Elias Boudinot (Cherokee) - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Gallegina was born in 1802 into a leading Cherokee family in present-day Georgia, the eldest son of nine children of Uwati and Susanna Reese, who was of mixed Cherokee and European ancestry. When Uwati accepted Christianity, he took the name of David Uwatie (later he dropped the "u" from his name.) Gallegina's younger brothers were Isaac, better known as Stand Watie, who served with the Confederate Army during the American Civil War and served as Principal Chief (1862-1866); and Thomas Watie. They were the nephews of Major Ridge and cousins of John Ridge.

Gallegina Watie, the Ridges, John Ross, and Charles R. Hicks and his son Elijah Hicks, came to form the ruling elite of the Cherokee Nation in the early nineteenth century. All were of mixed race and had some European-American education, to prepare them to deal with the United States and its representatives.

Gallegina's Christian education began in 1808, at the age of 6, when he studied at the local Moravian missionary school. In 1812 he joined the Spring Place school, in what is now Murray County. Around this time, Cherokee leaders were petitioning the government for aid to educate their children as they wanted to adopt aspects of white civilization.

Elias Cornelius, an agent from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), came to the community and served as a benefactor for education. In 1817 the ABCFM opened the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut for educating promising students from American Indian cultures. In 1818 Cornelius selected Gallegina Watie and a few others to go to the Foreign Mission School. On the way, they were introduced to the Virginia statesmen Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe.

In Burlington, New Jersey, the young men met Elias Boudinot, president of the American Bible Society and a former member and president of the Second Continental Congress. He and Watie impressed each other. Watie asked Boudinot for permission to use his name, which he gave. When enrolled at the Foreign Mission School, Watie started using the name Elias Boudinot, which he kept for the rest of his life.

In 1820, Boudinot officially converted to Christianity, attracted to its message of universal love. His Christian belief informed his work with the Cherokee Nation. In 1824 he collaborated with others in translating the New Testament into Cherokee and having it printed in the syllabary created by Sequoyah.