James Evans
James Evans was born in 1801 in England and moved with his parents to Canada when he was 21 years old. In Canada, James married and had two daughters, only one of whom survived to adulthood. He found employment as a teacher, and was later educated and ordained as a Methodist minister. He was appointed as a missionary to the Cree Indians in Manitoba.
James learned the language and culture of the Cree. Realizing the importance of reading and understanding God’s Word, James invented an alphabet for the Cree and taught them to read using wood ash as ink and birch bark as a writing surface. He hand-wrote Bible verses and hymns on birch bark sheets for his followers.
Failing to secure a printing press from his missions organization, he built one himself. He would salvage lead from the liners of old tea chests, melt it down and pour it into wooden molds he carved himself. When he could, he would take an old piece of lead shot, carving it out of a tree trunk, and use a small knife to shape it into a specific letter he needed. Using soot for ink and unrolled birch bark for paper, he printed small books and portions of Scripture for his flock – all in the writing system he invented.
In 1844, James was on a canoe trip with his very close Native friend and linguistic teacher named Thomas. They were traveling to answer many questions that had been raised by a quarrelsome Roman Catholic missionary in the area. During the trip, James’ gun accidentally discharged, killing his friend. Fellow missionaries urged James to flee, but his sense of personal responsibility compelled him to return. He returned Thomas’ body to his elderly, widowed mother and explained what happened. In accordance with the tribe’s custom, the woman would have been well within her rights to have James executed – something James freely offered. When she declined, James then offered himself as her ‘adopted’ son, offering to take care of her in her old age as a son was expected to do. The offer greatly impressed her, as well as the entire tribe. James shared his income with her the rest of his short life.
James was greatly affected by the incident, and his surviving writings show them to be erratic after this point. Soon after, competing missionaries and liquor traders leveled charges of sexual impropriety against him based on his practice of using his home to nurse sick young women and girls back to health – at a time where they would have had no place else to go. Because of the seriousness of the charge, James immediately requested a disciplinary hearing on himself so evidence could be brought to light. James was cleared of the charges, but admonished that keeping young girls in his home was improper.
Though he was found not guilty of the charges, the stench of the accusation remained, and James was asked to come to England to report to his sponsoring missions society and to allow things to cool down back home. He preached in many areas in England and had a sudden heart attack following a missions rally in Lincolnshire. James died at the young age of 45. James’ ashes were returned to Manitoba and spread there, on the missions ground he found so fertile.
He had a tough end, but James contributed greatly to the spread of the Gospel among the Indians of Manitoba. Not only the Cree, but other tribes continue to use the alphabet system he developed for them. Other missions groups picked up this system and continued to evangelize the Natives of Canada using the language and alphabet developed specifically for them.
https://www.cwjefferys.ca/rev-james-evans-teaching-indians-his-system-of-cree-syllabic-writing
http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/evans_j.shtml
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