Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-64) was born in New York and moved to the
west in 1818.  He became an Indian agent in 1822, and was later promoted
to acting superintendent of Indian affairs for Michigan.  He married Jane
Johnston, who was half Ojibwa, and de veloped a keen interest in Indian
culture, inspiring him to found the Algic Society, whose aim was to
Christianize and "civilize" the Indians.  In 1841, he moved to New York
City, where he earned his living writing popular books on the Indians.  In
1845, Schoolcraft gained a commission to take a census of the New York
Indians, a post which resulted in his Notes on the Iroquois (1846). 
Between 1849 and 1857, under federal sponsorship, he put together a
six-volume work on the Indian tribes of the United St ates.  In all his
efforts, Schoolcraft held firmly to the view that only through Christian
salvation and assimilation could the Indians escape extinction.