Andrew P. Happer

Andrew Patton Happer (born October 20, 1818 in Monongahela , Pennsylvania , † October 27, 1894 in Wooster , Ohio ) was an American Presbyterian missionary in China .

Life

Happer received his education from Jefferson College , Canonsburg . From 1835 he worked as a teacher for five years. He then studied theology again at the Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh (1840-1843) and medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (1843-1844). In 1844 he left for China and settled near Canton .

He worked as an evangelist, medic and teacher. The evangelistic work was slow, while the other two areas flourished. Within ten years he set up two medical wards, in which 10,000 patients were treated annually. In 1854 he handed the medical work to John G. Ken and concentrated on educational work. In the 1850s he founded several schools and a training center for pastors and teachers. He was also a member of the China-wide committee for revision of the Chinese Bible, was chairman of the editorial committee of the Presbyterian Press in Shanghai , and was editor of the Chinese Recorder (1880-1884). In 1862 he set up the first Presbyterian Church in Canton and served there as a pastor. Happer's educational work peaked in 1886 when he founded Canton Christian College , which became Lingnan College . In 1891 he returned to America.

family

Happer was married three times. In 1847 he married Elizabeth Ball († 1864), with whom he had five children. When his wife died, he married AL Elliott († 1873) in 1869 and Hannah J. Shaw in 1875. His son Andrew Patton Happer, Jr. studied at Princeton University , later worked in customs in China, and died in 1897 of hydrophobia in China.

literature

• Robert Benedetto: Art. Andrew P. Happer. In: Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity © 2005–2016. ( Online edition ).
• Ders .: Art. Andrew P. Happer. In: Gerald H. Anderson (Ed.): Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing 1999. ISBN 0802846807 , 9780802846808.
• Loren W. Crabtree: Andrew P. Happer and Presbyterian Missions in China, 1844-1891. In: Journal of Presbyterian History 62 (1962–1985), No. 1, Presbyterian Historical Society, SPRING 1984: 19-34. JSTOR 23328500 .
• G. Thompson Brown: Earthen Vessels and Transcendent Power: American Presbyterians in China, 1837-1952. American Society of Missiology Series, Orbis Books 1997. ISBN 978-1570751509 .

Remarks

1. ^ New England Ball Project .