Catharine Brown arrived at the Brainerd Mission on July 9, 1817. The missionaries of the ABCFM believed that her life epitomized the virtues of piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity and symbolized the taming of female sexuality. Rufus Anderson, the editor of her memoir, published in 1825, praised Brown as a paragon of virtue.¹

While Brown remained chaste, she inspired lust in at least one missionary. Daniel Sabin Butrick felt such sexual passion for Brown that he agonized over it in his diary, guiltily confided to its pages, “My wicked passions rage, the storm beats on my foundering bank, and gaping waves and towering surges threaten my immediate ruin.”²

Brown began to show symptoms of tuberculosis in 1822. She died on the morning of July 18, 1823. Her death was romanticized in her memoir. Brown quickly became a martyr in the eyes of Christians, and a symbol of true womanhood. In the years following her death, she assumed almost mythic proportions. The missionaries’ admiration of her was so great that they regarded her as a model of what every young woman should be.³

Yet Brown’s life was likely more complicated. Although she was a Christian convert, she continued to fast and to rely on the help of traditional healers; she also participated in women’s prayer groups in the mountains or forests. Thus, she may have retained more of her Cherokee beliefs than the missionaries’ accounts acknowledged.⁴

The following excerpts from her memoir tell the story of a Cherokee woman of the nineteenth century who bridged two worlds. Rufus Anderson wrote the first and third sections; Anderson quotes missionaries Cyrus Kingsbury and Jeremiah Evarts and Dr. Campbell, Brown’s physician. The second part contains material from Catharine Brown’s diary.

[Rufus Anderson excerpts]

The reader will be prepared to credit what will be said, in the progress of this memoir, respecting Catharine’s intellectual condition, when she first came under the care of the missionaries.

It is pleasing to observe here, that her moral character was ever irreproachable. This is the more remarkable, considering the looseness of manners then prevalent among the females of her nation, and the temptations to which she was exposed, when, during the war with the Creek Indians, the army of the United States was stationed near her father’s residence. Were it proper to narrate some well authenticated facts, with reference to this part of her history, the mind of the reader would be filled with admiration of her heroic virtue, and especially of the protecting care of providence. Once she even forsook her home and fled into the wild forest, to preserve her character unsullied.⁵

… Catharine was of the middle stature, erect, of comely features, and blooming complexion; and, even at this time, she was easy in her manners, and modest and prepossessing in her demeanor.

“It was, however, manifest,” says Mr. Kingsbury, “that, with all her gentleness and apparent modesty, she had a high opinion of herself, and was fond of displaying the clothing and ornaments, in which she was arrayed. At our first interview, I was impressed with the idea that her feelings would not easily yield to the discipline of our schools, especially to that part of it which requires manual labor of the scholars. This objection I freely stated to her and requested that, if she felt any difficulty on the subject, she would seek admission to some other school. She replied that she had no objection to our regulations. I advised her to take the subject into consideration, and to obtain what information she could, relative to the treatment of the scholars, and if she then felt a desire to become a member of the school, we would receive her.

“She joined the school, and the event has shown that it was of the Lord, to the end that his name might be glorified. I have often reflected, with adoring gratitude and thankfulness, on the good providence, which conducted that interesting young female to Brainerd, and which guided her inquiring and anxious mind to the Savior of sinners.”

Sometime before this, it is not known precisely how long, while residing at the house of a Cherokee friend, she had learned to speak the English language, and had acquired, also, knowledge of the letters of the alphabet. She could even read in words of one syllable. These acquisitions, which were of no particular service at the time they were made, are to be noticed with gratitude to God, as the probable means of leading her to Brainerd. They excited desires, which she could gratify nowhere else.

Her teachers declare, that, from her first admission to the school, she was attentive to her learning, industrious in her habits, and remarkably correct in her deportment. From reading in words of one syllable, she was able, in sixty days, to read intelligibly in the Bible, and, in ninety days, could read as well as most persons of common education. After writing over four sheets of paper, she could use the pen with accuracy and neatness, even without a copy.

From the testimony of different persons it appears, that, when she entered the school, her knowledge on religious subjects was exceedingly vague and defective. Her ideas of God extended little further than the contemplation of him as a great Being, existing somewhere in the sky; and her conceptions of a future state were quite undefined. Of the Savior of the world, she had no knowledge. She supposed, that the Cherokees were a different race from the whites, and therefore had no concern in the white people’s religion; and it was some time before she could be convinced, that Jesus Christ came into the world to die for the Cherokees. She has been known, also, to remark, subsequently to her conversion, that she was much afraid, when she first heard of religion; for she thought Christians could have no pleasure in this world, and that, if she became religious, she too should be rendered unhappy. How much her opinions and sentiments on this subject were, in a short time, changed, will abundantly appear as we proceed.

That the reader may be duly sensible of the singleness of heart and Christian devotedness of the men, under whose instruction this interesting female had placed herself, he is informed, that, not long after her introduction to them, they adopted the following resolution, which develops an economical principle, carried through all the missions to the Indians, under the direction of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.—“That, as God in his providence has called us to labor in the great and good work of building up his kingdom among the Aborigines of this country, a work peculiarly arduous, and which will be attended with much expense; and above all, considering that we have solemnly devoted ourselves, and all that we have, to the prosecution of this work; we declare it to be our cordial, deliberate, and fixed resolution, that, so far as it respects our future labors, or any compensation for them, we will have no private interests distinct from the great interests of this institution. And, that if it meets the views of the Prudential Committee, we will receive no other compensation for our services, than a comfortable supply of food and clothing for ourselves and families, and such necessary expenses as our peculiar circumstances may require; observing at all times that frugality and economy, which our duty to the Christian public and the great Head of the Church demands.”

Catharine had been in the school but a very few months, before divine truth began to exert an influence upon her mind. This was manifested in an increased desire to become acquainted with the Christian religion, and in a greater sobriety of manners. A tenderness of spirit, moreover, was, at the same time observed in several others.

[After Jeremiah Evarts, the treasurer of the ABCFM, visited Brainerd, he wrote Dr. Worcester, the corresponding secretary of the board, about the children of the mission, including Catharine Brown. Rufus Anderson quoted Evarts as follows.]

“Her parents are half-breeds, who have never learnt to speak English; yet if you were to see her at a boarding-school in New England, as she ordinarily appears here, you would not distinguish her from well-educated females of the same age, either by her complexion, features, dress, pronunciation, or manners. If your attention were directed to her particularly, you would notice a more than ordinary modesty and reserve. If you were to see her in a religious meeting of pious females, you would not distinguish her, unless by her more than common simplicity and humility. When she joined the school in July last, (having come more than one hundred miles for that sole purpose,) she could read in syllables of three letters, and was seventeen years old. From her superior manners and comely person she had probably attracted more attention, than any other female in the nation. She was vain, and excessively fond of dress, wearing a profusion of ornaments in her ears. She can now read well in the Bible, is fond of reading other books, and has been particularly pleased with the Memoirs of Mrs. Newell. Last fall she became serious, is believed to have experienced religion in the course of the autumn, and was baptized in January. Since that time, she has been constantly in the family; and all the female members of it have the most intimate knowledge of her conduct, and receive a frank disclosure of her feelings. It is their unanimous opinion, that she gives uncommon evidence of piety. At meetings for social prayer and religious improvement, held by them on every Thursday afternoon and Sabbath evening, Catharine prays in her turn, much to the gratification of her sisters in Christ. Her prayers are distinguished by great simplicity as to thought and language, and seem to be the filial aspirations of the devout child. Before Mrs. Chamberlain took charge of the girls, Catharine had, of her own accord, commenced evening prayer with them, just as they were retiring to rest. Sometime after this practice had been begun, it was discovered by one of the missionaries, who, happening to pass by the cabin where the girls lodge, overheard her pouring forth her desires in very affecting and appropriate language. On being inquired of respecting it, she simply observed, that she had prayed with the girls, because she thought it was her duty. Yet this young woman, whose conduct might now reprove many professing Christians, who have been instructed in religion from their infancy, only ten months ago had never heard of Jesus Christ, nor had a single thought whether the soul survived the body, or not. Since she became religious, her trinkets have gradually disappeared, till only a single drop remains in each ear. On hearing that pious females have, in many instances, devoted their ornaments to the missionary cause, she has determined to devote hers also. In coming to this determination, she acted without influence from the advice of others.”⁶

[Rufus Anderson added, “Time fled rapidly away, in pious employments and in Christian intercourse, and brought the long expected, much dreaded separation.”]

[Cyrus Kingsbury began taking notes about the mission in 1817, and Ard Hoyt assumed that role in 1818. Daniel Butrick and William Chamberlain also wrote in the Brainerd Journal. Those missionaries kept daily notes on the life of the Brainerd Mission and sent regular letters to ABCFM headquarters in Boston. The Journal thus developed from notes, letters, and reports.

[Rufus Anderson quoted the following passage from the Brainerd Journal.]

“In the spring of 1821, while making the necessary preparations for a settlement at Creek-Path, Mr. Potter and myself, for two months, made Mr. Brown’s house our home. Here we had an opportunity of noticing Catharine’s daily deportment, as a member of the domestic circle.

“For sweetness of temper, meekness, gentleness, and forbearance, I never saw one, who surpassed her. To her parents she was uncommonly dutiful and affectionate. Nothing, which could contribute to their happiness, was considered a burden; and her plans were readily yielded to theirs, however great the sacrifice to her feelings. The spiritual interests of the family lay near her heart, and she sometimes spent whole evenings in conversation with them on religious subjects.

“Before our arrival, she had established a weekly prayer-meeting with the female members of the family, which was also improved as an opportunity for reading the word of God, and conversing upon its important truths. Such was her extreme modesty, that she did not make this, known to me, until more than a week after my arrival; and the usual period had passed without a meeting. She at length overcame her diffidence, and informed me what their practice had been, in a manner expressive of the most unfeigned humility. These meetings were continued while we remained in the family, and I believe they were highly useful. A monthly prayer-meeting among the sisters of the church was soon after established, in which Catharine took a lively interest; nor did she ever refuse, when requested, to take an active part in the devotional exercises.

“Soon after we removed to our station, Catharine became a member of our family, and of the school. All her energies were now bent towards the improvement of her mind, with a view to future usefulness among her people. Both in school, and in the family, her deportment was such as greatly to endear her to our hearts, and she was most tenderly loved by all the children.

“She was not entirely free from the inadvertences of youth; but always received reproof with great meekness, and it never failed to produce the most salutary effect.

“She was deeply sensible of the many favors she had received from Christian friends, and often, in the strongest terms, expressed her gratitude.

“She was zealous in the cause of Christ, and labored much to instruct her ignorant people in the things, that concern their everlasting peace. The advancement of the Redeemer’s kingdom was to her a subject of deep interest, and she read accounts of the triumphs of the cross in heathen countries with peculiar delight. Not many months after we settled here, a plan was devised to form a female charitable society. This plan was proposed to Catharine. She was much pleased with it, and spared no pains to explain it to the understandings of her Cherokee friends. And so successful were her exertions that, at the meeting for the formation of the society, at which a considerable number were present, not one refused to become a member. For the prosperity of this society she manifested the most tender concern till her death; and she had determined, if her life should be spared to reach the Arkansas country, to use her exertions to form a similar society there.”

[The following are excerpts from Catharine Brown’s diary.]

Creek-Path[,] May 1, 1821. Commenced boarding with Mr. and Mrs. Potter. My parents live two miles from this place. I think I shall visit them almost every week, and they will come to see me often.

[May] 2. I love to live here much. It is retired, and a good place for study. Everything looks pleasant around the school-house. The trees are covered with green leaves, and the birds sing very sweetly. How pleasant it is to be in the woods, and hear the birds praising the Lord. They remind me of the divine command, “Remember thy Creator.” O may I never be so stupid and senseless [as to forget my Creator,] but may I remember to love and serve him, the few days I live in this world; for the time will soon come, when I must appear before him. Help me, Lord, to live to thy glory, even unto the end of my life. I think I feel more anxious to learn, and, to understand the Bible perfectly, than I ever did before. Although I am so ignorant, the Savior is able to prepare me for usefulness among my people.

[May] 5. Saturday evening. Again I am brought to the close of another week. How have I spent my time the past week? Have I done anything for God and any good to my fellow creatures? I fear I have done nothing to glorify his holy name. Oh, how prone I am to sin, and to grieve the Spirit of a holy God, who is so kind in giving me time to prepare for heaven. May I improve these precious moments to the glory of my God.

[May] 6. Sabbath evening. How thankful I ought to be to God, that he has permitted me once more to commemorate the love of a Savior, who has shed his precious blood for the remission of sin. It was indeed a solemn season to me, and I hope refreshing to each of our souls. While sitting at the table, I thought of many sins, which I had committed against God, through my life, and how much I deserved to be cast out from his presence forever. But the Son of God, who was pleased to come down from the bosom of his Father, to die on the cross for sinners like me, will, I hope, save me from death, and at last raise me to mansions of eternal rest, where I shall sit down with my blessed Jesus.

[May] 8. This evening I have nothing to complain of, but my unfaithfulness both to God and my own soul. Have not improved my precious moments as I ought. Have learned but little in school, though my privileges are greater than those of many others. While they are ignorant of God, and have no opportunity to hear or learn about him, I am permitted to live with the children of God, where I am instructed to read the Bible and to understand the character of Jesus. O may I be enabled to follow the example of my teachers, to live near the Savior, and to do much good. I wish very much to be a missionary among my people. If I had an education— but perhaps I ought not to think of it. I am not worthy to be a missionary.

[May] 14. Mr. Hoyt called on us this week, on his return from Mayhew [in what is now Oklahoma]. He gives us much interesting intelligence respecting the Choctaw Missions. Mr. Hoyt expected to have brought Dr. Worcester with him, but he was too sick to travel, and was obliged to stay behind. He hopes to be able to come on soon. I long to see him. He has done a great deal towards spreading the Gospel, not only in this nation but in other heathen nations of the earth. May the Lord restore his health that he may see some fruits among the heathen, for whom he has been so long laboring.

[May] 29. This day I spent my time very pleasantly at home with my dear friends. Find that brother John is the same humble believer in Jesus, walking in the Christian path. I am truly happy to meet my dear parents and sisters in health, and rejoicing in the hope of eternal glory. O may God ever delight to bless them, and to pour his spirit richly into their hearts. I am much pleased to see them making preparations for the Sabbath. They have been engaged today in preparing such food, etc. as they thought would be wanting tomorrow. I think brother John and sister Susannah have done much good here with respect to the Sabbath.

[May] 30. This day attended another solemn meeting in the house of God. Mr. Potter preached by an interpreter. I think more people than usual attended. All seemed attentive to hear the word of God. Mr. P. spoke of the importance of keeping the Sabbath holy. I hope it will not be in vain to all those who were present.

June 4. This day being the first Monday in the month, the people met to pray and receive religious instructions. It was truly an interesting time. The congregation, though small, was serious. One man and his wife, who have been for some time in an anxious state of mind, remained after the meeting, and Mr. and Mrs. P earnestly entreated them to seek the Lord while he was near unto them. They appeared very solemn, and said they wished to know more about God, that they might serve him the rest of their days. We hope and pray, that they may be truly converted, and become our dear brother and sister in the Lord.

July 1. This day I have enjoyed much. Was permitted once more to sit down at the table of the Lord, and commemorate his dying love. O how good is the Savior in permitting me to partake of his grace. May I improve my great privileges in the manner I shall wish I had done, when I come to leave the world.—P.M. Went to Mr. G.’s, where Mr. Potter preaches once in two weeks. Most of the people present were whites, from the other side of the river. It was pleasant to hear a sermon preached without an interpreter.

Sept. 2. Think I have had a good time today in praying to my heavenly Father. I see nothing to trouble me, but my own wicked heart. It appears to me that the more I wish to serve God, the more I sin. I seem never to have done anything good in the sight of God. But the time is short, when I shall be delivered from this body of sin, and enter the kingdom of heaven.

[September] 3. The first Monday in the month. No doubt many Christians have been this day praying for my poor nation, as well as for other heathen nations of the earth. O why do I live so little concerned for my own soul and for the souls of others? Why is it that I pray no more to God? Is it because he is not merciful? Oh no, He is good, kind, merciful, always ready to answer the prayers of his children. O for more love to my Savior than I now have.

[In the following passage, Rufus Anderson sums up Catharine’s final illness and her strong religious faith.]

As she approached nearer to eternity, her faith evidently grew stronger and she became more and more able cheerfully to resign, not only herself, but her parents, her friends, her people, her all, to the disposal of her Lord.

May 15th she was reduced very low by a hemorrhage from the lungs and for a few days was viewed as upon the borders of the grave.

Before this alarming symptom, it had been proposed to send again for Dr. Campbell, but her parents were persuaded first to try the skill of some Indian practitioners. Their prescriptions were followed, until the hemorrhage occurred. Then her alarmed parents sent immediately for Mr. Potter, hoping he could do something to relieve their darling child. Providentially, the Rev. Reynolds Bascom … had just arrived from the Choctaw Nation, on his way to the northern States; and having been afflicted in a similar manner himself, he was able to administer effectual remedies.

[Here, Anderson quotes Dr. Campbell, Catharine’s physician, in her final hour.]

“As death advanced, and the powers of nature gave way, she frequently offered her hand to the friends around her bed. Her mother and sister weeping over her, she looked steadily at the former, for a short time, filial love beaming from her eyes; and then, she closed them in the sleep of death.

“She expired without a groan, or a struggle. Even those around the bed scarcely knew that the last breath had left her, until I informed them she was gone.

“Thus fell asleep this lovely saint, in the arms of her Savior, a little past 6 o’clock, on the morning of July 13th, 1823.”

[In the passage below, Anderson describes Catharine’s brief life and her legacy.]

Her afflicted relatives conveyed her remains to Creek-Path, where they were, on the 20th, deposited near the residence of her parents, and by the side of her brother John, who had died about a year and a half before, in the triumphs of the same faith.

Her age was about twenty-three; and six years had elapsed from her first entering the school at Brainerd. She was then a heathen. But she became enlightened and sanctified through the instrumentality of the Gospel of Jesus, preached to her by the missionaries of the cross; and her end was glorious.

A neat monument of wood, erected by her bereaved relatives, covers the grave where she was laid. And though, a few years hence, this monument may no longer exist to mark the spot where she slumbers, yet shall her dust be precious in the eyes of the Lord and her virtues shall be told for a memorial of her….

Such was Catharine Brown, the converted Cherokee. Such, too, were the changes wrought in her, through the blessing of Almighty God on the labours of missionaries. They, and only they, as the instruments of divine grace, had the formation of her Christian character; and that character, excellent and lovely as it was, resulted from the nature of their instructions. Her expansion of mind[,] her enlargement of views, her elevated affectations[,] her untiring benevolence, are all to be traced under God to her intercourse with them. The glory belongs to God; but the instrumental agency, the effective labor, the subordinate success, were theirs.

In her history, we see how much can be made of the Indian character. Catharine was an Indian. She might have said, as her brother did to thousands, while passing through these States, “Aboriginal blood flows through my veins.” True, it was not unmixed; but the same may be affirmed of many others of her people. Her parentage, her early circumstances and education, with a few unimportant exceptions, were like those of the Cherokees generally. She dwelt in the same wilderness, was conversant with the same society, was actuated by the same fears, and hopes and expectations, and naturally possessed the same traits of character. Yet what did she become! How agreeable as an associate, how affectionate as a friend, how exemplary as a member of the domestic and social circle and of the Christian church, how blameless and lovely in all the walks of life! Her Christian character was esteemed by all who knew her while she lived, and will bear the strictest scrutiny now she is dead. To such an excellence may the Indian character attain; for, to such an excellence did it actually attain in her.

And why may it not arrive at the same excellence in other Indians? Are there no other minds among them as susceptible of discipline and culture? No other spirits, that, in the plastic hands of the Divine Agent, can receive as beautiful a conformation? Are there not dispositions as gentle, hearts as full of feeling, minds as lively and strong? And cannot such minds be so fashioned and adorned, that heavenly grace shall beam as charmingly from them, as it did from hers?

The supposition, that she possessed mental and moral capabilities, which are rare among her people, while it adds nothing to our respect for her, does injustice to her nation. In personal attraction, and in universal propriety of manner, she was, undoubtedly, much distinguished. But, in amiableness of disposition, in quickness of apprehension, in intellectual vigor, it is believed there are hundreds of Cherokee youth, who are scarcely less favored.⁷

ENDNOTES

¹ Rufus Anderson, editor, Memoir of Catharine Brown: A Christian Indian of the Cherokee Nation (Boston: Samuel T. Armstrong, Crocker and Brewster, 1825), 13–15.

² Daniel Sabin Butrick, Journal, Jan. 27, 1820, ABCFM Papers, by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 18.3.3, vol. 4–5.

³ Anderson, ed., Memoir of Catharine Brown, 98, 111, 132, 177.

⁴ See Theda Perdue, “Catharine Brown: Cherokee Convert to Christianity,” in Sifters: Native American Women’s Lives, edited by Theda Perdue (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 77–91. Still, the missionaries held on to their image of the saintly Catharine Brown and their belief that Christianity would liberate Cherokee women from the heavy labor of cultivating the earth and elevate them as moral guardians of the hearth. See Bernard Sheehan, Seeds of Extinction: Jeffersonian Philanthropy and the American Indian (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1973), 165–67; Robert Sparks Walker, Torchlights to the Cherokees: The Brainerd Mission (1931; reprint, Johnson City, Tenn.: Overmountain Press, 1994), 97, 118, 138, 176.

⁵ A note here in the text reads, “ ‘I was pleased to find,’ says a friend, ‘that General Jackson, (who commanded in the war with the Creeks,) had a high opinion of Catharine. In the course of our conversation he remarked, She was a woman of Roman virtue, and above suspicion.’ ” Anderson, ed., Memoir of Catharine Brown, 15.

⁶ Evarts later published his report in Panoplist 14, 344. Mrs. Newell’s memoirs were known among missionaries. Harriet Newell and her husband, Samuel, were ABCFM missionaries to India. Her memoirs also contained a sermon by Leonard Woods on the occasion of her death. See the following: Harriet Newell, Memoir of Mrs. Harriet Newell, Wife of the Rev. Samuel Newell, Missionary to India (Andover, Mass.: American Tract Society, 1812); Harriet Newell and Leonard Woods, A Sermon Preached at Haverhill, Mass., in Remembrance of Mrs. Harriet Newell, Wife of the Rev Samuel Newell, Missionary to India Who Died at the Isle of France, Nov. 30, 1812, aged 19 Years; to which are added Memoirs of her Life (Boston: Samuel T. Armstrong, 1814).

⁷ Anderson, ed., Memoir of Catharine Brown, 20–25, 34–36, 84–93, 131–32, 148–49, 171–73.