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The Moravian Missionaries and the Labrador Eskimos in the Eighteenth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

William H. Whiteley
William H. Whiteley
Affiliation:
Assistant Librarian, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada
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Extract

In the eighteenth century the Moravian Brethren founded on the coast of Labrador a mission to the Eskimos which is now approaching its bicentenary. Although supported by the British government, the mission owed its success largely to the zeal of the Moravians themselves, together with the prudent wisdom of the policies they developed to deal with a native people formerly regarded as savage and lawless by all Europeans who came in contact with them.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , March 1966 , pp. 76 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1966

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References

1. This article is based on three main archival sources: (1) Colonial Office papers relating to Labrador in this period. These papers contain despatches and reports of British governmental authorities in regard to the Moravian mission, and correspondence between the Moravians and the British government. The originals are housed in the Public Record Office, London. Microfilm copies are available in the Public Archives of Canada at Ottawa, and in the Newfoundland Archives at St. John's. (2) Labrador mission records found in the Archives of the Moravian Church at Muswell Hill, London. Transcripts and microfilms are available in the Public Archives of Canada. (3) Diaries and correspondence of the Moravian missionaries in Labrador. This material was removed from the mission stations in 1959 and deposited in the Moravian Archives at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Microfilms are in the Public Archives of Canada and in the Newfoundland Archives.

2. Gosling, W. G., Labrador: its discovery, exploration and development. (London, 1910), p. 171.Google Scholar

3. The Moravians in Labrador (Edinburgh, 1835), p. 28.Google Scholar

4. Ibid., p. 34.

5. For the relationship between the founding of the Labrador mission and British policy see Whiteley, W. H., “The Establishment of the Moravian Mission in Labrador and British policy, 1763- 83,” Canadian Historical Review, (March, 1964), pp. 29–50.Google Scholar

6. Colonial Office 194/16, p. 23, Order of Governor Hugh Palliser requiring the Eskimo Indians to be treated in a friendly fashion, July 1, 1764.

7. Ibid., p. 16, Journal of Jens Haven delivered to Sir Hugh Pailiser, 1764.

8. History of the Mission of the Church of the United Brethren in Labrador for the past hundred years (London, 1871), p. 11.Google Scholar

9. C. O. 194/16, p. 237, Account of the voyage of the four missionaries sent by the Unitas Fratrum to the Esquimaux on the Coast of Labrador.

10. C. O. 194/28, p. 26, Palliser to the Earl of Shelburne, Feb. 28, 1768.

11. C. O. 194/18, p. 147, Order in Council, May 3, 1769.

12. Moravians in Labrador, p. 70.

13. Public Archives of Canada (P.A.C.), Moravian Manuscripts from London (transcript), Vol. XLIV, 14a, p. 83, Journal of the voyage of the Jersey Packet to Labrador.

14. Ibid., p. 97.

15. Ibid., p. 65.

16. Ibid., p. 117.

17. P. A.C., Moravian Records from Labrador (microfilm), p. 3618, Instructions for our Dear Brethren and Sisters who this spring are going to settle at Unity Harbour in Esquimaux Bay, March 23, 1771.

18. Moravian Manuscripts, Vol. XLIV, 14a, p. 44, Journal of the voyage of 1771.

19. History of the Mission of the Church of the United Brethren in Labrador, p. 20.

20. Dartmouth Papers, Vol. 8, No. 2405, S.F.G. to the Earl of Dartmouth, Jan. 5, 1773.

21. Moravian Records, p. 7145, James Hutton to the Mission at Nain, Mar. 9, 1773.

22. Ibid., p. 7172, James Hutton, Benjamin La Trobe, and John Wollin to Nain, Mar. 14, 1774.

23. Ibid., p. 7158, Benjamin La Trobe to Nain, Mar. 7, 1774.

24. Moravian Manuscripts, Vol. XLIV, 14a, pp. 89–99, Nain Diary, 1772–3.

25. Ibid., pp. 83–4. See also Hawkes, E. W., “The Labrador Eskimo,” Memoir 91, Geological Survey of Canada (Ottawa, 1916), pp. 124–7.Google Scholar

26. Moravians in Labrador, p. 111.

27. Ibid., p. 112.

28. History of the Mission of the Church of the United Brethren in Labrador, p. 20.

29. Moravian Manuscripts, Vol. XLIV. 14a, p. 152, Nain Diary, 1772–3.

30. C. O. 194/31, P. 58, “An Account of the Moravian Mission upon the Coast of Labrador.”

31. Ibid., p. 60.

32. Moravian Manuscripts, Vol. XLIV, 14a, p. 150, Nain Diary, 1772–3.

33. C. O. 194/19, p. 6, Report concerning the Brethren's undertaking on the coast of Labrador, 1775.

34. Ibid., pp. 6–7.

35. Ibid., p. 7.

36. Moravian Manuscripts, Vol. XLIV, 14a, p. 325, Nain Diary, 1775–6.

37. Ibid., p. 330, Nain Diary, 1776–7.

38. Ibid., p. 333.

39. Ibid., p. 433, Nain Diary, 1777–8.

40. Ibid., p. 499, Okak Diary, 1776–7.

41. Ibid., p. 507.

42. Ibid., pp. 670–1, Okak Diary, 1778–9.

43. P.A.C., Moravian Documents from London (microfilm), Labrador Diaries, Vol. 6, p. 10, Nain, 1779–80.

44. Moravian Manuscripts, Vol. XLIV, 14a, pp. 729–30, Okak Diary, 1778–9.

45. Moravian Records, pp. 11744–5, William Turner to the Superintendent at Nain, March 6, 1781.

46. History of the Mission of the Church of the United Brethren in Labrador, p. 26.

47. Moravian Documents, Labrador Diaries, VoL 6. p. 120, Nain, 1782–3.

48. Moravian Records, pp. 11589–90, Letter from the missionaries at Nain to all gentlemen in the south in Labrador, 1783.

49. Ibid., pp. 11591–2, The missionaries at Nain to Capt. Griffith Williams, 1783.

50. C. O. 194/35, pp. 245–8, James Hutton and Benjamin La Trobe to Lord Sydney, May 26, 1784.

51. Ibid., pp. 243–4, Lord Sydney to Vice Admiral Campbell, May 28, 1784.

52. Moravian Documents, Labrador Diaries, VoL 6. pp. 163–4, Nain, 1784.

53. History of the Mission of the Church of the United Brethren in Labrador, p. 30.

54. Moravian Records, p. 27650, Benjamin La Trobe, James Hutton and J. G. Wollin to Hopedale, June 20, 1786; p. 29800, Hopedale Mission Conference to the Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel, August 24, 1786.

55. Moravians in Labrador, p. 185.

56. Ibid., p. 251.

57. Ibid., pp. 315–6.

58. Moravian Records, p. 27665, John Wheeler to Hopedale, June 4, 1788.

59. Ibid., p. 29832, Hopedale house conference to John Wheeler, September 9, 1788.