Sherman Coolidge (1862-1932). Runs-on-Top, later to be known as Sherman Coolidge, was born near Goose Creek, in the Wind River area of Wyoming in 1862. His parents, Big Heart (Bansada) and Turtle Woman (Ba-ahnoce) were Arapahos. In the spring of 1870, Runs-on-Top and his younger brother were taken captive during a raid on their village near Lander, Wyoming.

Runs-on-Top quickly assimilated into his new world. At the age of nine, Sherman Coolidge was baptized by the Episcopal Bishop, Reverend Southgate. He was enrolled at the Shattuck Military School in Fairbault, Minnesota, where he consistently ranked near the top of his class. In 1876, while accompanying his adopted father west during a campaign against the Sioux, Coolidge first began to consider becoming a missionary. He later enrolled in the Seabury Divinity School, near Chicago, graduating with a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1884. The same year he was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church.

Coolidge’s first church assignment took him to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Upon his arrival at the Wind River Reservation, Coolidge was re-united with his birth mother, Turtle Woman, whom he eventually persuaded to convert to Christianity. During his first years at Wind River, Coolidge worked as mediator between tribal factions of the Arapaho and Shoshone, who shared the reservation.

Coolidge left the reservation in 1887 to continue his theological studies at Hobart College in Geneva, New York and was ordained to the priesthood. He returned to the Wind River Reservation where he traveled extensively, ministering to both Indians and whites. He met Grace Wetherbe during one of his journeys and discovered they shared an interest in the ministry, After a long courtship, the couple, who had been advised against pursuing a mixed race relationship, married in 1902. They eventually had two daughters and adopted numerous Indian children as their own. Grace Coolidge and her husband worked together to serve the spiritual needs of the Wind River Community. She wrote extensively about her experiences working amongst the Indians and her collected works were published under the title Teepee Neighbors (1917).Throughout his career, Sherman Coolidge continued to work on behalf of American Indians. In 1911 he was a founding member of the Society of American Indians, the first Indian controlled rights organization and he remained a prominent figure in the society. In the 1920s the Coolidges were transferred to Colorado where they continued their ministry. Sherman Coolidge died on January 24, 1932.