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DURRETT COLLECTION
the Growth of the Church In the mis-
sionary jurisdiction of South DaKota,
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3une, J!. D.
tbe firowtft of tbe Clwcft in tbe mis-
sionary Jurisdiction of South Dakota,
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Cbc IttitcDell Printing Companv,
mitcbtll, South Dahota.
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Published by
Order of the Convocation,
September J\. D.
NOTE. Copies of this Pamphlet can be obtained from the
Registrar, the Rev. W. J. Wicks, Springfield, South Da=
* " - - ".-".
kota, by remitting two cents in postage stamps for each
s*
Pamphlet.
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CONTENTS.
I. Annual Address of the Right Reverend William Hobart Hare.S. T. D .
at the Convocation held at Aberdeen, South Dakota, September
14-th and I5th, A. D. 1898.
II. Historical Sketch of the Growth of the Church in the White Field of
South Dakota.
. The Rev'd John'H. Babcock.
III. Historical Sketch of the Growth of the Church in the Indian Field of
South Dakota.
The Rev'd Joseph W. Cook.
IV. Commemoration Sermon of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Be-
ginning of Bishop Hare's Work in South Dakota.
The Right Reverend Mahlon N. Gilbert, D. D.,
Bishop Coadjutor of Minnesota.
V. Addendum.
THE BISHOPS ANNUAL ADDRESS.
DEAR BRETHREN OF THE CLERGY AND LAITY:
Our field of work is so extended and so diverse in its elements, em-
bracing, as it does, work both among the white people and the Indians,
that it is only once in three years that representatives of all the field can
be gotten together in Convocation and take counsel together for the ad-
vancement of the cause committed to our trust.. This, therefore, is a Con-
vocation of more than ordinary significance. It is always a pleasure and
an inspiration to meet each other and to mingle in thought and feeling. I
trust that a more than ordinary blessing from the good Spirit may be
vouchsafed to this gathering, and in this confidence I salute you.
REMOVALS BY DEATH.
The Church in South Dakota has been singularly afflicted during the
past year in the removal by death of two of its most prominent laymen,
namely, Thomas H. Campbell of Huron, and Hugh J. Campbell of Yank-
ton. Both of them were communicants of the Church; both of them
Wardens of their respective congregations; both of them members of the
Chapter of the Cathedral; both of them personal friends of mine, whose
companionship and counsel I often sought, and in whose companionship
and counsel I found both pleasure and profit. They gave of their ser-
vices without stint as members and as officers of their respective congrega-
tions, and I earnestly pray that, though their -personal presence has been
taken from us, their example may remain a living power.
DELEGATES TO THE GENERAL CONVENTION.
The General Convention will assemble in Washington, D. C. Wednes-
day, October 5th.
A standing order of the House of Deputies reads as follows:
Resolved, That one clerical and one lay delegate, to be chosen by any
convocation of all the clergy and representatives of the laity, convoked
by the authority of the Bishop of any missionary jurisdiction within the
limits of the United States, shall have seats assigned to them in this
house, with similar privileges to those of deputies, except that they shall
have no vote on any question or matter, and that this shall be a standing
order of the House.
6 MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA.
I have summoned this Convocation in pursuance of this standing or-
der, and one of our duties will be the election of two delegates as therein
provided for.
COLLECTIONS FOR OUR GENERAL MISSIONARY WORK.
The Missionary force in all parts of the South Dakota field and else-
where, is able to pursue its work with quiet strength largely because the
Board of Managers made, as usual, its appropriations for the year end-
ing August 31, 1899.
Let us not forget that the Board has taken this action, not as a self-
constituted body, but as the representative of the whole Church, and un-
der general instructions given it by the representatives of the whole
Church, its Bishops, and its clerical and lay delegates, assembled in the
General Convention and in the General Board of Missions. The responsi-
bility for raising the money with which to make good its appropriations
does not rest therefore upon the Board alone, but upon each diocese and
upon each of our congregations and upon each member of our congrega-
tions, as being represented in the body which elected and instructed the
Board.
It is with good reason, therefore, that the Board calls upon me as the
Bishop, to inform it what part of the whole appropriation South Dakota
will probably be able to be responsible for, and with equal good reason
I may ask each one of the clergy who has a cure to let me know what
amount the Board may, as far as he can judge, expect from his cure; and
with equal reason may each clergyman approach his congregation and its
several members.
OUR OBLIGATIONS TO THE BOARD.
/
These I feel to be very great, and I trust that the regularity with which
the Board makes annual appropriations to South Dakota, and then regu-
larly, quarter by quarter, remits the amount appropriated, will never be
allowed by us to lead us to take its appropriations as a matter of course.
The Woman's Auxiliary in many of its branches, especially the Indian
Hope of Philadelphia, the Niobrara League of New York, the Dakota
League of Massachusetts, and the Conneticut branch still continue to
our work their ministering care, and the General Secretary, Miss Emery,
her never-failing, helpful sympathy. To the Mission their gracious and
effective help is simply essential'. To God, I am sure, it is like the gift
sent to St. Paul by the Phillipians "An odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice
acceptable, well pleasing." I know of no better mode of showing our
gratitude than the extension of our sympathies beyond our own field, even
as the Church at large has extended its sympathy to us. As you know,
I have spared no pains to form in our people the habit of expecting
collections to be made for all the great charities of the Church. Some
success has attended the effort, as appears from the fact that last year
there were only six dioceses in the land in which, severally as many as a
hundred congregations contributed to our General Missionary Society, and
MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA. /
'South Dakota, feeble though it is, was one of the six. South Dakota has
taken her place alongside such great dioceses as Albany, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania. .
The secret of our remarkable record is this, that so many of the
^clergy have been faithful to their duty as laid upon them in the law of the
Church.
"The Ministers of this Church shall diligently instruct all in their
cures concerning the missionary work of .the Church at home and abroad,
and offer suitable opportunities for contributions from time to time for the
maintenance of that work." .
God bless the people who have responded. to the appeal of the clergy,
.and give us grace still to press on the work of His dear Son.
CATHEDRAL CHAPTER.
The organization of the Cathedral Chapter provides for
"Three or more Honorary Canons being presbyters of the district
elected by the Convocation on nomination of the Bishop, one of whom
.shall retire annually the order of retirement of the first chosen being
determined by lot."
I now nominate' to this Convocation for these places the Rev. Messrs.
Edward Ashley, J. W. Cook and G. G. Ware.
The Cathedral Organization also makes provision for
"Four lay male communicants," who shall be elected by the Convoca-
tion on the nomination of the Bishop, one of whom shall retire annually
the order of retirement of those first chosen being determined by lot."
I nominate for these places, Mr. H. D. Walrath of Watertown; Mr. J.
A. Smith, of Flandreau; J. W. Campbell, of Huron, and E. H. Van Ant-
werp, of Yankton.
RURAL DEANS AND ARCHDEACON.
The meeting of Convocation is the time of appointment of these
officers, and I take advantage of this opportunity to announce the appoint-
ment of the Rev. W. H. Sparling, as Rural Dean of the Eastern Deanery,
and of the Rev. Ed. Ashley as Rural Dean of the Niobrara Deanery, and
of the Rev. G.. G. Ware as Archdeacon of the Black Hills Deanery.
EXAMINING CHAPLAINS.
I ask the following brethren to act as my Examining Chaplains for the
ensuing year:
The Rev. Messrs. J. H. Babcock, J. W. Cook and. Thos. L. Fisher.
4
STANDING COMMITTEE.
For the Standing Committee I appoint the Rev. Messrs. J. H. Babcock
and W. H. Sparling, and Messrs. G. W. Lewis and R. W. Folds.
VISITATIONS.
I have made visitations and held services to the full amount of
my physical strength, and have, during the year, celebrated the Holy Com-
8
MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA.
munion 42 times, preached and made addresses 187 times, and confirmed
467 persons.
CANDIDATES FOR HOLY ORDERS.
These are J. S. Budlong, Herbert Welsh, Joseph Good Teacher and
Percy Phillips, the last three being Indians.
ORDINATIONS.
In St. Thomas' Church, Sturgis, S. D., Ascension Day, May 26, i{
I advanced to Priest's Orders, Frederic North Tummon, Deacon, presented
by Archdeacon Ware.
In the Church of Jesus, Rosebud Agency, S. D., May 29, 1898, I or-
dained Deacon, Dallas Shaw, presented by the Rev. A. B. Clark.
CLERQY.==ADDITIONS AND REMOVALS.
I have received, on Letters Ditnissory, the Rev. W. H. Willard Jones,,
from the Bishop of Iowa; the Rev. George Greene from the Bishop of the
Platte; the Rev. H. Nelson Tragitt from the Bishop of Connecticut; the
Rev. T. C. Eglin from the Bishop of Milwaukee. By these accessions-
two very important cures have been filled: Webster and Milbank by the
Rev. Mr. Tragitt; Watertown by the Rev. Mr. Eglin.
I have given Letters Dimissory, which have been accepted, to the
Rev. W. J. Cleveland, to the Ecclesiastical Authority of Central Pennsyl-
vania; to the Rev. Edmund T. Simpson, to that of Oregon; and to the
Rev. William Walton, to that of Duluth.
I have deposed the Rev. T. Howell Richards, and the Rev. Jacob
Dyk, both Deacons.
CONFIRMATIONS.
NIOBRARA DEANERY.
Rosebud Mission.
Oct. 9, 1897.
10,
H,
Advent 4
Calvary 5
Mediator 4
St. Thomas i
Ephpatha 2
Ascension i
Whirlwind Sol-
dier's i
St. Phillip's i
Holy-Innocents. . 2
St. Luke's 2
Epiphany i
St. Barnabas i
Church of Jesus.. 3
St. Andrew's 7
Calvary I
St. James i
Pine Ridge==Corn Creek Mission.
Oct. 13, 1897. Inestimable Gift. 6
St. Barnabas 3,
Faith 2-
Trinity i
Pine Ridge==Agency District.
Oct. 15, 1897. St. Julia's i
St. Luke's....... i
St. Mark's i
" 16, " St. Phillips 7
St. Paul's 5
" 17, " Epiphany 4
Messiah 2.
Holy Cross n
St. George's 2
" 18, " Holy Cross 5
" 19, " St. George's..... 3:
Standing Rock Mission.
Nov. 7, 1897. St. Elizabeth's... 4
St. Thomas 5
Nov. 8, 1897 ... 2
Good Shepherd. . 2.
MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA.
Cheyenne Mission.
Nov. 13, 1897. St. John's i
Calvary 3
St. Paul's 6
Sisseton Mission.
Nov. 17, 1897. St. John the Bap-
tist 4
" 18, " St. Mary's 9
St. James 5
Plandreau.
Mch. 19, 1898. St. Mary's .13
Santee Mission.
April 20, 1898. St. John's, Ponca. 6
Most Merciful
Savior 9
Holy Faith....... 6
Blessed Redeem-
er 3
Holy Faith 5
Blessed Redeem-
er 12
St. John's, Ponca. 6-
21, "
22, "
Yankton Mission.
April 24, 1898. Holy Fellowship. 3.
. it (t tt rto
St. Phillip ,12:
. Rosebud Mission.
May 28, 1898. Ephphatha 35
" 29, " Church of Jesus.. 14.
" 30, ' In private, i
280-
EASTERN AND BLACK HILLS DEANERIES.
July 4, 1897.
Nov. 15,
" 19-
" 21,
" 22,
Dec. 19.
Groton i
Gettysburg I
Milbank 5
Webster 8
Mellette 4
Huron 4
Mch. 27, 1898. Huron 14
April 3, Watertown 8
4, Redfield 6
5, Aberdeen 22
9, Sioux Falls 14
14, Canton 5
18, Scotland 6
May 15, 1898. Rapid City 9..
Sturgis 9.
" 17, Spearfish n
" 18, Spearfish 3
" 22, Deadwood 18-
Lead 26
" 23, Lead ;. 4
" 24, Hill City 6
" 25, Hill City i
Hot Springs..... 2
187
Total 467
Acting at the request of the Ecclesiastical Authority of Iowa, I con-
firmed, January 6th, 1898, in the Chapel of All Saints School, the Reverend).
M. Densmore, M. D., lately a Congregational Minister.
LIST OF FAMILIES, ETC.
The Church has for her manifest reasons placed among her canons,
the following important law:
'Every Minister of this Church shall make out and continue, as far as
-practicable, a list of all families and adult persons within his cure, to-
remain for the use of his successor, to be continued by him, and by every
future Minister in the same parish."
In a circular letter addressed to the clergy in May last I drew atten-
tion to this canon, adding that I interpreted "persons within his cure' to-
mean those whom he considered in any sense under his charge; "families"'
to include the names of heads of families and their children; "adult per-
sons" to mean single persons not living in families; and I requested each
of the clergy to inform me at the time of making his annual report whether
he had complied with this law. It is not easy to conform to this canon,,
and yet it is a matter of first importance, as all the clergy who have hap-
10 MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA.
pened to succeed a brother who has been negligent in this matter, know
to their cost. I am glad to say that the answers were, on the whole, satis-
factory; and I must ask all who have not hitherto complied with the law,
to give their attention to it without delay.
ANNUAL REPORTS.
The annual report blanks sent out to the clergy include headings
which embrace every possible purpose for which a congregation can raise
or spend money, and the annual reports ought therefore to include all the
money disbursed by all our congregations for all purposes. It may be
that this fact is not perceived by some of the clergy. There is a grave
discrepancy between the reports of many of the clergy and the actual
facts, especially in the matter of contributions. To give an illustration,
there have been cases known to me in which a contribution of the Wo-
man's society in some congregation towards one specific object, for
instance, some department of foreign missions, has been larger than the
.amount reported by the clergyman as given by his congregation during
the whole year for all foreign mission work. This discrepancy may arise
from the want of care on the part of the clergyman or other officer of the
congregation in keeping the records, or from want of care on the part of
the different societies in reporting to those officers the amount of their
gifts. In either case the correctness of our statistics is vitiated and injus-
tice is done to our givers and the reputation of our Church. In this con-
nection let me add that the great disparity between the number of bap-
tized persons reported in the Indian and the other two Deaneries (10,276
Indians and 3856 whites) leads me to ask the question whether the heading
"Whole Number of Baptized Persons" is interpreted the same in the
different Deaneries. I understand the heading, "Number of Baptized
Persons," to mean all persons within the field reported upon who have
been at any place or at any time baptized, and who are willing to be con-
.sidered as in any way connected with the Episcopal Church.
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF STATISTICS.
A general statement of statistics for the last three years is given
'herewith:
1896 1897 i8q8
The Clergy Numbered .34 36 36
Parishes and Missions 116 116 133
Number Baptized 862 834 960
Whole Number of Baptized Persons 13,094 14,132
Number Confirmed 254 472 618
Number of Communicants 4,223 4,241 4,847
Sunday School Scholars 3,236 3,041 3,417
.Amount Money Raised $21,814.03 $34,356.69 $25,389.00
The number of clergy remains the same, but there is a gain in all
other respects, except the total amount of contributions they are $25,389
.as against $34, 356 last year.
I ought to add, however, by way of possible explanation, that Lead
City made a special church building effort in the year ending May 31, '97,
MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA. IT
which made its report of money raised, for parish purposes $8,717 as
against $609 this year, and this fact may account largely for the falling off
in the grand total. But I must refer further consideration of this matter
to your study and careful consideration at your leisure.
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF COLLECTIONS.
Our record in the matter of collections and contributions has been as
follows, the whole number of congregations being 134.
1893 1894 1895 l8 9 6 l8 97
EPISCOPATE FUND Number of congrega-
tions contributing 59 55 67 48 64
INFIRM AND AGED CLERGY FUND Num-
ber of congregations contributing -46 42 48 68 51
CONVOCATION FUND Number of congre-
gations contributing 59 59 41 63 64
DIOCESAN MISSIONS Number of congre-
gations contributing 56 57 60 73 84
DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SO-
CIETY Number of congregations con-
tributing '. ; 66 78 70 90 89
The record might be better, but considering the feeblness of most of
our congregations and that two-thirds of them are Indians, the record is
not bad.
Comparing now the two- divisions of the field, the Indian and the
White, the record appears thus; but this report is taken from the tabulated
statement in which, in a number of cases, several congregations are
.grouped as one.
Number of Congregations Contributing in 1896=7.
Niobrara Eastern and Black Hills
Deanery. Deaneries.
Episcopate Fund. 42 out of 80 10 out of 39
Infirm and Aged Clergy Fund 55 " 80 10 " 39
Convocation Fund 53 "80 15 " 39
Diocesan Missions 42 " 80 28 " 39
Domestic and Foreign Missions.. ... 64 " So 25 " 39
Number of Congregations Contributing in 1897=8.
Western Eastern and Black Hills
Deanery. Deaneries.
Episcopate Fund 48 out of 73 16 out of 41
Infirm and Aged Clergy 35 " 73 16 " 41
Convocation Fund 44 ' 73 20 " 41
Diocesan Missions 54 " 73 31 " 41
Domestic and Foreign Missions 69 " 73 24 " 41.
The tabulated statement of statistics shows, among other things, the
amount of money given for religious and charitable purposes for the year
ending May 31, 1897.
A careful study of it will be very instructive and suggestive. Among
other thoughts to which it gives rise are these: Ar.e the white people and
mixed-bloods doing what they can? Perhaps the white people and mixed-
ibloods are doing charitable work elsewhere of which no record appears in
our statistics; but should they not also set an example to the Indians
12 MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA.
amongst whom they live by generous offerings for the support of the
services and for other charitable and religious objects?
I ask these questions because I notice that at some stations the whole
collection is less than I should suppose that single persons resident there,,
whites or mixed-bloods, would give.
Some of the Agencies and some of the Boarding Schools are taking-
-up their duty with a systematic and generous interest, and the tabulated
statement shows what system and interest will accomplish. See for
example the record of St. Elizabeth's School and All Saints. Besides the
amount in the tabulated statement placed opposite All Saints School, it
should have credit also for about $300, included in the report of Calvary
Church', Sioux Falls.
An examination of this table of contributions to extra-parochial and
extra-diocesan charities will show that the ratio of contributing to non-
contributing congregations is, relatively and all things considered, large,,
especially in the Indian field. I trust that these contributions represent
gifts distinctly and intelligently made to the several objects to which they
were devoted, and not collections made from time to time for no particular
specified object and then divided up and parceled out by the clergymen
among the several objects named. Such a device, however well meant
would practically mislead and would thwart one of the distinct purposes of
collections, which is to train the people in intelligent love of the Church's-
enterprises; and it would also fall far short of the spirit of the Canon on
the subject of collections as well as actually disobey its words. The
Canon reads: "The ministers of this Church shall diligently (note the
adverb) instruct all (note, young as well as old) in their cures concerning
the missionary work of the Church at home and abroad (note how exten-
sive is the description,) and offer suitable opportunities for contributions-
from time to time for the maintenance of that work "
I should not be fair to the clergy and people, nor do justice to my own*
feelings, did I not say that I am greatly cheered by the cordial response
which some of the clergy and people have made to the appeals which
I have urged upon them in my annual addresses in behalf of objects out-
side of our own congregational life, such as Diocesan Missions, the Episco-
pate Fund, Infirm and Aged Clergy Fund, and our General Missionary
Society; but we still fall much behind most other Christian bodies, both in
the effectiveness of the means which we use to inform the minds and stir
up the interests of our people, and in the amount of oui contributions.
Indeed most of our people and clergy show a painful lukewarmness, and
sometimes even opposition, with reference to everything outside their own.
congregational interests. We must not conceal from ourselves the fact
that this state of feeling is a most discreditable feature of our church life-
It should make us hide our faces before the Christian world. It is an.
alarming symptom too of deep-seated spiritual disease. The disease may
have been caught from the world, the flesh, or the devil; but we must,
emphatically proclaim to our people, "Ye have not so learned Christ, if so-
be ye have heard Him and have been taught by Him." God wills that the
MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA. 13
f
kingdom of His Son should come, and .we shall not find full strength and
peace in ourselves until, in this determination of His will as in others, we
are reconciled to Him and consent to follow His guidance. We of the
clergy may not roll this reproach off upon the people. We are largely
responsible for it. Its existence shows that we either lack heart for the
work of our Lord or that we are incompetent leaders of His people.
Either one or both of these defects must be ours.
This, however, I fear we must confess that our Church is suffering
alarmingly from the large number of apathetic or lukewarm persons who
are nominally its members and by their presence in it lower the temper-
ature of the whole body and enervate its life. As people may, and often
do, grow up in a country and have no idea of its beauty and spirit, so per-
sons may and do grow up in the Church without any experimental
knowledge of the significance of its truths and their relation to life, and
without any consciousness of the workings of its spiritual power. And not
a few, I suspect, came to us from outside with the expectation that much
personal religion is not expected from them. So it is that our people so
often "hang back" when wise ventures are proposed to them, whether
initiative movements for the purpose of securing at least occasional servi-
ces; or towards church building; or towards starting a Sunday School; or
towards helping outside missionary enterprises.
Want of sympathy with foreign missionary work and other outside
enterprises sometimes indicates in those who suffer from it limited outlook,
or a life wrapt up in petty things; but it is also a symptom sometimes of a
great fault. With accumulated wealth, high culture and assured official
position in a Church, come frequently self-satisfaction, pride, want of
sympathy with manor men and excess of conservatism; such a church has
no liking for, can see no need of, efforts outside her own borders. Nay;
she thinks them visionary and impracticable, and then some little sect, so
small in numbers, so destitute of influence, and so poor in material things
that it was regarded with disdain, springs into the gap and effects the
very conquest which the proud, self-satisfied and mighty Church thought
impossible. So again and again in the history of the Church, has the
Spirit gone outside the historic body to do His best work and to provoke
His people to jealousy.
One great object of Confirmation, as the Church has thought good to
order its administration, is to prevent this luke-warmness and apathy. I
fear that their existence is largely owing to our want of fidelity in working
the Church's system in this regard. For Confirmation is meant to remove
membership in the Church from the region of mere inheritance, or taste,
or fashion, and make it a matter si personal choice. Every person admit-
ted to its privileges by baptism is, according to the plan of the Church, to
be arrested in his course of inheritance, or taste, or fashion, and made to
reflect and scrutinize himself. He is to ask himself, as he will in the rite of
Confirmation be asked by the Bishop, whether he has reached a certain
state of mind and heart and will. How he has reached that state, whether
by a distinctly marked crisis, or by a gradual approach, whether vehement
14 MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA.
movement of the feelings or quiet resolve has taken the more prominent
place, may not be determined; but by one mode or another he should have-
reached a certain state of mind and heart and will, a state which would be:
fairly described by an affirmative answer to the following questions:
Have 1 been "baptized?"
Have I "come to years of discretion," i. e., have I reached the time of
life when I have a judgment of my own and am free to act according
to it?
Can I say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments?'
Can I answer such other questions as in the short catechism are con-
tained?
Am I ready by my own confession to assent to all the promises made
at my baptism? These promises were To renounce the devil and all his-
works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of
the same, and the sinful desires of the flesh, so that I will not follow nor
be led by them; to believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith, as con-
tained in the Apostle's Creed; to obediently keep God's holy will and
commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.
Am I ready to "ratify and confirm" these promises?
Am I ready lo do this by my "own mouth and consent?"
Am I ready to do this "openly before the Church?"
Am I ready to 'promise that by the grace of God I will evermore en-
deavor myself faithfully to observe such things as, in being confirmed, I
shall by my own confession assent unto?'
NIOBRARA DEANERY.
The list of clergy in this department and their posts of duty remain
the same as last year, except for the addition by ordination of the Rev..
Dallas Shaw, Deacon a happy event in our Mission life. He was first
known to me as a little boy sent many clays' journey across the wilderness
to Hope Boarding School, where he received his education; later as an
industrious farmer; then for many years a Catechist. It is a happiness
now to see him a Deacon.
Catechists and Helpers.
These number now about 55. While a critic would find much in their
work upon which to animadvert, they have always been not only an
important and valuable adjunct to our Mission force, but as we have had
about five times as many congregations as ordained ministers, the assist-
ance of these Helpers and Catechists has been practically essential. As
some inquiries have been made regarding the exact nature of their work,
let me say that the object in developing this part of our working force was f
first, to meet the people on their own plane; second, to identify them with
ourselves, and ourselves with them, and show that "place" was not
reserved for .the white race only; third to make use of and give honor to
men of good intentions and fair gifts of leadership, who yet had little edu-
cation; fourth, to multiply assistants, and thus reach the many widely
separated little settlements of Indians who could not be ministered to by
MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA. If
the clergy, except very occasionally, say once a month; and fifth, to raise
up a body of workers in which suitable candidates for the sacred ministry
might grow up and be tested.
These assistants are not the official teachers of the people. Their
office is rather that of pioneer recruiting agents. It is to mingle with the
people and conciliate them, to rally them in religious meetings, and there
lead them in singing and train them in the simpler portions of the Prayer
Book service, and in the Catechism. They speak also the word of exhort-
ation. There are two grades. When a man is first taken, I license him.
as a Helper, and then, after some years of faithful service and some study,,
as a Catechist, with authority to wear as his official dress a black 'cas-
sock. The education of these Catechists does not go beyond the simpler
things of the Bible and the Prayer Book. Nothing more is found possible
in this field where the distances are immense and the opportunities for
meeting their superintending clergymen for instruction are infrequent.
When the Priest in charge makes his monthly visitations, he is expected
to examine whether his subordinates have done their duties, and for this
purpose it-is his duty to test and guide the work of his Helpers and Cate-
chists by himself reviewing the people in the portions of the Catechism,
and Service which his assistants are supposed to have taught them.
Let me press upon each of the Presbyters superintending Indian work
that their duty is not only to feed the flock in general over which the
Holy Ghost has made, them overseers, but, first and foremost, to raise up
from the flock native Helpers and Catechists, and to teach and train them:
for their work. .
The calling of Catechists and Helpers is just this: they are laymen,,
not clergymen, They are expected to get their living from secular work
and not irom the Church work. Their small allowances from the Church
are meant not to be their living, but to make up to them for their loss of
time in serving the Church, and to serve as a token of appreciation and as
a prick to their sense of obligation to serve the Church faithfully and
well.
The conditions in the Indian field are such that, generally speaking,,
candidates for the Ministry must be raised up and trained among the
tribes to which they belong; but this work has been for many years sup-
plemented by a special class cunducted by the Rev. J. W. Cook, which has
proved one of the most fruitful sources of supply to the ranks of our native
clergy. It has been conducted as usual during the past year.
Support of the Clergy in the Indian Field.
The attention of our Indian Christians has been directed to the sup-
port of the native deacons only, with the object of leaving the priests,
both white and Indian, entirely free from the suspicion of interested mo-
tives in their efforts to train our Indian Christians in the habit of caring
for those who minister to them in spiritual things. The gifts of the Indians
for this purpose go into a general fund known as the "Native Clergy Sus-
tentation Fund." The total receipts for the year ending May 31, '98, were
5,37. '
i6 MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA. .
The work among our Indian brethren goes steadily forward, and the
list of congregations makes quite an array. It is to be remembered, how-
ever, that not a few of these congregations are of a transient character.
The missionaries have gathered little flocks wherever they could find them,
and now are gently leading them as best they can. It will inevitably
happen, as the work takes final shape, that many of these little gatherings,
called "Stations" now, will after a time be merged into the larger and more
permanent congregations, and so, while the mission really is growing
larger, it may seem to grow smaller.
Indian Boarding Schools.
The capacity of all these schools has been overtaxed by applicants
during the past year. The attendance has been as follows:
At St. Paul's, 46; at St. Mary's, 50; at St. John's, 65; and at St. Eliza-
beth's, 55.
Mr. P. H, Mugford 'having resigned the headship of St. Mary's School
last spring, Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Kinney, jr., who will be remembered by
many as having been tor twelve years the efficient heads of St. John's,
accepted my appointment and took charge of St. Mary's.
New Bui!dings==Indian Field.
A small house has been put up for the Catechists near Ascension
Chapel, Rosebud Reserve, the result of a gift of $100 from the Niobrara
League.
After years of effort the people of St. Paul's Station, Pine Ridge Re-
serve, are happy in the possession of a Chapel, cost about $356, of which
the people gave $85, the Niobrara League $25, the Indian Hope and other
friends, $246.
Likewise happy are the people of St. Luke's Station, who have a
Chapel costing $490, of which amount the Indians raised $130, the Nio-
brara League $360.
Gethsemane Chapel, left in a deserted neighborhood, has been re-
moved to a more eligible location, the Indians having given $71, and out-
side friends $70 towards this object.
Missionary Women.
The ill health of Miss J. B. Dickson, which caused all who knew her
much anxiety, assumed such a shape last winter that she was obliged to
seek the medical attendance and care which can be found only in a hos-
pital. A private room in St. Luke's Hospital, Chicago, was put at her
disposal by a generous lady of that city, whose name is known in all the
Church. After successful treatment there Miss Dickson is now making
essays in the resumption of her work.
Bequest of Mrs. Elizabeth M. Graff.
The executors of the will of Mrs, Elizabeth M. Graff paid to me early
in February last $$,ooo under a codicil to her will which read as follows:
MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA. \J
"In my said will I have bequeathed to Bishop Hare of South Dakota,
or his successors, for the purpose of building a church, the sum of $10,000.
I do hereby reduce said legacy to $5,000, and direct that the disposition of
said fund be left to the best judgment of the Bishop of the said diocese, for
the benefit, however, of the Indians."
The clause in the original will herein referred to read as follows:
"I give and bequeath the sum of $10,000 to Bishop Hare, of Dakota,
>the same to be used by him for the purpose of building a church and
rectory in some thriving and permanently settled town to be selected by
liim, and for the benefit and use of the Indians."
I thought it proper to be guided, at least in a degree, by the mind of
the donor, as expressed in this clause, although it was afterwards modified
by the codicil, and am taking measures therefore to use part of her
bequest for the erection of a much needed church at a point about midway
between St. Mary's mission boarding school and a large government board-
ang school continguous to it, lately built; another portion for the erection
of a house at the Rosebud Agency for the Rev. A. B. Clark, who has for
many years patiently put up with very inferior accommodations, reserving
the balance of the bequest for a purpose not yet fully determined on.
N
EASTERN AND BLACK HILLS DEANERIES.
Debts on Churches.
In my last report I explained quite fully the origin of the debts which
encumbered some of our church buildings in that part of the field which is
occupied by the white people. That report showed the existence of debts
on churches at that time.
That list has been modified during the year so that it now reads as
follows:
Huron $1.074
Pierre. : 275
Rapid . 865
^Parker 400
Lead i 4,000
The debt at Alexandria was extinguished by foreclosure, the Church
Building Fund Commission taking possession of the property under a
'Sheriff's deed. The debt at Deadwood was entirely liquidated, and that
at Watertown was reduced $100, by the people's own exertions. The
debts at Huron, Pierre, Rapid and Scotland were reduced partly by the
.gifts 'of their respective congregations, partly by the Spearfish Fund, as
recorded elsewhere, and partly out of collections made for the A. C. B.
F. C.
It will be remembered that I proposed to the last Convocation that
instead of sending in collections for that Commission direct to their Treas-
urer, we should use them in helping to reduce the debts on our encumbered
churches. The plan met with general favor. Collections to the amount
of $72.77 were received by the Treasurer, J. VV. Campbell, Esq., up to May
7, and after conference with the Standing Committee, I instructed him to
make two drafts in favor of Geo. C. Thomas, Treasurer of the American
*This was omitted by mistake in my report of 1897.
IS MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA.
Church Building Fund Commission, one for $41.09 towards liquidating the
debt of the Grace Church, Huron, and one of $31.18 towards liquidating
the debt of Emmanuel Church, Rapid City, these two amounts standing"
to each other in the same ratio as the debts.
Mission Work in Smaller Towns.
I have again and again, in my annual addresses and elsewhere, ven-
tured the opinion that this work must largely be done by the clergy who-
are occupying the stronger points, and expressed the earnest hope that
none of the clergy would allow himself to be shut up within the town of
his residence. All that I read of the experience and opinions of other
bishops as exhibited in their annual addresses, leads me to the conclusion
that their opinions tend distinctly in the same direction. It is with pecu-
liar pleasure, therefore, that I put on record the fact, that there is not one
of the clergy of South Dakota who is not extending his activity out beyond
his central point, and that Messrs. Ray and Elgin, who have lately come
to us, are bent upon the same course. I am sure that it is only in this way
that we can introduce our services where they are not known and maintain
them in cases where our congregations are very feeble. But, the clergy
who have found success and encouragement in this kind of work will, I am
sure, bear me out in uttering this word of warning, viz: that the man who
undertakes it must have full and hearty faith in the Gospel, in his Church,.
and in his own mission, and that it is not a merely occasional visit and
service that brings forth fruit, but most assiduous and sympathetic pastoral
visiting, in which not current topics, but the soul and God's provision for
it are made the subject of conversation, as opportunity offers; all effort
being directed along the line of our Church's system. Oh, that we could
all remember that we ought to have a live and quick reply for the ques-
tions of men's souls, as live and as quick as that of St. Peter on the Day of
Pentecost. There is no place for uncertainty. The call is for action.
There are great truths to be loved great spiritual movements to be made,
great moral and religious acts to be done.
The conditions about us call upon us for unceasing effort to develope
and increase what, perhaps, 1 may call our mamfoldness, flexibility, and
adjustableness. A man of only one gift and only one power is out of place
here. Division of labor cannot be accomplished to any great extent in a
new country, and hence those who work for Christ' here will, of necessity,
be called upon to perform not only one but many functions of the body of
Christ. A man who is only a preacher, or only a pastor, or only a church
builder, or only a student, cannot meet the need. If any persons should
be flexible and adjustable, if any persons should be ready instruments in
the hand of Christ, it is His ministers. We have not only received the
anointing of Confirmation, which should make us, as oil makes leather,
supple and flexible; -we have not only again and again presented ourselves
in the Holy Communion both soul and body a "reasonable and living sacri-
fice" "living," and therefore always growing "reasonable," and there-
fore always directing our energies with intelligence and self-determination
towards the accomplishment of what needs to be done; but we have been
MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA. ig
especially trained for Holy Orders, and have received in our ordination at
least the promise and earnest of all gifts which we can possibly need in
our manifold work.
Returning now, for a moment, to missionary work in outside places,
let me say that of course the invisible results of such efforts will be larger
than those which we see. Who shall compute or describe them? But, in
several cases the apparent results have been quite striking. At Webster
and Milbank the interest awakened assumed proportions which justified
my calling the Rev. Mr. Tragitt, last December, to the immediate charge
of these points, and I have had the privilege of confirming twelve persons
at Webster, and eighteen at Milbank during the last twelve months; while
at Mellette a few faithful women, despite conditions which were peculiarly
unfavorable, organized a Sunday School, and.by means of it not only
cared for the young, but encouraged and edified their own souls to such a
degree that I was called there in November to confirm four, aud again to
confirm two in July.
SeIfSupporting Churches.
Any congregation is counted self-supporting which does not receive
aid from Missionary funds and which pays its rector a salary of at least
800 and provides him with a residence. The congregation in every town
of South Dakota which has a population of 3500 is self-supporting, except
that at Aberdeen, which shows such vigor in all other lines that I feel sure
that it will soon resume the honorable position of self-support from which
it was driven a few years ago by the prevalent financial depression. Our
self-supporting congregations now are those at Yankton, Sioux Falls,
Watertown, Deadwoocl and Lead City.
Arrears of Salary.
Our people have never been very careless in f.ilfilling their pledges
toward the support of the ministry, and this year the reports show that
only two congregations were in arrears at the close of the fiscal year, and
the amount of the deficits was not large, viz., Hill City $15, and Pierre
$6=5.25.
The Woman's Auxiliary.
\
The Secretaries of the South Dakota Branches of this organization are
Miss Mary B. Peabody for the white people, and Miss Jennie B. Dickson
for the Indians.
The state of Miss Dickson's health has prevented her making any
report of the work of the Woman's Auxiliary among the Indians. The
report made by Miss Mary B. Peabody of the work among the whites does
not, upon its face, make as good a showing as last year; but, so far as I
can learn, the diminution arises from causes which can be explained and
which are not discreditable. It would be very helpful, I think, if our
societies of women would make it one of their principles of action to work
during at least one season of the year, Advent, or Lent, or some other, for
objects outside of their own congregations. This fact of itself would make
20 MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA.
them members of the Woman's Auxiliary. The next most important
thing is that our woman's societies should keep themselves informed
regarding the character and needs of the work of the Church, and the
methods of the Woman's Auxiliary. Information on these points, either
written or printed, can always be obtained by application lo Miss Mary B.
Peabody.
Church BuiIdings=Care and Improvement of Them.
Reverence for the House of God, care for its decent appearance, and
interest in improving it, instinctive feelings of natural religion, are em-
phatically commended to us by the example of our blessed Lord, whose
zeal for the House of God ate him up. While I must acknowledge that
some of our churches and the grounds about them show great want of care,
a better spirit has been generally manifested, and it is with peculiar satis-
faction that I record that during the past year the interiors of the churches
at Watertown and Canton have been improved at large expense; the
grounds about the church at Huron have been cleaned up and fenced in;
a tower and bell have been added to the Church of the Redeemer, Flan-
dreau, the church of Vermillion lighted with electricity, and the church at
Aberdeen made more convenient for use by the partitioning off of its
eastern transept.
New Churches.
The little flock at Spearfish have shown through several years great
devotion to the Church by the maintenance of a Sunday School and by
cordial support of such week-day services as could be given them by
Archdeacon Ware, and the Rev. Mr. Tummon. Recently their zeal has
manifested itself in a determination to build a church, for which purpose
they raised $550.
Miss Adelaide Hamilton having placed in my hands money with
which to erect a Memorial Church, to be called the Church of All Angels,
I proposed to the Spearfish people to use the memorial gift in erecting a
church in their town provided they would turn over to me their accumu-
lations for us, in helping weak congregations, and in liquidating debts on
church buildings. My offer was accepted. The Memorial Church of All
Angels in Spearfish is practically complete, and I have used the amount of
money which the Spearfish people turned over to me as follows:- For the
church at Huron, $200; for the church at Rapid City, $200; for the church
at Scotland, $50; for the church at Vermillion, $100.
At Lead City a large increase in the population, efficiently taken .
advantage of by Archdeacon Ware, made the erection of a larger and bet-
ter structure than the old one a matter of first importance. The enter-
prise was pushed with great zeal, and the church building has been in use
since Christmas time. While a debt prevents the consecration of the
building, I had the privilege last May of meeting and congratulating the
happy Rector and people in their "Holy and beautiful house," and of
addressing a congregation largely made up of men, which completely
packed the large building. Memorial gifts, including a handsome pulpit
MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA, 2T
and many beautiful windows, make it one of the most elegant,- as it is -one'
of the most commodious, church buildings in the state.
Fire, originating in a heater, totally destroyed, last winter, our church
'at Howard, consecrated, after most self-sacrificing efforts of the people,
only a year before. Happily the building was insured for $2,500 in the
Insurance Company of North America, a substantial and honorable com-
pany; and a new structure has already taken the place of the old one.
The people gave and spent in its erection about $500 over and above the
amount received from the insurance company.
State Educational Institutions.
Brookings is the seat of the State Agricultural College; Madison,
Spearfish and Springfield of State Normal Schools; Vermillion, of the
State Univtrsity. These towns, as educational centres, independently of
other reasons, should have a large place in the interest of us all. At
Brookings our work met with an unfortunate arrest a year or more ago;
but it is hoped that it will soon be resumed. At Madison and Springfield
our Church services are regularly and efficiently maintained. At Spear-
fish a new and beautiful church has just been completed, and services will
be regularly maintained hereafter. At Vermillion the opprobrium which
was brought upon our enterprise some years ago, was rolled off, to a large
degree, by the probity and good sense which marked the course of the
Rev. Mr. Fillmore during his incumbency. He has been succeeded by
Mr. J. S. Budlong, a man of large experience as a lay worker who is now
looking forward to the ministry. He will pursue certain studies in the
University and thus be thrown with the students and have opportunities of
reaching them.
I very earnestly ask the clergy to keep Mr. Budlong informed from
time to time, of all students who may go to the University from their
several neighborhoods unless they be already distinctly identified with
some other religious body. I make this request with the more emphasis,
because I learn that, though I made a similar request when Mr. Fillmore
took charge at Vermillion, three years ago, it seems, except in the case of
one clergyman, to have produced no result.
All Saints School.
This is intended to be a Church boarding school of high character,
where the daughters of the intelligent white people who are engaged in
converting the wilderness into a garden, may find a refuge from the crudi-
ties, not to use a stronger word, of new frontier town life, there get the
best Christian education, and thence go forth to diffuse the blessed influ-
ences which have formed their own characters. It is a great satisfaction
to me to know that the school has been a special comfort to the missionary
clergy, many of whose daughters have found there advantages, from which,
but for its open doors, they would have been shut off.
The attendance last year, boarding and day pupils both being counted,
22 MISSIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA.
averaged only a little less than 100. Its reputation is high. Its graduates
are its best advertisements. It is entirely free from incumbrance and
from debt of every description.
The Principal and I will be glad to know of any method by which we
can obtain for it a larger place in the minds ot our Church people and
clergy and their more active advocacy.
PART II.
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WHITE FIELD.
i. THE EASTERN DEANERY.
Although only forty years have elapsed since the first missionaries'
came to the fertile plains of the Dakotas, yet it is not easy to show the
comparative" growth of the Church during that period of time.
Some parish registers have been examined, and many questions have
been asked of old settlers and their descendants, but neither from records
nor from individuals has much information been obtained as to the num-
ber or the religious inclinations and convictions of the population at that
date. Accordingly it is not possible to state with any degree of accuracy
how many of the people were in any way connected with the Church. We
may be sure/ however, that there were not many of them. . Here, perhaps,
a communicant; there, a family, the older members of which had been
baptized; in each little settlement and in the lonely sod houses, individu-
als who had been brought up in the Church's ways; but these, all told,
were few in number and widely separated.
The beginning of our ecclesiastical history in the White Field of South
Dakota was emphatically a day of small things.
BISHOP TALBOT.
The first time that the Book of Common Prayer was used for public
worship in that part of our state which is called the Eastern Deanery, was
during the summer of 1860. The services were held by the Right Rever-
end Joseph C. Talbot, Missionary Bishop of the Northwest Territory, and
the Reverend Melancthon Hoyt, in school houses or public .halls or
dwelling houses, at Yankton, Niobrara, and other places along the
Missouri river.
This visitation by Bishop Talbot was made very soon after his con-
secration. We have not been able to learn whether he made another, but
to him seems to belong the privilege of being the Bishop who first
ministered the Word and Sacraments of the Gospel in that corner of the
land which was known as a part of the Great American Desert.
24 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WHITE FIELD.
BISHOP CLARKSON.
The Right Reverend Robert H. Clarkson, the first Bishop of
Nebraska, had the supervision oE the Territory of Dakota from 1875 to-
1882. An extract from one of his letters to the Spirit of Missions may,,
perhfips. Help us to realize the nature and extent of the work of a Home
Missionary, and the spirit in which that work was done. It might be well
also to remember that the present Bishop of South Dakota has spent
many long days in travelling, by wagon and by rail and on foot, over the
same prairies and to the same places to which his predecessor went more
than twenty years ago.
YANKTON, June 3, 1876..
MY DEAR DR. TWING:
I know that you always like to hear of our Missionary work in Dakota
"The Land of the Beautiful." On Saturday morning, the 27th day of
May, at four o'clock, I left my home in Omaha for a trip with Dr. Hoyt,.
the revered Dean of Dakota, up the James River Valley. After a long
and dusty ride, I reached Yankton, preaching morning and evening in
Christ Church, addressing the children of the Sunday School in the after-
noon, and confirming three persons at night. The church was most
gracefully and beautifully decorated and adorned with flowers. in honor of
the Bishop's visit, and completely filled at all the services. Yankton is a
very comfortable place for a Bishop to visit. Nothing is left undone to
welcome his coming or to gladden his stay. You ought to come out and
see this cordial, genial, loving people. If they treat a mere Missionary
Bishop with such cheerful and whole-souled hospitality, into what ecstacy
of rapture and joy would they go on the advent of the General Manager of
Missionary Bishops and Jurisdictions.
The new young minister of Christ Church, Yankton, the Rev. Gilbert
Higgs, is admirably adapted to the work he has in his charge. Dr. Hoyt
laid well the foundations of the Church's work here, and now his zealous-
and earnest successor is carrying it on with enthusiasm and great effect.
It rarely happens that a young clergyman is so thoroughly aided by
devout and influential laymen as is Mr. Higgs. The Governor of the
Territory and the Secretary of the Territory are communicants of the
parish and members of the vestry, and not mere nominal communicants,,
or vestrymen, but deeply interested and actively engaged in all the work
of the Church. It was to me a beautiful sight to see, on that Sunday,.
Governor Pennington, a thorough Christian statesman, the peer of any in
the land, acting as doorkeeper and usher in the House of God, seating the
humblest that came in the "Highest places in the Synagogue," he himself
content with the "Lowest Room." And then again in the afternoon, to find
him in the Sunday School as superintendent, encouraging, by his loving
manners and kind words, the little ones of the Saviour's Fold to walk in the
ways of Godliness. This is that true manhood of which our dear country
now has such need. No parish is poor or weak that has such a senior
warden. No clergyman or Bishop is single handed or lonely who has such
a helper.
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 'WHITE FIELD. 25
Monday morning, May 29, 'Dr. Hoyt and I started out in his little-
wagon with his already famous ponies, "Cap and Punch," for our Mission-
ary journey up the James River Valley the Dakota people say "up the
Jim." It was hot and dusty when we started, and we had thirty-five miles-
to travel before we reached Olivet, where our first service was to be held
that night. On our way to Olivet we passed through the great Russian
settlements. Between three and four thousand of the people of Odessa,,
Russia, have emigrated here within the last year or two, and have taken
up nearly all the land in two counties of Dakota. They are Protestants
and religious people, and have their own Churches and Clergy, and are
industrious, upright and God fearing. I have not time now to tell you of
their strange and curious customs and habits, of their odd houses, and
their peculiar kind of farming and living; but it seems as if a little slice of
Russia had been cut out bodily from the great empire and laid over thirty
miles of this new land of ours. It is said that many more are to come out.
this summer, and by and by nearly all of Southern Dakota may pass into
their hands and the hands of their descendants.
As we approached Olivet, a little town on a high hill, a terrific thunder-
storm also approached it from the other side. Here the good and faithful
Missionary of the Valley, Rev. John Morris, met us on' his "buck-board,""
with which he traverses hig Mission line of fifty miles. In spite of the
lowering clouds and forked lightening and incessant thunder, a few peo-
ple came to the school house for the service. We spoke a few plain
words of exhortion to them, and said a prayer, and then dismissed them,,
as the storm was increasing in violence.
I was obliged to seek. shelter for the night in the nearest house, which
proved to be one of a good Baptist family from near Troy, in New York..
They said they had never known much about our "denomination," but I
hope they knew more before I bade them "Good-bye" next morning..
They gave me the best of four beds they had, all in one room, and all
occupied, and I slept well, notwithstanding the hail and thunder.
/
The next day, Tuesday, we had thirty miles to travel to meet an
appointment at Rockport, a rural settlement, where we were kindly
entertained by a Congregationahst family, in whose house we preached to
a number of our neighbors gathered from the sparsely settled country
around.
We hope to get a daughter from this family as a pupil at Brownelt
Hall, and to send her back after a year or two as a Missionary for the
Church in this region, as so many others have been. Brownell Hall has
thus been the most efficient Churchworker in this Jurisdiction.
After a ride of fifteen miles through as lovely scenery as can be found
in any country, we reached the "coming" town of Fire Steel, which is the
outpost of civilization in this beautiful valley. Here our excellent.
Missionary, Rev, Mr. Morris, lives, having removed from Nebraska, where
I knew him eight years ago as the accomplished architect of our new state
buildings. He has recently taken Orders in the Church, and now devotes
himself with loving zeal to an extended Missionary Service along this.
26 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF- THE WHITE FIELD.
river. Here also we found another family of old friends who had fre-
quently entertained us in former journeys, Mr. and Mrs. Greene, Church
people from Minnesota, who love the Household and Family of God, as all
earnest Churchmen should do. The service was held in their house.
Here with a pine table as an altar, a valise as a pulpit, a bench as a chan-
cel rail, and a large room crowded with worshipers, we had a hearty and
precious service. Five persons were confirmed, and the Holy Commun-
ion administered to fifteen.
Nearly all the community around are favorable to the Church; the
people are poor and struggling for the means of living, they value our
ministrations, and they ought to have a small, plain church building. If
they had one now in the early day of the town, it would not be too much to
hope that nearly all the people would be brought under the influence of
the Church. The gift of five hundred dollars from some individual, or
parish, or Sunday School, would secure us here a nice, convenient and
permanent stone building, and the strength it would give us in this valley
would be hard to estimate.
From this point, on Thursday morning, the ist of June, we started
back for the Missouri river. On our way, at n o'clock, we stopped at a
sod house by the way side, at the request of the settlers around, and held a
service. It was crowded with a goodly company of rustic folk, who
appreciated the opportunity of worship more thoroughly than do those
who live under the shadow of some stately edifice. Among the congre-
gation I found an aged lady and a married son and daughter who were
known to me twenty years ago in Chicago, the younger ones as Sunday
School scholars in dear old St. James. It was singular that we should
meet again after an interval of twenty years, far out in the solitudes of
Dakota and on the very outskirts of population.
Friday night, June 2nd, we reached the little town of Scotland, and
held service in the bar room of the tavern. A subscription for a small
stone church has been commenced here, and I hope that before another
year we shall be able to hold service in what shall be, at least, the shell of
a church. They hope to erect the walls, and roof them over, and to put in
the floor and windows, and use rough boards for seats and furniture until
better times come, when it may be plastered and furnished. Dakota
needs very much the beginnings of a few such chapels. Once they are
fairly begun they will certainly be carried forward to completion, even if
we are obliged to wait a year or two for the last touches.
Dakota also needs one more Missionary, to be stationed at Sioux
Falls, a beautiful town where we-have a lovely memorial chapel. From
this centre he could work up the valley of the Sioux to Dell City, and
down the valley to Eden, and have one of the most interesting Missions in
the West. We can offer an earnest young man only six hundred dollars a
year, but on this amount he can live comfortably. He would have plenty
of work, as beautiful a location as any in the world, and a people who would
-welcome his ministration with gratitude. Can you send us such a man?"
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WHITE FIELD. 2J
Bishop Clarkson possessed in a very high degree many of those
qualities which give a man influence over his fellows and win their affect-
ion and esteem. He was an honest man, a courteous gentleman, a genial
companion, a true friend, a live Christian, a steadfast Churchman, a
diligent, faithful, and devoted Bishop. His zeal was tempered by -dis-
cretion; and his sympathy was controlled by judgment and applied with
wisdom and tact. We may very be thankful that he was the first Chief
Pastor and Overseer of this Jurisdiction.
FATHER HOYT.
The Reverend Melanchthon Hoyt, then residing in Sioux City,
accompanied Bishop Talbot on the first Missionary exploration of Dakota
Territory. That was in 1860. In 1862 he came to Yankton, making that
town his home and the headquarters of his small detachment of the army
of the Church Militant. In 1875 he was relieved from parochial duty, and
.appointed General Missionary of the Jurisdiction. This office, its title
having been enlarged in 1884 by that of Honorary Dean, he held until his
death in 1888. During the twenty-five years of this ministry he travelled
over all that portion of our state that lies east of the Missouri, and
through a large part of North Dakota; visiting nearly every dwelling place,
preaching, baptizing, caring for the sick, comforting those that mourned,
and publishing good news to all the people of the land. He organized
congregations in Yankton, Elk Point, Vermillion, Eden, Canton, Parker,
Hurley, Turner, Watertown, Pierre and other places.
To his zeal, perserverance, patience, sympathy with others, wisdom in
speaking, aptness to teach, and good example of a Christian life, displayed
during so many years of unceasing toil and travel, is mainly due our pres-
ent condition of prosperity, and of ability to continue the building of the
spiritual temple whose foundations he so strongly and securely laid. Some
little evidence of his character and of the extent of his labors, may be
obtained from what both clergy and laity have said and written about him,
.and from his own letters to the Board of Missions.
Bishop Clarkson says, in his repor.t for 1876. "Dr. Hoyt has itinerated
with great system, regularity and promptness, covering a large area and
many stations. The amount of work that is done by this abiquitous Dean
of the Territory the champion Missionary at large of the American
Church is simply surprising, and for a man of his years truly wonderful.
He is never at rest, always on the way to some appointment, always seek-
ing out places where he may preach the Gospel and plant the Church."
Bishop Hare, in his report for 1884, says: "Dr. Hoyt has been in
Orders for over fifty years: and for over forty-nine years he has been in
Indiana, Michigan, Iowa and Dakota, a pioneer Missionary under our
General Missionary Society. He is now in his 76th year. Years before
railroads were known in Dakota he travelled over its plains in his buggy,
preaching the Gospel and planting Missions. There is hardly a Church
or Mission in South Dakota which does not owe its organization to him."
At the time of his death, the Huronite wrote: "Dr. Hoyt was, under
28 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WHITE FIELD.
Providence, the founder of Grace Church, Huron, and its rector. For
almost half a century he had been in Missionary work on the frontier in
this Northwest. He was a nobleman by nature, and if man may estimate
consecration, his great soul was full of it. Into how many humble pioneer'
homes his presence has brought sunshine, love and honor to his beloved
name."
At a meeting in Watertown, which was conducted by the original
members of the parish, it was stated: "The congregation of Trinity
Church has greatly profited from the ministrations and Christian example
of the venerable Dr. Hoyt, its founder and former pastor. By his faithful
labors many churches throughout the northwest were established and nur-
tured in the most Holy Faith. We comfort ourselves with the belief that
he finished acceptably the work which the great Master called him to<
perform, and has gone hence to receive his crown of righteousness."
In one of his letters to the Spirit of Missions, Father Hoyt writes-
as follows:
"Thursday, April 15, 1875. Wind N. N. west blowing a perfect:
hurricane, cold and piercing must start or else fail in all my appoint-
ments. Punch and Cap, my ponies of which our good Bishop in former
reports has made such honorable mention, harnessed before a buckboard
(a gift to the Mission from a truly Christian lady) are brought round to the
door. As I look at them I cannot but exclaim, "Poor fellows! Your
work is too much for you. You have to drag three Missionaries on their
long mission trips, and the labor is telling. Yen do not look as in days
that are past. And now, whilst you ought to rest for a month, you have
before you a journey of 220 miles; and the roads in places are very rough
and heavy, in others very miry, owing to overflows. Would that some
good Christian friend, who, like myself, is opposed to cruelty to animals,,
would send the Missions $100 to purchase an American horse to relieve
you of a portion of your work."
Well wrapt in overcoats, shawls and buffalo, I set out ori"my trip. My
first appointment is at Turner, Turner county, thirty-six miles distant from
Yankton. Arrived there about 4 p. m. They were surprised to see me,,
because of the wind and cold. Strange idea! Men can travel at such
times to attend to their worldly affairs, but the Minister of Christ is sup-
posed to be too effeminate or too indifferent to do as much, in order to-
preach the everlasting Gospel. Owing to the overflow of the river the
settlers on the north side could not get over. The congregation was
small, about fifteen persons present. A very pleasing service.
Friday, April 1 6. Left Turner for Lodi, distance twenty miles. Wind
still strong and thermometer down, down. Arrived about i p. m. During
the afternoon made some calls, in the evening held services. Congre-
gation about fifty. One or two Church families live some four miles from
this place.
Saturday, April 17. Left for Vermillion, distance eighteen miles.
Wind abated, atmosphere warm and genial. Arrived at Veimillion about,
noon, spent the afternoon in making calls.
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WHITE FIELD. 2g
Sunday, April 18. A bright lovely day. Will there be anything of a
congregation? Last fall, when I visited this place, after a long interre-
gum, I found the Church people very much demoralized; all who were
not, from principle, of the Church having left and attached themselves to
other religious bodies. I could not but ask of myself the question, "Can
the Church be resuscitated?" I held Divine Service. In the morning
there were nine present, in the evening, seven. Relying on the Divine
promise and invoking Divine aid, we determined to make the effort. The
Rev. M. Magoffin took the oversight of the parish; owing to the great
-depths of snow and the inclemency of the weather, he has not been able to
hold regular services.
Now, on this i8th day of April I am again in Vermillion to hold Divine
Service. In the morning I have a congregation of thirty-two, in the even-
ing of nineteen. I find the people more hopeful. They say, "Could Mr.
Magoffin reside among us, our church would again flourish." Is there no
young man, who, for the love of Jesus, will come out, and take charge of
this parish and the Mission station at Elk Point? It will require self-
-denial and perseverance, but be he faithful, he will in the end reap a rich
reward.
I had intended to go down Sunday afternoon to Elk Point; but re-
ceived a letter stating that I could not cross at that place to Richland,
because of the overflow of the Big Sioux. I regretted this exceedingly,
because no service had been held there for some months. I shall try and
go down this month.
Monday, April 19. Left Vermillion for Eden, on the Big Sioux, forty-
five miles distant. A delightful day. When near Richland, fifteen miles
from Vermillion, the warm rays of the sun compelled me to take off my
over coat. I then discovered that my cloak was missing, and had to return
to within four miles of Vermillion, before I found it. This gave me about
twelve miles additional travel. When I arrived at Brule Creek, I had to
;run about some three or four miles before I found a place where I could
cross. I still determined to make the effort to reach Eden. I arrived at
the Sioux Valley House at about half past three twenty-two miles from
Eden. I inquired about the roads; was told that they were very bad, and
that I could not reach there in time. My ponies were tired, and, I must
confess it, so was I. I requested the landlord to take my ponies, give
them a good rubbing down, a good bed and ample provisions, that they
might be prepared for a hard drive on the morrow. I wrote my friends my
reason for not meeting my appointment.
Tuesday, April 20. Left for Canton, thirty-seven miles distant. The
day lovely, roads very rough. Arrived at Canton 2 p. m. During the
.afternoon called on all the Church families in the place. In the evening
met the Rev. Mr. Fowler, who lives five miles out of town. Held service
in the Congregational Church, Rev. Mr. Fowler reading the Service.
Administered the Lord's Supper, Mr. Fowler assisting, eleven participat-
ing; a delightful service reponses hearty and singing congregational
30 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WHITE FIELD.
and good. With God's blessing, a good vigorous parish may be here-
established.
Wednesday morning. Left fcr Brother Fowler's residence. He lives-
on a farm "beautiful for situation." He was among the very few who last
year escaped the grasshopper raid. He has rented his farm, and will
soon go to Sioux Falls, and devote all his time to the work of the Ministry..
After dinner, accompanied by Mr. Fowler, started for the Falls. They
have a perfect gem of a church, the main body erected during the minis-
tration of the Rev. Mr. Ross. Since Mr. Fowler has been in charge, a
chancel has been added, and other improvements have been made. Mr.
Fowler is gathering here a vigorous congregation. Held service in the
evening, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Fowler. Administered the Lord's Sup-
per, three participating, two communicants being out of town.
Thursday, April 22. Bade my brother farewell, and started for Swan
Lake, distant the road I had to travel about forty-five miles. Arrived
about 4 p. m., roads rough and hard, rested till evening. Held service
about 7:30 p. m. House well filled with attentive listeners. I regret that,
we have been unable to give to Swan Lake, Turner and Lodi regular
Sunday services. As the next best thing, and all that can be done, I have
promised to visit them monthly on a week-day. The pleasure they ex-
pressed more than compensated for the additional labor.
Friday, April 23. Left for Yankton, thirty miles distant. Arrived,
about'i p. m , rested till evening, then had the pleasure of meeting my
own people on our usual Friday evening service.
During this Mission trip, a communication of the "Rev. Mr. Lemon' 1
who, it appears, in the earlier part of his Ministry had been pretty well
squeezed, and in his old age had been "left out in the cold" again and
again was brought to remembrance. Like him I am an old man; unlike
him I do not think we need no additional laborers in the great West.
Here an old man will be treated with respect, will be listened to; and, if he
is willing to live as a large majority of his hearers live, with the aid of the
Missionary Society and blessing of God, he will not be left to suffer for the
want of the necessaries of life."
Bishop Hare in 1888 writes as follows concerning Dr. Hoyt: "His last
field of labor was Scotland. His nearest relatives and friends protested,,
but he persisted in his desire to put the harness on again. His spirits,
which had been depressed by sickness, at once revived, and with them his
bodily strength and mental vigor. A grandson of his, a boy of thirteen
was living there, and had conceived, in the summer of 1886, the idea of
applying to every Bishop in the Church to help him build a church in
Scotland. "I am the only Episcopal boy in Scotland," he began. The
note excited no little interest, and some $38.00 had been received in re-
sponse to it. The presence and words ot the venerable Priest stirred up.
the interest of the little flock of Church people in the town, and a building
was begun. He felt that it was the last church he would ever have a hand
in building, and daily watched its progress with keen interest. He lived
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WHITE FIELD. 3!
to see the house of God enclosed from the weather and almost completed;
and then turned his eyes towards the Father's house, where there are
many mansions, and died." By the generosity of a friend of Bishop Hare,
supplemented by donations from the Bishop himself and the people of
Scotland, this house of worship has lately been freed from debt, and is
ready for consecration. It is Father Hoyt's memorial; a memorial in
brick and stone, which some day will crumble to ruin. But an imper-
. ishable, and more appropriate, memorial exists and forever will exist, in
the hearts of those to whom he ministered. If you mention his name
anywhere to any man in all the wide domain of the two Dakotas, you will
hear expressions of love and esteem and admiration, that show how
enduring and how fragrant is the memory of Father Hoyt.
FATHER HIMES.
In 1879, tne Reverend Joshua V. Himes, being full seventy-five years of
age, took charge of Vermillion, and in 1881 removed to Elk Point, where
he resided until his death in 1895. The fifty years of his life that immedi-
ately preceded his coming to South Dakota, were crowded with discussions
of questions, social, political and religious, in which he, as a Christian, a
citizen, and a philanthropist, took an active part; vigorously and earnestly
discussing them from the pulpit, on the platform and through the press.
The consideration of his work during that period does not belong to our
present theme. Yet it may not be out of place for me to repeat now and
here what Father Himes said concerning his advocacy of Millerism as
was popularly called the belief that the Second Advent of our Lord was
nigh at hand; the date of His appearing being set at first for the autumn of
1845, and then year after year being successively postponed, as was found
necessary. In 1884, when his eightieth birthday was celebrated at Elk
Point, he said that the chief reason why he took such an active part in
preaching this doctrine was his sure belief that all Christians, thus agree-
ing in holding at least one truth, and being all of them filled with at least
one hope of their calling, would live together in. unity of spirit, in visable
union and in the bond of peace. He verily thought that all those servants
of the Lord who loved and looked for His appearing would be united and
ready to meet Him at His coming. But his hope was not realized. On
the contrary, his forty years' labors by tongue and by pen were wasted
and came to naught. The result of his laboring for union was one more
sect, and one more cause of division in the household.
Old in years though he was when he took up his Ministry among us,
he was still young in heart, still sound in body, and ''strong for service
still." Compared with his brethren, young or old, high or low, broad or
narrow, it may justly be said ot him, that he labored more abundantly than
they all. As a diligent student of the Bible, as one who rightly compre-
hended and rightly divided the Word of Truth, he was excelled by none;
and very few were those who could preach and explain with his fervor and
clearness and eloquence. Especially successful was he in teaching the
young. He knew how to train up the children in the way in which they
should go. The Sunday School in Elk Point was, in proportion to the
32 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WHITE FIELD.
population of the place, the largest of our schools; and those who were
pupils of Father Himes in that school, are now the strength and support
of the parish. Through them he lives and his works follow him.
FATHER MORRIS.
The Reverend John Morris is well and honorably known through all
our borders, not only as a diligent Missionary, but also and especially as a
builder of churches. Bishop Clarkson, in his report of 1878, says:
'"Father Morris travels up and down the James River Valley from Scotland
to Firesteel and even farther north, ministering to all the stations." Our
present Bishop says, in 1883: "Mr. Morris is actively engaged in looking
up our Church people and giving them services in Miner, Sanborn,
Jerauld, Davison and Hutchinson counties." In these and other places he
secured valuable lots, sometimes as gifts, sometimes by purchase at a
small price. When loss of voice and other physical infirmities made it
impossible for him any longer to travel and preach, he employed his tal-
ents as an architect and skillful worker in wood in building churches and
parsonages. St. Andrew's Church, Scotland, is one of the beautiful works
of his hands. His gentleness, sincerity, devotion, and holy life have won
the love and esteem of all that know him. He labored diligently as long
.as his strength allowed, and now, among his children on the far off Pacific
Coast, he is enjoying well-earned rest and peace.
THE REVEREND J. fl. flc BRIDE, AND OTHERS.
Mr. McBride began his Ministry here in 1870. He possessed, the
agreeable manners and persuasive speech which characterize the gentle-
man whose good fortune it is to have been born in Erin's green isle, and
which naturally win the good will of one's neighbors, and sometimes give
one great influence over his fellows. Thus richly endowed and thus duly
qualified, he journeyed for more than twenty years over the eastern and
northern portions of our Deanery. The good results of his faithful labor
may be seen in the congregations at Canton, Sioux Falls, Dell Rapids,
Huron, Pierre, Aberdeen and other places.
There are several other brethren who deserve honorable mention as
pioneers in South Dakota. But they sojourned for so short a time that
very few distinct marks and tokens of their labor can be found. Yet they
wrought diligently, each according to his several ability; and at the final
reckoning will receive each his due reward. Ours is the privilege of
entering into their labors.
2. THE BLACK HILLS DEANERY.
The first services in the Black Hills were held by the Reverend E.
Ashley. In 1878 the Reverend E. K. Lessell held services, probably at
Deadwood; and he, owing to ill health, removed in May, 1879. Bishop
Hare made his first visitation at the Hills in Nov. 1879, officiating at Dead-
wood and Lead City and other places. The Reverend George C. Pennell
accomplished a very successful work at Deadwood and generally through-
out the Hill country, until his lamented death in May, 1882. After that
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WHITE FIELD. 33
date, this important district was left entirely destitute of the ministrations
of the Church until 1886, except for one visit which Bishop Hare made
in the fall of 1882. The Reverend J. M. McBride visited there in
May, 1886, found a cordial welcome, and reported that a Mission in the
Black Hills would from the start be self-supporting. Since the setting off
of the Black Hills country as a separate district, in 1891, the growth of the
Church has been much greater than might be expected, if we regard the
:small number of clerical and lay workers.
ALL SAINTS SCHOOL.
The pride and glory of our Jurisdiction is our school for the education
of girls and young women. The urgent need of such an institution, and
the great benefits that it would confer upon the whole community, were
universally recognized at the very beginning of the Missionary work. Our
Bishop wrote. (in 1884:) "Three days had not elapsed after I was assigned
to the Episcopal charge. of this part of South Dakota before the telegraph
brought me from more than one town offers of land and money to aid the
enterprise; and a dear friend and tried contributor to my work in past
years (Mrs. J. J. Astor) no sooner heard of the enlargement of my field
than she marked the event by handing me $1,000, as she said, 'Towards
laying the corner stone of the school.' Another friend gave me $2,500 for
a Memorial Chapel, and another promised $5,000 from the city where he
lived. The people of Sioux Falls subscribed $10,000 in land and cash."
The corner stone was laid Sept. n, 1884, and the school was opened in the
fall of 1885. Subsequent donations, varying in amount from $5 to $10,000,
have ensured the erection of substantial stone buildings, in which special
provision has been made for supplying pure water, and securing perfect
ventilation and drainage together with safety from fire. Neatly and
suitably furnished; fully equipped with the most improved appliances for
developing the faculties and guiding the studies of youth; blessed with a
corps of capable, sensible, faithful and devoted teachers; and enjoying the
watchful and gentle supervision of the Bishop, All Saints School offers
unusual advantages' for a complete and thorough education. It well
deserves most generous support from every male human being who ever
had, or now has, or expects to have, a mother, or wife, or daughter.
CONCLUSION.
This record brief and imperfect though it is of the Pioneer Mission-
aries of South Dakota, stirs the affections of our souls and quickens the
beatings of our hearts. Four of these Pioneers Clarkson, Hoyt, Himes
and Morris we call Fathers, one of them Right Reverend Father; the
others, plain Reverend Fathers. And we pride ourselves on the nobility
of such an illustrious ecclesiastical ancestry. To be called their children
makes us proud and happy. We rejoice in their works, and complacently
enjoy the fruit of their labors.
Let us, then, maintain the honor of that good name which they have
bequeathed to us. May the remembrance -of the zeal and devotion of our
venerable Fathers inspire the hearts of many generations of their sons
and daughters to worthy emulation. B.
34 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WHITE FIELD.
APPENDIX.
Memoranda, quite imperfect, of:
a. First services, when and by whom held.
b. Date of organization.
c. Date of building first church.
i. THE EASTERN DEANERY.
Yankton: a. In 1890, by Bishop Talbot, of Indiana, and the Rev'd..
M. Hoyt. Dr. Hoyt came to Y. to reside in 1862. b. 1862. Probably the
first ecclesiastical organization in the Territory, c. 1866. This building:
was probably the first house of worship erected in the Territory.
Sioux Falls: a. Probably as early as 1863, by Bishop Clarkson..
Rev'd. \V. H. H.Ross had charge in 1871, probably the first pastor; Rev'd.
]. M. McBride from 1882 to 1884. b. 1871. c. .1872. Calvary Cathedral*,
erected in 1888.
Springfield: a. Probably in 1863, by Dr. Hoyt. b.
c.
Elk Point, a. About 1863, by Dr. Hoyt; Rev'd. W. W. Fowler in.
1876; Rev'd. Joshua V. Himes, 1881 to July 27, 1895. b.
c. Not ascertained. The first building having'
been destroyed by fire, a beautiful church was erected in 1895, as a Mem-
orial of the daughter of a devout churchwoman, who defrayed the ex-
penses, of building, furniture and organ.
Parker: a. About 1863, by Dr. Hoyt. b. '
c. About 1885.
Hurley: a. 1863, by Dr. Hoyt. b. about 1864. c. quite early; probably
in 1865. A parsonage in 18815.
Scotland: a. 1863 or 1864, by Dr. Hoyt. Rev'd. John Morris had
charge in 1883. Dr. Hoyt removed to Scotland in 1886, and died there,
Jan. 2, 1888. b. ' -.1887.
Yermillion: a. in 1866, by Dr. Hoyt. Rev'd. W. W. Fowler from
1876 to 1879. Rev'd. Joshua V. Himes from 1879 to 1889.
.b. <-
Canton: a. in 1871, by Rev'd. W. W. Fowler. Rev'd. J. M. McBride-
in 1881, and Rev'd. W. J. Wicks from 1884 to 1887. b.
c. in 1883.
Huron: In 1875 probably, by Dr. Hoyt. Dr.' Hoyt had charge from
1881 to 1884. b. Probably 1875, c - Church begun in 1887; finished irt
18.
Dell Rapids: a. In 1879, by Bishop Clarkson. b.
c. In 1895.
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WHITE FIELD. 35
Mitchell: a. In 1880, by Rev'd. John Morris. Rev'd. David A. San-
ford was the first settled pastor, 1882 to 1883; he was succeeded by Rev'd,
C. C. Harris in 1884. b. In 1881. c. In 1881.
Grotori: a. Probably in 1882, by Rev'd. D. E. Sanford, who was in
charge in 1883. b. c.
. Milbank: a. Probably in 1883, by Revkl. R. E. Metcalf.
b. c.
Aberdeen: a.
b. Probably by Dr. Hoyt, who was the first pastor. Rev'd. D. A. Sanford
was in charge in 1883. c -
Pierre: a. Probably in 1883, by Rev'd. Henry T - Bray. Rev'd. J.
M. McBride took charge in 1884. b. c. In 1885.
Alexandria: a. In 1884, by Rev'd. C. C. Harris. /;.
c. In 1886.
Chamberlain: a. Not certainly known when and by whom the first
services were held, but Rev'd. C. C. Harris held services in 1884. b. 1890.
c. 1893.
Plankinton: a. 1884, by Rev'd. C. C. Harris, b. 1890.- c. No
church edifice.
Madison: a. Probably 1884, by Rev'd. John Morris, b. 1884. c.
Not known. A beautiful stone church was erected in 1895.
Howard: a. Probably 1864, by Rev'd. John Morris, b. 1884. 'c.
In . It was burnt down in 1897 and a new one erected in 1898.
Carthage: a. As early as 1884, by Rev'd. John Morris, b.
c.
Brookings: a. In 1884, by Rev'd. John Morris, b.
c.
Woonsocket: a. In 1885, by Rev'd, John Morris, b. In 1887. <'
,In 1888 and parsonage same year.
Flandreau, (The Redeemer;) a. In 1887, charge of Rev'd. F.
Gardner and Rev'd. J. H. Molineux. /;. . '
c. In 1895. .
Webster: a. 1887, by Rev'd. E. Ashley, b.
c.
Gettysburg: a. In 1888, by Rev'd. J. M. McBride. b. 1888. c.
St. Lawrence: a. As early as 1888, by Mr. B. T. Ives, Lay Reader.
b. c.
I
Parkston: a. 1890, by Rev'd. R_ M. Doherty; by Rev'd. J. H. Bab-
cock from Dec. 1890 to Dec. 1892. b. c.
Waubay: a. 1895, by Rev'd. T. H. J. Walton, b.
c.
2. THE BLACK HILLS DEANERY.
Deadwood: a. By Rev'd. E. Ashley, 1877. July, 1878 to May, 1879,
36 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WHITE FIELD.
Rev'd. E. K. Lessell. Bishop Hare's first visitation to the Black Hills
was in Nov. 1879. Rev'd. George C. Pennell came in 1879; died tnere
May, 1882. /;. ' c.
Lead City: a. Probably in 1879, by Bishop Hare. Rev'd. R. M.
Doherty in 1886-7. b. About 1885. <'- About 1888. A large and hand-
some church was nearly finished in 1898.
Rapid City: a. In 1884 (probably,) by Mr. G. G. Ware, Lay Reader.
b. In 1885. c. In 1890.
Sturgis: a. 1887, by Bishop Hare. Rev'd. F. North Tummon, pres-
ent pastor, came in 1893. b. 1893. c. 1893.
Spearfish: a. In 1887, by Bishop Hare. /;.
<.'.
Hot Spring's: a. Probably in 1891, by Rev'd. G. G. Ware. b. In
1891. c.
II.
SUMMARY OF STATISTICS OF THE WHITE FIELD.
i. THE EASTERN DEANERY.
Souls,
Communicants,
Clergy,
Parishes and Missions,
2. THE BLACK HILLS DEANERY.
1878 1898
1860
1870
1877
1883
1898
200 ?
f
1500
3000
5 0?
200 ?
600
1300
4
6
10
13
6
10
30
33
Souls, 1400
Communicants, 500
Clergy, . 14
Parishes and Missions, 10
3. TOTALS IN THE WHITE FIELD.
1898
Souls, 4400
Communicants, 1800
Clergy, 17
Parishes and Missions. 43
NOTE. The Population of the Territory of Dakota in 1877 was about
50,000; that of the State of South Dakota in 1898 is about 400,000.
J. H.B.
PART III.
MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO THE NORTH
AMERICAN INDIANS.
THE NIOBRARA MISSION.
INTRODUCTORY: The Mission of the Church to the Dakota or Sioux
Indians has its roots far back in the past. The baptism of Manteo, an
Indian chief at Roanoke, North Carolina, August I3th, 1587, by a Priest of
the English Church, during the very first attempts to establish an English
colony on the American continent, was significant of a sentiment and the
recognition of the Christian duty of the Church to the heathen aborigines
in the new countries claimed by the nation. The baptism of Pocahontas,
April 1613, in the Jamestown colony points the same way. Her marriage
to John Rolfe and visit to England, where she died, aroused a remarkable
interest in her and her race among the upper classes and apparently in the
royal family which lead to the issuance of letters in 1619 by James I to all
English Bishops urging the collection of money for the establishment of a
college in Virginia for the education of Indian youths. From this resulted
Henrico college; long after when there were no Indian students there and
it became the college for the sons of the colonists its name was changed to
William and Mary, The great American Colonization Societies of Eng-
land proclaimed as one of their objects the conversion of the Indians, and
constantly instructed and exhorted the colonists to diligence in attempt-
ing it. And in the Virginia colony at least they were heeded. The good
Priest Alexander Whitaker gained for himself the title nf "Apostle to the
Indians." Indian children were secured and placed in the homes of the
settlers, to be trained in decency and Christianity. The missionaries
joined Whitaker in his work. These facts and many others which might
be mentioned kept the subject of Indian missions before the minds of the
English people and their colonists for above one hundred years.
Another tact had a strong effect in the same direction. France in
1549 had established a colony in Canada, and the contest for the sway of
the great continent began which ended in 1763 by the triumph of Great
38 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
Britain. The French through the disciples of Ignatius Loyola sought by
the evangelization of the Indians of New York and all the regions' west to
form a barrier of obedient devotees against the advance of the English
into parts of the continent claimed by the French. And so began in 161 1 that
wonderful work of the Jesuits which was carried on with dauntless cour-
age for 150 years. They explored the wilderness around the Great Lakes
and far down the Mississippi, carrying their missions into Maine, New
York, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and other regions, and by untold labors,
privations, sufferings, martyrdoms and sublime heroism strove to bring
the Indians into obedience to 'he church of Rome and to the aid of
France.
But the work was not left to the Church of England and the Jesuits
alone. Stern as was the religion of the Puritans, it could not permit
heathens to perish in sight of its meeting houses without some effort to
save them, although they did sometimes when their selfish interests were
at stake seek to justify themselves in ruthlessly destroying the Indians, by
declaring themselves the Saints to whom the Lord had given the earth for
an inheritance. As early as 1647 tne ministers of New England solicited
Parliament to aid in evangelizing the Indians. In 1649 ^ iat body author-
ized the formation of a "Society for the Advancement of Civilization and
Christianity" among them. This society established schools, and caused
the Gospel to be preached. Foremost among those who engaged in this
work was John Eliot, the industrious apostle of the New England In-
dians. He devoted forty- four years of his life to the work in Massachu-
setts, translated the Bible into one of the tongues which no one now can
read and met with a great deal of success. At his death at four-score
and six, others trod in his footsteps. In 1700 there were thirteen mission"
aries in this work supported by the government, besides several who
worked independently.
In the meantime Henrico College, Va., with more or less success was
striving to fulfill the object of its foundation in educating and Christian-
izing Indian youths, and annually made a grant of 45 from her funds to
Harvard College to aid in the same work there, and 45 for the support of
two missionaries to the Indians in Massachusetts.
Anne became Queen of England in 1702. Devotedly attached to the
Church of England she took a deep personal interest in the Church in the
colonies. Of this we have many reminders in the old churches of the
Atlantic seaboard in the shape of antiquated vessels for the Holy Com-
munion and other things which were presented by her. On the suggestion
of the Earl of Belmont, then royal governor of New York, her attention
was directed to the missions to the Indians. Under her auspices clergy
were sent to "instruct the Five Nations (of New York) and to prevent
their being practised upon by the French priests and Jesuits." The society
for thi Prop.ujit.ion of ths Gospel in Foreign Parts was organized in 1704,
which assumed and sustained the work among the Five Nations about
seventy years, until the close of the Revolutionary War. And not only
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 39
<lhis, a distinctly church work, but made its annual grants to missionaries to
the Indians of other Protestant bodies.
However, enthusiasm and zeal as. to evangelizing the aborigines dur-
ing the next forty years or more gradually waned. It was in a measure
relieved by the noble work of David Brainard in New Jersey, and Azariah
Horton among the Montauks of Long Island. The heroic clays of the
Jesuit missions were past, one of the objects for which they strove having
come to naught. One reports: "They could seldom induce their still
numerous converts to lead even outwardly decent lives."
Great masses of settlers of other nationalities had come into
the colonies who did not share the sentiments of the English colonists
who had not the spur and reminder to duty from home as the latter had.
The Indians were frequently in the way of their desires and the greed of
land. Forgetting their duty to the heathen, consulting their fears and
their safety, and their worldly interests, the colonists generally settled into
a state of indifference as to the salvation of the Indians, and even of
hostility to those who attempted it. It was a very unpopular .subject. In
its stead came the desire to drive the Indians out of their sight and reach
"far beyond the limits of the settlements, or to altogether annihilate them.
Many good people had come to regard them as brutish savages whose sal-
vation was hopeless. William Andrews, missionary of the S. P. G. to the
Mohawks wrote: "There is no hope of making them better, heathen they
are, and heathen they still must be." That was after six years of toil and
disappointment. However he was succeeded by Barclay, Ogilvie
.and others with more faith and success, and their work survived.
At this period of scepticism and general discouragement as to Indian
evangelization arose a new factor. A colony of United Brethren or Mor-
avians had established themselves at Bethlehem, Penn. In 1740 a lone
preacher landed in New York, sent from Europe to tell the aborigines the
story of redeeming love. His name was Christian Henry Ranch. Shortly
after, meeting two Mohicans he followed them to their village, and in. the
face of indifference and suspicion excited in the minds of the Indians by
self-interested white men Ranch persisted in preaching Christ from hut
to hut, and at the end of a year rejoiced in the conversion of four men.
In 1742 three more young men arrived from Germany at Bethlehem burn-
ing with zeal to aid Ranch in his work. The latter was called to a meet-
ing of the Pennsylvania Synod and therewith the other three was ordained
by Bishops Zinzendorf and Nitrchmann, and the work of evangelizing the
Red men was regularly assumed and organized by the Moravian church.
Count Zinzendorf himself lead the way making three extensive tours
through the wilderness of Pennsylvania, and into -New York preaching to
various tribes, Iroquois, Delaware, Shawanese, Mohicans and others!
From this time on for seventy-five years the Indian missions of this noble'
missionary branch of the church were carried on with great zeal and im-
mense self-sacrifice through good report and evil report, misconceptions
and malicious opposition from many in authority, as well as the settlers;
and yet withal much success attended their labors, which attracted the
40 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
attention of the people of New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New
Jersey, Pensylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and Ohio.
At the close of me Revolution the church was in a deplorable condi-
tionclergy scattered, many secularized, churches and missions closed
for years, endowments lost, even the strongest parishes weak arid dispirit-
ed. Through suspicion, misconception and ignorance the religious bodies
were hostile to her. To save herself from annihilation she was thrown on
the defensive. All her energies were taxed to build again the foundations-
among her own English speaking people. It was many years before she
gathered strength for aggressive work. The subject of missions although
for a time necessarily in abeyance was not lost sight of. The sense of
Christian duty to others in their hearts, the ascending Lord's world-wide
commission ringing in their eais, the feeling of gratitude for what had
been done for us by the mother church across the ocean, prompted Bishops-
White and Griswokl especially, as well as others, to plead for missions,
and strive to arouse both clergy and people to their duty to others. So
early as 1792 the General Convention began to discuss the subject and take
some steps in that direction. But the Domestic and Foreign Missionary
Society did not take completed shape until 1822 thirty years afterward.
Bishop Hobart (1811-1830) in the course of his visitations in the Mo-
hawk V 7 alley visited and took an interest in the Oneida Mission, . the only
surviving representative of the work for the evangelization of the Indians
undertaken by S. P. Gospel more than one hundred years before. A large
number were confirmed, 8g at one visitation and 97 at another, for these
were the first visits to them of a Bishop, and their first opportunities. The
Board of Missions assumed the work it's first Indian Mission. In 1825.
a large portion of the Oneidas removed to Green Bay, Wisconsin, followed
a few years later by nearly all the remainder, leaving to-day only 275 liv-
ing in their ancient home or among the Onondagas. In 1826 the celebrat-
ed Eleazcr Williams, supposed by some to be the last Bourbon Prince,,
was ordained and sent to Green Bay, and in succession the Rev. Richard
Caclle and others clown to the present have maintained the work. The Onei-
das sent tour delegates to the first convention called by Bishop Kemper
(rS47)and ever since the organization of the diocese of Wisconsin Hobart
church has been duly -represented in its councils.
In 1850 Breck and his companions of the associate mission, which re-
sulted in the establishment of Nashotah, laid clown their packs under an
elm tree in Wisconsin, set up a rude cross, built an altar of rough stones,,
and celebrated the Holy Communion, devoting themselves afresh to the
work of carrying the gospel and the church to the pioneers of the north-
western wilderness. Breck here come in contact with the missonary and
Indian representatives of Hobart church. In his long journeys 'on foot
through the wilderness seeking the Lord's sheep in distant hamlets and
lonely farm-houses, he must have often come in contact with the raving
red-men, and it is impossible, to think of one with his burning missionary
zeal looking upon them with coldness or indifference. This call to. efforts
in their behalf came very soon. Enmagahbow had long before in Canada.
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 4f
become a Christian. He appealed to Breck to do something to save the
Chippewas. Two years sifter his arrival in Minnesota the Mission was be-
gun. After five years of most heroic, self-denying labors three stations
widely separated, with schools, had been opened, and he had brought to-
his aid the Rev. E. S. Peake, teachers male and female and other helpers,.
Men engaged in selling liquor to the Indians, and other unlawful traffic
were aroused. Dr. Breck bravely opposed them with all his might. But
they with the help of their Indian followers prevailed and Breck was driv-
en out of the Indian country. The next year, (1858) Enrriagahbow was
ordained in the chapel at Fairbault by Bishop Kemper and sent with Mr..
Peake to hold on as best they could to what had already been accomplish-
ed at Gull Lake, and wait for better times.
In connection with other labors at Faribault Breck now devoted him-
self to the establishment of Andrews' Hall, a boarding school for Indian
children. It was placed in charge of Misses Emily G. West, Susan L.
Phillips, Mary G. Leigh and Anna M. Ball, with help from Samuel D.
Hinman, a candidate for orders from Connecticut who had offered himself
for the Indian work and was pursuing studies in the incipient Divinity
School. The pupils were drawn from both the Chippewa and Santee
tribes, many of the latter, both full and mixed bloods, then living in the
region.
Bishop Whipple was in October, 1859, set apart as the first Bishop of
Minnesota. Whether he had before given the matter any thought or not,
or had any interest in Indians, or efforts to save them, he was immediately
brought face to face with the question. There were many thousands of
the race in his diocese. There was a Mission of the Church among the
Chippewas, one of the American Board among the Santees; there were a
good many of the latter living in and about his See City, and Andrews
Hall for Indian children. He had one Indian clergyman, and other white
clergy whose joy it was to labor to bring these heathens into obedience to-
Christ. The sentiment of the border people, as, sad to say, all through
our history, was not only indifferent, but bitterly hostile to the Indians.
Would he court popularity by picking and choosing, acknowledging his
mission to white sheep and repudiating that to the red? Whatever his-
predilections or antipathies may have been he did not hesitate, or temper-
orize or bogle. He took the only stand which a brave, honest, just Christ-
ian man and Bishop can take. Although his noble course for a time 'drew
down upon him a storm of contempt, derision and opposition, under
which he did not abate one jot of his insistence, nor close his mouth from
speaking the truth in love, he at length came into his reward. Unable to-
refute his arguments or deny the truth of his facts his enemies were
silenced, and when the soberer thoughts of truth, and right and justice
sprung up they became his friends and profoundly respected him.
The continuity of sentiment, the recognition of the duty, both in>
England and the Colonies as to the evangelization of the Indians; and the
efforts of the government and the Church to that end; and the compara-
tively meagre results, have now been hastily sketched. The times were-
42 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
/
out of joint; the circumstances on either side, both of the colonists or the
later border settlers, and the Indians, were unfavorable. Still, however,
the duty was recognized, the work lived; the results, however small, were
enough to inspire hope and confidence that under more favorable circum-
stances, when the fullness of God's time had come, the race, if Christians
Avere faithful, would be evangelized and saved. One of the Church Mis-
sions to the Indians survived the shock of the Revolution. Although long
sustained by the Board of Missions it remained as the lone seed in the
frozen earth awaiting the sweet influence of spring to raise it to life and
increase of its kind. We have noted how under God's guiding hand the
time had come and the Mission to the Chippewas had sprung up and His
servants, driven out from that, by their zeal to do something for the sal-
vation of the heathen around them in their refuge, by the establishment of
that school tor Indian children and their work in it, were unconsciously
preparing the way for another Mission, and some of them for personal
service and self sacrifice, and suffering in that
THE HiSSION TO THE SANTEES.
The Santees of Minnesota, comprising several sub-tribes or bands
some years in treaty with the government, numbered about 5000 souls.
They were induced to part with their hunting grounds and settle upon a
large tract of land along the Minnesota river. Two agencies thirty miles
apart were established. At the upper was located the Mission of the
American Board which had long carried on work among the portions of
the tribe elsewhere. Nothing had been attempted among the wilder ele-
ment at Redwood, the lower agency. They numbered about 2500 souls.
Still a great deal of civilizing work had been undertaken by Maj. W. J.
Cullen the Grant Supt, who had induced many to have their hair cut,
adopt citizens dress, and by labor to beome self-supporting. Good houses
were built for these, and farms which they were encouraged to open,
stocked. This of course brought down upon them the ridicule and perse-
cution of all the rest. It became apparent to Maj. Cullen that without
Christian teachers to encourage and strengthen them they could not bear
up under their persecutions, and that the experiments of civilization with-
out religion would become a failure. The sixteen men with whom he had
begun the experiment had in three years increased to three hundred, and
the last year had raised $200,000 worth of produce, had from five to six-
teen head of cattle, some as high as twenty, besides hogs and chickens.
Maj. Cullen. who it is supposed was a Churchman, ha.ving reached his
conclusion, wrote to Bishop Whipple beseeching him to establish a Mis-
sion at Redwood. A delegation of some of the most influential India'ns of
that part of the tribe also came to the Bishop Chief Wabashaw, Head-
man Pay pay, Taopi and others, who represented that they had for years
appealed to the Missionaries of the upper agency to extend their work to
the lower agency, who had promised but not fulfilled it. To whom the Bishop
replied that he would shortly visit them,, and if he found the way clear
would gratify their wishes. The Bishop in company with Dr. Breck went
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 43
to take observations, found the Way clear, returned to Faiibault, ordained
Mr. Hinman to the Diaconate, solemnized his marriage,.and sent the newly
married couple on their wedding tour to- Redwood, accompanied by Miss
West as teacher. They arrived on the 5th of October, 1860 and immedi-
ately set to work. A day school was opened and religious services main-
tained. The study of the language was taken up, and with the aid of an
intelligent halfblood, William M. Robertson, an attempt was made to
render into Dakota some portions of the Book of Common Prayer. The
Gospels and some other parts of the Bible had already been translated
and published by the Missionaries of the American Board.
It is unnecessary in this connection to recount the fraud, injustice and
cruelty which led up to and drove the wilder element of the tribe into the
terrible massacre of August I3lh, 1862, which broke up the Missions,
compelled the Missionaries to rlee for their lives, and resulted in the wide
separation of the different parts of the tribe and the driving or deportation
of all from the State of Minnesota. Suffice is to say that although the
wild element in council designing this uprising used every argument and
inducement to win over the Christian Indians they steadily refused, say-
ing: "Now that the Great Father at Washington, the Great Spirit, and
their new Saviour that they had learned so much about, had been so kind
to them, their hearts could not be hard enough to spill the blood of the
-children of the Great Father." The hostiles then sent their runners along
the Minnesota valley for fifty miles and burnt all the houses of the farmer
Indians, and the sawmills. Still they were unmoved. They then threat-
ened to kill their wives and children. That they could not stand, for they
knew the threat would be carried out, and they consented to join the hos-
tiles in their fight against the whites. But it proved in time that their go-
ing into the war resulted in the protection of the women and children who
were taken prisoners. They went so far in many cases as to put them-
selves between the prisoners and the men that wished to murder them-
Had it not been for the Christian Indians there would not have been a
white man left about the agency to tell the tale nor a prisoner left alive.
Most remarkable of all, not one Christian Indian proved false. During the
massacre, as they were able, they led or directed many to places where
they would be safe, and after it was over rescued from the hostiles more
than three hundred women and children captives. Their noble service
never received any recognition from the government. Mr. Hinman, for-
tunately, was absent in Fairbault. Mr. Hinman and Miss West at break-
fast were b\ Robertson, the interpreter, to.kl of the uprising; they rose
from the table and without attempting to save anything went forth, became "
separated, and finally met at Fort Ridgely, many miles down on the other
side of the river. Their house was burned. A Christian Indian woman
rescued the surplice and stole of the missionary and a large folio English
Bible presented by an English nobleman who had visited the mission, and
buried them in the earth until after the troubles were' over. The records
perished in the house. It is noted elsewhere that eighteen adults had
become members of the church, of whom Good Thunder was the first fruit.
44 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
About 1800 of the Indians who were mostly of the peacefully inclined
were collected together at Fort Snelling, the remainder of the tribe fled to
the British Possessions and to the Missouri. The former soon sent en-
treaties to their Missionaries to come and give them religious instruction.
Our Missionary went and resided in the stockade with them and de-
voted all his energies both to their temporal and spiritual interests. Time
and again he made arrangements with the Government and army officers
for a. permanent location for them, but in every instance the plan was
frustrated by the settlers, or the people of Minnesota who clamored for
their deportation beyond the limits of the state, which scheme was carried
out, and in 1863 they were taken by boats down the Mississippi; and up*
the Missouri to Crow Creek. The location proved most unfortunate, for
nothing could be raised there. The contractors for feeding them were
dishonest and inhuman, and in consequence of spoiled and improper food
furnished, three hundred Indians died of starvation. All their young chil-
dren died. To make another effort to save the rest, Bishop Whipple, Mr.
Hinman and a small delegation of Chiefs went to Washington and pleaded
with the Commissioner, with Senators, with the President to allow their re-
moval to a more hopeful locality. At the end of six weeks of weary work
and waiting President Lincoln gave orders for their removal to the north-
east corner of Nebraska. Accordingly in 1866 they went to their present
location. Their first carnp within the tract was at the mouth of the Ba-
zille Creek where they remained the first year. A spring flood came which
ruined nearly all the Missionaries books and papers. The records again
perished. Miss West as teacher came to Mr. Hinman's assistance, and
with a number of the most advanced and earnest young men as catechists
religious work was earnestly carried on. Nearly all the people had been
baptized either at Fort Snelling or at Crow Creek. Many had been con-
firmed by Bishop Whipple, and there were two hundred communicants.
The present location, opposite Springfield, was finally chosen for the
Agency and the Missions. Consequently in 1868 they again pulled stakes
and removed twelve miles further within the tract. H ere a frame chapel with
Mission house attached was built. The Mission was now within the juris-
diction of Bishop Clarkson, who visited it that spring for the first time and
took the deepest interest in its work. After his visitation in the summer
of 1869 he wrote: "I really think there is nothing in our day on this Conti-
nent more interesting to visit than this Santee Indian Mission. It is im-
possible for a Christian man to spend a single day among the monuments
and results of this heroic Christian effort, without the profoundest emo-
tions of gratitude and the deepest feelings of wonder and awe. Nearly all
the oldest members of Mr. Hinman's congregation have been confirmed,
and are communicants over two hundred and fifty out of a population of
one thousand souls. Think of that and contrast it with the statistics of
any Christian community anywhere. I entreat those who love Christ's
work and who are interested in the melancholy condition of this Pagan
race that is passing to a heathen grave within an arm's length of our
boasted Christianity, not to allow this mission to be crippled lor want of
means."
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 45
On May 31, 1868, his first visit, he ordained to the Diaconate Paul
TVIazakute, a full-blood, possibly the first of Indian blood and
.not. speaking English, ever ordained in the Church in the United
States. It has been stated that the late learned Dr. Hawks of New York
.and his brother the first Bishop of Missouri were of Indian blood. Both
in spirit, in labors, and in usefulness Paul was worthy of the distinction.
In March'i86g, Miss Mary J. Leigh came as teacher. At the Bibhop's
visitation in the summer two more men, Christian Taopi' and Philip W.
Johnson were made Deacons, and Paul Mazakute was advanced to the
/ Prietshood. A vested choir of men and boys was introduced. Frequent
services were maintained and the Chapel was almost always full, often
could not contain the congregation, and it became necessary to divide it,
the a. m. services for adults, the p. m. for the young.
The whole people, with few exceptions, were as yet living on the bot-
tom lands along the Missouri, and the table land just above, in close prox-
imity to the Agency. Their many hardships of late years had weakened
the. conditions of most, and many were broken in health, and scrofulous
. diseases and consumption were dreadfully prevalent. The Mission house
was a veritable hive of industry, and the tim; and strength of missionaries
were heavily taxed to bring comfort and relief to the sick, suffering ' and
dying, and the house was seldom free of Indians coming and going on
various errands. A small hospital was devised and authorized to meet the
great need, and its construction begun this year.
In the summer of i86g, Mr. Wm. Welch of Philadelphia visited the
Mission accompanied by Miss Biddle. Mr. Hinrnan with a delegation
of Chiefs had been to Washington in the winter of 1863 to plead for their
people imprisoned at Fort Snelling. "They visited Philadelphia and ex-
cited so deep an interest that an association was formed for their relief,
chiefly composed of members of the Society of Friends, through whose
agency large contributions of money were made for the benefit of those
loyal Santee Indians." Mr. Welsh was made the Chairman of that associa-
tion, and from that day forward took a lively and increasing interest in the
welfare of the Indians. He was chosen a member of the Board of Mana-
gers of the Board of Missions, and by them requested for the time being
to take charge of the Mission to the Santees. Having \vith his own eyes
seen the hopefulness and success of the work, from henceforth he pleaded
with pen and voice, striving to arouse Christians and Churchmen at the
East to do their duty to the heathen at our doors, and poured out of his
wealth heavily to further Christian work among them. And not only so,
but again and again he went to the seat of Government, and strove to
bring about a better state of things in the treatment of the wards of the
Nation. . '
There was another result of Mr. Welsh's visit. He saw what Bishop
Clarkson had before noted, that this Mission of the Church on the banks
of the Missouri had .attracted the attention of the Poncas and of the Sioux
tribes up the river, and that delegation after delegation from the Yanktons
had already come pleading for the extension of the work'to them. Were
46 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
the men and the means forthcoming it could be indefinitely extended*.
Mr. Welch visited the Yanktons thirty-three miles up the river. Their
corncrop had failed from drought, they were very hungry. He promised
to see what he could do at Washington as to having them put on the same
footing as to rations as the rest of the Sioux. Concerning the request for
a Mission he promised that work should be begun among them as soon as-
the man and the means could be found. A log church with small quarters-
attached for an Indian clergyman was begun in the autumn, and the Rev..
Paul Mazakute was sent from Santee in October to begin work. See the
beginning of the unfolding of the purpose of God in bringing the Santees-
to the Missouri, through great tribulation though it were, which by His
guiding hand should bring blessing and salvation to multitudes. The
story of the Yankton Mission up to the time of the arrival of our Bishop-
was written out a good many years ago. It will be found in a supplement
at the end of this history of the Indian Missions.
On the first of June 1870 occurred the cyclone which swept out of ex-
istence the Chapel, Mission, House, and not quite completed Hospital of
the Santee Missions. A white carpenter, Mr. Davis, and a half-blood
painter, Alfred Miller, working in the hospital were killed. Although the-
whole Mission family with two or three other persons were in the Mission/
House, eleven or twelve persons, and were buried in the ruins, not one
was seriously injured; only two or three slightly. As soon as the storm:
abated the Indians came running to 'their assistance from every quarter
and with profuse tears and kisses as they were extricated car-
ried them off to their cabins and teepes. Indians are stolid you
know! The loss seemed irreparable. Scarce anything was left ex-
cept the clothing the parties had on, Again the records of the Mission
were destroyed. One or two leaves of the Parish Register were picked up-
far away and one or two leaves of that English Bible saved by the Indian
woman at the outbreak eight years before.
Mr. Hinman immediately set to work to put up a temporary log
church and dwelling. The family was temporarily occupying a low log
government warehouse consisting of one or two apartments. Later in the
summer Mr. Welsh came out, and urged that buildings more permanent,
and sightly than cottonwood logs be constructed, promising to see that the
funds were not wanting. Taking the log pens already in position as a
foundation there gradually grew out of them that quaint rambling structure-
with its turrets, gables, corners, pinnacles, tower and nooks which was the
wonder of the Indians and the rude border people, and in which was sunk
an untold sum of money which could have been laid out to far better ad-
vantage to the Missions and the comfort and convenience of those who-
lived and worked in the house, cr worshipped in the Church, and which re-
sulted in misunderstandings and mutual loss of confidence between Mr.
Hinman and the best friends and supporters of the Mission. It was a sad
lack of good judgment and did much harm.
In the meantime the Santees began to look out for permanent locations-
in the very hilly country where they had been placed. The whole of the:
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 47
little valley of the tortuous Horse Creek, or East Bazille, and of the main
Bazille were taken up. Many were now from twelve to twenty or more
miles from the Church. It was necessary to establish a chapel for them.
In the course of time the Chapel of the Blessed Redeemer was built
the means contributed by the Society of the Double Temple of New York
City. Rev. Paul Mazakute was placed in charge of it July, 1871. To the
east of the Church another Chapel. became necessary, and the small Chap-
el of the.Holy Faith, was built on the^bottom land opposite Bonhomme; and
since moved several miles back from the river and enlarged to more than
double its original size. Services were maintained by the Deacons or
Catechists.
In the summer of 1870 two young men who for a couple of years or
more had had the privilege of training at the Mission House, Philadelphia,
returned home to Santee, the one, Mr. Luke C. Walker remaining there as
Catechist and student; and the other, Mr. Daniel W. Hemans, going to the
Yankton Mission as Catechist, Student and Interpreter.
On the 5, of October, the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the
Santee Mission, the Clergy, Catechists and delegates from the two Missions
came together at Santee and organized a convocation, designing by this
means to keep the whole of the workers in their field in touch, and for
mutual encouragement, and discussion of problems peculiar to the Indian
work. The Journal together with the Constitution was printed and widely
circulated, and attracted considerable notice, partly on account of the
ideas of the Indian members on certain subjects discussed, and partly on
account of the advanced nomenclature by which its officers were designat-
ed. The Church world has moved since then, and Archdeacons and Deans
are as numerous now as blackberries, at least in South Dakota.
In the spring of 1871 the Rev. J. Owen Dorsey was sent out by Mr.
Welsh to begin work among the little tribe of Poncas, numbering 735 souls
situated on a reserve at the junction of the Niobrara and the Missouri
rivers opposite the Yanktons. Later Mr. Dorsey's mother, Mrs. Stanforth
joined him. Having a talent for the acquisition of languages he set vigor-
ously to work to acquire the Ponca and reduce it to writing, at the same
time that he taught a day school, which had for a year or more been under
the instruction of Mr. James Lawrence, a communicant of the Church, who
some years afterwards was appointed U. S. Agent for the Poncas. Mrs.
Stanforth devoted herself to the relief of the sick and suffering, of whom
there were many, and to work among the women. The following year,
1872, she was obliged from ill health to retire for several months from the
work, and Miss Amelia Ives, Miss E. Nichols, and sister Mary Graves of
the Bishop Potter Memorial House, Philadelphia, were sent to that point,
the first and last named from thence giving twenty-five years of most valu-
able and self-denying labors in different parts of the field in different ca-
pacities.
In June 1872 members of the Executive Committee of the Indian Com-
mission of the Board of Missions, consisting of the Rev Dr.- Paddock,
afterwards bishop of Olympia, Mr. Welsh and Col. Kimber, visited the
.48 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
Mission, and the last two named made a tour of observation to the agencies
up the river. While at Ponca Agency a service was held on the. site of
the church and Mission House, then in process of building, and seventeen
persons were baptized the first fruits of the Mission. To complete the
story of the Ponca Mission before passing on to others in chronological
order In August, 1873; after Bishop Hare had taken charge, Mr. Dorsey
and his mother, from continued ill health, were constrained to retire from
. the work. After a few years of work. in parishes in Virginia and Maryland
still pursuing the study 'of -the Siouxan branch of Indian tongues, he was
at length employed in the Ethnological Bureau of the Smithsonian Insti-
tute where he could best pursue the bent of his mind, which has resulted
in some monumental works on the Ponca, Omaha, .Pawnee, and other
cognate dialects of. the Siouxan language. He died a few years ago in
Washington. After his retirement the Mission was, conducted by Dr.
Richard Gray, a candidate for Holy Orders, until the removal of the : tribe
to the Indian Territory in the spring of 1877, when they passed beyond the
jurisdiction of our Bishop. About a third of the tribe, dissatisfied with
their new location whither they had been taken to save them from the
periodical raids of the Upper Brules and Ogalallas, broke away led by
Standing Bear and insisted upon returning to their former home. They
were finally permitted to remain and lands in severally were allotted to
them. They number about 250 souls. The Congregationalists have since
their return tried'to to control them religiously and have maintained a
Sunday service. For years a minister of that body was the sub-agent and
government school teacher. They have no organized congregation, and
so far as report goes, neither sacrament has been celebrated. Being on
the opposite side of the river from the Chapel of the Holy Home, Yankton
Mission, after a time they began to seek the sacrament of baptism for their
children, and asked for the services of the church on their side of the
river. Since 1893 occasional services have been given at the agency in the
government school house, and last winter a pretty little chapel, costing
$750, was opened. Out of 250 there are now 143 baptized' persons, 25 who
have been confirmed, and 25 communicants. St. John's chapel is attached
to the Santee Mission. "Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt
find it after many days."
To resume the thread of the story of the Santee Mission. At the visi-
tation of Bishop Clarkson in May, 1871, Mr. Luke C. Walker and Mr.
Daniel W. Hemans were made deacons, the former to remain at Santee;
the latter still to assist at the Yankton Mission.
On a beautiful day of November, the 22, the Rev. Philip W. Johnson
started out deer hunting, lightly dressed, declining to take some 'matches
which his mother offered him, saying he would not be : gone long. The
wind suddenly changed and a fearful blizzard burst over the region.
Philip did not return. It was supposed he had taken refuge in some
Indian's or settler's house. Becoming alarmed at his. absence so long after
the storm, search was made in every direction. About a week after the
storm two of his little brothers, playing by the bluff near which they lived,
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 49
s-unning- into a ravine, were horrified to see a human hand protruding from
a snow-drift. It proved to be Philip's. He had perished about one hun-
dred and fifty yards from his mother's cabin. His death was a great loss
to the Mission and the tribe, and his untimely death was universally
mourned.
As a result of the explorations of the executive committee in June,
1872, the outposts were extended. Sister Anna Prichard, who was placed
at the Yankton Mission in 1870, arid the following spring sent to Santee,
was now sent to Crow Creek to begin work among the Yanktonnais. Mr.
Walter S. Hall who had joined the Yankton Missions as teacher in 1870,
with Miss Leigh was sent to Lower Brule.
The burning zeal of Mr. Welsh for the work among the Indians, in his
desire to find workers to enter the fields so rapidly opening to the Church, led
him to visit Berkley Divinity School and present his appeal to the students
there. Two men offered themselves on the completion of their studies,
Mr. "Henry Swift and Mr. H. Burt, and a third, the Rev. Wm. J. Cleveland
who was already in parish work at Scranton, Pennsylvania, concluded to
follow them. The two former came out in the summer and proceeded to
study the language and get some insight of the peculiar work. Mr. Swift
had been ordained to the Deaconate. At the visitation of Bishop Clarkson
in September, Mr. Burt was made Deacon at Santee. In the autumn Mr.
Burt was placed at Crow Creek, and held his first service there October 23;
Mr. Swift at Cheyenne River Agency, and held his first service there
October 20. Mr/Cleveland resigned his parish and came a little later and
was assigned to Lower Brule where Miss Leigh and Mr. Hall were station-
ed, and Miss Steitler was now sent to assist Miss Leigh.
On August 25, nine months after the death of the Rev. Philip W.
Johnson, the Santee Mission was again afflicted by the death of the Rev.
Christian Taopi who was ordained at the same time with Philip. An older
man than the latter, never strong in body, but full of faith, earnestness and
patience, he was much beloved by the people and his death bewailed.
THE NIOBRARA MISSION.
We have now in our meagre sketch of the more prominent events of
the Mission reached the point when, in the judgment of the House of
Bishops and the Board of Missions, it was desirable to emphasize its im-
portance, and to keep the different parts and the workers in touch as the
Mission was extended and they became more and more widely separated,
and to give it the authoritative and careful personal oversight and direc-
tion which was impossible while it was simply an incident in the work of
Bishop Clarkson, burdened with the new diocese of Nebraska, to which
was added the Missionary District of all of what is now North and South
Dakota. There was at the time prominent in the minds of many of the
best friends of the Mission, and many others, the idea that as it was a
peculiar work requiring different methods from those among English-
speaking white people, and that as the latter, who were brought in contact
with the aborigines on the border, were almost always hostile, and usually
50 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
hated or despised them, in other words the two races were incompatible,,
that the work would be best promoted by having a head who would be the
Bishop to and for the Indians only. The question has been more thorough-
ly discussed in later years, and seems to have been settled, that the scheme
is not in accordance with the best Catholic teaching and practice, and
only admissible in the case of a Coadjutor Bishop in a particular diocese*
temporarily charged with a special oversight of a race within its borders.
And even thus complications would be likely to arise.
In order to establish a basis for comparison of what the work was-
when the Bishop of Niobrara was elected, and its later growth under his.
charge, let us sum up to the point at which we have arrived, the close of
1872.
CLERGY: White 6 Priests 2; Deacons 4.
Indian 3 Priests i ; Deacons 2. Total q.
Samuel D. Hinman, Priest in charge of the Santee Mission.
Joseph W. Cook, Priest in charge of the Yankton Mission.
J. Owen Dorsey, Deacon in charge of the Ponca Mission.
William J. Cleveland, Deacon in charge of the Lower Brule.
H. Burt, Deacon in charge of the Yanktonais Mission.
Henry Swift, Deacon in charge of the Cheyenne River Mission.
Paul Mazakute, Priest in charge of the Chapel of the Blessed Redeem-
er, Santee Mission.
Daniel W. Hemans, Deacon of the Church of our Most Merciful
Saviour, Santee Mission.
Luke C. Walker, Deacon of the Church of the Holy Fellowship, Yank-
ton Mission.
Indian Catechists.
SANTEE MISSION William Hemans, Alexander Frazier, Paul L.
Manikiya.
YANKTON MISSION David Tatiyopa, Sales P. Walker, Edward Y..
Oohiye, Baptiste W. DeFond.
CHEYENNE MISSION George I. Ouinn.
Women, Teachers or otherwise:
Santee Mission, Mrs. Hinman and Miss Emily Y. West.
Yankton Mission, Miss Anna M. Baker and Mrs. Annis Long.
Ponca Mission, Mrs. Stanforth, Miss Amelia Ives, and Sister Mary-
Graves.
Lower Brule Mission, Miss Mary J. Leigh and Miss Lizzy Stiteler.
Yanktonnais Mission, Sister Anna Prichard.
Men, Teachers.
Yankton Mission, Mr. John Robinson.
Lower Brule Mission, Mr. Walter S. Hall.
Women 10; Men 2; Total 12.
Churches and Chapels.
Three frame Chapels and one Church; of logs, four Total 8..
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 51
Residences for Clergy or Catechists four; all but one built in connec-
tion with the Church or Chapel; all but one of logs.
THE BISHOP OF NIOBRARA.
On the festival of All Saints 1872 the Rev. Wm. Hobart Hare, Secre-
tary of the Foreign Committee of the Board of Missions, was elected Mis-
sionary Bishop of Niobrara, accepted the appointment in December, and
was consecrated the ninth of January 1873, and after closing up personal
and official affairs, left the east for the Indian country on the 7th of April.
The jurisdiction assigned to him consisted of all that part of what is now
South Dakota lying west of the rtfissouri. river; including also the several
Indian Reservations on the left bank of the Missouri, north and east of
said river. To give unity and compactness to the effort of the Church for
the Indian tribes, the House of Bishops passed the following resolution:
RESOLVED: That the Missionary Bishop of Niobrara be authorized
to take charge of such work among the Indians, east of the Rocky Moun-
tains, as may be transferred to his oversight by the Bishop within whose
jurisdiction such work may lie.
The Bishop of Wisconsin accordingly transferred the Oneida Mission;
the Bishop of Nebraska, the Santee Mission; and later the Bishop of
Colorado, the Shoshone and Bannock Mission in Wyoming.
After making a most interesting visit to the Oneida Mission, the Bishop
went south to study the conditions in the Indian Territory, and thence
north to Omaha to confer with Bishop Clarkson, who until then had had
charge of the Missions to the Santees, Poncas and Yanktons. He reached
his own jurisdiction the latter part of April, staying some days at Santee;
He there found, at the Bazille, our faithful and only Indian Presbyter,
Paul Mazakute, dying of consumption. He fell asleep May 12, leaving a
fragrant and inspiring memory with all who were privileged in knowing
him .
From thence the Bishop came next to the Ponca Mission. Crossing
the river to the eastern side on May 8th he visited the Chapel of the
Holy Nanie at the mouth of Choteau Creek, and the same evening reached
Yankton agency, which from henceforth for a number of years was to be
his headquarters.
Under the so-called "peace policy" of President Grant the different
religious bodies of the United States had been requested to take a kind of
supervision and responsibility for the management of Indian Agencies as-
signed to each, and for which they were requested to nominate agents.
All the Sioux Agencies in Dakota Territory with the exception of the Sis-
seton, where the A. B. C. F. M. had work, and the Devils Lake, where the
R. Catholics had a Mission, were assigned to our Board of Missions.
We were particularly fortunate, at the time of our Bishop's coming, in hav-
ing as Agent the Rev. John G. Gasmann, a Clergyman of the Church,
whose excellent wife w?s a sister of Bishop Clarkson. On account of
som? bronchial trouble he was unable regularly to exercise his ministry,.
52 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
and had accepted this government position as offering a field of usefulness.
With a big heart full of love and pity for the helpless, miserable, untutored
heathen, supported by a wise and eminently practical head and excellent
executive ability, he entered with enthusiasm upon the work of lifting up
and starting on the road to civilization and self-support the 2000 Yanktons.
He remained in charge for six years and accomplished a great work which
will remain, and left his position with the universal regret of both races,
He was a powerful and a sympathising helper in all Christian work among
the Indians. The Bishop in his new and,untried work found in him a wise
and helpful adviser.
THE REGIONS BEYOND.
The Bishop having visited all of the seven or eight stations where
regular and organized work had been maintained for a longer or shorter
time, and which could be reached one from the other in a very few hours;
and having studied their condition, work and needs, now prepared for his
primary visitation up the river to the newly established Missions and the
wild people among whom they were .placed. The distance from Yankton
Agency to the nearest was over one hundred, and to the farthest three
hundred or more miles. The road lay back from the river and through a
desolate country without inhabitants, save at long stages where a couple
of desperate looking men, or a white man with an Indian family kept the
"stage-ranche" at the crossing of a creek where there might be running
water, or quite as often only a water-hole in the bed of what was some-
times a torrent, and again for many months without water save as describ-
ed. The "ranche" a low log hut, sometimes two placed near together, the
one for the accommodation of travelers, the other for the occupants, and
where the wretched food was prepared. The latter usually consisted of poor
bacon swimming in grease, and soda or saleratus biscuit, often as yellow as
gold and smelling like soft soap from the excess of alkali. Sometimes fortu-
nately it was varied by potatoes, often wretchedly cooked, and luxury of
luxuries, stewed dried apples, and coffee prepared by adding a little fresh
coffee to the grounds of any number of previous brewings, and in a pot
which never knew a cleansing. If pretense of a table cloth there were, it
consisted of a piece of worn oil-cloth mopped with the dish-clout after the
meal. The table was used as a lounging place or card-table by the occu-
pants of the "ranche" between times. The roofs were of earth supported on
poles whole or split, with some hay under the earth. By mice, or by natural
gravitation, or by force of the wind, the earth often came peppering doAvn,
and when 'it rained heavily drops or streamlets of mud Avere hard to es-
cape. The floors were usually the virgin earth, and became saturated
Avith filth, and the abode of innumerable fleas Avhich made life
AV retched by day, or until the weary traveller sought relief in bed. Ah
those beds! the acme of luxury! so sleep-inviting to tired, tormented flesh!
A dirty tick stuffed Avith coarse slough hay, unevenly disposed, no sheets;
blankets or quilts, in constant use, seldom or never aired or Avashed, calico
or muslin pillowcases, sometimes very dirty. Not to shoAV himself entirely
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 53
devoid of kindness to the low^r animals, the tired traveller usually too'k to
bed with him a few of the aforementioned fleas. . But he soon found there
were other orders of creation which demanded his attention, or thirsted
for his blood, and like Solomon's "daughter of the horse-leech metaphoric-
ally cried, "give, give." And so between the two he dozed, and tossed, and
woke till the morning released him, and he arose more wretched and tired
than he had lain down. He tastes the uniform meal and starts again on his
weary way.
The Bishop's vehicle was not a charrot,' nor yet a covered carriage,
with the arms of his see emblazoned on its panels, and with soft, luxur-
ious cushions, and scientifically constructed springs tenderly guarding the
body from jars and jolts; but the ordinary light-wagon of the west, with no
cover, and with common cushions. In such how often and long has he
fared along under the canopy of heaven, with the blazing sun stream-
ing down its resistless heat; not even "a great rock in a weary land." nor
even a spreading tree, nor even a juniper bush to change the monotony of
the scene or offer a temporary rest; rarely even a gopher, or a little prairie
bird suddenly appearing out of somewhere and as suddenly disappearing
into nowhere, to attract his attention and change the current of his
thoughts. Only the magnificent distances stretching out on every side
which seemed like Tennyson's Brook to "go on and on forever." And then
imagine what it was when this monotony was varied by the frequent occur-
rence in this part of the country of wind and dust storms which often last
for days; sudden down pours of rain, often accompanied by hail frightful
to man and beast; dry water-courses suddenly turned into torrents im-
passible, which may not subside for many hours, and no refuge of any sort
within a days travel, or more. The Bishop has experienced what many of
us may not have known, a "dry camp" and a "wet camp;" the former try-
ing to man and the worn out horses because not a drop of water can be
found to slack their burning thirst or refresh the travel-stained hands and
face; and the latter because there has been too much, and the forlorn
traveller and all his "traps" are soaked and draggled, and the ground and
herbage where he is compelled to camp is wet as wet can be. Fortunate
is he who under the circumstances finds his matches dry, and succeeds in
lighting the wet twigs and branches he may be able to find for his .camp-
fire to dry his garments and warm his food. Or when impelled to travel
through such a country in the more inhospitable and dangerous season of
winter with its frequent very low temperature, snow storms and frightful
"blizzards," streams filled with ice to ford, or to venture on uncertain ice,
or pierced and pinched with the stinging winds which never lull, from
which there is no shelter, and against which fur coats and robes are not
always a protection. Such items as these are necessary lo fill out the pic-
ture of the bodily discomforts and perils, nay, sufferings, to "fill up that
which is behind," in carrying the gospel of the grace of God to the heathen
Dakotas.
Of course there is another and pleasanter side to the picture. For in
favorable weather, with a proper tent, and carefully selected camping out-
54 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
fit and well provided larder of canned and cooked food, and an active,
common-sense driver as travelling companion, camping may be more or
less pleasant and refreshing, especially when it comes as a change from
the maddening crowd and carking care and the weary round. But when
it was for many years the ordinary and only way of getting about the Nio 7
brara jurisdiction, it must have been dreadfully monotonous and trying
even under the most favorable circumstances. It is the only way still,
but a large part of the journeyings by wagon to reach the different Mis-
sions is now superseded by the railways east of the river and in Nebraska,
which touch the borders of the Indian country; so that the former method
is now necessary within the reservations mostly,
At Mission Stations, Agencies and Millitary Posts the Bishop was al-
ways cordially welcomed and found temporary rest and refreshment.
On the primary visitation referred to, a Sunday was spent at the lower
Briile Mission. A service was held in the log Mission House, and the
Bishop solemnized the marriage of the Rev. Mr. Cleveland and Miss Lizzie
Stiteler. The effort here did not seem to be very cordially responded to
by the Indians; they did not seem ready to receive the Gospel, and. in a
few months the work was temporarily suspended, and Mr. and Mrs. Cleve-
land were stationed at St. Phillip's, White Swan, Yankton Mission. At
Crow Creek Mr. Burt and Sister Anna Prichard with kind co-operation of
the Agent, Mr. H. F. Livingstone, a nominee of the Board of Missions,
were working quietly in buildings put at their service by the Government.
Mr. Swift was found living in a log hut in Spotted Cloud's camp opposite
Fort Sully, with an erratic half-blood Santee as Catechist, with no com-
panionship except that of the Indians, unless he sought it at Fort Sully,
where he held services, or at the Agency a good many miles up the river,
where he also held services in English. It was thought best for him to
locate himself more centrally at the Agency.
There were yet bodies of Indians in the Bishop's jurisdiction larger
than any of those among whom work had been begun, but for various and
sufficient reasons the Bishop deferred visiting them until later. He had
now taken a view of the whole situation and was able intelligently to map
out his plan of campaign. Yankton Agency he chose as his residence;
although not central, yet in most direct communication with the east, and
most favorable for departure to points up the river, and to the west, if the
work should be extended to the Red Cloud and. Spotted Tail Agencies.
The Church 6f the Holy Fellowship he designated his cathedral.
From his observations in the Indian Territory and on his primary
visitation in his own jurisdiction, he became convinced that the boarding
school ought to be one of the most prominent features of Missionary work
among uncivilized people. He therefore set vigorously to work to supply
this need, which all along in the older Missions had been felt and greatly
longed for. The executive committee generously responded to the Bish-
op's advice, and before the close of the year St. Paul's school for Indian
boys was opened to pupils at Yankton Agency, in a chalkstone building
41x56, two stories high, with a basement, and a wing 26x18. The Bishop
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 55
"himself was for a time the principal, Mrs. M. E. Duigan the first house-
mother, and Mr. Walter S. Hall the first teacher. This was the first board-
ing school of any kind, for either race, erected within the limits of South
Dakota. And here began the blessed work, soon extended by the esr
tablishment of other schools for one sex or both, which has sent its streams
of blessing to all our Missions and to all parts of the Niobrara jurisdiction.
Native Clergy, Catechists, Helpers, Teachers, Clerks, Agency employes,
Farmers and others mention with pride that they had their first training
in civilization and books at St. Paul's school, and became practically ac-
quainted with what Christianity really means. As in all departments of
this naughty world, of all the seeds matured and dropped into the soil
only a portion germinate, and of this portion only a part are perfected and
faring forth fruit, so of this school work. Yet the return justifies the labor
and expense involved; and it is an evil clay indeed, and greatly to be de-
precated, when any one of them through lack of means to support it must
be given up.
The same is true, as of the boys' schools, so of the girls. In visiting
the homes of the people one notices at once the difference between those
kept by women who have had training in' our girls' schools and those who
have had no training. The same is noticeable in our congregations, and
in our Woman's Societies and Guilds.
In August the Bishop called together at the Santee Mission the first
of his Convocations. During its session he held, August 8th, his first ordina-
tion, when Mr. Win. A. Schubert was made Deacon, and the Rev. Wm.
J. Cleveland and the Rev. Daniel W. Hemans were advanced to the Priest-
'hood. That first Convocation compared with his twenty-fifth was a small
affair:
FIRST CONVOCATION. TWENTY-FIFTH.
Missions, ' 6 n
Stations, 10 83
Clergy, 8 17
Catechists. 9 58
Delegates, 15 139
People. * 100 about 2000
It was a contrast in the appearance and intelligence of the delegates
and people in attendance, the greater part having then but a dim percep-
tion of wherefore they had come together; now, with a clean knowledge
that it is for the furtherance of the kingdom of God among them and their
people. Then more concerned about rations and clothing, and accom-
plishing some scheme at Washington, or some temporal benefit from the
Church and the Bishop; now most of the younger generation as well as
many of /the older understanding that we seek to promote the things which
belong unto their peace. It was a contrast in their ignorance then of the
rules and customs in conducting a deliberative body, and the orderly way
an which it is conducted now; in their inability to confine themselves to
the question under discussion, each man when he got the floor insisting
uipon throwing out then and there anything which was uppermost in his
56 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
mind, whether it had anything to do with the subject in hand or not; and
now generally threshing out the question to a conclusion. Then no annex
assemblies of woman's societies to confer together to promote their
gracious and most helptul work; now, the numerous delegates from 85 or
90 ST-.ieties or Guilds bringing their reports of work done at home, and
the results, amounting to hundreds of dollars for aiding the Church workr
nor then, Men's Brotherhood of Christian Unity, and St. Andrew's Brother-
hood; but now coming together from all parts of the Indian field to dis-
cuss their work and bring their offerings.
One other important item is to be noted before the end of the Bishop's
first year, viz: The opening of St. Mary's School for girls at the Santee
Mission, for which a part of the large building there was adapted. Miss-
Clara M. Kerbach and Sister Mary Graves were put in charge.
In the year 1874 is to be noted the enlargement of the Crow Creek
Mission following the change in the attitude of the people, which had been
indifferent. A small Girls School under Sisters Olive M. Roberts and
Sophie Pendleton, was in operation at the Agency. Two new stations
were opened: Christ Church, some miles above the Agency, where Mr.
Burt and Sister Anna Prickhard labored; and the other, St. John the
Baptist, eight or ten miles below, where Mr. Ashley and George I. Quinn,
Catechist, were stationed.
Also at the Cheyenne Mission a Boys School under Miss Leigh and
Miss M. A. Hays was opened.
Also at the Yankton Mission an additional building named Emman-
uel Hall was erected in connection with the Cathedral, and a School for
Girls was opened under the care of the Misses S. M. Robbing, S. Francis
Campbell and Anna M. Baker.
The Bishop appointed a committee consisting of the Rev. Messrs.
Hinman, Cook, Hemans and Walker, to revise such parts of the Book of
Common Prayer as were already in the Dakota language, and to translate
all other offices and adjuncts of the entire Book.
The following year, 1875, on the suggestion of the Bishop, a portion
consisting of the Daily Morning and Evening Prayer, Litany, Prayers
and Thanksgivings, Communion Office, Selections and Psalms, and all the
Collects with Epistles and Gospels only indicated, with the English on one
page and the Dakota equivalent on the opposite, called the Dakota-
English Service Book, was published, and brought great relief from the
embarrassment of conducting or joining in services with an insufficient
supply of books in a crude and very faulty translation.
We note that the spiritual care of the Oneidas and of the Shoshones
and Bannocks, which under the resolution of the House of Bishops was
allowed to be transferred to the Bishop of Niobrara, was relegated to the
Bishops transferring them.
The discovery of gold in the Black Hills, within the Missionary Dis-
trict of Niobrara, brought a great rush of white people to those parts, and
upset the idea which had prevailed when our Bishop was elected, viz.,.
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. ' 57'
that he was to be to and for the Indians only. Whether the white people
had come rightly or wrongly they were there to stay, and it was the-
Bishop's duty to be the Messenger of the Church to them as he should find,
opportunity. It was the opening wedge which led in 1883 to the extension
of his Jurisdiction over all of the .remainder of South Dakota.
The Rev. R. A. B. Ffennell joined the Mission and was put in charge
of St. John's School for Boys at Cheyenne, and ministered in English at
the Agency and Fort Sully, a Catechist under him, John Kitto, holding
services in Dakota, while Mr. Swift plunged further into the wilderness,,
establishing himself at Mackenzie's Point, twenty-five miles further up the
river.
This year also saw the opening of an entirely new effort among the .
Upper Brules, now called the Rosebud Mission. The location was five
day's journey from the nearest railroad station and from the nearest Mis-
sion, across a wild and almost trackless country. The Rev. Mr. Cleveland
and wife,, Miss Leigh and Sister Sophie Pendleton were the Church's
"forlorn hope" to attack this, one of the largest bodies of wild, turbulent
heathen in the Jurisdiction.
In 1876 the Bishop's incessant journeyings and exposure to the hard-
ships of border life, his weight of care and work, and responsibility in
laying foundations, and labors and anxieties to procure the means for
carrying on the whole work had brought on bodily ailments, and the state
of his health became alarming, An entire rest and change became neces-
sary, and the House of Bishops urged it. He went abroad, spent nine
months in Europe, and returned much refreshed and strengthened, and
resumed his work.
On March istthe Santee Mission was greatly afflicted by the death
of Mrs. Hinman. A beautiful headstone of pure white marble surmounted
by a cross erected near the Church of Our Most Merciful Saviour, by the
Santee women, in grateful, loving memory, bears silent testimony to one
who for fourteen years bore these poor people in her mind and heart, and
with the utmost sweetness, and patience, and love and labors beyond com-
putation, by tongue and hand taught and comforted and encouraged,,
strove to make them understand something of the love of Christ which
passeth knowledge, and lift them up that they might in His light see the-
blessedness of His face. Her husband testified of her: "She has done
more real Missionary work than I."
On Sept. 27th, Mr. Ffennell was shot and killed by a hostile Indian,,
while returning from the Agency with two of his pupils, and where he had
pleaded with the military officer for the release from the guard-house of
this same Indian who on some suspicion had been arrested. It was from
no personal animosity to the Missionary whom he did not know, nor did he
know of his interceding for him, but to wreak his vengeance on the hated
race from which he had, or fancied he had received an indignity, and Mr..
Ffennell was the first one whom he encountered outside of the Agency..
Although he boasted ot the deed in the hostile camp, and was well known,.
58 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
'he was never arrested and punished so weak and fearful at the time was
the military arm of the government in the Indian country. The act caused
great consternation lest it might be the prelude to a general onslaught of
the hostiles who were numerous in the vicinity, and well nigh, for the time
being, broke up the Cheyenne Mission. Mr. Swift and family were sent
for and brought to the Agency; John Kitto.the faithful and fearless Santee
catechist, taking his place at Mackenzie's Point.
Nov. 27th Mr. David Tatiyopa, one of the first Yankton catechists, was
made deacon; the first of Yankton blood admitted to holy orders. On
Dec. 3d, Mr. Walker, Santee deacon, was advanced to the priesthood.
The Lower Brule Mission, three years suspended, was resumed by
transferring Mr. Burt from the Crow Creek Mission,
The Bishop notes for the year 1877, w ' tn thankfulness, that it has been
one of unprecedented prosperity to the Niobrara Mission in the improved
condition of the boarding schools, attendance at the day schools for which
the Bishop had contracted with the government, large congregations, the
desire for churches and schools among the tribes not yet reached, the large
number baptized 183 infants, 100 adults 151 confirmed, and IT candi-
dates for Holy Orders.
On June 24th Mr. Swift was advanced to the priesthood, and Nov. 25th
Mr. Ashley was made deacon. Three frame churches had been finished-
Christ Church, Lower Brule; St. John the Baptist, Lower Camp; and St.
Thomas, Crow Creek Agency.
In 1876 it had been noted that Mr. Cleveland, of the Upper Brule
Mission, had occasionally held services at the Red Cloud Agency, although
it was forty miles distant from his mission. Mr. John Robinson, who
joined the Yankton Mission in 1871 as a missionary teacher, afttr serving
some years, having studied a couple of years at the Divinity School,
Philadelphia, was made deacon by Bishop Stevens, acting for Bishop
Hare, June 1876. On his return to the Jurisdiction he was sent in Septem-
ber to begin regular work at the Red Cloud Agency, accompanied by the
Rev. Mr. Walker, whose stay was to be temporary.
In 1878 the government desiring to make the Upper Brule and Red
Cloud Agencies more accessible, as well as to bring those large tribes
nearer to civilizing influences, removed them from the remote wilderness to
the river the former to the country vacated by the Poncas, who had been
removed to the Indian Territory, and the latter to that portion now within
the Standing Rock Reserve. Our Missions to both were temporarily sus-
pended. However, Mr. Robinson soon after settled in the temporary
camp at the New Red Cloud Agency. Mr. Cleveland became Principal of
St. Paul's School and Mrs. Cleveland the Housemother. The Rev. H. St.
George Young, who since early in 1871 had been the Principal of St.
Paul's School, together with Mr. Burt and Sister- Sophie C. Pendleton,
took up School and Mission work among the Upper Brules in the Chapel
and Mission House erected for the Poncas.
THK NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 59
On March 3ist the Rev. Daniel W. Hemans fell asleep. Since the
4eath of the lamented Mazakute he had been in charge of the Chapel of
the Blessed Redeemer, Bazille, Santee Mission. The Bishop wrote of him:
""Rescued from Barbarism when a boy by Missionary effort, and educated
*for the Sacred Ministry, he was ordained Deacon, and in 1873 advanced to
the Priesthood. By his simple piety, blameless Jife and faithfulness in his
ministry, he became the comfort of his associates in the Ministry, and an
honor to the Niobrara Mission. His knowledge of the Scriptures was
great. They were the joy of his heart, and his power to translate with
spirit and point into the language of his own people was remarkable. The
-work of the last years of his life was the translation of the Psalter for the
Dakota Prayer Book."
The Rev. S. D. Hinman after eighteen years of work in the Mission
was superseded in the Santee Mission by the Rev. W. W. Fowler. Mr.
Amos Ross, Santee, was ordained Deacon and assisted Mr. Fowler.
A section of the Santee tribe under the Chief, David Weston, withade-
sire to become really like white men and citizens, and to leave Agency and
.tribal matters behind, had left the Agency in 1869 and 1870 and gone to the
region of what is now Flandreau, taken claims and sought to make their
living independently. About half of them were members of the Church,
the remainder Presbyterians. David acted as Catechist. A rude log
Church was finally built. Ever since the Bishop's coming to his jurisdic-
tion they had been pleading piteously to be taken under his care. Terri-
torially they were outside, but constructively, as Santees, were legitimately
within his cure. In July the Bishop paid a most interesting visit to them
.and steps were taken to build them a church; part of the funds for which
were contributed in the Niobrara Mission, the rest by the ladies of St.
Thomas Church, New York. It became the memorial to Mrs. Hinman.
The number of boarding schools maintained involved very heavy ex-
pense. During the first years of awakened interest and enthusiasm at the
east for the evangelization of the Indians, when the contributions for the
work were very large, much more than those of any other Christian body,
they were easily supported. But the rest of the work had greatly expand-
ed, involving corresponding expense. It was deemed necessary to retrench
somewhat. Emmanuel Hall, for girls, in connection with the Cathed-
ral was closed and merged in St. Mary's School, Santee, the log portion of
the buildings which it had occupied removed, and the frame part altered
became the residence of the Yankton Missionary recently married. Mrs.
Julia A. Draper last in charge was made a. Deaconess and ministering
woman in the Yankton Mission.
In 1879 the upper Brules being dissatisfied with tne ' r location at the
mouth of the Niobrara on the lauds formerly occupied by the Poncas, their
enemies, from whom they said the country "stank," were againremoved one
hundred and fifty miles further west into the wilderness, on the Rosebud
from which their new Agency, Reserve, and our Mission have since taken
their name. Mr. Cleveland's friends among the people begged him to re-
turn to them. He accordingly resignedthe headship of St. Paul's School
60 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
and in January was succeeded by the Rev. W. V. Whitten of Nebraska.
The Red Cloud people, Ogalallas, were likewise dissatisfied, and in-
sisted upon going back to the region from which they were removed..
Mr. Robinson followed them to Pine Ridge, which was the name of their
new Agency and Reserve and Mr. Burt joined him. Mr. P. C. Wolcott,
a white candidate for Holy Orders who had spent some time as a teacher
at St. Paul's, having now graduated from the General Theological Semi-
nary was ordered Deacon in New York and sent to the assistance of the
two Deacons at work at Pine Ridge, and all were under the charge of Mr.
Cleveland as Priest, although he was 150 miles removed almost four times-
as far away as when he first acted in that capacity.
The Church of Jesus, Rosebud Agency, was erected and was immedi-
ately crowded by the lately roving and much-removed horde. St. Mary's-
School, now under the charge of Miss Ives and Sister Mary Graves, with
Miss Alice M. Bell as associate, rejoiced in their new St. Agnes Dormi-
tory, the gift of Mrs. Wm. B, Astor. Mr. Young was sent to take charge of
St. Mary's Church, Flandreau.
In the Autumn the Bishop opened a new school for Indian children in.
Springfield, at first for boys, but later for both sexes, testing his reasoning
that it would be better for their advancement to separate them entirely
from direct contact with their people, and yet not removing them so far
away that their parents could not reach them in case of sickness, or that
either party need be worried by their distance from each other. The citi-
zens of Springfield aided generously in the enterprise. An old hotel with
large grounds attached was made available and the school begun. The
Rev. Abdiel Ramsay was principal, Mrs. E. E. Knapp, housemother, and
Mr. Edward li. Davves, teacher. Hope School has abundantly proved the
wisdom of the Bishop's reasoning. It has been one of the most successful
of our schools, especially in the training of girls, to which in later years it
has been confined. Alas! that from the stringency of the past few years
and lack of the means to sustain so good and fruitful a work, it was deemed
necessary to close it as a church school and lease the property to the gov-
ernment! Although it continues under the same excellent head as for
some years before, the Rev. W. J. Wicks, it has lost its distinctive char-
acter and excellence as a church school, and the Dakotas are in-so-far
losers thereby.
The Rev. L. C. Walker, who had for several years successively in
charge the Chapel of the Holy Name, Choteau Creek, and the Chapel of
St. Philip. White Swan, Yankton Mission, was now put in charge of the
Lower Brule Mission the first experiment of putting a native priest in,
that responsible position.
The year iSSi is marked by the establishment of a new mission that
to the Sissetons. These people are a branch of the Santees, who at the time
of the troubles of 1862 fled to or towards the British Possessions, but were
finally gathered to their present location, the northeast part of the state.
The American. Board had a Mission there, and there had been a tacit un-
derstanding with the government under the "peace policy '' that the
' THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 6l
religious bodies to whom the care of Agencies was committed would not
interfere with one another. Hence, although a few of the people who had
become members of the church while in Minnesota, and many others de-
sired the extension of the Mission to them, and for years had pleaded for
it, and in 1877 had sent a strong delegation to Convocation to urge it, the
Bishop could not see his way clear to enter in. It is to be remarked that
other bodies were not^o careful to respect the understanding, nay, claimed
the right to go wherever their inclination led them. This being the case,
and on visiting the Agency finding the Agent and the Presbyterian Mis-
sionary not opposed, but rather of the opinion that the Church would reach
an element there which they could not, the Bishop saw his way clear and
sent Mr. Ashley to that field. St. Mary's Church and Mission House near
the Agency was built, and two outlying statious opened.
The Mission had now been extended to cover all the different reserves
;and bodies of Indians within the district with one exception. That one
was under the care of the Roman Catholic Church. They had large
schools, a force of priests, sisters and lay helpers. It was very largely, if
not entirely, supported by the subsidies from the U. S. Government under
the contract system. They had a clear field. Naturally they were anxious
-to keep all other religious bodies out of their field. But a good many
Indians there are related by blood or marriage to people of the other
Dakota tribes. They visit back and forth, they see and hear, and discuss
.and contrast the methods and teachings of the two systems. They think
they would prefer a Mission of the "white robes " rather than the "black
robes." And so there come to be invitations to "come over and help"
them. Mr. Switt, who had opened a new station on the Moreau which he
occupied himself, was not so very far removed. He visited the field in the
winter of 1883, and the following winter in company with the Bishop. In
August, 1885, the Church of St. Elizabeth, with parsonage attached, was
built on Oak Creek, 40 miles below the Standing Rock Agency. It was
the gift of Mrs. J. J. Astor. Mr. Ddoria, native Deacon, was placed in
charge under Mr. Swift, Priest in charge of the Cheyenne Mission, and
was succeeded by the Rev. F. M. Weddell, Deacon. On the retirement of
Mr. Weddell in 1889, Mr. Deloria, who is nearly related to some of the
principal families in the neighborhood, was again stationed there, under
the Rev. J. W. Handford, who on the retirement of Mr. Swift in 1887, be-
came the head of the Cheyenne Mission. On the elevation of Mr. Deloria
to the Priesthood in 1892, he was placed in charge of the Standing Rock
Mission the third instance of a native clergyman placed in that respon-
sible position. Four outlying stations have been opened, and although the
field is a difficult one by reason of the strong R. C. Mission with their
peculiar and often unscrupulous methods of opposition, it has been mark-
edly successful and encouraging. The work has been greatly strengthened
by the establishment, in 1890, of St. Elizabeth's Boarding School, for both
:sexes. From its inception Miss Mary S. Francis has been its devoted
principal. In the winter of 1897 the school building was destroyed by fire,
together with a fine school room which had just been completed. It
62 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
seemed a crushing blow, and priest and people were greatly distressed lest",
it might not be rebuilt. They did their best to show their appreciation of
the school and their anxiety that it should not be abandoned. They gave
what they could out of their poverty, and to our joy and their rejoicing, by
the recovered insurance on the buildings the Bishop has been able to re-
place them, and the school is again doing its blessed work.
On February I7th, 1884, the church, parsonage and St. Mary's School,.
Santee Mission, all connected together, were totally destroyed by fire..
The school was temporarily transferred across the river to the old hotel
buildings formerly occupied by Hope School, now occupying the beautiful
chalkstone building erected for it. Miss Ives and Sister Mary Graves
retired at the end of the school year, and in the autumn Mrs. Jane H.
Johnston who for some years had been the efficient Housemother of St..
Paul's School, was placed in charge as Principal, with Miss Francis as
Teacher. On the question of rebuilding St. Mary's it was urged that as.
the Santees were well provided with school and the tribe small, the fifteen
thousand souls on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reserves, for whom we
had not provided one boarding school, had claims which ought to prevail.
However in 1885 it was located and built on Antelope Creek ten miles east
of the Rosebud Agency, to which locality it was then thought the Agency
would be removed. This has not been done, but in 1897 the very exten-
sive and beautiful series of building for the Government Boarding School
of. that agency were erected within a mile of St. Mary's and it is not so
lonely as for some years it seemed. Mr. Cleveland acted temporarily as
the Principal.
The year 1887 was marked by several changes which gave us many-
sad and anxious thoughts. Mr. Cleveland after so many years of self-
denying and successful labor in the Mission, from various causes felt con-
strained to resign and return to the East. With a more accurate knowl-
edge of the language than any of his white associates, which fitted him
for any literary or critical work in preparing books or papers for publi-
cation, or translations in the language, or interpreting; with the love and
confidence not only of his fellow Missionaries, but of the Indians both of
his own particular field and throughout the Jurisdiction, his removal from
us was like the disappearance of the "tall pine" which has beautified and
marked the landscape. The gap seemed irreparable. 'However, after a
time returning to South Dakota and taking charge of Madison in con-
nection with which he had the care of the Indian congregation of St.
Mary's, Flandreau, and as the editor of our little Dakota journal, Anpao-
kiii, gave him membership again in our Niobrara Convocation, and in
successive years he was chosen Dean of Convocation. Alas! that he has
again escaped us and gone beyond our reach. After his retirement from
the Rosebud Mission it was for two or three years left without a compe-
lent head and suffered in consequence. The Rev. Mr. .Clark took charge
in 1891 and is still with us.
The Rev. Mr. Swift who for the same number of years had endured
many hardships in the Cheyenne River Mission, a very difficult field, and.
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 63.
had approved himself by abundant labors, resigned to accept a Chaplain-
cy in the U. S. Army, which he still holds. He was succeeded by the Rev.
J. W. Hanforcl, an Englishman, and one who had had experience as a Mis-
sionary in Africa. He entered upon the work with zeal and devotion and
gave promise of great usefulness. From an accident with a mower on
August 3d, 1888 he was so badly wounded, and no surgical assistance ob-
tainable for many hours, that he bled to death before the next morning.
The following year Mr. Ashley was from the Sisseton transferred to the
bereaved Mission, and the. Rev. Mr. Robinson put at the head of the Sisse-
ton Mission.
The Rev. Mr. Fowler who had served the Santee Mission with great
acceptance since 1878 was constrained by the illness of his wife to resign.
He was succeded by the Rev. C. B.Stroh who with consuming zeal and
love carried on the work until his greatly lamented death, August2ist, 1893.
The Santee Mission was placed under the charge of the Missionary to the
Yanktons, with, later on, a native Deacon, the Rev. Wm. Holmes, under
him in charge.
The Ogalalla or Pine Ridge Mission had from its inception been work-
ed by one, two, and, at onetime, three white Deacons resident in the field
under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Cleveland of the Rosebud Mission, liv-
ing 150 miles distant. On the elevation of the Rev. Charles S. Cook to the
Priesthood in 1886 he was placed in charge the second instance of put-
ting a Dakota in that responsible position. The tribe was large, some
8000 souls, scattered in bands along the streams in 'favorable
localities over an immense stretch of country. Mr Cook threw into the
great work before him all the intense earnestness of his nature, and love
and sympathy for his people. Stations and workers multiplied. A month-
ly visitation of his stations occupied seven or eight days of incessant travel
with services in one or two Chapels or Stations daily, with Communions,
baptisms and instructions. The work grew and flourished wonderfully.
A man of rare attractiveness personally, of intensely sympathetic nature,
one who had the best advantages of classical and theological training, and
yet had in no degree lost his sympathy for and interest in his people. His
education had not, as has often happened with smaller men, separated
him from his people. He attracted interest or aroused enthusiasm wher-
ever he went, either among Indians or white people. When on Good Fri-
day, April I5th, 1892, he died of hemorrhage, the tidings were received with
the profoundest sorrow throughout the Jurisdiction, and wherever he was
known. The following year the Rev. Charles E. Snavely was placed in
/ charge of the Mission, and the immense field was divided into two districts,
the one called the Corn Creek district being placed in the care of the Rev.
Amos Ross who for some years had been working within its limits. This
was the fourth and latest instance of an Indian Presbyter being placed at
the head of a Mission.
We have now, as briefly as seemed consistent with getting a general
and intelligent view of the Indian Mission within the limits of our Bishop's
field, glanced at the origin of each part, touched upon some of their insti-
64 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
tutions, and the vicissitudes of the work and the workers, within- the limit
of the allotted period. Evidently it is impossible to follow it into its
ramifications, interesting as each chapel and station in itself might be.
But how long and wearying is even the brief recital of the beginnings and
more prominent events, even had we confined ourselves to the quarter of a
century! It would be more interesting could we take a nearer view of the
people in their primitive state, and as they are now advancing in civili-
zation and Christianity. The great and important part which women have
born in the uplifting and redemption of this people, and in refining their
manners, as Ministering Women, Superintendents, Teachers and Helpers
in schools and in Mission work, Women's Societies and Guilds, by which
the Indian women, nay, the people themselves have been and are being
changed, Nor can the wonderful work which the Indian women have done
financially and by personal effort in helping along the work of the Church
at home and in other fields, be detailed. Likewise the important
work done by native Catechists and helpers; the moral support given the
Missionaries and the work by such Indian Chiefs as Wabashaw and others
among the Santees; Deloria and John Ree, White Swan and Mad-bull
among the Yanktons; Wizi among theYanktonnais; Little Pleasant and Big-
Mane among the Lower Brules; Striped-Cloud and Waanatan at the Chey-
enne River; Good-Voice and others at Rosebud; American-Horse and others
at Pine Ridge, besides many others, men of influence who have helped to
prepare the way and push on the chariot of the Lord's coming to their
people this and many other points must be left untouched.
We have not in its natural place noted the change which came to our
Bishop by the resolution of the House of Bishops in 1883, by which the
limits of his jurisdiction were extended to take in all the remainder of the
state of South Dakota. The change affected the Indian Mission only rela-
tively and incidentally. Our boundaries were not changed; the Missionary
District of Niobrara became the Western or Niobrara Deanery. It con-
tinued to have its own Convocation and convocational officers. No change
was made except that the Bishop ceased to reside in the Indian country.
His quanclom Cathedral of the Holy Fellowship simply became again the
Church of the Yankton Mission. The Bishop was no longer solely our
Bishop to so large an extent as he had been before; we had to share him
henceforth with our white brethren. Yet he strove to make us feel that
we were not, and would not be neglected, nor be less on his heart and mind
than before.
It is hardly necessary lo enlarge upon the growth of the Indian Mis-
sion under him through the twenty-five eventful years. We hope it has
been made evident enough as the story has been unfolded. From two
well established Missions and four incipient ones, the former to two tribes
in the extreme south-easter corner of his jurisdiction and the others scat-
tered along the Missouri, the work has been extended until it embraces all
the tribes within its bounds, with a firmly established mission among every
division of the Dakotas. Its growth has been marvellous, when we consider
all the obstacles and hindrances with which it has had to contend. Even
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 65
30 it has not been all that it might have been, could the Bishop have had
all the men and means which he could have used to advantage in the work.
But the work as it stands to-day bears eloquent testimony enough to the
devotion, energy and wisdom of him who in twenty-five years has planned,
and directed and built up such a work to the glory of God for the eleva-
tion arid salvation of a despised and downtrodden race.
Who in any small measure can enter into the burden of it? The
anxious thought and care, the weary explorations in the almost pathless
wilds to prepare the way of the Lord, the hardships of the pilgrimages,
the conferences with wild men often opposed to the white man's way and
utterly misunderstanding motives and needing to be dealt with
with 'so much tact and self restraint to make them see their own best
interests, and to save them from themselves; the disapointments and
discouragements arising from the failure, or unwisdom, or mistakes, or
desolating sins of some workers in the field; the lack of sympathy of some,
apathy and failure in others to enter heartily into his plans. And, again,
there is the financial burden enough in itself to crush any ordinary mor-
tal for the Bishop very soon discovered that it was left largely to him to
raise the funds, and he must go before the churchmen and churchwomen
of the east where the money and the interest in the work were, and inform
and plead, and call them to their duty and privilege to become fellow
workers with God and him in this field. The vexations of seeing golden
opportunities passing by. or the impossibility of enlargement of import-
ant work, and, sometimes, the curtailing or abandonment because the
funds were insufficient. Again the disbursement of the funds for often
''the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the cover-
ing narrower than that he can wrap himself in it." The funds whether
from while persons, or congregations, or societies, or from the Indians, who
in most cases have assisted according to their ability, for all the
many churches, chapels, parsonages and schools, have passed through the
Bishop's .hands, and the plans also have been devised or approved by him.
And then there is the correspondence, the incessant writing in the cars, in
camps, in the few minutes caught here and there while waiting, as well as
in hours stolen from much needed rest and sleep. And all this, and much
more, in a body often tortured by weakness and serious ailments, craving
rest and recuperation. Nolo episcopari, we are safe in saying, is the senti-
ment of most, if not all of us, although now and then there may be found
an Episcopal bee in the bonnet of some young inexperienced Deacon.
And now, our dear Bishop, in conclusion. Not many of us linger who
greeted you at your coming in 1873 not many of us to rejoice with you
and congratulate you on the completion of a quarter of a century of duty
and work well done. But whether our service under you has been long or
short, we all unite in offering our felicitations at what God has given you
the will and the ability to do for His glory among the race first committed
-.to your Episcopal care. Hundreds of them who have gone before, upon
whom you laid your hands in blessing, or whom you have helped and
folessed by your words and exhortations, now wait in paradise to thank
66 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
you for what you have done for their souls and bodies, Thousands more-
still in their pilgrimage, join with us who are here in thanking and prais-
ing God for what He through you has wrought for them and for the genera-
tions that will come after them. You have been to us all, clergy and peo-
ple, a shepherd, not a wolf; you have fulfilled the vow which you made, at
your consecration, that you would "show yourself gentle, and be merciful;
for Christ's sake to poor and needy people, and to all strangers destitute
of help." May He reward you seven-fold into your bosom. And we also
pray that He may yet grant you many useful, happy years amongst us, and
give you still further to see the fruit of the travail of your soul, a new race
redeemed to stand before the great White Throne with palms of victory
in their hands. C.
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.
6 7
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OBRARA
THE
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68
MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
COMPARATIVE STATISTICS OF THE NIOBRARA HISSION IN PERIODS OF
FIVE YEARS.
Population
(/>
o
of Tribes
P.
2
Among
a ,2
O
Whom Mis-
sions were
Establish'd
2 ' in
re
!|
Baptisms
Confirma-
tions
Communi-
cants
Marri-
ages
1 i -2
bo
"u
CJ
o.
u-
V
Pop
w
rt
U
rt
CJ
E!I
Up to ! 73
Up to '73
Up to '73
1871
[''702
6
g
8
8
8
1886
360
1X78
1 _^u*.
18558
7
]X
12
10
9
1041
2^2
460
i'5
1883
26165
8
25
12
17
'3
1298
523
768
132
For 4 years
1888
27187
JO
,6
l6
12
22.10
896
1 2T
*-l l w
"I
J
t /
3 Years
189-,
23X69
24086
10
10
67
82
16
18
59
59
15
3730
3077
1307
1127
2204
3036
301
565
OFFERINGS.
YANKTON MISSION.
Up to 1873.
i873
1876.
ALL OTHER MISSIONS.
1877.
1878.
1879.
1880.
1881.
1882.
86.46
93.24
42.24
122.29
507.52
256.60
689.40
585.00
960.00
1883 ... 1,217
1884 1,514
1885 1,801
l886 2,000,
1887.
]888.
1889.
1890.
l8gi.
1892.
1893.
1894.
1895.
1896
1897.
1898.
I,'8l2
3.148
1.356
2351
4,109
3,176
4.348
4,320
9.587
5,824
,00
,00
.00
00
.00
,96
CO
&
29
'KO
:8
,24
43
CHURCH PROPERTY.
1873.
1877.
3879.
1880.
1882.
1887.
1888.
.$36,000
. 67,450
55.750
. 67,350
. 70,790
.. 57,050
.. 47.850
.. 38,800
1890 , , . . .
-ro.
61 246
1893
C1 fCn
1895
1896
75 061
1897 ,
85 JOB
1898
80.28.1
SUPPLEMENT.
The writer of the foregoing history of the Niobrara Mission has-
thought best, instead of composing an entirely new section on the begin-
nings of the Mission among the Yanktons and inserting it at its natural
place at page 4q, to offer as a supplement the following paper on the subject;
which at the request of Bishop Hare was prepared and read at a meeting
of the Bishop and Clergy at the Convocation of 1882 at Yankton Agency.
It is presented substantially as it was, then written, and will give a more
definite insight of the work in one of the Missions than could well be en-
tered upon in the body of the cursory history; and will also reveal what,
perhaps, have been the experiences of the other Missionaries who broke
ground among other tribes of the Sioux. . . ,
THE MISSION TO THE YANKTONS.
The Mission of the Church to the Yanktons is the natural outgrowth
of that to the Santees. There was some little intercourse, perhaps con-
siderable, between the two tribes While the Santees were still in Minnesota
and the Yanktons were roaming over the great Territory of Dakota,, west-
ern Iowa and Nebraska. The next year after the outbreak of the Santees
in 1865, the remnant who had not escaped to the British Possessions were
by order of the government removed to Fort Thompson, Crow Creek, on
the Missouri, in the 'Territory of Dakota. Here being only something
over one hundred miles distant from the Yankton Reserve, and living on
the regular route of the Yanktons in going back and forth to visit their
Teton relatives, or to pursue the buffalo, ' : the two tribes became more inti-
mately acquainted.
The Rev. Samuel D.Hinman, who had followed the Santees in their exile
from Minnesota, in travelling to and from his work overland, when passing
through the Yankton Reserve made it a point to make the acquaintance of
the Chiefs and principal men of the tribe, and to talk with them about
their interests; and advised them to seek for the establishment of a Christ-
ian Mission among them.
Driven by the sufferings of famine in the winter of 1863-4, some of the
Santee young men sought work at the Indian Agencies and military posts
70 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
along the river. Some women also driven by the same cause came to the
Yanktons, and readily yielded to solicitations to become the wives of some
of the young men of the tribe.
Among the young men seeking work was Paul Mazakute, then a Cate-
chist, who obtained work in the saw-mill at the Yankton Agency. Here
he was employed for three months. Anxious to make known that Name
which is above every name, and to communicate to his heathen brethren
in their misery and blindness something of that divine comfort wherewith
he himself had been comforted in his own and the many and great sorrows
of his people, every Lord's day during those three months he called to-
gether in the council room of the tribe as many of the people as would
come, conducted diving services as he could, and instructed and preached
to them. On week-days in the intervals of. labor he instructed several
young men, teaching them to read their own language, and placed in their
hands copies of the New Testament and Genesis and the book of Proverbs,
and portions of the book of Common Prayer, which had been translated by
Mr. Hinman and just then published, mostly at the personal ex-
pense of the latter from money received for services as interpreter on a
government commission. Some of these young men .afterwards aided in
the establishment of the Mission to their own people, the Yanktons.
Two years after this, in 1866, through the exertions of Bishop Whip-
pie and Mr. Hinman in Washington, permission was given to re-
move the Santees to L'Eau Qui Court Co. (now Knox Co.) Nebraska. They
spent the first winter encamped at the mouth of the Bazille Creek, a few
miles from the' present town of Niobrara, and there Mission work was re-
sumed. Being now only a day's journey from the Yankton Agency, the
Yanktons frequently visited them, and sometimes attended the services
and witnessed the teaching of the children in the school; and one half-
blood, Frank Vassar, went to Santee Agency to learn the ways of the
Church and the use of the Prayer Book. Mr. Hinman . in his
journal records the fact that he had three Yankton warriors, . one of
them about forty years of age, who entered his school to learn to read and
write their own language, and who went to and from their Agency every
week for that purpose. Through this young man, Frank Vassar, and oth-
ers, and by personal visits to the Yankton Reserve, Mr. Hinman tried to
unite the people in their sentiments and desire for Missionary work among
them, for they were very much divided.
There were three parties among them. First, those headed by the
old Head Chief, Padani-apapi (Struck-by-the-Ree,) who desired a Romish
Mission. This desire had been aroused a number of years before by the
visits and promises of Father UeSmet, a Jesuit Missionary, who many
years in succession visited the tribes living along the Missouri river minis-
tering to the French traders and trappers, who lived among the Indians,
and to their mixed-blood families; and baptizing all Indians indiscriminate-
ly, both old and young, who would submit to the sacrament. While the
Yanktons still had their headquarters where the city of Yankton now
stands, and before the treaty of 1859 by which they relinquished all their
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 71
Hands except the present reserve, and before their removal here, Father
DeSmet promised them a. Mission, and year by year renewed the promise,
and urged them to prevent any other religious body from entering
dn and undertaking any Mission or school work among them. This party
was large and powerful by reason of the help and influence of the
French and mixed-blood Romanists on the ground.
The second party was composed of those who were attracted by the
work of the Church among the Santees, the simple beauty of
feer services, the singing, the instruction of the children, and the use of vest-
ments by the minister when celebrating divine service. They said: "We
don't want that church where ministers wear only their ordinary dress
when they minister, but we want that church whose ministers wear white
robes." Above a!3, the improvement which they saw in many of the San-
tees themselves attracted them. "For," said they, "before the church took
(hold of them through the Rev. Mr. Hinman, while they were in Minnesota,
they were the worst possible subjects of Mission work, and now many of
them are like white men."
The third party, and perhaps the largest of all, was that of the dis-
tinctly heathen element, utterly opposed to the white man's ways and re-
ligion, and wishing to be left entirely to their dancing and grotesque rites
and ceremonies.
From time to time some prominent man like Frank Deloria, the
Chief of the half-breed band, visited. Mr. Hinman, and made an
appeal on this wise; "Koda, (friend] you are small in stature, but your
name has grown large, so that you seem to us like a pine tree of a ravine,
toll and straight. You are a boy in years, but we know that your words
reach the ears of the Great Father who sits in Washington. You have a
.good work, and although the Santees were very bad, you have washed
them and made them appear good, and now have saved at least half of
them.
"You have God's work, and He gives you His strength, and so we look
upon you, as sacred, and through your work you seem to us like a Son of
'God. Come and help us go from nation to nation.
"When one has been blessed, come on to get another, and before you
die you will lead our people to a great salvation. Our people want you.
Part of them are very bad. But many long for peace and wisdom. We
.are foolish, we are deceived like children. They tell us our agents and
traders are foolish men, and therefore we are deceived. No! It is be-
cause we are foolish and have no teachers, that we are driven from place
to place, to find a place to be buried in. We know you can help us, .and
I am sent by four Chiefs, four Head Soldiers, and eight sons of Chiefs, to
ipray you and the brethren of your Holy Fellowship (the name by which-
ithey designate the Church,) to build up a mission among our people.
"Our folly and ignorance and wickedness are sending us fast to the
tgrave, but you can save our children, and even make some of us better and
ihappier now. I am going home with the good words which you have
72 .MISSION'S OP. THI-: CHURCH TO
given me. and if necessary, \vi!l bring all our Chiefmen down to beseech
you, and to hear your words. We come to you because we know you, ands
we believe what we have heard, that yours is a Missionary Church."
On another occasion the Yankton Chiefs visited Mr. . Hinman.
;rvl m.ule a united appeal, when, among much to the same purpose, Pte-
\\\{.ki\.nni}j\n-(SffmrfiHg-Sacrt'd-Cotti) said; "We. are dying; we pray for
our children's sake, and yet it is possible that you may save some of us
before we go."
On another occasion Tacannup-Kinyan (His-flyi/ig-pipe,} the, Head
Soldier of Wiyakoin (Fcather-in-the-ear,) visited him and said; ''My. peo-
ple are looking this way for help, because they can see the light. here from
afar. I want you to tell me candidly what is to be the fate of the Indians.
If the present mode of dealing with them .is to be continued, they might as
well give up all hope at once. We have been ten years in charge of the
Government, and we are really worse off than when we made the treaty..
Our present Agent, (Major Congor) has been very kind to us, but is power-
less to help us; and he is now going away believing that nothing can be
done to better our condition. His wife also has been like a mother to us,,
feeding the hungry and even teaching our children, but now she too is
giving us up,- and there seems no hope. But I have seen the light here,
and have come to beg that you may be our friends, and establish a school
and hospital at our Agency. Our old men are foolish and ignorant, and
our Chiefs are bought up for a trifle; but I know that we have many young
men who are not bad, and who earnestly desire to learn a better way of
life. We know that you have benefited and lifted up the Santees; come
now and help us "
To all Mr. Hinman replied that, when they became united a.mong them-
selves in their desire for a Mission of the church, and formally requested its-
establishment, he would do what he could to gratify them. .
Meantime through Frank Vassar and others, Mr. Hinman labored to:
unite them by councils called at different points on the Reserve to consider
the matter. These men and Deloria, . Ptewakannajin, Tacannupakingan
and others, also worked privately among the people by talking with them
of what they had seen and heard, and of the necessity of now taking the
white man's road, and trying to find some way out of their present wretch-
ed forlorn condition.
At length Padani-apapi and his party, the Romish, said that they at.
least would offer no opposition to the establishment of a Mission of the
Church, and the heathen party also assumed very much the same position.
Consequently in the spring of 1868 (April 30th,) a general council was call-
ed to meet at the Agency; but to accommodate Mr. Hinman whom they call-
ed to it, and whom they greatly desired to be present, it was finally held at.
Choteau Creek, In that council he was formally asked to establish a
Mission, the opponents taking the position before stated. In answer he
promised to fulfill their requests as soon as it was possible.
The man and means were not then at hand. From Bishop Clarkson's
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 73:
report to the board of Missions for 1867 (?,) in which he mentioned the de-
sire of the.Yanktonb for a Mission of the church, and urged that the church
take advantage. of it to extend her .work among the Indians, a young
Presbyter was led. to offer himself for that work.. In reply the Bishop said
that he had so much difficulty in providing for the Santee .Mission under
his charge, that he should very, reluctantly undertake another at present;,
and urged the Clergyman to go to the new R. R. .town of Cheyenne, near
the Rocky Mountains, where he might be doing a good: work and have an
opportunity of still. further studying the matter, and where he would also-
have an opportunity of observing Indians, and of seeing whether he really
wished to enter upon that peculiar, work; and possibly in the course of
time the way would be made plain. So far as observing Indians was
concerned, it did not turn out so. He never saw Indians there but once,,
some Arrapahoes. However, a correspondence on the subject sprung up
between the Rev. Mr. Hinman and his Brother. Onthe2ist of August, 1868,
Mr. Hinman wrote; "I have just returned from the Yankton Agency. Every
thing is ripe for starting a Mission there.. The Agent wishes it and very
many of the Indians. Paul (Mazakute) preached there las.t Sunday to a
crowded congregation. I do hope you can come, this fall and take charge
of this important work. I am sure God's best blessing will follow you in
it." _' . ' ; / .
That year, 186.8, was a very trying. one to the Yanktons. But little corn
was raised. They did not then receive rations from the. government as :
now. Under ordinary circumstances but few comparatively raised any
corn or attempted it. The buffalo had lately abandoned the country, and
almost all smaller game also. Emerging from the very trying, winter of.
1868-9, in which they were almost iaa starving condition, many with more,
earnestness .and louder appeals turned their eyes to the Church as a means-
of relief. They again urged Mr. Hinman to give them churches and schools.
The promise to them was renewed. After waiting some weeks during which,
nothing seemed, to be clone, a delegation visited him at Santee Agency to
inquire why he did not. come and when he would. He told them that he,
would begin work there as soon as possible., The object of this visit and
the expressed desire for a Mission becoming known to the superintendents,
of the A. B. C. F. M. Mission at Santee, then at Santee Agency, viz. Dr.
Riggs and .Dr. Williamson, they immediately, sent up the Rev. John P.
Williamson to begin work. It was thought rather hard after laboring for
three years to accomplish the matter quietly and satisfactorily to all par-
ties, that another body should thus step in and rob the church of the pres-
tige of being first on the ground. It is mentioned here merely to account
for the fact, and as an item of the history.
As soon as Mr. Williamson, began to show signs of establishing him-
self, a delegation of .Yanktons was ; sent to Mr. Hinman to inquire what it
meant. They inquired; "What is "John" doing up there? Did you send
him?" Mr. Hinman replied that he had neither sent him nor did he know
his designs. They responded that the Yanktons had not invited him and
did not wish either him or his church, but they wished a Mission of the
74 MISSIONS OK THE CHURCH TO
"White-Robed Church," and that if he (Mr. H.) would say so they would
drive him (Mr. W.) off. Mr. H. replied that he would not have them do
that; that they needed schools, and that Mr. W. was a good teacher but
as to attending- his services and becoming members of his church they
could do as they pleased.
The people were in these trying circumstances, and the effort for
establishing the Mission among the Yanktons was at this stage, and the
American Board Mission was just begun, when, in the summer of 1869, Mr.
William Welsh of Philadelphia, the Rev. John Shackleford and Miss Bid-
dle of Philadelphia came on a visit to the Santee Mission. The Rev. Mr.
Hinman brought them up to see the Yanktons. Mr. Welch held councils
with the people, and they made the most urgent appeals for the establish-
ment of a Mission of the Church. Mr. Welsh responded encouragingly,
and through his advice and support steps were taken to begin work in the
autumn. The people offered all the logs necessary for erecting a church
and other buildings which might be needed for the workers. Filled with
pity for the people in their almost famishing condition, Mr. Welsh de-
-termined to invoke the aid of the Government in their behalf. The fol-
lowing winter he went to Washington and succeeded in getting the Yank-
tons put on the same footing with reference to rations from the Govern-
ment, as the Sioux who were parties to the treaty of 1868.
The Yanktons for various reasons wished for a white minister. At
that time no one was available. The Indians were very urgent that a be-
ginning should be made, as the matter had been so long kept in suspense.
Early in November, the nth, the Rev. Paul Mazakute was sent up from
the Santee Mission to hold the place and do what he could until a white
minister could be secured. He held his first service in the tribal council
room, Nov. 1 4th 1869. He spent the winter in a hired log house at the
Agency, teaching all who would come to him, and like St. Paul of old,
talking to the men who constantly visited him, with reference to the things
concerning Christ and his Kingdom. It seemed very fitting that Brother
Paul should begin the regular work here; since, as before related, he was
the first to perform voluntary work here years before, while laboring for
his daily bread in the Agency saw-mill.
A party of Santees, skillful in hewing logs for building, was sent up
and prepared the necessary timbers for the Church and Mission House.
Mr. William Cox, a white man, was employed to put up the buildings. A
church 20x40 feet, of hewed logs, with an extension 16x16 feet on one side
of the church for the accomodation of the Indian Clergyman, was erected
and put under cover during the winter.
To gratify the longing desires of many years, and by personal observa-
tion to study still further the ever recurring, and with him burning que's-
tion as to whether it was his duty to offer himself for work among the In-
dions or not, the Clergyman before mentioned made a visit to the Santee
Mission just before Christmas 18^-9. After spending a few days there, in-
cluding a Sunday, on the 20th of December the Rev. Mr. Hinman took
him up to see the Yanktons. The morning after their arrival was "issue
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 75
day," and he had a good opportunity to see the people as they were gather-
ed at the Ageny. Rations were then issued in bulk to the Bands and they
then divided them themselves. This mode of issuing weekly brought to-
gether nearly the whole tribe to look after their personal interests in the
issue. It was the one excitement, the gala day of the week. To one un-
accustomed to the sight of large bodies of wild Indians, it was rather
startling. There was scarcely a half dozen who wore civilized dress. All
were "blanket Indians," with the usual accompaniments of paint and
ieathers, and gewgaws, bows and arrows and pistols, as if they were ex-
pecting some sudden appearance of their enemies. And then the con-
trast between these in their then condition and the'Santees just visited and
who, as Mr. Hinman assured him, were just in the condition of these when
he first went among them in 1860 was very striking.
In conversation with some of the older men, as Ptewakanajin and
others, who had learned that he was interested in the establishment of the
church among them and might possibly come to take charge of the work,
he found them bright and intelligent, and apparently very much in earnest
about the matter; and theii complimentary speeches and invitations to
come to them went very much to his inexperienced heart. So that as he
lett the country to return to his work at Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory,
the battle in his own heart was already decided. He took home with him
from Santee Daniel Graham, a half-blood youth who spoke English, to
assist him in beginning his study of the language, and also to give Daniel
a few months advantage of improving himself in English and music in his
Parish school.
After reaching home he wrote to Mr. William Welsh, offering himself
for the Yankton Mission so soon as he should have cleared off a small
debt on St. Mark's Rectory, which he was enabled to do by Easter, at
which time his resignation was to take effect.
As the buildings at the Yankton Agency were still unfinished, it was
thought best for him to go alone to the Yankton Agency, the rest of his
party, Miss Julia C. Cook and Willy, an adopted child, to follow Avhen
'matters were more advanced. However, he was detained at Santee until
the gth of May by inclement weather, when the Rev. Mr. Hinman came up
with "him to introduce him.
Preceding his arrival, the Rev. Paul Mazakute had put up upon the
Mission grounds west of the church a log house, consisting of two large
rooms for the accommodation of himself and family, where he was found
comfortably fixed. This left the building in connection with the church
free for occupancy. By the addition of a tower to the church, which gave
him a study below and a sleeping apartment above, and some additions to
the building on the other side of the church, before mentioned, they had
room enough to begin with.
It had been thought desirable to have on record the official action of
the tribe in requesting -the establishment of the Mission. Hence on the
23d of March just preceding the coming of the Missionary, in a general
76 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
council such representation was ordered, and Capt. W. J, Broatch, U. S. A,,
then Agent, was requested to prepare such document, which runs as fol-
lows:
"We, the undersigned Chiefs and Head Men of the. Yankton Sioux
Tribe of 'Indians, being this 23d day of March 1870, in general council as-
sembled with our Agent Capt. W. J. Broatch, do hereby consent to the es-
tablishment of a Mission upon our reserve by the Rev. S. D. Hinman.
As we earnestly desire said Mission, we request our agent to address a.
communication to Mr. Hinman expressive of the same.
, STRIKE THE REE, His X Mark.
JUMPING THUNDER, His X Mark.
MEDICINE Cow, His X Mark.
S\VAN, His X Mark.
PRETTY ROCK, His X Mark.
FEATHER IN THE EAR, His X Mark.
MAD BULL, His X Mark.
FRANK DKLORTA, His X Mark.
WALKING ELK, His X Mark.
RUNNING BULL, His X Mark.
Witness,
GEORGE B. TKUMHO,
A. C. Guvox, Interpreter..
I certify that the above was correctly interpreted.
A. C. GUVON..
I certify the foregoing to be correct and true.
W. J. BROATCH,
Capt. U. S. A., Indian Agent.
This document was sent by Capt. Broatch to the Hon. John A. Burbank,.
Governor of the Territory of Dakota and ex-officio Superintendent of In-
dian affairs in and for Dakota Territory, with the following letter:
Yank ton Agency, D. T., April I2th 1870.
HON. JNO. A. BURHANK,
Gov. and Kx-officio Supt. Indian Affairs,
Yankton, D. T.
SIR: I have the honor to state that on the 23d day of March 1870, be-
fore a full council of the Chiefs and Head Men of the Yankton Sioux, the
matter of the establishment by the Rev. S. D. Hinman of a Mission at.
this point was discussed, and met with the cordial approbation of all.
I enclose herewith a copy of the proceedings.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant.
W. J. BROATCH,
Capt. U. S. A., Indian Agent.
The writer of the above letter was a military officer detailed for the
special work of an Indian Agent in preparation for the introduction of the
so-called "Peace Policy" of President Grant. Capt. Broatch threw him-
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 77
-self into the work with a great deal of earnestness, and real interest in the
welfare of this people. He did all in his power to urge them to take an
interest in the establishment of the church and schools among them, and
to settle down to efforts for self-support. ' He most kindly aided the Mis-
sionary in every way. He is gratefully remembered by the Yanktons and
by us. To his great regret and ours, for family reasons, he was compelled
to resign, though his own personal choice would have been to remain as
Agent, and relinquish his commission in the army. This latter he soon
after did, and engaged in business somewhere in Northern Ohio and after-
wards in Omaha, Neb. He was succeeded as Agent temporarily by Maj.
Goodhue, a totally different man, who felt no interest in the Indians them-
selves, and who was rather more than indifferent to the Church and to
religious matters generally.
In the course of two or three weeks our apartments had so far pro-
gressed that Miss Cook and Willy joined us, and we began housekeeping
in a very primitive way, with many discomforts and inconveniences and
privations. Our point of supply at that time was Sioux. City, Iowa, 130
miles distant by land and much farther by river. Prices were quite high
and freight charges enormous. Fresh fruit and vegetables could not be
had, and that year nothing could be raised on account of the drought.
Our only resource for fresh meat was in sometimes being able to purchase
a bit from some Indian who by force had seized more than his share; for
at. that time they divided their rations and annuities among themselves,
and once in a while the Agent favored us with a little. There was no
game in the country.
The summer of 1870 was very busily occupied in adding to quarters,
finishing up the church and house, and putting the grounds in some sort
of order. On Saturday evenings after the workmen had gone away,
Brother Paul and the Missionary would clear out the church as best they
could, put boards on blocks and nail kegs for seats, and arrange for ser-
vices on Sunday. A goodly number attended these services, which from
the start Brother Paul conducted regularly according to the forms of the
Prayer Book. There were almost always two or three Santee young men
either visiting at Brother Paul's, or working for the Missionary, and these
assisted in the responses and chants. Besides quite a number of men and
boys had during the previous winter and spring been taught by Brother
Paul to read their own language, and as they gradually gained confidence
they joined their voices with ours. Then, too, for some time Brother Paul
had been calling together on a week day evening in the unfinished church
as many as chose to come, where with candles fastened on pieces of boards
and stuck in the chinks of the logs, and the scholars disposed around on
board piles and work benches, he taught them hymns and chants. This
work we continued. It was a great help to us when Mr. Smith, the Agency
head farmer, lent us his melocleon for our Sunday services.
Daniel Graham, whom Mr. Cook had tried to prepare to aid us in the
music of our services and to be his interpreter and helper, becoming
homesick returned to Santee. Mr. Daniel W. Hemans and Mr. Luke C.
78 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
Walker had that summer returned to Santee from the Mission House,.,
Philadelphia, and it was proposed that the former should join Mr. Cook as
interpreter and teacher, and receive instruction from him in preparation
for Holy Orders; and that Brother Paul should be transferred to Choteau
Creek, the eastern end of the Reserve, to begin work there and to put up a
chapel and dwelling, for which Aupetu-ojanjan (Light. of-clay) commonly
called Mad Bull, and his people had cut and given the logs, This ar-
rangement was carried out and Mr. Hemans joined us on the 2ist of
August.
Miss Mary J. Leigh of the Santee Mission spent part of the summer
and autumn with us, and was a very great help and comfort to Miss Cook
in her lonely position and work.
We had purchased a little printing press, thinking it would be useful
in printing hymns, tracts, lessons, etc. in the Dakota language. .The small
edition of the Dakota Prayer Book (Santee) was exhausted, and it was-
necessary to do something to put our services in the hands of those who
were learning to read Dakota, if we wished to train them up in our litur-
gical ways. On some accounts it was thought desirable also to put the ordi-
nary services into the Yankton dialect, as the people understood it better
and very strongly objected to the constant use of the Santee. Mr. Hem-
ans set to work to put these into the Yankton dialect, and before the new
year they were published and put in use, which continued up to the intro-
duction of the completed English and Dakota Service Book in 1875.
At the end of August or early in September, the church was completed
and seats put in, and we were now ready to carry on both services and
school with regularity and order, which had not been possible before. We
had used the Mess-house bell to announce our services; but as that was
used to call to meals and work and for the Presbyterian' services as well
as our own, it gave a very uncertain sound. And moreover being
small and not heard far from the Agency, we used another expedient for
reminding people of the Holy Day and our services. We employed an
old man, Navkian, as crier, who on Sunday mornings was to begin some
miles below the Agency and at intervals cry aloud and announce to the
people that the church was now finished and ready, that this was the Holy
Day, that we should be glad to see them, and exhort them to come..
Above the Agency, living in the woods six miles away, we had a powerful
friend and helper in Frank'Deloria, the Chief of the Half-Breed Band.
His presence could be counted on almost without fail, and his efforts to
bring to church all whom he could influence; and -often before services
began or after its close, and sometimes at the request of Mr. Cook, he
would rise in his place with his immense form and powerful voice, and
with all his eloquence plead with the people to be attentive to learn the
new doctrine and to conform to the proprieties of the public worship of
God. And the latter was very much needed, for sometimes the men
would light their pipes under the benches, and both men and women make
remarks aloud to each other, and banter each other, or raise a laugh over
some foolish accident or remark.
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 7g.
They came in crowds, doubtless m'ostly impelled by curiosity, yet it
kept up for many months. The church was filled to its utmost capacity,,
and every seat held at least three more Indians than it would white peo-
ple, and when the seats were filled they sat closely packed in the aisles
until they were filled, and then we invited some into the chancel. Even
then sometimes some would go away, being unable to get inside the
church.
Our teaching and preaching was, of course, of the most elementary-
character, the foundation truths of Christianity. In addition to the two-
regular services and sermons on Sunday, we instituted a catechetical ser-
vice not for the young only but for all who could come. The basis of in-
struction was the Calvary Catechism, to which we added further questions
and instructions and exhortations. As we were able we visited about
among the people, especially where we learned there was sickness and
distress, speaking to them the comforts of the Gospel, and urging upon them,
the advantages of education and Christianity. In turn great numbers
constantly visited us, so that from our rising in the morning until late at
night often we were never alone. And this gave us 'constant opportunity
to say a word of exhortation to them, and them to ask questions and in-
struction as to many things secular as well as religious, which was con-
stantly the case.
The Agency physician, who was very hostile to all Indians, was dis-
charged. That fearfully hot, dry summer there was a great deal of sick-
ness among the people, especially among young children. Mr. Cook hav-
ing from boyhood been very much. interested in the study of medicine, and
having had a good deal of experience in hospitals and in the compound-
ing of medicines and putting up prescriptions, out of pity prescribed for
some children with remarkable success, which so raised his reputation for
skill in that line that from that time for years after he was constantly
sought to prescribe for the sick. It involved the no small expense of
keeping a supply of medicines on hand, but "i.t paid," so to ' speak, in
bringing people to us and giving us influence over them for their good.
Our school began regularly in September, and in proportion was with
the services equally crowded. It was not unusual for us to have from 125
to 140 pupils, of all ages from men and women forty years old down to
small children. All wished to learn English, insisting that they knew
their own language well enough. We insisted upon their learning to read
Dakota first, as a little discipline to minds wholly untaught, and , at least
to put them into communication with the light and life-giving sacred
scriptures, and to enable them to take part in the services of the church.
For we knew it could not be otherwise than that many would become dis-
couraged, and cease their efforts to learn English; and-it was very doubt-
ful if a tithe of even the youth would persevere until they were so far ad-
vanced as to be able to comprehend instruction given in the English lan-
guage. Some few remarkably bright and earnest ones mastered their own
language in six weeks. As the scholars gradually assayed the English, it
began to tell in the number who attended. Some after a couple of weeks,
'So MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
and some after months of effort to master the elements ot English, began
to realize that they had undertaken no small job, and despairing of ac-
complishing it at all gradually left off attending school, so that by the
summer vacation of 1871 the school had reached very moderate propor-
tions. Scholars attended with considerable regularity who lived at the
point o( the timber and at Deloria's camp, six miles on either side of the
Agency. Mr. Daniel W. Hemans, Mr. Walter S. Hall and Mr. John B.
Chapman, the sisters with us during the winter, and Mr. Cook, all spent
more or less of their time in teaching.
Mr. Hall, a young gentleman from New York City, originally intend-
ed to join Brother Hinman at Santee; but the Mission building there hav-
ing been destroyed on the first of June, he joined us on the 27th of Septem-
ber. Mr. Chapman was a Santee young man who we hoped would have
approved himself so as to be admitted a candidate for Holy Orders.
On the 5th day of November Mr. William Welsh visited us, and
brought to our assistance Sister Anna (A. Prichard) from the Bishop Pot-
ter Memorial House, Philadelphia, it having become necessary for Miss
Cook to go home to fulfil an engagement of marriage.
The oversight of most of the Sioux Agencies had by President Grant
been committed to our church, and it was especially to introduce Agents
nominated by the Church that Mr. Welsh made this visit. The enthusi-
asm which was aroused by his councils with the Indians and his exhorta-
tions in the church was very great. The ill effects which afterwards arose
from it were that the Indians took his hopes and aspirations for them as
accomplished facts, and as they were not wholly realized they charged
him and us as liars and deceivers.
The church Agent introduced here was Mr. Samuel D. Webster, a
tried and valued friend, who entered upon his work with great energy and
enthusiasm, and in the one year and three months of his administration
instituted some most valuable reforms; principally the issuing of rations
and annuities to individuals instead of to Bands. He went systematically
to work to put down the conjurers and destroy their influence, boldly
entering the teepes where they were using their incantations, seizing drum
and rattle and carrying them off to the Agency. He required that the
Lord's Day should be respected, and would not allow drumming or danc-
ing within sound of the churches, and discouraged it everywhere and on
all occasions. He was a powerful helper to our work, and could he have
been retained for some years, doubtless large results of his labors would
have been seen. But his energy and earnestness of course provoked the
most violent opposition on the part of the enemies of the so called "peace
policy," and of the distinctively heathen party among the Indians, and
between them the clamor was so great that the authorities yielded to it,
and he was forced to resign. Although the Missionaries were not in the
most secure position themselves and would most likely have brought
down the storm on their own heads, yet they always regretted that they
did not do everything in their power to have him retained, and were them-
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. Si
selves somewhit deceived by the outcry against a good and earnest man
and friend of true progress among the Indians.
Before winter set in, through Mr. Welsh we received the present of a
beautiful bell of 603 pounds from a lady of Hartford, Connecticut, the first
church bell in the Territory of Dakota; and by a singular coincidence it
was put in its place for us by Mr. Webster, who had swung one for us at
Cheyenne, which was the first in the Territory ot Wyoming.
Through Mrs. Boardman of Cleveland, Ohio, we received a nice set
of vessels for the celebration of the Holy Communion, and through vari-
ous friends our first cabinet organ.
On the 8th of May Brother Paul first ministered the Sacrament of
Infant Baptism; Josephine, daughter of Mr. Frank Vassar, was baptized.
On the loth of July the first Christian marriage was solemnized in the
Dakota language by Mr. Hinman, when Mr. Frank Vassar and Mary
Tasagyldutu were married.
On the 2ist of August the Holy Communion was celebrated for the
first time in the Church of the Holy Fellowship, and, according to our rite,
for the first time on the Yankton Reserve. Mr. Hinman was the cele-
brant.
On the 26th of August Brother Paul laid to rest with the burial ser-
vice of the Church the remains of a baptized boy, John Itewauyakapi; the
first recorded use of that service here.
On the 4th of December Mr. Cook administered the Sacrament of
Holy Baptism to Andrew Botin, the first adult baptized in our Church on
the Reserve.
In December, to the great joy of Deloria, his son Philip was taken
into the Mission Family. He was the first of five Dakota boys two full-
bloods and three half-bloods to whom in the course of a few years we
sought to give special advantages, by living among us and then by being
educated among white people. As we have been very much criticised
.among the clergy and others connected with the Mission, and perhaps
others, for our course in this experiment, it may not be aside from our
purpose in this p\per to present the ideas and reasoning leading us to
that course.
When we came among the Yanktons and looked over those 2000
ignorant people wholly given up to folly and heathenism, and considered
that we might never learn their language perfectly and that doubtless we
should never know and understand their modes of thought and customs,
.and virtues and vices, and temptations and perils as one of themselves
would understand them, and that one who did understand them could
preach far more .powerfully and effectively to them than we could;
we were greatly impressed with the desirability of at once laying
plans for providing them in the near future with native teachers,
and possibly ministers, who were in advance of their people; who
had had some experience ot, and had to some extent at least been
trained up in, our civilization; who understood English and could gather
82 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
ideas and information from books and papers for themselves, and teach in
the English language for that the people clamored. We had the ex-
ample of multitudes of Missionaries to the heathen in many lands and
many ages. Our ideas and plans were most heartily approved by Bishop
Clarkson and Mr. Welsh, who enabled, us to carry out the experiment for
some years. Alas, poor human nature is not like a sum in arithmetic,
which can be set down and worked out to a certain and unvarying and
provable result. Rather it is like a fractious horse, which may carry you
safely through difficulties and dangers today, and dash everything to
pieces under the same circumstances tomorrow. Children of the greatest
promise, children of godly parents and enjoying the first advantages and
most carefully trained, often most grievously disappoint; and some turn,
out dreadfully. The Saviour, although divine and knowing what was in
man, had Judas among his chosen disciples; and was it notpartly for the
very purpose of keeping ever before us in all our undertakings the possi-',
bility of failure in some respects, the existence of imperfection in the-
Church or the chosen company, or in the individual character? This pos-
sibility of failure and disappointment with reference to these boys, we
always impressed upon ourselves and sought to impress upon all who-
helped us. They were docile, took most readily to our civilized ways, and
became exceedingly dear to us, and so far as we were able we treated
them as if they were our own children, We had always been impressed
with St. Paul's utterances in Gal.'iii, 17, 28 and Col. iii, n, in which he-
declares concerning those who "have been baptized into Christ" and
"have put on the new man," that in Him "there is neither Jew nor Greek,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free,
male nor female, but Christ all and in all." We never had any of the
caste feeling; and hence there was nothing dissagreeable to us in the
familiar intimacy of these dark skinned boys. Then, too, this tribe had
never been conqured by the white man and put in a subject condition, nor
had they baen slaves they had all their heathen pride arising from
ignorance and all their fancied importance. Hence we could not in our
mission household put these boys on the footing of menials, without
arousing the opposition or contempt of the people whose souls we were
seeking, and making the experiment impossible. Then again the object
we had in view was the elevation of these youths by education and inter-
course with refined people, in order to prepare them to help in lifting-
their people to the same level. We sought to make them helpful. They
sawed and split the wood, and did the various work usually assigned to
boys in white families. Like most boys everywhere they were not always
to be depended upon, to the great annoyance^and discomfort of the Sisters
and ourselves. They had been brought up in heathenism, without dis-
cipline, and knowing no compelling force higher than their own will, and
that will sometimes not in accord with those who were laboring for their
best interests and the interests of their people; and who with reference to
them had no power or authority over them except that of love and kind-
ness. Even a hasty word sometimes sent them off to the camp in des-
pair, and it sometimes required some diplomacy to get them back. Had
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 83
we considered our own selfish comfort and that of the Mission family, we
never would have entered upon or pursued the experiment. But con-
sidering that we were here not to seek our own but other's wealth and sal-
vation, we thought it right to pursue an experiment approved by older and
wiser and better men than we, which prima facie seemed to promise great
things for the good of the people, if only we had faith and long patience
and forbearance to work and pray and wait for the result which God in
His own good providence and time might give us.
The experiment is not yet ended. For the present it seems a partial
failure, but only the future will declare the folly or wisdom of it, and only
the Day of Judgment will reveal all the good or evil wrought by it. Our
judgment is with our God who will consume the foundation of "wood, hay,
stubble," and yet save us so as by fire, pardoning the mistakes and failures
in judgment, and accepting the honest desire to advance His kingdom and
glory.
NOTE. The first of these boys is now the Rev. Philip J. Deloria, head
of the Standing Rock Mission. ' After three or more years of
training at Nebraska College, then a boy's boarding school, now extinct,
and Shattuck Hall, Faribault, he returned to the Mission, became a
catechist and teacher, and entered upon studies preparatory to the Dia-
conate, to which he was ordained in 1883. After more than nine years of
faithful service as Deacon and further special study, he was raised to the
Priesthood in 1892. He is a man of large ability and commanding influ-
ence among his people, of high character, and universally respected by
both races.
The second, Charles Smith Cook, after completing two years at
Nebraska College, was taken East by Bishop Hare and placed at Anda-
lusia Hall, a boarding school for boys near Philadelphia, where he was
prepared for college by Prof. Fetterolf, now president of Girard college.
He entered Trinity college, Hartford, and graduated in the class of 1881.
Returning to the Mission he spent a year in teaching at St. Paul's school.
Graduated from Seabury divinity school, he was made Deacon June 24th,
1885, and was stationed at Pine Ridge in the autumn of the same year, and
placed in full charge when advanced to the Priesthood in 1886. His
was a glorious m.inistry, all too short, of seven years, filled with noble
work for the salvation of his people.
The third, William T.Selwyn, after a year at Nebraska College was
also taken East by the Bishop, and placed in the family of the Rev. Cor-
nelius L. Twing, and attended the public school in Brooklyn, N, Y.
From thence he went to Andalusia Hall for a couple of years. Returning
home he was employed as a catechist and teacher, and although of excel-
lent mental ability did not approve himself to his superiors. He has not
been a help nor a comfort to the Mission or to his people.
The fourth, Felix T! Brunot, was a young chief who greatly desired to
learn English and to get some education. It was thought by all interested
in the matter that it would be a great gain to his people as well as to the
work of the church, if a youth in his position could be educated and pre-
pared for intelligent leadership. The result has justified the reasoning
and the outlay. After about three years of training at Nebraska College he
returned, and for some time taught in St. Paul's School, and then engaged
in secular work, of late years an employe of the. Agency as one of the
farmers. He is a natural born gentleman, reliable, active and industrious,
a man of great influence among his people, a sincere Christian and unU
84 MISSION'S OF THE CHURCH TO
About this time, before the close of this year 1870, another experiment
was undertaken, not .by us but encouraged by us, which ought to be noticed
as a result of the introduction of the Gospel and the Church to the Yank-
tons. Christianity and civilization ge hand in hand to the nations. A
material civilization and a very high degree of it may exist and has existed
without Christianity. But that which is conveyed to our minds by that
word civilization, moral as well as material advancement, cannot exist
without Christianity.
In this year of grace a traveller through this Reserve would have noticed
that the people lived almost entirely in tepees. The government had at
one time years before put up a log house for each of the chiefs, but
scarcely one was occupied. There was here and there a tumbled down log
hut, which had been put up by white men who for one purpose or another
had been allowed to stop on the Reserve. The Indians had at that time
perhaps little desire for permanent abodes, for they were very fond of
visiting about among other tribes of Dakotas, and there was little effort
to keep them on the Reserve.
John Ree was at that. time a man of 4" years of age, a full-blooded
Indian and nephew of the head chief. He was very friendly, seemed to
take a deep interest in our work, was a constant attendant on the
services and come often to talk with us. He seemed very fond of gay
Dakota dress, and whenever there was a council of any kind seemed to
delight to get himself up in the highest style of the art. He had a war-
bonnet, a buckskin chasuble or cotta, and legging, all wonderfully worked
with porcupine quilt-work, and trimmed with eagles' feathers and fringes
of human hair, some of them scalp-locks. In addition to these he had his
standard in shape of a shepherd's crook also trimmed with eagles' feathers.
The bonnet and chasuble he afterwards presented to Mr. Welsh, who
presented the chasuble to Dr. Howson, Dean of Chester, England, who
visited the General Convention of 1871. Arrayed in these garments, with his
face painted a brilliant scarlet, John Ree was a striking, and picturesque
object, and always attracted notice. And any one seeing him then would
scarcely have suspected that he would take very vigorously to civilization.
This man became a Catechumen, and was baptized on Christmas day. In
many ways he seemed a changed man. He has always said ot himself
versally respected. It was not expected that he would become a minis-
ter.
The fifth, Alfred C. Smith, was one of the earlier pupils of St. Paul's
school, where he remained for some years, and then was sent for higher
advantages to Andalusia. Returning, in the course of time he engaged in
government day-school work both here and on other reservations, at times
acting also as a catechist. On the death of the Rev. Charles Smith Cook
in 1892 he was aroused, and encouraged to prepare himself to take Holy
Orders. When preparation was completed and he was awaiting examin-
ation for the Diaconate, circumstances arose which led him to abandon the
object and return to secular life, which we hope may not be final. He is a
man of marked ability, good character, energy, and engaging person. He
is a good organist, and an able and logical speaker.
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. ' 85
that before our coming he was a venomous rattlesnake', but that Mi". Cook
had put his foot upon his head and if he had not killed him, had at least
tamed him he meant the grace of God, doubtless. He desired to make
a complete change in his external modes and habits of life. He conceived
the idea of building a good hewed log house, and set to work that winter .
to accomplish it. It took him all winter to fell and hew the logs. He had
neither wagon, harness, nor draft horses, nor oxen. So he was compelled
to call upon the agent for means to draw the logs to his chosen site. By
hard labor he got them up in shape. When the agent saw it, he suggested'
that if Ree would cut a few more logs, he could make it a story and a half
and thus have up stairs rooms. He took the suggestion and accomplished
that. He then came to us and said he did not wish to put a dirt roof on it,
as people in this part of the country were then accustomed to do, both for
economy and because the climate was so dry it was generally sufficient
protection. He wanted a good, white man's house, he said. The agent
helped him with cottonwood rafters, and the carpenter framed them for
him, and we procured for him shingles, paper, nails, etc. When that was
accomplished, then he said he did not want his house to appear likt a log
house outside, but he wished it sided or clapbo?rded; would we help him
with that? That was done; then he wanted it painted, Then he wanted
a stove and bedstead and a table and dishes inside. In the course of time
and as he was able, he returned to us the amount we had expended for him.
It must be remembered that at that time labor was not popular among
the men, ahd he who did laboring work had more or less to run the gaunt-
let, not only of the tongues of the male .portion of the people who did not
themselves work, but of the female portion who did, because it was contrary
to immemorial custom, and the women who permitted her liege lord to
labor laid herself open to the reproaches of other women as a lazy, good
for nothing thing.
Well, in the course of many months, by dint of perseverance and a
little encouragement, John Ree, a middle aged man and a full-blood, had
accomplished a good, confortable house. It seemed to be looked upon
with wonder and astonishment by the Indians, and it seemed to suggest
to their minds, as the politicians say, "a new departure." The following-
winter of 1871 and 1872 it seemed as if every man of family on the Reserve
had resolved to have a good log house, and every stick of timber large
enough for the purpose would be sacrificed. Having no knowledge or skill
and no personal interest in the timber beyond each one getting out of it
what he wanted, an immense amount of valuable timber was needlessly
destroyed.
A want supplied begets another; and so having accomplished perman-
ent houses in chosen localities it tended to the abandonment of the old
fields in common, and led to the desire for individual fields near their
houses. Having made themselves more comfortable, and having experi-
enced much loss among their cattle and ponies in the then severe winters
from failure to provide them with hay and shelter, many now built huts
and stables and, for the first time, put up hay for them. Houses led to the
86 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
desire for furniture and various appliances of civilization to put in them;
working and accomplishing some things led to attempting others, and
seeking for implements with which to work. Many adopted citizens' dress;
which also involved a great struggle with the odium of forsaking Dakota
customs and following the white man's ways.
On the 5th of October the tenth anniversary of the establishment of
the Santee Mission, the Convocation of Niobrara was organized, and
the first meeting held at Santee Agency, Nebraska. The .Rev. Paul
Mazakute, Mr. Cook, Mr. Daniel W. H emails and Mr. Walter S. Hall were
admitted as representatives from this Reserve, and five head men who had
been influential in the establishment of the Mission here were invited to be
present, viz: Knaskinyemani, Litkanaciqana, Fataukainyanke, Hehaka-
mani and Botin.
From our first arrival in the Mission.it was the earnest desire of Mr.
Hinman and myself to work as much as possible on the system of an
Associate Mission, and to keep the work in all its parts closely united,
believing that in so doing the different parts would be made to react on
each other for good, and help to create a unity of feeling and interest, not
only in the workers themselves, but among those who were or should
become Christians through our efforts. This Convocation was one means
undertaken for securing that end. It awakened a great deal of interest
among the Indians, and the discussions engaged in and resolutions passed
were almost entirely the work of the Indians themselves, The work of the
white clergy was simply to control and direct it in channels which seemed
helpful and useful to our work.
At Choteau Creek, by the beginning of the winter, Brother Paul with
the help of the Indians had put up a log chapel 20 x 40, and a log dwell-
ing a story and a half high, of two rooms on the ground floor and two
above. The buildings were finished up by our carpenters. Here Brother
Paul at once had a large congregation. Mad Bull, (or Anpeptu-ojanjad,
"Light-of-Day," for that was his proper name) the chief, and nearly all his
band attended the services regularly. Brother Paul baptized the first
adult there on Christmas day; and the parson baptized, John Wakaukoya-
ke, was, we think, one of the young men whom he taught to read when he
worked 'in the saw mill years before.
I believe 1 have now mentioned most of the little streams of work and
influence which were set flowing here in that first year of our organized
Mission twelve years ago. We do not propose to moralize much upon it
here. In looking back upon it we are painfully aware (as who is not that
reflects on his life and work?) of many mistakes and failures in judgment
which have marred the work, of many acts which would have been better
left undone or done differently, and many things left undone which it
might have been well to have done; too little patience with some ignorant,
erring souls; too little love and too much pride and self-seeking; too little
earnestness in prayer and too little zeal in preaching the Gospel to souls
burie^l in heathen darkness and sin.
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 87
1871.
The winter of 1891 was very severe. Our buildings were not then
clapboarded. The logs in the drying process gradually shrank away from
the chinking and plaster, so that drafts and cold and snow came in from
every quarter, and when we had time to sit down and think about our
-discomforts we were wretched enough. But we were all kept so busy that
we did not suffer so much as we otherwise might have done. When spring
came, for a whole month we were deluged with incessant rain, and were
draggled and wet and miserable enough.
On the 3d of January to our great joy Sister Lizzie Steitler (afterwards
Mrs. Cleveland) from the Bishop Potter Memorial House, Philadelphia,
joined us. There was too much for one Sister to do, and even when there
were two the work was still very heavy, for it was impossible to get a
servant, and in our narrow quarters no room for one if we could have got
her, and Indian women who could do some kinds of work could not be
relied upon; for if invited to a feast or a dance as likely as not they would
leave in the midst of a piece of work and there was no telling when they
would return, if they returned at all. However, the washing and ironing
and scrubbing were mostly clone by Indian women.
It was a great trial to the Sisters to be obliged to spend so much of
their time in household cares, and only incidentally, so to speak, to do
what they considered their particular work. We tried to comfort them,
we fear not always successfully, by presenting the thought that in laboring
to maintain a Christian Mission household here among the heathen, they
were fulfilling a mission in teaching that which was very much needed;
that in maintaining and helping an army in the face of the enemy those
who stay at home are really helping in the fight, though the soldiers alone
hold the weapons of warfare; that although some work was called menial
and received less honor than other work, it was nevertheless necessary,
and helped on to the good result. The missionary and teacher must eat
if they would work, and they must live as civilized and Christian men if
they would lift up the heathen by their example as well as word, and this
they, the sisters, enabled us to do. Had we looked upon their work in this
respect as a personal favor to ourselves we could not have received it or
asked the sacrifice. But believing they had consecrated themselves and
their work to the advancement of the cause of Christ among the heathen,
we looked upon it, or hoped they would look upon it, as done for Him and
not for us. Though done between times, they did much and excellent
work in visiting and providing for the comfort of the sick and distressed;
by teaching the women many things in the preparation of food, in making
garments, and in the care of the house, etc.; and then they made it attract-
ive to the women to come to the Mission, and welcomed them to the
services.
In January we received into the Mission another half-blood boy,
Charles S. Cook, the son of a military officer from Virginia. The boy
chose to be called by my surname. He was in his fourteenth year, under-
bb MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
stood and already spoke not very freely the most ordinary English, which
we considered as much q-nin for the object in view: and he seemed exceed-
ingly anxious to get an education.
Sister Anna also took under her care a girl of 12 or 13 years of age
(Makimgiwin), who in holy baptism received the name of 'Margaret.
I ickson. She was a very good child, happy in being with usWd helpful
to the sisters. She did well enough until the parents conceived the idea
of making her a source of revenue. They seemed unable to imagine any
benefit to the child or themselves from her being trained up in white peo-
ple's ways, and considered the obligation on our side instead of theirs..
She belonged to the working class among the Indians (the women,) and
hence they thought her little work ought to be paid for. Finding us firm'
in resisting such demands, they then, against her will apparently, secretly
ordered her to run away, hoping thus to bring us to terms. But the scheme
failed, and with many regrets we dropped the project for girls, at least
from among the full-bloods.
On the i/th of January the second session of our Convocation was held
here in the church of the Holy Fellowship. The weather was exceedingly
cold and disagreeable and it was hard to keep comfortable, but we all felt
cheered and encouraged by the services and discussions.
At this time Frank Vassar (Seaswena), a half-blood who has been
before noticed in connection with the beginning of the Yankton Mission,
was appointed the first catechist from among this people. The plan with
reference to this class of helpers has been to choose such young men as by
knowledge of the Gospel and the Church, and apparent earnestness in
personal religion, are somewhat in advance of their people, and to use
them as a means of teaching and elevating others. In order to do
this, of course, it is necessary continually to teach them that they may
intelligently teach others. Hence a weekly instruction for them was
instituted and maintained, in which it was sought by instructions and re-
flections on the Gospel or the Epistle for the following Sunday, or the
Articles of the Apostles Creed, or the Ten Commandments, or the Bap-
tismal vows, or instructions on one of the Gospels consecutively, to furnish
them with subjects and ideas for the instruction or exhortation of the peo-
ple. Where they have been put in charge of outlying stations under the
Missionary, they have been required to teach school, which of course has
in most cases been in their own language. Through their efforts many
now all over this Reserve read and write theic own language more or less,
perfectly, and many who never enter a church have a copy of the Gospels,
and parts of the Old Testament in their houses and often read them, many
perhaps because they have nothing else to read, but, no doubt, in God[s-
own good time His Word, the entrance of which giveth light, will illumin-
ate the darkness, and where earthly credit is due for it much of it will go.
to the catechists who have taught and encouraged their people to read
God's Word.
On the agth of March Baptiste DeFond, another half-blood, was
appointed a catechist, to work especially in the region about his cabin in.
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. ' 8o/
the woods. six miles above the Agency. A man who had known him. long
before his conversion, made the remark that if in the then several years,
that our Mission had been established here it had accomplished nothing-
else than the conversion of Baptiste, it had not been in vain. Of violent
temper, he had been a reckless, careless, intemperate, fearful man. Nom-
inally a Romanist, he was brought up among the Indians utterly ignorant
of Christianity. In him was the groaning and travailing, the aspiration
for something higher and better, yet not knowing what it meant or where-
it was to be found. The Gospel of the Church was from the start to him
a revelation from above. He gave himself up to the Saviour without:
reserve, though like the rest of us poor sinners from St. Paul down, he
finds himself chained to "this body of death" and that "the flesh lusteth
against the Spirit;" and though in many respects a changed and subdued
man, once in a while the smouldering embers of that fierce old spirit are
fanned into a flame which brings him down to begin again the laborious
work of subduing the flesh. Even with this drawback he has been a good
and useful man, and the most earnest learner that we have had.
During the winter of 1870 and '71 the work of building a chapel with
dwelling attached at White Swan, at the western end of the Reserve, was-
carried on; and by spring they were so far completed that on the 2oth of
March the Rev. Philip Johnson, Deacon, went up to take charge, having-
Alexander Namcleca as teacher. In fact Brother Philip and the other
Santee deacon, the Rev. Christian Taopi, had been up there a couple of
months before; but from the unfinished state of the building and the
severity of the weather they were compelled to abandon the station and
return to Santee. Brother Philip remained at White Swan three months-
and opened the Mission. In June Brother Paul was recalled from Choteau
Creek to Santee, and it was thought best Brother Philip should take up-
the work at Choteau Creek, and accordingly he removed there. It was in
consideration of the fact that he had begun the work at White Swan that,,
after his sad death in November of this year, we named the chapel there
as a memorial of h\mt/ie Chapel of St. Philip the Deacon.
After the removal of Brother Philip from White Swan, John B; Chap-
man and Amos Ross, two Santee young men, were sent up there to main-
tain the services and school during the summer. In the autumn Mr. H..
H. Brooks, a young English adventurer who on hearing an address from
Mr. Welsh on the subject of Indian Missions, on the spur of the moment
offered himself for the work and was sent out, together with Andrew Jones
(Matowapageya), a native Yankton Catechisv, was sent there and remained
till the following summer.
On the 30th of July Mr. -Cook baptized there Thomas Hinhanskana
and others, the first administration of this sacrament at that station. This,
was followed in October by the baptism of Swan, the chief residing there,
his wife and several others. Swan received the name of Henry B-
W'hipple, in honor of the Bishop of Minnesota, who had so long and so
nobly lifted up his voice for the rights of the red man. Swan's son, who
had when a child been baptized by a Romish priest, had some time before
go MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
been received into the Church. In such cases it was our custom when
there was to be a baptism to require them to come forward with the per-
sons to be baptized, and they were supposed to assent to the vows then
demanded. After the baptism of the others, these, if adults, were taken
by the right hand by the minister and the form of words, "We receive this
person into the congregation of Christ's flock" etc., as was used.
Here at the Agency as soon as the spring opened we were permitted to
'have our buildings clapboarded and rendered comfortable, and the church
was enlarged by the addition of a recess chancel, which was much needed,
for our congregations were very crowded.
The Rev. Wm. H. Vibbert, of Middletown, Connecticut, through a
Bible class which he taught, presented to us a beautiful chancel window
of stained glass, containing a figure of the Good Shepherd. Through the
Rev. Randall C. Hall, of New York City, we received the amount neces-
sary to provide us with a good stone font. The work was executed in
native Iowa and Vermont marbles in Sioux City, Iowa, and cost seventy-
five dollars. -
St. Stephen's Church, Philadelphia, presented to us a set of vessels for
the celebration of the Holy Communion, which, as we were here already
provided with such, was afterwards given to the Church of Our Most
Merciful Saviour, Santee Agency, as theirs had been destroyed in the
whirlwind the year before.
Sister Anna and Mr. Hall withdrew to Santee, and Miss Emily J.
West of the Santee Mission came to assist us temporarily.
On the I4th of May Bishop Clarkson, of Nebraska, in charge of the
ihulian Missionary Jurisdiction, visited us, and administered the Apostolic
Rite of Confirmation for the first time. On that occasion and on a sub-
sequent one a few days after, in all twenty-nine persons were confirmed.
On the iSth of the same month, which was Ascension Day, he consecrated
the burial ground included in the Mission grounds.
On the 2qth of August Mr. John Robinson, a young man from our first
iparish in Pennsylvania, joined us as a missionary teacher.
In September we placed Philip J. Deloria and Charles S. Cook in
school at Nebraska College, Nebraska City, Nebraska, which we were
enabled to do by the kind interest and help of Bishop Clarkson and Mr.
Welsh.
At Choteau Creek, Brother Philip remained only two or three months,
.and then returned to Santee. After he retired we were obliged to main-
tain the station through various Catechists at different times, concerning
whom we had continued trouble and annoyance. For one was no soonei'
settled and pleasing to one set of Indians there, than it was a signal to
.another set to make him all the trouble possible, in a quiet way, so that
he might be forced to retire, and thus they might stand the chance of get-
ting another in who might be their candidate or some one more acceptable,
to them. That which was at the bottom of the whole matter was that the
Catechist received a small salary, and like most Indians could not say nay
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. Ql
to his relatives and friends, and consequently the "outs" would set to work
to be the "ins," and so they generally succeeded in having a change every
-few months.
Mention in its proper place was omitted, though it was not until after
Brother Paul had retired to Santee, that we chose the appellation of
The Holy Name by which to designate the chapel at Chateau Creek.
Bishop Clarkson visited this chapel also on the i8th of May and confirmed
.a class of seven, the first administration of the rite there.
For this year we now recall nothing further worthy of note except the
large number of baptisms which took place. Here at the Church oE the
Holy Fellowship, there were 12 adult and 8 infant baptisms in 1870; and
.'86 adult and 38 infant baptisms in 1871, among whom was Frances Deloria,
the chief of the half breed band.
At the Chapel of the Holy Home, Chateau Creek, there was one adult
baptism in 1870; and 56 adult and 37 infant baptisms in 1871, among whom
was David Mad-Bull, the chief of the band residing at that point. At the
chapel of St. Philip the Deacon, White Swan, there were 12 adult and 8
infant baptisms in 1871, among whom was Henry B. Whipple (Nagaska),
the chief residing at the west end of the Reserve.
1872.
In January of this year we received William T. Selwyn into the Mis-
sion family. He had already for some years had some little training in
schools, first by Mrs. Conger, the wife of a former agent, and then, the
year previous to coming to our school, under the Rev. Mr. Williamson,
then of the American Board Mission here. His previous training seemed
to be an advantage in hastening the object had in view in taking these
boys into the Mission. After our day school was opened in Sept., 1870,
either of his own accord or following the wishes of his father, he became
.a regular pupil. He himself without any solicitation on our part sought
to be taken into the Mission family. -William had an aptness for music.
He himself had found his way upon the organ until he was beginning to
play a little by ear. Up to this time Brother Hinman had played the organ
for our services. At our request he gave William some little instruction,
taught him the notes and showed him the chords, and he worked out the
rest for himself till he played quite respectably, when he relieved Brother
Hinman of caring for the music. It is mentioned because he was the first
of a line of native organists. It has all along been our plan to encourage
those who show aptness in that direction, and to give them that duty to
perform in our chapels. Our idea has been that although there may be
white teachers or others, present who might play more correctly and
artistically, it is better for the people in every way possible to do the work
.and service for themselves, in order to make them feel that they are
identified with the Church, are part and parcel of it, and that it is not
something outside and foreign the white nyin's Church. And since St.
Paul's School has been established here, and boys have been here from
nearly all our Missions among the Dakotas, we have clone what we could
Q2 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
to supply organists for other ports of the field by providing instruction for
the boys and urging them to acquire the knowledge.
On Easter day, March 3ist, the Rev. John G. Gasmann, the newly
appointed agent, arrived. Mr. Gasmann continued in that position until;
the spring of 1878. His long, steady, wise and kind adminstration of the
temporalities of this people, his being in entire accord with our work of
civilization and Christianity, and by word and example sustaining and
encouraging us in it in his intercourse and councils with the Indians; his
love for the Indians themselves and deep interest in their best welfare;:
all these things were a great gain, and ought to be taken into account
in summing up the influences, which have wrought here. And to Mrs. Gas-
mann also is due great credit for seconding her husband's merciful feel-
ings and interest, and work, visiting with him the sick and distressed, and
both at their own homes and her own working for their comfort and relief,,
and working with the ladies of the Mission in sewing schools and in other
ways, and in training for us an organist in the person of James Selwyn,
by these things she endeared herself to them and to us, and was a power-
ful helper.
This year were instituted woman's meetings, by Miss West and -Sister-
Lizzie, to try to do something for the special instruction and encourage-
ment of the women who had become connected with the Church here at
the agency. While she remained here Mis. Hemans, wife of the Rev.
Daniel W. Hemans, took part, assisting the ladies in it and interpreting
for them.
In March we made another venture in the way of taking a girl into the
family, but this time it was a half-blood who spoke English and whose
mother was anxious for us to take her, in fact she gave her to us. Her
name was Cecilia Benoist. We were not troubled by her running away or
by the mother making demands of us but we did not find her so docile a's
the full-blood had been.
Miss Anna M. Baker (now Mrs. Henry Gregory,) having been a short
time connected with tha Ponka Mission, joined us in the summer. Miss-
West returned to Santee.
On the i6th of June we had a delightful visit from a delegation of the
Indian Commission of the Church consisting of Mr. William Welsh, Col..
E. C. Kemble, Sec., and the Rev. John A. Paddock, D. D. accompanied by
Mrs. Rumney, wife of the Rev. Theo. S. Rumney, D.'D., of Germantown,.
Penn. They all helped and encouraged us greatly, and the enthusiasm
and hqpeo of the Indians were very much revived.
Mr. H. H. Brooks, having been found unfitted for the work, was re-
tired.
Mr. John Robinson was placed at Choteau creek with a native cate-
chist as helper.
Mr. David Tatiyopa a native Yankton, who was from the opening of
our day school a constant attendant and earnest scholar, and one of the
first young men who sought admission into the Church by Holy Baptism^
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 93
"had been employed as a teacher at various points during the year, mostly
.at the Point of the Timber. He also held meetings for exhortation of the
people. He showed so much earnestness and such a desire to learn and
to benefit his people that we spoke to him of the work of a Deacon in the
Church, and encouraged him to look forward to that office, if in the course
of time it should seem best to those who were placed over him.
On the 4th of July the Rev. Daniel W. Hemans, who by nearly two
years of faithful, earnest work among 'us, had very greatly endeared him-
self to the Yanktons and to us, returned to Santee, the increasing weak-
ness of Brother Mazakute rendering it necessary. He was greatly re-
gretted by us all. His place here was supplied by the arrival of the Rev.
Luke C. Walker, Deacon, who joined us on the 6th of the same month.
On the 23d of August Felix T. Brunot (Nunkauwaitena) Chief of the
Ikurn Band was received into the Mission family, in preparation for his
going in September to Nebraska College to school with the other three
youths, two of whom had already been there one year.
On the 3d of Ocrober we had a most delightful visitation from Bishop
Clarkson who was accompanied by Bishop Whipple, of Minnesota, Mr. Wil-
liam Welsh and Mrs. Whipple. Confirmations were held at all the stations.
At the Church of the Holy Fellowship 41 were confirmed; at the Chapel
of the Holy Name, Choteau Creek, 12; and at the Chapel of St. Philip the
Deacon, where it was administered for the first time, 10 were confirmed.
At '.his time also we were greatly cheered by the extension of our work to
Agencies up the River. The Rev, Henry Swift and the Rev. N. Burr,
Deacons, had in preparation for some time been studying the Dakota
language with Mr. Hinman at Santee. The Rev. William J. Cleveland
arrived in the autumn. After a pleasant Convocation at the Santee Mis-
sion they departed to the respective fields assigned to them.
The Indians living at the Point of the Timber had long been asking for
.a Chapel and School there, as they were so far removed from the Agency.
They. proposed to give the necessary timber as it stood. When Mr.
Welsh was here in June'he favored the project and ordered the building
begun, but wished that all work on it which could be should be done by
Indians. We accordingly employed some of the catechists and teachers
.and some others during the summer vacation to fell, hew, draw and put up
the logs. There was no white man on the ground to direct or keep them
at regular work, and the mistake was made of doing it by the day, and the
consequence was that an immense amount of time and money was wasted
in the operation. This building was finished up before winter, and was
named the Chapel of the Holy Comforter. The Indians themselves chose
the site, but it proved unfortunate, as the population mostly removed from
the immediate vicinity, and, being on the bottom land, for four or even
six months of the. spring and summer by reason ot standing water it was
inaccessible, and finally swept away by the great flood of the Missouri in
the spring of 1881.
' In November we were called upon to make a sacrifice for the benefit
94 MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH TO
of a new venture of faith at Lower Brule, which we were very loth to>
make. Sister Lizzie had for nearly two years worked faithfully and nobly
and uncomplainingly, and thus we were led to think we had something
stable upon which to depend to maintain that part of the house and work
which only a woman could, But Mr. Welsh thought it most desirable that
women of experience in the work, and not raw recruits should undertake
the work at that new station, and so we was called upon to part with the
good Sister. She became the wife of Brother Cleveland the following
spring.
In the autumn or winter our first sewing school was instituted and
maintained by the ladies, assisted by Mrs. Gasmarm and Mrs. Canfield,.
wife of the Agency carpenter. The school was large and flourishing and
all took a lively interest in it. We were greatly aided in this very useful
undertaking by many friends in various parts of the country, principally
at the east, who the previous winter and this had sent us boxes of clothing
and various material to aid those Indians who were striving to start on the
road of civilization. The women and girls who came to the school were
taught to cut out garments and to sew them properly, to knit stockings,.
and patch quilts, and were given the results of their labors. The result
has been the gradual abandonment by all the young, and most of the older,.
women of the distinctively Indian dress, and the introduction of the white
and civilized woman's modes, and with very many greater care and clean-
liness with reference to their clothing.
This year we received a stone font from Mr. William Tapping for the
Chapel of St. Philip the Deacon, White Swan; and a beautiful bell of 412
pounds for the Chapel of the Holy Name, Choteau Creek, from Mr..
Robert J. Livingston, of New York City.
In this year, 1872, 19 adults and 28 infants were baptized at the Church
of the Holy Fellowship, 13 adults and 15 infants at the Chapel of -the Holy-
Name; and 14 adults and II infants at the Chapel of St. Philip the Deacon..
The Rev. William H. Hare was elected to the Indian Missionary
Bishoprie of Niobrara in the autumn of the preceeding year, and was con-
secrated at St. Luke's Church, Philadelphia, on the gth of January. He
did not reach this Reserve until the 8th of May following, exactly three
years after our arrival here. Until his coming things were left as they
were at the close of of the last year. There were accessions to or removals
from our Mission force here, and our work went on quietly as before. And
as by the Bishop's coming and assuming charge there were necessarily
some changes and readjustments of the work, it seems the natural
and proper place to bring the first part of our story to a close. It has
been for more lengthy than we wished or expected when it was first under-
taken. But it seemed to us desirable to preserve a detailed account of
the beginnings of our work here, and some notice of our helpers, before
it settled down into the every day, ordinary experiences of Mission work
everywhere, and in a simple way to show the principles which guided us.
in it. C.
PART IV.
I Kings, III: 7, Q. I am but a little child: I know not how to go outor
come in. * * * * Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart-
to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad; for who is-
able to judge this thy so great people.
These words of Solomon instinctively fell from the lips of a young
clergyman in the City of New York, when a quarter of a century ago, the
tidings, utteyly unexpected, came to him that he had been chosen a Bishop*
in the Church of God, of an unknown region and an almost unknown
people. Conscious of his own inexperience and conscious too of .the
largeness and difficulty of the work, his heart cried out its inward protest
against the imposition of a task so heavy that even the boldest, the most
experienced, would fear to assume it. Yet in the very humility of this
natural attitude was the true and only ground of confidence and success.
Out of his own weakness he found God's strength, and from the abyss of
his feats he looked up and saw the nearness of the Master's presence. As
a child he placed his hands confidingly in the hands of the Heavenly
Father, and trusted the leadings of his life to Him. We can be sure that
the prayer upon his lips then, and which has ever remained, was that of
the wise King: "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to-
judge thy people, that I may discern between good and evil."
May I be permitted to say that humility, combined with a rare and
Heaven directed wisdom, have been the distinguishing traits of him who
was then and there called to the Episcopate, as the story of his life and
work for the twenty-five years past abundantly verifies.
When we comprehend the situation as it existed then, from the very
'character of the official environment in which he was then placed, and
which was not unknown to him who was chosen Bishop, we can fully ap-
preciate the feeling swelling up from his heart and breaking forth in the
words of the text.
The Bishop of Niobrara. What did that signify? Where was Nio-
brara? Churchmen of the East asked curiously the question. The far-
ther West was a region unknown. The House of Bishops defined it as a
g5 IUSHOV GILBERT'S SERMON.
country "Bounded on the east by the Missouri River; on the south by the
State of Nebraska; on the west by the io4th Meridian, the Territory of
Wyoming and Nebraska; on the north by the 46th degree of North lati-
tude; including also the several Indian Reservations on the left bank of
the Missiouri, north and east of said river."
Perhaps such a designation of limits was as definite as then could be
indicated; and yet even now with our present familiar knowledge of the
geography of this region, there is a vagueness about it, which suggests
vastness more than anything else, and which is eloquent in its suggestive-
ness of leagues of rolling plains, of mighty mountains, of rivers wide and
deep.
The boundaries were thus made extensive in order that they might
embrace all those bands of Indians inhabiting the vast -plains east of the
Rocky Mountains, and known as the great Sioux nation. At this time
Dakota, undivided, was one immense territory with no railroads within its
borders, and only a few scattered hamlets here and there in the extreme
southeastern part, together with a few military posts. The rich mines in
the Black Hills were not discovered until two years later, and the richer
possibilities of its wonderful soil were wholly undeveloped, and practically
unknown.
In very truth the population of all this designated territory was com-
posed wholly of the Sioux, roaming over vast reservations, and subsisting
upon the game which then was there to be found in great abundance.
Many of these Indians were the same that had taken part in the sanguin-
ary Minnesota massacre of eleven years before, and were still filled with
feelings of hatred and revenge toward the white man. It required a man
of heroic mold and singular devotion to be willing to enter such a region,
and make his home in the very midst of these savage people. It is quite
impossible for us to realize now, resting as we do under the protection of
law and order, how perilous was the life then. Yet not for one moment
did this young Bishop, reared in the comfort and luxury of an eastern
city, tenderly and delicately trained for a life of usefulness, though not of
physical hardship, quail before the prospect; but simply, bravely, trusting-
ly, devotedly, he went forth from the midst of all that made life most
sweet and attractive, sundering ties which had been knit into the very
innermost recesses of his heart; went forth like Abraham of old not know-
ing whither he went, and took his stand where duty called him.
The lofty and splendid spirit of his grandfather, that great ecclesiasti-
cal statesman and large hearted Missionary leader, John Henry Hobart,
who, as Bishop of the great Diocese of New York, had distinguished him-
self even at that early day by his work for the Indians in his Diocese; was
within his breast; and as that great Bishop founded a new epoch in the
history of Missions in the American Church, so may we confidently believe
his grandson, whom we honor today, was the founder of a new epoch in
our Church's work among the red men.
I speak advisedly when I speak of the consecration of the first Bishop
of the Indians as the making of an epoch.
BISHOP GILBERT'S SERMON. 97
Before 1873 practically there had been no official recognition by the
Church of its duty to these people. It is true, noble and fruitful work had
been done by Breck in Minnesota and Goodenow at Green Bay and a
few others elsewhere, but it had been individualistic, isolated, lacking in
cohesion, and oftimes in permanency. The Church as an organism had
never officially assumed any responsibility thereto. The consecration of
the Bishop of Niobrara was the formal expression of her sense of duty as a
Church toward these red children of the forest and the plain. The story
of their wrongs had at last stirred her heart. The record of a century of
neglect, indifference-, injustice and dishonor, written in degradation, tears
and blood, was to be blotted out as far as might be, in ministrations of
love and beneficence. Bishop Hare went forth in obedience to the call of
the Church as the-incarnation of this spirit, as the directing hand, under
God, by which* this new era of righteousness was to be fostered and
developed. He has taught it and lived it, always and everywhere. On
the blizzard-swept plain, on ice covered rivers, in the Indian teepee and in
school precincts, "in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of
robbers, in perils by his own countrymen,' in perils by the heathen, in
perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils among false brethren.
In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in
fasting often, in cold and nakedness."
It was only in this way that the Indians heart could be reached, the
scoffer's sneer be silenced, and the Church be stimulated to withdraw not
her hands.
In those days the universal sentiment along the border was that the
Indian was unworthy of effort, that the sooner he was exterminated the
better it would be for the country, and that the man who so demeaned
himself as to labor for their elevation was an unpractical enthusiast, a
visionary dreamer. The only eirenicon recognized was vengeful force
the only evangel of a better order was the soldier with his death-dealing
sword. To combat and overcome this brutal idea required a courage and
patience of no ordinary quality. The hypothesis that the Indian was a
man and brother, could only be conclusively demonstrated in the results
of Christian work.
This end has been reached, and reached largely I affirm, by the living
example of your Bishop. A race saturated with the ideas of centuries of
hereditary practice, cannot be regenerated in a day, or in a generation.
It has taken centuries to evolve even to its present enlightened condition
the Anglo Saxon, out of the barbarism of Druidical superstition, and the
gross living mid German forests and Scandinavian mountains.
We have no right to expect complete transformation in one short
quarter of a century. Yet note what has been accomplished at your very
doors. Self-support in a large measure, the donning of the dress and
manner of living of the. white man, the education of the children of the
present generation, the prevalence of the spirit and practice of peace in-
stead of war, It is universally admitted that the only thing which pre-
vented an universal uprising during the outbreak which culminated in the
98 msHOP GILBERT'S SERMON.
awful tragedy of Wounded Knee, was the restraining influence of the-
Christian Indians. How strong and potent a factor the Bishop of South
Dakota has been in this evolution, is well known to many of you, for it is
writ. large in the history of the Church's work during the twenty-five years-
of his Episcopate; yet, to refresh your memories and to convey the
knowledge to those who have never specially considered, it is well for a
moment to point to a few prominent facts.
When Bishop Hare entered upon his work there were under the care
of the Church three Missions, the Santee, the Ponca and the Yankton; with
three ordained Missionaries and three native catechists, and 350 communi-
cants; todiy there are SD Mission stations and about 50 churches and
chapels, 75 Missionaries, catechists and helpers, and 3036 communicants,,
and four boarding schools with 202 pupils, not including those in the day
schools. These facts are eloquent. They tell their own story, they bear'
their own testimony to remarkable results which have been obtained dur-
ing these years of superintendence. 1 challenge any Diocese in the land
to show any such percentage of increase, or to point to more conclusive
evidence of progress and development along purely religious lines.
We cannot compute the leavening influences which have silently
worked in the home and before the camp fire; they are to be recognized
not by. comparing one year's progress with another, but by contrasting
the condition of the tribes as a whole now with that of twenty-five years-
ago. Surely the heart of my brother must be filled with thankfulness and
cheer when he looks upon these noble results, and recognizes the hand of
God through all.
Side by side with their chief pastor from the very first have some
brethren, now before me, lived and toiled. Linked with the history of
Bishop Hare in the Indian work will ever be the names of Cook and Burt,
of Cleveland. Ashley, and Deloria, of Walker and Robinson, together with
others, some of whom have fallen in the battle's front, or followed duty's
call to other fields.
The difficulties facing the Bishop, not to mention physical exposure
and hardships, were met and overcome. The Indians, to quote from his
own words, with whom the Mission had to deal, were some of the most
reckless and the wildest of our North American tribes, and scattered over
a district some parts of which were twelve days apart. So desolate was
the country that on one of his trips he did not see a human face or a hu-
man habitation, not even an Indian lodge, for eight days. Emissaries of
evil had reached the Indians long before the Missionaries of the cross
appeared. "All the white men that came before you," said a chief, "said
they had come to do us good; but they stole our goods and corrupted our
women; and how are we to know that you are different."
Perhaps these facts have not presented themselves to you, brother
Churchmen of South Dakota, with the same force and vividness, as they
have to us who have watched from afar. The knowledge of them has
evoked sympathy and help from all portions of the land, and the means
BISHOP GILBERTS SERMON. 99
by which these Missions avid schools have been supported have come as
the direct result of these cheering 1 -conditions. Through the voice of
Bishop and Missionory pleading the cause, through letters and columns of
Church publications, the strange names of Indian persons and tribes have
become almost household words in many a church and home.
It ought not to be overlooked or forgotted that the Indian has not been
alone a recipient of all the bounties which the Church has brought him,
but in generous and self-sacrificing offerings of money, he has in his own
earnest, though feeble way, tried to show his thankfulness, and to express
his consciousness of his own identity with the work of Christ everywhere.
I could fondly and proudly linger over this story of a quarter of a
century's work among the Red Men, with its incidents replete with ro-
mance and pathos, with the discouragements and cheer which are wrought
in it, with its aureole of personal devotion and sacrifice encircling it, with
the wonderful testimony, borne everywhere, to the regenerating power of
the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I would love to follow the footsteps
of the Bishop over the hills and plains, and hold up the picture of his life,
that all might see its bravery and beauty; but I must not. You will your-
selves fill out the picture.
We can all, red men and white, from our hearts thank God that He
chose one so well fitted to do His work in this western land, among these
people who were like sheep going astray, bxit who are now returning to the
great Shepherd and Bishop of souls.
Let us now for a moment turn our eyes toward another feature of the
work, which in God's providence your Bishop was called upon to assume,
and which was in no wise contemplated when first he came to this land.
As early as 1875 the discovery of gold in the Black Hills country brought
with it a vast influx of men from every part of the country, seeking their
fortunes in the mines. This influx necessitated the throwing open of a
large section of the Reservations in the west of his Jurisdiction for settle-
ment.
This a few years later was followed by a tide of immigration into the
eastern and southeastern portion, following the lines of railroads as they
reached out toward the Missouri. Settlements sprang up, and towns were
founded and grew as if by magic, the land was broken by the plowshare,
and the broad acres returned their toll of golden grain. The Indian was
no longer the sole, factor to be considered in the prosecution of the Mis-
sionary work of the Church. Her policy must be more embracing, that
the incoming thousands might come and see and know this historic and
Apostolic Church of the English-speaking race. Recognizing this con-
dition, in 1883 the House of Bishops passed the following resolutions:
Resolved, That the boundaries of the Missionary Jurisdiction of
Niobrara be so changed as to make it identical in outline and area with
that portion of the Territory of Dakota, lying south of the 46th parallel of
latitude and so as to include the Santee Reservation in Nebraska.
100 BISHOP GILBERT S SERMON.
Resolved, That the name of this Jurisdietion be changed from Nio-
brara to South Dakota.
Cheerfully was the change accepted by the Bishop of Niobrara. In
his own words, "It was most acceptable. . It was an evidence of confidence
at a time when a number of influences and schemes to whose success my
presence and continuance in office were a menace, had combined against
me, and had culminated in an onslaught which had met a temporary suc-
cess."
This change brought the Bishop into a personal touch with the peo-
ple who were to possess the land, and gave him an opportunity to de-
velop plans for work among them which were necessary to. their highest
weal.
To us who have labored long in the West, the difficulties of planting
and developing the Church among a people secular in their pursuits,
worldly in their ambitions, and naturally antagonistic to a Church Liturgy
and to a ministry with a surplice, are well known. These difficulties are
accentuated and multiplied by the fierce and jealous rivalry of almost a
score of sects, striving to get a foothold in a new country, and not always
scrupulous of the means employed to belittle the work and claims of
the Church.
I hesitate not to say that the results of the Bishop's endeavors have
fully vindicated "his methods, and brought a reasonable measure of suc-
cess. Churches and Chapels have been erected in all towns of impor-
tance. Missions- have been planted in the little villages, the voice of the
clergy has been heard in all parts of the field, prejudices have been dis-
armed, and the position and claims oi the Church become far better
understood.
The cause of Christian education was very near the Bishop's heart,
and he realized in its fullness, that if the homes of South Dakota were to
be made fostering centres of blessings and happiness, the daughters of
these homes, who were to be the future mothers, must be touched and
enriched by the hallowing influence of a Christian consecration. To en-,
sure this end, All Saints School for girls was early established, and amply
equipped to do this noble work. What a blessing it has been! How the
sweet, influences of the characters there trained have rested like a benedic-
tion upon many a home and community. South Dakota may well be
proud of this splendid institution of Christian education and culture; and
the ever increasing patronage testifies to the efficiency and acceptability
of the work there done. From my heart I congratulate my brother upon
the success of this crowning glory .of his Episcopate. He may wear the
martyr's crown, but the brightest jewel in it, whose lustre will never be
dimmed, will be AH Saints School.
I do not record the dry statistics of his work in this portion of, the
field. They are well worthy of attention and will give abundant cause for
thanksgiving. I do not record them, because as a western Bishop I know
BISHOP GILBERT S SERMON. 101
how little they in truth repeal of the work which has been, and is being
done. Slowly, imperceptibly almost, with no blare of trumphets, with no
loud acclaim of converts made or immense congregations, does the work
of our dear Church proceed. Underneath, the potent power of her un-
equalled Liturgy is felt in giving the most adequate expression to the feel-
ing of worship, and with it all the inculcation of deeper reverence for
things sacred, founded upon the enduring basis of Apostolic teaching and
historic continuity. We are not to look for the full outcome of the Church's
work in our own generation; but I confidently affirm that in South Dakota
and elsewhere throughout our new land, in another generation the claims,
the faith, the teachings of this Apostolic Church of ours will be universally
understood, recognized, and in a large measure accepted. In the confi-
dence of this hope the Bishop who lays foundations, labors patiently,
cheerfully on. Disappointments, nay even disasters may come; his most
cherished plans may fail; but working with God he tries to do his duty as
he sees it, and leaves the results in the Almighty's hands, knowing that
the Church is founded upon the rock, even Jesus Christ, and "that the
gates of hell cannot prevail against her."
Did time permit, I would dwell upon some of these fundamental
truths for which a leader of God's hosts,, a Bishop, must stand. Such
thoughts are germane to an occasion like this, and in reality ought to be
declared. He must represent in his own personal work and character all
that enters into the upbuilding of the Kingdom of righteousness among a
people. As the living exponent of this principle he can be no time server;
he cannot lower the standards of eternal righteousness to suit the seeming
necessities of a local environment, no matter how plausible may be the
reasons presented by selfish man for so doing. His voice must ever be
heard with no uncertain sound on the side of "temperance, soberness and
chastity." Because he sees and knows the unique importance .of the pure
Christian home, he must defend it as with a shield. He can make no
truce with those who would make the laws which protect that home so
lax that they can be broken at the mere whim and caprice of some hus-
band or wife who has grown restive under their needful control, and who
seeks new alliances to gratify the impulse of the moment. To uphold this
standard may seemingly produce opposition, ill will and unpopularity;
but in reality those who are the loudest in their denunciation of his so-
called narrowness, honor and respect him- in their hearts. Am I not right
in asserting that the Bishop of South Dakota has been a constant defender
of the pure Christian home?
Again, a Bishop of the Church must be the upholder of law. The
wild ebullitions of anarchistic socialism in their various manifestations,
defeating as they do the very purposes for which society is founded, are to
find their true antidote in the acceptance of those principles of brother-
hood which are embodied in the life and teachings of Christ. There can
be no unity without fraternity, without the acknowledgement of the
Fatherhood of God. For this, the Church stands. If she be true to the
teachings of her Founder, she grasps men-of every station with an impar-
102 BISHOP GILBERT S SERMON.
tial hand, and cries out "Sirs, ye are brethren." A Bishop must be the
active promoter of this divine spirit, and his life'and work must know no
distinction between the rich and the poor, the employer and employed.
Men will interpret the Church through him.
To this high principle, the Bishop of South Dakota has ever been
loyal. A Bishop must be the defender of the Faith once Delivered to the .
Saints. He cannot compromise it. He cannot relegate it to the domain
of glittering unrealities. He cannot minimize its supernatural power. He
cannot accommodate it to the mere fancies of the speculative idealist, or
to the narrow rigidity of the bigoted doctrinaire. "Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday, today and forever" must be his watchword. So standing firm
he shall be a rallying point for men shaken by the uncertainties of the
times, and in him they will see and grasp that calm confidence in the
unshaken and unshakable truths of the eternal, which shall give them the
sure measure of repose.
Has not this absolute and unswerving, simple loyalty to the Faith,
been a distinguishing mark of our brother whom we honor today?
Finally, a Bishop must be the veritable incarnation of the spirit of
charity, love;-for love is the fulfilling of the law. This greatest of Christ-
ian virtues must find in his heart a willing, congenial home. With it he
can extend the olive branch of peace to weary men; by it he can most truly
advance the cause of Christian unity; through it he shall draw men near
to the heart of the Church, where the. inexhaustible fount of love is
found.
A Bishop who is simply a toiler is an anachronism, a dismal failure; a
Bishop who adds, to authority the principle and practice of Fatherhood in
the Church of God, though he may oftimes make sad mistakes of judg-
ment, shall be respected and loved even by those who differ widely from
him.
To his loving heart, expanding ever with sympathy will come the
storm-tossed and distressed; into his ear of paternal affection will they
freely pour the story of their sorrows and tioubles, and find themselves
comforted and strengthenend by the touch of a loving-soul.
Surely the first Bishop of South Dakota has ever truly exemplified in
his life this beautiful virtue of the Christian faith. As the years go on,
and the record of your Bishop's life passes into history, he will be remem-
bered as one who in his own life and work ever was an outspoken expon-
ent of these necessary things, as one who wisely and well laid the foun-
dations of the Church in this fair land.
It would not be seemly in his presence for me to express all that my
heart prompts me to speak. I could dwell fondly on his abiding patience,
on his farsighted wisdom, on his faith, child-like in its simplicity, on his un-
swerving trust in God. . .
I could dwell on what he has brought to this State in material and
BISHOP GILBERTS SERMON. 103
'money; on the recognition of his abilities by the Church at large,
evinced by its desire that he should accept the Episcopate of that
fascinating work in the Empire of Japan; of his loyalty to his own humble
and more difficult field; but I forbear.
I leave the record where he would leave it, in the hands. of Him who
never forgets the humblest service performed in His name and for His
glory.
The years glide swi-ftly by; the silver of a rich and ripe age is already
-whitening his locks; his eyes are fixed on the land which is not very far
off. Our prayers, our hopes, our love are with him; and we ask our
Heavenly Father to spare his precious life for many years to come.
Yours, dear brothers, is the gracious privilege to stand by him loyally, to
hold up his hands, to lighten his burdens, to support him with your
sympathy.
For these things the heart of a Bishop cries out; it craves the touch of
Bother lives warm with confidence and affection. Some day, dear friend
.and brother, in that country toward which our feet are hastening, we shall,
I trust, go over .the story of our trials and struggles in the times when in
faith and hope we tried to carry forward God's plans for His Church in
that state of life to which He had called us. The records will be full of
mistakes, memory's picture full of blemishes; but if through all we shall
remember that God over-ruled our sins and short-comings to His glory,
we shall rest content. He will remember that we were but little children
.at the best, and so He shielded us with a Father's love, and lead us with a
kindly hand. '
So, brother, we watch and wait for that entrancing day of reunion and
rest. So, strengthened by that hope, we don anew the armour of God,
and go forth into the thick of the battle. As we take our places in the
ranks, there steal upon our ears those words which often we have heard
sung over the still, cold forms of some most dear:
blest communion, fellowship divine;
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine,
Alleluia.
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave again, and we are strong,
Alleluia.
The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors cometh rest;
Sweet is the calm of Paradise the. blest.
Alleluia.
Immediately at the close of the sermon, Bishop Hare, who was evi-
dently deeply moved, took his place in front of the altar, and taking up
104 . BISHOP GILBERT'S SERMON.
the text of the sermon made it his own prayer in the following words::
"0 my God, I am but as a little child who knows not how to go out or how
to come in. Give m^ grace that I may both rule and serve this Thy dear
people." He then addressed Bishop Gilbert and the clery and congrega-
tion p'^sent, some earnest words of gratitude and valediction. The clergy
then spontaneously rose and gathered about him in the chancel, taking;
him by the hand, and so the exercises closed.
PART V.
ADDENDUM.
The Committee of the General Convention of 1898 that had been ap-
pointed to make an order of procedure for the sessions of the Board of
Missions, acting upon the request of the Board of Managers, suggested
that "On the morning of the second day, space should be given to the
commemoration of the completion of twenty-five years in the Episcopate
of the Bishop of South Dakota." Accordingly, on Tuesday, October nth,,
the House of Bishops having come in and joined the House of Clerical and
Lay Deputies, Mr. George C. Thomas, treasurer of the Missionary Society,,
said that it was a high privilege that he should be permitted to present and
read the Minute prepared and propose its adoption, because of his associ-
ation with Bishop Hare in the early, days of his boyhood, when, under the
care of the Bishop's most honored father, the Bishop and he sat together
in the Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia.
The Preamble and Minute were as follows:
Mindful that the Right. Rev. William Hobart Hare, S. T. D., has but
lately completed his twenty-fifth year of active service in the Missionary
Jurisdiction originally known as Niobrara, but more recently as South Da-
kota, this Board resolves to spread upon its records the following minute::
The Church's earliest indebtedness to Bishop Hare for Missionary
work antedates his consecration to the Episcopate. For some time pre-
vious to that event he had occupied the responsible position of foreign
secretary of this Board, and it was doubtless due to the singular efficiency
with which he was discharging the functions of that important office that
he was found meet to be ordered to the higher duties of the Episcopate.
Recently Bishop Hare's jurisdiction has grown to include a large white
population; but for the greater part of his quarter of a century. of Mission-^
ary life his work has been among the Indian tribes of the frontier. To
these he has been both friend in need and friend in deed. What Eliott
was to the tribes of Massachusetts Bay, that Hare has been to the Dakota
Sioux. The difficult task of mediating between the red man and the
306 ADDENDUM.
white he has discharged with consummate skill and tact. The education
of the Indian youth, both boys and girls, has been his assiduous care.
The old alliance of the school-house and the church he has made it a chief
point to maintain. Never a sentimental apologist for Indian crimes, he
has been always and invariably a staunch upholder of Indian rights. The
people and the government have learned to trust him as one who could
be depended upon to tell them the whole truth, and today the buildings
of his jurisdiction stand as a witness to the generosity which personal con-
fidence never fails to inspire.
Bishop Hare's relation to this Board have from the beginning been
marked by the utmost cordiality, while his course with respect to the spe-
cial contributions made toward his work deserves no less an epithet than
chivalrous. He has well earned our thanks. We assure him of our love.
Bishop Whipple, of Minnesota, added a bit of history of the early days
at Faribault, when he "was walking on his heart," and Mr. Hare, who was
visiting Minnesota, had brought to him sympathy and love. When the
Sioux had been forced out of Minnesota, he nominated Mr. Hare to be
Bishop among them, for he had learned to know his yearning for souls.
The Sioux among whom he went have been pronounced the noblest and
wildest body of wild men on earth. Contact with pioneers had led them
to believe that white man was a synonym for liar; but Bishop Hare re-
stored the repute and good name of the Caucasian. In Custer's campaign
in the Black Hills, the Indian scouts had shown themselves, by the Gen-
eral's testimony, exemplary men. They were the only men in that army
whose voices rose in praise to God on the Lord's Day. No mission had
borne more or better fruit than Bishop Hare's mission to the Sioux.
Bishop Potter, of New York, said:
When it was suggested that some appropriate action should be taken
recognizing the completion of the twenty-five years of service of Bishop
Hare, it was thought that it might be creating a precedent; but it was
very justly answered that if that were so it was a good kind of precedent,
because it was no ordinary thing for a Bishop to survive his hardships
for twenty-five years. Bishop Hare had brought to his work not only
courage and devotion, but an exceptional power of endurance. He would
not attempt to speak of Bishop Hare's work. Referring to the remark of
Mr. Thomas, that he had been a schoolmate of Bishop Hare, Bishop Pot-
ter said that he, too, might refer to those days, but there was possibly a
good deal that Mr. Thomas and he would like to forget; at that time
Bishop Hare was as good an example for Mr. Thomas and himself as he
is today. But he would refer to one or two instances connected with
Bishop Hare when he, Bishop Potter, was rector of a parish in the city of
New York. One night, when he was sitting down at dinner, the servant
came to the door and said that there was some one who wanted to see him,
and would not go away. This he characterized as a very common experi-
ence, in the life of a New York rector. He went out into the hall with
the natural impatience of a man interrupted at his dinner, and found there
a man about thirty-five years old, dripping with 'the rain of the storm
ADDENDUM. 107
prevailing on that November night, and with his hat on. He saw that the
man was dazed, and when he uncovered his head he saw one of the most
remarkable faces that he had ever looked upon. This man was a clergy-
man of the Church of Ireland, who had been dragged down by the in-
firmity of drink, and who had been dismissed by his English Bishop from
his Cure, and had come to this country meaning to strive to recover him-
self if he might; but had fallen into evil company. He said that that day
and the night before he had spent the hours in the street. Bishop Potter
said that he spoke to him as one may be permitted to do in the face of
such a history, and asked him if he believed he could get on his feet. By
the grace of God the man said he could, if helped to do so. He placed
him under the oversight of one of the assistant ministers of the parish, and
made him report every morning to us, and each day we asked the same
question. He held out a week, two weeks, a month; and one day when
Bishop Hare was in my study I told him about the man, and I said that
the English Bishop refused to give me any letter whatever or any paper
which would authenticate this brother to any American Bishop. I said,
"What shall I do with him?" Without a moment's hesitation, and in fine
indifference to Canon law, Bishop Hare said, "I will lake him." He took
him to his Jurisdiction and placed him in charge of an Indian Mission;
and there he labored and there he fell a martyr to Christ and his devotion
to the Christian Indian work, saved by the love and broad charity of my
Brother Hare.
I put beside that, Mr. Chairman, an incident which happened during
the Lambeth Conference, when my brother, the Bishop of South Dakota,
in a foreign land, found himself next to a very charming woriian at an
entertainment, on the other side of whom was an Anglican Bishop
who has passed to appropriate obscurity. . This lady, who had found in-
the Bishop of South Dakota what any lady would find in him, turning
to the Anglican Bishop for information, said: "Who is this gentleman on
my right?" The answer, which the Bishop of South Dakota overheard,
was, "Only a Missionary Bishop," I confess, said Bishop Potter, when I
heard that story there flashed into my memory that incomparable and.
dramatic'story by Thrackeray o Jonathan Swift, where he spoke of his
having found a folded sheet of paper and on it the word "Stella," and
then, underneath, describing the contents of that sheet of paper, "only a
lock of hair." And then, Thackeray, with great pathos repeats the words:
'"Only a lock of hair; only . devotion; only consistency; only infinite pa-
tience; only the 'largest love; only the sweetest sacrifice." And so I say
""only a Missionary Bishop; only heroism; only the most patient and
devoted service; only the most constant compassion; only the most
splendid and gracious illustration which our Missionary services has given
'us of devotion to the cause of Christ and those who are forgotten of their
:fellow.-men."
The Preamble and Minute were agreed to unanimously.
Bishop Potter then uncovered a silver Loving Cup, eleven inches
high, with a width of six and a half inches at the brim, and bearing the
IdS ADDENDUM.
inscription: "To the Right Reverend William Hobart Hare, Doctor of
Divinity. From friends who love and honor him. 1873-1898."
Bishop Hare, who had been sitting in the body of the church, there
came to the platform; and, standing by the Loving Cup, said:
Brethren, what means this noble act of confidence this auto da fc in
which the fires of fatherly and brotherly love have been consuming me,,
their happy victim. What means it, but this, that there prevades the
Church tender appreciation of long tried service. Just as the atmosphere-
is charged with moisture, and an electric shock will make the moisture
distill into a refreshing shower, so an anniversary in my life has made the
pervasive love of the Church calesce, and take outward shape in this-
distinct and gracious act. I feel that for the time being my individuality
is lost, and that in me are summarized and capitulated all those servants-
of the Church who have done long service; and so I would summon to my
side Bishop Williams, who for more than twenty-five years has labored in
Japan; Archdeacon Thomson, who for more than twenty-five years has-
labored in China; Bishop Holly, of Hayti, who has labored there for more
than twenty-five years;. Bishop Ferguson, who has labored in Africa for
more than twenty-five years; and Bishop Morris, of Oregon, my dear-
father, who for more than twenty-five years has labored there. And I
would summon all those dear men and dear women who have given long
service in South Dakota; for there, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five and twenty-
seven years of service is no rare thing. Those dear men and women, my
fellow workers and noble laborers, have lifted me aloof and put me here..
I would remember that the dome of the capitol, while most conspicuous, is-
not after all the most important part of that building, but that the structure
which supports it is the most important. So those men and women who
have supported me in my despondency, have made me believe in myself
a very important thing to do because I found that they believed in me.
And yet, my dear friends and brethren I must not detain you. In this
case, as I am sure all of you would in circumstances of emotion, I find
sweet comfort in the words of our Prayer Book, a portion of one of the:
psalms words which tell out all the pains of my body, all the sorrows,
of my heart during these twenty five years; all my hopes, too, and all my
gratitude to God, and all my thankfulness to my sympathizing brethren
"Oh what great troubles and adversities hast Thou showed me; and yet
didst Thou turn against and refresh me, yea, and broughtest me from the
deep of the earth again. Thou hast brought me to great honor and com-
forted me on every side. Therefore will I praise Thee and Thy faith-
fulness, God."
As a fitting conclusion of the comemoration, Bishop Hare met the-
ladies of the Woman's Auxiliary on the afternoon of the same day at an
informal gathering held in St. John's Parish House. Every one, of course,
was desirous of seeing the "Loving Cup," and it was passed from one to
another, and on its -return it was found to contain offerings and pledges.,
for the Bishop amounting to $359.00.
ADDENDUM. ICQ
RECEPTION AT SIOUX FALLS, S. D., NOV. pth, 1898.
The reception in honor of Bishop W. H. Hare on Wednesday evening
at St. Augusta Cathedral was one of those complete and polished affairs
so common with all entertainments under the auspices of that chuich.
The Cathedral was rilled with members of the church, and admirers of the
Bishop outside of the Church. The object of the gathering was a double
one t.o celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Bishop Hare's Episcop-
ate in South Dakota, and to extend him a welcome home after a somewhat
protracted absence in the east, where he gained many honors lor himself,
Sioux Falls and South Dakota. The simple but very neat decorations of
the Cathedral consisted of palms and roses.
The vested choir entered the chancel, singing the processional hymn
"Ancient of Days," followed by the Vicar, and Bishop Hare, wearing the
new Episcopal robes presented by the Niobrara League of New York.
The Bishop's favorite hymn "The King of Love My Shepherd Is," was
sung, and after an earnest address of welcome by the pastor, Rev. Thomas
L. Fisher, a warm hearted reply was made by Bishop Hare, expressive of
the help the people had been to him during the many years of his trying
work, and trusting in their confidence and co-operation for the successful
continuation of his undertakings. The Bishop closed by saying, "Let me
leave with you two verses, taken from the Psalm which we have just read
responsively, as containing both my testimony and my prayer, "Thou, O
Cod, hast taught me from my youth up until now; therefore will I tell of
Thy wondrous works. Forsake me not, God, in mine old age, when I
.am grayheaded, until I have showed Thy strength unto thisgeneration, and
Thy power unto all them that are yet for to come."
Owing to the very great crowd which followed the Bishop to the guild
rooms to shake him by the hand, the exercises arranged to take place there
were necessarily omitted. The vestry, however, in a body presented the
following testimonial to the Bishop:
"The Right Rev. William H. Hare Dear Bishop: We have read
with deep interest the proceedings in the General Convention, when the
Church as a whole, presented you with the loving token of her apprecia-
tion of your twenty-five years' laborious ministrations; and now, we, as a
small part, but the very nearest to you, wish to offer our congratulations
on the successes of the past, and to assure you of our loyal devotion to the
future of your progressive Episcopate," Sioux Falls Press.
At the conclusion of this paper the Bishop arose from his seat, and
advancing toward the congregation addressed them as follows: "Many
of the clergy know that when it was proposed to mark in some appropriate
way the twenty-fifth anniversary of my Episcopate, I demurred on the
ground that no one could look back upon twenty-five years of service with
self satisfaction, and that I preferred to look forward to the future rather
than to regard the past. It occurred to me afterwards, however, that this
feeling arose from a too personal view of the proposed commemoration,
twenty-five years of Episcopal service meaning rather twenty-five years
110 ADDENDUM.
of service by .the clergy and the people than by the Bishop. In this larger
view my objections had vanished. For the moment, indeed, the darker
side of the past has disappeared. Mr. Cook's generous paper has called
up an even humorous frame of mind, and when L think of the ups and
downs which have marked the intercourse of the Bishop and clergy and.
people during these twenty-five years past, I see how firmly we have been
knit together; and I look upon the past with a sort of "John Anderson My
Jo John" song running in my mind; for even differences have tended to
bind us together as husband and wife in later years often love one another
the. better for the tiffs they have had."
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO