John Henry Keen: Difference between revisions

| birth_place = England

'''John Henry Keen''' (1851–1950) was an Anglican missionary in Canada, known for translating [[scriptures]] into [[Haida language|Haida]]. While serving as a missionary, he also contributed to Canada's [[natural history]], writing on insects he discovered; he had a species of mouse and bat named after him.

John Henry Keen was born in England in 1851; he graduated from a [[Bible college]] in Islington in 1873.<ref name="keenbio">{{cite journal|last=Hatch|first=Melville H.|title=A Biographical Memoir of Rev. Keen|journal=The Coleopterists Bulletin |date=Autumn 1957 |volume=XI |pages=62–64 |jstor=3999009}}</ref> In 1874 he was sent by the [[Bishop of London]] as a missionary at [[Moose Factory, Ontario|Moose Fort]] in Ontario. He was ordained by [[John Horden]], [[Anglican Diocese of Moosonee|Bishop of Moosonee]] in 1877.

From 1882 to 1889, he was in London, where he was first a curate at [[Spitalfields]] and later in [[Islington]]. In 1890, he left again for Canada where he was based at the northern end of [[Graham Island]] in British Columbia. He lived at a village called [[Masset, British Columbia |Massett]] where several families would share a [[longhouse]] which typically had totem poles outside.

Whilst in Canada Keen translated the ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]'' into [[Haida people|Haida]]; he later translated the gospels of [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] and [[Gospel of John|John]] and the [[Acts of the Apostles]].<ref name="keenbio"/>

In Masset, Keen took an interest in [[natural history]]. In 1891, he published his first paper on local beetles (''Some British Columbian Coleoptera'') and sent off 46 samples for identification to the [[British Museum]].<ref name="keenbio"/> In 1894 he first described the [[Northwestern deer mouse]], which was named Keen's Mousemouse, or ''Peromyscus keeni'', in his honour.<ref name="bo">{{cite book|last=Beolens et al|first=Bo|title=The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals |year=2009 |publisher=JHU Press|page=220|isbn=9780801895333|url=httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=I-kSmWLc6vYC&lpg=PA220&ots=WonmyES52o&dqq=rev%20john%20henry%20keen+john+henry+keen&pg=PA220#v=onepage&q=rev%20john%20henry%20keen&f|display-authors=falseetal}}</ref> He was also the first to scientifically describeddescribe a type of brown mouse eared bat. This animal is now called [[Keen's myotis]] (''Myotis keenii Trouessart'').<ref name="myotis">{{cite web|title=Keen's myotis|url=http://www.esf.edu/aec/adks/mammals/Keens_myotis.htm|publisher=State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry|accessdate=7 November 2010}}</ref> In 1896 he also found the first type specimen of what is now known to be a sub-species of [[Northernnorthern Sawsaw-whet Owlowl]].

Keen returned on leave in 1898 and his translated prayer book was published in 1899 in London by the [[Missionary Society]].<ref name="bo"/> The book went out of print as thea peopleresult itof wasits intended to be read by, wereaudience dying out. It is estimated that before the Europeans arrived, there were 10,000 people who spoke Haida. By 1900, there were about 700.<ref>[http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Haida/index.html The Book of Common Prayer in Haida], Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, 1899, accessed 16 November 2010,</ref> There were thought to be only about 30 people in 1999 who spoke the Haida language,<ref name="ANL">{{cite web | title=Alaska Native Language Population and Speaker Statistics | date=1 January 1999 | url =http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/stats.html | accessdate=7 November 2010}}</ref>

In the 1890s there were visits from the English [[Charles F. Newcombe]], [[George Amos Dorsey]] from Chicago and a Scottish guide named [[James Deans]]. These people were travelling to gather artefacts that might be of ethnographic interest. Their methods varied, but they frequently held little regard for the native Canadians. Keen had to angrily take them to task after he travelled to confirm for himself that visitors had not only raided graves but also not restored them to there former state. Keen found hair and coffins strewn about from where they had dug to steal skulls and bones. Keen wrote to complain about the desecration and challenged Dean to name his accomplices although he was clear that the benefactor of their work was the [[Field Columbian Museum]] and that the perpetrators were Americans. George Dorsey was known for his haste in finding artefacts was told of Keen's letter to the "''[[Times Colonist|Daily Colonist]]'' and he argued that Keen's anger should be ignored.<ref name="cole">{{cite book |last=Cole |first=John |title=Captured heritage: the scramble for Northwest Coast artifacts p175|year=1995|publisher=UBC Press |isbn=9780774805377 |url= httphttps://books.google.co.ukcom/books?id=yLDtoIuA75IC&lpgq=PA175&dq=%22rev.%20j.h.keen%22&pg=PA170#v=onepage&q=keen&f=false}}</ref>

The [[British Museum]] bought a number of artefacts from Keen, including a model of a house and an attached [[totem pole]] which had been carved by John Gwaytihl.<ref name="model">{{cite web |title=Totem-pole / model building/structure / model|url=httphttps://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=532655&partid=1&output=People%2f!!%2fOR%2f!!%2f38444%2f!%2f38444-3-17%2f!%2fPurchased+from+Rev+John+Henry+Keen%2f!%2f%2f!!%2f%2f!!!%2f&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database%2fadvanced_search.aspx&currentPage=5&numpages=10|publisher=British Museum|accessdate=7 November 2010}}</ref> The museum also bought another 44 objects and received a description of the story that the totem pole was intended to tell. By coincidence the museum acquired a complete 39-foot-high totem pole that differed only slightly from the model in 1903.<ref name="bm">{{cite web|title=Totem-pole |url=httphttps://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=531847&partid=1&searchText=totem&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&numpages=10&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&currentPage=14| publisher= British Museum|accessdate=8 November 2010}}</ref> The museum now not only has the pole but it has a description of its significance and symbols.<ref name="joyce">{{cite journal|last=Joyce R.A. |first=T.A.|title=A Totem Pole in the British Museum|journal=The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland|year=1903|volume=33|pages=90-90–|doi=10.2307/2842995|jstor=2842995}}</ref> The museum bought the pole from Charles Frederick Newcombe.<ref name="bm"/>

Keen returned to Canada again in 1899, but this time he was based at [[Metlakatla, British Columbia|Metlakatla]], where he stayed until 1913.<ref name="bo"/>

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[[Category:English Anglican missionaries]]