Abbie Goodrich Chapin
{{short description|American missionary}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Abbie Goodrich Chapin
| image = AbbieGChapin1901.jpg
| alt = The face of a young white woman, wearing a high ruffled collar.
| caption = Abbie G. Chapin, from a 1901 publication.
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| birth_date = April 2, 1868
| birth_place = Tongzhou, China
| death_date = July 24, 1956
| death_place = Glendale, California
| occupation = Missionary
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
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}}
Abbie Goodrich Chapin RRC (April 2, 1868 – July 24, 1956) was an American missionary in China. In 1901 she became the first American decorated with the Royal Red Cross, for services rendered at Peking's International Hospital during the Boxer Rebellion.
Early life and education
Abbie Goodrich Chapin was born in Tongzhou, China,[https://books.google.com/books?id=30c1AQAAMAAJ&dq=Abbie+G.+chapin&pg=PA123 "Work for Christian Endeavor Societies"] Life and Light for Woman 24(March 1894): 123 the daughter of Lyman Dwight Chapin and Clara Labaree Evans Chapin. Her parents were American missionaries in China; her father was an ordained minister, and her mother was a teacher.{{Cite news|date=1904-11-28|title=Memorial Services Held for Three Evans Sisters|pages=3|work=The Brooklyn Citizen|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63308304/memorial-services-held-for-three-evans/|access-date=2020-11-15|via=Newspapers.com}} Her brothers Dwight and Edward were also a missionaries in China; both were ordained Presbyterian ministers.
Chapin graduated from the University of Southern California in 1892 (her older sister Louise (Lula) graduated from USC the previous year).{{Cite book|last=University of Southern California|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iEBHAQAAMAAJ&q=Abbie+Goodrich+Chapin&pg=RA1-PA12|title=Year-book|date=1892|publisher=Daily Herald Book and Job Printing House|pages=12|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2006-10-31|title=The Dragons of Troy|url=https://news.usc.edu/20077/The-Dragons-of-Troy/|access-date=2020-11-15|website=USC News|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|date=1892-06-23|title=The University of Southern California|pages=8|work=Los Angeles Evening Express|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63301805/the-university-of-southern-california/|access-date=2020-11-15|via=Newspapers.com}}
Career
Under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Chapin taught at the Mary Morrill School for Women in Paotingfu,{{Cite news|date=1932-08-05|title=Missionaries to Sail for Posts in China|pages=4|work=St. Louis Globe-Democrat|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63306028/missionaries-to-sail-for-posts-in-china/|access-date=2020-11-15|via=Newspapers.com}} and at Tongzhou.[https://books.google.com/books?id=30c1AQAAMAAJ&dq=Abbie+G.+Chapin+China&pg=PP10 "Letter from Miss Abbie G. Chapin to Christian Endeavor Societies"] Life and Light for Woman 24(September 1894): 422-424.{{Cite journal|date=November 1917|title=A Survey of Our Work Abroad: China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e6I_AQAAMAAJ&q=Abbie+G.+Chapin&pg=RA1-PA23|journal=Life and Light for Woman|volume=47|pages=23}} Her work was funded in part by Christian Endeavor societies. In 1900, she was in Beijing,{{Cite news|date=1900-10-04|title=In the Public Eye|pages=6|work=The Atkinson Plain Dealer, Atkinson Graphic and Holt County Republican-Consolidated|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63301900/in-the-public-eye/|access-date=2020-11-15|via=Newspapers.com}} and listed among "Foreigners Who Have Probably Been Slain" in a San Francisco newspaper, after she was captured in the Boxer Rebellion.{{Cite news|date=July 7, 1900|title=Foreigners Who Have Probably Been Slain|page=1|work=San Francisco Call|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19000707.2.2.4&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1|access-date=November 14, 2020|via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}} She and the other missionaries in her group were confirmed alive about six weeks later.{{Cite news|date=1900-08-25|title=Out of the Fowlers' Snare|pages=4|work=The Grenada Sentinel|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63302744/out-of-the-fowlers-snare/|access-date=2020-11-15|via=Newspapers.com}} In 1901, she was one of four women decorated by King Edward VII with the Royal Red Cross, for services rendered at Beijing's international hospital,[https://books.google.com/books?id=JkEUAAAAYAAJ&dq=Abbie+G.+chapin&pg=PA313 "A Royal Red Cross Decoration"] The Missionary Herald 97(August 1901): 313.{{Cite journal|date=May 1901|title=News and Notes of the Month|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mdw-AAAAYAAJ&q=Abbie+Goodrich+Chapin&pg=PA318|journal=The Spirit of Missions|volume=66|pages=318}}{{Cite news|date=1901-07-30|title=King Edward Decorates a Chinese Missionary|pages=3|work=San Francisco Chronicle|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63302021/king-edward-decorates-a-chinese/|access-date=2020-11-15|via=Newspapers.com}} the first American so honored.{{Cite news|date=August 2, 1956|title=Missionary, 88, Taken by Death|page=1|work=San Marino Tribune|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/obituary-clipping-aug-02-1956-2069574/|access-date=November 15, 2020|via=NewspaperArchive.com}}
She visited her siblings in the United States and spoke to American church groups in 1905,{{Cite news|date=1905-08-05|title=Miss Chapin Returns to Missionary Work|pages=5|work=Los Angeles Evening Post-Record|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63306452/miss-chapin-returns-to-missionary-work/|access-date=2020-11-15|via=Newspapers.com}} 1913,{{Cite news|date=1913-12-05|title=Unitarian Church|pages=6|work=Springfield Reporter|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63306553/unitarian-church/|access-date=2020-11-15|via=Newspapers.com}} 1921,{{Cite news|date=1921-04-05|title=Missionary Program|pages=5|work=Long Beach Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63306275/missionary-program/|access-date=2020-11-15|via=Newspapers.com}} and in 1931{{Cite news|date=October 29, 1931|title=Many Speakers at Shafter Meeting|page=12|work=Bakersfield Californian|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-oct-29-1931-2069586/|access-date=November 15, 2020|via=NewspaperArchive.com}} and 1932. In 1937, she was again in peril, as one of several Americans sheltering from Japanese bombings and caring for wounded soldiers at the Presbyterian Hospital in Paotingfu.{{Cite news|last=Hanson|first=Haldore|date=1937-10-10|title=Paotingfu Reign of Terror Told|pages=14|work=St. Louis Globe-Democrat|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63304700/paotingfu-reign-of-terror-toldhaldore/|access-date=2020-11-15|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|date=September 23, 1937|title=Alarm Felt for 5 U. S. Nationals Believed to be Still in Paotingfu|page=8|work=Bradford Era|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-23-1937-2069579/|access-date=November 15, 2020|via=NewspaperArchive.com}}
Personal life
Chapin worked and lived for most of her life with Mary E. Andrews (also seen as Mary E. Andrus), a fellow American teaching missionary. Andrews died at Paotingfu in 1936.{{Cite news|date=1936-04-25|title=Oldest Missionary Has Passed Away|pages=17|work=The Morning Call|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63302255/oldest-missionary-has-passed-away/|access-date=2020-11-15|via=Newspapers.com}} Chapin died in Glendale, California in 1956, aged 88 years.
References
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External links
- [https://compass.fivecolleges.edu/object/mtholyoke:18656 "Alice S. Browne Frame, Mary E. Andrus and Abbey G. Chapin, near their girls' school in Tung-chou, China"], photograph in the Viette Brown Sprague Papers, Mount Holyoke College.
- {{Find a Grave|id=85364505|name=}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapin, Abbie Goodrich}}
Category:American Protestant missionaries
Category:American missionaries in China
Category:University of Southern California alumni
Category:Members of the Royal Red Cross
Category:Protestant missionaries in China