Stephen Return Riggs
Stephen Return Riggs was a Christian missionary and linguist who lived and worked among the Dakota people.
Riggs was born in Steubenville, Ohio. His career among the Dakota began in 1837 at Lac qui Parle in what is now Minnesota, where there was a mission. He worked among the Dakota Sioux for the remainder of his life, producing a grammar and dictionary and a translation of the New Testament
In his autobiography Mary and I, or Forty Years with the Sioux, Riggs describes his life. In 1862, he served as interpreter at the trials of the Sioux Uprising. He died in Beloit, Wisconsin.Selected works
The Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has , including detailed correspondence written by Stephen and Mary Riggs to their family members and two manuscript church histories written by Stephen Riggs. The correspondence also includes an occasional sketch of the missions they served.
