Dakota Bible History (1) 
Useful Resources
**List: Dakota Ministry
the Bible ( the Bible )
Dakota...
"The Dakota Indians were actually seven tribes joined within a
union known as the ‘Seven Council Fires’. Dakota, meaning
‘alien’, was their own term, rather than Sioux, a French mis-
pronunciation of the Algonquian word for ‘little snakes’. They
were divided into the Eastern Group (the four Santee tribes)
and the Western Group, made up of the Tetons, the Yanktons,
and the Yanktonais. From their original home in the northeast,
the Dakota moved westward until by the 19th century they occu-
pied a vast area of the northern Great Plains, from Wisconsin to
South Dakota. Numerous treaties were concluded with them,
but disputes over land and misunderstandings resulted in con-
stant unrest and uprisings. By 1876 they were finally situated in
southwestern South Dakota, only to be inundated with pros-
pectors during the Black Hills Gold Rush. The resulting decade
of conflict and massacre on both sides has made legends of such
names as Chiefs Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and Red Cloud and
the Battles of the Little Big Horn and Wounded Knee. The
Dakotas now number about 40,000 living on ten reservations
from Montana and Minnesota.The Dakota Bible has been in use for almost a century, and its
immediate and enduring effect upon the people for whom it was
made has been attested since its appearance. When, in 1886, an
Indian Commissioner issued an order forbidding the Sioux to
learn to read their own language, and his agents attempted to
prevent religious worship in that language, Chief Gray Cloud of
Sisseton said: ‘I never saw a Dakota filling a responsible position
who had not first been educated in his own language and
Christianized, and so made reliable.’ When Indians petitioned
President Cleveland to revoke the senseless order, they said:
‘By learning the Bible a good many of our people have beenquieted down in Christian homes and civilized ways. The first
The
scholars of the Dakota language, with the help of a little
English, have become the trustworthy men of the different
agencies - ministers, teachers, clerks, farmers, citizens. . .’
Dakota Bible is a memorial to the untiring efforts of its trans-
lators, who spent more than 40 years in its preparation.Dakota is a Siouan language."
--1000 Tongues, 1972 [Info only]**File: Dakota Bible History (3)--1860 S. Bagster [Info only]
"Reduced to written form by Thomas S. William-
son, Stephan R. Riggs, S. W. Pond and G. H. Pond about 1830-40."-- 1000 Tongues, 1939 [Info only]
"1839 Mark 1842 Genesis 1843 Luke John Acts-Titus
Hebrews Revelation American Board of Commissioners
for Foreign Missions, Cincinnati
Translated by Joseph Renville, a half-breed fur trader, Samuel W.
Pond, Gideon H. Pond, Thomas S. Williamson, and Stephen R.
Riggs, ABCFM."--1000 Tongues, 1972 [Info only]
"1865 Genesis Proverbs New Testament
1869-1879 Old Testament (in six parts) 1879 Bible
ABS New York
Translated by Thomas S. Williamson and Stephen R. Riggs,
ABCFM."--1000 Tongues, 1972 [Info only:
"1871" Mark 1:2 correct (Wicaśta wokcanpi = Prophets).]DAKOTA--1000 Tongues, 1972 [Info only: "1919" Mark 1:2 correct (Wicaśta wokcanpi = Prophets).]
DAKOTA or SIOUX or SANTEE--1000 Tongues, 1939 [Info only: n.d. John 3:4b-8a, 15-18 unknown.]
"An interesting booklet containing the 23rd Psalm in Indian Sign
Language, rendered by Isabel Crawford, was published in the 1940’s
by the Women’s American Baptist Home Mission Society, Chicago."--1000 Tongues, 1972 [Info only]
"Dr. Thomas S. Williamson began translating the Bible in the
Dakota language in 1837. At that time the policy of the
American Bible Society (which sponsored him) was to translate
from the Received Text. The translation was his primary
ministry for over forty years. He was aided by Dr. Stephen
Riggs. Dr. Riggs also began to minister to the Sioux in 1837.
A final revision was completed by John Williamson (Dr.
Williamson's son).The New Testament was published in 1865 by the American
Bible Society. The whole Bible was published in 1879.
According to P. Marian Simms (The Bible in America) this is
the most important American Indian translation ever completed.Rev. Cook, a Sioux preacher, wrote: "May God abundantly
reward in the day of reckoning his two faithful servants, Dr.
Williamson and Dr. Riggs, who gave us the Holy Scriptures in
our own tongue, thus helping to make us what we are and what
in the future we shall be through his grace."Unfortunately, this Sioux Bible is now out of print."
--PS [Info only]
[Christian Helps Ministry (USA)] [Christian Home Bible Course]