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Lac qui Parle Mission

Lac qui Parle Mission

Creator:
Reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission
The reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission building, 2012. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, September 3, 2012. CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED

Lac qui Parle Mission in Chippewa County was the leading station of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions’ work among Dakota people between 1835 and 1854. Though missionaries cited it as the most successful project of its kind among the Dakota, the mission failed in its objective to replace Dakota culture with European American lifeways. Throughout its existence Lac qui Parle was a multicultural community, where Dakota people and European Americans cooperated with each other but experienced deep divides.

In the mid-1800s, the lake called Mde Iaúdaŋ (Small Lake that Speaks) was in the heart of Waȟpétuŋwaŋ Dakota homeland. The Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ had a village on the south side of the lake, where it empties into Mni Sota Wakpa (the Minnesota River). Sisíthuŋwaŋ Dakota people had a small village just to the south, at the mouth of Ptaŋ Siŋta Wakpa (the Lac qui Parle River). Iháŋkthuŋwaŋ and Mdewakaŋtuŋwaŋ Dakota visited the lake as well.

French fur traders reached the lake in the 1700s and translated its Dakota name into their language, calling it “Lac qui Parle.” In 1826, Joseph Renville, a fur trader of Mdewakhaŋtuŋwaŋ and French ancestry, established a trading post at the lake and became an influential leader there. Raised a Catholic, he invited the missionary families of Thomas Williamson and Alexander Huggins to establish a mission at Lac qui Parle. In July of 1835 the Williamsons and Huggins arrived at Lac qui Parle and began their mission work. The missionaries depended on Renville and his family for protection and influence among the local Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ.

Throughout the rest of the 1830s, the mission community grew. More missionaries arrived: Stephen Riggs and his family; brothers Samuel and Gideon Pond; and others. The Renvilles and their extended family made up the core of Dakota people who attended church services. Most of them were women and children, since the majority of Dakota men resisted the missionaries. Mary Renville (Tonkanne), the Mdewakaŋtuŋwaŋ wife of Joseph, and Tutidutawiŋ (Her Scarlet House, also called Catherine), a Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ woman, were early leaders of the mission community. The mission became a place of family life where the children of missionaries and Dakota children grew up.

The early 1840s were a time of success according to the missionaries, but their accomplishments depended on the desires of Dakota people. Some Dakota men joined the congregation, and a few began giving sermons in Dakota. Dakota women led the effort to build a church, which was completed in 1841. The missionaries plowed fifty acres for corn, and Dakota families, who had been planting corn before the missionaries arrived, took to the fields. For years, Joseph Renville and the missionaries worked to translate religious texts into a written Dakota language. In 1842 the first of many religious texts in the Dakota language were published.

The written Roman alphabet failed to capture the sounds, concepts, and nuances of oral Dakota. It also threatened to replace the Dakota language as part of a bigger project of assimilation. In response, most Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ and Sisíthuŋwaŋ people resisted. Some individuals killed the mission’s livestock, shot at its church bell, and threatened the missionaries. Some also harassed and ostracized the Dakota who were part of the mission community. The resistance culminated in 1842, when the Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ joined the Mdewakantunwan in an attempt to remove missions from Dakota lands. The mission survived these difficulties at first because a few influential Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ did not want the missionaries to leave. But in 1846, Joseph Renville died. Without his patronage, Lac qui Parle mission began to decline. By 1849, there were only eighteen members in the congregation.

The signing of treaties in 1851 brought changes to Lac qui Parle. Though the mission was within the boundaries of the reservation, many Dakota people relocated further downriver to Pajutazee (Phežíhutazizi K’ápi) Mission, near the Upper Sioux Agency. The missionaries at Lac qui Parle argued that the mission could continue as a government boarding school for Native children. This never happened, and in 1854, when the Riggs’ family home burned to the ground, the mission was abandoned.

In 1933 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) began a flood-control project at Lac qui Parle, leading to renewed interest in the old mission site. The Minnesota Historical Society excavated the site in 1940, and the Chippewa County Historical Society, in partnership with the WPA, reconstructed the mission in 1942. Lac qui Parle State Park was created in 1941. In 1973 the mission site was listed on the National Register as part of an archaeological historic district; in later decades, it was managed by the Chippewa County Historical Society.
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Bibliography

Alexander G. Huggins and family papers, 1833–1976 (bulk 1833–1976)
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Correspondence, historical background materials, reminiscences, photographs, and other papers relating to the work of Presbyterian missionary Alexander G. Huggins and his family, who lived in the Minnesota River Valley during territorial and early statehood years. The papers provide information about the Dakota missions at Lac qui Parle (1830s) and at Traverse des Sioux (1840s–1860s); pioneer life in Minnesota; the Dakota Conflict (1862) and the Civil War; and family members and genealogy. Also included are eight essay books composed by Huggins’ daughters.
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00679.xml

Clemmons, Linda M. Conflicted Mission: Faith, Disputes, and Deception On the Dakota Frontier. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2014.

Eubank, Nancy. An Interpretive Plan for the Lac qui Parle Mission. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1981. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society library as F612.C48 L33 1981.

Gates, Charles M. “The Lac Qui Parle Indian Mission.” Minnesota History 16, no. 2 (June 1935): 133–151.

“Local Press Reaction: Archaeological Investigation Lac Qui Parle Mission Station.” 1940. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society library as F612.C48 L8.

P1382
Lorenzo Lawrence papers, 1820–1897, 1898
Description: Includes information on the establishment of the mission at Lac qui Parle.
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Lac qui Parle Flood Control Project.
https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/destinations/state_parks/lac_qui_parle/history-brochure.pdf

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Lac qui Parle State Park.
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/park.html?id=spk00197

Minnesota Historical Society. La qui Parle Mission.
https://www.mnhs.org/lacquiparle

“Mission Site Discovered at Watson: First Church Bell in Minnesota Was Housed There.” Redwood Gazette, June 25, 1940.
https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn89064842/1940-06-25/ed-1/seq-1

Neill, Rev. Edward Duffield. “A Sketch of Joseph Renville: A ‘Bois Brule,’ and Early Trader of Minnesota.” Minnesota Historical Society Collections 1 (1902): 196–206.
https://archive.org/details/sketchofjosephre00neilrich/page/196

Nicollet, Jean. Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi River from Astronomical and Barometrical Observations, Surveys, and Information. Washington, DC: Published by order of the Senate, 1843.
https://www.loc.gov/item/78692260

“A Notable Missionary Memorial.” The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School, July–August, 1910.
https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn96080197/1910-07-01/ed-1/seq-1

Parker, Donald Dean. Lac Qui Parle: Its Missionaries, Traders and Indians. Brookings, SD: South Dakota State University, 1964.

Pond family papers, 1800–2009 (bulk 1833–1935)
Description: Papers documenting the history of a Minnesota pioneer family, particularly the ministry of brothers Samuel W. and Gideon H. Pond, early Presbyterian missionaries among the Dakota.
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00717.xml

Pond, Samuel W. The Dakota or Sioux in Minnesota As They Were in 1834. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1986.

Riggs, Stephen R. “Dakota Portraits.” Minnesota History Bulletin 2, no. 8 (November 1918): 481–568.

⸻ . “Fire at Lac qui Parle Mission: Buildings Destroyed.” St. Paul Minnesota Pioneer, March 30, 1854.
https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83025241/1854-03-30/ed-1/seq-2

⸻ . Mary and I: Forty Years With the Sioux. Chicago, IL: W. G. Holmes, 1880.
https://archive.org/details/maryandifortyyea00riggrich

[Riggs, Stephen R.]. “I Remember: ‘Father’s Paper.’” Iyapi Oaye: The Word Carrier, April 1880.
https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn95063058/1880-04-01/ed-1/seq-1

Stephen R. Riggs and family papers, 1837–1988 (bulk 1837–1869).
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN.
Description: Letters, reminiscences, genealogical data, and miscellany of this Presbyterian missionary, his wife Mary Ann Longley Riggs, and other family members, focusing on the Riggs' missionary service at Lake Harriet (now Minneapolis) and Lac Qui Parle, Minnesota (1837–1862), his work as an interpreter during the US–Dakota War of 1862, and his subsequent activities as an author of Dakota-language teaching materials.
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00797.xml

The Dedication of the Restored Lac qui Parle Indian Mission: Sunday, July 12, 1942; 11;00 A. M. MN: N.p., 1942. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society library as F614.L2 D42 1942.

P167
Historical Development of the Lac qui Parle Area, December 22, 1964; 1865–1966
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: A typewritten report on the sites of the Lac Qui Parle mission, Fort Renville, the Saienga Mound, the Hagen farm mounds, the Kivley site, and the Lac qui Parle Indian subagency. Maps and photographs are included. In addition to data on the sites listed above, there is information on Joseph Renville, Martin McLeod, John B. Bausmau (John W. Bushman), and other fur traders, missionaries, and settlers. Included is a photographic copy of an excavation report by Lloyd A. Wilford entitled, "The Saienga Site."

Willand, Jon. Lac Qui Parle and the Dakota Mission. Madison, MN: Lac Qui Parle County Historical Society, 1964.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lac_Qui_Parle_and_the_Dakota_Mission/CA1CAAAAIAAJ

Williamson, Thomas. “Opening Discourse of Dr. Thos. S. Williamson, on the Occasion of the Formation of the NS Presbyterian Synod of Minnesota, at St. Paul, September 9, 1858.” St. Paul Weekly Minnesotian, September 18, 1858.
https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn90059500/1858-09-18/ed-1/seq-4

Wingerd, Mary Lethert. North Country: The Making of Minnesota. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.

Related Resources

Primary

P2442
Alfred Longely and family papers, 1832–1869
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Letters to Alfred (1832–1854), primarily from his sister Mary Ann and her husband, Stephen R. Riggs, while missionaries to the Dakota in Minnesota; love letters between Alfred and his future wife, Julia Read (1839–1841); and letters (1864–1869) to Julia from her son Charles in Tipton, Iowa, and other family members, with domestic and social news.
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/P2442.xml

“Long a Missionary to the Indians, Thomas Lawrence Riggs Has Passed Through Many Grave Dangers.” The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School, September–October, 1924.

McCoy, Mary Ann, and LeRoy Paulsen. Takoo Wakan to Christian Faith; 126 Years’ Mission to the Dakota Indians; A Pageant to Be Presented at Lac qui Parle Mission, July 15–16, 1961. Granite Falls, MN: 1961. Available at the Minnesota History Center library as E99.D1 M1.

Minnesota Territorial Centennial Pageant: July 10, 1949; Lac qui Parle Sioux Mission, 1835–1854. Minnesota: N.p., 1949. Available at the Minnesota History Center library as F606.5 .M68 1949.

“A Mission Home.” Iyapi Oaye: The Word Carrier, August 1877.

P1112-2
Morris, Henry S. The Church Bell of Lac qui Parle, 1942.
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: A typed report (six leaves) on the history of the Lac qui Parle Mission bell with two related letters and a memo.

Moses N. Adams papers, 1822–1902
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Includes documents related to Adams’ years as a Presbyterian missionary at Lac qui Parle (1848–1853).
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/P1459.xml

E99.D1
Pamphlets Relating to Dakota Indians in Minnesota, 1854–
Pamphlets Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Includes information on the Lac qui Parle mission.

Thomas S. Williamson Papers, 1839–1939
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Williamson’s correspondence, articles, and accounts.
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00952.xml

Wehrman, Chapman Associates, Inc. Fort Renville and Lac qui Parle Mission Sites Master Plan. Minneapolis: N.p., 1978. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society library as F612.C48 F63.

Williamson, Thomas S. “Diseases of the Dakota Indians.” Minnesota Medicine 23, no. 10 (October 1940): 725–726 and 798–801.

Secondary

Anderson, Gary Clayton. Gabriel Renville: From Dakota War to the Creation of the Sisseton–Wahpeton Reservation, 1825–1892. Pierre, SD: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2018.

Barton, Winifred W. John P. Williamson: A Brother to the Sioux. New York, NY: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1919.
https://archive.org/details/johnpwilliamsonb00bart

Mather, David. “The Season That Speaks: Spring Migration Begins a Yearly Conservation of Birds at Lac qui Parle.” Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, March–April, 2015.
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mcvmagazine/issues/2015/mar-apr/birding-at-lac-qui-parle.html

Oyen, John J. The Lacquiparle [sic] Indian Mission. N.p.: N.p., 1937. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society library as E99.D1 O94.

Rogers, Elwin. “A. G. Huggins Journal: From Mdeiedan (Lac qui Parle Lake) to Minixoxe (the Missouri.” Minnesota’s Heritage 6 (July 2012): 96–110.

Settlement of Lac qui Parle. N.p.: N.p., 1981?. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society library as F614.L2 S47 1981.

Related Images

Reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission
The reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission building, 2012. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, September 3, 2012. CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED
Slate and pencils found at Lac qui Parle
Fragment of a nineteenth-century slate board and pencils found at the site of the Lac qui Parle Mission in the 1940s. From the archaeology collection (PUID 293.3) of the Minnesota Historical Society.
Paul Mazakutamani
Paul Mazakutamani, about 1858. Mazakutamani (He Shoots Medals Walking) was educated at the mission church at Lac qui Parle. P1967.3056, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas.
Black and white photograph of Reverend Stephen Riggs and his wife, Mary Riggs, c.1860.
Reverend Stephen Riggs and his wife, Mary Riggs, ca. 1860.
Simon Anawangmani
Simon Anawangmani, 1862. Anawangmani was the first Wahpetunwan Dakota man outside the Renville family to join the mission church at Lac qui Parle.
Anpetutokeca (Other Day)
Anpetutokeca (Other Day) also known as John Otherday, ca. 1862. Anpetutokeca was a Wahpetunwan Dakota man and a member of the congregation at the Lac qui Parle mission.
Map of ABCFM missions to the Dakota in Minnesota

Map of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) missions among the Dakota in Minnesota. The Lac qui Parle Mission is the farthest west, along the Minnesota River. From Linda M. Clemmons, Conflicted Mission: Faith, Disputes, and Deception on the Dakota Frontier (St Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press), 37.

Thomas Williamson with Dakota church members
Pajutazee (Yellow Medicine) Mission church members gathered in front of Thomas Williamson’s home, August 1862. Williamson is visible fourth from the left, wearing the hat.
Reverend Moses N. Adams
Reverend Moses N. Adams, ca. 1865. Adams did missionary work at Lac qui Parle and assisted in compiling a Dakota dictionary.
Gideon and Samuel Pond
Gideon and Samuel Pond, brothers and missionaries to the Dakota, ca. 1860–1870.
Lydia Pettijohn Huggins

Lydia Pettijohn Huggins, ca. 1870s. Huggins and her husband led farming work at Lac qui Parle; Lydia also helped run the school.

Totidutawin and Tonwaniteton
Totidutawin (also known as Catherine) and her son Tonwaniteton (also known as Lorenzo Lawrence), ca. 1880s. Both were important Dakota leaders in the Lac qui Parle Mission community.
Photogravure of Jane Williamson, undated.
Photogravure of Jane Williamson, undated. Reproduced in “What Israel Ought to Do,” a Sermon on Home Missionary Work in Minnesota, by Rev. Wm. C. Covert, October 12, 1899. Jane Williamson is the only woman pictured in this overview of Presbyterian missionaries in the early years of the Dakota Mission. The photograph from which this photogravure was made has never been located and its date is unknown.
Excavation of Lac qui Parle Mission
Excavation of the site of Lac qui Parle Mission, 1942.
Group outside the reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission
A group gathers outside the reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission in 1942, probably for a dedication ceremony.
Reconstructed Lac qui Parle mission, 1945
Reconstructed Lac qui Parle mission, ca. 1945.
Lac qui Parle Mission, 1963
Reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission, 1963. Minnesota Historical Society photo collection (SD1La p20).
Lac qui Parle Mission, 2021
Reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission, 2021. Photograph by Connor Olson.
Reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission

Reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission

The reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission building, 2012. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, September 3, 2012. CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED
80x15  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported

Holding Location

Wikimedia Commons

Articles

More Information

Slate and pencils found at Lac qui Parle

Slate and pencils found at Lac qui Parle

Fragment of a nineteenth-century slate board and pencils found at the site of the Lac qui Parle Mission in the 1940s. From the archaeology collection (PUID 293.3) of the Minnesota Historical Society.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

All rights reserved

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

Paul Mazakutamani

Paul Mazakutamani

Paul Mazakutamani, about 1858. Mazakutamani (He Shoots Medals Walking) was educated at the mission church at Lac qui Parle. P1967.3056, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas.

Public domain

Holding Location

Amon Carter Museum of American Art

Articles

More Information

Black and white photograph of Reverend Stephen Riggs and his wife, Mary Riggs, c.1860.

Reverend Stephen Riggs and his wife, Mary Riggs

Reverend Stephen Riggs and his wife, Mary Riggs, ca. 1860.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Simon Anawangmani

Simon Anawangmani

Simon Anawangmani, 1862. Anawangmani was the first Wahpetunwan Dakota man outside the Renville family to join the mission church at Lac qui Parle.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Anpetutokeca (Other Day)

Anpetutokeca (Other Day)

Anpetutokeca (Other Day) also known as John Otherday, ca. 1862. Anpetutokeca was a Wahpetunwan Dakota man and a member of the congregation at the Lac qui Parle mission.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Map of ABCFM missions to the Dakota in Minnesota

Map of ABCFM missions to the Dakota in Minnesota

Map of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) missions among the Dakota in Minnesota. The Lac qui Parle Mission is the farthest west, along the Minnesota River. From Linda M. Clemmons, Conflicted Mission: Faith, Disputes, and Deception on the Dakota Frontier (St Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press), 37.

© Minnesota Historical Society Press    

All rights reserved

Articles

Thomas Williamson with Dakota church members

Thomas Williamson with Dakota church members

Pajutazee (Yellow Medicine) Mission church members gathered in front of Thomas Williamson’s home, August 1862. Williamson is visible fourth from the left, wearing the hat.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Reverend Moses N. Adams

Reverend Moses N. Adams

Reverend Moses N. Adams, ca. 1865. Adams did missionary work at Lac qui Parle and assisted in compiling a Dakota dictionary.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Gideon and Samuel Pond

Gideon and Samuel Pond

Gideon and Samuel Pond, brothers and missionaries to the Dakota, ca. 1860–1870.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Lydia Pettijohn Huggins

Lydia Pettijohn Huggins

Lydia Pettijohn Huggins, ca. 1870s. Huggins and her husband led farming work at Lac qui Parle; Lydia also helped run the school.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Totidutawin and Tonwaniteton

Totidutawin and Tonwaniteton

Totidutawin (also known as Catherine) and her son Tonwaniteton (also known as Lorenzo Lawrence), ca. 1880s. Both were important Dakota leaders in the Lac qui Parle Mission community.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Photogravure of Jane Williamson, undated.

Jane Williamson

Photogravure of Jane Williamson, undated. Reproduced in “What Israel Ought to Do,” a Sermon on Home Missionary Work in Minnesota, by Rev. Wm. C. Covert, October 12, 1899. Jane Williamson is the only woman pictured in this overview of Presbyterian missionaries in the early years of the Dakota Mission. The photograph from which this photogravure was made has never been located and its date is unknown.

Public domain

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

Excavation of Lac qui Parle Mission

Excavation of Lac qui Parle Mission

Excavation of the site of Lac qui Parle Mission, 1942.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Group outside the reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission

Group outside the reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission

A group gathers outside the reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission in 1942, probably for a dedication ceremony.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Reconstructed Lac qui Parle mission, 1945

Reconstructed Lac qui Parle mission, 1945

Reconstructed Lac qui Parle mission, ca. 1945.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Lac qui Parle Mission, 1963

Lac qui Parle Mission, 1963

Reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission, 1963. Minnesota Historical Society photo collection (SD1La p20).

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

Lac qui Parle Mission, 2021

Lac qui Parle Mission, 2021

Reconstructed Lac qui Parle Mission, 2021. Photograph by Connor Olson.

Holding Location

Historical Marker Database

Articles

More Information

Related Articles

Turning Point

On Joseph Renville’s invitation, the Williamson and Huggins families establish Lac qui Parle Mission on July 9, 1835. They depend on Renville for shelter, food, and influence among the local Wahpetunwan Dakota people.

Chronology

ca. 500 CE
Native people are living at Mde Iaúdaŋ. They use tools made of chert from present-day South Dakota and southeastern Minnesota.
1826
Joseph Renville establishes a trading post at Mdeiadan for the American Fur Company. The post comes to be known as Fort Renville.
1835
On Joseph Renville’s invitation, the Williamson and Huggins families establish Lac qui Parle Mission.
1836
Missionary Gideon Pond joins the Lac qui Parle Mission. While there he marries Sarah Poage, sister-in-law to Thomas Williamson.
1837
Missionaries Stephen and Mary Riggs join the mission. Alexander Huggins builds a corn mill even as the mission is ordered to reduce its expenses.
1839
Dakota leader Wambdi Okiya (Eagle Help) leads a war party against the Ojibwe over the protests of the missionaries. When the war party fails, Wambdi Okiya and his warriors blame the missionaries and retaliate by killing their cattle.
1840
Simon Anawang Mani (He Who Goes Galloping Along) joins the mission. He is the first Wahpetunwan man to join the mission who is not a member of the Renville family.
1841
Dakota women help build the mission church.
1842
After working with Dakota people, missionaries publish a Dakota language primer, hymn book, and dictionary. Encouraged by Mdewakantunwan kin, Wahpetunwan people attempt to drive the missionaries out of their lands. Many stop attending church services.
1846
Joseph Renville dies, leaving the missionaries without a powerful benefactor. Thomas Williamson leaves Lac qui Parle; Stephen and Mary Riggs, who had been at Lake Traverse, return.
1849
The mission counts only eighteen Dakota people as members of the congregation.
1853
After the formation of a Dakota reservation on the Minnesota River, many Dakota leave Lac qui Parle and move further downriver to Williamson’s Pajutazee Mission.
1854
The Riggs family’s home is destroyed by fire. They leave Lac qui Parle to establish a new mission alongside Williamson’s. Lac qui Parle mission is abandoned.
1941
After archaeological work by the Minnesota Historical Society, Lac qui Parle State Park is designated. The Works Progress Administration and the Chippewa County Historical Society reconstruct the mission.
1973
The site is added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Lac qui Parle Archaeological Historic District.

Bibliography

Alexander G. Huggins and family papers, 1833–1976 (bulk 1833–1976)
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Correspondence, historical background materials, reminiscences, photographs, and other papers relating to the work of Presbyterian missionary Alexander G. Huggins and his family, who lived in the Minnesota River Valley during territorial and early statehood years. The papers provide information about the Dakota missions at Lac qui Parle (1830s) and at Traverse des Sioux (1840s–1860s); pioneer life in Minnesota; the Dakota Conflict (1862) and the Civil War; and family members and genealogy. Also included are eight essay books composed by Huggins’ daughters.
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00679.xml

Clemmons, Linda M. Conflicted Mission: Faith, Disputes, and Deception On the Dakota Frontier. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2014.

Eubank, Nancy. An Interpretive Plan for the Lac qui Parle Mission. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1981. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society library as F612.C48 L33 1981.

Gates, Charles M. “The Lac Qui Parle Indian Mission.” Minnesota History 16, no. 2 (June 1935): 133–151.

“Local Press Reaction: Archaeological Investigation Lac Qui Parle Mission Station.” 1940. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society library as F612.C48 L8.

P1382
Lorenzo Lawrence papers, 1820–1897, 1898
Description: Includes information on the establishment of the mission at Lac qui Parle.
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Lac qui Parle Flood Control Project.
https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/destinations/state_parks/lac_qui_parle/history-brochure.pdf

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Lac qui Parle State Park.
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/park.html?id=spk00197

Minnesota Historical Society. La qui Parle Mission.
https://www.mnhs.org/lacquiparle

“Mission Site Discovered at Watson: First Church Bell in Minnesota Was Housed There.” Redwood Gazette, June 25, 1940.
https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn89064842/1940-06-25/ed-1/seq-1

Neill, Rev. Edward Duffield. “A Sketch of Joseph Renville: A ‘Bois Brule,’ and Early Trader of Minnesota.” Minnesota Historical Society Collections 1 (1902): 196–206.
https://archive.org/details/sketchofjosephre00neilrich/page/196

Nicollet, Jean. Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi River from Astronomical and Barometrical Observations, Surveys, and Information. Washington, DC: Published by order of the Senate, 1843.
https://www.loc.gov/item/78692260

“A Notable Missionary Memorial.” The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School, July–August, 1910.
https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn96080197/1910-07-01/ed-1/seq-1

Parker, Donald Dean. Lac Qui Parle: Its Missionaries, Traders and Indians. Brookings, SD: South Dakota State University, 1964.

Pond family papers, 1800–2009 (bulk 1833–1935)
Description: Papers documenting the history of a Minnesota pioneer family, particularly the ministry of brothers Samuel W. and Gideon H. Pond, early Presbyterian missionaries among the Dakota.
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00717.xml

Pond, Samuel W. The Dakota or Sioux in Minnesota As They Were in 1834. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1986.

Riggs, Stephen R. “Dakota Portraits.” Minnesota History Bulletin 2, no. 8 (November 1918): 481–568.

⸻ . “Fire at Lac qui Parle Mission: Buildings Destroyed.” St. Paul Minnesota Pioneer, March 30, 1854.
https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83025241/1854-03-30/ed-1/seq-2

⸻ . Mary and I: Forty Years With the Sioux. Chicago, IL: W. G. Holmes, 1880.
https://archive.org/details/maryandifortyyea00riggrich

[Riggs, Stephen R.]. “I Remember: ‘Father’s Paper.’” Iyapi Oaye: The Word Carrier, April 1880.
https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn95063058/1880-04-01/ed-1/seq-1

Stephen R. Riggs and family papers, 1837–1988 (bulk 1837–1869).
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN.
Description: Letters, reminiscences, genealogical data, and miscellany of this Presbyterian missionary, his wife Mary Ann Longley Riggs, and other family members, focusing on the Riggs' missionary service at Lake Harriet (now Minneapolis) and Lac Qui Parle, Minnesota (1837–1862), his work as an interpreter during the US–Dakota War of 1862, and his subsequent activities as an author of Dakota-language teaching materials.
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00797.xml

The Dedication of the Restored Lac qui Parle Indian Mission: Sunday, July 12, 1942; 11;00 A. M. MN: N.p., 1942. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society library as F614.L2 D42 1942.

P167
Historical Development of the Lac qui Parle Area, December 22, 1964; 1865–1966
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: A typewritten report on the sites of the Lac Qui Parle mission, Fort Renville, the Saienga Mound, the Hagen farm mounds, the Kivley site, and the Lac qui Parle Indian subagency. Maps and photographs are included. In addition to data on the sites listed above, there is information on Joseph Renville, Martin McLeod, John B. Bausmau (John W. Bushman), and other fur traders, missionaries, and settlers. Included is a photographic copy of an excavation report by Lloyd A. Wilford entitled, "The Saienga Site."

Willand, Jon. Lac Qui Parle and the Dakota Mission. Madison, MN: Lac Qui Parle County Historical Society, 1964.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lac_Qui_Parle_and_the_Dakota_Mission/CA1CAAAAIAAJ

Williamson, Thomas. “Opening Discourse of Dr. Thos. S. Williamson, on the Occasion of the Formation of the NS Presbyterian Synod of Minnesota, at St. Paul, September 9, 1858.” St. Paul Weekly Minnesotian, September 18, 1858.
https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn90059500/1858-09-18/ed-1/seq-4

Wingerd, Mary Lethert. North Country: The Making of Minnesota. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.

Related Resources

Primary

P2442
Alfred Longely and family papers, 1832–1869
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Letters to Alfred (1832–1854), primarily from his sister Mary Ann and her husband, Stephen R. Riggs, while missionaries to the Dakota in Minnesota; love letters between Alfred and his future wife, Julia Read (1839–1841); and letters (1864–1869) to Julia from her son Charles in Tipton, Iowa, and other family members, with domestic and social news.
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/P2442.xml

“Long a Missionary to the Indians, Thomas Lawrence Riggs Has Passed Through Many Grave Dangers.” The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School, September–October, 1924.

McCoy, Mary Ann, and LeRoy Paulsen. Takoo Wakan to Christian Faith; 126 Years’ Mission to the Dakota Indians; A Pageant to Be Presented at Lac qui Parle Mission, July 15–16, 1961. Granite Falls, MN: 1961. Available at the Minnesota History Center library as E99.D1 M1.

Minnesota Territorial Centennial Pageant: July 10, 1949; Lac qui Parle Sioux Mission, 1835–1854. Minnesota: N.p., 1949. Available at the Minnesota History Center library as F606.5 .M68 1949.

“A Mission Home.” Iyapi Oaye: The Word Carrier, August 1877.

P1112-2
Morris, Henry S. The Church Bell of Lac qui Parle, 1942.
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: A typed report (six leaves) on the history of the Lac qui Parle Mission bell with two related letters and a memo.

Moses N. Adams papers, 1822–1902
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Includes documents related to Adams’ years as a Presbyterian missionary at Lac qui Parle (1848–1853).
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/P1459.xml

E99.D1
Pamphlets Relating to Dakota Indians in Minnesota, 1854–
Pamphlets Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Includes information on the Lac qui Parle mission.

Thomas S. Williamson Papers, 1839–1939
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Williamson’s correspondence, articles, and accounts.
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00952.xml

Wehrman, Chapman Associates, Inc. Fort Renville and Lac qui Parle Mission Sites Master Plan. Minneapolis: N.p., 1978. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society library as F612.C48 F63.

Williamson, Thomas S. “Diseases of the Dakota Indians.” Minnesota Medicine 23, no. 10 (October 1940): 725–726 and 798–801.

Secondary

Anderson, Gary Clayton. Gabriel Renville: From Dakota War to the Creation of the Sisseton–Wahpeton Reservation, 1825–1892. Pierre, SD: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2018.

Barton, Winifred W. John P. Williamson: A Brother to the Sioux. New York, NY: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1919.
https://archive.org/details/johnpwilliamsonb00bart

Mather, David. “The Season That Speaks: Spring Migration Begins a Yearly Conservation of Birds at Lac qui Parle.” Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, March–April, 2015.
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mcvmagazine/issues/2015/mar-apr/birding-at-lac-qui-parle.html

Oyen, John J. The Lacquiparle [sic] Indian Mission. N.p.: N.p., 1937. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society library as E99.D1 O94.

Rogers, Elwin. “A. G. Huggins Journal: From Mdeiedan (Lac qui Parle Lake) to Minixoxe (the Missouri.” Minnesota’s Heritage 6 (July 2012): 96–110.

Settlement of Lac qui Parle. N.p.: N.p., 1981?. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society library as F614.L2 S47 1981.