Joseph Renville (1779–1846) was an interpreter, translator, expedition guide, Canadian officer in the War of 1812, founder of the Columbia Fur Company, and an important figure in dealings between settlers of European ancestry and Dakota (Sioux) Natives in Minnesota. He contributed to the translation of Christian religious texts into the Dakota language. 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.
Lac qui Parle view from Fort Renville site
Lac qui Parle Mission (reconstructed)
Rev. E. D. Neill, A Sketch of Joseph Renville (1853)
Dakota Odowan Hymn Book
Renville County, Minnesota
Renville County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census the population was 14,723. Its county seat is Olivia.
Renville County Courthouse
Birch Coulee Battlefield near Morton
Soils of Renville County