Cyrus Kingsbury

Cyrus Kingsbury (November 22, 1786 – June 27, 1870) was a Christian missionary active among Native Americans in the nineteenth century. He first worked with the Cherokee and founded Brainerd Mission near Chickamauga, Tennessee, later he served the Choctaw of Mississippi. He was known as "the Father of the Missions" in Indian Territory. He then studied at Andover Theological Seminary, where he also graduated in 1815. Choosing to become a missionary to American Indians, he was hired as the first missionary by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). The town's inhabitants were probably expelled at the time of the Trail of Tears. Any remaining traces of the town would have been submerged when Chickamauga Reservoir was created in 1940. According to A. C. Varnum, Brainerd included not only the mission itself, but also a boarding school and an agricultural school.

Marriage and family Sarah B. Varnum, born in Dracut, Massachusetts on January 16, 1784, was one of ten children of Parker and Dorcas (née Brown) Varnum. Her father would become an elder in the Pawtucket Congregational Church. It is not clear when and how she would meet Cyrus Kingsbury, but evidently the event occurred and a strong attraction ensued. By 1818, when Kingston was preparing to start building with the Choctaws in Mississippi, he had proposed to marry her. Although he wanted to return to New England for the wedding, the church would not allow him to leave his post in Mississippi for a long enough time. Sarah and Cyrus were determined not to wait, but decided to meet in New Orleans. Sarah made the long, arduous ocean voyage unaccompanied from her parental home, while Cyrus came from Tennessee on horseback. They were married in New Orleans on Christmas Eve, 1818. After the ceremony, Cyrus and Sarah made the trip back to Brainerd on horseback, spending their nights camping out and cooking their food over open fires.

Mayhew Mission In 1820, Kingsbury chose a location in the northeastern part of present-day Oktibbeha County, Mississippi that he deemed a suitable site for another mission. He described the location as, "... a point where the Ash Creek flows into the Tibbee Creek.” Cyrus named the site Mayhew, in honor of the Mayhew family, another missionary family from Massachusetts. The Kingsburys, assisted by some other families and three unmarried women, started by building a boarding school, where they taught the Choctaws living around the mission to read, write, study the Bible and other subjects related to earning a living. The school opened on April 30, 1820, with twelve students who lived nearby. Enrollment increased soon to 18, with new students who came from elsewhere in the Choctaw Nation. A church building opened May 6, 1821, and became affiliated with the Tombigbee Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church.

Kingsbury's influence on the Choctaw Nation could be described as spectacular. For example, the Choctaw chiefs began to solicit his advice on how to deal with officials of the Federal Government. They specifically asked him to accompany their delegation to negotiate the 1820 Treaty of Doak's Stand. He did so, and was soon appalled at the U. S. commissioners negotiating tactics, calling the discussions, "Whiskey Negotiations." Kingsbury counseled the Choctaws to cease further negotiations until the commissioners stopped plying the Choctaws with liquor. The Choctaws did so, and the result was a more favorable outcome for the tribe. Work continued on the mission, and by 1831, it included a gristmill, a blacksmith shop and a farm. In that year, the Choctaws at Mayhew Mission began their arduous trek to their new homeland in Indian Territory. Cyrus Kingsbury chose to accompany them all the way.

Cyrus Kingsbury was one of four Mayhew missionaries credited with founding the First Presbyterian Church of Columbus, Mississippi in May, 1829. The other three were Thomas Archibald, Hilary Patrick and David Wright. Mayhew missionaries served the church until 1834. David Wright became the first permanent minister after the church built a sanctuary and obtained its charter in 1844.

Other Choctaw missions in Indian Territory One source has claimed that Cyrus Kingsbury established Pine Ridge Mission in 1818, at a site north of Doaksville, and that the mission became the Choctaw Female Seminary in 1842.

Kingsbury has been credited with building the church in the Choctaw town of Boggy Depot in 1840.

Civil War and the Choctaw Missions As political unrest increased throughout the country, officials of the various missionary groups realized that Indian Territory could easily divide over the issue of slavery. Missionaries alerted their sponsors that the major tribes were already redefining their loyalties.

Honors Kingsbury was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) degree by Brown University in 1854.

Death Cyrus Kingsbury died June 27, 1870.

Legacy Cyrus Kingsbury's papers are in the Western History Collection at the University of Oklahoma library. A listing of the contents of the ten folders is available online.