Mary and I : forty years with the Sioux / by Stephen R. Riggs ; with an introduction by S.C. Bartlett, President of Dartmouth College

Front matter

BANCROFT LIBRARY

THE LIBRARY

OF

Preface

PREFACE.

This book I have INSCRIBED to my own family. be of interest to them, as, in part, a history of their father and mother, in the toils, and sacrifices, and rewards, of commencing and carrying forward the work of evangelizing the Dakota people.

Many others, who are interested in the uplifting of the Red Men, may be glad to obtain glimpses, in these pages, of the inside of Missionary Life in what was, not long since, the Far West; and to trace the threads of the inweaving of a Christ-life into the lives of many of the Sioux nation.

"Why don't you tell more about yourselves?" is a question, which, in various forms, has been often asked me, during these last four decades. Partly as the answer to questions of that kind, this book assumes somewhat the form of a personal narrative.

Years ago it was an open secret, that our good and noble friend, SECRETARY S. B. TREAT, contemplated a History of the American Board's Indian Missions, as DR. ANDERSON had made of the missions beyond the seas. When MR. TREAT had gone up higher, DR. N. G. CLARK sent me a note of inquiry — could I undertake that work? For reasons quite satisfactory to myself, and I presume also to him, I declined. At that time I said, " The Da-

VI PREFACE.

kota mission is the only one of the American Board's Indian missions of which I could undertake to give a history." The suggestion was a winged seed. By and by, thought took form and substance, and the result is this book.

While I do not claim, even at this evening time of my life, to be freed from the desire that good Christian readers will think favorably of this effort of mine, I cannot expect that the appreciation with which my Dakota Grammar and Dictionary was received, by the literary world, more than a quarter of a century ago, will be surpassed by this humbler effort.

Moreover, the chief work of my life has been the part I have been permitted, by the good Lord, to have in giving the entire Bible to the Sioux Nation. This book is only " the band of the sheaf." If, by weaving the principal facts of our Missionary work, its trials and joys, its discouragements and grand successes, into this personal narrative of " MARY AND I," a better judgment of Indian capabilities is secured, and a more earnest and intelligent determination to work for their Christianization and final Citizenship, I shall be quite satisfied.

Since the historical close of " Forty Years with the Sioux," some important events have transpired, in connection with our missionary work, which are grouped together in an Appendix, in the form of Monographs.

S. R. R.

Beloit, Wis., January, 1880.

INTRODUCTION. Vll

Introduction

The churches owe a great debt of gratitude to their missionaries, first, for the noble work they do, and, secondly, for the inspiring narratives they write. There is no class of writings more quickening to piety at home than the sober narratives of these labors abroad. The faith and zeal, the wisdom and patience, the enterprise and courage, the self-sacrifice and Christian peace which they record, as well as the wonderful triumphs of grace and the simplicity of native piety which they make known, bring us nearer, perhaps, to the spirit and the scenes of Apostolic times than any other class of literature. How the churches could, or can ever, dispense with the reactionary influence from the Foreign Mission field, it is difficult to understand. Doubtless, however, when the harvest is all gathered, the Lord of the Harvest will, in his wisdom, know how to supply the lack.

Some narratives are valuable chiefly for their interest of style and manner, while the facts themselves are of minor account. Other narratives secure attention by the weight of their facts alone. The author of " Mary and I; Forty Years with the Sioux," has our thanks for giving us a story attractive alike from the present significance of its theme, and from the frank and fresh simplicity of its method.

It is a timely contribution. Thank God, the attention

Vlll INTRODUCTION.

of the whole nation is at length beginning to be turned in good earnest to the chronic wrongs inflicted on the Indian race, and is, though slowly and with difficulty, comprehending the fact, long known to the friends of missions, that these tribes, when properly approached, are singularly accessible and responsive to all the influences of Christianity and its resultant civilization. Slowest of all to apprehend this truth, though with honorable exceptions, are our military men. The officer who uttered that frightful maxim, " No good Indian but a dead Indian " — if indeed it ever fell from his lips — needs all the support of a brilliant and gallant career in defense of his country to save him from a judgment as merciless as his maxim. Such principles, let us believe, have had their day. They and their defenders are assuredly to be swept away by the rising tide of a better sentiment slowly and steadily pervading the country. The wrongs of the African have been, in part, redressed, and now comes the turn of the Indian. He must be permitted to have a home in fee simple, a recognized citizenship, and complete protection under a settled system of law. The gospel will then do for him its thorough work, and show once more that God has made all nations of one blood. He is yet to have them. It is but a question of time. And the Indian tribes are doubtless not to fade away, but to be rescued from extinction by the gospel of Christ working in them and for them.

The reader who takes up this volume will not fail to read it through. He will easily believe that Anna Baird Riggs was " a model Christian woman," — the mother who could bring up her boy in a log cabin where once the bear looked in at the door, or in the log school-house with its newspaper windows, " slab benches " and drunken teacher, and could train him for his work of faith and persever-

INTBODUTICON. IX

ance in that dreary and forbidding missionary region, and in what men thought that forlorn hope. And he will learn — unless he knew it already — that a lad who in early life hammered on the anvil, can strike a strong and steady stroke for God and man.

The reader will also recognize in the " Mary " of this story, now gone to her rest, a worthy pupil of Mary Lyon and Miss Z. P. Grant. With her excellent education, culture and character, how cheerfully she left her home in Massachusetts to enter almost alone on a field of labor which she knew perfectly to be most fraught with self-sacrifice, least attractive, not to say most repulsive, of them all. How hopefully she journeyed on thirteen days, from the shores of Lake Harriet, to plunge still farther into the wilderness at Lac-qui-parle. How happily she found a " home " for five years in the upper story of Dr. Williamson's log house, in a room eighteen feet by ten, occupied in due time by three children also. How quietly she glided into all the details and solved all the difficulties of that primitive life, bore with the often revolting habits of the aborigines, taught their boys English, and persevered and persisted till she had taught their women " the gospel of soap." How bravely she bore up in that terrible midnight flight from Hazelwood, and the long exhausting journey to St. Paul, through the pelting rains and wet swamp-grass, and with murderous savages upon the trail. But it was the chief test and glory of her character to have brought up a family of children, among all the surroundings of Indian life, as though amid the homes of civilization and refinement. All honor to such a woman, wife and mother. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Forty-one years after her departure from the station at Lake Harriet, the present writer stood upon the

X INTRODUCTION.

pleasant shore where the tamarack mission houses had long disappeared, and felt that this was consecrated ground.

The other partner in this firm of " Mary and I " needs no words of mine. He speaks here for himself, and his labors speak for him. His Dakota Dictionary and Bible are lasting monuments of his persevering toil, while eleven churches with a dozen native preachers and eight hundred members, and a flourishing Dakota Home Missionary Society, bear witness to the Christian work of himself and his few co-laborers. "Forty Years Among the Sioux," he writes. " Forty Years in the Turkish Empire," was the story of Dr. Goodell. Fifty Years in Ceylon, was the life-work of Levi Spalding. What records are these of singleness of aim, of energy, of Christian work, and of harvests gathered and gathering for the Master. Would that such a holy ambition might be kindled in the hearts of many other young men as they read these pages. How invigorating the firm assurance: "During the years of my preparation there never came to me a doubt of the rightness of my decision. At the end of forty years' work I am abundantly satisfied with the way in which the Lord has led me." How many of those who embark in other lines of life and action can say the same ?

And how signally was the spirit of the parents transmitted to the children. Almost a whole family in the mission work : six sons and daughters among the Dakotas, the seventh in China. I know not another instance so marked as this. And what a power for good to the Dakota race, past, present and future, is gathered up in one undaunted, single-hearted family of Christian toilers. A part of this family it has been the writer's privilege to know, and of two of the sons he had the pleasure to be

INTRODUCTION. XI

the teacher in the original tongues of the word of God. And he deems it an additional pleasure and privilege thus to connect his name with theirs and their mission. For not alone the dusky Dakotas, but all the friends of the Indian tribes and lovers of the Missionary cause, are called on to honor the names of Pond, Williamson, and RIGGS.

S. C. BARTLETT.

Dartmouth College.

Xll CONTENTS.

Chapter I

1837.— Our Parentage.— My Mother's Bear Story.— Mary's Education.— Her First School Teaching. — School Houses and Teachers in Ohio. — Learning the Catechism. — -Ambitions. — The Lord's Leading — Mary's Teaching in Bethlehem.— Life Threads Coming Together. — Licensure. — Our Decision as to Life Work.— Going to New England.— The Hawley Family. — Marriage. — Going West. — From Mary's Letters. — Mrs. Isabella Burgess.— " Steamer Isabella."— At St. Louis.— The Mississippi. — To the City of Lead. — Rev. Aratus Kent.— The Lord Provides — Mary's Descriptions. — Upper Mississippi. — Reaching Fort Snelling 1

Chapter II

1837.— First Knowledge of the Sioux. — Hennepin and Du Luth. — Fort Snelling.— Lakes Harriet and Calhoun.— Three Months at Lake Harriet. — Samuel W. Pond. — Learning the Language.— Mr. Stevens. — Temporary Home. — That Station Soon Broken Up.— Mary's Letters.— The Mission and People. —Native Customs.— Lord's Supper.—" Good Voice."--Description of our Home.— The Garrison.— Seeing St. Anthony.— Ascent of the Saint Peters.— Mary's Letters.— Traverse des Sioux. — Prairie Traveling. — Reaching Lac-qui-parle.— T. S. Williamson.— A Sabbath Service.— Our Upper Room.— Experiences. — Church at Lac-qui-parle.— Mr. Pond's Marriage.— Mary's Letters.— Feast 16

CONTENTS. Xlll

Chapter III

1837-1839.— The Language.— Its Growth.— System of Notation.— After Changes. — What we Had to Put into the Language. — Teaching English, and Teaching Dakota. — Mary's Letter. — Fort Renville. — Translating the Bible. — The Gospels of Mark and John. — "Good Bird" Born. — Dakota Names. — The Lessons we Learned. — Dakota Washing. — Extracts from Letters. — Dakota Tents. — A Marriage.- -Visiting the Village. — Girls, Boys and Dogs. — G. H. Pond's Indian Hunt. — Three Families Killed.— The Village Wail.— The Power of a Name.— Post- Office Far Away.— The Coming of the Mail.— S. W. Pond Comes Up.— My Visit to Snelling. — Lost My Horse. — Dr. Williamson Goes to Ohio. — The Spirit's Presence. — Prayer. —Mary's Reports 35

Chapter IV

1838-1840.— u Eagle Help."— His Power as War Prophet.— Makes No-Flight Dance. — We Pray Against It. — Unsuccessful on the War Path.— Their Revenge.— Jean Nicollet and J. C. Fremont. — Opposition to Schools.— Progress in Teaching. — Method of Counting.— "Lake that Speaks."— Our Trip to Fort Snelling. — Incidents of the Way.— The Changes There. — Our Return Journey. — Birch Bark Canoe. — Mary's Story. — " Le Grand Canoe." — Baby Born on the Way. — Walking Ten Miles. — Advantages of Travel.— My Visit to the Missouri River.— "Fort Pierre."— Results 53

Chapter V

1840 — 1843. — Dakota Braves. — Simon Anawangrnane. — Mary's Letter.— Simon's Fall. — Maple Sugar. — Adob.3 Church. — Catharine's Letter.— Another Letter of Mary's.— Left Hand's Case.— The Fifth Winter.— Mary to her Brother.— The Children's Morning Ride. — Visit to Hawley and Ohio. — Dakota Printing. — New Recruits. — Return. — Little Rapids.

XIV CONTENTS.

— Traverse cles Sioux. — Stealing Bread. — Forming a New

Station. — Begging. — Opposition. — Thomas L. Longley. —

Meeting Ojibwas.— Two Sioux Killed.— Mary's Hard Walk.

Chapter VI

1843-1846.— Great Sorrow.— Thomas Drowned.— Mary's Letter.— The Indians' Thoughts.— Old Grey-Leaf.— Oxen Killed.— Hard Field.— Sleepy Eyes' Horse.— Indian in Prison.— The Lord keeps us. — Simon's Shame. — Mary's Letter. — Robert Hopkins and Agnes. — Le Bland. — White Man Ghost. — Bennett.— Sleepy Eyes' Camp. — Drunken Indians. — Making Sugar.— Military Company. — Dakota Prisoners. — Stealing Melons. — Preaching and School.— A Canoe Voyage. — Red Wing 80

Chapter VII

1846-1851. — Returning to Lac-qui-parle. — Reasons Therefor. — Mary's Story.—" Give me my Old Seat, Mother."— At Lac. qui-parle. — New Arrangements. — Better Understanding. — Buffalo Plenty.— Mary's Story.— Little Samuel Died.— Going on the Hunt.— Vision of Home. — Building House. — Dakota Camp. — Soldiers' Lodge. — Wakanmane's Village. — Making a Presbyttry.— New Recruits. — Meeting at Kaposia. — Mary's gtory ._yaried Trials.— Sabbath Worship.— " What is to Die?"— New Stations.— Making a Treaty.— Mr. Hopkins Drowned.— Personal Experience 99

Chapter VIII

1851-1854. — Grammar and Dictionary. — How it grew. — Publication.— Minnesota Historical Society. — Smithsonian Institution.—Going East. — Mission Meeting at Traverse de Sioux. — Mrs. Hopkins. — Death's Doings.— Changes in the Mode of

CONTENTS. XV

Writing Dakota.— Completed Book.— Growth of Ihe Language.— In Brooklyn and Philadelphia. — The Misses Spooner.— Changes in the Mission. — The Ponds and Others Retire. — Dr. Williamson at Pay-zhe-hoo-ta-ze. — Winter Storms.— Andrew Hunter. — Two Families Left.— Children Learning Dakota. — Our House burned. — The Lord Provides 117

Chapter IX

1854-1856.— Simon Anawangmane.— Rebuilding after the Fire. — Visit of Secretary Treat. — Change of Plan. — Hazelwood Station. — Circular Saw-Mill. — Mission Buildings. — Chapel. — Civilized Community. — Making Citizens. — Boarding School. — Educating our own Children. — Financial Difficulties.—The Lord Provides.— A Great Affliction.— Smith Burgess Williamson. — "Aunt Jane." — Bunyan's Pilgrim in Dakota.. ..129

Chapter X

1857-1861. — Spirit Lake. — Massacres by Inkpadoota. — The Captives.— Delivery of Mrs. Marble and Miss Gardner. — Excitement.— Inkpadoota's Son Killed. — U. S. Soldiers. — Maj. Sherman. — Indian Councils. — Great Scare. — Going Away. — Indians Sent after Scarlet End. — Quiet Restored. — Children at School. — Quarter-Century Meeting. — John P. Williamson at Red Wood.— Dedication of Chapel 138

Chapter XI

1861-1862.— Republican Administration.— Its Mistakes.— Changing Annuities.— Results. — Returning from General Assembly. —A Marriage in St. Paul.— D. Wilson Moore and Wife.— Delayed Payment. — Difficulty with the Sissetons. — Peace

XVI CONTENTS.

Again. — Recruiting for the Southern War. — Seventeenth of August, 1862. — The Outbreak. — Remembering Christ's Death. — Massacres Commenced. — Capt. Marsh's Company. — Our Flight. — Reasons Therefor.— Escape to an Island. — Final Leaving. — A Wounded Man.— Traveling on the Prairie. — Wet Night.— Taking a Picture.— Change of Plan.— Night Travel. — Going around Fort Ridgely. — Night Scares. — Safe Passage.— Four Men Killed.— The Lord Leads Us.— Sabbath.— Reaching the Settlements. — Mary at St. Anthony.

..147

Chapter XII

1862. — Gen. Sibley's Expedition. — I Go as Chaplain. — At Fort Ridgely.— The Burial Party.— Birch Coolie Defeat.— Simon and Lorenzo Bring in Captives. — March to Yellow Medicine. — Battle of Wood Lake. — Indians Flee. — Camp Release. — A Hundred Captives Rescued. — Amos W. Huggins Killed. — We Send for His Wife and Children.— Spirit Walker has Protected Them. — Martha's Letter 164

Chapter XIII

1862-1863.— Military Commission. — Excited Community. — Dakotas Condemned.— Moving Camp. — The Campaign Closed. — Findings sent to the President.— Reaching my Home ia St. Anthony.— Distributing Alms on the Frontier.— Recalled to Mankato.— The Executions. —Thirty-eight Hung.— Difficulty of Avoiding Mistakes. — Round Wind.— Confessions. — The next Sabbath's Service.— Dr. Williamson's Work.— Learning to Read. — The Spiritual Awakening.— The Way it Came. — Mr. Pond Invited up. — Baptisms in the Prison.— The Lord's Supper. — The Camp at Snelling.— A like Work of Grace. — John P. Williamson.— Scenes in the Garret.— One Hundred Adults Baptized.— Marvelous in our Eyes 179

CONTENTS. XV11

Chapter XIV

1863-1866. — The Dakota Prisoners taken to Davenport.— Camp McClellan.— Theii Treatment.— Great Mortality.— Education in Prison. — Worship. — Church Matters. — The Camp at Snelling Removed to Crow Creek. — John P. Williamson's Story. — Many Die. — Scouts' dump. — Visits to Them. — Family Threads. — Revising the New Testament. — Educating Our Children.— Removal to Beloit.— Family Matters.— Little Six and Medicine Bottle. — With the Prisoners at Davenport.

Chapter XV

1866-1869. — Prisoners meet their Families at the Niobrara. — Our Summer's Visitation.— At the Scouts' Camp.— Crossing the Prairie.— Killing Buffalo.— At Niobrara. — Religious Meetings. — Licensing Natives. — Visiting the Oinahas. — Scripture Translating. — Sisseton Treaty at Washington. — Second visit to the Santees. — Artemas and Titus Ordained. — Crossing to the Head of the Coteau.— Organizing Churches and Licensing Dakotas.— Solomon, Robert, Louis, Daniel. — On Horseback in 1868.— Visit to the Santees, Yanktons, and Brules.— Gathering;: at Dry Wood.— Solomon Ordained. — Writing " Takoo Wakan." — Mary's Sickness. — Grand Hymns. —Going through the Valley of the Shadow.— Death ! 203

Chapter XVI

1869-1870.— Home Desolate.— At the General Assembly.— Summer Campaign. — A. L. Riggs. — His Story of Early Life. — Inside View of Missions.— Why Missionaries' Children Become Missionaries.— No Constraint Laid on Them. — A. L. Riggs Visits the Missouri Sioux. — Up the River. — The Brules. — Cheyenne and Grand River. — Starting for Fort Wadsworth. — Sun Eclipsed. — Sisseton Reserve. — Deciding to Build there. — In the Autumn Assembly. — My Mother's Home. — Winter Visit to Santee. — Julia La Framboise. 217

XV111 CONTENTS.

Chapter XVII

1870-1871.— Beloit Home Broken up.— Building on the Sisseton Reserve. — Difficulties and Cost. — Correspondence with Washington.— Order to Suspend Work. — Disregarding the Taboo. — Anna Sick at Beloit. — Assurance. — Martha Goes in Anna's Place. — The Dakota Churches. — Lac-qui-parle, Ascension.— John B. Renville. — Daniel Renville. — Houses of Worship. — Eight Churches. — The " Word Carrier." — Annual Meeting on the Big Sioux.— Homestead Colony. — How it Came about. — Joseph Iron Old Man. — Perished in a Snow Storm. — The Dakota Mission Divides. — Reasons Therefor 229

Chapter XVIII

1870-1873.— A. L. Riggs Builds at Santee.— The Santee High School. — Visit to Fort Sully. — Change of Agents at Sisseton. — Second Marriage.— Annual Meeting at Good Will.— Grand Gathering. — New Treaty Made at Sisseton. — Nina Foster Riggs.— Our Trip to Fort Sully. — An Incident by the Way.— Stop at Santee. — Pastor Ehnarnane. — His Deer Hunt. — Annual Meeting in 1873.— Rev. S. J. Humphrey's Visit.— Mr. Humphrey's Sketch. — Where They Come From. — Morning Call.— Visiting the Teepees.— The Religious Gathering.— The Moderator. — Questions Discussed.— The Personnel. — Putting Up a Tent— Sabbath Service.— Mission Reunion 243

Chapter XIX

1873-1874.— The American Board at Minneapolis.— The nidus of the Dakota Mission.— Large Indian Delegation. — Ehnamane and Mazakootemane. — "Then and Now." — The Woman's Meeting. — Nina Foster Riggs and Lizzie Bishop. — Miss Bishop's Work and Early Death. — Manual Labor Boarding School at Sisseton. — Building Dedicated.— M. N. Adams, Agent. — School Opened. — Mrs. Armor and Mrs. Morris. — "My Darling in God's Garden." — Visit to Fort Berthold. — Mandans, Rees and Hidatsa.— Dr. W. Matthews' Hidatsa

CONTENTS. XIX

Grammar. — Beliefs.— Missionary Interest in B°rthold. — Down the Missouri. — Annual Meeting at Santee. — Normal School. — Dakotas Build a Church at Ascension. — Journey to the Ojibwas with E. P. Wheeler. — Leech Lake and Red Lake. — On theGitche Gumme.— "The Stoneys."— Visit to Odanah. —Hope for Ojibwas 261

Chapter XX

1875-1876. — Annual Meeting of 1875. — Homestead Settlement on the Big Sioux.— Interest of the Conference.— '-lapi Oa)^.''— Inception of Native Missionary Work. — Theological Class.— The Dakota Home.— Charles L. Hall ordained. — Dr. Magoun, of Iowa. — Mr. and Mrs. Hall sent to Barthold by the American Board. — The " Word Carrier's " good words to them.— The Conference of 1876.— In J. B. Renville's Church.— Coming to the Meeting from Sully.— Miss Whipple's Story.— "Dakota Missionary Society." — Miss Collins' Story. — Impressions of the Meeting 281

Chapter XXI

1871-1877.— The Wilder Sioux.— Gradual Openings.— Thomas Lawrence. — Visit to the Land of the Teetons. — Fort Sully.— Hope Station. — Mrs. Gen. Stanley in the Evangelist. — Work by Native Teachers. — Thomas Married to Nina Foster. — Nina's First Visit to Sully. -Attending the Conference and American Board. — Miss Collins and Miss Whipple. — Bogue Station. — The Mission Surroundings. — Chapel Built. — Mission Work. — Church Organized. — Sioux War of 1876. — Community Excited. — Schools. — "Waiting for a Boat." — Miss Whipple Dies at Chicago.— Mrs. Nina Riggs' Tribute.— The Conference of 1877 at Sully. — Questions Discussed. — Grand Impressions ...298

XX CONTENTS,

Appendix

MONOGRAPHS.

SOLOMON 339

A MEMORIAL 358

ERRATA.

Page 36. The word guttural misspelled.

" 227. Frances spelled FRANCIS.

J .

MARY AND I.

FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX.

Chapter I

1837. — Our Parentage. — My Mother's Bear Story. — Mary's Education.— Her First School Teaching. — School Houses and Teachers in Ohio. — Learning the Catechism. — -Ambitions. — The Lord's Leading — Mary's Teaching in Bethlehem.— Life Threads Coming Together.: — Licensure. — Our Decision as to Life Work. — Going to New England. — The Hawley Family. — Marriage. — Goiug West. — From Mary's Letters. — Mrs. Isa. bella Burgess.— " Steamer Isabella"— At St. Louis.— The Mississippi.— To the City of Lead.— Rev. Aratus Kent.— The Lord Provides — Mary's Descriptions. — Upper Mississippi. — Reaching Fort Snelling.

Forty years ago this first day of June, 1877, MARY and I came to Fort Snelling. She was from the Old Bay State, and I was a native-born Buckeye. Her ancestors were the Longleys and Taylors of Hawley and Buckland, names honorable and honored in the western part of Massachusetts. Her father, Gen. Thomas Longley, was for many years a member of the General Court and had served in the war of 1812, while her grandfather, Col. Edmund Longley, had been a soldier of the Revolution, and had served under Washington. Her maternal grandfather, Taylor, had held a civil commission under George the Third. In an early day both families had settled in the hill country west of the Connecticut River. They were the true and worthy representatives of New England.

As it regards myself, my father, whose name was Stephen Riggs, was a blacksmith, and for many years an elder in the Presbyterian church of Steubenville, Ohio, where I was born. He had a brother, Cyrus, who was a preacher in Western Pennsylvania; and he traced his lineage back, through the Riggs families of New Jersey, a long line of godly men, ministers of the gospel and others, to *Edward RL>;gs who came over from W^les in the first days of Colonial history. My mother was Anna Baird, a model Christian woman, as I think, of a Scotch Irish family, which in the early days settled in Fayette County, Pa. Of necessity they were pioneers. When they had three children they removed up into the wild wooded country of the Upper Allegheny. My mother could tell a good many bear stories. At one time she and those first three children were left alone in an unfinished log cabin. The father was away hunting food for the family. When, at night, the fire was burning in the old-fashioned chimney, a large black bear pushed aside the quilt that served for the door, and sitting down on his haunches, surveyed the scared family within. But as God would have it, to their great relief, he retired without offering them any violence.

Mary's education had been carefully conducted. She had not only the advantages of the common town school

*Heretofore, we have supposed the first'progenitor of the Riggs Family in America was MILES; but the investigations of Mr. J. H.Wallace, of New York, show that it was EDWARD, who settled in Roxbury, Mass., about the year 1635. The name of MILES comes in later. He was the progenitor of one branch of the family.

and home culture, but was a pupil of Mary Lyon, when she taught in Buckland, and afterward of Miss Grant, at Ipswich. At the age of sixteen she taught her first school, in Williamstown, Mass. As she used to tell the story, she taught for a dollar a week, and, at the end of her first quarter, brought the $12 home and gave it to her father, as a recognition of what he had expended for her education.

T!) me it was a joy to meetr the other day in Chicago, Mrs. Judge Osborne, who was one of the scholars in this school, as it was in her father's family; and who spoke very affectionately of Mary Ann Longley, her teacher.

Contrasted with the present appliances for education in all the towns, and many of the country districts also, the common schools in Ohio, when I was a boy, were very poorly equipped. My first school-house was a log cabin, with a large open fire-place, a window with four lights of glass where the master's seat was; on the other two sides a log was cut out and old newspapers pasted over the hole through which the light was supposed to come, and the seats were benches made of slabs. One of my first teachers was a drunken Irishman, who often visited the tavern near by and came back to sleep the greater part of the afternoon. This gave us a long play spell. But he was a terrible master for the remainder of the day. Notwithstanding these difficulties in the way of education we managed to learn a good deal. Sabbath-schools had not reached the efficiency they now have; but we children were taught carefully at home. We were obliged to commit to memory the Shorter Catechism, and every few months the good minister came around to see how well we could repeat it. All through my life this summary of Christian doctrine — not perfect indeed, and not to be quoted as authority equal to the Scriptures, as it sometimes is — has been to me of incalculable advantage. What I understood not then, I have come to understand better since, with the opening of the Word and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. If I were a boy again, I would learn the Shorter Catechism.

My ambition was to learn some kind of a trade. But I had wrought enough with my father at the anvil not to choose that. It was hard work, and not over clean work. Something else would suit me better, I thought. About that time my sister Harriet married William McLaughlin, who was a well-to-do harness maker in Steubenville. This suited my ideas of life better. But that sister died soon after her marriage, and my father removed from that part of the country to the southern part of the State. There in Ripley, a Latin school was opened about that time, and the Lord appeared to me in a wonderful manner, making discoveries of himself to my spiritual apprehension, so that from that time and onward my path lay in the line of preparation for such service as He should call me unto. My father, as he said many years afterward, had intended to educate my younger brother James; but he was taken away suddenly, and I came in his place. Thus the Lord opened the way for a commencement, and by the help of friends I was enabled to continue until I finished the course at Jefferson College, and afterward spent a year at the Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny.

MART had been educated for a teacher. She was well fitted for the work. And while she was still at Ipswich, a benevolent gentleman in New York City, who had interested himself in establishing a seminary in Southern Indiana, sent to Miss Grant for a teacher to take charge of the school near Bethlehem, in the family of Rev. John M. Dickey. It was far away, but it seemed just the opening she had been desiring. But a young woman needed company in traveling so far westward. It was at the time of the May meetings in New York. Clergymen and others were on East from various parts of the West. In several instances, however, she failed of the company she hoped for, by what seemed singular providences. And at last, it was her lot to come West under the protection of Rev. Dyer Burgess, of West Union, Ohio. Mr. Burgess was what was called in those days, " a rabid abolitionist," and had taken a fancy to help me along, because, as he said, I was " of the same craft." And so it was that during his absence I was living in his family. This is the way in which the threads of our two lives, Mary's and mine, were brought together. A year and a half after this I was licensed to preach the gospel by the Chillicothe Presbytery, and we were on our way to her mountain home in Massachusetts.