Mission to Metlakatla

About the Book

In 1857, British William Duncan, age 25, became a British Lay-Missionary to civilize the savage Tsimshian Indian tribe near Fort Simpson, northernmost trading post in coastal British Columbia. Learning their complex language from a young Indian; becoming friends, he met Chief Legaic, who supported Duncan starting a school. Gaining a following, he developed the Christian mission called Metlakatla. Later, the British forced claim to their ancestral lands. Duncan appealed to U.S. Congress who voted them free land on Annette Island in American Alaska Territory. Migrating by huge canoes, they began again, building a modern community and church of no denomination.

About the Author

Moving to Ketchikan, Alaska (still a territory) with her mother in 1944, Elaine (Magnuson) Wentworth, age 20, was employed by the Army Signal Corps as a teletype & radio-phone operator for the war’s duration. Forever fascinated by visits to the Tsimshian Indian Village of Metlakatla on Annette Island, she years later wrote & illustrated their dramatic story, first published in 1968.