Isaac McCoy week(s) #8/ Snapshots from my Library 26 Early Indian Missions- Edward Roustio (and others)

Jim Curran

Isaac McCoy week(s) #8/ Snapshots from my Library 26 Early Indian Missions- Edward Roustio (and others)

This what could be termed a compilation book- There are three different works in this volume. Each is quite different and have different focuses.The first was originally done as a dissertation presented to Central Baptist Theological Seminary in 1954 entitled “Early Indian Missions as reflected in the Unpublished Manuscripts of Isaac McCoy.” As a dissertation it is a little different from other works- relying very heavily on the manuscripts that are found in the Kansas State Historical Society. Today a cursory glance would look and assume a lot of “cut and paste” quality but nothing could be further than the truth. It extensively quotes manifold references from McCoy’s papers and letters. At the time he did this research through the original manuscripts which had at that point not been photographed or reproduced. I have read through a good portion of the manuscripts on microfilm and found the work exceedingly difficult, I can not imagine the work with the originals. McCoy’s handwriting is often very difficult to read- I have likened some portions to reading barbed wire. (His brothers have very good handwriting- I have wondered if his constant illness affected its readability at times or if he might have been left handed originally- his left hand was mangled as a child) The amount of research here is excellent and writing by the author is second to the research. The second is more of a sociological work. Entitled “Isaac McCoy: His plan of and Work for Indian Colonization” by Emory Lyons. This was published by Fort Hayes, Kansas State College. This briefer work is more of an academic article that details from a more secular sociological viewpoint. The third work is “A History of Maria Creek Church.” This is a valuable resource that applies far beyond McCoy’s work. Of course Isaac McCoy served as Maria Creek’s first pastor. Many of Christiana’s family was also in this church. As such the history is very much tied into Isaac. This too is the history of a church that was in the thick of battle between the Missionary Baptists and the Campbellites and Primitive Baptists. It shows the controversies and the battles with Daniel Parker. All of these things would directly affect McCoy and his ministry. This portion of the book is in the public domain and available separately electronically at Archive.orghttps://archive.org/details/historyofmariacr00keitThe entire book is from Particular Baptist Press and runs $35.50 https://www.pbpress.org/early-indian-missions/ My copy is an ex library withdrawn copy bought from ebay. Archive.org does have what they call a borrowable copy. You must be a registered user and you “check it out” hour by hour subject to availability. https://archive.org/details/earlyindianmissi0000rous