Home
Up
Niobrara Cross
Diocesan Bishops
Books
Diocesan Convocations
Niobrara Convocation Sites
 

A Brief History of the Diocese of South Dakota

The Diocese of South Dakota is unique in the Episcopal Church. The Indian ministry of the Episcopal Church here really began with the Minnesota Uprising of 1862. After years of government treachery and deceit, the Santee people rose up and broke free of the Minnesota Valley reservation. Many lives were lost, and despite the fact that Christians among the Santee saved the lives of missionaries and some settlers, all of the surviving Indians were imprisoned and later expelled to the Dakota Territory.

Episcopal deacon Samuel Hinman, who had served the Santee people in Minnesota for three years, accompanied them to South Dakota. The chaos of the Civil War, however, prevented the establishment of a new jurisdiction until 1871, when the Missionary District of Niobrara was created. William Hobart Hare, the first Bishop of Niobrara, was consecrated in 1873. Bishop Hare designed a Niobrara Cross to give to each new Indian Christian, inscribed: "That they may have life.".  

The present bishop of South Dakota, the Right Reverend Creighton L. Robertson, is a descendant of the Indian people expelled from Minnesota in the uprising of 1862. He was consecrated in June 1994.

For a more detailed history, please see Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve's, "That They May Have Life" and Mary E. Cochran's "Dakota Cross-Bearer."

 

  • South Dakota's combination of native and immigrant peoples has created a truly multi-cultural, multi-lingual diocese.

  • There are approximately 12,000 baptized Episcopalians in South Dakota, about half are Dakota or Lakota (Sioux) Indian people.

  • Of the 92 churches in the Diocese, 65 are located on Indian reservations.

  • Two congregations of Sudanese Episcopalian immigrants are established in Sioux Falls.

 

Lists of Interest: