Adams, Moses N. (Moses Newton), 1822-1902

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Moses N. Adams was born on February 14, 1822 in Rockville, Adams County, Ohio, the son of Robert and Elizabeth Baird Adams. Following a common school education, he attended Ripley (Ohio) College (ca. 1839-1845) and the Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio (1845-1848). He received his ministerial license on May 5, 1847 and was ordained by the Cincinnati Presbytery on June 14, 1848. He was then appointed as an American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) missionary to the Dakota Indians on or near the upper Mississippi River. Immediately following his July 9, 1848 marriage to Annie Gaul Rankin, daughter of James and Sarah Gaul Rankin and also an ABCFM missionary, the couple traveled up the Mississippi River to the Kaposia, Minnesota Territory mission station. They remained at the Kaposia and Shakopee stations learning the Dakota language until the fall, when they joined Reverend Stephen R. Riggs at the Lac Qui Parle mission station on the upper Minnesota River.

At Lac Qui Parle Adams taught a day school, developed a systematic study of the Dakota language, and produced a Dakota/English lexicon. He and his wife also began the first successful boarding school for Dakota children, boarding six children in their home.

In 1853 Adams left the Indian missions to enter Presbyterian Church home mission work. He moved to Nicollet County, Minnesota Territory, and ministered to settlers in the Traverse des Sioux and St. Peter area. In November 1853 he organized the first Presbyterian church at Traverse des Sioux. Between 1860 and 1871 Adams was engaged in Sunday school work and served as the American Bible Society agent for the state of Minnesota.

In December 1871 he accepted appointment as the United States Indian agent to the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of the Dakota living on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, Dakota Territory. During his tenure as agent he oversaw the construction of two district school houses (1872) and a Manual Labor Boarding School (1873). He resigned as agent in April 1875. He then went to St. Paul where he remained until February 1876, when he received a commission as chaplain in the United States Army. In that capacity he served three years at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, three years at Fort Lyon, Colorado, and four years at Fort Sill, Indian Territory. He retired from the chaplaincy in 1886.

He again returned to St. Paul but soon accepted the Goodwill Mission post vacated by the death of Stephen R. Riggs. At Goodwill he was both missionary and general superintendent of native pastors and churches on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation and superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions' missionaries. Adams also acted as resident chaplain at the reservation's Goodwill Mission and United States government schools.

He retired in the autumn of 1892 due to poor health and returned to St. Paul. He died at the Buffalo Surgical Institute, Buffalo, New York on July 23, 1902 and was buried in St. Paul on July 28.

Biographical data was taken from the collection.

For more information about Adams, see: Minnesota History Bulletin, 3:522-523; Meyer, Roy W., History of the Santee Sioux: U.S. Indian Policy on Trial (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967), pp. 199-208; and Sterling, Everett W., "Moses N. Adams, A Missionary as Indian Agent," Minnesota History, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Dec. 1956), pp. 167-177.

From the guide to the Moses N. Adams papers, 1849-1902., (Minnesota Historical Society)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Nute, Grace Lee, 1895-1990,. Northwest missions manuscripts and index, 1766-1926. Minnesota Historical Society, Division of Archives and Manuscripts
creatorOf American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Correspondence, 1827-1878. Minnesota Historical Society Library
creatorOf American Missionary Association. Minnesota files, 1847-1882 [microform]. Minnesota Historical Society Library
creatorOf Riggs, Stephen Return, 1812-1883. Stephen R. Riggs and family papers, 1837-1988 (bulk 1837-1869). Minnesota Historical Society, Division of Archives and Manuscripts
creatorOf United States. Office of Indian Affairs. Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880 [microform]. Minnesota Historical Society Library
referencedIn Northwest missions manuscripts and index., 1766-1926. Minnesota Historical Society
referencedIn Stephen R. Riggs and family papers., 1837-1988 (bulk 1837-1869). Minnesota Historical Society
creatorOf Jones, Florence J. Notebook of Moses N. Adams and Robert H. Jones : [collection] : 1956-1958. History Colorado
creatorOf Adams, Moses N. (Moses Newton), 1822-1902. [Transcripts of letters from missionaries among the Indians of Minnesota, Dakota, and Oregon, 1830-1878, [between 1928 and 1932?]. Newberry Library
referencedIn Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs [microform]., 1824-1880 Minnesota Historical Society
creatorOf Adams, Moses N. (Moses Newton), 1822-1902. Moses N. Adams papers, 1849-1902. Minnesota Historical Society, Division of Archives and Manuscripts
creatorOf Moses N. Adams papers, 1849-1902. Minnesota Historical Society
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith American Bible Society. corporateBody
associatedWith American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. corporateBody
associatedWith American Missionary Association. corporateBody
associatedWith Clum, H. R. person
associatedWith Clum, H. R. person
associatedWith Daniels, Jared Waldo, 1827-1904. person
associatedWith Delano, Columbus, 1809-1896. person
associatedWith Faribault, David, b. 1817. person
associatedWith Forbes, William Henry, 1815-1875. person
associatedWith Hamilton, J. G. (Missionary). person
associatedWith Hamilton, J. G. (Missionary). person
associatedWith Kemble, Edward C. person
associatedWith Kemble, Edward C. person
associatedWith LaGrange, Charles P. person
associatedWith LaGrange, Charles P. person
associatedWith Nute, Grace Lee, 1895-1990, person
associatedWith Renville, Gabriel, 1824-1892. person
associatedWith Riggs, Stephen Return, 1812-1883. person
associatedWith Smith, Edward Parmelee, 1827-1876. person
associatedWith Smith, James, Jr., 1815- person
associatedWith United States. Army corporateBody
associatedWith United States. Office of Indian Affairs. corporateBody
associatedWith Walker, Francis Amasa, 1840-1897. person
associatedWith Whipple, George, 1805-1876. person
associatedWith Williamson, John Poage, 1835-1917. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Lake Traverse Indian Reservation (N.D. and S.D.).
North Dakota
Minnesota
Flandreau (S.D.)
Fort Sisseton (S.D.)
Flandreau (S.D.).
Fort Sisseton (S.D.).
United States
Lake Traverse Indian Reservation (N.D. and S.D.)
Fort Gibson (Okla.)
Fort Gibson (Okla.).
Subject
Presbyterian Church
Dakota Indians
Dakota Indians
Dakota Indians
Dakota Indians
Dakota Indians
Dakota language
Home missions
Indian agencies
Indians, Treatment of
Indians, Treatment of
Missionaries
Missions
Missions
Missions
Santee Indians
Sisseton Indians
Wahpeton Indians
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1822

Death 1902

English,

Dakota

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