Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Jennette Clarissa Pond, called Janet, was born May 6, 1842. Her parents were Rev. Samuel Pond and Cordelia Eggleston Pond.

The Ponds were living at Maḣpiya Wic̣aṡṭa, or Cloud Man’s village, on the east side of what is now known as Bde Maka Ska in the city limits of Minneapolis. Maḣpiya Wic̣aṡṭa founded the agricultural community Ḣeyate Otuŋwe on the shores of Bde Maka Ska in 1829, and Samuel and Cordelia had a mission there.

In 1842, when Janet was about three weeks old, Samuel, Cordelia, and Janet had to take a boat to Lac qui Parle.

Engaging a flatboat, Cordelia and Samuel, along with their three-week-old baby, headed to Lac qui Parle Mission, even though the doctor at the fort warned Samuel that the baby would not survive the journey.

“Always prepared, Samuel put a little box on the boat which he could use for a coffin should baby Jennette die and need to be buried along their 130-mile journey.”

According to Samuel Pond, Jr., “That journey was one of peculiar anxiety to the young mother, whose little babe faded day by day before her eyes. Only those who have passed through a like experience which rested upon her in her inexperience and extremity. She could do little for the child but pray.”

Luckily, Jennette was just alive when they reached Lac qui Parle, but speedily recovered and became a healthy, active child and great comfort to her mother.

In the summer of 1843, Cordelia, Samuel, and Janet joined Samuel’s brother, Gideon, and his wife, Sarah, in their new cabin at Oak Grove in what is now Bloomington, Minnesota. Janet enjoyed fitting in with his cousins who lived there. During that time, Cordelia and Samuel welcome their second child. She was named Cordelia Rebecca Pond and was born on October 10, 1844. She was called Rebecca. Three years later, Cordelia and Samuel welcomed their first son, Elnathan Judson Pond. He arrived on October 17, 1847. By that time, Gideon and Sarah had two more daughters and although their oldest, Ruth, was living with relatives in Connecticut, it still meant that the four adults were sharing the small cabin with eight children under the age of seven.

In 1846, Dakota leader Ṡakpe II began discussion of establishing a Dakota mission near Tínṫa Otuŋwe. He invited Samuel and Cordelia to set up a mission and school at his village, with the promise of Dakota sending their children to the school and assistance in any way possible.

In November 1847, after working on the mission house during the spring and summer, Samuel and Cordelia Pond, Jane Lamont Titus and their three children moved into their new home. Jennette was five, Rebecca was three, and baby Elnathan was scarcely a month old when they moved in (Samuel, Jr. was born a few years later).

In 1925, Elnathan remembered, “There were no white children excepting my brother, my two sisters, and myself…I recall that white men were a rare site, and our childish eyes grew round with wonder when we saw one!”

Samuel, Jr., also remembered that Janet, along with Rebecca, became fluent in the Dakota language, although the two boys never became fluent in the language. It was clear that Janet and Rebecca interacted with the Dakota people in Prairieville, which later became part of Shakopee.

Janet wrote in diaries, probably part of her schooling. She started when she was eight years old and continued writing until she was 14 years old. The diaries are available at the Minnesota Historical Society. Here are a few examples:

August 22,1850

Mrs. Ferribault came here and made a long visit She brought all her children with her and we had a fine play with them. Mrs. Ferribault’s oldest girl stayed here a while after the rest were gone.

August 23, 1850

I hemed the whole end of a sheet. Mother made some bread. An Indian brought us some plums but we did not take them because they would make us sick. The Indians brought some hard nuts but we did not take them too for the same purpose.

May 18, 1853

Monday a German man that lived out in the woods came here and said his wife was very sick. He brought a horse and took father’s wagon and father went with him. She was very sick she had a little baby.

May 20, 1853

The Indian boys brought us a few straw berries and we bought them with potatoes. And Indian woman brought us some gooseberries.

Jennette ”Janet” Clarissa Pond died on April 2, 1862 at age 19 of lung fever (pneumonia).

She was buried at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee.