A service of celebration for 200 years of The Episcopal Church  in Wisconsin was held Saturday, October 29 at the Church of the Holy Apostles,  Oneida, Wisconsin.  The eucharistic service included historical presentations, greetings from the Presiding Bishop and Oneida Tribe, sermon by Bishop Jeff Lee, and an offering of the Te Deum in the Oneida Language. An offering of $1,285 was received with half to our companion diocese of Masvingo and half to the Oneida Emergency Food Pantry.

It was 1822 when The Episcopal Church officially entered what would become Wisconsin. It arrived with members of the Oneida tribe who took up residence near Duck Creek, near Green Bay, following removal from their New York homelands. Some were members of an Episcopal mission in New York. The Oneida continued worshipping in the Episcopal tradition on land which now is home to Holy Apostles Episcopal Church.

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History Tidbits

• "If we are disposed in mind to make pious pilgrimages to cradles and graves, we would not go amiss if some time we turn our feet towards the blue waters of Green Bay, for there is the cradle of the Church in Wisconsin."   - The Rev. Jackson Kemper who in 1834 visited the Green Bay area.
• August 7, 1838 - Missionary Bishop Jackson Kemper laid the cornerstone of a wooden frame church building for the Oneidas, Hobart Church. The following year it was consecrated and William Adams and James Lloyd Breck, founders of Nashotah House, were ordained to the priesthood.
• June 24, 1847 - Oneida Chief Daniel Bread (Tay-ka-wia-ti-on) was seated in the place of honor at the Primary Council of the Diocese of Wisconsin.

Recommended Reading

• Learn more about the relationship between The Episcopal Church and the Wisconsin Oneidas with the book The Wisconsin Oneidas and the Episcopal Church: A Chain Linking Two Traditions, edited by L. Gordon McLester III, Laurence M. Hauptman, Judy Cornelius-Hawk and Kenneth Hoyan House, Indiana University Press, 2019.
• Read about the history of the Diocese of Milwaukee through 1947 here.
• Read about the history of the Diocese of Fond du Lac through 1925 here.
• Read about the history of the Diocese of Eau Claire through 1978 here.