By Margery Boyden, Scudder Association Foundation Historian with excerpts from past historian, D. V. Scudder
© Scudder Association Foundation
What Can We Learn From Dr John Scudders Most Difficult Trials That May Inspire Us To Greater Courage In The Challenges of 2021
© Scudder Association Foundation, All rights reserved
In this issue we spotlight Dr. John and Harriet Scudder and their son Dr. Silas D. Scudder, founder of Scudder Memorial Hospital at Ranipet, India and granddaughter Dr. Ida S. Scudder, founder of Christian Medical College at Vellore.
Dr. John Scudder sailed with his wife Harriet and their two-year old daughter, Maria, in June 1819 from Boston on the sailing vessel, Indus, bound for Calcutta, India. He was the first medical missionary sent out by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and, in fact, was the first medical missionary from any country to stay more than two years
One little known story is the tender reunion of Harriet (Waterbury) Scudder with her sister Catherine (Waterbury) (Carman) Winslow who came to India as Miron Winslow’s second wife. This account also shines the spotlight on Harriet (Waterbury) Scudder whose contribution to the mission effort and to the family deserves more notice.
‘’Illay,* Amma,’ the brahmin replied proudly. ‘I would not think of having a man deliver my wife: I would rather that she should die than be seen by another man. If you cannot come, I must lose her.’ Ida had pled with the husband to let her father, Dr. John, deliver the baby, but to no avail. She had even offered to go with them and do what she could under her father’s direction, but the Brahmin was adamant. She had no medical training: she was forced to let this husband go without aid for his dying wife.
We include a separate artifacts article with newspaper clippings to show honors paid to Dr. Ida on the 100th anniversary of her birth, fifty years ago.
What does a monument to a haystack have to do with members of the Scudder family offering over a thousand years of service (in a total of combined years served) to the people of India, Hawaii, Japan, China, South Africa and Arabia?
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