Cephas Washburn (July 25, 1793 – March 17, 1860) was a Christian

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

and educator who worked with the Cherokee of northwest

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage la ...

and eastern

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

. He later worked to establish churches in Arkansas.

Early life and education

Cephas Washburn was born on July 25, 1793, in Rutland, Vermont. His parents were Josiah W. and Phebe (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Cushman) Washburn.Everett, Dianna. "Washburn, Cephas (1793-1860)." ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''.
Accessed January 10, 2019. His father was a farmer, and Cephas seemed destined to follow in that occupation. However, he suffered a broken leg while working and decided to take up teaching as a career. While raising enough money to pursue higher education, he taught school in Groton, Massachusetts, in 1814 and 1815. While teaching, he became a member of the Congregationalist church and decided to become a missionary to the Indians.Stewart-Abernathy, Leslie C. "Cephas Washburn (1793–1860)." ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas''. 2009.
Accessed February 11, 2019. He graduated from the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United S ...

, and the

Andover Theological Seminary Andover Theological Seminary (1807–1965) was a Congregationalist seminary founded in 1807 and originally located in Andover, Massachusetts on the campus of Phillips Academy. From 1908 to 1931, it was located at Harvard University in Cambridge. ...

. After graduating from the University of Vermont, he was ordained as a Congregational minister. The Royalton Congregational Association in Randolph, Vermont, licensed Washburn to preach in January 1818. On October 6, 1818, he married Abigail F. Woodward of

Randolph, Vermont Randolph is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,774 at the 2020 census, making Randolph the largest town in Orange County. The town is a commercial center for many of the smaller, rural farming communities tha ...

Career

After the Washburns were married, Cephas was ordained in 1818 in

Waitsfield, Vermont Waitsfield is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,844 as of the 2020 census. It was created by a Vermont charter on February 25, 1782, and was granted to militia Generals Benjamin Wait, Roger Enos and othe ...

, by the

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...

(ABCFM) to serve as a

to the Eastern Cherokee Indians, who then lived primarily lived in the U.S. State of Georgia. He was assigned to the Cherokee. He remained in Georgia for about one year. Then the ABCFM sent him to Arkansas as the missionary to Cherokees who had already begun moving west. These people would thereafter be called "Western Cherokees". He served as a

to the Cherokee Indians at

Brainerd Mission The Brainerd Mission was a Christian mission to the Cherokee in present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee. The associated Brainerd Mission Cemetery is the only part that remains, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. History ...

, Tennessee, for a short while. He migrated with them westward, arriving in

in 1819. This was a group that removed relatively early from the Southeast, rather than waiting for forced removal after the US Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Most Cherokee were removed across the Mississippi River to a designated part of Indian Territory (present Eastern Oklahoma)in 1838. The party that traveled to Arkansas included not only Cephas Washburn and his wife, but also his brother in law, Reverend Alfred Finney, as well as several others who would support the educational facility. Washburn founded Dwight Presbyterian Mission near present-day Russellville in 1820 to serve the newly arrived Cherokee. Dwight was the first American mission to the Indians west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

. It was named for Rev. Timothy Dwight, president of

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

and a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Dwight Mission (later called "Old Dwight Mission") in Arkansas was supplanted by another mission with the same name in Indian Territory, near what is now

Sallisaw, Oklahoma Sallisaw is a city and county seat in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population was 8,880, an 11.2 percent increase over the figure of 7,891 recorded in 2000. Sallisaw is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas ...

. The latter became known as "New Dwight Mission". Washburn served as the primary Indian missionary in the Arkansas region until he resigned in 1850. From 1850 to 1856 he served as minister for the First

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their na ...

Church in

Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

Later life, death and burial

Cephas Washburn died at

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

, on March 17, 1860, of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

, while traveling to

Helena, Arkansas Helena is the eastern portion of Helena–West Helena, Arkansas, a city in Phillips County, Arkansas. It was founded in 1833 by Nicholas Rightor and is named after the daughter of Sylvanus Phillips, an early settler of Phillips County and the ...

, for an evangelical meeting. He is buried at the historic Mount Holly Cemetery in downtown Little Rock.

Family

Washburn's son Edward Payson Washburn was the artist who painted the well-known ''Arkansas Traveller'' painting. It received wide distribution and recognition when printed as a Currier & Ives

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German au ...

. The painting was inspired by the humorous song " Arkansas Traveller" by Sandford C. Faulkner.

References

External links

"Cephas Washburn"
''Encyclopedia of Arkansas'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Washburn, Cephas 1793 births 1860 deaths Andover Theological Seminary alumni University of Vermont alumni People from Rutland (town), Vermont American Congregationalist missionaries Presbyterian missionaries in the United States People from Fort Smith, Arkansas Deaths from pneumonia in Arkansas