Early History of the Episcopal Church in SD
This history appears in Chapter XCIX of "History of South
Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904), pages 580-587 and was
scanned, OCRed and edited by Joy Fisher, jfisher@ucla.edu
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www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/sd/sdfiles.htmCHAPTER XCIX
THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
REVISED BY REV. MARSHALL F. MONTGOMERY.
Much of the earlier history of the Episcopal church in South Dakota has
been gathered by the Rev. John H. Babthingy, rural dean, and to his work we are
indebted for many of the facts stated herein. The first time the Book of Common
Prayer was used in South Dakota was probably in the summer of 1860 when Right
Rev. Joseph C. Talbot, missionary bishop of the northwest, assisted by Rev.
Melancthon Hoyt, held services among the settlers along the Missouri from Sioux
City to Fort Randall. This visitation by Bishop Talbot was made very soon after
his consecration. It is not known whether he was again in Dakota, but
apparently he was the first bishop who administered the word and the sacraments
anywhere in this portion of the northwest.
The Rev. Melancthon Hoyt then residing in Sioux City, continued to
minister to the spiritual wants of the South Dakotans at irregular intervals
until 1862, when he removed to Yankton and gave himself up wholly to the Dakota
work. For thirteen years he was rector of the church at Yankton, at the same
time keeping an eye out for every opportunity to extend the work of the Master
into the adjacent Dakota and Nebraska country. In 1865 Bishop Clarkson became
a missionary bishop of Nebraska and Dakota and was given jurisdiction over the
Dakota field. Dr. Hoyt was then relieved of parochial work at Yankton and
appointed general missionary of Dakota territory, continuing in this office
until 1884, when he was made by Bishop Hare honorary dean, in which position he
continued until his death in 1888, having for twenty-eight years faithfully
ministered to the work of his Master in South Dakota and North Dakota, traveling
a great portion of the time, visiting nearly every dwelling place, preaching,
baptising, caring for the sick, comforting those who mourned and publishing the
gospel 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, perseverance, patience, sympathy, wisdom
in speaking, aptness to teach and good example of a Christian life, displayed
during more than a quarter of a century of unceasing toil, is due the strong
foundations upon which the spiritual temple rests within the field he
cultivated.
At the general convention of 1868 a large part of the territory of Dakota
was erected into a separate missionary district, being practically that part of
the territory which lay west of the Missouri river and also including the
Yankton and Crow Creek Indian reservations east of the Missouri and the Santee
reservation in Nebraska. It remained, however, under the episcopal care of
Bishop Clarkson. Later the name Niobrara was given to this new district, and it
was from the first intended that it should be the scene of a special effort to
reach the Indians who made up almost exclusively its population. One of these
Indian tribes, the Santees, had been, before their removal to Dakota, while
living in Minnesota the object of the special care of Bishop Whipple, who
established a mission among them under the care of the Rev. S. D. Hinman. Mr.
Hinman removed with them to Dakota and afterwards to Knox county, Nebraska, and
thus the way was opened for extending the missionary work among the other tribes
of the Sioux. Soon after this a prominent and wealthy churchman of Philadelphia,
William Welsh, came to the help of the young mission. He visited the Indian
tribes of Dakota extensively more than once and pleaded their cause with
irresistible force at the east, and, as a result, the mission staff was largely
increased, the Rev. Messrs. J. W. Cook, H. Swift, H. Burt, W. J. Cleveland and
J. Owen Dorsey, as well as several lay men and women, identifying themselves
with the work. It soon became evident that the mission called for a bishop of
its own and on All Saints' Day, November 1, 1872, the Rev. William Hobart Hare,
secretary of the foreign committee of the board of missions, was appointed
bishop by the House of Bishops, was consecrated January 9, 1873, and in April
following appeared upon the field of his future labors. Bishop Hare was born in
Princeton, New Jersey, May 17, 1838. He was educated at two well-known
institutions, namely, the Episcopal Academy of Philadelphia and the University
of Pennsylvania. He has the degree of D. D. from Trinity and Kenyon Colleges and
of S. T. D. from Columbia. He at once began a vigorous campaign among the
Indians and scattering whites of his jurisdiction. "When he went among the
Indians," says Bishop Whipple, "'White man' was then a synonym for liar, but
Bishop Hare soon restored the good name and repute of the Caucasian." His
vigorous action soon won for him the name of "Swift Bird" because of the long
and rapid journeys he made over his diocese. Nothing daunted him, where duty
called he went through storm and drouth, sleeping in the open, camping at one
time in soaking wet blankets and again in a dry camp where water could be
procured for neither man or beast. In these long and weary marches he subsisted
upon the rough fare of the country, the fat pork and soda biscuits of the stage
ranches, the even less palatable fare of the pioneers' tables or the illy-cooked
and sometime loathsome messes of the Indians. The result of these many
journeyings was, however, a great extension of the scope of the mission, which
was soon gotten into manageable shape. The missionary force was increased; the
whole field was gradually divided up into ten large districts, over each of
which a chosen member of the clerical body was put in charge, and at four
carefully chosen points mission Indian boarding schools were established, viz:
St. Paul's School, Yankton agency; St. Mary's, Santee agency, afterward removed
to Rosebud agency; St. John's School, Fort Bennett; St'. Elizabeth's School,
Standing Rock reserve. All the workers united very heartily with the Bishop in
his desire to raise up from the Indians themselves men who should gradually,
according to the measure of their ability and according to the divine plan
"First the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear," take
part with the white clergy in the work and a native force has been by degrees
worked up which now numbers twenty-five helpers, twenty catechists, six senior
catechists, besides twelve deacons and four priests. The growth of the Indian
mission has been remarkable, there being now d904) ninety congregations, three
thousand seven hundred and seventy-five communicants, nine thousand three
hundred and forty-one baptized persons. This growth has been due chiefly to the
steadfastness and good sense with which, despite all difficulties and
discouragements, the presiding presbyters kept to their several spheres of work.