NASSR 16th Annual Conference | Exhibition

Known in Ojibwa as Kahkewaquonaby, meaning “sacred feathers,” Peter Jones (1802-1856) was a Mississauga Ojibwa chief, a member of the eagle totem, a farmer, a Methodist minister, an author and a translator. At school he became known as Peter Jones; by his account, he converted to Methodism in 1823. Jones became the first Canadian native to keep a journal, the first native missionary appointed to serve the Ojibwa, and, with his brother, the first translator of biblical literature and hymns into native languages. In 1831, Jones travelled to England to raise funds for Indian missions and to represent native interests to British authorities. He preached in Methodist churches throughout Britain and was presented to William IV; in 1837 he delivered a petition to Queen Victoria requesting the title to Indian lands. Poor health required him to retire with his wife, Eliza, to Brantford after 1850.

Items 18 - 20

Item No. 18 (a)

Matilda Jones, a miniaturist and daughter of a prominent Methodist family in Bristol, painted two portraits of Jones while he was in England.

“Kahkewaquonaby or Rev. Peter Jones” and Eliza Field. Two oil portraits by Matilda Jones; the back of the portrait of Peter Jones bears her signature, the date and location (8 Coleman Street-London-April 1832).

Item No. 18 (b)

Matilda Jones, a miniaturist and daughter of a prominent Methodist family in Bristol, painted two portraits of Jones while he was in England.

“Kahkewaquonaby or Rev. Peter Jones” and Eliza Field

Two oil portraits by Matilda Jones; the back of the portrait of Peter Jones bears her signature, the date and location (8 Coleman Street-London-April 1832).

Item No. 19

Rev. Case reports that “The work of religion among the natives here continues to prosper. . . . Peter Jones is now with us.” He goes on to say that several preachers are at work in the area; they are building a scow, shingling houses, “and teaching these new Christians the way to heaven.”

“Extract of a letter from the Rev. W. Case, to the Rev. J. Emory, Secretary of the Missionary Society of the M.E.C., dated Belleville, May 21, 1827,” printed that year in the Christian Advocate and Journal.

Item No. 20

Jones’s first hymn book of 1827 was sufficiently successful that in the second, enlarged edition of 1829, Mohawk and Chippewa hymns were printed in separate volumes, each with a number of dual-language hymns (printed on facing pages as in this example) followed by a number of English hymns especially for the use of children in the missionary schools. The Preface explains that “the Indian words are divided into syllables, to enable the young learner to read with more ease.”

Peter Jones, translator.
Collection of Hymns for the Use of Native Christians of the Chipeway Tongue.

New York: J. Collord, 1829.