A.E.W. Robertson - Leecy Barnett

A.E.W. ROBERTSON

POWER POINTS: GOD AT WORK THROUGH WOMEN LEADERS YESTERDAY AND TODAY

written by Leecy Barnett

“I have just had the crowning joy of my life, in receiving the Muskokee New Testament entire.”1 When Ann Eliza Worcester Robertson wrote this she was hardly exaggerating. Her whole life had been dedicated to serving God among Native American tribes. As a girl of twelve she accompanied her parents as they went west along the “Trail of Tears”2 with the Cherokee Nation, among whom they ministered as missionaries.

As a young woman, Ann taught at the Cherokee mission school before marrying her husband, William Schenck Robertson, a fellow missionary and teacher among the Creek, or Muskokee, tribe. For the next 55 years until her death, she served at the Tullahassee Creek Mission. Her early years there were taken up with raising four children, teaching in the school, and becoming proficient in the Creek language.

After her husband died, Ann concentrated all her energy on translation work. She wrote on October 15, 1880, “My work on translating has now had a longer rest than usual but I have begun on it again; today determined to translate at least a few verses each day.”3 Working diligently, by 1887 her New Testament was complete. She went on to translate Genesis and the Psalms as well.

Chances are you’ve never heard of A. E. W. Robertson. Her name, and the names of hundreds and hundreds of women who dedicate their lives to bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to the Native American tribes during the 19th century, have been lost to history. But “..God is not unjust. He [did] not forget how hard [they] have worked for Him and how [they] have shown [their] love to Him by caring for other believers…”(Hebrews 6:10, NLT) Like many of these women, Ann bore “fruit that remained” (John 15:16, NASB).

In 2011, The Native American Times told the story of Steve Randall, a Muscogee Creek from Shawnee, Oklahoma who has a passion to reach his people with the gospel. Although he spoke Creek as a boy, he had forgotten most of it by adulthood. In church one day, “The minister was bringing the morning message and I saw the young man following him in a Muscogee language bible. I thought if that young man had the desire to follow the message in the Creek language, then there’s a need for a Creek bible,”4 Randall said. So he began a project to update and reprint Ann Robertson’s Creek New Testament. Now, the descendants of those she taught 150 years ago are benefitting from Ann’s endeavors once again.

So don’t be discouraged if no one knows your name, if you think you have done nothing significant with your life. Anything you do for God will be remembered by Him; Jesus promised, “And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of My followers, you will surely be rewarded.” (Matthew 10:42, NLT)

1 Women’s Work for Women, Volume II, (1887). New York: Woman’s Foreign Missionary Societies of the Presbyterian Church, p. 172.

2 The “Trail of Tears” was the name given to the forced removal of the five civilized tribes from the then United States to the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. Thousands of Native Americans died en route.

3 American Indian Correspondence: The Presbyterian Historical Society Collection of Missionary Letters 1833-1893, E. 294,

4 Shade, K,. (2011, December 12). From Greek to Creek: Man publishes Mvskoke language Bible. Native American Times. https://www.nativetimes.com/life/people/6516-from-greekto-creek-man-publishes-mvskoke-language-bible