Wisconsin Oneidas and the Episcopal Church

Deborah Heckel, an Oneida, is the Deacon of the Oneida Church of the Holy Apostles.Kathy Powless Hughes, an Oneida, is the former Vice Chairperson and former Treasurer of the Oneida Nation of Indians of Wisconsin Betty McLester, an Oneida, is a member of the Church of the Holy Apostles and the church's Altar Guild. By her talks and demonstrations of lace-making techniques, she is actively involved today in promoting this artistic tradition introduced by missionary Sybil Carter and the Episcopal Church in the late nineteenth century. She is also a member of the Oneida Hymn Singers. Pearl Schuyler McLester, an Oneida, has been an active member of the Church of the Holy Apostles for nearly seventy-five years. She has served on numerous church committees and was a member of the Altar Guild for many years.Michael L. Oberg is SUNY Distinguished Professor of History at Geneseo. His many publications include Professional Indian: The American Odyssey of Eleazer Williams (2015) and Peacemakers; The Iroquois, the United States, and the Treaty of Canandaigua, 1794 (2016). His textbook, Native America: A History is now in its second edition (2017).Very Rev. Steven Peay was appointed President of Nashotah House in 2014 after serving as Dean for Academic Affairs. He is also professor of homiletics and church history there. Father Peay holds a doctorate in history from St. Louis University. His articles have appeared in The Congregationalist, the Catholic Historical Review, and in other journals and magazines. Blanche Powless, an Oneida and descendant of Chief Cornelius Hill, has been an active member of the Church of the Holy Apostles for over a half century. She helped lead the United Thank Offering that raised funds for the church and served as the director of the Altar Guild for twenty years. Her late husband Edmund served as the church's deacon, and her daughter Theresa Rose, an Episcopal nun in the Order of the Teachers of the Children of God. In 2007, she received the Bishop's Cross for her work on behalf of the church.Sister Theresa Rose, an Oneida nun, is a member of the Order of the Teachers of the Children of God. Judy Skenandore, an Oneida, works in the offices of the Church of Holy Apostles and is a member of the church's Altar Guild. She is also a member of the Oneida Arts Board and, as a lace-maker, is one of the Oneidas helping to preserve and revive this art formKarim Tiro is Chair and Professor of History at Xavier University. He is the author of The People of the Standing Stone: The Oneida Nation From the Revolution Through the Era of Removal (2011), co-editor of Along the Hudson and Mohawk: The 1790 Journal of Count Paolo Andreani. (2006), and co-editor of the recent new edition of Cadwalader Colden's History of the Five Nations first published in 1724.Mother Alicia Torres, an Oneida nun, is a member of the Order of the Teachers of the Children of God.Christopher Vecsey is Harry Emerson Fosdick Professor of the Humanities and Native American Studies in the Department of Religion at Colgate University. He has written or edited fourteen books on Native American religions, including the standard three-volume history of American Indian Catholicism: On the Padres' Trail (1996), The Paths of Kateri's Kin (1997); and Where the Two Roads Meet (1999).

• Introduction  Part I: Christianity Comes to Oneida CountryEditors' Introduction Chapter 1: The Oneida World before Christianity (Laurence M. Hauptman)Chapter 2: Oneidas and Missionaries, 1667–1816 (Karim Tiro)Chapter 3: Flawed Shepherd: Eleazer Williams, John Henry Hobart, and the Episcopal Mission to the Oneidas (Michael Oberg)  Part II: The Oneida Episcopal Mission: The First Century in WisconsinEditors' Introduction Chapter 4: Another Leatherstocking Tale: Susan Fenimore Cooper, the Episcopal Church, andthe Oneidas (Laurence M. Hauptman, L. Gordon McLester III, and Judy Cornelius-Hawk) Chapter 5: A Mission of Mutuality: The Relationship between the Oneidas and the Nashotah House Theological Seminary (Very Rev. Steven A. Peay)Chapter 6: Wearing Two Hats: Cornelius Hill and John Archiquette, Oneida Nation andEpiscopal Church Leaders (L. Gordon McLester III and Laurence M. Hauptman)Chapter 7: The Episcopal Mission 1853–1909: Three Church AccountsEllen Saxton Goodnough: Christmas at the Oneida Episcopal Mission, 1869 Father Solomon S. Burleson describes providing medical care at Oneida Father Frank Wesley Merrill on Missionary Sybil Carter and the Oneida Women lace-makers, 1899  Part III: Oneida First-Person Accounts of the Episcopal Mission and Its ClergyEditors' IntroductionChapter 8: Six Oneidas Recount Eight WPA Oral Histories, 1938–1942, about the EpiscopalMission (Sarah Cornelius, Guy Elm, Lena Silas, Oscar Archiquette, Pearl House, and David Skenandore)Chapter 9: Ten Contemporary Oneidas Reminisce in Nine Accounts about the Holy Apostles Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Mission Kenneth Hoyan House: Reverend Christian puts me on the Straight PathBlanche Powless: The Episcopal Mission School Kathy Powless Hughes: My father Deacon Edmund PowlessSister Theresa and Mother Superior Alicia: Oneidas in the Order of the Teachers of the Children of God: Two Nuns reflect on their service to the Episcopal Church Pearl Schuyler McLester: Reminiscences of the Oneida Episcopal Mission Deacon Deborah Heckel: Father R. Dewey Silas Judy Cornelius: As I remember: The women of the Church of the Holy ApostlesBetty McLester and Judy Skenandore: Oneida lacemaking: then and now L. Gordon McLester III: The Oneida Indian Hymn Singers  Part IV: ConclusionChapter 10: Putting Oneida Episcopal History in Perspective (Christopher Vecsey) Chapter 11: The Wisconsin Oneidas and the Episcopal Church: Then and Now  Appendix: Episcopal Priests and Bishops Who Have Served the Oneidas in WisconsinBibliography