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OTTAWA.
"THE Ottawas originally
dwelt on the River St. Lawrence, but they afterwards removed to Michigan,
where they now possess five small reservations, collectively comprising about
66,560 acres. The
population amounts to 760. The Ottawas are intimately connected with
the Chippewas, whom
they
so closely resemble in language, customs, and manners, that they were
considered by the earlier
mies. to be one and the same people.
The first book printed in this language contained the Lord's Prayer and the Ten
Commandments,
with a few hymns, translated by Mr. and Mrs. Van Tassel, of the American
Board of Missions: it was
printed, with some spelling-lessons, at Hudson, Ohio, in 1829. Some years afterwards the Gospels of
St. Matthew and St. John were translated by Jonathan Meeker; and the Ottawa
text was compared
with the Greek by the Rev. Francis
Barker, A. M. An edition of these Gospels was issued from the
Shawnee Baptist Mission-press in
1841. It does not appear that any further editions have been
published. At most of the mission-stations the Ottawas, in common with
other Indian nations, are
instructed in the English language, and
taught to read the
English version, which is
probably the
cause of the limited demand for their vernacular Scriptures."--The
Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition) Samuel Bagster [Info
only]
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