Harriet Bedell

Harriet Bedell (March 19, 1875 – January 8, 1969) was an Episcopal deaconess and missionary to the Cheyenne in Oklahoma, Alaska Natives (spending 15 years at a missionary school), and the Seminole of Florida. She is remembered on the calendar of saints of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America on January 8.

Early life and education

Harriet Bedell was born in Buffalo, New York, to a prominent local family (an uncle was a prominent hotelier). She went to local public schools and became a schoolteacher. In the early 1900s, she was inspired by preaching about vocations to imperial China and learned about the need for missionaries among the Native Americans. In 1906 Bedell studied at St. Faith's Training School for Deaconesses—begun in 1891 and renamed the New York Training School for Deaconesses in 1908—learning a range of topics from nutrition and hygiene to medicine and theology.

Career

Upon completing her training, Bedell went to Oklahoma to become a missionary-teacher to the Cheyenne, since her mother balked at the prospect of an overseas posting. Thus, at the Whirlwind Mission (which had opened in 1897 and was named after a friendly chief), Bedell worked with deacon David Pendleton Oakerhater, a Cheyenne himself, and cared for the sick and poor while performing religious services and teaching women and children. During her 10-year ministry among the Cheyenne, Bedell learned to appreciate their culture, and was adopted into the tribe and given the name Vicsehia, meaning "Bird Woman." However, she developed tuberculosis and was sent to Colorado to recover.