- Isaac McCoy
Isaac McCoy (
June 13 1784 -June 21 1846 ) was aBaptist missionary among the Native Americans who was to play an instrumental role in the founding ofGrand Rapids, Michigan andKansas City, Missouri .Early life
McCoy was born in
Uniontown, Pennsylvania . He married Christiana Polk, a cousin of PresidentJames K. Polk , in 1803. In 1804 they moved toClark County, Indiana . In 1808 the Silver Creek Baptist Church granted him a license "to preach the Gospel wherever God in His providence might cast his lot.” [ [http://www.rootsweb.com/~incccpc/clarkbios/mccoy-isaac.html Roots Web Site] ]In 1809 they relocated to
Knox County, Indiana , nearVincennes, Indiana , where he became pastor of Maria Creek Church. In 1817 he was assigned to be a missionary to theMiami Indians living on theWabash River aboveTerre Haute, Indiana .In 1822 he established the
Carey Mission among thePottawatomie on theSt. Joseph River nearNiles, Michigan . In 1826 he founded the Thomas Mission among the Ottawa at what is todayGrand Rapids, Michigan . He was to be the first white settler in Niles and Grand Rapids.With good intentions, he was an early proponent of moving the eastern Native American tribes to available land in The West. He believed that getting the tribes their own, isolated places, away from the reach of those white men that were exploiting them, would give them a better chance of surviving — and becoming good Christians. Unfortunately, the result was the great
Indian removal that included the Trail of Tears.Missionary work in Kansas City
Following the
Indian Removal Act of 1830, McCoy, his son John, his daughter Deliah and her missionary husband Johnston Lykins accompanied the Shawnee as they moved to what is nowKansas City, Missouri , which was on the border of Indian territory in Kansas. The younger McCoy established a trading post at Westport, Missouri, and was among the first organizers of Kansas City. Lykins became one of the city's first mayors.In 1840, he wrote one of the earliest, most personally informed reports on the midwestern tribes, "The History of Baptist Indian Missions". In 1842 he moved to
Louisville, Kentucky , where he became director of the Baptist American Indian Mission Association and wrote. He died and is buried there in Western Cemetery.References
*cite book|title=An Indian Canaan: Isaac McCoy and the Vision of an Indian State |first=George A. |last=Shultz|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|id=ISBN 0-8061-1024-4|date=1972
External links
* [http://www.kshs.org/research/collections/documents/personalpapers/findingaids/mccoy.htm The Isaac McCoy Papers at The Kansas Historical Society]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.