara frontier following the devastation of
their Genesee valley towns by Sullivan’s expedition in 1779,
when they fled to the protection of the British at Fort Niag-
ara. At the close of the succeeding winter they made their
settlements near that Fort and at Buffalo Creek. In the year
1800 the New York Missionary Society sent Rev. Elkanah
Holmes as missionary to the Tuscaroras and Senecas, and
from the report presented at their annual meeting April 5,
1802, it appears that at first he made his headquarters at
Niagara and in April, 1801, visited New York with pro-
posals from the Indians to build two school houses: one at
Buffalo Creek, the other at the Tuscarora village about four
miles from Lewiston. It would appear from this report that
the Senecas prior to this time had been suspicious of designs
upon their lands and had rejected a missionary “sent from
Boston,” but that they were now eager for a mission-
ary teacher, and while on this visit to New York Mr.
Holmes received about $190 toward the establishment of a
school at Buffalo Creek, so that the attempt was actually
made upon his return. The report states that “Shortly after
his arrival at Buffalo, most of the timber for the school-house
was hewn and immediately on opening a subscription among128
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
the inhabitants $300 was raised. Owing, however, to sick-
ness they had not been able to finish this building, but the
school had been taught by Mr. Palmer (Joseph R. Palmer?)
till the beginning of last winter (1801-2), when it was
thought proper to suspend till spring.”
The Society’s annual report of April 3, 1803, states that
“We have not learned with certainty that a school has been
set up among the Senecas, nor that the two school-houses,
one for the Senecas and another for the Tuscaroras, for
which the Legislature of the State appropriated $1,500, have
been erected.” At this time Mr. Holmes’ engagement was
confirmed as permanent missionary at a salary of $500, in-
cluding traveling and incidental expenses, commuted at $125,
his commission embracing the Senecas and Tuscaroras as
“his peculiar and stated charge from which he is never to be
away more than six months in any one year.”
For several years no mention is made of the Senecas on
the Buffalo Creek. Mr. Holmes lived at the Tuscarora vil-
lage, probably making occasional visits to his other charges
until differences finally arose between the New York Society
and its representative. He opposed the suggestion of form-
ing a church organization among the Tuscaroras, on the
ground that the Indians were not ready for it; an agent was
sent to investigate, who reported that Mr. Holmes’ views
were at variance with those of the Society’s management, as
he gave evidence “of psedo-baptist leanings.” This resulted
in his resignation in 1807 or 1808, after which he was em-
ployed by the Baptists as an itinerant preacher. In 1809 Rev.
Andrew Gray succeeded* him as missionary to the Tusca-
roras, and Rev. J. C. Crane “of New Jersey” was sent to that
village as a teacher at a salary of $200 per annum, “with the
hope of an augmentation.” He afterwards succeeded to the
charge of that mission, where he remained in faithful ser-
vice until his death in January, 1826:
In 1811 the Society sent Rev. John Alexander as a mis-
sionary to the Senecas at Buffalo Creek, but after meeting
with the chiefs in council he found them still suspicious that
some attempt was on foot to gain possession of their lands,
and they refused to receive him. It appears that some yearsSENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
127
before they had been visited by a Rev. Mr. Cram, a mis-
sionary from the Society for Propagating Christian Knowl-
edge, whom they had rejected,—doubtless the missionary
referred to in the annual report of the New York Missionary
Society for 1802,—and their attitude was still one of pro-
found distrust. Mr. Alexander remained and preached in
Buffalo for a few months, but some misunderstanding arose
about his compensation and he soon returned to New York.
With him the Society had sent Jabez Backus Hyde as a
teacher, and although the chiefs had refused to receive the
missionary, some of them desired instruction for their chil-
dren, and Mr. Hyde was invited to remain and establish a
school. To this he consented and thus began a work of use-
fulness which he continued with marked success for nearly
ten years, preparing the way for those later efforts, which
finally resulted in establishing a permanent mission at the
Buffalo Creek.
As early as 1798 the Society of Friends in the City of
Philadelphia had sent some of their number to the Indians
on the Alleghany, where they had been kindly received, bend-
ing their efforts more especially towards the ways of civiliza-
tion, instructing their charges in agriculture and the simpler
useful crafts that should ameliorate their condition and make
them more self-helpful, extending these self-sacrificing en-
deavors at a little later day to those upon the Cattaraugus
Reservation.
At this time the greater part of the Indians in Western
New York, more than 2,000 in number, were settled in three
or four villages on the Buffalo Creek Reservation, along the
banks of Buffalo Creek and its branches and of Cazenovia
Creek, four or five miles east of the village of Buffalo. The
most central of these and the nearest to Buffalo was called
Seneca village and was clustered near the council house,
which stood about twenty rods from Buffalo Creek on its
northwest bank, at a point now marked by the angle between
Archer street and Seneca street, near the present street-car
barn. Near by lived Seneca White and other well-known
Indians, and their straggling cabins were scattered to the
eastward on both sides of the Aurora road for a distance of a128
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
mile or more. About four or five miles southeastward, in
the vicinity of what is now called Lower Ebenezer, was the
Onondaga “castle” or village, where Col. Thomas Proctor
found twenty-eight “good cabins” at the time of the council
of 1791. Here, too, was their council house, which stood on
the southern bank of Cazenovia Creek. Some five or six
miles northward from the Seneca village was the largest of
these Indian villages, called Jack Berry's town, or more com-
monly Jackstown, which was a stronghold of the Pagan
party, as was also a smaller cluster of cabins northeastward
from Seneca, called Turkey town.*
It is difficult to determine just where Mr. Hyde located
his school, but it would seem to have been in the immediate
vicinity of the council house of Seneca village. There is in
the possession of the Buffalo Historical Society a manuscript
“Account of the Seneca Indians and Mission,” written by
Mr. Hyde, and dated August 8, 1820, from which we learn
something of the many difficulties and trials which beset his
endeavor. His position had been a subordinate one and, so
far from having derived any advantage from having accom-
panied the proffered missionary, the prejudices excited by
Mr. Alexander became a serious embarrassment to his own
introduction. After waiting some seven months he opened
his school, and at the annual meeting of the Society, April
7, 1812, it was reported that “his conduct has been prudent
and upright and he has succeeded in erecting a school house
near the center of the Seneca settlement, where he now re-
sides.” Not only prudent and upright in his conduct, he was
deeply conscientious in his devotion to duty, and there is
something pathetic in the story of his brave struggle against
constant discouragement. He says : “The war took place the
next summer (1812), which threw everything into confusion
on the frontier. Several times the school was interrupted, a
*My information as to these localities comes from Mrs. Martha E. Parker,
who lived with her aunt, Mrs. Asher Wright, at the mission from 1836; and
from Benjamin C. VanDuzee, the printer for the mission, who began his work
there in 1841. Their recollection has been confirmed by MS. notes left by the
late Orlando Allen. Mrs. Parker is now living (1903) at the Cattaraugus Res-
ervation and Mr. Van Duzee resides at Hamburg. Both are well past eighty
years of age.SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
129
few scholars attended, but were very irregular. After the
war the school revived for a short time, but soon diminished,
none of the first scholars persevered. During the six years
that I professed to act as a school teacher, I had several sets
of new scholars, and not one of them made proficiency that
promised to be of any use to them. My heart was deeply
affected at the prospect which forbid the hope that anything
would ever be effected in this way.”
From year to year he persevered despite all disappoint-
ments. Although commissioned by the Society only as a
teacher, the thought of evangelizing the Indians took even a
deeper hold upon him and shaped his course. Oftentimes he
was ridiculed by those who thought such efforts as his own
were but wasted with such a stolid people, but this stimulated
him to renewed endeavor and “a full determination that the
enemy would not always triumph.” Of these earlier years he
gives no record, but it is evident that the chiefs were not
willing to receive other permanent workers than himself, al-
though he had won their confidence and respect. He says:
“The summer of 1817 Mr. Butrick lived with me I indulged
the hope that his meek and affectionate manner would in-
terest the Indians in his favour and influence them to listen
to his instruction, but they stood aloof from him, and when
I pressed them to attend to his instructions, they answered
they would not have a minister stay among them.”
In that year he received a visit from Rev. Timothy Alden,
a missionary licensed by the Society for Propagating the
Gospel, whose published letters give us occasional glimpses
of those early days of the Seneca Mission :* “On Tuesday
evening the 20th of August, 1817, we arrived at the Mission
House occupied by Jabez Backus Hyde, who has had the
care of the Indian School for five years in the Seneca village
of Buffalo Creek, four miles from its entrance into the Lake.
From all the intelligence I had been able to collect I had very
little expectation of preaching to this part of the tribe, from
the circumstance that my predecessors, the Rev. Messrs.
*“Account of sundry Missions performed among the Senecas and Munsees
in a Series of Letters with an Appendix, by Rev. Timothy Alden, President of
Allegheny College, New York. Printed by J. Seymour, 1827.”130
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
Cram and Alexander, some years ago, after a formal intro-
duction to the chiefs in council, could have no permission to
address the Indians on the subject of the Christian Religion.
My reception, however, was far more favorable than I had
anticipated. On Wednesday, in company with Mr. Hyde, we
called on some of the natives, and particularly on King
(Young King) and Pollard, two influential chiefs. The
business of my mission was made known to them and they
were pleased to. express their approbation of the obj ect.
Pollard said that he was glad I had informed the chiefs of
my wishes that they might have the opportunity to communi-
cate them to their people. King and Pollard promised to
give notice of the meeting which they preferred to have on
the Sabbath, and Jacob Jamieson was engaged to interpret
on the occasion. He had lately returned from Dartmouth
College, where for about two years he had been a student,
and is considered as one of the best interpreters to be found
among the Senecas. At the time appointed we met at the
school house in Seneca, as the village of Buffalo Creek is
sometimes called, which was crowded with the tawney in-
habitants, while a considerable portion stood without at the
doors and windows. Ten chiefs were present, of whom one
was the celebrated Sogweewautan, who is extensively known
by the name of Red Jacket. Of the shrewd remarks which
this famous orator has frequently made to missionaries with
reference to ministers of the Gospel you have doubtless been
apprised. As I did not call on him on the previous Wednes-
day it occurred to me that he might have thought himself
neglected. It was grateful to me to learn that when Pollard
informed him of my arrival and of my wish to preach to the
Indians he expressed his unqualified approbation of the steps
taken for my accommodation and offered nothing in the way
of objections, as he had formerly done to those who had pre-
ceded me. .	.	. The Indians are much attached to Mr.
Hyde and his family, who have been of no small advantage
to them by precept and example. The school, consisting of
about thirty boys, is in as prosperous a state as could reason-
ably be. expected, yet the indefatigable instructor is greatly
disheartened at the tardy progress of his pupils. Mr. HydeSENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK. 131
has written a series of discourses involving in plain and intel-
ligible language suited to the capacity of the natives, the
leading historical and doctrinal parts of the Bible, a number
of which he has delivered with the assistance of an interpre-
ter to the Indians and much to their edification.”
A year later, August 28, 1818, Mr. Alden wrote: “On the
14th of July we arrived at Mr. Hyde’s habitation in the first
village of the Buffalo Indians and repaired to the cabin of
Captain Billy, one of the aged chiefs, and stated to him my
wish to preach to his people. We agreed on the following
Sabbath for addressing the Indians of this place and Captain
Billy promised to see them informed of the meeting. .	.	.
On the Sabbath, the 19th of July [1818], we met the Indians
at Seneca agreeably to appointment. Billy, Pollard, Young
King, Twenty Canoes and other chiefs were present. Red
Jacket and several more were at Tonnewanta. Of Indians
and squaws from all parts of the Buffalo reservation there
was a larger collection than when I visited them last autumn.
There were many more than could be accommodated in the
Council House where we assembled together. I had an able
interpreter in Thomas Armstrong, who, like Hank Johnson,
was taken in infancy, adopted and brought up as a member
of the tribe. After singing, Mr. Hyde read the Lord’s
Prayer in Seneca, which he had recently translated. This
was the first time these Indians had heard it in their native
tongue, as previously stated to them that their friend and
teacher would repeat to them in their language the prayer
which was taught us by Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the
world. .	.	. Mr. Hyde has resigned the! charge of the
school which he had under his care for five years. He
thought it would be advantageous to the Indians to suspend
it for a season. They now begin to express their desire for
its re-commencement. At the present time Mr. Hyde is
busily employed in acquiring the Seneca, gradually prepar-
ing a Grammar of the dialect and translating into it the Gos-
pel according to the Evangelist John. In this important
labor he is assisted by Thomas Armstrong, with whom he
was providentially brought to an acquaintance when greatly
needed, but not knowing where to find one so competent.132
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
Mr. Hyde has the confidence of those with whom he resides
more than any other man.” Regarding this, Mr. Hyde says :
“At this time I was translating the third chapter of John, and
as it was my first attempt I proceeded very cautiously. Every
opportunity an Indian of intelligence called on me I read my
translation to ascertain whether it was correct.”
It was probably about this time (1817-18) that Mr. Hyde
was designated by the Society as a catechist and his labors
were devoted even more strenuously to the spiritual enlight-
enment of the Indians among whom in the spring and sum-
mer of 1818 more interest seemed to be awakened in religious
matters. He tells us: “The 16th of August five young men
of the best families among the Senecas came to the School
House, where I and my family had gone that day to carry on
a meeting among ourselves. They came in and informed us
that they had come to learn the Will of God made known
in His word. They had agreed to observe the Sabbath and
listen to the instruction of the Word of God. For four
weeks they stood alone, encountering all the ridicule the
opposition were pleased to bestow. The 15th of September
four other young men of similar character joined us with
similar professions; their wives were won over by their
husbands; three elderly women joined us; two of them were
mothers of the young men, the other was a white woman, a
captive taken when a child, and one old chief, a captive taken
when a child, the father of the young men.” At first the
hymns and prayers were in English and Mr. Hyde spoke to
the Indians through his interpreter, but in October some Tus-
caroras visited them on the Sabbath and conducted the sing-
ing in the .Indian language. This aroused much interest and
Mr. Hyde began to instruct his followers in singing on
Wednesday evenings. The meetings were crowded and the
school house became too small for their needs. Finally some
of the old chiefs who had stood aloof, professed an attach-
ment for the teachings of Christianity and attended the
meetings.
Being advised of this encouraging change, the New York
Missionary Society sent two commissioners to meet the chiefs
in council, with the result that the Senecas, Onondagas andSENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
133
Cayugas on the reservation entered into a covenant with the
commissioners, by the terms of which the Society engaged
to send them teachers free of expense, the Indians agreeing
to receive them, listen to their instructions and advise and
counsel with the Society. Mr. Hyde says there was only one
chief of considerable note who absented himself and did not
sign the covenant.
After the commissioners left, the Pagans charged the
Christian party with selling themselves to be the bond slaves
of the ministers “who would eat up their land and consume
them off the earth,” and in the spring council which fol-
lowed, in June, 1819, a furious discussion took place, with
sharp recriminations, in which Red Jacket was violently
prominent, but after a stormy session of four days, commis-
sioners of the United States arrived to discuss the relin-
quishment of certain lands, and in this even more engrossing
discussion the subject of religion was dropped, and finally
the council dispersed without any decision on that point and
every one was left to think and act for himself.
So many difficulties now arose between Mr. Hyde and
his people and with his interpreter that from the 1st of Janu-
ary, 1820, until the 17th of April he suspended his labors
among them.
In the meantime, in fulfillment of its promise to provide
additional teachers, the New York Missionary Society sent
Mr. and Mrs. James Young of Orange Co., N. Y., who left
New York in the autumn of 1819 and were eight days on
their journey from that city to the Tuscarora village, where
they were to remain until the mission house under construc-
tion for them at the Buffalo Creek should be completed
With them was Miss Esther Rutgers Low of New York City,
a young lady of but twenty-one years of age, who was sent
by the Society, as an assistant in the school. Her service
among the Senecas was but brief, for two years later she
married Rev. David Remington of Buffalo, who then became
a missionary to the Mississippi Choctaws. She was the
mother of Miss Elizabeth H. Remington and of the late
Cyrus K. Remington of Buffalo. The former preserves a134
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
very interesting account written by her mother of that long
journey in 1819.
The new house which they were to occupy at the Seneca
village was located near the site of the later mission house
(built in 1833), which is still standing (1903) north of Sen-
eca Street, close by the old Indian cemetery, Buffam Street
at the present time passing between these landmarks of the
past. Miss Low states that it was a log house two stories
high, the second floor being reserved for the school. Here
Mr. Young and his companions established themselves about
January 1, 1820, the journey from the Tuscarora village
being made in a large country wagon, on which their house-
hold goods were piled, over rough roads with mud so deep
that despite an early morning start they were compelled to
stop for the night at a tavern half way to Buffalo. Another
day was consumed in reaching the house of Mr. Ransom in
Buffalo, which stood on the spot afterwards occupied by the
Universalist Church on Main Street, near Chippewa. Here
they were hospitably entertained and on the third day,
through still greater perils of mud and unbroken forests, they
made their way to their final destination.
Their work of instruction began at once. Besides the
usual English classes, the ladies of the family taught the
Indian women and girls how to knit and to sew; and what
David Gamut would have called “the difficult art of Psalm-
ody” was taught with some success to a class of young men
who came for the purpose two evenings in each week. She
says that many of them had good voices and were fond of
singing. When summer came and their garden vegetables
were ripe they found many dusky guests who were glad to be
taught by practical demonstration how such things could be
cooked and generously served. The Indian palate developed
an especial vocation for squash and the resources of the little
mission were sorely taxed by the constant call for “more.”
On the 5th of September, 1820, Rev. Timothy Alden
again visited Buffalo Creek and gives us in his letter to Dr.
Albert Holmes of Cambridge, Mass., an interesting view of
the situation:
“On Tuesday, we arrived at the mission house in the mostSENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
135
populous village in the Buffalo Creek Reservation, still occu-
pied by Mr. Hyde, who, having passed through many tribu-
lations and discouragements in his benevolent and arduous
labors continued for about nine years for the temporal and
spiritual welfare of the Senecas is now rejoicing in the pros-
pect of a better time, which already begins to glimmer on this
benighted people. .	.	. The Indians are greatly pleased
at the labors of Mr. Hyde in translating and printing from
time to time portions of the Holy Scriptures. He will shortly
have finished a selection from the Bible to the amount of
about one hundred copies of Seneca and English in opposite
columns. He has spared no pains or expense to cause many
of the Indians to be instructed in the art of singing. In al-
most every cabin he entered a singing book was immediately
produced and many pieces of our best church music were
sung by note in just time and by words prepared by Mr.
Hyde in their vernacular tongue. ... Mr. Hyde under
the patronage of the New York Missionary Society, with the
'humble but honorable name of a Catechist, delivers regular
discourses from Sabbath to Sabbath in the- village of his
residence and occasionally at Kataraugus and Tonewanta,
when a cavalcade of nearly twenty of the principal charac-
ters of his important charge accompanies him thirty miles
from respect to this faithful laborer in the vineyard. .	.	.
Although Mr. Hyde is sometimes absent on the Sabbath, yet
his people steadily hold a meeting at which several of the
chiefs pray, repeat passages from those parts of the Bible
already translated and give an exhortation. They have a
decent and comfortable place for public worship in their
Council House, which by a resolve of long standing is the
chief council fire-place of all the Six Nations. The present
is a new building 42x18 feet and is well constructed of hewn
logs. It is shingled, glazed, arched and sealed and furnished
with neat and commodious seats and a good chimney, all the
work of the Indians. The monthly concert of prayer is very
observing and on every Thursday evening the singers meet
together to perfect themselves in Psalmody and for religious
instruction.”
He then describes a meeting of this character which he136 SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
attended September 7th, and gives the words of the “Adeste
Fideles” as sung in the Seneca language. His address was
interpreted by George Jemison, a grandson of Mary Jemison
and a brother of Jacob, to whom reference has been pre-
viously made:
“On Thursday, the 21st of September, we had the pleasure
of witnessing the operation of an Indian School conducted
by James Young, his wife and Miss Low. It is in the mid-
way situation between two of the principal villages on the
Buffalo Creek and was instituted under the patronage of the
New York Missionary Society. The house lately erected is
well calculated for the designed object and is furnished with
a fine-toned bell of about 150 pounds weight. A lower story
divided into a competent number of rooms affords comfort-
able accommodations for the worthy and indefatigable mis-
sion family. The upper story, consisting of one spacious
room, the chimney being the center, with the fixtures and
appurtenances for reading, writing, cyphering, sewing, knit-
ting and spinning, is very convenient for the complex busi-
ness of this flourishing seminary. A building on the plan of
this construction may be considered as a good model for
such an aboriginal establishment. We were highly pleased
at the order and decorum which markes the conduct of the
pupils, both male and female, and at the proficiency they had
made in the various branches to which they had attended.
The school is daily opened and closed with prayer, with a
hymn in Seneca, which many of the children of both sexes,
instructed by Mr. Young, sing with great propriety and ex-
hibit a very interesting scene. He states not more than
fifteen boys have attended the school of this place from day
to day and about an equal number of girls, but that the pre-
vious winter the number of boys was forty-five and girls
twenty-five. On the Sabbath, the 24th of September, the
Council House was well filled with the aborigines and
amongst them were the chiefs Pollard, Young King, White
Chief, Tall Peter, Seneca White and White Seneca. .	.	.
On the following day we took our departure from the Reser-
vation and our leave of the faithful laborer in this vineyard,
Mr. Hyde, his worthy consort, and family. It is truly grate-SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
137
ful to witness the wonderful providential alteration for
good, both spiritual and temporal, which has taken place
among the aborigines of this region since my last visit in
1818; this to be attributed to no small degree in Providence
to the edifying example of the mission family.”
Towards the close of the year 1820 negotiations were in
progress for the transfer by the New York Missionary
Society of this mission station and that at Tuscarora village
to the United Foreign Missionary Society, an organization
formed July 28, 1817, by the united action of the Presby-
terian, the Dutch Reformed and the Associate Reformed
Churches of New York City. In December, 1820, when this
transfer was pending, two commissioners, Rev. Stephen N.
Rowan of New York and Rev. Henry P. Strong of Phelps,
N. Y.,* were sent to obtain the consent of all concerned.
They sat in council with the Senecas, Onondagas and Cayu-
gas at the Buffalo Creek, December 14, 1820, when the
chiefs met their wishes and declared that they were now
willing to receive a settled minister. Adjourning from the
council house to Mr. Young’s residence, Rev. Mr. Rowan
joined in marriage the interpreter, Thomas Armstrong, and
Rebecca Hempferman, both white captives taken in infancy
by the Senecas during the Revolutionary War, who had
been adopted by their captors and brought up as Indian
children.
At the same time Jonathan Jacket, youngest son of Red
Jacket, was married to Yeck-ah-wak, a young woman from
Cattaraugus. This is said to have been the first Christian
marriage among the Senecas. Mrs. Remington states that
when the ceremony was ended Mr. Strong said to Arm-
strong, “Thomas, with us we salute the bride, that is we kiss
her; it is not.in the ceremony, only it is a custom and a
pleasure and you can do as you like about it.” Thomas inter-
preted it to' his wife and after due and solemn deliberation
responded: “We have considered it and as we do not see any
profit in it we will omit it,” which was therefore done.
*MS. record written by Rev. Francis A. Vinton in 1869 in possession of
the A. B. C. F. M., Boston, Mass. Miss Low’s narrative says this was Rev.
Paschal II. Strong, corresponding secretary N. Y. Home Missionary Society,
which is more probably correct.138
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
In January, 1821, the Seneca Mission was formally trans-
ferred to the United Foreign Missionary Society'and Sep-
tember 19, 1821, Rev. Thompson S. Harris of Bound Brook,
N. J., a recent graduate of Princeton College and Seminary
and a licentiate of the Presbytery of New Brunswick, was
appointed missionary for the Buffalo Creek Reservation,
whither his young wife, Marianne La Tournette, accom-
panied him.
For some reason which is unexplained, these changes
brought about the retirement of Mr. Hyde, who had labored
so long and faithfully in this difficult field and to whom
those who followed were indebted in the largest measure
for all that opened the way for subsequent success. Rev.
Timothy Alden speaks of meeting him in 1827 and says:
“He was ordained several years ago and has been diligently
laboring in vacant congregations of white people in sundry
parts of the Gospel Vineyard; but neither forgets nor is for-
gotten by, the Senecas, who were first led under the great
Head of the Church, by his instructions and example, to an
acknowledgment of the truth. The seven hymns, in Seneca,
which he composed and published/, have been sung seven
years and the chiefs having requested him to enlarge their
number, are much gratified by his recent prompt attention to
their wishes. With his knowledge and the aid of which he
can avail himself, he might soon translate at least one of the
Gospels into the Seneca dialect.”
On the 2d of November, 1821, Mr. Harris reached the
mission station and records in his journal the pleasure he
felt in “the neatness and simplicity of our family apart-
ments.” Very fortunately his earlier journals have been
preserved, enabling us to see from the almost daily record
which he penned, somewhat of the unwonted experiences
which now occupied his life. There are many expressions
of deep personal feeling, an unfailing reliance upon the
mercy and goodness of God to which he and those who
shared his work with him looked for help and guidance in
difficult ways too often beset with grievous discourage-
ments. Its phrases often seem stilted to our unaccustomed
ears, but there is throughout a genuineness which com-SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
139
mands our respect and compels our sympathy, and here and
there we catch such glimpses of his surroundings as are of
no small interest in picturing men and manners among those
rude neighbors of Buffalo in its early years.
On the day following his arrival he met with the natives
for purposes of worship. He tells us that these services
were held in their council house about a mile distant from
the station and his first impressions were not unfavorable:
'‘Congregation very attentive during service to the subject
treated of. Much more order than could have been ex-
pected from persons so ignorant and no more accustomed to
discipline, but it is natural and perhaps constitutional.”
During the first year of his service at the mission . Mr.
Harris found that he had much to learn of Indian ways, but
he seems to have been a quick-witted scholar and to have
applied himself with conscientious devotion and with much
tact to a knowledge of the strange people among whom his
lot was cast and to have succeeded in gaining their con-
fidence and trust. Within a week of his arrival a council,
which was well attended by the chiefs, was held at the mis-
sion house, when his letters from the United Foreign Mis-
sionary Society were delivered and explained and the way
opened for his work. The principal speakers mentioned by
him were "Little Johnson” and the celebrated Captain Pol-
lard, who seems to have been one of the foremost among the
Senecas to welcome whatever might lead to their instruction
and to the advancement of his people in ways of civilization.
In his speech he thanked the Great Spirit who had thus
brought them face to face and the good society who had sent
a minister "who could explain to them the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ contained in the Good Book,” and prom-
ised that they would "listen with all possible attention to the
explanations which should from time to time be made from
the Word of God, for their best good and the salvation of
their souls.” It was evident that for all of this the way had
been opened by the labors of Mr. Hyde during the ten years
prior to Mr. Harris’s coming, for he found a large and im-
portant following among the influential chiefs. Perhaps the
most devoted of these throughout his ministry was Seneca140
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
White, who lived until about 1870. On the 12th of Novem-
ber, Mr. Harris reports in his journal an interesting inter-
view with this chief and with his. brother, John Seneca,
when Seneca White told him “that in his younger days in
looking around him and seeing so many of his neighbors
(white) as well as those of his own nation addicted to im-
proper and sinful practices, some getting drunk, others dis-
obeying their parents, others addicted to gamboling and
frolicking, etc., he had made up his mind to abstain from all
these things, to act justly and uprightly with all so far as it
was in his power; he had seen the great misery which such
conduct had brought upon those who engaged in it, as well
as on their friends; that in looking back upon the path
which he himself had trod he had some sorrow because he
found nothing which could merit anything at the hands of
God for he well knew that sin was mixed with all his ac-
tions . . . and it was his constant wish that his sins might
be pardoned and he accepted through Christ.”
The Pagan party, under their famous leader, Red Jacket,
were by no means inactive, and their persistent opposition
continued through many years, brought many difficulties
and discouragements to the struggling mission and its ad-
herents. Mr. Harris had brought a letter to the Indians
from the U. S. War Department commending the mission
and the school, and this in no small measure strengthened
their hands. On the 5th of December, 1821, Mr. Harris
had an interesting interview with Captain Jasper Parrish,
United States Agent for the Six Nations, of whom he says:
“He appears to be friendly to our establishment and anxious
for the improvement of the people. He says that his aim
and mine in regard to this people are one, they both tend to
one result, i. e., the happiness and prosperity of the people,
only his line of duties lies in one way and mine in another,
but that both should go on together. He stated a conversa-
tion which took place between him and Red Jacket this
morning. Jacket came to him and wished to know his
opinion, whether he did not think that the Black-coats were
not coming in among them in order to take away their lands.
He told them it was no such thing, their lands were securedSENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
141
to them by Government and that they could not be deprived
of them as long as that Government exists. That there is
no incumbrance whatever except the right of pre-emption,
which only relates to the right of a company’s purchasing
them provided they wish to sell. He promptly told him that
he was an opposer of missionaries who had been sent him
by people who wished their best good; that not only so, but
that he was opposing Government, who was very desirous of
having them instructed and their children. And now you
dare to oppose missionaries and societies and Government?
Can you, a single man, presume to fly in the face of all these
and violently resist them ? Ah, well, but what had been the
result of those numerous tribes who had received mission-
aries among them? What had become of them? They are
extinct; they are forever gone, so that the name even is no
more remembered. Well, and has dissipation and war had
no effect in bringing about this catastrophe? Oh, yes, but
liquor and sin and swearing all have come in this way. And
after giving him a good scolding and telling him that all
was in vain and that his people would become Christian in
spite of all his efforts they parted 'about as good friends as
we met/ ”
At this time Little Beard was still living and was the
principal chief at the Tonawanda Reservation and on the
evening of December ioth, he came to see Mr. Harris who
says of him that "he appears to be an honest candid man;
he said he was very glad to see me and wished to let me
know that his people wish to have a school-master from the
Board,—a good Christian man, not lazy but swift, and one
that knew a good deal and who would not set an example to
his boys by which they would be induced to drink rum;
this he said, 'no good.’ ”
On the following morning the missionary was gratified
at receiving a visit from Young King, who seemed much
pleased at the prospect of improvement and said: "Ten year
ago Indians no work, no fence, no cattle, no corn,—all dark.
Now good many cattle and boys some work,—by and by,
maybe ten years,—boys work, make good,roads and good
fence, and have everything good.”142 SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
At the mission station, besides Mr. and Mrs. Harris and
the teacher, Mr. Young and his wife, there were two assist-
ants, Miss Van Patten and Miss Reeve, who had been sent
especially to instruct the Indian women in spinning and
weaving and similar industries. When the Indians gathered
at the mission house on Christmas day “it was proposed to
them that as the mission house was more central to the three
villages and as it would much accommodate them in
bringing their children to and from Sunday school, and as it
would better suit our women, some of whom were feeble
and in ill health and not able to walk so far, it could per-
haps with a little expense be as suitable a place for publick
worship as any other and as it would be likely to accom-
modate both the people and the mission family, the question
was put to them whether they would agree to meet here or
at the Council house, and whether they would consent to as-
sist in moving the school house, which stood at Mr. Hyde’s
former residence, for the purpose of a weave shop for the
squaws?” The answer, which required a fortnight’s delib-
eration, did not savor of that gratitude which the minister
expected. They thought the council house, a mile distant,
was good enough for them and should be for any one else;
there was nothing in it which could be stolen, and that the
mission women could afford to walk a mile for the sake of
doing good, while the removal of Mr. Hyde’s school house
would be a useless trouble and expense. Mr. Harris thought
their reply savored of “considerable impudence,” but there
was no help for it; the services were held at the distant
council house and a new school house was begun at
the station. The work had been interrupted by reason
of the recent changes, but by appointment Mr. Young-
opened school April io, 1821, with fifteen or sixteen
scholars, with the understanding that as soon as the
building was ready the children should be received into
the mission family instead of returning from day to
day, but when the time came a council was held May 22nd,
and the chiefs gravely informed the missionary that they
did not wish to have their children instructed in agriculture,
as reading and writing were quite sufficient for the purposesSENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
143
of the Gospel. Moreover, they were unwilling to have the
schoolmaster correct their children and the outcome seems
to be summed up in the brief entry in Mr. Harris's journal,
May 23rd:	“Mr. Young ready to go into school, but no
children came." Prejudices and misunderstandings stood
in the way, and it was not until July 1st that after many
councils with the chiefs, fifteen children were sent by their
parents to live with the.mission family. By the 10th of July
twenty-four had been received and the journal comments
very hopefully upon their seeming intelligence and interest.
None the less they were Indian children, resentful of dis-
cipline, and only a week had passed when several of the
boys deserted the school, with such bad effect in the way
of example that September 24th all the girls ran away, to
the great grief of the good missionary and the teacher who
found little help and less comfort in appealing to Indian
parents, who manifestly did not care.
On the 2nd of November, 1821, the first report of the
mission to the Government was made in the form of a let-
ter to the Secretary of War of which a copy has been pre-
served. This is of much interest as a picture of the actual
situation at that early day:
The establishment with which the undersigned have the happi-
ness as well as honor to be connected, under the superintendence
and patronage of the United Foreign Missionary Society, is situ-
ated about four miles east of Buffalo on the Indian Reservation, in
that vicinity. Its immediate site is within 70 rods of one of the
branches of the Buffalo Creek which enters into the lake at Buffalo,
and is nearly central to the whole population on the Reservation.
The number of individuals which are at present employed in edu-
cating the Indians at the station consists in all of six souls: a
minister of the Gospel and wife, and one infant child; a teacher
and wife and one female assistant. Of these the teacher and wife
have been on the ground three years, the others have been but one.1
The teacher on his arrival was directed to erect a block-house 24
by 28 for the accommodation of his family and school and to open
a local school on the usual plan; the children coming every morn-
ing and returning again at night. In the course of time this
method of conducting the school was found to be deficient, because
it did not nor could not secure the punctual attendance of the144
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
children, scattered as they were over the Reservation. It was then
judged proper by our Board that a frame house should be built
sufficiently capacious for the accommodation of the minister and as
many scholars as should be judged expedient to receive under the
superintendence of the family and to conduct the establishment
upon the plan projected at the South and with which the Executive
is in some measure acquainted. The necessary buildings were com-
pleted for the reception of the youth on the ist of July, 1822, and
about 20 children taken under the immediate care of a Christian
family.
Upon the present plan of instruction it is our calculation
primarily to introduce the children to the knowledge of the Eng-
lish language and to open to them through this school those
sources of information which are so highly valued by the instruc-
tors of youth in this happy republick, believing that (it) is of the
highest importance that the children among the Six Nations, sur-
rounded as they are by a dense population of whites, should be
made acquainted as early as possible with the language of that com-
munity, with which they will in time in all probability be amalga-
mated.
This plan of instruction also supposes it highly, proper that, to-
gether with the advantages to be received in the training of a Chris-
tian family, the children should be taught the common branches of
agriculture .and be made acquainted with those mechanic arts that
may be of inestimable use in promoting their civilization. That under
the influence of sober and industrious habits they may learn to sup-
port themselves by cultivating the small remains of that soil, of the
whole of which they were once the sole proprietors, but which has
been too often diverted from them by the cruel hand of avarice, or
sold through their own ignorance, for the merest trifle. But for the
accomplishment of all this much time, labor and additional expense
will be indispensably necessary. To complete the establishment
under our superintendence it would seem important that more and
different teachers should be employed in this work. Particularly a
farmer is needed in connection with the establishment, not only to
lessen the expenditures of the mission which are increasingly large,
but also by having a well cultivated farm in immediate sight, the
natives may be excited to those industrious habits which are so
seemingly calculated to raise them to a level with enlightened man.
The improvements belonging to the establishment consist prin-
cipally of the aforementioned buildings, together with a garden im-
proved and about 12 acres enclosed with a substantial fence for
an orchard and meadow. It was not discovered till a part of theREV. ASHER WRIGHT,
Missionary to the Senecas, 1831-1875.145
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
buildings had been commenced that the site selected for their erec-
tion was composed of a bed of almost solid limestone with a thin
layer of earth above. Much labor and expense have been necessary
in digging the cellar and well, the first of which only is com-
pleted.
The moveable property belonging to the establishment chiefly
consists of implements of husbandry intended for the boys; a loom,
wheels and the necessary apparatus for the instruction of the girls
and a set of; carpenters’ and shoemakers’ tools, together with those
articles of household furniture which would be found indispensable
for a family of 30 persons.
For the full accomplishment of the objects embraced in our plan
much time, patience, perseverance and more funds than we can at
present command, are absolutely necessary. For the further pro-
secution of our measures we look with confident and buoyant hopes
to the foster hand of Government, which has been so long, and we
hope faithfully, extended for the protection and relief of its red
children, will not be withdrawn from patronizing those institutions
which have been formed for the amelioration of our Indian broth-
ers which, in the language of a member of our board, “are in the
full tide of successful operation.”
To this work we have devoted ourselves for life, expecting no
other reward than that of an approving conscience in the discharge
of our duty, hoping and believing that in the use of the proper
means many will yet arise from among this people who shall
continue to enlighten and bless this nation down to the latest gen-
erations.	Sir, Yours most respectfully,
T. S. HARRIS,
JAS. YOUNG.
The year 1823 proved to be an important one in the his-
tory of the mission, bringing some realization of the hopes
of its leaders, and witnessing the first organization of a
church society among these Indians of its especial care.
The laxity of the marriage relation among them had been
the cause of great solicitude with Mr. Harris, who had
earnestly remonstrated with the; chiefs over the extent of
this evil and its unhappy consequences. On the 6th of Janu-
ary after one of their meetings, nine of the young men ex-
pressed their desire to be married by him “in a lawful Chris-
tian manner, for the purpose of setting their own minds at
rest and also as an example to their nation.” There is a146
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
touch of homely humor in the narrative as given in Mr.
Harris’s journal. “They concluded by asking if it would
be in our power to gratify their wish of preparing a supper
for the parties to be married, provided they found the pro-
visions. They were told that we would be disposed to
gratify their wishes as might appear to be proper. They
would at once see the propriety of our not adapting any of
the funds ot the Board to such an object. But as they had
generously offered to contribute all the materials of a supper
on this occasion I would leave it with our females on whom
the burden would chiefly fall, to say whether it would be in
their power to gratify their wishes in this respect or not.
Upon the sisters expressing their consent they left us ex-
ceedingly pleased.” The school also seemed to prosper in
its small way and March ioth Mr. Harris writes:	“Our
school is certainly becoming more and more tractable: the
whole number is 17. The progress they make in the knowl-
edge of household business and in the various branches of
study which occupy their attention the most of the day is
truly gratifying. There is one class of six or seven who
read fluently in the N. Testament, another who spell in
words of two or three syllables and one or two beginners.
They also make tolerable progress in learning the English
language.”
The teacher, Mr. James Young, had been for some time
engaged in preparing a hymn book in the Seneca language.
This work had been attempted by Mr. Hyde as early as
1820 as well as the translation of portions of the Holy Scrip-
tures. In that year, as we have already seen, Mr. Alden
wrote that Mr. Hyde printed 100 copies of these selections
with the Seneca and English in opposite columns and in ad-
dition had composed and published seven hymns in Seneca.
It is much to be regretted that no copy of either of these
publications is known to be in existence. On the 27th of
March, 1823, Mr. Harris writes in his journal:	“At the
close of the singing this evening we had the satisfaction to
state to the congregation that the printing of the Indian
Hymn Book prepared by the teacher for the use of the
school and for the congregation was now completed. ItSENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
147
was also stated that the printing and binding of the whole
number of copies (which is 500) will cost near $40.00 and
that as only $20.00 had been appropriated by a few benevo-
lent white men for this object, we expected that they would
assist us in defraying part of the expense of printing; that
they might either agree to pay the remaining sum in whole
or in part to take the books at 25c apiece, not however be-
fore they had examined them a little for themselves and see
whether they could derive benefit from them. One or two
of the hymns were then interpreted and sung by those who
can read, verse by verse. They appeared exceedingly
pleased and pronounced it ‘was good’ and said/ that they
should cheerfully take upon themselves to pay at least part
of the expense; but supposed that as the books would be
equally useful to all the Seneca nation on the five reserva-
tions it appeared proper that the expense should be divided,
not that one should be eased, and another burdened, but that
all should pay an equal portion. They therefore advised
that the teacher keep the books in his possession until the
approaching June council when the necessary expense
should be defrayed out of their annuities.”
But one copy of this hymn book is known to be in exist-
ence now,* but in 1829 the American Tract Society repub-
lished what is doubtless the same, “Hymns in the Seneca
Tongue by James Young,” the collection comprising twenty-
nine hymns or psalms in Seneca, with the English versions on
opposite pages, the same volume containing “Christ’s Sermon
on the Mountain, translated into the Seneca Tongue by T. S.
Harris and J. Young,” in which the Seneca and English
versions also face each other. A copy of this edition of
1829 was found in the leaden box placed in 1855 m ^le cor~
nerstone of the Thomas Asylum when this first of its build-
ings was demolished and the box opened in 1901.
Sunday, the 10th of April, 1823, was the date of forming
the first church organization among the Seneca Indians.
Mr. Harris tells us that it was a delightful spring morning.
‘‘About 12 o’clock the people had pretty generally collected
to view the solemn feast, everything having been previously
* Owned by the Buffalo Historical Society.148
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
arranged. Discourse from I. Gor. 6-20: Tor ye are brought
with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your
spirit which are God’s.' After sermon the candidates were
called forward and questioned on some of the plainer truths
of the Bible and as to the sincerity of their desire to devote
themselves to God in that covenant which is well ordered
and sure in all things. After expressing their assent, the
nature of baptism was explained more fully to their com-
prehension. They then knelt down one by one and were
baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost
and were invited- to the table. It was still and solemn and
our prayer is that our God and father would condescend to
ratify in heaven the sincere service of us frail imperfect
mortals here on earth. The audience consisting of 150 per-
sons was as solemn and orderly as could be reasonably ex-
pected. Thank God that he has planted his infant church
in this heathen land. Look down O Lord and visit this vine
and the vineyard which thy right hand has planted. Next
Sabbath was appointed for baptising the young children of
these who were for the first time admitted to the sealing
ordinances of the church.”
Besides Mr. and Mrs. Harris and Mr. and Mrs. Young,
there were now’ in the mission family as assistants, Miss
Phoebe Selden of Hartford, Conn., and Miss Asenath Bishop
from Homer, N. Y. Four of the Indian chiefs were at this
time admitted to church fellowship: Seneca White, of
whom Mr. Harris wrote :	“He is decidedly the nearest
earthly friend we have in this country and the pillar of his
people”; John Seneca, who was Seneca White’s brother;
James Stephenson and Tall Peter. There were, therefore,
ten members of this church at its first organization. In 1824
Henry Twoguns and Captain Pollard were admitted to fel-
lowship and Pollard’s wife joined the church in the follow-
ing year with two others. Among the five who were added
to its membership in 1826 were White Seneca, another
brother of Seneca White, and their father the old White
Chief, who was generally known as “Father White.” Mr.
Harris says of him: “This man is above 80 years of age,
is a white man, was taken captive by the Indians in their149
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
wars, has lived with them ever since, grew up to be a
mighty hunter and great warrior and has long been a chief
of much influence and is yet a sensible affectionate and
friendly old man.” In 1827 twenty-two were added to their
number, including Seneca White’s mother and his wife, also
the wife of Red Jacket. In 1828 nine were added, bringing
the membership up to fifty-two persons. On the 10th of Oc-
tober, 1823, Mr. Harris writes : “For the first time since our
location among this people Red Jacket has this day paid us a
visit and given us the privilege of a short interview. He
appears rather friendly than otherwise, but we are quite
suspicious nevertheless that his heart is secretly at work in
endeavoring to execute his dark designs of mischief and
opposition.” In this he was not mistaken, for two days later
Seneca White reported that Red Jacket had proposed to the
young chiefs of the Christian party that they should turn
the teachers “neck and heels out of doors,” take their build-
ings and let a young man (Jacob Jemison), who had been
away at school teach the children, pay him out of the an-
nuity money and have “a respectable school without theim-
terference of these malicious Black Coats whose only aim
is to entrap us with their pretended displays of friendship,
that they may the more successfully practise their frauds
and impositions and eventually lay us waste forever.”
This attempt failed, but a few months later this wily
leader of the Pagan party succeeded for a time in his plans
of opposition. In 1821 a law had been enacted forbidding
the residence of white men upon Indian lands. This, Mr.
Harris says, had been introduced “for the express purpose
of gratifying Red Jacket.” In the early winter of 1822 a
petition had been presented to the Legislature from the prin-
cipal chiefs of the Christian party, signed also, it would ap-
pear, by “the friends of Christianity and civilization in this
and adjoining counties” praying that the law be altered “so
that ministers of the Gospel and mechanics of good moral
character might be excepted.” This failed of success and
the statute remaining unchanged, Red Jacket and his fol-
lowers with whom “some white pagans joined,” entered a
formal complaint against the mission family remaining on150
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
the reservation, so that February 23, 1824, the District At-
torney, Heman B. Potter, notified Mr. Harris of this, add-
ing, “I don’t see but that I must proceed to remove you, but
I advised postponement till I could write you, but after a
reasonable time to hear from you I shall be obliged to pro-
ceed.”
This was a crushing blow, but there was no escaping it.
By the middle of March, 1824, the mission was broken up.
An appeal to the Legislature had been made without success,
but a year later the law was changed and Mr. Harris re-
turned to the mission house to resume his work in Tune,
1825*
The schoolteacher, Mr. James Young, did not return to
the mission with Mr. Harris at this time and his place was
filled by Gilman Clark, who served until in 1827 he wTas
compelled to resign “on account of ill health.” An im-
portant coadjutor at this time was Hanover Bradley, who
with his wife (Catharine Wheeler) had joined the family
at Christmas, 1823, as steward and farmer, afterward be-
coming a catechist and always rendering valuable service to
the struggling mission. The other assistants were Miss
Asenath Bishop, who came February 23, 1823, and re-
mained eighteen years until November, 1841, and Miss Nancy
Henderson, who served for six years from 1824 until 1830.
To these were afterward added Miss Phoebe Selden, 1826
to 1833; Miss Emily Root, 1827 to 1833; and Miss Re-
becca Newhall, 1828 to 1832. From 1828 to 1830 or 1831
a Mr. Morton was in charge of the school and his wife was
one of the assistants.
Upon his return Mr. Harris was given a general super-
intendence of the missions at Cattaraugus and the Tuscarora
village in addition to his own at Seneca, and from this time
his journals describe his frequent visits to the more distant
stations where he saw many hopeful signs of progress. The
Society of Friends had done much for the material and
moral elevation of the Indians, especially on the Allegheny
and later on the Cattaraugus reservations, but their quiet
ways were not his own and one may read between the lines
^Missionary Herald, Vol. 20, pp. 132-162.SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
151
a certain satisfaction with which he records the shrewdness
of logic shown by one of his own flock of whom he says:
“In a conversation by one of these young converts with a
Quaker, the latter stated to him his view of the work of the
spirit under the similitude of a cord let down from heaven
and attached to every man’s heart and that when this cord
was touched by the finger of God the motion was invariably
felt at the lower extremity. ‘It may be so,’ said the man,
‘but I still have my doubts whether that is just so. I have
been a good deal accustomed to fishing. I have frequently
cast in my hook well baited; I have sometimes felt very
certain after it has sunk from my sight that I felt the bite
of a fish. On examination I found I had no fish and the
bait undiminished. Now it might possibly have been a fish
that thus deceived me or it might have been the Devil. So,
friend, I am afraid the Devil has more to do with this cord
you speak of than you think for.’ ”
July 31, 1826, the United States Foreign Missionary So-
ciey was merged in the American Board of Commissioners
for Foreign Missions, and these Indian missions were then
formally transferred to that control.
September 15, 1826, Mr. Harris writes in his journal:
“It seems that our Mission School is considered by the host
of strangers who visit these regions in the travelling season
as a great curiosity and with many we hope a matter of
special and delightful interest. The proximity of our Sta-
tion to the Village of Buffalo affords great facility of grati-
fying those who are capable of being wrought upon by the
novelty of an Indian School. Scarce a day passes but sev-
eral carriages stand at our yard fence loaded with visitors.
To-day the school has exhibited before about 30 persons,
among whom we had the pleasure of counting the Hon. the
Secy, of the Navy of the United States* and suite, who ex-
pressed themselves highly gratified with the intelligent coun-
tenances and the agreeable and surprising proficiency of the
children. A young gentleman, a native of England, ap-
peared so much interested as to stay the greater part of the
* Samuel Lewis Southard.152
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
day and left with the mission on his departure a donation
of $10.00.”
March 5, 1827, he mentions that at their monthly concert
of prayer held at the council house a request was made that
those should rise who wished Christians to pray for them.
“Among the rest was the wife of the celebrated pagan chief,
Red Jacket, who says that she feels she must repent ; that
she is an old and wicked sinner, and wishes to be remem-
bered in the prayers of Christians. There is something
peculiar in the case of this woman. She has for a long time
had great struggles of conscience in conforming to heathen-
ish customs. But she states she has done it out of regard
to the feelings of her husband by whom she was overawed.
She has recently conversed with him on her desires to be-
come a Christian. He has told her plumply that the mo-
ment she publicly professes such an intention, that moment
will terminate forever their connection as man and wife.
She has deliberately made up her mind to seek the salvation
of her soul and if he leaves her for.it he must go. She hopes
to gain more than he has to give her; the salvation of her
soul she views of far more importance than all that; the
Lord Jesus she must seek and hazard all consequences. I
understand that her husband has really fulfilled his threat,
and we humbly trust that He who said 'he that loveth father
or mother, son or daughter, husband or wife more than Me
is not worthy of Me’ will strengthen her to take up her
cross and bear it. She is about 50 years old.”
Red Jacket carried out his threat, repudiated his wife and
plunged deeper than ever into dissolute dissipation. It is
worthy of note, however, that before his death he returned
to his wife and to her home, where he ended his days, un-
reconciled, however, to the last that his people should have
departed from the pagan faith and pagan customs of their
ancestors. May 20, 1827, Mr. Harris tells us that there
were at that time 70 or 80 scholars at the mission, school
and adds, “It is our intention if the Lord will and) provided
they pursue the subject until they are able to read, to at-
tempt a translation of certain parts of the Sacred Scriptures
into their language.” The first results of this worthy inten-SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
153
tion were seen in the translation of the Sermon on the Mount
which was published in 1829, as before noted, by the Ameri-
can Tract Society, together with the 29 hymns translated
by Mr. Young. In November, 1829, the Gospel of St. Luke,
translated by Mr. Harris into Seneca, was also published by
the American Tract Society in an edition of 1,000 copies.
It is much to be regretted that with the exception of a
few scattering leaves the journal of Mr. Harris subsequent
to 1827 cannot be found and that similar journals were not
written by his successors. Further details of the Seneca
Mission for the most part only can be found in the scanty
notes published at times in the columns of the Missionary
Herald. In 1828 Mr. Harris reported:	“The chiefs and
people resolved to build a small chapel to cost $1700.00 by
subscription among themselves, to be 41 by 51 ft., one story,
arched ceiling, vestibule, small tower, cupola, bell and etc. :
to be painted and to hold 400 persons: to be paid for
$1000.00 in cash and the rest in lumber.”* February 19,
1829, his report states that “many of the people are away
furnishing lumber for the meeting house.”t This was the
old Seneca church painted white, with belfry and bell, which
stood until recent years north of Seneca Street, in about the
middle of what is now called the Indian Church Road, near
the old Indian Cemetery. Its completion is thus noted in the
Buffalo Patriot:	“The new meeting house at the Seneca
Mission near Buffalo was dedicated to the worship of Al-
mighty God on Wednesday, August 19th [1829]. Rev. T.
S. Harris, Supt. preached from Genesis xxviii.-i7. [“This
is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of
heaven.”] Rev. S. Eaton of Buffalo and Rev. Hiram Smith
of Collins assisted. Singing by the natives. Cost little
more than $1600.00 and (except about $270.00) was de-
frayed by the Indians.”t
By reason of some dissatisfaction which had arisen
*Missionary Herald, Vol. 24, p. 150.
tMissionary Herald, Vol. 25, p. 215.
XMissionary Herald, Vol. 25, p. 334. When the Senecas were forced to abandon
the Buffalo Reservation, 1843*4, the building was suffered to fall into decay, and
was finally blown down. The gilded arrow which was its weather-vane is now
preserved by the Buffalo Historical Society.154
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
among the Christian Indians, Mr. Harris resigned from their
ministry June 28, 1830, and for some months the mission
was in charge of Mr. Hanover Bradley, the steward and
catechist. By the records of the American Board it would
appear that at this time Rev. Hiram Smith, Rev. Joseph
Lane and Rev. John Elliot were in service there for short
periods, but no details of their services are preserved.
On the 9th of November, 1831, began the long ministry
of Rev. Asher Wright, which lasted for forty-four years
and until his death, April 13, 1875. To this life work of
devotion to the spiritual and mental elevation of an alien
race he brought rare qualities of mind and heart, an un-
tiring patience, a gentleness of soul with a firmness of pur-
pose that endeared him to the people to whom he ministered,
so that by those of that ministry who still live and by the
children of those who have passed away, his name and mem-
ory are still held in an enduring affection.
He was born at Hanover, N. H., in 1803, and had but
just graduated from Andover Seminary. He brought his
young wife (Martha Egerton of Randolph, Vt.,) with him,
but two months after their arrival she died and January 21,
1833, he married again. His second wife, Laura M. Shel-
don of St. Johnsbury, Vt., (born 1809) was well suited to
be his helpmeet and the sharer of his labors. This gentle
soul became no less than he, a missionary in the truest sense
of the word. Especially was she devoted to the welfare,
physical, mental and moral, of the Indian women and the
Indian children with whom henceforth her life was passed.
They became her people who loved her as she loved them.
For their good no self-sacrifice upon her part was too great.
No one in suffering or need, in distress of body or sorrow
of soul ever appealed to her in vain, and her earnest labors
in works of charity and love bore rich and lasting fruit.
She outlived her husband many years, but her endeavors
for those she too had learned to love never ceased until her
death, January 21, 1886. Those of us who were so for-
tunate as to know her in her later years, gentle and kindly
in her ways and venerable with the snows of age, rememberSENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
155
that sweet face as one would remember the features of a
saint.
The coming of Mr. Wright to the Seneca Mission
brought immediate results. In 1832, thirty-five new mem-
bers were added to the little church, among whom were the
celebrated chiefs, Young King, Captain Billy and Destroy
Town:	among them also was an Indian youth, James
Young, educated at the Mission School, who evidently had
taken the name of his instructor, the first schoolmaster, and
is mentioned by Mr. Wright as “James Young, the scholar
who aided Brother Harris in his translation of the Gospel
of St. Luke/’*
The building, still preserved (1903) and known to us as
the “old Mission House” which stands on the west side of
Bufifum Street, north of Seneca and diagonally opposite to
the former Indian Cemetery, was built after Mr. Wright’s
arrival at the station. Mrs. Martha E. Parker, widow of
Nicholson H. Parker, and Mrs. Wright’s favorite niece, who
came to join the mission family in 1836, when as a girl of
fifteen she was adopted by her aunt, states that this building
was erected in 1833. Mrs. Parker is still living on the Cat-
taraugus Reservation and although she is well past eighty
years of age, her memory is .very clear and stores up many
reminiscences of those early days of the Seneca Mission.
The earlier buildings have disappeared, but this remains in
good condition throughout* and is so closely associated with
interesting features of our local history that if possible it
should be preserved.
For thirteen years after its erection the Senecas retained
their lands on the Buffalo Creek and during all that time
the mission house was the center of all the formative civil-
izing influences which helped to advance these Indians to-
ward self-helpful and better lives. Here their children were
taught farm and garden work as well as to read and to
write English; here the Indian women and girls were
taught to spin and weave, to knit and to sew; and here all
heard the message of the Gospel as it was told them by Mr.
Wright and those who were his helpers.
*Missionary Herald, Vol. 28, p. 407.156
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
It was soon after Mrs. Wright’s coming to the Seneca
Mission in 1833 that she saw the famous captive Mary
Jemison, the “White Woman of the Genesee.” She was on
her death bed and grieved at heart because she could not
remember the prayer she had learned at her mother’s knee.
On the night of their capture her mother had told her that
she thought she herself would be killed, but her child’s life
might be spared and bade her never to forget her name or
her childhood’s prayer. In the weary years of a long life
among the strange people that had become her own, it had
been forgotten, but when Mrs. Wright kneeled at her side
and repeated the Lord’s prayer, the memories of childhood
returned and the tears streamed down the aged, furrowed
cheeks as she said, “That is the prayer my mother taught
me.”
Scarcely less touching was the story of that other cap-
tive, the old White Chief, as told by Mrs. Wright. He was
the father of Seneca White, John Seneca and White Seneca,
and as Mr. Harris’s journal relates, Father White had been
an early friend of the Mission, becoming himself a Christian
and adopting in his age the ways of civilized life as did his
children. He had been, Mrs. Wright says, very tall with a
fine, erect form, and delicate features. He was naturally
very white, and when young had long brown hair, although
when the missionaries first saw him it was white as snow.
He was amiable and affectionate in disposition and the In-
dians testified that his whole life had been remarkably upr
right. He told Mrs. Wright his story and she recorded it
in the simple, pathetic way in which it was told. He was a
very small child when he was made captive and it was but
natural that growing up among the Senecas, he had be-
come, as Mary Jemison had become, bone of their bone and
flesh of their flesh. He could remember his mother, but he
had never been able to learn who his parents were or where
they had lived, save that it was in the Susquehanna Valley.
When he became a Christian he was much impressed with
the thought that this had been the religion of his parents
and kindred and that he might now be able to find in an-
other world the friends from whom he had been separatedSENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK. 157.
in this. When he was dying he sent in haste for Mr. and
Mrs. Wright who found him in tears: “One thing,” said
he, “gives me great uneasiness. I understand no language
but the Indian. I am afraid when I go into the other world
that I shall not be able to communicate with my own white
friends, because I shall not understand their language.”
The missionaries comforted him by their assurances that
in heaven one would be understood by all and that all would
be the children of God, and so brought peace to his troubled
soul as it fared forth on that last great journey.*
In those years both Mr. and Mrs. Wright travelled on
horseback through the swamps and forests on their errands
of mercy, carrying in their saddlebags the food and medi-
cine for which need had arisen, visiting the log cabins of
the Indians or the distant log school houses which had been
built at Onondaga village, Jack Berry’s town and elsewhere,
where the assistants, Asenath Bishop, Rebecca Newhall and
Phoebe Selden, lived and taught. It must have been lonely
housekeeping, for some of them were miles away from the
mission house, but once a week on Friday evening, all gath-
ered at that central station and spent the night there; and
Mrs. Parker, then Martha Hoyt, who was the housekeeper,
was like Martha of old, “troubled about many things” in
the limitations of a self-denying housekeeping, where bread,
pork and potatoes were the prevailing diet and where tea,
coffee, pies, cake, sugar and asparagus were forbidden lux-
uries that “were not allowed in the house.” Eggs were not
excluded as sinful luxuries, but think of custards without
sugz^r! or of a “warm drink” made with hemlock tips !t
She says that the big Dutch oven was kept very busy baking
fbr the weekly gathering so that there might be an abund-
ance for the Friday supper and that the faithful teachers
might be able to take some good biscuit back with them
when they returned to their own solitary housekeeping on
Saturday morning.
Mr. Wright had a natural aptitude for linguistic study
and, it is said, was master of seven languages. He soon ac-
*H. S. Caswell, “Our Life Among the Iroquois,” pp. 53-56.
tCaswell, “ Our Life Among the Iroquois,” p. 23.158
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
quired a familiarity with the Seneca tongue and under his
instruction his wife, like himself, became adept in its use.
They overcame its difficulties so that Mr. Wright was able
to preach to his dusky flock in their own speech. One of
his noteworthy labors was the elaboration of a peculiar sys-
tem of orthography for the written language with its various
accents, more perfect in this respect than that which had
been used by Mr. Hyde and Mr. Harris, and the first book
printed in this way was a small primer in paper covers 7 by
4.y2 inches in size, prepared at Boston in 1836 for the use
of the mission school. A literal translation of the Seneca
title page is:	“Beginning Book, Mrs. Wright she wrote.
Mr. Jimerson he translated. The old men they printed.
Boston their reside at, 1836.” They keenly felt the need of
printing facilities that should be near at hand and under
their own control and the way opening by which they were
enabled to procure a hand printing press, in 1841 Mr.
Wright installed the Mission Press, equipped with fonts of
especially prepared type for printing books and papers in
the Seneca tongue. Mr. Benjamin C. Van Duzee came in
that year to reside at the mission house and was employed
as a printer. The press was set up in a “lean-to” attached
to the house and its earliest publication was the first number
of a small eight-page periodical entitled “Ne Jaguhnigoages-
gwathah,” “The Mental Elevator,” which thus began its
career November 30, 1841. This first number states on its
last page:	“This paper is printed at the Seneca Mission
Station. It is the. first effort of the sort in the Seneca lan-
guage and is designed exclusively for the spiritual and in-
tellectual benefit of the Indians. Will not Christian friends
aid us with their prayers ?”
Of the Mental Elevator nineteen eight-page numbers
were printed in all. They appeared at irregular intervals,
nine of them having been printed at the Buffalo Creek Res-
ervation, the ninth number bearing date April 1, 1845.
1846, when the Buffalo Creek Reservation was given up, the
press was removed to the Cattaraugus Reservation, where it
continued in its useful work, and there ten more numbers
of the Mental Elevator were published, the first at the Cat-SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
159
taraugus station, being Number io, June 3, 1846, and the
final issue, Number 19, April 15, 1850. In this series was
published a translation into Seneca of the first eight chap-
ters of Genesis and part of the ninth, also the 19th and 20th
chapters of Exodus, the Epistle General of St. James and
some shorter passages of Scripture. No. 2 contains the
Lord’s Prayer in Tuscarora verse; No. 4 gives the Seneca
version of Dr. Watts’s hymn, “Go, preach my gospel,” etc.
Numbers 6, 8, 9, 10, 15 and 19 contain articles in Seneca
with the English on the opposite page; and a few notices,
obituaries, etc., in English occur.
Among the publications of the Mission Press while at
the Buffalo Creek Reservation, the following are known:
Go'-wana-gwa'-he'- sat'-hah Y on-de'-y as'-dah'-gwah.	A
Spelling Book in the Seneca Language with English defini-
tions. Buffalo Creek Reservation, Mission Press, 1842.
Regarding this Mrs. Wright wrote in 1855 : “This work
is still unfinished. These sheets contain the definitions of
several hundred Seneca words and a tolerably complete ex-
planation of the grammatical principles of the language, ex-
cept the verb. In respect to the verb no complete analysis
has yet been effected nor is there much reason to expect the
accomplishment of this object until some competent Seneca
scholar shall have become a universal grammarian.”
In 1843 ^e Mission Press issued a new edition (the
third) of the Seneca Hymn Book which had originally been
prepared by Rev. T. S. Harris and James Young. It was
now enlarged to contain 111 hymns and was a small book
5J4 by 3)4 inches in size, bound in sheep covers. In 1844
Mr. Wright published a small sixteen-page pamphlet con-
taining such portions of the Revised Statutes as related to
gambling, horse-racing, profanity, disturbance of the peace,
etc., stating in his preface that it was done to encourage his
people “to act the part of sober and respectable inhabitants
of a civilized community.” Its title is: “Extracts from the
Revised Statutes of the State of New York, Volume I.
Part I. Chapter XX, Title VIII. Of the Prevention and
punishment of immorality and disorderly practices. Seneca
Mission Press, 1844.”160
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
In 1846 when the Buffalo Creek Mission was finally
closed, the Mission Press was taken by Mr. Wright to the
Cattaraugus Reservation, where, as has been noted, the pub-
lication of the Mental Elevator was continued and other
pamphlets and books were issued. Among these were the
gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark in pamphlet form,
8 by 5 inches, without covers and without date. Mr. Van
Duzee went with the press to the Cattaraugus and while he
remained as printer, there was issued in February, 1847,
“The First Book for Indian Schools. Printed at the Mis-
sion Press, Cattaraugus Reservation, 1847.” This little
book, 5% by 3^/2 inches in size, in paper covers, contains in
its 72 pages a thoughtful preface by Mr. Wright explaining
some of the difficulties in teaching Indian children; a series
of lessons for their use and a number of English poems.
Mr. Van Duzee was soon succeeded by another printer, Mr.
H. M. Morgan. Then the press was taken to Gowanda,
where Mr. Morgan printed a still later edition of the Seneca
Hymn Book in a cloth-bound volume, 6x4 inches, (with-
out date) containing 232 pages and about 129 hymns, also
a series of periodical pamphlets containing selections from
Scripture and hymns in the Seneca tongue.
The press was finally destroyed by fire while still at Go-
wanda.
The treaty of Buffalo Creek, January 15, 1838, as
amended June 11, 1838, ratified by the United States Senate
and proclaimed by President Van Buren in April, 1839,
came very near accomplishing the removal of all the Indians
of the Buffalo Creek and the other Western New York res-
ervations from the State. So much dishonest corruption
had entered into this sale of these reservations to the Ogden
Land Company, that the strenuous efforts of those who ex-
posed the frauds practiced, especially the endeavors of the
Society of Friends in Philadelphia and Baltimore, finally
resulted in the compromise treaty of May 20, 1842, by which
the Senecas retained the Allegheny and Cattaraugus lands,
giving up the Buffalo Creek and Tonawanda reservations
to the Ogden Land Company, although the Tonawanda
Senecas ultimately regained their land by purchase. It hadMRS. ASHER WRIGHT.• 181
SENECA MISSION AT BUFFALO CREEK.
been a trying time for the missionaries, who had used every
exertion to aid the more honest of the chiefs in their hard-
fought struggle. The four years which followed the treaty
of 1842 were years of bitterness while the removal of the
Indians to the Cattaraugus and the Allegheny was being ef-
fected. Mr. and Mrs. Wright with the mission family re-
mained at the Seneca station until 1846, when they, too,
with saddened hearts followed their people to the upper sta-
tion on the Cattaraugus Reservation to continue their self-
sacrificing labors there to their life’s end.
With their departure the story of the Seneca Mission at
Buffalo Creek ends. Fifty-seven years have gone by since
that day and have wrought wonderful changes. A great
city now includes within its’ borders what were then the
forests and swamps of the Indian reservation and with its
well-built streets unheedingly stretches beyond the humble
borders of that old time mission. The spreading trees of
walnut and oak which even then shaded the mission bury-
ing-ground, are still preserved within its deserted enclosure,
but the bones of Red Jacket, of Pollard, Young King, Mary
Jemison and of all those once famous in council or in war
who at last slept beneath their branches, have been taken
thence and the place that knew them in life and in death
now knows them no more. The old mission house alone
still stands, a witness to the self-sacrifice and devotion to
works of mercy, charity and love of those who labored there
in days long since gone by and with unselfish hearts and
humble souls, without hope of other reward than His,
sought only to do their Master’s bidding.