Joseph Renville

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Joseph Renville (1779–1846) was an interpreter for the 1805 Pike expedition and the 1823 Long expedition. He became an important figure in dealings between white men and Dakota (Sioux) Indians in Minnesota, as typified by his cooperation with missionaries. The hymnal Dakota dowanpi kin, was "composed by J. Renville and sons, and the missionaries of the A.B.C.F.M." and was published in Boston in 1842. Its successor, Dakota Odowan, first published with music in 1879, has been reprinted many times and is in use today.

Joseph Renville's father, also named Joseph Renville, was a French Canadian fur trader, and his mother, Miniyuhe was a Dakota, possibly a daughter of Mdewakaton-Dakota chief Big Thunder. Renville's bicultural formative years may have included some education in Canada.

The town of Renville, Minnesota, is named in honor of Joseph Renville, as are Renville County, Minnesota and Renville County, North Dakota.

[edit] Lac qui Parle

By 1827, Renville had settled at Lac qui Parle, Minnesota , where he built a stockade, kept a band of warriors, and continued his livelihood as a fur trader. In 1835, Thomas Smith Williamson, M.D. (1800-1879), arrived at Lac qui Parle, the first of several missionaries. Another, Stephen Return Riggs (1812-1883) arrived in 1837. Two others, Gideon Hollister Pond (1810-1878) and his brother Samuel William Pond (1808-1891) were largely responsible for the creation of the Dakota alphabet. Renville and the missionaries translated The Bible into English.

Renville's French Bible, printed in Geneva, Switzerland in 1588, was used for translating. Riggs wrote that the little group of translators "usually consisted of Mr. Renville, who sat in a chair in the middle of his own reception room, in which there was at one end an open fireplace with a large blazing fire, and Dr. Williamson, Mr. G. H. Pond, and myself, seated at a side-table with our writing materials before us. When all were ready, Dr. Williamson read a verse from the French Bible. This, Mr. Renville, usually with great readiness, repeated in the Dakota language. We wrote it down from his mouth. If the sentence was too long for us to remember, Mr. Renville repeated it... That winter, the Gospel of Mark was finished..."

In 1836, Renville employed a clerk named Eugene Gauss (1811-1896), who, during his service as a private in the United States Army, had become "a pious Presbyterian and decided he wanted to be a missionary." Gauss assisted with translation of the Bible from French into Dakota, and Dr. Williamson wrote, "Brother Gauss, Mr. R's present clerk being pious and feeling a deep interest in the spiritual welfare of the Dakotas and my own increasing knowledge of the French language make it more practicable to give religious instruction than heretofore." Eugene Gauss was a son of the renowned German mathematician and physicist, Carl Friedrich Gauss.

[edit] Three Dakota Native Airs

Three of the hymn tunes in Dakota Odowan are designated as Dakota Native Airs. Their names are LACQUIPARLE (number 141), LA FRAMBOISE (number 142), and RENVILLE (number 145). The first of these appears in many modern hymnals and is probably the world's most widely known melody of American Indian origin.

An examination of distinctive meters and other evidence leads to the conclusion that Joseph Renville probably composed the three hymn tunes, and he certainly composed the three Dakota texts. In modern English-language hymnals, a paraphrase by Philip Frazier, loosely based on Renville's text, appears with the tune LACQUIPARLE, and it is known to many Christians by the opening words, "Many and great, O God, are thy works, maker of earth and sky".

In many hymnals, attribution is made to Joseph R. Renville; the middle initial, R., appears to be in error.

[edit] References

  • Dakota Odowan, The Dakota Mission of the American Missionary Association and the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, John Poage Williamson and Alfred Longly Riggs, editors, 1879. Reprinted by the American Tract Society, Oradell, New Jersey, 1969.
  • Gertrude Ackermann, "Joseph Renville of Lac qui Parle," Minnesota History 12 (September 1931) 231-246.
  • Clark Kimberling, "Three Native American Hymns," The Hymn 56, no. 2 (2005) 18-29.
  • John Willand, Lac Qui Parle and the Dakota Mission, Lac Qui Parle County Historical Society, Madison, Minnesota, 1964.