The Wisconsin Oneidas and the Episcopal Church: A Chain Linking Two Traditions

by L. Gordon McLester III (Editor), Laurence M. Hauptman (Editor), Kenneth Hoyan House (Editor)

Overview

This unique collaboration by academic historians, Oneida elders, and Episcopal clergy tells the fascinating story of how the oldest Protestant mission and house of worship in the upper Midwest took root in the Oneida community. Personal bonds that developed between the Episcopal clergy and the Wisconsin Oneidas proved more important than theology in allowing the community to accept the Christian message brought by outsiders. Episcopal bishops and missionaries in Wisconsin were at times defenders of the Oneidas against outside whites attempting to get at their lands and resources. At other times, these clergy initiated projects that the Oneidas saw as beneficial—a school, a hospital, or a lace-making program for Oneida women that provided a source of income and national recognition for their artistry. The clergy incorporated the Episcopal faith into an Iroquoian cultural and religious framework—the Condolence Council ritual—that had a longstanding history among the Six Nations. In turn, the Oneidas modified the very form of the Episcopal faith by using their own language in the Gloria in Excelsis and the Te Deum as well as by employing Oneida in their singing of Christian hymns.
Christianity continues to have real meaning for many American Indians. The Wisconsin Oneidas and the Episcopal Church testifies to the power and legacy of that relationship.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253041388
Publisher:	Indiana University Press (Ips)
Publication date:	05/02/2019
Pages:	238
Sales rank:	455,322
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Deborah Heckel, an Oneida, is the Deacon of the Oneida Church of the Holy Apostles.

Kathy Powless Hughes, an Oneida, is the former Vice Chairperson and former Treasurer of the Oneida Nation of Indians of Wisconsin

Betty McLester, an Oneida, is a member of the Church of the Holy Apostles and the church's Altar Guild. By her talks and demonstrations of lace-making techniques, she is actively involved today in promoting this artistic tradition introduced by missionary Sybil Carter and the Episcopal Church in the late nineteenth century. She is also a member of the Oneida Hymn Singers.

Pearl Schuyler McLester, an Oneida, has been an active member of the Church of the Holy Apostles for nearly seventy-five years. She has served on numerous church committees and was a member of the Altar Guild for many years.

Michael L. Oberg is SUNY Distinguished Professor of History at Geneseo. His many publications include Professional Indian: The American Odyssey of Eleazer Williams (2015) and Peacemakers; The Iroquois, the United States, and the Treaty of Canandaigua, 1794 (2016). His textbook, Native America: A History is now in its second edition (2017).

Very Rev. Steven Peay was appointed President of Nashotah House in 2014 after serving as Dean for Academic Affairs. He is also professor of homiletics and church history there. Father Peay holds a doctorate in history from St. Louis University. His articles have appeared in The Congregationalist, the Catholic Historical Review, and in other journals and magazines.

Blanche Powless, an Oneida and descendant of Chief Cornelius Hill, has been an active member of the Church of the Holy Apostles for over a half century. She helped lead the United Thank Offering that raised funds for the church and served as the director of the Altar Guild for twenty years. Her late husband Edmund served as the church's deacon, and her daughter Theresa Rose, an Episcopal nun in the Order of the Teachers of the Children of God. In 2007, she received the Bishop's Cross for her work on behalf of the church.

Sister Theresa Rose, an Oneida nun, is a member of the Order of the Teachers of the Children of God.

Judy Skenandore, an Oneida, works in the offices of the Church of Holy Apostles and is a member of the church's Altar Guild. She is also a member of the Oneida Arts Board and, as a lace-maker, is one of the Oneidas helping to preserve and revive this art form

Karim Tiro is Chair and Professor of History at Xavier University. He is the author of The People of the Standing Stone: The Oneida Nation From the Revolution Through the Era of Removal (2011), co-editor of Along the Hudson and Mohawk: The 1790 Journal of Count Paolo Andreani. (2006), and co-editor of the recent new edition of Cadwalader Colden's History of the Five Nations first published in 1724.

Mother Alicia Torres, an Oneida nun, is a member of the Order of the Teachers of the Children of God.

Christopher Vecsey is Harry Emerson Fosdick Professor of the Humanities and Native American Studies in the Department of Religion at Colgate University. He has written or edited fourteen books on Native American religions, including the standard three-volume history of American Indian Catholicism: On the Padres' Trail (1996), The Paths of Kateri's Kin (1997); and Where the Two Roads Meet (1999).

Table of Contents

Introduction
 
Part I: Christianity Comes to Oneida Country
Editors' Introduction
Chapter 1: The Oneida World before Christianity (Laurence M. Hauptman)
Chapter 2: Oneidas and Missionaries, 1667–1816 (Karim Tiro)
Chapter 3: Flawed Shepherd: Eleazer Williams, John Henry Hobart, and the Episcopal Mission
to the Oneidas (Michael Oberg)

 
Part II: The Oneida Episcopal Mission: The First Century in Wisconsin
Editors' Introduction
Chapter 4: Another Leatherstocking Tale: Susan Fenimore Cooper, the Episcopal Church, and
the Oneidas (Laurence M. Hauptman, L. Gordon McLester III, and Judy Cornelius-Hawk)
Chapter 5: A Mission of Mutuality: The Relationship between the Oneidas and the Nashotah
House Theological Seminary (Very Rev. Steven A. Peay)
Chapter 6: Wearing Two Hats: Cornelius Hill and John Archiquette, Oneida Nation and
Episcopal Church Leaders (L. Gordon McLester III and Laurence M. Hauptman)
Chapter 7: The Episcopal Mission 1853–1909: Three Church Accounts
Ellen Saxton Goodnough: Christmas at the Oneida Episcopal Mission, 1869
Father Solomon S. Burleson describes providing medical care at Oneida
Father Frank Wesley Merrill on Missionary Sybil Carter and the Oneida
Women lace-makers, 1899

 
Part III: Oneida First-Person Accounts of the Episcopal Mission and Its Clergy
Editors' Introduction
Chapter 8: Six Oneidas Recount Eight WPA Oral Histories, 1938–1942, about the Episcopal
Mission (Sarah Cornelius, Guy Elm, Lena Silas, Oscar Archiquette, Pearl House, and David
Skenandore)
Chapter 9: Ten Contemporary Oneidas Reminisce in Nine Accounts about the Holy Apostles Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Mission
     Kenneth Hoyan House: Reverend Christian puts me on the Straight Path
     Blanche Powless: The Episcopal Mission School
     Kathy Powless Hughes: My father Deacon Edmund Powless
     Sister Theresa and Mother Superior Alicia: Oneidas in the Order of the
     Teachers of the Children of God: Two Nuns reflect on their service to the
     Episcopal Church
     Pearl Schuyler McLester: Reminiscences of the Oneida Episcopal Mission
     Deacon Deborah Heckel: Father R. Dewey Silas
     Judy Cornelius: As I remember: The women of the Church of the Holy Apostles
     Betty McLester and Judy Skenandore: Oneida lacemaking: then and now
     L. Gordon McLester III: The Oneida Indian Hymn Singers

 
Part IV: Conclusion
Chapter 10: Putting Oneida Episcopal History in Perspective (Christopher Vecsey)
Chapter 11: The Wisconsin Oneidas and the Episcopal Church: Then and Now
 
Appendix: Episcopal Priests and Bishops Who Have Served the Oneidas in Wisconsin
Bibliography