Christianity in the Early American Republic: Catharine Brown, Cherokee Missionary

Abstract

The "Sabin American" database in the Jerry Falwell Library has numerous sources on Christianity in American history. One of these sources relates to the "Memoir of Catharine Brown" telling the story of a Cherokee girl who attended the Brainerd Mission to the Cherokee the first year it opened in 1817 and went on to become an instructor herself before passing away in 1823. The memoirs discuss the mission of the missions to Indians, under the direction of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). She was the first but not the last to be led to Christ at the school and went on to be an instructor in her own right at a new girls' mission school at Creek-Path. Eventually, her entire family became Christians, and her brother went on to study at the mission school in Cornwall with several other future distinguished Cherokee leaders. Images include the ABCFM mission map in the Cherokee Country,[1] the Brainerd Mission manuscript plan,[2] the Brainerd Mission stamp,[3] and the Brainerd Mission woodcut.[4]

Joseph Tracy et al., History of American Missions to the Heathen, from Their Commencement to the Present Time (Worcester, Massachusetts: Spooner & Howland, 1840), 391.

Catharine Brown, Cherokee Missionary

The "Sabin American" database in the Jerry Falwell Library has numerous sources on Christianity in American history. One of these sources relates to the "Memoir of Catharine Brown" telling the story of a Cherokee girl who attended the Brainerd Mission to the Cherokee the first year it opened in 1817 and went on to become an instructor herself before passing away in 1823. Hers is a story of hope and joy despite her hardships and through her, we get a glimpse of her life. She was the first to be led to Christ at the mission and almost immediately led others in instruction, from her letters and diaries she was happiest at the school and did not want to leave it but her brief time away would lead to her briefly becoming an instructor at the Creek-Path school, before leaving to tend to her brother and eventually passing away of the same illness he suffered from in 1823.

Mary A. Wilder, “Manuscript Plan of the Brainerd Mission to the Cherokee” (Boston Rare Maps, 1821), https://bostonraremaps.com/inventory/manuscript-plan-of-the-brainerd-mission-to-the-cherokee/.

The memoirs discuss the mission of the missions to the Indians, under the direction of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions: "God in his providence has called us to labor in the great and good work of building up his kingdom among the Aborigines of this country".[5] Catharine Brown had a "tenderness of spirit...her chief object to do the will of God...in December 1817 she indulged a hope of pardon and acceptance through the Lord Jesus...she soon began to pray with her associates and to assist in teaching the Lord's prayer and the catechism...her desires for the salvation of her people were now strong and ardent."[6] She was the first Cherokee baptized by the missionaries of the board, eight months after the opening of the school at Brainerd, and by 1831, about one hundred Cherokees received baptism.[7]

In November of 1818, though she wanted to remain at Brainerd, she went with her parents to prepare for the journey to the Arkansas Territory: their home had been ravaged by white people.[8] She wrote in a later letter to Brainerd during this time, still expressing hope: "Dear friends, I weep...his ways are best, and he has graciously promised, that "all things shall work together for good to them that love him...it is not my wish to go to Arkansas, but God only knows what is best for me."[9] She returned to Brainerd in May of 1819.

Daughters of the American Revolution. Preservation of Historic Spots Committee, “Daughters of the American Revolution Request for Brainerd Mission Stamp Correspondence, Undated” (Correspondence. Image., Chattanooga, TN, 1935), Brainerd Mission commemorative stamp correspondence, petitions, and clippings, 1934-1935. Penelope Johnson Allen Papers. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga., https://digital-collections.library.utc.edu/digital/collection/p16877coll7/id/143/rec/37.

Catharine's brother, David Brown, was a member of the school and worked to assist Rev. D. S. Butrick in the creation of a Cherokee spelling book, later printed for the schools.[10] David went home to Creek-Path and prayed over and nursed his father in 1820, and soon thereafter the town headmen and chiefs were asking for a school to be stationed there.[11] David left for the foreign mission school in Cornwall, Connecticut later in 1820, there to attend the same school as other future leaders of the Cherokee Nation: Elias Boudinot, John Ridge, Leonard Hicks, James Fields, and John Vann.[12]

The school at Creek-Path was so well attended that the townspeople asked for a girl's school to be set up there and the Brainerd Mission sent Catharine Brown in May of 1820 to fulfill the role of an instructor there, at her hometown.[13] Her brother John became ill in July of 1822 and passed away on February 2 of 1823 during which time she nursed him and witnessed her brother and parents give their lives to Christ.[14] She would pass away in July of that same year still singing the praises of her Lord Jesus Christ: she took great delight in teaching, was very happy in her diary entries, and her greatest joy was in growing closer to her Savior.[15] This was the mission and the times of the ABCFM schools to the Cherokee from 1817-1838, forming future Cherokee Christian leaders: men and women to lead to the future.

Brainerd Mission, “Brainerd Mission Woodcut” (Still Image, Chattanooga, TN, 1838 1817), Brainerd Mission Photographs, 1817-1964. Penelope Johnson Allen Papers. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga., https://digital-collections.library.utc.edu/digital/collection/p16877coll7/id/44/.

[1]Joseph Tracy et al., History of American Missions to the Heathen, from Their Commencement to the Present Time (Worcester, Massachusetts: Spooner & Howland, 1840), 391.

[2]Mary A. Wilder, “Manuscript Plan of the Brainerd Mission to the Cherokee” (Boston Rare Maps, 1821), https://bostonraremaps.com/inventory/manuscript-plan-of-the-brainerd-mission-to-the-cherokee/.

[3]Daughters of the American Revolution. Preservation of Historic Spots Committee, “Daughters of the American Revolution Request for Brainerd Mission Stamp Correspondence, Undated” (Correspondence. Image., Chattanooga, TN, 1935), Brainerd Mission commemorative stamp correspondence, petitions, and clippings, 1934-1935. Penelope Johnson Allen Papers. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga., https://digital-collections.library.utc.edu/digital/collection/p16877coll7/id/143/rec/37.

[4]Brainerd Mission, “Brainerd Mission Woodcut” (Still Image, Chattanooga, TN, 1838 1817), Brainerd Mission Photographs, 1817-1964. Penelope Johnson Allen Papers. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga., https://digital-collections.library.utc.edu/digital/collection/p16877coll7/id/44/.

[5]Rufus Anderson, American Missionary Fellowship, and American Sunday-School Union. Committee of Publication, Memoir of Catharine Brown, a Christian Indian of the Cherokee Nation, Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926 (Philadelphia: American Sunday School Union, 1831), 20,

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0110779733/SABN?sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=28bd5cec&pg=10.

[6]Anderson, American Missionary Fellowship, and American Sunday-School Union. Committee of Publication, 21.

[7]Anderson, American Missionary Fellowship, and American Sunday-School Union. Committee of Publication, 23.

[8]Anderson, American Missionary Fellowship, and American Sunday-School Union. Committee of Publication, 32, 41.

[9]Anderson, American Missionary Fellowship, and American Sunday-School Union. Committee of Publication, 38.

[10]Anderson, American Missionary Fellowship, and American Sunday-School Union. Committee of Publication, 42.

[11]Anderson, American Missionary Fellowship, and American Sunday-School Union. Committee of Publication, 43–44.

[12]Oklahoma Historical Society, “The Foreign Mission School at Cornwall, Connecticut,” Chronicles of Oklahoma 7, no. 3 (September 1929): 246.

[13]Anderson, American Missionary Fellowship, and American Sunday-School Union. Committee of Publication, Memoir of Catharine Brown, a Christian Indian of the Cherokee Nation, 49.

[14]Anderson, American Missionary Fellowship, and American Sunday-School Union. Committee of Publication, 71–75.

[15]Anderson, American Missionary Fellowship, and American Sunday-School Union. Committee of Publication, 79–82.

Bibliography

Anderson, Rufus, American Missionary Fellowship, and American Sunday-School Union. Committee of Publication. Memoir of Catharine Brown, a Christian Indian of the Cherokee Nation. Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926. Philadelphia: American Sunday School Union, 1831. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0110779733/SABN?sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=28bd5cec&pg=10.

Brainerd Mission. “Brainerd Mission Woodcut.” Still Image. Chattanooga, TN, 1838 1817. Brainerd Mission Photographs, 1817-1964. Penelope Johnson Allen Papers. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. https://digital-collections.library.utc.edu/digital/collection/p16877coll7/id/44/.

Daughters of the American Revolution. Preservation of Historic Spots Committee. “Daughters of the American Revolution Request for Brainerd Mission Stamp Correspondence, Undated.” Correspondence. Image. Chattanooga, TN, 1935. Brainerd Mission commemorative stamp correspondence, petitions, and clippings, 1934-1935. Penelope Johnson Allen Papers. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. https://digital-collections.library.utc.edu/digital/collection/p16877coll7/id/143/rec/37.

Foreman, Carolyn Thomas. “The Foreign Mission School at Cornwall, Connecticut.” Chronicles of Oklahoma 7, no. 3 (September 1929): 242–59.

Tracy, Joseph, Solomon Peck, Enoch Mudge, William Cutter, and Enoch Mack. History of American Missions to the Heathen, from Their Commencement to the Present Time. Worcester, Massachusetts: Spooner & Howland, 1840.

Wilder, Mary A. “Manuscript Plan of the Brainerd Mission to the Cherokee.” Boston Rare Maps, 1821. https://bostonraremaps.com/inventory/manuscript-plan-of-the-brainerd-mission-to-the-cherokee/