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George Copway (1818 – January 1869) was a Mississaugas Ojibwa writer, lecturer, and advocate of Native Americans. His Ojibwa name was Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh (Gaagigegaabaw in the Fiero orthography), meaning "He Who Stands Forever."
Copway was born near Trenton, Ontario, into a traditional Ojibwa family who later converted to Methodism. After conversion, he attended the local mission school and eventually became a missionary for the Methodist church.
In 1840, he met English woman Elizabeth Howell whose family were farmers in the Toronto area. They married and moved to Minnesota to serve as missionaries. The couple later returned to Canada where Copway served as a missionary for the Saugeen and Rice Lake Bands of the Ojibwa. In 1846, he was accused and convicted of embezzlement and was defrocked by the Methodists.
He then left Canada for New York City and wrote The Life, History and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-Bowh (1847), the first published book by a Canadian First Nations person.
In 1851, he started his own weekly newspaper in New York City titled Copway's American Indian which ran for approximately three months. He died in Oka, Quebec.
Copway wrote down many details about the Ojibwa Nation. He dedicated a few chapters to the use of birch bark scrolls, the symbolic writing that was used, and the meaning of various symbols. These elaborate scrolls were used to remember songs, history, and ceremonies. The care and reproduction of these scrolls by a select few is given in great detail. He is an original source for historic details of the 19th century that could have easily been forgotten with great changes over time.
Selected bibliography
- The Life, History and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-Bowh (1847)
- Organization of a New Indian Territory, East of the Missouri River (1850)
- The Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the Ojibway Nation (1850)
- The Life, Letters, and Speeches of Kah-ge-ga-gah-Bowh, or G. Copway, a chief of the Ojibwa Nation (1850)
- Ojibwa Conquest (1850)
- Running Sketches of Men and Places, in England, France, Germany, Belgium, and Scotland (1851)
- Indian Life and Indian History (1860)
External links
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- short biography at "The Canadian Encyclopedia"
- The life, history, and travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh (George Copway), a young Indian chief of the Ojebwa nation, a convert to the Christian faith, and a missionary to his people for twelve years; with a sketch of the present state of the Ojebwa nation, in regard to Christianity and their future prospects. Also an appeal; with all the names of the chiefs now living, who have been Christianized, and the missionaries now laboring among them. Written by himself. Publisher: Albany, Printed by Weed and Parsons, 1847, c1846.
Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)