Catharine Brown (c. 1800 – July 18, 1823) was a Cherokee woman and missionary teacher at Brainerd Mission School. She was the mission’s first Cherokee convert to Christianity and the first Native American woman to see many of her writings extensively published in her lifetime. Early life Catharine Brown was born around 1800 to John Brown, in Cherokee known as Yau-nu-gung-yah-ski, and Sarah Webber Brown, in Cherokee Tsa-luh, about 25 miles south east of the Tennessee River at a place known to the Cherokee as Tsu-sau-ya-sah; at that time, it was part of Cherokee Indian territory, but now forms part of the Wills-valley in the State of Alabama between the Raccoon and Lookout mountains. Her parents were prosperous, her father being one of the "headmen" for the Creek-Path Cherokee community, but had no understanding of the English language despite being considered among the most intellectual class of Cherokee within their nation. Brainerd Mission School In the autumn of 1816, Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury, a missionary, appeared before the general Council of the Cherokees and requested permission to build schools for them. The request was well received and Kingsbury established the first Board among the Cherokees before moving on to the Choctaw Nation. The Board convened and selected the place for the first school known as Chick-a-mau-gah. The school was later named Brainerd, in memory of David Brainerd, a renowned missionary to the American Indians at that time. The following spring, Moody Hall and Loring S. Williams arrived at the school, with their wives, as assistant missionaries and soon after the school was opened. The news spread throughout the Cherokee Nation quickly and reached Catharine living about 100 miles away. Catharine was seventeen at the time and had learned to speak English while living at the home of a Cherokee friend. She asked her parents to send her to the missionary school and they granted her request. On July 9, 1817, Catharine became a student at Brainerd Mission School. Considered both beautiful and docile, Catharine made rapid progress. In the first three months she learnt to read and write in English. This had exceeded the progress of anyone known at the time in this or any other country. Catharine became passionate about all that she learned and then around January 1818 she converted to Christianity and was baptized by the missionaries of the Board. Women of the mission For Catharine the community