The Shawnee Baptist Mission

The Shawnee Baptist Mission was founded in 1831 by Isaac McCoy and his son-in-law Johnston Lykins near what is today 49^th and Nall Ave in Roeland Park, Ks. Unlike the nearby Methodist and Quaker Missions, the Baptists sought to help the Shawnee and other tribes become self-sufficient through a gradual change to western Christian society without abandoning their culture. To this end, they promoted teaching in individual villages and operated a day school at the mission, which never totaled more than 40 students at a time. There was an emphasis on teaching in the Shawnee language. When the Shawnees signed a new treaty with the federal government in 1854, a fund was created for their education. This fund was awarded solely to the Shawnee Methodist Mission. Moreover, the treaty resulted in the majority of the Shawnee moving to a reservation in what it today Oklahoma. Without financial support from the government and with few pupils, the Shawnee Baptist Mission was closed and abandoned in 1855. The mission buildings were burned during the Civil War.  

Missionaries Isaac McCoy and Johnston Lykins had worked with bands of the Shawnee and other tribes in Indiana and Michigan before their forced removal to the Indian Territory in what is today the state of Kansas. Unlike most, who simply wanted the Native American tribes moved out of the way of American expansion, McCoy believed that it was the best hope to preserve some measure of their languages and cultures. He had witnessed first hand the devastating impact that close contact with American settlers on the frontier had on the way of life of Native Americans and believed that their removal was their best chance for survival. In his eyes, the creation of the Indian Territory would give them the political power to fight for their rights. He even envisioned a new state made from the Indian Territory, where each reservation would become a county. He spent years trying to get the different tribes to work together to this end to no avail.

In keeping with this philosophy, instruction at the mission was in the Shawnee language with the help of interpreters. In 1834, Missionary Joatham Meeker arrived at the mission with a printing press. He had devised a new syllabary, which allowed him to put Shawnee and several other Native American languages into written form. Students at the mission as well as numerous adults were soon taught to read and write in their native language. The missionaries disseminated this new syllabary throughout the Indian Territory and published books in various languages including Shawnee (mostly bible translations and religious tracts). The mission also published the first newspaper in what would be the State of Kansas called the Siwinowe Kesabwi "The Shawnee Sun." The paper covered religious topics and news of the day on the reservation. Some of the Shawnee, who had learned to read and write, contributed to the paper.

In 1838, Dr. Francis Baker became superintendent of the mission. He would eventually build a Baptist church at what is today 55^th and Walmer in Mission, Ks. Here he shepherded a small congregation of Shawnee Baptists and preached against the corrupting influences of alcohol and slavery on the reservation. Barker was an abolitionist, which set him at odds with many of his neighbors, including the Shawnee Methodist Mission, which not only condoned slavery, but encouraged the Shawnees to adopt it. Barker is known to have purchased the freedom of as many as 9 enslaved people, some of whom later worked at the mission. The mission was rumored to be the first stop on the Underground Railroad out of Westport on the way to Topeka, Canada and freedom.

    When the Shawnees signed a new treaty with the federal government in 1854, a fund was created for their education. This fund was awarded solely to the Shawnee Methodist Mission. Moreover, the treaty resulted in the majority of the Shawnee moving to a reservation in what it today Oklahoma. Without financial support from the government and with few pupils, the Shawnee Baptist Mission was closed and abandoned in 1855. The mission's buildings were burned during the Civil War.

Dr. Barker and Bedford Drisdom, a man whose freedom he had purchased, moved their families to Lawrence, Ks. where they became some of the original settlers. Dr. Barker later played a role on the Underground Railroad in Lawrence. During Quantrill's attack on Lawrence, the Bushwackers specifically sought out Dr. Barker and raided his home. However, Dr. Barker had passed away 6 months earlier. Bedford survived the raid by hiding in a ditch outside his home. Later he helped found the 9th Street Baptist Church in Lawrence, which exists to this day.

Barker Neighborhood Named for Missionary to Indians. Bald Eagle, the Lecompton Historical Society Newsletter. Vol. 25, Issue 2. Summer 1999. Lecompton, Ks.

Biles, Jan. Secret Network in Kansas Helped Blacks Escape Slavery, CJONLINE. September 14th, 2015. Accessed September 6th, 2024. https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/local/2015/09/14/secret-network-kansas-helped-blacks-escape-slavery/16610711007/.

Colored Baptist Church. Daily Kansas Tribune, Lawrence Ks. 12/8/1869

Schultz, George A.. An Indian Canaan: Isaac McCoy and the Vision of an Indian State, January 1st, 1972. University of Oklahoma Press.

Spooner, Joseph. History of American Missions to the Heathen, from Their Commencement to the Present Time, 1840. Published by Spooner & Howland. Worcester, Mass.

Everett, Dianna. McCoy, Isaac (1784-1846), The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Accessed September 6th, 2024. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=MC014.