178:. The paper was printed partly in Cherokee and partly in English. In 1856, the Joneses helped organize a secret anti-slavery organization, the Keetoowah Society, among the full-blood Cherokees, to counter the influence of a secret pro-slavery group. The members vowed to elect anti-slavery candidates to tribal office and to keep the Cherokee Nation neutral in case war broke out between the American states over the slavery issue. Although their meetings were held in the woods with traditional dances and debates, they always opened with prayers by Cherokee Baptist preachers. The pro-slavery faction on the Cherokee Council tried to pass a law in 1857, threatening missionaries with expulsion from the Cherokee Nation if they opposed slavery. The law did not pass, but the full-bloods' anger against the pro-slavery mixed bloods only grew. Evan Jones faced new competition when the Southern Baptist Convention began sending pro-slavery missionaries into the Nation in 1857.
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persisted and, over time, these same people came to develop a tolerance for him and his work, while he exhibited a tolerance for their old ways. Jones and
Bushyhead developed a close working relationship as missionaries, with Jones often preaching in English and Bushyhead translating the sermon into Cherokee. In 1832, Reverend Jones recommended to the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions that Bushyhead be appointed as an assistant missionary. The appointment was made, and Bushyhead served in this role for the next eleven years. He is said to have been the first Cherokee to have been ordained as a Baptist minister. He continued to work closely with Jones, not only preaching to the Cherokees, but translating the Book of Genesis and other religious books into the Cherokee language, using the Cherokee Syllabary.
185:, commissioner of Indian Affairs. Greenwood ordered that the Society be broken up and its leaders arrested. This order never succeeded. In 1861, the U.S. Indian Agent forced John B. Evans to leave the territory, claiming that he was "an intemperate abolitionist." The younger Jones spent the Civil War in Illinois. A year later, Evan Jones also fled from pro-slavery vigilantes who threatened his life.
136:, Jones was accused of committing adultery with her. He was also accused of murdering his sister-in-law, Cynthia Cunningham, and her baby, thus granting him the dubious distinction of being the first clergyman to be tried for murder in the United States. He was tried by a civil court and a church council and was acquitted in both.
158:. His group comprised 1,033 people, who left Valley Town on February 2, 1838, just ahead of another group led by Jesse Bushyhead. Jones' group experienced 71 deaths and five births en route. After their arrival in Indian Territory, Jones set about reconstituting the Baptist Mission school near the present town of
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Evan and John Jones both returned to the
Cherokee Nation shortly after the Civil War ended. They, like those of other denominations, began to work rebuilding their churches, reactivating former members and recruiting new members. Although they were instructed not to interfere in tribal politics, Evan
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Baptist
Mission, and became an itinerant preacher. Jones volunteered to lead one group of Cherokees to Indian Territory, when they were expelled from their ancestral homeland by the U.S. government. When they finally arrived, he reestablished the Baptist Mission and school and resumed his missionary
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or medicine men) would spread rumors that the
Europeans had furnished the Bible to lead the Cherokees astray from their old religion. They collected the prayer books and hymnals that Jones had given out and returned them to the mission. Sometimes they even threatened Jones with bodily harm. Jones
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He was a man of scholarly attainments and acquired the
Cherokee language and spoke and wrote it freely. The confidence in which he was held among the Cherokees who venerated him as a father, was never impaired. Even in the hours of his last illness, they came from far and near to hear a few last
105:, he continued his work preaching, translating religious books, and serving as an advocate for the Cherokees. One author claims that Evan and his son "...converted more American Indians to Christianity than any other Protestant missionaries in America".
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Jones vehemently opposed the removal of the
Cherokees from their ancestral lands in the Southeastern United States to the Indian Territory. Unable to prevent their expulsion, he volunteered to lead one group of the tribe on the
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Jones soon found that many of the older
Cherokees, especially those who lived in the mountains, clung tenaciously to their old ways and culture. He wrote in his journal that people he called "conjurers" (actually, they were the
129:. Jones' wife died at Valley Town on February 5, 1831. Their son, John Buttrick Jones, was born December 24, 1824. He also had a daughter, Mary Lincoln Jones, who was born in 1835 in the Eastern Cherokee Nation, North Carolina.
376:
Hirschfelder, Arlene, and
Paulette Molin. "Bushyhead, Jesse." Encyclopedia of Native American Religions, Updated Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2000. American Indian History Online. Facts On File,
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220:, at the home of a daughter, and was on a visit to his son at Tahlequah at the time of his death. He was sick only a few days. The previous Sabbath he attended church and heard his son preach.
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Jesse
Bushyhead died in 1844, but Evan Jones kept the Pleasant Hill mission going until the Civil War. John Buttrick Jones joined his father in this work in 1855. John had graduated from the
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people. The
Baptist Foreign Mission Board initially sent him and his family to work among the Cherokees living in North Carolina, where he learned to speak and write in the
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Evan Jones retired from all mission work in 1870. He died August 18, 1872. Pauline died September 17, 1876. Both are buried in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
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and married there earlier that year. The mission had acquired a printing press and the Joneses began publishing a monthly newspaper called the
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162:. Jones named the site Pleasant Hill. The Cherokees called it "Breadtown", because the Army issued food rations there after the trek.
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in Wales, but converted to the Baptist church soon after he arrived in Philadelphia. He became a Baptist missionary and was sent to
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words of comfort in their native tongue from their revered friend. For the last three years he resided at
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became a supporter of Lewis Downing, who many full-bloods wanted as Principal Chief, instead of
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The Cherokees and Christianity: 1794-1870: Essays on Acculturation and Cultural Persistence
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Meserve, John Bartlett. "Chief Lewis Downing and Chief Charles Thompson (Oochalata). In:
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https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/154557571/person/412040774255/facts
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Slavery in the Cherokee Nation: The Keetoowah Society and the Defining of a People
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When the Indian Agent Butler learned about the Keetoowah Society, he informed
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541:(Adobe eReader Format). Available on Google Books. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
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Evan married Pauline Cunningham after Elizabeth's death. According to the
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After the Trail of Tears: The Cherokees' Struggle for Sovereignty
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The American Baptist Magazine memorialized Evan Jones, saying:
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497:. 1993. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.
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19th-century Baptist ministers from the United States
523:. Available on Google Books. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
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353:Foreman, Carolyn Ross. "Aunt Eliza of Tahlequah."
200:, which had become the Cherokee capital, in 1867.
533:(2003). Taylor & Francis Group. New York.
418:First Baptist Church - Tahlequah, OK. History.
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277:Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
575:People from Cherokee County, North Carolina
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408:. Vol. 15, No. 4. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
125:and a future chief of the Cherokee tribe,
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590:Baptist missionaries in the United States
193:, who had been appointed by the Council.
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565:19th-century Welsh Methodist ministers
466:The Cherokees and Christianity", p. 68
396:"Early Missionaries to the Cherokees."
249:. Volume 16, Number 3. September 1938.
101:activities. With the help of his son,
302:McLoughlin, William C. (1984-05-13).
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595:Welsh emigrants to the United States
196:John B. Jones moved the mission to
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585:People from Westville, Oklahoma
441:The Cherokees and Christianity
357:. Vol. 9, No. 1 (March, 1931).
332:The Cherokees and Christianity
113:Jones had been an adherent of
80:(1788–1872) was born in
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570:People from Indian Territory
509:McLoughlin, William Gerald.
279:. "Evan Jones (1788-1872)."
119:Valley Town, North Carolina
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254:October 29, 2013, at the
478:After the Trail of Tears
454:After the Trail of Tears
427:Retrieved July 26, 2013.
366:Retrieved June 19, 2013.
281:Retrieved July 19, 2013.
258:Retrieved July 19, 2013.
166:Life in Indian Territory
134:Encyclopedia of Oklahoma
493:McLoughlin, William G.
172:University of Rochester
96:, taught school at the
527:Minges, Patrick Neal,
406:Chronicles of Oklahoma
355:Chronicles of Oklahoma
247:Chronicles of Oklahoma
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109:Life in North Carolina
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308:Letter to the editor
183:Alfred B. Greenwood
160:Westville, Oklahoma
103:John Buttrick Jones
423:2013-08-23 at the
401:2013-06-17 at the
362:2012-11-07 at the
312:The New York Times
176:Cherokee Messenger
63:Draper, Missionary
503:978-0-8078-4433-5
304:"Not "the First""
275:Jerry L. Faught,
94:Cherokee language
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98:Valley Town
52:Nationality
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317:2005-05-07
225:References
78:Evan Jones
20:Evan Jones
198:Tahlequah
142:adoniskee
115:Methodism
71:1821-1870
456:, p. 147
421:Archived
399:Archived
360:Archived
252:Archived
90:Cherokee
515:(1994)
488:Sources
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334:. p. 68
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82:Wales
55:Welsh
33:Wales
535:ISBN
517:ISBN
499:ISBN
377:Inc.
40:Died
29:1788
26:Born
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