Robert Samuel Maclay
Encyclopedia
Rev. Robert Samuel Maclay, D.D. ' onMouseout='HidePop("82752")' href="/topics/Pinyin">Pinyin
: Mài Lìhé; Foochow Romanized: Măh Lé-huò; February 7, 1824 - August 18, 1907) was an American missionary
who made pioneer contributions to the Methodist Episcopal missions
in China
, Japan
and Korea
.
, one of nine children. His parents, Robert Maclay and Arabella Erwin Maclay, ran a tanning
business in the local community. His father, a respected member of the Democratic Party
, was raised up in the Presbyterian faith but became actively involved in the Methodist Episcopal Church
, dedicating himself to spreading the Gospel, his mother an immigrant from the north of Ireland who shared her husband's religious devotion.
Maclay entered Dickinson College
in the fall of 1841 and was elected into the Belles Lettres Society. As a college student he was highly influenced by his professor Rev. John McClintock. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
degree on July 10, 1845, and at his graduation he presented a commencement speech entitled The Rule and End of Life. Later Maclay received his Master's degree
was subsequently honored with a Doctor of Divinity
. One year after his graduation, Maclay was ordained in the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Maclay's ministry within the United States
was brief. Throughout the 1840s, many American churches experienced a growing concern for the expansion of mission work overseas, and at that time the Methodist Episcopal Church suffered a split into two conferences due to the controversial issue over slavery. Maclay avoided the internal struggle of the Church and responded to the overseas mission call. On September 10, 1847, he was appointed as a missionary to Foochow, China.
and Judson Dwight Collins
. On July 10, 1850, Maclay and Henrietta Caroline Sperry were married in Hong Kong
by Bishop George Smith
. The newly wedded couple returned on August 14 to the mission field in Foochow, and the next year they had their first child Eleanor Henrietta Maclay. The Maclays had five sons and three daughters in total, four of whom died at a young age.
In their first years in China the Mission was slow in progress, faced with strong enmity and plagued with health problems. For ten years after the arrival of the first Methodists to Foochow, not a single convert was won. And of the twelve missionaries that had been sent before 1851 only the Maclays remained in the field by 1854; others had either died or returned to America. While the first years were primarily preparatory, significant achievements were made, however, in the educational work. By May 1849, three days schools for boys were founded, each with an attendance of twenty pupils. In December 1850, Mrs. Maclay opened the first mission school for girls, which employed a native teacher to teacher lessons in reading, writing, singing, geography, and arithmetic, by incorporating Bible stories, Christian doctrines and hymns. These schools were successful not only in providing education, but also in improving the relationship between the Chinese and the Methodist missionaries. Shortly after the establishment of schools, Maclay and other missionaries purchased premises in and outside Foochow for use as chapels. Eventually, these missionaries acquired a level of fluency which permitted them to preach in the local vernacular. On August 3, 1856, the first Methodist church in East Asia, the Church of the True God , was erected at Iongtau ; and on October 18 the same year, the second church was built on the south bank of River Min, the Church of Heavenly Peace . On July 14, 1857, Maclay baptized the first Chinese convert connected with the Methodist Episcopal Mission, a 47-year-old man named Ting Ang .
While in China Maclay published two books: Life Among the Chinese with Characteristic Sketches and Incidents of Missionary Operations and Prospects in China (1861) and an Alphabetic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Foochow Dialect that he completed with Rev. C. C. Baldwin (1870).
(Original from the New York Public Library)(Original from the University of California)(Original from Harvard University)
and was appointed superintendent of the newly-founded mission in Japan
. Maclay arrived in Yokohama
on June 12, 1873 and immediately set about learning the Japanese language
and seeking converts. He became an integral part of the Wesleyan
mission in Japan, helping to found and serve as first president of the Anglo-Japanese College (now the Aoyama Gakuin
) in Yokohama. While serving in Japan, Maclay was asked to travel to Korea
to survey the possibility of a Methodist mission there. In June, 1884, Maclay made a brief visit to Seoul
, where he acquired the permission of the king to begin medical and educational mission work. He declined leadership of the mission, though, and returned to Yokohama.
in California
. He became the dean of the Maclay School of Theology (named for his brother Senator Charles Maclay
), and spent the rest of his life as an educator. Maclay died on August 18, 1907 in Los Angeles
, California
.
; on June 6, 1882 he was married secondly to Sarah Ann Barr in San Francisco. There were no children out of his second marriage. His youngest son Edgar Stanton Maclay
(1863–1919) was a historian. His brother Charles Maclay
was a state senator of California. His nephews included Judge Robert Maclay Widney
, a founder of the University of Southern California
, and Dr. Joseph Widney, the second president of the University of Southern California
.
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...
: Mài Lìhé; Foochow Romanized: Măh Lé-huò; February 7, 1824 - August 18, 1907) was an American missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
who made pioneer contributions to the Methodist Episcopal missions
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:...
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...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
.
Early life
Robert Samuel Maclay was born on February 7, 1824 in Concord Township, PennsylvaniaConcord Township, Pennsylvania
Concord Township is the name of some places in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania:*Concord Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania*Concord Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania*Concord Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania...
, one of nine children. His parents, Robert Maclay and Arabella Erwin Maclay, ran a tanning
Tanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
business in the local community. His father, a respected member of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, was raised up in the Presbyterian faith but became actively involved in the Methodist Episcopal Church
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...
, dedicating himself to spreading the Gospel, his mother an immigrant from the north of Ireland who shared her husband's religious devotion.
Maclay entered Dickinson College
Dickinson College
Dickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...
in the fall of 1841 and was elected into the Belles Lettres Society. As a college student he was highly influenced by his professor Rev. John McClintock. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree on July 10, 1845, and at his graduation he presented a commencement speech entitled The Rule and End of Life. Later Maclay received his Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
was subsequently honored with a Doctor of Divinity
Doctor of Divinity
Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....
. One year after his graduation, Maclay was ordained in the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Maclay's ministry within the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was brief. Throughout the 1840s, many American churches experienced a growing concern for the expansion of mission work overseas, and at that time the Methodist Episcopal Church suffered a split into two conferences due to the controversial issue over slavery. Maclay avoided the internal struggle of the Church and responded to the overseas mission call. On September 10, 1847, he was appointed as a missionary to Foochow, China.
Life among the Chinese
On October 12, 1847, Maclay, together with another Methodist missionary Rev. Henry Hickok, boarded the "Paul Jones" and set sail for China. They arrived in Foochow on April 12 the next year, reinforcing the mission work that had been commenced by Revs. Moses Clark WhiteMoses Clark White
Moses Clark White was both an American Methodist pioneer missionary in China and a physician.- Life :Moses Clark White was born in Paris, Oneida County, New York on July 24, 1819. White matriculated at Wesleyan University in 1842 and graduated in 1845...
and 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...
. On July 10, 1850, Maclay and Henrietta Caroline Sperry were married in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
by Bishop George Smith
George Smith (bishop)
George Smith was a missionary in China and the Anglican bishop of Victoria from 1849 to 1865, the first of this newly established diocese.Smith was born in Wellington, Somerset on 19 June 1815...
. The newly wedded couple returned on August 14 to the mission field in Foochow, and the next year they had their first child Eleanor Henrietta Maclay. The Maclays had five sons and three daughters in total, four of whom died at a young age.
In their first years in China the Mission was slow in progress, faced with strong enmity and plagued with health problems. For ten years after the arrival of the first Methodists to Foochow, not a single convert was won. And of the twelve missionaries that had been sent before 1851 only the Maclays remained in the field by 1854; others had either died or returned to America. While the first years were primarily preparatory, significant achievements were made, however, in the educational work. By May 1849, three days schools for boys were founded, each with an attendance of twenty pupils. In December 1850, Mrs. Maclay opened the first mission school for girls, which employed a native teacher to teacher lessons in reading, writing, singing, geography, and arithmetic, by incorporating Bible stories, Christian doctrines and hymns. These schools were successful not only in providing education, but also in improving the relationship between the Chinese and the Methodist missionaries. Shortly after the establishment of schools, Maclay and other missionaries purchased premises in and outside Foochow for use as chapels. Eventually, these missionaries acquired a level of fluency which permitted them to preach in the local vernacular. On August 3, 1856, the first Methodist church in East Asia, the Church of the True God , was erected at Iongtau ; and on October 18 the same year, the second church was built on the south bank of River Min, the Church of Heavenly Peace . On July 14, 1857, Maclay baptized the first Chinese convert connected with the Methodist Episcopal Mission, a 47-year-old man named Ting Ang .
While in China Maclay published two books: Life Among the Chinese with Characteristic Sketches and Incidents of Missionary Operations and Prospects in China (1861) and an Alphabetic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Foochow Dialect that he completed with Rev. C. C. Baldwin (1870).
(Original from the New York Public Library)(Original from the University of California)(Original from Harvard University)
Missionary work in Japan and Korea
In 1871, Maclay returned to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and was appointed superintendent of the newly-founded mission in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Maclay arrived in Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
on June 12, 1873 and immediately set about learning the Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
and seeking converts. He became an integral part of the Wesleyan
Wesleyan Methodist Church
The Wesleyan Methodist Church was a Methodist denomination in the United States organized on May 13, 1841. It was composed of ministers and laypeople who withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal Church because of disagreements regarding slavery, church government, and the doctrine of holiness...
mission in Japan, helping to found and serve as first president of the Anglo-Japanese College (now the Aoyama Gakuin
Aoyama Gakuin
is an educational institute in Tokyo, Japan, which comprises Aoyama Gakuin University, Aoyama Gakuin Women's Junior College, Aoyama Gakuin Senior High School, Aoyama Gakuin Junior High School, Aoyama Gakuin Elementary School, and Aoyama Gakuin Kindergarten....
) in Yokohama. While serving in Japan, Maclay was asked to travel to Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
to survey the possibility of a Methodist mission there. In June, 1884, Maclay made a brief visit to Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, where he acquired the permission of the king to begin medical and educational mission work. He declined leadership of the mission, though, and returned to Yokohama.
Retirement
Maclay retired from the mission field in 1887 and returned to San FernandoSan Fernando, California
San Fernando is a city located in the San Fernando Valley, in northwestern region of Los Angeles, California, United States. The population was 23,645 at the 2010 census, up from 23,564 at the 2000 census.-History:...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He became the dean of the Maclay School of Theology (named for his brother Senator Charles Maclay
Charles Maclay
Charles Maclay was a California State Senator and the funder of the city of San Fernando, California in the San Fernando Valley.-History:Charles Maclay's heritage was from Ireland and Scotland...
), and spent the rest of his life as an educator. Maclay died on August 18, 1907 in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Family life
Maclay had been married twice. On July 10, 1850 he was married to Henrietta Caroline Sperry in Hong KongHong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
; on June 6, 1882 he was married secondly to Sarah Ann Barr in San Francisco. There were no children out of his second marriage. His youngest son Edgar Stanton Maclay
Edgar Stanton Maclay
Edgar Stanton Maclay was a United States journalist and historian.-Biography:...
(1863–1919) was a historian. His brother Charles Maclay
Charles Maclay
Charles Maclay was a California State Senator and the funder of the city of San Fernando, California in the San Fernando Valley.-History:Charles Maclay's heritage was from Ireland and Scotland...
was a state senator of California. His nephews included Judge Robert Maclay Widney
Robert Maclay Widney
Robert Maclay Widney was an American lawyer, judge, and a founding father of The University of Southern California.He was born in Piqua, Ohio. He was the older brother of Dr...
, a founder of the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, and Dr. Joseph Widney, the second president of the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
.