Thomas Woolsey left behind an important and lasting legacy-he was able to
maintain the Methodist church presence around Fort Edmonton in the face of stiff
opposition from other missionaries. In fact, the later successes of George and
John
McDougall can be traced back to the active and
expanding Methodist mission-field that they inherited from Woolsey.
Woolsey's
conversion of a number of chiefs, such as Maskepetoon and Lapotak,
not only had a calming effect on the area, but also made future
relations between Aboriginal people and the arriving settlers more amiable. He
recognized the land's
potential for agriculture and his attempts
to build a site to teach agriculture were aimed at providing a way for the
Aboriginal communities to survive despite the influx of white settlers.
Perhaps
Woolsey's greatest accomplishments were the relationships he forged with the people that he converted. The grief
at his leaving was so
strong that one young man travelled almost 1000 miles
from the Victoria Mission to Norway House to see him one last time. The
bond between this unassuming and remarkable missionary and the men and
women that he worked among was solid and emotional, and it reveals much about the character of
the man and the strength of his
mission.

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