Old Log Church Museum Exhibits
Catechists & Clergy
First Nations lay people within the church were often called upon to lead a congregation in the absence of an ordained minister. Sometimes it would be years before a priest would visit a community and, in the interim, these devout lay people provided day to day spiritual guidance for their community. A number of catechists went on to be ordained deacons and ministers. They were essential for the continuity of the church in remote communities. Following are brief biographies of some notable First Nation Anglicans.

A group of Anglican clergy at the Eigth Synod of the Diocese of Yukon. In the front row, from left to right, are:
Rev. A.C. McCallum, Rev. Julius Kendi, Mrs. Frances (Persis) Kendi, Rev. John Martin, and Mrs. Martin.
In the back row, from left to right, are:
Rev. H.C.M. Grant, Rev. G.A. Cross, Rev. A. Anderson, Bishop William Geddes, Rev. Richard Martin, Canon A.J. (others unidentified)
YA, Anglican Church Archives 9671
Ellen Bruce (1911 - 2010)
Ellen Bruce was the daughter of Joe Kikavichik, a catechist. She was born at Rampart House in 1911 and moved from camp to camp with her family. While her father ministered to the spiritual needs of the Vuntut Gwitchin while following the seasonal round of hunting and fishing. Her father taught her to read and conduct church services from an early age. When the family moved to Old Crow, Ellen became more deeply involved in the Church through the Women’s Auxiliary established by Persis Kendi. She moved permanently to Old Crow in 1949 and dedicated more time to the Church. After her father died in 1972, she assumed many of his responsibilities. In the early 1980s, she was licensed as a lay reader along with Edith Josie, Charlie Peter Charlie and Effie Linklater. Ellen was ordained as deacon in 1984 and, with the encouragement of Bishop Ferris, was ordained priest in 1987. She became the first First Nations woman in the north ordained in the Anglican Church.
In 1986 she received an honourary Doctor of Divinity from St. Stephen’s College (University of Alberta) and, in 1990, Dr. Rev. Ellen Bruce was awarded the Order of Canada. The citation read:
The spiritual leader of Old Crow and the North's first native woman to be ordained an Anglican minister, she has sustained and promoted the cultural integrity of the Vuntut Gwitch'in for over 50 years, helping them adapt from camp life to community life.
She was a strong and holy woman who had a powerful impact on indigenous people and non-indigenous alike. Ellen Bruce died in 2010 at the age of 98.

Reverend Ellen Bruce, Old Log Church Museum, 2001.104.1
Sarah Abel Chitze (1896 – 1998)
Sarah Abel Chitze was born near Fort Yukon and was adopted by Peter and Myra Moses at Rampart House, Yukon. Sarah and Abel Chitze had seventeen children and the family lived at Whitefish Lake. Sarah moved to Old Crow in 1950 where she became actively involved in the community and the Anglican Church. For a time she was president of the Women’s Auxiliary. She was an esteemed elder and matriarch of the community.
Reverend Joseph Ganiinzhii
(Also spelled Kunnizzi)
Joseph Ganiinzhii was living in the upper Peel River area and visiting the Hudson’s Bay Company post at Fort McPherson in the 1870s. He was a catechist by 1895, reading religious services in Takudh and teaching school. In 1898. Archdeacon McDonald posted Ganiinzhii at LaPierre House to replace the ailing Rev. John Ttssietla. Reverend Ganiinzhii was ordained a deacon in 1908 and ministered to the Northern Tutchone-speaking Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, and taught the congregation how to read the Gwich’in bible.
Geh Ts’eh (also spelled Ketse or Ketza),
Henry Venn (d. 1880)
Geh Ts’eh means Rabbit Hat. Rabbit Hats were Gwich’in leaders who excelled at hunting and took a role in portioning out meat after a successful hunt. One prominent geh ts’eh was a leader in the Jak Chyahnjik [Berry Creek] region about 60 to 80 kilometers east of Old Crow. Reverend McDonald called him Ketse and baptized him Henry Venn after a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society who believed in supporting an indigenous Christianity. McDonald relied on Christian Leader (catechist) Geh Ts’eh Henry Venn for some of his earliest translations of the bible.
Reverend Percy Henry (1927 - 2024)
Percy Henry was born on the Ogilvie River between the Wind and Hart rivers. His ancestry is Teetł’it and Takudh Gwich'in, but he grew up speaking the Hän language with his peers. He was an accomplished reader of Archdeacon McDonald’s Tukudh Bible. In the late 1970s, Percy Henry directed programs at Moosehide sponsored by the Anglican Church. He was ordained an Anglican deacon in Dawson in 1999 by Bishop Terry Buckle.

Percy Henry at Moosehide Gathering, 2002. Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in photo
Edith Josie (1924 - 2010)
Edith Josie was born in Eagle, Alaska and moved to Old Crow in 1940 at the age of 16. Edith Josie gained renown for her weekly newspaper column in the Whitehorse Star, "Here Are the News" in which she painted pictures of life in Old Crow in her own voice. A devout churchgoer, she became a lay reader. In 1995, she received the Order of Canada and, in 2000, the National Aboriginal Achievement Award for her writing and contributions to Gwich'in culture. Edith passed away in 2010.

Edith Josie, YA, Richard Harrington fonds 79/27 #247
Julius Kendi
Julius Kendi was born in the Peel River country. A dedicated church worker, he was ordained as a catechist by Bishop Stringer in 1910. Kendi was sent to many communities in the Yukon. He was instrumental in helping to establish the Anglican church at Old Village near Mayo in 1916. His wife Persis organized the first Women’s Auxiliary there. In 1918, Julius was ordained as Deacon at Moosehide near Dawson City. From there he was sent to the head of the Peel River. Over the years, he was regularly reassigned but was in Rampart House and Old Crow from 1929–41. At that time, Persis Kendi, daughter of John Ttssietla, began the Women’s Auxilliary with 35 members in a village of 200 people. The Kendis returned to Old Crow briefly in 1946. Julius Kendi passed away in Dawson City in 1948.

Persis and Julius Kendi
YA, Anglican Church of Canada, General Synod Archives fonds, 78/67, #165
Joseph Kikavichik (1880 -1972)
Joe Kikavichik, also called Joe Kaye, epitomized the importance of the First Nations catechists in the work of the Anglican Church in the North. As Reverend Exham said of him:
Missionaries have come and gone in Old Crow, but Joseph Kikavichik has carried on this important ministry through it all, for 50 years.
When Joe Kaye was a boy, he assisted his father who was also a catechist. Together they travelled to the scattered camps of the Gwich'in to hold services and minister to their spiritual needs. One of Joe’s jobs was to go from tent to tent gathering up people for the services. He eventually bought his own Bible, Prayer Book and Hymnal in the Takudh language. In recognition of his dedication and outstanding qualities, in 1918, Bishop Stringer asked Joe to carry on the services in Old Crow. It was a duty he performed for over 50 years.
Joe also ministered to the family needs of his community as chief and taught his own children to read Tukudh. One of his children, Ellen Bruce, carried on his work after he died in 1972

Joseph Kikavichik.
YA, George and Margaret Hamilton Fonds, 89/38 #25.
Effie Linklater (1915-2000)
Effie Linklater was the granddaughter of Robert McDonald. She knew from the time she was a young girl attending St. Paul’s Anglican Hostel in Dawson City that she wanted to dedicate her life to the church. She was called back to Old Crow, however, to follow a traditional life, and she married and raised a family. Through this time, she was faithful to the church and active in the Women’s Auxiliary. In 1989, she was ordained as a deacon and led services in the Old Log Church (St. Simon’s) in Whitehorse.

Left to right: Lay reader Edith Josie, Catechist Effie Linklater and the Rev. Ellen Bruce visit Mary Thomas (centre) and her son Jerome (rear).
YA, Anglican Church Coll. 94/78 #261
Reverend William Loola
William Loola was the son of a Drananjik Gwich’in (Black River country Gwich’in) shaman named Kootsurichyan. In 1869 and 1870, William was at Fort Yukon where Reverend McDonald taught him to be a Christian Leader (catechist). Loola was ordained in 1903 by Peter Trimble Rowe, the first Bishop of Alaska. William Loola was the Minister-in-charge of St. Stephen's Church in Fort Yukon from 1904 to 1918.

Willaim Loola reading at bible class, UAF 1985-72-29
Reverend John Martin
Reverend John Martin was catechist Thomas Ch’eeghwalti’s great grandson, and nephew to deacons William and Amos Njootli. John Martin married Bella Ganiinzhii of Fort McPherson. Rev. Martin was ordained as an Anglican Deacon in 1925 at Aklavik, NWT. He went to Moosehide in 1929 where his younger brother Reverend Richard Martin was living. John worked at Ross River from 1930 to 1934. He moved to Mayo in 1935, in charge of St. Mark's church at the Old Village. Rev. John Martin died with pneumonia in the Mayo hospital.
In 1988, the Mayo people held a special service and feast to mark fifty years since his death.

Mrs. and Rev. John Martin. YA, Anglican Church of Canada General Synod Archives fonds, 78/67 #164
Reverend Richard Martin
Reverend Richard Martin was catechist Thomas Ch’eeghwalti’s great grandson, nephew to deacons William and Amos Njootli, and a brother to Rev. John Martin. In the 1920s, Richard Martin was a catechist at the head of the Porcupine River and in remote regions of the Peel watershed. He was ordained as a deacon by Bishop Stringer in 1926. After an accident left him blind, Rev. Martin moved to Moosehide where he was the mainstay of the church for many years, holding services and assisting other ministers. The Richard Martin chapel is located beside St. Paul's church in Dawson.

Bishop Marsh Enthronement June 1962. L-R: Unknown, Rev. Richard Martin, Bishop Marsh, James Simon.
YA, James Y. C. Quong fonds, 2006/140 #1-1-162.
Reverend Amos Njootli (1872 – 1923)
Amos Njootli was a younger brother to Reverend William Njootli, and Amos’s wife was the adopted daughter of Reverend John Ttssietla. Amos and Joseph Ganiinzhii studied under Archdeacon McDonald and were ordained as deacons in 1908. Amos Njootli was assigned to Rampart House in 1911 and arrived at the village during the height of a smallpox epidemic. After a few years, he relocated to Old Crow and continued to preach even after the church attempted to install a white minister. Reverend Njootli was well liked, spoke Gwich'in and spent winters out on the land, holding church services for his travelling congregation. He died at Rampart House in 1923.

Back row l-r: Rev. Amos Njootli, Cecil Swanson, Sarah Stringer and Deacon Joseph Ganiinzhii. Front row l-r: Mrs. Swanson, Mrs. Davies and Rev. J.A. Davies. YA, Anglican Church of Canada General Synod Archives fonds, 78/67 #46
Reverend William Njootli (early 1860s – 1906)
William Njootli was Teetł’it Gwich’in and he studied with Archdeacon McDonald at Fort McPherson for many years. In 1894. William was a Christian Leader holding school for those learning McDonald’s syllabary. In 1901, McDonald sent William to minister to the Rat River (Dagoo) Gwich’in. Reverend Njootli was ordained by Bishop Young in 1903 and assigned to the Van Tat Gwich’in at Rampart House from 1903 to 1906. Bishop Stringer remembered William as a fluid and forceful speaker.
Reverend James Simon (d. 1977)
Sarah Simon taught her husband James to read English and he began his training for the ministry in 1927. On the Anglican Archdeacon’s recommendation, they went to the Hay River Residential School where James took Bible lessons. He was in school for two years but continued his training for the next 33 years, serving at Fort McPherson, Whitehorse, in the central Yukon, and at Old Crow. Reverend Simon was ordained an Anglican priest in 1960.

l-r: Sarah Simon, Rev. A. Privett, Rev. James Simon, Bishop Greenwood, Rev. Bullen.
Sarah Simon (1901 - 2001)
Sarah Simon supported her husband Reverend James Simon’s ministry, and she would have become an Anglican minister if that position had been available to women. Sarah first met James Simon in 1916 at St. Matthew’s Church in Fort McPherson and they both attended the Anglican school at Hay River, NWT where Sarah learned to play the church organ. She was awarded the Order of Canada for her community work and efforts to preserve the Gwitchin language. She was a Life Member of the Women’s Auxiliary in the Anglican Church.

Reverend Edward Sittichinli (1850s - 1928)
Edward Sittichinli was appointed as a Christian Leader by Archdeacon McDonald in 1896 and ordained in 1903 by Bishop Young, the same day as William Njootli. Sittichinli and his assistant Charles Tzikkyi were assigned to the Lapierre House Gwich’in from 1903 to 1906. They took over from first Geh Ts’eh Henry Venn and then Reverend John Ttssiettla. Edward Sittichinli moved to minister at Teetł'it Zheh, the Fort McPherson mission, from 1907 to 1928. Edward’s son, Rev. Jim Edward Sittichinli was in charge of the mission and All Saints Cathedral in Aklavik in the 1960s.

Edward Sittichinli and John Martin. YA Anglican Church of Canada, General Synod Archives fond, 78/67 #167
John Tizya
John Tizya was born near the Old Crow River in northern Yukon and he and his family had a camp about nine days south of Herschel Island where he taught Sunday School, bible reading, and numbers. John Tizya was a lay minister at Fort McPherson between 1901 and 1905 when the family moved to the mouth of the Crow River. They were among the first to build at the current site of Old Crow, and he held services for those passing through on their way to and from Old Crow Flats.

John Tizya and family. YA, Anglican Church of Canada General Synod Archives fonds, 78/67 #181
Albert E. Tritt (1886 - 1985)
Rev. Albert Tritt was a Neets'aii Gwich'in born in the Fort Yukon-Arctic Village region. He served in Arctic Village, Venetie, and Chalkyitsik, Alaska, from 1923 to the 1950s. Albert’s son Isaac Tritt became an Episcopal minister and remembers his father studying Archdeacon McDonald’s Gwich’in bible.

Albert Tritt at Arctic Village church, UAF 1967-48-17
Reverend John Ttssietla (~1830s - 1901)
John Ttssietla was Teetł’it Gwich’in from the Peel River and Teetł'it Zheh (Fort McPherson) area. Ttssietla was appointed a Christian Leader by Reverend Robert McDonald in the 1870s. In 1888 he was sent to Lapierre House to replace the Christian Leader Geh Ts’eh Henry Venn (Ketse) who died in 1880. Ttssietla was ordained a deacon in July 1893 by Bishop Reeve of Mackenzie. He was the first Indigenous minister to be ordained in northern Canada. Reverend Ttssietla, his wife, and thirty others died in an epidemic in the Stewart River country.
Colin Vitshikk
Colin Vitshikk was Teetł’it Gwich’in; an older brother to Reverend Edward Sittichinli. Both young students were taught by Archdeacon McDonald in the mid-1870s. Colin learned the Roman alphabet and taught himself to read. By 1888, Colin was conducting Sunday services and giving addresses in the Gwich’in language.

Colin Vitshikk at Fort McPherson. NWT, N1992.171.29
Jimmy Wood (d. 1956)
Jimmy Wood was the son of catechist Jonathan Wood who taught the day school at St. Barnabus church at Moosehide near Dawson in the early 1900s. Jimmy was sent to the Carcross residential school where he worked on the school paper, the Northern Lights. Jimmy Wood was a lay reader and catechist at Moosehide in the 1940s.

Jimmy Wood and Rev. Richard Martin (back row on the left) with the St. Barnabus choir at Moosehide, downstream from Dawson. OLCM 2004/2 #17