Review of Heaven is Near the Rocky Mountains

Authors

Robin Ridington, University of British Columbia

Date of this Version

1991

Comments

Published in GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY 11:4 (Fall 1991). Copyright © 1991 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Abstract

Thomas Woolsey was a Methodist missionary in the Edmonton region between 1855 and 1864. This book is a collection of his letters and journals, edited by historian Hugh Dempsey. Woolsey seems to have been concerned more with combating his Oblate "Romish" competitors than he was in understanding the Cree, Stoney, Blackfoot, and Sarcee Indians with whom he came into contact. Woolsey was thoroughly convinced of the superiority of his Methodism over heathenism and popery alike. He seems to have been a decent and articulate person, but not a particularly engaged observer of the Indian peoples to whom he ministered.