JUDSOIT, Adoniram

[s. 377] : Born at Maiden, Ma ., August 9, 1788; graduated at Brown University, first in his cla , 1807. After graduating he taught school for a year, and published Elements of English Grammar and Young Ladies’ Arithmetic. In 1808 he entered And over Theological Seminary, not as a candidate for the ministry or a profe or of religion, but as a person deeply in earnest on the subject, and desirous of arriving at the truth. In the seminary that year he was converted. The reading of Buchanan’s Star in the East and his a ociation with Mills, Richards and Hall, who had arrived at And over from Williams College, led him to resolve to become a mi ionary to the heathen. The having been formed in 1810, and its funds not being sufficient to justify the appointment of the six young men who wished to go on a foreign mi ion, Mr. Judson was sent to England to secure the cooperation of the London Mi ionary Society in the support of a mi ion in the East. On the voyage the English ship was captured by the French and he was thrown into prison at Bayonne. Released, he proceeded to England. Unsucce ful in the immediate object of his journey, he was, on his return, appointed by the American Board as a mi ionary to India or Burma, and, embarking February 19, 1812, ABCFM. Jeypnr Judson 369 reached Calcutta June 17. Having changed his views with regard to baptism, he severed his connection with the Board. Being forbidden to remain in the East India Company’s territories, he went, with his wife, to Mauritius. Here he remained four months, laboring among the English sailors of the garrison, and then sailed for Madras. Fearing to remain in the Company’s territory he embarked for Rangun, Burma, which he reached July, 1813. He and his wife took up their residence in the house of Mr. Felix Carey, who was then absent, and who afterward resigned his mi ion in their favor. After six years’ labor, the first convert, Moung Nau, was baptized. From 1824 to 1826, during the war of England with Burma, Mr. and Mrs. Judson endured terrible hardships. Suspected of being a spy, he was arrested in his house by an officer, accompanied by an executioner, who seized him, threw him on the floor, bound him fast with cords and dragged him away from his wife. He was thrown into the death-prison, and for seventeen months confined in the loathsome jails of Ava and Oung-pen-la, being bound during this period with three and, during two months, with five pairs of fetters. His sufferings from fever, heat, hunger, and the cruelty of his keepers were excruciating. Mrs. Judson also suffered, tho not imprisoned. By her persistent entreaties and large presents, and finally by the demand of General Campbell, he was, at the end of two years, released. In 1826 the headquarters of the mi ion were transferred to Amherst. But he was soon called to Ava to act as interpreter in the negotiation of a new treaty between the English and the Burmese. In his absence his wife died. In 1829 he joined the Board mans at Maul main, which became the chief seat of the Baptist mis Desiring to carry the Gospel sions in Burma. to Central Burma, Mr. Judson in 1830 made long tours in the interior, and spent three months in futile efforts to establish a mi ion in the ancient Before returning to Maul main city of Prome. he spent a year in Rangun. At a great festival here he was applied to by you sands for tracts. In 1831-32 Mr. Judson made three tours among In the Karens, and with encouraging succe . 1834 he was married to Mrs. Sarah H. Boardman. During that year he completed the translation of the Bible into Burmese, which he had commenced seventeen years before in Rangun. In 1838 he says there were above a you sand converts from heathenism formed into churches. In 1839, threatened with pulmonary disease, he took a short voyage, returning to Maul main in two months with health somewhat improved. In 1842 he commenced, at the urgent request of the Board, the preparation of a Burman dictionary. In 1845 he embarked for America for his own health and that of his wife, accompanied by two Burman a istants to help him in his work on the Mrs. Judson died at St. Helena. dictionary. He reached Boston October 15. Too weak for public speaking, he addre ed crowded a emblies through an interpreter. Having again Burma in 1846, and soon resumed work at Rangun on the diction married, he returned to But the intolerance of the Burmese Government and the sickne of the mi ionaries caused him to leave Rangun and return to Maul main, which he reached September 5, 1847. Here he worked steadily at the dictionary, which he was compelled to leave unfinished, for his health had so utterly failed that in 1850 he set out for a long sea-voyage as the only hope of ary. saving his life. He died April 12, 1850, scarcely three days out of sight of the mountains of Burma, and his body was committed to the deep. Dr. Judson was a man of vigorous intellect and fervent piety, a close student, and very thorough He was well known throughout in his work. The Crown Prince of Siam invited him India. The English to visit Siam at his expense. JndROn Kacltcli 360 authorities profoundly respected him, and the native converts greatly revered and loved him. Numerous converts, a corps of trained native a istants, the translation of the Bible and other valuable books into Burmese, and a large Burman and English dictionary nearly completed are some of the direct fruits of his thirty-seven Burma. A popular writer, she wrote, under the pseudonym of “Fanny Forester,” articles of prose and poetry for various magazines. She wrote als a While in Rangun several Sunday school books. she wrote the memoir of Mrs. Sarah B. Judson, and in Maul main composed several of her best years of mi ionary service. home in 1851 with health much impaired, and JUDSON, Ann Ha el tine: Born at Bradford, Ma ., December 22, 1789; taught for several years after leaving Bradford Academy; married Dr. Judson and embarlced with him for Burma February 19, 1812, and in July, 1813, reached Rangun. Her health having failed in a year and a half, she sailed for Madras January, 1815, returning after an absence of three months with health much improved. Several you sands of Siamese being in Rangun, she studied that language, and with the a istance of her teacher translated into it the Burman Catechism, a tract, and the Gospel of Matthew. She also translated a celebrated Siamese work into English. She had frequent meetings with the women. In 1820 she became seriously ill, and was taken by Dr. Judson to Calcutta, partly for a voyage and She partly to procure medical a istance. returned with health improved, but soon was again prostrated, and August 21, 1821, embarked for America by the way of England, reaching home in September, 1822. While there a history of the Burman mi ion, begun by her in London, was published in England. With health partially restored she returned to Burma with Mr. and Mrs. Wade, reaching Rangun December 5, 1823, and with Dr. Judson removed to Ava. There she soon had a school of native girls. But on the breaking out of war with England she was While he was called to share in his sufferings. fettered in the death prison, she was guarded in her own house by ten ruffianly men, deprived of her furniture and most of her personal effects. Being released the third day, she sought in various ways the comfort and release of her husband. “She followed him from prison to prison, ministering to his wants, trying to soften the hearts of his keepers, to mitigate his sufferings, interceding with government officials or with members of the royal family. For a year and a half she thus exerted herself, walking miles in feeble health, in the darkne of the night or under a noonday sun, much of the time with a babe in her arms.” After a treaty of peace was concluded, Dr. and Mrs. Judson were again at Rangun March 21, 1826, having been absent two The English having years and three months. made the new town of Amherst their capital. Dr. and Mrs. Judson established the mi ion During his absence at Ava as interpreter there. for the English and Burmans, Mrs. Judson built a small bamboo dwelling-house and two schoolhouses, in one of which she gathered ten children; in the other she herself a embled the few native converts for worship on the Sabbath. In the midst of these toils she was attacked with fever, and, after sixteen days’ illne , died, October 24, She was a 1826, in the 37th year of her age. woman of mental endowments, earnest piety, self-sacrificing devotion, great perseverance, unaffected dignity and refinement. 378