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Seneca Mission was a former Christian mission originally located on the Buffalo Creek Reservation in south Buffalo, New York. The church grounds were desecrated by City of Buffalo contractors both in the late 19th century and in 2009. ==History== As the Senecas were forced into selling most of their vast lands in Western New York, the Buffalo Creek Reservation was formed in 1797, southeast of what was then the small village of Buffalo. In the early 19th century, the New York Missionary Society established a school, and later a church, known as the Seneca Mission on this reservation.〔(Western New York Heritage, Fall 2005, Volume 8 Number 3 )〕 Another missionary organization, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, took over the mission in 1826. The church building, finally built that same year with the help of the Senecas, was situated on Indian Church Road, in what is now South Buffalo.〔 As was common for rural churches at the time, the church yard (330 feet by 330 feet)〔F.W. Beers & Co. -- Cartographer Atlases of the United States -New York -Illustrated historical atlas of Erie County, New York from actual survey and records. Plate 48, and 49 copyright 1880〕 provided ample space for the burial of Senecas who converted to Christianity. The Reverends Harris and Wright, heads of the mission, would have encouraged church members to be buried in the consecrated grounds next to the church instead of the ancient native burial grounds located at Seneca Indian Park. The exact location of the church and grounds can be determined to have been in the middle of present day Indian Church Road, between Galloway and Junior Streets. A square plot of land was procured by the missionary group for the express purpose of providing a sanctuary for the actual church building and grounds. The location of these church grounds can be found on the Erie County Atlases of 1866, 1872, and 1880, and from the City of Buffalo map of 1886.〔〔City of Buffalo map - circa 1886 - Matthews, Northrup and Co., Buffalo, New York, publisher〕 After the Senecas moved from the Buffalo Creek Reservation in 1846 the church building slowly fell into disrepair. The church grounds, however, were said to still have been owned by the missionaries until the late 1890s. During this time, it is likely some of the area's white residents used these same consecrated grounds for burials. A Buffalo cemetery known as the Reservation Cemetery was said to have been used for burials until 1889. There was also a cemetery known as Braves' Rest.〔(City of Buffalo Cemeteries, Erie County, New York )〕 One of these cemeteries was also known as the Mission Church cemetery. Christian burials could have occurred there, as the grounds were properly consecrated. Uncertainty exists as to whether the old Native American Cemetery at Buffum Street and Fields Avenue was ever officially consecrated. By 1880, an atlas shows the current Indian Church Road encroaching into the burial grounds, with dashed lines on either side of the road boundary as it runs over the church yard. In an article〔History of Wyoming County, N.Y. : with illustrations, biographical sketches, and portraits of some pioneers and prominent residents.. New York: F.W. Beers, 1880.〕 about the life of Mary Jemison, the following was given as one of the main reasons for her body to be disinterred from her burial place and moved to her final resting place at what is now Letchworth State Park:
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