Rev. Thomas S. Williamson

Responding to a call for a teacher from Minnesota missionary Thomas Williamson, she moved to Minnesota in 1847,two years before it became a territory.She was St. Paul's first public school teacher.

Harriet's first schoolhouse was a former blacksmith's shop that frequently housed rats and chickens along with her students.She wrote about Minnesota and its wonders in several books, including Floral Home.

A devout Baptist committed to moral reform, she opened a female seminary in 1850 and helped establish many charitable societies in St. Paul and promoted temperance and woman suffrage throughout her life.

John Williamson (1835-1917), son of missionary Dr. Thomas S. Williamson, grew up speaking both English and Dakota and spent most of his adult life on the Santee Reservation of northeastern Nebraska.
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The editor, Stephen R. Riggs (1812-83), had worked with Samuel and Gideon Pond and Dr. Thomas S. Williamson to create the dictionary as well as prayer books and hymnals.

Stephen Riggs translated the Old and New Testament into the language of the Dakotas, as associated with Rev. Thomas S. Williamson (the first missionary at Lac qui Parle).

Williamson ( 1835-1917 ) was the son of pioneer Minnesota missionary Thomas Smith Williamson.In 1863 he followed the exiled Santee Sioux to Fort Thompson on the Crow Creek Agency in Dakota Territory , and in 1866 he went with them to Niobrara , Nebraska.In 1869 he moved to Yankton Agency in Dakota , where he became general missionary to the Sioux for the Presbyterian Church.The collection consists of Williamson's correspondence , 1867-1913 , and miscellaneous papers , 1866-1915.

The translators, two stand-out names among the early Anglo students of the Dakota language, were Thomas S. Williamson and Stephen Return Riggs.

Williamson, a Presbyterian missionary, translated directly from the Hebrew, as the title-page proudly announces.Williamson is often characterized as "the father of the Dakota mission."

The Presbyterian and Congregational Churches, through their joint Missionary Society, appointed the following persons to labor in Minnesota; Rev. Thomas S. Williamson, M.D., missionary and physician; Rev. J.D. Stevens, missionary; Alexander Huggins, farmer; and their wives; Miss Sarah Poage, and Lucy Stevens, teachers; who were prevented during the 1834, by the state of navigation, from entering upon their work.

John Williamson (1835-1917), son of missionary Dr. Thomas S. Williamson, grew up speaking both English and Dakota and spent most of his adult life on the Santee Reservation of northeastern Nebraska.

Responding to a call for a teacher from Minnesota missionary Thomas Williamson, she moved to Minnesota in 1847,two years before it became a territory.She became Saint Paul's first public school teacher.

Harriet's first schoolhouse was a former blacksmith's shop that frequently housed rats and chickens along with her students.She wrote about Minnesota and its wonders in several books, including Floral Home.A devout Baptist committed to moral reform, she opened a female seminary in 1850 and helped establish many charitable societies in Saint Paul.She promoted temperance and woman suffrage throughout her life.