Sarah Hall Boardman born in Alstead, New Hampshire

Alstead, New Hampshire

Alstead is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,937 at the 2010 census. Alstead is home to Feuer State Forest.-History:...

, spent 20 years of her life in Burma (now known as Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

) doing missionary work. She and her husband George Boardman

George Boardman

George Dana Boardman was born in Livermore, Maine, the son of the Rev. Sylvanus Boardman. He attended Colby College, and was the school's first graduate in 1822. He served as tutor for a year at Colby, then continued his education at Andover Theological Seminary. On February 16, 1825, he was...

 sailed to Burma in 1824, just one week after their wedding. She was widowed in 1831. Although a widowed missionary wife in this era would normally return to her homeland, from 1831 to 1834 she preached to the Karen

Karen people

The Karen or Kayin people , are a Sino-Tibetan language speaking ethnic group which resides primarily in southern and southeastern Burma . The Karen make up approximately 7 percent of the total Burmese population of approximately 50 million people...

 in the jungles and supervised mission schools. In 1834 she married Adoniram Judson

Adoniram Judson

Adoniram Judson, Jr. was an American Baptist missionary, who served in Burma for almost forty years. At the age of 25, Adoniram Judson became the first Protestant missionary sent from North America to preach in Burma...

. Her Burmese

Burmese language

The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as...

 translation of The Pilgrim's Progress

The Pilgrim's Progress

The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come is a Christian allegory written by John Bunyan and published in February, 1678. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been...

by John Bunyan

John Bunyan

John Bunyan was an English Christian writer and preacher, famous for writing The Pilgrim's Progress. Though he was a Reformed Baptist, in the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August, and on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church on 29 August.-Life:In 1628,...

 is still in use today. She also translated the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

 into Peguan. in 1844 she gave birth to Edward Judson

Edward Judson

Edward Judson was an American Baptist clergyman, born at Maulmain, British Burma, a son of the missionary Adoniram Judson and his second wife, Sarah Hall Boardman...

, who later pastored a church in New York City named after his father. Her illness forced the family to return to the United States in 1844, but she died en route at Saint Helena

Saint Helena

Saint Helena , named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha...

. While in the states, Judson asked Emily Chubbuck

Emily Chubbuck

Emily Chubbuck was an American poet who wrote under the pseudonym Fanny Forrester.-Biography:Emily Chubbuck was born to poor parents in Eaton, New York on August 23, 1817. In 1834 she became a teacher and joined a Baptist church. In 1840 she entered the Utica female seminary and wrote her first...

 to write Boardman's biography, and he subsequently married Chubbuck.

Sarah and George Boardman had a son also named George Dana Boardman

George Boardman the Younger

George Dana Boardman the Younger was born in Burma, the son of the Baptist missionaries George Dana Boardman and Sarah Hall Boardman. He returned to the United States as a boy and attended first Worcester Academy from which he graduated in 1846, then Brown University, where he graduated in 1852...

, often referred to as "the Younger".