the Rev. Charles Crawford, in
whose veins there flows the mingled blood of the shrewd Scotch fur
trader and the savage Sioux, lives in that comfortable farm house a few
rods distant. He has a pastorate that many a white minister might
covet. Miles to the west, still stands in its grassy cove on the
coteaux of the prairie, the Church of the Ascension, referring not to
the ascension of our Lord, but to "the going up" of the prairies. On
the hill above it, is the cozy home of the pastor emeritus, the Rev.
John Baptiste Renville, whose pastorate, in point of continuous
service, has been the longest in the two Dakotas. After a long lifetime
of faithful ministrations to the people of his own charge, enfeebled by
age and disease, he sweetly fell asleep in Jesus, Dec. 19, 1904.
Doubtless his is a starry crown, richly gemmed, in token of the
multitude of the souls of his fellow tribesmen, led to the Savior by
his tender, faithful ministry of a life-time in their midst. Round
about these two churches cluster half a dozen other congregations,
worshipping in comfortable church homes. These form only a part of the

PRESBYTERY OF DAKOTA.

The original Presbytery of Dakota was organized September 30, 1844, at
the mission Home of Dr. Williamson, at Lac-qui-Parle, Minnesota. It was
organized, by the missionaries, among the Dakotas, for the furtherance
of their peculiar work. The charter members were three ministers, the
Rev. Samuel W. Pond, Rev. Thomas S. Williamson, M.D., and Rev. Stephen
R. Riggs and one elder Alexander G. Huggins. It was an independent
presbytery, and, for fourteen years, was not connected with any Synod.
It was a lone presbytery, in a vast region, now covered by a dozen
Synods and scores of presbyteries. For many years, the white and Indian
churches that were organized in Minnesota, were united in this
presbytery and wrought harmoniously together. In 1858, the General
Assembly of Presbyterian churches (N.S.) invited this independent
presbytery to unite with her two Minnesota Presbyteries and form the
Synod of Minnesota which was accomplished.

Solely on account of the barrier of the language, the missionaries and
churches among the Dakotas, petitioned the Synod of Minnesota to
organize them into a separate presbytery. And the Synod so ordered and
it was so done, September 30, 1867, just twenty-three years after the
first organization at Lac-qui-Parle. By this order, the limits of the
Presbytery of Dakota became t