WOODS, WATERS, and WILDLIFE
S T O R Y A N D P H O T O S B Y W. H . " C H I P " G R O S S
S
Wyandot
“ I n k la
“ Y s fa
The story of the last tribe of American Indians to leave Ohio — and the building they left behind
In the middle of Mission Cemetery in Upper Sandusky stands a stone church — nearly 200 years old — built from slabs of blue limestone gathered from the nearby Sandusky River. The age of the church, however, is not the only thing that makes it special; it’s extraordinary because it is the last tangible evidence of the last Indian tribe to leave Ohio: the Wyandot. During the 1700s, half a dozen major tribes of Native Americans occupied what would become the Buckeye State in 1803. But through continual wars and broken treaties with the fledgling United States, those tribes were pushed farther and farther off their lands, until eventually all the Wyandots had left was a mere 12-mile-square parcel, centered on Upper Sandusky, known as the Grand Reserve. “As part of the treaty that put them on a reservation, the Wyandots were entitled to request funds 32
from the government to build a meeting house,” says Betsy Bowen, a Mid-Ohio Energy Cooperative member who serves on the committee that oversees the historic building. “The Wyandot Mission Church was built in 1824, ironically with funds from the U.S. War Department.” Jean Moon, another member of the committee, added that the church’s first pastor was John Stewart, who came in 1816. Stewart, Moon says, was “a young black man from Virginia who came to preach to the Indians. And he preached through another black man, interpreter Jonathan Pointer, who had been adopted by the Wyandots as a child.” A series of missionary pastors followed Stewart through the years, and all seemed to be going well — until February 1830, when the Indian Removal Act was introduced in Congress. The bill, which required all American
“ I is is a
Indians then living on reservations to be relocated to land west of the Mississippi, narrowly passed, and was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28 of that year. Vice President Martin Van Buren called it the highlight of Jackson’s presidency. The 664 Wyandots reluctantly began their journey west on July 12, 1843 — some on horseback, some in wagons, and others simply
“ F h w
“ a T d
(Continued on Page 34)
IM o is se w a an
•
C O U N TRY LIVING F EB RUARY 2 01 7
OEC CL Febuary-2017 pages 32-34.indd 2
“ o t is F
1/19/17 12:31 PM