Moses Clark White ' onMouseout='HidePop("88620")' href="/topics/Pinyin">Pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

: Huáidé; Foochow Romanized: Huài-dáik; July 24, 1819 - October 24, 1900) was both an American Methodist

American Methodist Episcopal Mission

American Methodist Episcopal Mission was an American Methodist missionary society that was involved in sending workers to countries such as China during the late Qing Dynasty.-American Methodist Episcopal Mission in China:...

 pioneer missionary in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and a physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

.

Life

Moses Clark White was born in Paris, Oneida County, New York on July 24, 1819. White matriculated at Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

 in 1842 and graduated in 1845. After graduation from Wesleyan, he spent two years in Yale

YALE

RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...

 studying medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

 and theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

, and sometimes preached in the nearby town of Milford, Connecticut

Milford, Connecticut

Milford is a coastal city in southwestern New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located between Bridgeport and New Haven. The population was 52,759 at the 2010 census...

. On March 13, 1847, White married Jane Isabel Atwater of Homer, who came from Cortland County, New York

Cortland County, New York

Cortland County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, named after Federico Van Cortlandt, president of the convention at Kingston that wrote the first New York State Constitution in 1777, and first lieutenant governor of the state. The county seat is Cortland...

 and was then a teacher in the Sabbath School

Sabbath School

Sabbath School is a function of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Seventh Day Baptist and some other sabbatarian denominations.-Program Context:...

 in Rochester, N.Y.
On September 1847 Moses White and Jane, along with Judson Dwight Collins

Judson Dwight Collins

Rev. Judson Dwight Collins was the first Methodist missionary to China.- Life :On February 12, 1823, Judson Dwight Collins was born into a Methodist family in Rose, Wayne County, New York. His parents, Alpheus and Betsay Collins, were of English and German origin...

, arrived in Foochow, beginning their missionary work there. Jane, however, fell sick shortly afterwards and finally died of consumption

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 on May 25, 1848, at the age of 26. In 1851, White was married a second time to Mary Seely, who came from Onondaga, New York

Onondaga, New York

Onondaga is a town located in Onondaga County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the town had a population of 21,063. The town is named after the native Onondaga tribe, part of the Iroquois Confederacy....

 and also went to Foochow as a missionary.

During his seven years in Foochow, Moses White conducted a school for the secular and religious instruction of the Foochow people, and after mastering the local Fuzhou dialect

Fuzhou dialect

Fuzhou dialect , also known as Foochow dialect, Foochow, Foochowese, Fuzhounese, or Fuzhouhua, is considered the standard dialect of Min Dong, which is a branch of Min Chinese mainly spoken in the eastern part of Fujian Province. Native speakers also call it ' , meaning the language spoken in...

, he translated the Gospel of Matthew

Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

, which was the first Christian document ever published in that vernacular. At the same time, White also served as a doctor, studying and treating the toxic effects of opium

Opium

Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...

.

Due to his poor health, Moses White was forced to leave Foochow in 1853 for New Haven (his wife Mary also left one year earlier) where he resumed medical studies

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

 at Yale

YALE

RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...

 and began a medical practice which he continued until the end end of his life. He received an M.D.

Doctor of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...

 degree from Yale in 1854. In July 1856, he published in Methodist Quarterly Review his summarizing treatise on Fuzhou dialect

Fuzhou dialect

Fuzhou dialect , also known as Foochow dialect, Foochow, Foochowese, Fuzhounese, or Fuzhouhua, is considered the standard dialect of Min Dong, which is a branch of Min Chinese mainly spoken in the eastern part of Fujian Province. Native speakers also call it ' , meaning the language spoken in...

 The Chinese Language Spoken at Fuh Chau.

White died on October 24, 1900.