Oahe South Dakota Genealogy – Access Genealogy

Conference with Indian Commissioners

The Annual Conference of the Board of Indian Commissioners with the representatives of the various religious bodies having charge of Indian Missions was held in the parlors of the Riggs House, January 8th. The presence of Senator Dawes, Representative Cutcheon, and other distinguished persons, gave weight to the deliberations, and special interest was added to the meeting by the troubles now prevailing in the Dakotas among the Sioux Indians. Commissioner Morgan, Captain Pratt of the Carlisle School, General Armstrong of Hampton, and the Secretaries of the Missionary Societies presented an array of facts and of recent information that gave a … Read more

Missionary Life Among the Dakota Indians

By Mrs. J.F. Cross It is hard to get the most interesting experiences of a missionary’s life, because they belong to the daily routine and so are often unmentioned. But here is a description of life and travel among the Indians, by the wife of a missionary just going to the Dakotas: The land of the Dakotaswhat a distance! How long the miles seemed from my home! How frightful the land seemed to me, from the tales of blizzards and cyclones! How strange to go to live among the Sioux Indians, known to me principally for the Minnesota, Fort Fetterman … Read more

Mission Services at Two Kettle Village

By Miss M. M. Lickorish The church at Two Kettle Village on the Cheyenne was dedicated May 19th. I was delighted to receive an invitation from Mr. Riggs to accompany the party from Oahe. We crossed the Missouri River in a boat, and on the other side took the carriage that had to be sent around by Pierre, an extra distance of thirty-two miles, in order to cross on the bridge. Doctor and Mr. Frederick Riggs, from Santee, now joined us, and the day being pleasant, the prairie covered with the wild flowers so abundant here, we had a most … Read more

One Day’s Missionary Work

A Trip Among the Out Stations The out-station work among the Indians is a feature almost peculiar to the Indian Missions of the A.M.A. These stations are the picket-lines pushed forward into the Reservations beyond the line of established schools and missions. Each one consists of a cheap home connected sometimes with a cheap school-house, and these are occupied by one or two native Indian missionaries who teach and preach, and thus accomplish an immediate good and lay the foundation for the more permanent church and school. The Association has about twenty such stations on the Cheyenne and other rivers … Read more

Oahe School, Dakota

By Miss Julia E. Pratt A very sad incident came into our life as a school last winter, which has accentuated anew the ignorance and the superstitious heathenism of these Indian people. One of our little boys was sent to the dormitory one morning to do some work to which he objected, and, while pretending to obey, he took one of the other little boys with him and ran away. Their absence was not discovered until it was too late to overtake them, and as their home was only ten miles away, and we knew they were good walkers, as … Read more

Perils of Missionary Life

Perils Of Missionary Life Rev. T.L. Riggs, our missionary at Oahe, Dakota, thus describes the loss of a team and the peril of his fellow missionary, Rev. J.F. Cross: “I wished to cross my team on the ice to the west side of the Missouri and keep it there for use during the breaking up of the river. Being very busy with some writing, I asked Mr. Cross to take my team over when he started to return to the White River, sending a man with him. Mr. Cross’s team went over safely, but mine, which Mr. Cross himself was … Read more