Rev John Roberts was a Welsh missionary to Native
Americans in Wyoming. Born in North
Wales in 1853, he came to faith at an early age and yearned to be a
missionary. As a young man, he was
ordained as a Deacon in his Anglican church and served there briefly before
sailing to the Bahamas to minister in Nassau.
There, he was ordained as a Priest and concentrated his ministry among
the poor and outcast, including lepers.
However, John was restless and wanted a greater challenge. His heart was drawn to Native Americans, so
John made his way to Colorado where, meeting with his Bishop, he asked for the
most difficult field in the region. He
was told that was among the reservation of the Shoshone and Arapahoe tribes
which would later be known as the Wind River Indian Reservation, but his Bishop
first wanted him to gain some experience so John was assigned to minister to
coal miners in Greeley, Colorado, and to a community in Pueblo. There, Roberts established a mission church
in South Pueblo. When a smallpox
epidemic quarantined the community, he fearlessly worked in the hospital
tending the sick.
Finally given permission to go to the reservation, he
left in late January of 1883. He
traveled by train, then took the last 150 miles by stagecoach. They journeyed for 8 days in the middle of a
blizzard where temperatures neared 60 degrees below zero, and arrived at Fort
Washakie, on the reservation, on February 10th. John established a church there and was
offered a government-paid position as principal of a school – a job he accepted
both for outreach and to learn local customs.
He branched out from there, establishing congregations in eight outlying
communities, five of which remain active today.
He traveled extensively on horseback between congregations officiating
numerous baptisms, communion services, weddings, and burials. One such burial was a woman who estimated
herself to be a hundred years old who claimed, and Roberts believed, to be
Sacajawea. (Note: South Dakota also
claims to be the burial place of Sacajawea.)
While in the Bahamas, Roberts had become engaged to a
young church organist named Laura Brown.
They corresponded by mail until the year after Roberts arrived in
Wyoming. She traveled by train and stage
to meet him there (in much fairer weather) and they were married on Christmas
Day of 1884. Laura was his faithful
partner through his missions. John and
Laura were blessed with five children.
Roberts also became friends with the Shoshone Chief
Washakie, in his early 80s when Roberts arrived. One story of their friendship comes soon
after John’s arrival. The Chief’s son
was involved in a liquor purchase, which led to an argument and culminated in
the young man being shot to death. Two
contradictory accounts of the Chief’s response exist: the first account is
recorded by a woman who interviewed Rev Roberts late in his life and attributed
the account to him. In her account the
elderly Chief, upon hearing of his son’s death, vowed to kill every white man
he could find until he himself was killed.
Roberts, hearing of this vow, interceded with the Chief and offered his
own life if it would assuage the Chief’s anger.
The Chief’s heart softened and he came to faith as a result of John’s
intervention. The second, less dramatic
account comes from Roberts’ children. In
this account, Roberts did visit the Chief after the killing. During his visit the Chief remarked, “The
white man did not kill my son. Whiskey
killed him.” Regardless of which
accounting is true, the two had a remarkable friendship which lasted the
remainder of Chief Washakie’s life. The
Chief, in his old age, was a vibrant Christian, leading many to Christ until
his death in 1900 at age 102. He was
buried with full military honors at the post cemetery, given his many years as
a US Army Scout.
Rev Roberts, early in his ministry, established a school
for girls is Fort Washakie with the Chief’s blessing and financing. It operated as a school until 1949, the year
of John Roberts’ death. He translated
the Bible into numerous Native languages.
The success of the Shoshone mission attracted the
attention of the Arapaho tribe, which was also settled on the Shoshone
reservation. Roberts energetically
expanded his mission and his vision to include them, establishing churches
among their people, learning their languages, and translating the Bible for
them as well.
The Bishop over his region thought very highly of Roberts
and once offered him a more prominent position.
Roberts wrote back, “Thank you, Bishop, but I hope you will never take
me away from my Indians. I prefer to
spend my life here among my adopted people.”
Roberts served with full vigor and enthusiasm his entire life. He was a bridge for the Indian people with
the white culture that surrounded them.
He died in January of 1949, and is buried in Wyoming. His ministry in Wyoming lasted 66 years.
Christian History e-mail: 22 Jan 2022.
https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/reverend-john-roberts-missionary-eastern-shoshone-and-northern-arapaho-tribes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Roberts_(missionary)
