Gideon Hollister Pond

Gideon Hollister Pond (June 30, 1810 – January 20, 1878) was an American Presbyterian missionary, clergyman, and territorial legislator.

A son of Elnathan Judson Pond and Sarah Hollister Pond, Gideon and his brother Samuel (April 10, 1808 – December 12, 1891) grew up in Washington, Connecticut. Gideon received religious instruction “at his mother’s knee,” but did not take religion seriously until he and his brother experienced a revival in August 1831.

Looking for an evangelistic opportunity, the Pond brothers determined that the Dakota people, living in what is now southern Minnesota, would make an appropriate mission. They arrived at St. Peters (now St. Paul, Minnesota), on May 1, 1834, with no formal training or credentials and no financial sponsorship other than their personal savings.Marpiya Wicasta (Cloud Man), chief of a village living at Lake Calhoun (present-day Minneapolis) had requested assistance with farming, and Gideon took this role, intending to learn the Dakota language.

The brothers believed that the ability to speak the language accurately was essential if their message was to be received. As they learned, they devised an alphabet suitable for recording the sounds of Dakota, and they taught this to their neighbors, thus bringing them the ability to read and write in their own language. They also began to compile a Dakota dictionary, to which later missionaries also contributed. The Pond alphabet and the Dakota–English dictionary are still in use. The Ponds also taught the Dakotas subsistence agriculture.

In 1835 other missionaries arrived to work with the Dakota, notably Revs. Dr. Thomas S. Williamson and J. D. Stevens. Gideon worked for Stevens for a time, then, at the urging of Dr. Williamson, moved to the newly established station at Lac qui Parle, where Joseph Renville had a major trading center. Gideon spent three years (1836–39) at the Lac qui Parle Mission.

In 1837 Gideon married Sarah Poage, a sister of Thomas Williamson's wife Margaret.

As a result of warfare between the Ojibwe and Dakota people in 1839, Cloud Man's village relocated to a bluff near the Minnesota River in present-day Bloomington. This site became known as Oak Grove, and a mission was established there in 1843. The site became Gideon's home, currently part of the Pond-Dakota Mission Park.

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