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People and organizations
Mount Elgin Day School
Corporate body · 1946-1992

The Mount Elgin Day School was located near the River Thames on the Caradoc Reserve, near the town of Muncey, Ontario. It was operated by The United Church of Canada. The day school was opened after the closure of the Mount Elgin Residential School in 1946, and operated until 1992.

Corporate body · 1851–1862, 1867–1946

Mount Elgin Residential School was located on what is now the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, No. 42, in Muncey, 32 kilometres southwest of London, Ontario.  The land occupied by the school also bordered on the Oneida Nation of the Thames reserve from which it leased land.   With support from the Department of Indian Affairs, the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society operated the school from 1851-1862, and 1867-1874. In 1874 The Methodist Church of Canada took over operations. Then, in 1925 The United Church of Canada took over ownership until its closure in 1946.

Oneida Day School
Corporate body · September 1, 1938-September 1, 1968

Oneida Day School was located in the township of Delaware, Middlesex County, Ontario. It was operated by the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada, after 1874 The Methodist Church of Canada and after 1925, The United Church of Canada. Wesleyan Methodist records from 1842 show there was a new day school for the Oneidas (part of the Six Nations at Grand River), and about 25 children were enrolled. During 1848-1849, the missionary noted that the Oneida Day School averaged around 33 children. Department of Indian Affairs records show a school at the “Oneidas on the Thames” in 1864 with a teacher paid for by the Wesleyan Missionary Board Fund. By 1874, the commissioner reported that there were now two or three schools “among the Oneidas being taught by native teachers of the bands.” At least one of these schools was supervised by the Wesleyan Methodist Church, while the Anglican Church managed the other(s). In 1878, one of the schools was moved to a new, frame schoolhouse, while a second schoolhouse was under construction. In 1882, a third schoolhouse on the Oneida Indian Reserve [now Oneida 41] was built and furnished by the band for children who could not conveniently attend the other two schools. In 1886, the Indian agent reported on School No. 1 at Oneida, which was “under the care of the resident Methodist missionary.” By 1887, Department ‘Statement of Day Schools’ records identified two Methodist-run day schools on the Oneida Reserve. The schools were referred to as “Oneida, No. 1,” and “Oneida, No. 3." Both schools had an average attendance of around 20 children and were funded by the “Indian School Fund” and the Methodist Missionary Society. In 1899, one of the three schools at Oneida closed and children were divided among the two remaining (this may have been The Methodist “No. 1 School” as 1899 is the last year it appears in ‘Statement of Day Schools’ records.) For the next decade the school was open but closed a few times due to various epidemics, and one of the schools' being used as a temporarily hospital. In 1912 the No. 3 School was being held in a new, brick building with a basement, furnace and teachers’ room. Thirty children attended the school. The Oneida Day School No. 3 was open during the 1920s and 30s with an average attendance of 20-30 children. Church records indicate that as of around 1967, there was still a school referred to as “Oneida No. 3” operating on the reserve, though Government records indicate all of the Oneida schools closed in 1968. Government records indicate The United Church of Canada was affiliated with Oneida No. 2 Day School, though there is little information about the school. Additional research is needed to learn more about the operation of the school(s) and their general history.