by Emmet Starr, 1917 1, 2
In July 1820, Reverends Cephas Washburn and Alfred Finney, accompanied by James Orr and Jacob Hitchcock, arrived in the “Western” Cherokee Nation, Arkansas Territory. Shortly afterwards they established Dwight Mission, on the west bank of Illinois Creek, four miles from Arkansas River. It was named in honor of Reverend Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College and the first signatory member of the American Board.
By the 1st of October, 1820, they had erected two ” comfortable cabins,” and soon afterwards Washburn and Finney returned to Elliott Mission, in Mississippi, for their families. They returned to Dwight on May 10, 1821.
They immediately commenced the erection of the school building, but before they finished it they ran out of nails and had to go to Union Mission ( now in Mayes County, Oklahoma, over two hundred miles distance ) to borrow enough to complete the building. The building was completed and school commenced on January 1, 1822.
In January, 1826, the following missionaries were at Dwight: Reverends Cephas Washburn and Alfred Finney, missionaries; Dr. George L. Weed, who afterwards moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, physician and teacher; Jacob Hitchcock, steward; Miss Cynthia Thrall, charge of school; Miss Ellen Stetson, teacher; James Orr, farmer; Samuel Wisner and Asa Hitchcock, mechanics.
Reverend and Mrs. Worcester Willey arrived at Dwight on January 31, 1826.
The “ Western Cherokees ” exchanged their land in Arkansas for land west of that territory, on May 6, 1828, and by the succeeding spring practically the entire Nation had moved to their new possession.
For that reason it became incumbent on the missionaries to also remove to the western territory. The entire missionary establishment of Dwight Mission was moved to and located on the site of Nicksville, the late county seat of Lovely County, Arkansas, in 1828 ( on the west side of Sallisaw Creek, section 34, township 13, range 23, in the present county of Sequoyah, Oklahoma).
Reverend Daniel Sabin Buttrick arrived at Dwight in March, 1839.
Reverend William Potter, Dr. Elizur Butler and Miss Ermina Nash arrived at Dwight on June 10, 1839. Miss Nash was married at this mission on April 3, 1841, to Reverend Samuel A. Worcester.
Mrs. Alfred Finney, nee Susannah Washburn, a native of Randolph, Vermont, died at Dwight in January 1833.
Dwight Mission has survived, with varying fortunes, to the present time.
- Starr, Emmet. Early History of the Cherokees Embracing Aboriginal Customs, Religion, Laws, Folk Lore, and Civilization. Emmet Starr, 1917. Accessed December 31, 2021.
- Cherokee historian, genealogist, and physician, Emmet Starr was born on December 12, 1870, in present Adair County, Oklahoma, the former Going Snake District, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory. He was one of five children born to mixed-blood Cherokees Walter Adair and Ruth A. Thornton Starr—Oklahoma Historical Society