{"id":593,"date":"2016-11-20T20:24:59","date_gmt":"2016-11-20T20:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/confrontingcolonialism\/?page_id=593"},"modified":"2016-11-20T20:25:24","modified_gmt":"2016-11-20T20:25:24","slug":"the-correspondences-of-isaac-bearfoot","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/confrontingcolonialism\/the-correspondences-of-isaac-bearfoot\/","title":{"rendered":"The Correspondences of Isaac Bearfoot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isaac Bearfoot\u2019s 19th century letters demonstrate how English literacy was promulgated throughout indigenous communities by religious missionary organizations such as the Anglican Church. Bearfoot was born a member of a Mohawk community in Grand River, and later attended Huron College in the 1870s where he was ordained in 1878. He would go on to serve as a Missionary cleric in several Haudenosaunee and Anishinabek communities up to 1888. These included appointments to Point Edward, Walpole Island, Pelee Island, Dresden and the communities of Kanyengah, Cayuga, Delaware, and Tuscarora.<\/p>\n

\n

Bearfoot himself is evidence of a sustained development of English literacy among the Haudenosaunee of Upper Canada through the 1800s, as his beautiful handwriting can attest to. Much like the description in\u00a0Sacred Feathers<\/em>\u00a0of Methodist preacher, Peter Jones\u00b9<\/a>, Bearfoot utilized similar talents as a bilingual and bicultural clergyman, to assist the Diocese of Huron in their missionary efforts. The following letters written by Bearfoot illustrate some of the financial difficulties that came with such appointments. As the Anglican faith was quickly gaining momentum in Upper Canada, often the coffers of the Huron Diocese could not maintain consistent payment for its multiple missionary efforts.\u00b2<\/a><\/p>\n

As the third letter illustrates, however, it would seem Bearfoot\u2019s affiliation with English literacy and the Anglican Church, though strained at times, proved beneficial in a time of shared cultural space. Though important to note that this is not the end of a series of correspondences, it is indicative of the fact that Bearfoot was comfortably compensated for his missionary efforts in the Grand River area, having been given residence and a considerable allowance, and would live the rest of his life in this region.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>\u00a0Donald B. Smith, \u201cChapter 5: The Missassauga\u2019s Cultural Revolution,\u201d in\u00a0Sacred Feathers<\/em>(2013), 66-68.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0Douglas Leighton, \u201cA calling that straddled two cultures,\u201d\u00a0Anglican Dioceses of Huron Church News\u00a0<\/em>(Feb. 2015), 10.<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Letter #1:<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Stamp) \u00a0 From:<\/p>\n

The Rev. I. Bearfoot<\/p>\n

WALLACEBURG, Ont.<\/p>\n

Oct. 26. 1887<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear Mr. Reed,<\/p>\n

Cannot something be<\/p>\n

done\u00a0(at once)\u00a0to relieve me of my present<\/p>\n

financial embarrassment \u2013 I<\/p>\n

am now reduced down to my last<\/p>\n

five dollar note: am obliged to<\/p>\n

let my housekeeper go, and submit<\/p>\n

to others grievous inconveniences.<\/p>\n

It\u00a0does seem so hard<\/u>\u00a0that of over<\/p>\n

$250 due me since the 1st\u00a0visit<\/u>\u00a0I<\/p>\n

cannot get a cent.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have a<\/p>\n

very strong aversion against resorting<\/p>\n

to extreme measures; but matters are<\/p>\n

desperate and what am I to do?<\/p>\n

I wish you would speak to the Bp.<\/p>\n

and see what can be done and<\/p>\n

you would oblige me very much<\/p>\n

Yours truly,<\/p>\n

I. Bearfoot<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Letter #2:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tuscarora,<\/p>\n

Feby 22. 1888<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

E.B. Reed. Esq.<\/p>\n

Dear Sir,<\/p>\n

I herewith send you\u00a0as<\/del><\/p>\n

for the information of the Executive Committee, a<\/p>\n

statement of account, and balance due all from<\/p>\n

the Dresden Congregation for services rendered<\/p>\n

as Incumbent. Will you kindly present it at<\/p>\n

their next meeting in March.<\/p>\n

I also herewith respectfully apply to<\/p>\n

the Committee for a special grant- to prevent<\/p>\n

a total loss of the said Balance \u2013 Will you<\/p>\n

present, also, this application at the same<\/p>\n

meeting.<\/p>\n

Yours truly,<\/p>\n

I. Bearfoot<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

P.S. I received from you, in November, an ad-<\/p>\n

vance grant of $50.00 for Pelee Island: I was<\/p>\n

entitled to $37.50 on Dec. 31 according to the old<\/p>\n

grant from the Mission Fund, thus leaving me over<\/p>\n

paid $12.50 which is taken off in the \u201cstatement\u201d<\/p>\n

enclosed, leaving a balance due me of $101.82\/100.<\/p>\n

I.B.<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Letter #3:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tuscarora,<\/p>\n

Augt\u00a022d\u00a0\u201888<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To the Executive Committee<\/p>\n

of the Diocese of Huron.<\/p>\n

The \u201cNew England<\/p>\n

Company\u201d have employed me<\/p>\n

as Assistant Missionary among<\/p>\n

the \u201cSix Nations\u201d: and towards<\/p>\n

my stipend they have given<\/p>\n

a residence and a grant<\/p>\n

of Six hundred dollars per<\/p>\n

annum.\u00a0 According to the<\/p>\n

Canon, I am entitled to receive<\/p>\n

Eight- hundred dollars and a<\/p>\n

residence from the first day of<\/p>\n

July last \u2013 having then completed<\/p>\n

ten years of active service in<\/p>\n

Priests\u2019 orders \u2013 I hereby there-<\/p>\n

fore respectfully apply to you<\/p>\n

[New page]<\/p>\n

for a grant of two hun-<\/p>\n

dred dollars per annum<\/p>\n

to date from the said first<\/p>\n

day of July last past \u2013 to<\/p>\n

complete the full amount<\/p>\n

of my stipend.<\/p>\n

The \u201cNew England Company\u201d<\/p>\n

have approved of this applica-<\/p>\n

tion being made.<\/p>\n

I have the honour to be,<\/p>\n

Gentlemen,<\/p>\n

Your obedient Servant,<\/p>\n

I. Bearfoot<\/p>\n

\"letter1\"\"letter2\"<\/p>\n

\"letter3\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Isaac Bearfoot\u2019s 19th century letters demonstrate how English literacy was promulgated throughout indigenous communities by religious missionary organizations such as the Anglican Church. Bearfoot was born a member of a Mohawk community in Grand River, and later attended Huron College in the 1870s where he was ordained in 1878. He would go on to serve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_mc_calendar":[],"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-593","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/confrontingcolonialism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/confrontingcolonialism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/confrontingcolonialism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/confrontingcolonialism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/confrontingcolonialism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/confrontingcolonialism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/confrontingcolonialism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}