Fast Fun Facts

In the year of 1833, the New York Methodist publication said that northwest native Americans were looking for teachers and the white man’s “book of heaven,” the bible. Missionaries Whitman and Spalding were the first white woman to cross the blue mountains into Oregon.

 France sent missionaries with fur traders to Canada and the northern United States.  Twenty-one Spanish missions were in California during the 1700s and also 1800s.  France sent missionaries with fur traders to Canada and the northern United States.  Twenty-one Spanish missions were in California during the 1700s and also 1800s.

 Father also was a French missionary explorer who traveled down the Mississippi river with his partner, Louis. After the expedition, Marquette set up a mission among the Illinois Native Americans.

 Father was a Jesuit missionary who established a mission among the Potawatomi in Iowa. In 1840 he set a mission in Montana Territory.  Many new settlements are far away from the missions, so settlers had to rely on traveling preachers called “circuit riders” to perform church services.

The people who came from Europe to America were mostly believers in Christian faith. Most of them felt that their faith was the one true way to know God. Some of them thought that it was their job to teach the native Americans to accept this religion. Some of them devoted their lives to this effort and became missionaries. ` -

 In the early 1800s, Catholic and protestant missionaries were sent to the west.

Missionaries traveled into the land where the native Americans lived where they built small settlements called missions.

 Missions usually had farms, schools, and churches. The3 missionaries taught the Native Americans how to worship and pray as Christians.

 The Roman Catholic missions grew, prospered and spread through California but unfortunately as the missions grew, the Native Americans that worked at the missions did not prosper because this kind of daily schedule was uncomfortable to the Native Americans. The Native Americans were used to a much freer way of life. The Native Americans grew depressed and ill, some even died and others simply ran away. Every now and then, angry Native Americans would strike at the missionaries.

 In the 1830s, several missionaries became interested in the Pacific Northwest. The Methodist’s Mission Society made sites in Oregon. Around the same time, the Presbyterian Society of Boston sent more missionaries to the southeastern part of Oregon to work.  Where ever missionaries went, settlers were soon to follow, changing the Native Americans’ world forever.