Harriet Bedell
Encyclopedia
Harriet Bedell was an Episcopal deaconess and missionary to the Seminole Indians of Florida and the Alaskan native peoples. She is remembered on the Calendar of saints
Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)
The veneration of saints in the Episcopal Church is a continuation of an ancient tradition from the early Church which honors important people of the Christian faith. The usage of the term "saint" is similar to Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Those in the Anglo-Catholic tradition may...

 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with a minor feast day on January 8.

In 1906 she studied at the New York Training School for Deaconesses, after which she was sent as a missionary-teacher to the Cheyenne Indians in Oklahoma. There she cared for the sick and poor, performed religious dties, and taught women and children. In 1916, she accepted a post in Stevens Village, Alaska, 40 miles south of the Artic Circle, where she helped to form a boarding school in nearby Tanana. By 1931, the Great Depression affected funding for the school. She traveled to New York for fundraising for the school, but did not return.

While on a speaking tour, she visited a Seminole Indian reservation in Southern Florida. Concerned by their living conditions, she worked to improve their quality of life. She encouraged the tribe to revive the doll making and basket weaving skills which had become nearly extinct. She encouraged Indian women to incorporate their patchwork designs into clothing for both men and men. Sales from the arts and crafts store at Blades Cross Mission helped to provide improved income for the Mikasuki-Seminoles. She continued her ministry until 1960 when Hurricane Donna wiped out the mission.

Deaconess Bedell was one of the most popular writers in the national Episcopal mission periodical, The Spirit of Missions. While active in ministry among the Cheyenne, she was eventually adopted into the tribe and given the name “Bird Woman.”
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