There was a tribe of Indians known as the Delaware. They lived on the land between the Hudson and the Potomac Rivers, and the area going far inland. When the first ship was anchored off New York Island in 1609 they were said to be standing on the river banks claiming "Behold, the gods have come to visit us".
These visitors came in great numbers, and the Delaware had to move from Pennsylvania West to Ohio around 1768. The Delaware who became Christians under the moravians were peaceful Indians. But, abuses from both the white man and other Indian tribes caused them to turn their backs on the religion and forbid missionaries from coming to them.
Just North of Philadelphia, William Penn addressed the Delaware Indians. It was with this tribe that the first was made by the Continental Congress, signed at Fort Pitt in 1778. They were to be part of the United States, and to have representation in Congress. Times were tough for the Delaware tribe, and many of the people fled to Canada for protection from the white man, which where many of their descendants reside today.
It was during these unsettling times that Charles Ne Sha Pa Na Cumin Journeycake was born on December 16, 1817 to Sally Williams and Solomon Journeycake, chief of the Delaware tribe. His maternal grandmother, Mary Sarah Castleman, was a white woman who had been captured and was married off to a partial Wyandotte Indian named Abraham Williams.
In 1828, the Journeycake family left their home in upper Sandusky River of Ohio by order of the government to travel to travel to their new home in Missouri; and then later, to NorthEastern Kansas, which was given to the Delaware tribe by treaty, but would later be reneged after the Civil War. Sally Journeycake was the Delaware Indian's interpreter for the Moravian missionaries of Kansas in 1829. She was instrumental in establishing the first Indian mission.
It was during her time as a translator that she learned many Scripture verses and hymns. She became deathly ill in 1827, and was even thought to be dead for many hours. She awoke from this state and immediately began praising God. This was the first convert among the Delaware Indians since the ban of missionaries. It's been said that through all their hardships she remained strong in the faith of her Savior, and this had a great impact on Charles life.
Charles was saved and baptized in 1833. At that time, he and his mother were the only Christians in the Delaware tribe. As a young man, he would go around preaching Christ to not only his tribe, but also to other tribes around. He could speak in Delaware, Shawnee, Wyandotte, Seneca, and Ottawa dialects. Though, he didn't become an ordained Baptist preacher until September 23, 1872.
He would see his father's salvation only two years after his own conversion.
Charles would marry Jane Sosha in 1837. They would have a happy marriage of 56 years, and raise 10 children together. Their 2 sons would die in infancy, but all 8 of their daughters would go on to accept Christ as their Savior, and work in the Delaware Baptist Association or in his church.
Charles Journeycake enjoyed hunting, and he was good at it. In the fall of 1839, he was approached by his tribesmen and asked to lead a trapping expedition. He agreed on the condition that all would agree to attend prayers at camp every night and morning, and to bring their traps in Saturday evening and spend the Sabbath in rest and religious exercise.
Journeycake was elected Wolf Gang chief in 1855, and principal chief of the tribe in 1871. He would be the last chief of the Delaware Indians. As a tribal leader, Charles watched as his people were killed trying to protect their farms and homes from white settlers. In 1867, the tribe was able to purchase land from the Cherokee nation, and they moved to the Indian territory of Cooweescoowee in Oklahoma. This was the sixth time the once mighty Delaware nation had been relocated. Charles gave up his title as chief and his people became part of the Cherokee nation.
This was again a hard time for his people. The Cherokee weren't happy that the white man had placed another tribe on their land, and there was blood shed on both sides. The American government claimed they would protect the Indians from attacks from the white settlers, but they had no jurisdiction to help with abuse from another Indian tribe. He lost one of his brothers to an assassination by an Indian renegade, and had at least one attempt on his own life.
Charles was one of the few literate Indians, and he had a large library at his home, which included books, periodicals, and musical instruments. He wanted others to be able to learn so he donated his time and money to the college at Muskogee. Even his daughters were considered cultured and well educated.
He also ministered at Delaware Baptist Church which was located near his home along Lightening Creek. The day of the church's dedication, it was filled with Indians, three white missionaries, and one white man. After three days of preaching, 15 people were saved. The church started out small with 11 members, 7 being his own family. Ten years of faithful preaching and the membership would become 266.
He was said to have had a vision, or dream, of a sheet of paper spread across the sky with names written on it, including his. He heard a voice say, "We must lengthen this life." as a form stretched his name. Charles believed that it was the Lord who had sent him a message not to fear for he would have a long life in service to Christ to his people.
He was always trying. to make life better for his people. He advocated for them around 24 times in Washington D.C. during his lifetime in hopes to gain legal rights and economic opportunities. Though he was no longer chief, he acted as chief counsellor to his tribe. He established the first trading post and post office in his town of Alluwe.
The mindset of Charles Journeycake is best summed up in his speech to the Indian Defense Association in 1886, which is now carved into the NorthWest corner of Barcone College Chapel.
"We have been broken up and moved six times. We have been despoiled of our property. We thought when we moved across the Missouri River, and had paid for our homes in Kansas we were safe. But in few years the white man wanted our country. We had made good farms, built comfortable houses and big barns. We had schools for our children and churches where we listened to the same gospel the white man listened to. We had a great many cattle and horses. The white man came into our country from Missouri and drove our cattle and horses away across the river. If our people followed them they got killed. We try to forget these things, but we would not forget that the white man brought us the blessed gospel of Christ, the Christian's hope. This more than pays for all we have suffered."
He helped encourage the organization of the Delaware Baptist Association in 1891, and also translated the four gospels into the Delaware language.
He died on January 3, 1894. His body was buried near Alluwe, but was later relocated to Nowata, now known as Armstrong Cemetery, because of the Oolagah dam and reservoir.
He is buried with his wife who preceded him in death in 1893. His tombstone reads 'A kind and loving father and a friend to the needy; he died as he lived, a pure and upright man, after many years of faithful service in the ministry and as chief adviser of his people, the Delawares'. His wife's inscription was simple 'None knew her but to love her'.
The next man to fill the Pastor's position at Delaware Baptist Church, S. H. Mitchell, would write a memoir entitled The Indian Chief, Journeycake, published in 1895. The full transcript can be read here.
In 1933, his grandchildren placed a marker along Oklahoma Highway 28 which reads '1200 feet East and 300 feet North stands the residence built in 1867, former home of Reverend Charles Journeycake and his wife, Jane Sosha Journeycake. He was the last tribal chief of the Delaware and pastor of the first Delaware Baptist Church in Indian Territory'.
