[Letter to William McKendree about ministering to the Wyandot tribe]
[Letter to William McKendree about ministering to the Wyandot tribe]. John Shaw. Aug. 27, 1823. Holograph letter. William McKendree Papers.
Federal government subagent, John Shaw reports in this letter to Bishop William McKendree on his work with the Wyandot tribe, particularly regarding the children and faculty at the School for Indian Children, where an illness has been going around. Shaw refers to William Walker, a teacher at the school who was an educated member of the Wyandot tribe and a translator for the Methodist missionary school.
John Shaw was from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and a Quaker who, in 1805, owned a store in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his brother-in-law. He worked at the Fort Wayne Agency and, during the War of 1812, had been appointed the subagent for the Wyandots. Shaw was in his third year as the subagent in Upper Sandusky when this letter was written.
In 1821, the Methodist Conference sent a permanent missionary to the Wyandot tribe, James B. Finley, who would, by 1823, be the superintendent of the school. Finley was a dedicated missionary and noted advocate for Indian rights, hailing from Highland County, Ohio.
For more information on Shown Shaw and James B. Finley see