Henry Bird Steinhauer

Sowengisik (1820–1884), later Henry Bird Steinhauer, upon adoption into a German-Canadian family, was an Ojibwe translator, missionary, clergyman of the Methodist Church, and by means of his assimilation into Western Canadian society, became of the first First Nations persons to achieve collegiate credentials at a Canadian institution.

Early life and education Steinhauer was born in Rama on Lake Simcoe in Ontario. He was born Chippewa Indian, likely named Sowengisik. He received the surname Steinhauer from a German family that adopted and educated him from a colonial perspective. Steinhauer was one of the first Indigenous Canadians to complete studies at a collegiate institute, graduating top of his class at Upper Canada Academy in Cobourg, Ontario. He was enrolled at UCA by Egerton Ryerson in 1835, completing his studies in 1839 after a one-year hiatus for missionary work at Alderville.

Career Steinhauer had an impressive ability for languages: Ojibwe, English, Cree, Greek, and Hebrew. He was employed by Principal Matthew Richey to proofread his literary work, possessing a greater skill for English grammar than his English-born peers. He assisted Evans in inventing and perfecting the Cree syllabic characters, in which nearly all Indigenous languages of Western Canada are written in today. He also translated into Cree the Old Testament from the book of Job to the end of the lesser prophets, and most of the New Testament.

He was ordained a minister in 1855, living at Whitefish Lake where he remained for the rest of his life. In 1875, due to an increase in immigration in the area, he began to assert his First Nations heritage more strongly. He withdrew from the missionary society he belonged to—the Missionary Society of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada—though he continued with the religion and his own missionary work.