“The Board was instituted in June, 1810; and was incorporated, by the Legislature of Massachusetts, June 20, 1812. Its beginnings, as is well known, were small, and the anticipations of its supporters not remarkably sanguine:”
“but its resources and operations have regularly increased, till, in respect to the number of its patron – the amount of its funds – and the extent of its influence, it is entitled to a place among the principal benevolent institutions of the earth.”
“The American Board of Foreign Missions, however, can neither claim, nor does it desire exclusive patronage. There are other Foreign Missionary Societies, for whom there is room, for whom there is work enough, and for whose separate existence there are, doubtless, conclusive reasons.”
“Christian charity is not a blind impulse but, is characterized in Scripture, as ‘the wisdom from above’, such wis – as is in heaven, – which is ‘pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.’”
“The system of operation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions may be considered under two divisions, – its Home Department, and its Foreign Missions.”
“The Board has established missions, in the order of time in which they are now named at Bombay, and Ceylon; among the Cherokees, Choctaws, and the Cherokees of the Arkansaw; at the Sandwich Islands and in Western Asia.”
In 1812, the ABCFM sent its first missionaries – Adoniram and Ann Hasseltine Judson; Samuel and Roxana Peck Nott; Samuel and Harriet Atwood Newell; Gordon Hall, and Luther Rice – to British India.
When they reached Calcutta in June 1812, they and their fellow missionaries Adoniram and Ann Judson, Gordon Hall, and Samuel and Rosanna Nott, were ordered to leave by the British East India Company.
Samuel Newell sailed to Ceylon, where he spent a year preaching and investigating mission opportunities. Learning that Hall and Nott had succeeded in establishing residence in Bombay, he joined them in 1814, inaugurating the first American mission station overseas. (Boston University)
“Mission at Bombay”
“This mission became fixed in 1814. It was commenced by Messers. Hall, Newell, and Nott. Messers. Bardwell, Graves, Nichols, and Garrett, joined it at different periods since that time. … The mission has three stations – Bombay, Mahim, and Tannah.”
“The missionaries are engaged in three principal objects – the translation of the Scriptures, the superintendance of schools; and the preaching of the Gospel.”
“Mission in Ceylon”
“The mission is established in the district of Jaffna, which is in the norther extremity of the island if Ceylon, October 1816. The original missionaries were Messers. Richards, Warren, Meigs, and Poor. … The mission has five stations – Tillipally, Battcotta, Oodooville, Panditeripo and Manepy.”
“The Mission Among the Cherokees”
“On the 13th of January, 1817, Mr Kingsbury arrived at Cbickamaugah, since called Brainerd, and commenced preparations for an establishment there. ‘’The weather was extremely cold for this climate,’ says Mr K, ‘and I felt the want of comfortable lodgings, having only a skin spread upon the floor, and a thin covering of blankets; but my health was kindly preserved.’”
Messers Hall and Williams soon after joined him. Several have been united to this mission, and, for various reasons, have left, whose names do not appear in this survey. his mission has three stations, Brainerd, Creek-Path, and Taloney.”
“Mission Among the Choctaws”
The mission among the Cherokees being in successful operation, Mr. Kingsbury and Mr. Williams left Brainerd, about the first of June, 1818, for the Choctaw nation.”
“They selected a scite for their station, and about the 15th of August, felled the first tree. ‘The place was entirely new, and covered with lofty trees; but the ancient mounds, which here and there appeared, shewed, that it had been once the habitation of men.’”
“The station was named Elliot, in honor of the ‘Apostle of the American Indians.’ – The mission has now four stations, – Elliot, Mayhew, the French Camps, and the Long Prairies.”
“Mission Among the Cherokees of the Arkansaw”
“Commenced in 1820. There is only the station of Dwight – On the west side of Illinois Creek; four miles north of the Arkansaw river, 200 miles above the Arkansaw Post; and 500 miles from the junction of the Arkansaw with the Mississippi.” (Missionary Herald, January 1823)
“Mission at the Sandwich Islands”
(“One of the principal events which seems to have led to the establishment of this mission was the religious education of Henry Obookiah (‘Ōpūkaha‘ia,) a native of Owyhee, by the Rev. S. J. Mills, a zealous friend of missions. (Barber))
“Established in April, 1820. It has two stations – Hanaroorah and Wymai. Hanaroorah – On the island of Woahoo – Rev. Hiram Bingham and Rev. Asa Thurston, Missionaries; Messer, Daniel Chamberlain and Elisha Loomis, Assistant Missionaries; and Thomas Hopoo and John Honooree, Native Assistants.”
“Wymai – On the island of Atooi. Messers. Samule Whitney and Samuel Ruggles, Assistant Missionaries; and George Sandwich, Native Assistant.”
“On the 19th of November, Rev William Richards, Rev Charles S Stewart and Rev Artemis Bishop, Missionaries, Dr Abraham Blatchley, Physician; Messers Joseph Goodrich, and James Ely, Licensed Preachers and Assistant Missionaries; Mr Levi Chamberlain, Superintendant of secular concerns and Assistant Missionary; and four natives of the Sandwich Islands – embarked at New Haven, Con. To join the mission at the islands.”
“Mission to Palestine”
“The first missionaries, Messers Fisk and Parson, arrived at Smyrna in January, 1820. Rev Pliny Fisk and Dev Daniel Temple, Missionaries. … Rev William Goodell and Rev Isaac Bird, Missionaries, embarked at New York, in the early part of last month, for the mission in Western Asia.” (Missionary Herald, January 1823) (The image shows the Caravan, leaving Salem MA for India, February 19, 1812.)
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