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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".

Biography

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 Elizabeth Howell, an English woman 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 moved to New York City, where he wrote The Life, History and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-Bowh (1847). It was the first published book by a Canadian First Nations person.

In 1851, Copway 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 in 1869.

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 described in detail. His work was important for providing 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

• 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, downloadable version at University of Georgia Library.
• "George Copway", Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• "George Copway", The Canadian Encyclopedia

•  Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

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• 1818 births
• 1869 deaths
• First Nations writers
• Ojibwe people
• Converts to Methodism