The Different Man In Rural Japan:
By Rev. Frank Scudder,© by Jack Scudder Gillmar, Scudder Association Foundation Board Member, by permission
The Different Man In Rural Japan Frank Scudders Recollection A t Age 60 About Being A Foreigner In Western Japan In The 1880s
© Scudder Association Foundation, All rights reserved
The early immigrant Scudders and missionary-minded Scudders featured in this issue had unique opportunities to engage with people of other races, ethnicities, cultures, religions and politics that were different than their own. They moved to different countries or colonies where they were considered the strangers by those who were already present.
John Scudder grew up in western Kent, England, between the power centers of British political and ecclesiastical might at London and Canterbury. In America, John was an early settler of four communities that were within five to ten years of establishment or less. By being in the right places to observe key figures in the struggle for basic religious and civil rights in both countries
Not much is known about Samuel3 Scudder, (known hereafter as Samuel I), oldest son of John2 and grandson of Thomas1 (T). He does not appear in the baptismal records of the Salem Church so he must have been born about 1643 in Salem, Massachusetts because his younger brother John3 was born in 1645 according to his marriage record, and his parents joined the church in 1647. His three sisters’ baptismal records are after that date.
In the 1880s, there were so many Scudder missionaries in India, that family members began being sent to mission fields elsewhere. Doremus Scudder M.D., D.D., 1858–1942, was in Niigata, Japan from 1885 to 1889
Frank Scudder, 1862–1956. Frank grew up with Dr. Doremus Scudder as children of the Arcot Mission in India. By the third generation of Scudders in India there were so many Scudders in the Arcot Mission that the mission board declined to send any more, suggesting that they should serve in other mission fields.
This article is the continuation of the story of Dr. Ida Scudder and her founding and development of a medical college to train women doctors in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, South India. 1,000 Years in Thy Sight was written by D.V. Scudder, the wife of Dr. Ida’s nephew, Dr. John Scudder III, who served as a missionary with her husband in Ranipet from 1929-1935. Please refer to The Scudder Journal (Vol.3 No.1, Winter 2021) for the first excerpt of Dr. Ida Scudder’s missionary service and the story of the Vellore Christian Medical College and Hospital.
What a wonderful story!