Church of the Holy Apostles (Oneida, Wisconsin)

The Church of the Holy Apostles building, Oneida, Wisconsin, erected by the gift of labor by the Oneida people of one day a week over almost decade. The stone was quarried on the Oneida reservation.

The Church of the Holy Apostles, Oneida, Wisconsin (formerly known as John Henry Hobart Church), United States, is a mission congregation of the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac located on the Oneida Reservation of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin.

History

The Church of the Holy Apostles is the oldest Indian mission of the Episcopal Church, tracing its roots to the earliest Anglican missionaries from the Church of England and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in the area that later became central New York, around Oneida Lake. As early as November, 1702, the Rev. John Talbot reported "even the Indians themselves have promised obedience to the faith" with five Five Nations Indians Sachems or Kings having said they "were glad to hear that the Sun shined in England again, since King William's death" and admired that there was now a "woman king [Queen Anne]." They hoped she would "send them some to teach them Religion and establish traffic amongst them, that they might be able to purchase a coat and not to go to Church in bear skins." Over the next century, the Oneida people accepting Christianity, coming to practice the Christian faith by expression as Anglicans and Methodists.

About 1815, Bishop John Henry Hobart of New York licensed Mr. Eleazer Williams, at the earnest request of the Oneida chiefs, as Lay Reader, Catechist, and Schoolmaster to the Oneida.[1] Williams, who would become the first Episcopal missionary in Wisconsin, played a major role in the removal of the Oneida from New York to Wisconsin. He claimed later in life to be the lost Dauphin of France. After removing from New York in the 1820s, the Oneida Indians settled and built a log church building in 1825 in the vicinity of Duck Creek, about 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Green Bay. Williams also translated parts of the Prayer Book[2] and certain hymns into the Mohawk tongue.

On December 2, 1822, Williams wrote a letter to the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (the missionary arm of the Episcopal Church) requesting establishment of a mission. On May 22, 1823, the Rev. Norman Nash was appointed as an official missionary for the area around Green Bay, but did not arrive until 1825. Williams had been ordained deacon in 1824 and undoubtedly held services at Oneida among the Indians.

After out-growing the log church, a larger, wood frame "Gothic" church building was built by the Oneidas.[3] The laying of the cornerstone on August 7, 1838 was by Bishop Jackson Kemper, the first Missionary Bishop of the Episcopal Church and his first official act in the territory. The consecration by Bishop Kemper on September 2, 1839 made it the first consecrated non-Roman Catholic church building in what would become Wisconsin. In the fall of 1839, It was in this structure that Dr. William Adams and the Rev. James Lloyd Breck, founders of Nashotah Seminary were ordained. It had a barrel-organ, which was later donated to the public museum in Green Bay.

The now third and present stone church building was due to tireless efforts of the Rev. E. A. Goodnough.[4] In 1870, the Oneidas gave one day a week to quarry the stone. An excellent building plan was prepared by the Rev. Charles Babcock, who was also an architect, as a gift to the mission. The building was to be in the early English style, with low massive walls, heavy buttresses, and a steep roof. It was to be 48 feet (15 m) by 68 feet (21 m), exclusive of porch and chancel. In 1886 the cornerstone was laid, and the building was consecrated in 1887 and named Holy Apostles. In 1895 the chancel was erected. On July 17, 1920 the stone church was struck by lightning and destroyed by the fire, but then rebuilt on the old foundations and re-consecrated by the Rt. Rev. R. H. Weller, Bishop of Fond du Lac on June 11, 1922. The church bell, dedicated to the "Glory of God in pious memory of John Henry Hobart, Bishop of New York" was re-cast after the fire.

The Episcopal Mission was part of Oneida Reservation land held in trust by the United States and continued as such under the various land permutations until title was transferred by the United States to the Trustees of the Diocese of Fond du Lac by an Act of Congress through a patent deed in 1909.

Oneida Mission Highlights

Prominent Lay People

Clergy Serving

This is listing of clergy who have served as missionaries, vicars or deacons.

References

  1. ↑ http://anglicanhistory.org/indigenous/oneida/journal1818.html
  2. ↑ http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Mohawk/index.htm
  3. ↑ http://www.public.coe.edu/~theller/soj/unc/images/church-2.jpg
  4. ↑ http://www.public.coe.edu/~theller/soj/unc/tame-indians/goodnough.jpg
  5. ↑ The Oneida Healers: Hospitals, Doctors & Nurses, Oneida Tribe of Indians Website
  6. ↑ http://www.public.coe.edu/~theller/soj/unc/images/hill-1.jpg

Pascoe, Charles Frederick (1895). Classified Digest of the Records of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts: 1701-1892 (With Much Supplementary Information), Fifth Edition. London: The Society's Office. Digest of the S.P.G. records 

Curtiss, A. Parker (1925). History of the Diocese of Fond du Lac and Its Several Congregations. Fond du Lac, Wisconsin: P.B. Haber Printing. Compiled Under The Direction of The Bishop, in Commemoration of its FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

Bloomfield, Julia Keen (1907). The Oneidas. New York: Alden Brothers. 

External links

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