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Cyrus Kingsbury
Cyrus Kingsbury (November 22, 1786 – June 27, 1870) was a Christian missionary active among the American Indians in the nineteenth century. He first worked with the Cherokee and founded Brainerd Mission near Chickamauga, Tennessee, later he served the Choctaw of Mississippi. He was known as "the Father of the Missions" in Indian Territory.
Kingsbury was born in Alstead, New Hampshire on November 22, 1786. He was raised in Worcester, Massachusetts by an aunt and uncle. In 1812, he graduated from Brown University with a bachelor's degree. He then studied at Andover Theological Seminary, where he also graduated in 1815. Choosing to become a missionary to American Indians, he was hired as the first missionary by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM).
Kingsbury was ordained by the Congregational Church in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1815. He was first sent to Tennessee in 1817, where he began ministering to the Cherokee tribe and founded Brainerd Mission near Chickamauga. According to A. C. Varnum, Brainerd included not only the mission itself, but also a boarding school and an agricultural school.
Sarah B. Varnum, born in Dracut, Massachusetts on January 16, 1784, was one of ten children of Parker and Dorcas (née Brown) Varnum. Her father would become an elder in the Pawtucket Congregational Church. It is not clear when and how she would meet Cyrus Kingsbury, but evidently the event occurred and a strong attraction ensued. By 1818, when Kingston was preparing to start building with the Choctaws in Mississippi, he had proposed to marry her. Although he wanted to return to New England for the wedding, the church would not allow him to leave his post in Mississippi for a long enough time. Sarah and Cyrus were determined not to wait, but decided to meet in New Orleans. Sarah made the long, arduous ocean voyage unaccompanied from her parental home, while Cyrus came from Tennessee on horseback. They were married in New Orleans on Christmas Eve, 1818. After the ceremony, Cyrus and Sarah made the 200 miles (320 km) trip back to Brainerd on horseback, spending their nights camping out and cooking their food over open fires.
In 1818, Kingsbury was sent to Mississippi by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and assigned to minister to the Choctaw Nation that lived there. His first activity was to establish Eliot Mission. Kingsbury selected a site on the Yazoo River, about 400 miles (640 km) southwest of Brainerd.
During childhood, Cyrus had injured a foot when he stepped on a scythe. The injury never healed properly, causing him to walk with a noticeable limp for the rest of his life. Soon after he took up residence in the Choctaw Nation, the tribe gave him a Choctaw name, NachobaAnowa, that meant"Limping Wolf" in English.
In 1820, Kingsbury chose a location in the northeastern part of present-day Oktibbeha County, Mississippi that he deemed a suitable site for another mission. He described the location as, "... a point where the Ash Creek flows into the Tibbee Creek.” Cyrus named the site Mayhew, in honor of the Mayhew family, another missionary family from Massachusetts. The Kingsburys, assisted by some other families and three unmarried women, started by building a boarding school, where they taught the Choctaws living around the mission to read, write, study the Bible and other subjects related to earning a living. The school opened on April 30, 1820, with twelve students who lived nearby. Enrollment increased soon to 18, with new students who came from elsewhere in the Choctaw Nation. A church building opened May 6, 1821, and became affiliated with the Tombigbee Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church.
Kingsbury's influence on the Choctaw Nation could be described as spectacular. For example, the Choctaw chiefs began to solicit his advice on how to deal with officials of the Federal Government. They specifically asked him to accompany their delegation to negotiate the 1820 Treaty of Doak's Stand. He did so, and was soon appalled at the U. S. commissioners negotiating tactics, calling the discussions, "Whiskey Negotiations." Kingsbury counseled the Choctaws to cease further negotiations until the commissioners stopped plying the Choctaws with liquor. The Choctaws did so, and the result was a more favorable outcome for the tribe.
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Cyrus Kingsbury
Cyrus Kingsbury (November 22, 1786 – June 27, 1870) was a Christian missionary active among the American Indians in the nineteenth century. He first worked with the Cherokee and founded Brainerd Mission near Chickamauga, Tennessee, later he served the Choctaw of Mississippi. He was known as "the Father of the Missions" in Indian Territory.
Kingsbury was born in Alstead, New Hampshire on November 22, 1786. He was raised in Worcester, Massachusetts by an aunt and uncle. In 1812, he graduated from Brown University with a bachelor's degree. He then studied at Andover Theological Seminary, where he also graduated in 1815. Choosing to become a missionary to American Indians, he was hired as the first missionary by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM).
Kingsbury was ordained by the Congregational Church in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1815. He was first sent to Tennessee in 1817, where he began ministering to the Cherokee tribe and founded Brainerd Mission near Chickamauga. According to A. C. Varnum, Brainerd included not only the mission itself, but also a boarding school and an agricultural school.
Sarah B. Varnum, born in Dracut, Massachusetts on January 16, 1784, was one of ten children of Parker and Dorcas (née Brown) Varnum. Her father would become an elder in the Pawtucket Congregational Church. It is not clear when and how she would meet Cyrus Kingsbury, but evidently the event occurred and a strong attraction ensued. By 1818, when Kingston was preparing to start building with the Choctaws in Mississippi, he had proposed to marry her. Although he wanted to return to New England for the wedding, the church would not allow him to leave his post in Mississippi for a long enough time. Sarah and Cyrus were determined not to wait, but decided to meet in New Orleans. Sarah made the long, arduous ocean voyage unaccompanied from her parental home, while Cyrus came from Tennessee on horseback. They were married in New Orleans on Christmas Eve, 1818. After the ceremony, Cyrus and Sarah made the 200 miles (320 km) trip back to Brainerd on horseback, spending their nights camping out and cooking their food over open fires.
In 1818, Kingsbury was sent to Mississippi by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and assigned to minister to the Choctaw Nation that lived there. His first activity was to establish Eliot Mission. Kingsbury selected a site on the Yazoo River, about 400 miles (640 km) southwest of Brainerd.
During childhood, Cyrus had injured a foot when he stepped on a scythe. The injury never healed properly, causing him to walk with a noticeable limp for the rest of his life. Soon after he took up residence in the Choctaw Nation, the tribe gave him a Choctaw name, NachobaAnowa, that meant"Limping Wolf" in English.
In 1820, Kingsbury chose a location in the northeastern part of present-day Oktibbeha County, Mississippi that he deemed a suitable site for another mission. He described the location as, "... a point where the Ash Creek flows into the Tibbee Creek.” Cyrus named the site Mayhew, in honor of the Mayhew family, another missionary family from Massachusetts. The Kingsburys, assisted by some other families and three unmarried women, started by building a boarding school, where they taught the Choctaws living around the mission to read, write, study the Bible and other subjects related to earning a living. The school opened on April 30, 1820, with twelve students who lived nearby. Enrollment increased soon to 18, with new students who came from elsewhere in the Choctaw Nation. A church building opened May 6, 1821, and became affiliated with the Tombigbee Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church.
Kingsbury's influence on the Choctaw Nation could be described as spectacular. For example, the Choctaw chiefs began to solicit his advice on how to deal with officials of the Federal Government. They specifically asked him to accompany their delegation to negotiate the 1820 Treaty of Doak's Stand. He did so, and was soon appalled at the U. S. commissioners negotiating tactics, calling the discussions, "Whiskey Negotiations." Kingsbury counseled the Choctaws to cease further negotiations until the commissioners stopped plying the Choctaws with liquor. The Choctaws did so, and the result was a more favorable outcome for the tribe.