Cyrus Byington | |
|---|---|
 Rev. Cyrus Byington | |
| Born | March 11, 1793 |
| Died | December 31, 1868 (age 75) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Minister, linguist |
| Employer | American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions |
| Spouse | Sophia Byington (nee Nye) |
| Children | 3 |
Cyrus Byington (March 11, 1793 – December 31, 1868) was a Christian missionary from Massachusetts who began working with the Choctaw in Mississippi in 1821. Although he had been trained as a lawyer, he abandoned law as a career and became a minister affiliated with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. During this period he learned the Choctaw language, which was then entirely unwritten. He also began to develop a Choctaw orthography.[1]
After the U.S. government began enforcing its Indian Removal policy to relocate Native Americans from their lands in the Southeastern states to Indian Territory, later called Oklahoma, during the 19th century, in 1835, Byington and his family returned to the new Choctaw homeland and founded a mission near Eagletown. [a] He sought to construct a lexicon and develop other linguistic tools for the Choctaw language to translate Christian prayers, hymns, and bible passages. Byington's work is considered one of the most complete lexicons for a Native American language. He worked nearly 50 years translating Choctaw as a written language.[1]
- ^ a b Coleman, Louis."Byington, Cyrus (1793-1868). Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Accessed April 13, 2018.
- ^ Louis. "Eagletown." Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Accessed April 14, 2018.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).