Introduction

Countless stories have been written about Mathias Splitlog. Very few of those stories contained information that had been researched and proven to be historically correct. The congregation of Cayuga-Splitlog Mission gratefully acknowledge the contribution, of documented information, provided by the descendants of Mathias and Eliza Splitlog. Nancy Nuckolls Brown, Jane Neel May, Sarah Splitlog, Allison Bishop Watson, Pam Yeager and author Frankie Meyer.

Cayuga-Splitlog Mission

Mathias Splitlog was born in 1821 on the Wyandotte Reserve on the east side of the Detroit River in Ontario, Canada. Mathias was the son of Thomas Mathias Splitlog (Chief of the Wyandottes on the east side of the Detroit River) and Catherine Jameson (of the Cayuga Tribe). Forced Removal of the Wyandottes led the Splitlog family to Ohio and eventually to the New Indian Territory in Kansas.

Born in 1829, Eliza Charloe Barnett was the fourth child born to John Barnett and Hanna Charloe Barnett in Sandusky, Ohio. Eliza was the great niece of Chief Henry Jacques, who was the last Principal Chief of the Wyandotte Tribe in Ohio, before the tribe was removed to the New Indian Territory, Kansas. Eliza’s father, John Barnett, had died at Sandusky, Ohio. Eliza, her mother and siblings moved to Indian Territory, Kansas in 1843.

Mathias and Eliza were married in 1847. They lived a traditional Northeastern Indian life. He ran the businesses, and she was in charge of the farm and family. The Splitlogs became wealthy in many ways. Mathias built and operated a gristmill and sawmill on their farm, and he took large contracts to cut wood. Mathis also built and operated a steamboat for a local man who did business up and down the river.

When the Wyandotte Tribe signed a new treaty that gave title of Kansas land to tribal members, Mathias and Eliza began selling pieces of their farm to churches, Individuals, land developers, railroads and other companies. The Splitlogs moved from Kansas to land owned by the Seneca-Cayuga Tribes (Indian Territory, Oklahoma in Delaware County). They established a farm in an area that would become Cayuga Springs, a town developed by Mathias. The thriving community had a post office, general store, buggy factory, sawmill and many homes. Before the church was built, Father William Ketchum held mass in the general store.

Limestone quarried near the Splitlog farm was used to build the church. Construction began in 1893. The first service held in the unfinished church was the funeral of Eliza Splitlog who died September 23, 1894. Two months later, Sarah Splitlog Evans (oldest daughter of Mathias and Eliza Splitlog) was buried next to her mother.

The completed church was dedicated on November 25, 1896, as St. Mathias Catholic Church. A hugh crowd, that included dignitaries from the Catholic Church, witnessed the dedication and blessing of the bell. Nineteen years after the death of Mathias Splitlog (January 1, 1897), the church and cemetery were deeded to the Catholic Church by the Splitlog grandchildren.

By 1930, the church had been sold to the Cayuga Methodist Episcopal Church South. Original furnishings, including the altar and bell, were taken to St. Catherines’s Catholic Church, in Nowata, Oklahoma. Between 1930 and 1953 the church was heavily vandalized. Original stained-glass windows were destroyed. The church received extensive damage from explosions by thieves, who were seeking the elusive fortune supposedly hidden in the church.

R.A. Sellers Sr. purchased the church and adjacent cemetery from the Methodist Church. Using his own resources, R.A. Sellers Sr. restored the church. Working with Grover Splitlog (A grandson of Mathias Splitlog), R.A. Sellers Sr. negotiated with St. Catherine’s Catholic Church to return the original bell. The bell was returned, accompanied by the original altar. On October 16, 1972, Splitlog Church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

In 1998, the Lake Ministry discontinued their weekly services at the church. Three couples, who had been attending those services, made arrangements with the owners to “keep the church doors open.” May 24, 1998, twelve people attended their first service and by HIS WILL the doors are still open.