Presbyterian Mission History (6th of 12). Ninety-Five Notable Presbyterian Missionaries
I am pleased to introduce the reader to 95 notable Presbyterian missionaries whose biographies are included in Gerald Anderson’s majisterial reference book, the Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. Click on the names to read more.
| Presbyterian Missionary | Birth and Death | Began Missionary Service | Country or Region of Missionary Service |
| Horton, Azariah | 1715-1777 | 1742 | Montaukett and Shinnecock Indians of Long Island |
| Brainerd, David | 1717-1747 | 1742 | Delaware Indians |
| Brainerd, John | 1720-1781 | 1756 | Delaware Indians |
| Kirkland, Samuel | 1741-1808 | 1764 | Oneida and Tuscarora Indians of Central New York |
| Stockton, Betsey | 1798-1865 | 1822 | Hawaii |
| Bacon, Sumner | 1790-1844 | 1826 | Texas |
| Smith, Eli | 1801-1857 | 1826 | Lebanon, Syria |
| Jones, Charles C. | 1804-1863 | 1830 | American slaves |
| Fleming, John | 1807-1894 | 1833 | Muskogee (Creek) Indians |
| Wilson, John and Jane | 1809-1996 | 1834 | Liberia, Gabon |
| Grant, Asahel and Judith | 1809-1844 | 1835 | Persia, Kurdistan |
| Stevens, Jedediah D. | 1798-1877 | 1835 | Stockbridge and Dakota Indians |
| Whitman, Marcus and Narcissa | 1802-1847 | 1836 | Cayuse Indians |
| Anderson, Louisa | __?__-1882 | 1840 | Jamaica and Nigeria |
| Priest, James, M. | __?__-1883 | 1843 | Liberia |
| Happer, Andrew and Elizabeth | 1818-1894 | 1844 | China |
| McCartee, Divie Bethune | 1820-1900 | 1844 | China, Japan |
| Wilder, Royal G. | 1816-1887 | 1846 | India |
| Cochran, Joseph Gallup and Deborah | 1817-1871 | 1848 | Urmia, Persia |
| Blyden, Edward Wilmot | 1832-1912 | 1850 | Liberia |
| Rhea, Samuel Audley | 1824-1865 | 1851 | Persia, Kurdistan |
| Rankin, Melinda | 1811-1888 | 1852 | Mexico |
| Nevius, John L. | 1829-1893 | 1853 | China |
| Kerr, John Glasgow | 1824-1901 | 1854 | China |
| Giffen, John Kelly | 1853-1932 | 1854 | Egypt, Sudan |
| Jessup, Henry Harris | 1823-1910 | 1855 | Lebanon, Syria |
| Gordon, Andrew | 1828-1887 | 1855 | India |
| McGilvary, Daniel | 1828-1911 | 1858 | Siam |
| Jackson, Sheldon | 1834-1909 | 1858 | Western US, Alaska |
| Simonton, Ashbel Green | 1831-1867 | 1859 | Brazil |
| McFarland, Samuel Gamble | 1830-1897 | 1860 | Siam |
| McBeth, Sue L. | 1830-1883 | 1860 | Choctaw, Nez Pierce Indians |
| Nassau, Robert H. | 1835-1911 | 1861 | Gabon, Guinea |
| Mateer, Calvin Wilson | 1836-1908 | 1864 | China |
| Corbett, Hunter | 1835-1920 | 1865 | Cheefoo (Yantai) China |
| Dennis, James Sheppard and Mary | 1842-1914 | 1868 | Lebanon/Syria |
| Wherry, Elwood Morris | 1843-1927 | 1868 | India |
| Noyes, Harriet N. | 1845-1924 | 1868 | China |
| Seward, Sarah Cornelia | 1833-1891 | 1871 | India |
| Safford, Anna Cunningham | 1837-1890 | 1873 | China |
| Graybill, Anthony T. | 1841-1905 | 1874 | Mexico |
| Guerrant, Edward O. | 1838-1916 | 1875 | Appalachia |
| Young, Samuel Hall | 1847-1927 | 1878 | Alaska |
| Cochran, Joseph Plumb | 1855-1905 | 1878 | Urmia, Persia |
| Ewing, James C. Rhea | 1854-1925 | 1879 | India |
| Wilson, Samuel Graham | 1858-1916 | 1880 | Tabriz, Persia |
| Good, Adolphus C. | 1856-1894 | 1882 | Gabon, Cameroun |
| Reid, Gilbert | 1857-1927 | 1882 | China |
| Allen, Horace and Frances | 1858-1932 | 1884 | Korea |
| Gilman, Frank P. | 1853-1918 | 1885 | China |
| Underwood, Horace Grant | 1859-1916 | 1885 | Korea |
| McCandliss, Henry M. | 1859-1931 | 1885 | China |
| Haymaker, Edward M. | 1859-1948 | 1887 | Guatemala |
| Wilder, Grace | 1861-1911 | 1887 | India |
| Griswold, Hervey | 1860-1945 | 1890 | India |
| Moffett, Samuel Austin | 1864-1939 | 1890 | Korea |
| Sheppard, William H. and Lucy | 1865-1926 | 1890 | Congo |
| Melrose, Margaret and John | 1868-1951 | 1890 | China |
| Lapsley, Samuel | 1886-1892 | 1890 | Congo |
| Baird, William M. | 1862-1931 | 1891 | Korea |
| Wilder, Robert P. | 1863-1938 | 1891 | India |
| Shedd, William Ambrose | 1865-1918 | 1892 | Urmia, Persia |
| Hyde, John | 1865-1912 | 1893 | Punjab, India |
| Morrison, William McCutchan | 1867-1918 | 1893 | Congo |
| Eddy, Mary Pierson | 1864-1923 | 1893 | Lebanon |
| Chestnut, Eleanor | 1868-1905 | 1894 | China |
| Luce, Henry Winters | 1868-1941 | 1897 | China |
| Higginbottom, Sam | 1874-1958 | 1898 | India |
| Rodgers, James B. | 1865-1944 | 1899 | Philippines |
| Williams, John Elias | 1871-1927 | 1899 | China, martyr |
| Thurston, Matilda, S. | 1875-1857 | 1900 | Marash (Turkey) China |
| Kepler, Asher | 1870-1942 | 1901 | China |
| Edmiston, Althea | 1874-1937 | 1902 | Congo |
| Stuart, John Leighton | 1876-1962 | 1904 | Hangzhou, China |
| Fleming, Daniel | 1877-1969 | 1904 | Lahore, India |
| Reischauer, August Karl | 1879-1971 | 1905 | Japan |
| Donaldson, Dwight Martin and Bess | 1884-1976 | 1907 | Mashad, Iran; Alighar, India |
| Hunnicutt, Benjamin | 1886-1962 | 1907 | Brazil |
| Lambie, Thomas A. | 1885-1954 | 1911 | Ethiopia |
| Mills, W. Plumer | 1883-1959 | 1912 | China |
| Burgess, Paul and Dora | 1886-1958 | 1913 | Guatemala |
| Bell, L. Nelson | 1894-1973 | 1916 | Jiangsu, China |
| Wilson, J. Christy Sr. | 1891-1973 | 1919 | Tabriz, Persia |
| Miller, William M. | 1892-1993 | 1919 | Persia |
| Graham III, James Robert | 1898-1982 | 1921 | China, Taiwan |
| Rycroft, William S. | 1899-1993 | 1922 | Peru |
| Clark, Charles Allen | 1878-1961 | 1923 | Korea |
| Price, Francis (Frank) Wilson and Essie | 1895-1974 | 1923 | China |
| Moninger, Mary Margaret | 1891-1950 | 1924 | Hainan, China |
| McClure, William Don | 1906-1977 | 1928 | Sudan, martyr |
| Smith, John Coventry | 1903-1984 | 1929 | Japan |
| Shaull, M. Richard | 1919-2002 | 1942 | Colombia, Brazil |
| Moffett, Samuel Hugh | 1916-2015 | 1947 | Korea |
| Winter, Ralph D. and Roberta | 1924-2009 | 1956 | Guatemala |
| Haines, Byron Lee | 1928-1990 | 1956 | Pakistan |
Presbyterian Mission History. This is Blog #6 in a series 12:
- What Francis Makemie Envisioned : Beneficial Relationships between Presbyterian Churches and Mission Agencies
- What Early Presbyterian Churches Enjoyed: Denominational Support for Voluntary Societies
- How the General Assembly of 1837 Expelled 60,000 church members on account of their partnership with mission agencies.
- The General Assembly Establishes the Board of Foreign Missions. An Extraordinary Mission Era Begins.
- Exemplary Presbyterian Missionaries of the 19th Century
- Exemplary Presbyterian Missionaries of the 20th Century
- Ninety-Five Notable Presbyterian Missionaries in Gerald Anderson’s Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions
- The Extraordinary Rise of Presbyterian Women’s Mission Societies following the Civil War
- What the General Assembly of 1902 Endorsed: Recognition and Regulation of “Special Interest Organizations.”
- Time to say Good-bye, Perhaps. How Everything Seems to be Ending.
- This is not the End. The Holy Spirit Enables New Mission Initiatives.
- Presbyterian Mission History: A Bibliography.
Sue McBeth lived a long time!
Thank you, what a treasure, fascinating. So much info at my fingertips.
So glad to see my uncle, Samuel H Moffett, and his father, Samuel A Moffett, on your list! Also such personal heroes as John L Nevius, Horace and Frances Allen, Horace Grant Underwood, Christy J Wilson Sr, Charles Allen Clark, and Ralph Winter.
Great list of saints but I was sorry to see that the entire Legters family was not mentioned–possibly because I’m not sure of their Presbyterian roots.
LL Legters was a companion of Cam Townsend who, while ministering on the Great Plains trekked the Amazon researching unreached tribes and then took on the role of revival speaking to raise funds for the founding of Townsend’s language training institute. Wycliffe Center has a street named after him.
LL’s son Brainerd Legters was in the second Wycliffe class then settled in a Mayan village in the Yucatan, where he lived, raised his son David Legters, and from where he traveled through the jungle as an evangelist.
His son David spent his whole life in the Yucatan, except that he was born in the US because of medical complications, and spent time in the US for higher education. David (Bito) pastored numerous churches and pioneered pastoral training through extension. He served as President of the Presbyterian Church of Mexico’s campus, and was founder of their Merida, Yucatan, seminary. He was a professor, translator, guided the development of the church’s constitution and hymnbook, and held many other responsibilities, while never losing his love for and contact with the Mayan culture and people. During his lifetime the Mexican Presbyterian Church grew from 200 to 2000 congregations and now I understand it to be the largest Presbyterian denomination in the world (?). His son is currently the pastor of an independent church in Merida.
I write this because Bito invited me to teach at the Merida seminary (Seminario Presbiteriano San Pablo) over 20 years ago and I have done so for 2-10 weeks annually since then. I was his house guest during my time in Merida while he was alive and continue to be of his wife and daughter and family since his passing 10 years ago. Bito and his wife Jean, who continues to minister with music and literature in Mayan villages, came to Mexico to continue his father’s work and with the counsel of Art Glaser. Because his denominational affiliation was with the Mexican Presbyterian Church, not the US church, he was not subject to the shifts in relationships between the US and Mexican churches. His impact was far-reaching but at heart he loved the village people with whom he grew up. A measure of respect was the 3000 people from all around the country who attended his 3 memorial services held just 12 hours after his death.
Thanks for your writings. Blessings.
In His adventures,
Will Ackles
Great to read your tribute to the Legters family. Thank you.