In Appreciation for a Unique Life of Service:

Love and Strength of Character Motivated Dr. John Scudder to Labor in India,

with selected quotations[1]

Bicentennial Tribute compiled by Margery Boyden, Historian for the Scudder Association Foundation[2]  

Rev. John Scudder and Harriet (Waterbury) Scudder

“I go from love to Christ and to souls. The very self-denial of the work allures me.

It is my happiness to go.”[3]

It is two hundred years from the time Rev. John Scudder[4] embarked on his trail-blazing journey to minister to body and spirit of then unknown souls more than 8000 miles away. Rev. Scudder’s kin now pause to honor his extraordinary gifts to his fellow men and women. His example has inspired more than 1000 years of collective missionary and medical service to Ceylon and India by members of the Scudder extended family. Rev. John Scudder’s legacy continues through financial contributions by many more Scudder family members and others in support of two hospitals in India, founded by his descendants: Scudder Memorial Hospital at Ranipet and Christian Medical College at Vellore. His story is here told from his context of life.

The Scudder family’s heritage of service, that has manifested itself in many, diverse ways, began centuries before Rev. John’s birth. When Rev. John first heard of great needs in India, he asked why someone didn’t “do something about this?” Immediately, “the reply flashed into his consciousness: ‘Why shouldn’t I?’”

What he heard was not so much the call of those 600,000,000 as it was the command of his forbears, a long line of men and women to whom service was the law of life. At the moment, however, it was to him the voice of God. He bowed his head and asked: ‘What wilt Thou have me do?’ Again came that flash: ‘Go heal the sick and preach the Gospel to those who have never heard of Christ.’[5]

What were Rev. John Scudder and Harriet like? What was the key to the strength of character that motivated and sustained such an undertaking? For those who are curious to know the story of how this remarkable couple began their multi-century and multi-generational venture, the explanation begins with a brief examination of what formed Rev. Scudder’s character and that of his wife. We are indebted to Rev. John’s brother-in-law, Jared Bell Waterbury, for recording his impressions of this remarkable man, as well as sharing statements by John’s mother, professional colleagues and a son. Waterbury, author of Scudder’s Memoir, credits Scudder with changing Waterbury for the better and for changing the course of his family’s life. To tell this story, Waterbury focuses on attributes of character possessed by Rev. Scudder from his beginnings:

…John was dedicated in his infancy to God, and, by his mother’s testimony, corroborated in after life by himself—was like Samuel, a child of God from his birth. The mother stated that she never knew when he was converted, ‘for he seemed always to be possessed with the Christian temper.’ Such cases are not common, but who will say they are not possible![6]

Born 3 September 1793, the son of Joseph and Maria (Johnston) Scudder, Rev. John Scudder was the grandson of two heroes of the American Revolution, both killed during the war in the line of duty. His paternal grandfather was Dr. Nathaniel Scudder who became a member of the Continental Congress in 1777, who served his country in government and the military. Seeing the necessity, despite its weaknesses, he signed the Articles of Confederation as a stopgap measure. He was later shot and killed on 17 October 1781 on the Jersey coast while defending it from Tory incursions. Nathaniel was the only member of the Continental Congress who was killed while engaged in combat.[7] Rev. John Scudder’s maternal grandfather was Col. Johnston “of the First New Jersey regiment…who fell at the battle of Long Island while bravely storming a strong position of the enemy.”[8] To illustrate the traits of loyalty and courage that were the heritage of Rev. John Scudder, his brother-in-law J. B. Waterbury relates how Johnston, though knowing full well the risk, in the path of duty “fell a sacrifice to his [commander’s] obstinacy:”

General Sullivan commanded that day, and directed Colonel Johnston to take the position. Colonel Johnston, having served in the French War under Sir William Johnston, and understanding his profession well, suggested to Gen. S. the impracticability of the enterprise. Sullivan, in anger, replied, ‘Sir, it is your place to obey, not to dictate or expostulate.’ ‘Sir,’ retorted Colonel Johnston,’ I will convince you that I can and will obey; but it will be at the sacrifice of my own life, and that of all the brave band I have the honor to command.’ The prophecy proved but too true; but one man escaped out of all the number.[9]

Endowed with such brave and noble heritage, it is no surprise that Rev. John Scudder was remarkable from childhood. Waterbury emphasizes that John’s mother declared, “that she scarcely knew when he was converted; he was always good.”[10] Waterbury continues:

One trait…characteristic of the man, was developed in the boy—a spirit of benevolence and self-sacrifice. ‘My brother John,’ writes his sister,’ manifested a very devotional spirit from boyhood upward; also a benevolent gift was in him. He would run about the streets and highways of Freehold and gather sticks to kindle the fires of the destitute. The little fellow was one day drawing a very heavy rail. A person called out, ‘John, what are you going to do with that?’ ‘I am taking it to Miss Becky, who has no fire.’ The person alluded to was poor and infirm.[11]

What produces such love for one’s fellow men and women to the degree John demonstrated and what sustains lifelong propensity for service? His writings, and those of others, evidence that it was an inherent love for God that appears to have been instinctive from his boyhood.

Rev. John’s work ethic and character were admirable and elevating to those who chose to prefer his example to that of following the crowd. Ever “watching for opportunities to do good” and to “win his fellow students over” to a sincere Christian way of life, of him his fellow student Nicholas Patterson wrote to Scudder’s father:

I find, from the date of my diploma, I entered college in the spring of 1813; some four months before your devoted son graduated. I shall ever regard that short acquaintance with such a youth as having an important influence over my whole course of life.

It commenced in this wise. While sitting in a neighboring room with some classmates, a tall, pale young man came in. Being introduced to Mr. Scudder, his reply, according to custom, was ‘I’ll be happy to see you at No. 47.’ While he remained, which was but for a moment, there was a general stillness, and when he had gone one of our company remarked, ‘That fellow is so religious one can hardly laugh in his presence.’ A secret influence touched the heart of one in that company, and, unconscious of its cause as he then was, the thought instantly arose, ‘I had far better keep company with such a person.’[12]

Soon after, Patterson informed Scudder that he wished “to form a religious acquaintanceship, though myself without religion.” Scudder replied, “That’s right; stand by that; you’ll never regret it.” Through Scudder, Patterson met Storrs, Belden and Price, the four of whom he described as “all who were then known as religious out of one hundred and twenty youths.” Patterson credited John Scudder with “having an important influence over my whole course of life.”[13]

Waterbury continues: Scudder’s “heart’s desire was toward the sacred ministry, but his father was opposed to this; and so from a sense of filial duty, he chose the profession of medicine, more akin to the ministry than the legal profession, and furnishing opportunities to do good to the soul while administering to the relief of the body.” He served as “resident physician at the Almshouse” and graduated from the New York Medical College. While determining where to begin his practice, a Dr. Aydelott “offered to introduce him to a family where he would find an agreeable circle and a comfortable home” with the family of Mrs. Ruth Waterbury, widow.[14] As with every important decision, Scudder sought counsel from God through prayer. Receiving his answer, he took room and board with the Waterburys. In his medical career, he quickly gained the confidence of his patients and “anchored himself in the esteem of one family after another,” and began to build a sizeable practice.[15] J. B. Waterbury introduces his beloved sister Harriet to his readers as he describes events that evolved while Scudder boarded with their family:

Dr. Scudder took a deep interest in the spiritual welfare of the family where he resided. It consisted of a widow, with four daughters and two sons. Two of the daughters were married, and two lived at home with their mother and brothers. With favorable religious antecedents, they still gave no evidence of the experience of personal piety. This was a grief to one to whom religion was every thing, and whose meat and drink it was to do the will of God. So he sets himself, with much prayer and careful improvement of opportunities, to awaken their minds to the importance of that which to him was ‘the one thing needful.’ His success outran his faith. The eldest daughter at home, in whom, for various reasons, he felt a peculiar interest, was the first to show signs of contrition. She was lovely in person, gentle in spirit, and attractive in her manners…we can hardly doubt that a deep personal attachment gave additional impulse to the prayers and efforts which, under God, led to her conversion. That being accomplished, the crowning grace was added to the charms of nature.[16]

Waterbury’s firsthand account cites that after digesting Scudder’s suggested reading of “Boston’s Fourfold State,” the “arrow reached [Harriet’s] heart,” and “she went to Him, who was Himself pierced, in order to have it drawn.” And after testing “the reality of the change…she gave her public testimony to her faith, and began her career for glory and immortality.” After becoming Scudder’s wife, Waterbury credits Harriet’s role in Rev. Scudder’s life of service, for she “shared in his labors and trials, and was to him as a guiding-star in the long pilgrimage of his eventful life. But for her he had often fainted; and it was by her superior judgment that, when he was in perplexity, the way and path of duty rose clear and well defined before him.” The rest of the Waterbury family followed, in part due to Scudder’s efforts and in part owing to the death of Waterbury’s brother by drowning in mid ocean. Says Waterbury, “His death was as God’s voice thundering in their consciences.” In addition, a spirit of revival was in the church they were attending. With the assistance of the prayers and labors of Dr. S, “these events were accessory, and influential, under God, in bringing this whole family to the foot of the cross.” This devoted brother-in-law Waterbury and compiler of the Memoir, who was referring to himself when he was 16, credits Scudder as his “spiritual Mentor in the earlier part of my religious experience.[17]

Taking me by the hand, he warned me of danger, pointed out the path of duty, and acted as my spiritual Mentor in the earlier part of my religious experience. He was an elder brother to me. We prayed and sang together. We visited together. We stood up in the meetings side by side, and testified of the grace of God. In his visitations to the sick often was I with him. We knelt together at the bedside of the invalid. It was a practical school wherein I learned to feel for the suffering, and to pray for the sick and dying.

…His exhortations to the impenitent were as powerful as his encouragement to the young converts was sweet and cheering….His heart overflowed with Christian love, and his charity was as large in regard to the faults of others as his condemnation was severe toward his own errors.

…He never thought of being happy without the felt presence of God. If that were for a season withdrawn, he was like a child that had lost the father’s hand in a crowded street….The ups and downs in his Christian pilgrimage were frequent, but the main tenor of his experience was that of spiritual joy and sunshine.[18]

So how did the successful physician whose practice was prospering, and who was an influential spiritual friend to so many, decide to leave it all and take his wife and two-year-old daughter into the rigors of life a world away among the disadvantaged and impoverished?

Visiting professionally a Christian lady, he found in her room a tract or little book entitled “The Conversion of the World, or the Claims of Six Hundred Millions.” He borrowed it, read it and re-read it, until it entered the very depths of his soul. It was like a lightning flash from heaven. He heard the call, ‘Come over and help us!’ Falling on his knees, he cried, ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’ Silently, but emphatically, something said to him ‘Go and preach the Gospel to the heathen.” What was he that he could withstand this mandate, which day and night rung in his ear, and rolled through the depths of his soul? Oh, the prayer and tears which went from him unto God, asking again and again for the path of duty!

Here was a profession growing rapidly upon him. Hundreds had become attached to him as a Christian physician. Here was a tender and beloved wife, who married him with no idea of leaving home and friends to live and die an exile on heathen soil. Here, also, was a first-born child of only two years. Could he plant and rear that little flower where no sunlight of heaven was shining? Wide, also, was the circle of Christian influence which surrounded him in two churches. Such were the pleadings against going … to labor and die as a missionary of the Cross.

But against all this—and more…rose the Cross, and a dying Saviour, saying, If I, your Lord and Master, have done and suffered all this to save these poor benighted ones, will you hesitate to carry them the glad tidings by which alone they can be saved? This was heaven’s logic to a man of deep religious emotions, of conscientious regard for duty, and of intense love to Jesus and to souls. It prevailed. On his knees he said, ‘Lord Jesus, I go, as thou hast commanded, to preach the Gospel to every creature.[19]

But John Scudder also knew his duty to his beloved Harriet. “If she say nay, I shall regard it as settling the question of duty.” As her brother states, “It is hard to throw such a mountain weight of responsibility on a young and tender wife…hard as the struggle is, she makes up her mind on the same principle that he made up his. Much prayer is offered, and many natural tears shed; and then, from love to Christ and a sense of duty, she decides for the life of a missionary. That purpose never gave way. It never even faltered. She calmly went about the needful preparations for this new and important change of life.” Words can scarcely pay tribute to the strength and resolve of this extraordinary woman. Immediately the door opened and the American Board of Missions at Boston advertised its need for a pious physician for India.[20] Harriet’s courage was tested by the deaths in infancy of her first four children. Of their large family, six became doctors and five of their sons served in India; another died at the Theological Seminary while in preparation for service to India. Harriet’s brother and some brothers-in-law joined in the effort.

When one seriously contemplates her choices to give her life to service in India while bearing 12 of her 14 children, by all standards Harriet was a remarkable woman. She was not motivated by wealth, comfort, vanity or ease. Having lost her first stillborn child, she had a daughter, Maria Catherine born before they left for India. This child died of dysentery at age two, while at a brief stopover at Calcutta.[21] Two months later, in Ceylon, Harriet bore her third child, a second Maria Catherine who died within a week. Of this loss, Rev. John wrote, “This is a severe trial but we do not repine….We must say our trials have been heartrending.” After his son William Brainard Scudder died soon after his birth, Rev. John submitted his will to loss again.

But what of Harriet? As one after another of her babies died in this strange land, did she share her husband’s submission to the Inexplicable Demand? Could the alleviation of the misery of the poverty-stricken masses reconcile her to the empty cradle? There is no record of complaint or bitterness on her part, nor of any lessening of her helpfulness to those whose need seemed greater than her own.[22]

Harriet did not waver after three children had died shortly after birth at Ceylon. While at Panatherippu, “they looked after up to 40 children in their home, most of whom were orphans.” Education was a priority and was offered to native females as well as males.[23] Ten more children were born by 1837, the year after the Mission transferred the family to Madras, India. Years later, son Samuel Downer Scudder died of an accident in New Jersey while enrolled at New Brunswick Theological Seminary. As adults, all of the others gave medical and/or missionary service in India. That was only the beginning as additional generations followed.

Harriet (Waterbury) Scudder
(Courtesy of Cy Sherman, former secretary of the Scudder Association.)

Harriet’s son Silas Downer Scudder started the Scudder Memorial Hospital at Ranipet, India on 17 March 1866 that today serves about 65 villages around Ranipet. Harriet’s granddaughter Ida Sophia Scudder, daughter of Harriet’s son Dr. John Scudder and Laura Potter Sophia Weld, began the Mary Taber Schell Hospital at Vellore in 1902. Harriet’s granddaughter, Ida Sophia Scudder, had earlier expressed that she did not plan to go to medical school or to serve as a missionary there as an adult. She wanted to marry and live in the United States and raise a family. While on a visit to her parents in India to assist her mother who was ill, she had the experience of three separate native men coming to their home to request that she, Ida with no training, come to assist their wives in childbirth. Knowing she was unqualified, she offered the services of her doctor father. Shrinking, horrified at this culturally unacceptable idea of a male stranger assisting their wives during childbirth, each left saying they supposed that their wives must die. Ida’s heart was pricked. She returned to the U.S. and enrolled in the first class at Cornell Medical College in New York to accept female students. Ida returned to India after graduating in 1899 from Cornell Medical College and with a $10,000 grant in hand from Mr. Schell. Schell was a Manhattan banker who wished to honor his deceased wife by this means.

Ida’s father, also Dr. John Scudder, son of the original Rev. John Scudder, M.D., died in 1900, shortly after her return to India. This left Ida without his help to meet seemingly unlimited medical needs. From 1900 to 1902, Ida treated 5000 patients. In 1902, using her grant money, Ida opened the Mary Taber Schell Hospital at Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. Ida knew that one woman could not meet the health needs of the vast number of women in South India. Male naysayers thought her idea of a medical college for women would attract very few female applicants Ida was ready in 1918 to open its doors at Vellore and had 151 applicants the first year. The idea caught hold. The college had more applicants than could be accommodated, making it necessary to turn away many over the years. The school became coeducational in 1945. The renamed and highly respected Christian Medical College grew to become, in 2003, the world’s largest Christian hospital with 2000 beds.[24] It has seven campuses in and around Vellore. Through its numerous graduates, CMC’s influence is found all over India. As of 2019, forty-two members and five generations of the Scudder extended family have served India as missionaries and doctors and for a cumulative 1100 years of service.

This pioneer missionary to India measured himself by his devotion to God rather than worldly wealth. One of Rev. John Scudder, M.D. and Harriet’s sons, Dr. Henry Martyn Scudder, wrote intimately of his father’s character, “I knew him not only as a father, but also as a missionary, having labored for years by his side in the same mission.” Waterbury devotes 16 pages of his Memoir of Rev. John Scudder, M.D. to the son Henry’s assessment of his father:[25]

“1. His physical frame was strong, tall, and well proportioned…He has a sound, firm constitution, latterly much shaken and shattered by severe labors and exposures….2. He had a strong mind….3. He had decision of character….Having once heard the Word saying ‘This is the way, walk you in it,’ his soul summoned all its powers into one glowing response—‘I will.’….4. He was endowed with perseverance….Harassing trials might encompass him, but they could not drive him from his design….Apathy, ridicule, scorn, abuse, blasphemy, blows, stoning….could not force him to succumb in a single instance….5. He was capable of endurance, and willing to suffer. He seldom spoke of pain, however severe. He had power to bear it….[he] alluded to the fact that he might have been rich, and that he had given up all worldly prospects for Jesus’ sake, and expressed his satisfaction in having done so. 6. He was both stern and tender. Wherever principles were at stake, he was rigid and unyielding…7. He was courageous….Hell had once been his fear. That dread was now gone, and he feared nothing….8. The simple way in which his mind was determined to the missionary field is worthy of notice….Precious tract, written thirty-seven years ago, how wide and wonderful are the influences which have issued from between thy humble covers!…Do I not recognize upon thy worn leaves the impress of a divine hand?…9. Before he was thus called he had been severely disciplined. The Lord had caused him to pass through spiritual conflicts of no ordinary kind…After he had found salvation in Jesus, and had united with the Church, he was led out into a howling wilderness to be tempted. Satan was let loose upon his naked, shivering soul. Faith and its foundations seemed gone forever. He was in an agony to believe, but could not. He doubted of all things—yea, even of his own existence. Hope died within him, and Despair spread her pall over him….Satan and his legions assailed him on every side….The terrors of hell rolled like quickly succeeding billows over him, and he scarce got breath between. For many months he ventured not to the communion table. Yet, in the war and darkness of that fearful tempest, above that wild ocean of anguish, there stood an unseen form, the Holy One, the Crucified, who caused that gasping soul, in all its blind struggles, to come nearer and nearer to himself. He had once seen the Cross; he had once been near it, and experienced its pardoning and sanctifying power, and it was still the magnet of his soul. He kept his eyes on that point of the spiritual horizon where he had seen it fade from view, and he never turned them elsewhere. When God had sufficiently shown him Satan’s power and his own weakness; when he had bruised, and broken, and humbled him, then again he flooded his sky with the light of the Sun of Righteousness. Satan slunk away. Peace spread out her wings over his weary heart, and the foretaste of hell’s agonies was changed into an antepast of heaven. While the storm raged, God fastened him to the Rock of Ages as he never had been fastened to it before….He came out of these conflicts like gold out of the fire. He began with calm joy to climb the Delectable Mountains, and he from that time dwelt mostly on their happy summits. These trials eminently fitted him to encounter the difficulties of the missionary work. He was to meet none so great as those he had already overcome, and he was thrust forth a well-equipped and experienced warrior, to carry the battle with an intrepid spirit into the heart of Satan’s territories…God had thus prepared him, and then he called him to the mission field…10. My father was a Calvinist in his theological views….Though attached to these doctrines, and to the Dutch Church as a sound expositor of them, he was a man of most liberal spirit….He had not an iota of bigotry in him….11. He was entirely devoted to Christ. I verily believe his only aim on earth was the glory of Jesus…His eye was single….He loved the Saviour profoundly, tenderly, wholly. His was no half consecration…12. He took pains to maintain communion with Jesus. It was one of the axioms of his spiritual life that if one would have fellowship with Christ, he must use the means for it. An hour and a half at early morn, and an hour at night, were always sacred to reading the Bible, meditation, prayer and praise….13. He was a Bible Christian. Other books were comparatively nothing to him. He scarcely read any other…. God had become an author, and that was the book for him. Here, in the company of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, with Jesus at the head as Lord of all, he strengthened his intellect and refreshed his heart amidst the toils and trials of a missionary’s life…Thus he girded his loins. I need not add that he was a happy man. How could it be otherwise He loved the innocent pleasantries of social life, and would mingle cheerfully in them when he had time….14. He was a zealous Christian….15. He was faithful to impenitent sinners….16. He had the true spirit of a reformer. 17. He was never disheartened….18. He laid aside a tenth of his annual income for the Lord’s use. 19. He sought not the praise of men….The Saviour’s approval was his aim. Beyond that he seemed not to have a thought….20. He was a pioneer in Indian missions….He is gone, but will never be forgotten. On the records of our Indian Zion his name stands registered as a faithful evangelist, an energetic pioneer. He has left behind him a memory more valuable than thousands of gold and silver. He was a great man and a good man.”

God and character inspired his work.

Harriet (Waterbury) Scudder died on 18 November 1849 at Madras, Tamil Nadu, India, at age 54. Dr. John Scudder maintained his association with the Reformed Dutch Church to the close of his life, passing away at age 61 at Wynberg, [Cape of Good Hope] South Africa, 1855.[26]

Children of Dr. John Scudder and Harriet (Waterbury) Scudder:[27]

1. Stillborn child, b. 16 Oct 1816.
2. Maria Catherine Scudder, b. 29 Jan 1818 at New York City, N.Y; d. 25 Oct 1819, Calcutta, India.
3. Maria Catherine Scudder, b. 19 Jan 1820 at Gillipally, Ceylon; d. 25 Jan 1820 same place. Note: could not find this locality in Google Maps.
4. William Brainard Scudder, b. 13 Mar 1821 at Panditeripo [Pandatharippu near Jaffna, Sri Lanka today], Ceylon, India; d. 17 Mar 1821. Arcot Mission Records apparently call it Panditeripo, Ceylon, India.
5. John Henry Martyn Scudder (later dropped John), b. 5 February 1822 at Panditeripo, Ceylon, India 4 Jun 1895 at Winchester, Massachusetts, md. Fanny Lewis.
6. William Waterbury Scudder, b. 17 September, 1823 at Panditeripo, Ceylon, India; d. 4 Mar 1895, Glastonbury, Connecticut; md. 1) Katherine Hastings; 2) Elizabeth Knight; 3) Frances Ann Rousseau.
7. Joseph Scudder, b. 14 Jan 1826 at Panditeripo, Ceylon, India; d. 21 Nov 1876, interred Brooklyn, N.Y.;1) Anna Chamberlain; 2) Anna DeWitt.
8. Samuel Downer Scudder, b. 20 May 1827 at Panditeripo, Ceylon, India; d. 14 Nov 1849 at New Brunswick, N. J. while at the Theological Seminary.
9. Ezekiel Carman Scudder, b. 20 Oct 1828 at Pandeteripo, Ceylon, India; d. 31 Jan 1895 at San Antonio, TX, at home of son-in-law, Mr. S. D. Scudder; interred Tennent, N. J.; md. Sarah Ruth.
10. Jared Waterbury Scudder, b. 8 Feb 1830, Nilgherry Hills, India; d. 17 Oct 1910 at Palmaner, India; Julia Goodwin.
11. Harriet Scudder, b. 3 Sep 1831 at Panditeripo, Ceylon, India; d. 1872 of typhoid fever; md. 1) William Stanes 2) J. Thacker.
12. Silas Downer Scudder, b. 6 Nov 1833 at Panditeripo, Ceylon, India; d. 24 Dec, 1877 at Brooklyn, N.Y.; md. Marianna Vanderveer Conover.
13. John Scudder, b. 29 Oct 1836 at Chavagachery, Ceylon, India; d. 23 May, 1900 at Vellore, India; md. Laura Potter (Sophia) Weld.
14. Louisa Scudder, b. 26 April 1837, Madras, Tamil Nadu, India; d. 4 April 1918, Charlestown, Ireland; Henry Baker Sweet.

Several children were named for Harriet’s brothers or brothers-in-law.

All of Rev. John Scudder’s surviving children served as adults in India. Only his son John’s family remained healthy enough to continue after 1875—but these are stories for a future day.

[1] J. B. Waterbury, Memoir of the Rev. John Scudder, M.D., thirty-six years missionary in India, (New York: Harper, & Brothers. 1870).
Dorothy Jealous Scudder, A Thousand Years in Thy Sight, the story of the Scudder Missionaries of India, (New York: Vantage Press, 1984).
[2] 1819–2019, 200-year Anniversary Tribute. Prepared by Margery Boyden, Historian and Member of the Board of Governors of the Scudder Association Foundation: in honor of the Bicentennial celebration of Dr. John Scudder and Harriet (Waterbury) Scudder, mission to India, January 2019. ©Margery Boyden, Scudder Association Foundation, January 22, 2019.
[3] Waterbury, 29.
[4] Rev. John⁷ Scudder (Joseph⁶, Nathaniel⁵, Jacob⁴, Benjamin³, Thomas², Thomas¹.)
[5] Scudder, 5.
[6] Waterbury, 12.
[7] “Nathaniel Scudder,” Crossroads of the American Revolution, http://revolutionarynj.org/rev-neighbors/nathaniel-scudder/.
[8] Waterbury, 11, fn.
[9] Waterbury, 1–12, fn.
[10] Waterbury, 12.
[11] Waterbury, 12–13.
[12] Waterbury, 14.
[13] Waterbury, 14–16.
[14] Marriage record for Gideon Waterbury and Ruth Tuttle, 1 April 1788, is on Records of 1st and 2nd Presbyterian Church, New York City, N.Y
[15] Waterbury, 16–17, 278.
[16] Waterbury, 18.
[17] Waterbury, 18–20.
[18] Waterbury, 20–21.
[19] Waterbury, 26–27.
[20] Waterbury, 27–29.
[21] Scudder, 11.
[22] Scudder, 15.
[23] Dr. D. C. Ambalavanar, “John Scudder, Physician and Missionary,” Columbia Medicine Magazine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, http://www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org/webextra/spring-2017/node%3Atitle%5D-1
[24] Dr. Ida Sophia Scudder, https://scudder.org/about/history/india-medical-missions/ida-scudder-story/.
[25] Waterbury, 291–307.
[26] After having been buried previously at Madras, in June 1933 their remains were reinterred “in front of the beautiful Scudder Memorial Hospital at Ranipet, India.” See note, “Soper Manuscript,” v. 4, person #142,102.
[27] “Soper Manuscript,” Scudder Association, v. 4; and “The Scudder Family and Ida’s Call,” Christian Medical College, Vellore, http://www.cmcedu100.org/the-scudder-family-and-idas-call/.