“We Are Laying Foundations” South Dakota’s First Ordained Women Congregational Ministers

Mary Eveline Drake and Abi Louise Huntley hold the distinction of being the first women to receive Congregational Church ordination in South Dakota. In fact, the two were among the first ordained women in the nation in an era when such a possibility had barely entered the conscious mindset of general society. In late nineteenth-century Dakota, a convergence of context and circumstance lined up with the broader spirit of the times to place these two women on unprecedented ground. That they resolutely responded to the call and challenge of frontier life and ministry makes their story all the more resonant