Among the Sioux | Page 5

the Pond brothers in the hill country of
Connecticut for their peculiar life-work, and opening up the way for
them to engage in it, He also had in training in the school of His
Providences, in Massachusetts and Ohio, fitting helpers for them in this
great enterprise. In the early 30's, at Ripley, Ohio, Dr. Thomas S.
Williamson and Mrs. Margaret Poage Williamson, a young husband
and wife, were most happily located, in the practice of his profession
and in the upbuilding of a happy Christian home. To this young couple
the future seemed full of promise and permanent prosperity. Children
were born to them; they were prosperous and an honorable name was
being secured through the faithful discharge of the duties of his most
noble profession and of Christian citizenship. They regarded
themselves as happily located for life.
The mission call to Dr. and Mrs. Williamson was emphasized by the
messenger of death. When the missionary call first came to them, they
excused themselves on account of their children. God removed the
seeming obstacles, one by one. The little ones were called to the arms
of Jesus. "A great trial!" A great blessing also. The way was thus
cleared from a life of luxury and ease in Ohio to one of great denial and
self sacrifice on mission fields. The bereaved parents recognized this
call as from God, and by faith, both father and mother were enabled to
say, "Here are we; send us."
"This decision," says an intimate friend, "neither of them after for one
moment regretted; neither did they doubt that they were called of God
to this great work, nor did they fear that their life-work would prove a

failure." With characteristic devotion and energy, Dr. Williamson put
aside a lucrative practice, and at once, entered on a course of
preparation for his new work for which his previous life and training
had already given him great fitness.
In 1833, he put himself under the care of the Presbytery of Chillicothe,
removed with his family to Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, and entered Lane
Seminary. While the Pond brothers in their log cabin at Lake Calhoun
were studying the Sioux language, Dr. Williamson was completing his
theological course on the banks of the beautiful river. He was ordained
to the office of the gospel ministry in 1834. And in May, 1835, he
landed at Fort Snelling with another band of missionaries. He was
accompanied by his quiet, lovely, faithful wife, Margaret, and one child,
his wife's sister, Sarah Poage, afterwards Mrs. Gideon H. Pond, Mr.
and Mrs. Alexander G. Huggins and two children. Mr. Huggins came
as a teacher and farmer. During a stay of a few weeks here, Dr.
Williamson presided at the organization of the first Protestant
congregation in Minnesota, which was called the Presbyterian church
of St. Peters. It consisted of officers, soldiers, fur-traders, and members
of the mission families--twenty-one in all; seven of whom were
received on confession of faith. It was organized at Fort Snelling, June
11, 1835, and still exists as the First Presbyterian church of
Minneapolis, with more than five hundred members.
[Illustration: The Old Fort Snelling Church Developed.]
[Illustration: AT LAKE MINNETONKA.]
Early in July, Dr. Williamson pushed on in the face of grave difficulties,
two hundred miles to the west, to the shores of Lac-qui-Parle, the
Lake-that-speaks. Here they were cordially welcomed by Joseph
Renville, that famous Brois Brule trader, the half-breed chief who ruled
that region for many years, by force of his superior education and
native abilities, and who ever was a strong and faithful friend of the
missionaries. He gave them a temporary home and was helpful in many
ways. Well did the Lord repay him for his kindness to His servants. His
wife became the first full-blood Sioux convert to the Christian faith,
and his youngest son, John Baptiste Renville, then a little lad, became

the first native Presbyterian minister, one of the acknowledged leaders
of his people.
June, 1837, another pair of noble ones joined the ranks of the workers
by the Lakeside. These were the Rev. Stephen Return Riggs and his
sweet New England Mary, he was a native of the beautiful valley of the
Ohio; she was born amid the green hills of Massachusetts. His father
was a Presbyterian elder of Steubenville, Ohio; her mother was a
daughter of New England. She herself was a pupil of the cultured and
sainted Mary Lyon of Mount Holyoke.
They were indeed choice spirits, well-fitted by nature and by training
for a place in that heroic band, which God was then gathering together
on the shores of Lakes Calhoun and Harriet and Lac-qui-Parle, for the
conquest of the fiercest tribe of prairie warriors that ever roamed over
the beautiful plains of the New Northwest. He was a