Henry Budd (circa 1812 – April 2, 1875), the first Native American ordained an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest, spent his career ministering to First Nations people.

Early life

Born to

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

parents in Norway House in what was then the Red River Colony, the youth originally named Sakachuwescam was baptised and renamed Henry Budd (after his own mentor) by Anglican missionary the Rev. John West in 1822. He attended the Church Missionary Society (CMS) school, which West had established in what was then known as the Red River Colony in what is now the province of Manitoba. Fellow students included

James Settee James Settee (circa 1809 - 19 March 1902), was of Swampy Cree descent. He was given the name James Settee when he was baptized in 1827. He was the second Native American ordained an Anglican priest; following Henry Budd. He married Sarah (Sally) ...

and

Charles Pratt (Askenootow) Charles Cowley Pratt (1816–1888), also known as Askenootow which means Worker of the earth in Cree, was an interpreter at the Treaty 4 negotiations at Fort Qu'Appelle in 1874 and 1875. Pratt was born in 1816 in the Qu'Appelle Valley, and was a me ...

. Raised and educated by missionaries including West, George Harbridge and David Jones, Budd returned to the Lower Church District (later St. Andrew's) to assist his mother and sister-in-law in 1828. He took a job with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and ultimately married Betsy Work, daughter of a company factor. Upon completing his HBC contract, Budd and his wife bought a farm near the Red River's great rapids (a/k/a St. Andrew's). They had six children, Henry, John, Elizabeth and 3 other daughters.

Career

In September 1830, Henry Budd began studying for ordination under West, although he would not be ordained deacon for two more decades. In 1837, Budd began teaching at the St. John's church school. In 1840, missionaries John Smithurst and William Cockran asked Budd to help them establish a mission to the

in the Cumberland House District. Budd, his wife and mother then moved to Paskoyac (later known as The Pas), where they worked with minimal church supervision until 1844. Budd tried to make the station self-supporting, introducing farming methods to the native peoples, who previously subsisted on hunting and fishing and supplemented their diet by trading furs to the Hudson's Bay Company. When English missionary James Hunter arrived at The Pas, Budd assisted him in learning the language and other matters. Bishop

David Anderson David Anderson may refer to: People In academia or science *David Anderson (academic) (born 1952), American college professor *David Anderson (engineer) (1880–1953), Scottish civil engineer and lawyer *David Anderson, 2nd Viscount Waverley (1911� ...

ordained Budd a deacon on December 22, 1850, and in 1853 ordained him a priest as well as consecrated Christ Church, which Budd had labored to build at The Pas during the previous decade, overcoming the initial opposition of the HBC factor as well as some local tribal leaders. After Hunter left in 1854, Budd continued using The Pas as a base until assigned to establish a mission at

Fort a la Corne Fort de la Corne was one of the two French forts established on the Saskatchewan River in the 20 years between the end of La Vérendrye's push west from Lake Superior in 1731–1743 and the fall of New France in 1763. (The other was Fort La J ...

, also on the Saskatchewan River. The Church Missionary Society published some of his journals. Beginning in 1857, after training the Rev. Henry George to succeed him at The Pas, Budd moved north to the Nepowesin Mission, where he ministered to the

Plains Cree Plains Cree may refer to: * Plains Cree language * Plains Cree people Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically liv ...

of Manitoba and Saskatchewan for a decade. There in 1864–1865, a scarlet fever epidemic took the lives of his wife, eldest son and a daughter, so Budd sent three other children to live at Red River while he continued his work, hampered as well by injuries sustained falling off a horse. In 1867, the local corresponding committee recommended that The Pas be reclassified from a missionary station (four successive English missionaries having complained of the lack of evangelistic compared to pastoral opportunities) to one requiring a native pastor. Despite misgivings about the mission's deterioration in his absence, and the lower salary he received compared to the white missionaries, Budd returned to The Pas.

Death and legacy

Respected for his administrative abilities as well as his eloquence in Cree and English, Budd spent the last eight years of his life at The Pas. He succeeding in rebuilding the outpost, even though the local fur trade had collapsed. There he died of influenza in 1875 and despair not long after the death of another son in 1874. Two daughters survived Budd, and were taken care of by the Church Missionary Society. Budd translated the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into the

Cree Language Cree (also known as Cree– Montagnais–Naskapi) is a dialect continuum of Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories to Alberta to Labrador. If considered one language, it is th ...

. According to his biography published in 1920, at least one First Nations Christian man recalls being more devastated by Budd's death than the passing of his own father. The Canadian Calendar of Holy Persons of the

Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church co ...

remembers Budd on the anniversary of his death, April 2. The Henry Budd College for Ministry, a theological college of the

Diocese of Brandon The Diocese of Brandon is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Rupert's Land of the Anglican Church of Canada. It has an area of . The Rt. Rev'd William Grant Cliff, (formerly Rector of the Collegiate Chapel of St John the Evangelist at ...

for the development of First Nation,

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

and other persons for ministry, is located at The Pas.

External sources

Anglican history: Henry Budd 1814-1875

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Budd, Henry Translators of the Bible into indigenous languages of the Americas Canadian Anglican priests People from Rupert's Land People from The Pas 1812 births 1875 deaths Anglican missionaries in Canada Anglican saints 19th-century American translators American missionary linguists Cree people