George Copway
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George Copway (1818 – June 27, 1869) was a
Mississaugas The Mississauga are a subtribe of the Anishinaabe-speaking First Nations peoples located in southern Ontario, Canada. They are closely related to the Ojibwe. The name "Mississauga" comes from the Anishinaabe word ''Misi-zaagiing'', meaning "hose ...
Ojibwa The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
writer, ethnographer, Methodist missionary, lecturer, and advocate of
indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
. His Ojibwa name was ''Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh'' (''Gaagigegaabaw'' in the Fiero orthography), meaning "He Who Stands Forever". In 1847 he published a memoir about his life and time as a
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, 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.Tho ...
. This work made him Canada's first literary celebrity in the United States. In 1851 he published ''The Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of The Ojibway Nation,'' the first published history of the Ojibwa in English.


Biography

Copway was born near
Trenton, Ontario Trenton (2001 population 16,770) is a large unincorporated community in Central Ontario in the municipality of Quinte West, Ontario, Canada. Located on the Bay of Quinte, it is the starting point for the Trent-Severn Waterway, which continues no ...
, into a Mississauga Anishinaabe family; his father John Copway was a Mississauga chief and
medicine man A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective languages, for spiritual healers and ceremo ...
. His parents converted to
Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...
in 1827. Beginning in the 1830s, the young Copway attended the local mission school.Donald B. Smith, "George Copway"
''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online,'' accessed 10 December 2011
In July 1834, together with an uncle and cousin, he was invited to work with a Methodist minister as a missionary to Ojibwe who lived near the western part of Lake Superior. His activities in two different areas over the next few years included working with Reverend Sherman Hall in
La Pointe, Wisconsin La Pointe is an unincorporated community in the town of La Pointe, Ashland County, Wisconsin, United States. It is on the western shore of Madeline Island, the largest of the Apostle Islands. Downtown La Pointe is adjacent to the Madeline I ...
to translate the Christian
Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its messag ...
and the
Gospel of St Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volu ...
into Ojibwa. In 1838 the Methodists provided for Copway's education in Illinois, and later ordained him as a minister. In 1840, Copway met Elizabeth Howell, an English woman whose family were farmers in the
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
area. They married and moved to
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to serve as missionaries. They had a son, George Albert Copway (1843 – 1873) and a daughter Frances Minne-Ha-Ha (Copway) Passmore (1863–1921) during their marriage. The couple later returned to Canada in 1842, where Copway served as a missionary for the Saugeen and Rice Lake Bands of the Ojibwa. He was elected vice-president of the Ojibwe General Council. In 1846, he was accused and convicted of
embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...
by the Indian Department. Because of this, he was
defrocked Defrocking, unfrocking, degradation, or laicization of clergy is the removal of their rights to exercise the functions of the ordained ministry. It may be grounded on criminal convictions, disciplinary problems, or disagreements over doctrine or d ...
by the Methodists. The Copways moved to
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, where he wrote and published a memoir, ''The Life, History and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-Bowh'' (1847), republished in London in 1850 as ''Recollections of a forest life; or, the life and travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh.'' It was the first book published by a Canadian
First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...
person. It had six printings in the first year and rapidly became a bestseller. During the 1840s, he toured and lectured in the United States and also traveled to Europe. That travel provided him with the material for his book of sketches of Europe, ''Running sketches of men and places, in England, France, Germany, Belgium, and Scotland,'' published in 1851 after his book on the history of the Ojibwe. During this period, Copway acted as an advocate for a Native American territory, suggesting a 150-square mile territory be established in what was the
American Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
east of the Missouri River. The tribes in the area were under increasing pressure of encroachment by European-American settlers. This proposal was never approved by the United States Congress, but Copway attracted considerable attention from leading intellectuals of the time, including the historian
Francis Parkman Francis Parkman Jr. (September 16, 1823 – November 8, 1893) was an American historian, best known as author of '' The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life'' and his monumental seven-volume '' France and England in North Am ...
. In 1851, Copway started his own weekly newspaper in New York City, titled ''Copway's American Indian,'' which ran for approximately three months. He had attracted "letters of support from the eminent
ethnologists Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...
Lewis Henry Morgan Lewis Henry Morgan (November 21, 1818 – December 17, 1881) was a pioneering American anthropologist and social theorist who worked as a railroad lawyer. He is best known for his work on kinship and social structure, his theories of social evol ...
and
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (March 28, 1793 – December 10, 1864) was an American geographer, geologist, and ethnologist, noted for his early studies of Native American cultures, as well as for his 1832 expedition to the source of the Mississippi R ...
, from Parkman, and from the novelists
James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...
and
Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...
." Copway's career subsequently spiralled downward as he began drinking heavily and sank into debt, and in 1858 his wife Elizabeth Howell Copway took his daughter, Frances Minne-Ha-Ha, and left him. Copway traveled throughout New York and Michigan as a herbalist 'street healer' and a Union army recruiter. Copway died in 1869 in Ypsilanti, Michigan.


Legacy

Copway's 1847 memoir and his 1851 history of the Ojibwe ''The Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of The Ojibway Nation'' included many details about their traditional culture. He dedicated a few chapters to the use of
birch bark scrolls ''Wiigwaasabak'' (in Anishinaabe syllabics: , plural: ''wiigwaasabakoon'' ) are birch bark scrolls, on which the Ojibwa (Anishinaabe) people of North America wrote complex geometrical patterns and shapes, also known as a "written language." ...
, the symbolic writing that was used, and the meaning of various symbols. These elaborate scrolls were used to remember songs, history, and ceremonies. The care and reproduction of these scrolls by a select few is described in detail. A recurring theme in Copway's publications is the use of alcohol by Euromericans to weaken Native American social fabric:
The introduction of spirituous liquors...has been greater than all other evils combined. Intemperance and disease. The fire-water has done its work of disaster. By it the glad shouts of the youth of our land have died away in wails of grief! Fathers have followed their children to their graves. Children have sent their wail of woe, echoing from vale to vale. And around the cheering fires of the Indian, the white man has received the gain of avarice. Peace and Happiness entwined around the fire-side of the Indian once. Union, harmony, and a common brotherhood cemented them all. But as soon as these vile drinks were introduced, dissipation commenced, and the ruin and downfall of a noble race has gone on — every year lessening their numbers.
In 2018, Copway was designated a National Historic Person by the Canadian federal government (through the Minister of Environment & Climate Change).Kahgegagahbowh (George Copway) (1818–1869)
Parks Canada backgrounder, October 3, 2018


Selected bibliography


''The Life, History and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-Bowh''
(1847), available for download at University of Georgia
''The Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the Ojibway Nation''
(1850), available online at Internet Archive *''The Life, Letters, and Speeches of Kah-ge-ga-gah-Bowh, or G. Copway, a chief of the Ojibwa Nation'' (1850) *''Ojibwa Conquest'' (1850) *''Organization of a New Indian Territory, East of the Missouri River'' (1850)
''Running Sketches of Men and Places, in England, France, Germany, Belgium, and Scotland''
(1851), available online at Internet Archive *''Indian Life and Indian History'' (1860)


References


External links


The life, history, and travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh
(George Copway), a young Indian chief of the Ojebwa nation, a convert to the Christian faith, and a missionary to his people for twelve years; with a sketch of the present state of the Ojebwa nation, in regard to Christianity and their future prospects. Also an appeal; with all the names of the chiefs now living, who have been Christianized, and the missionaries now laboring among them. Written by himself. Publisher: Albany, Printed by Weed and Parsons, 1847, c1846, downloadable version at University of Georgia Library.
"George Copway"
''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
"George Copway"
''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Copway, George 1818 births 1869 deaths 19th-century First Nations writers Ojibwe people Converts to Methodism Canadian Methodist missionaries Methodist missionaries in Canada Methodist missionaries in the United States Native American temperance activists Mississauga people