Title: Three letters from Elizabeth B. Neal to her parents
Material Type: Book
Creator: Neal, Elizabeth Blackford, 1859-1939, author.
Subject: Women missionaries--Correspondence.
Subject: Presbyterian Church--Missions--History--China--Shandong Sheng--Sources.
Subject: Neal, Elizabeth Blackford,--1859-1939--Correspondence.
Description: "Original extensive autograph letter signed by a female American Presbyterian missionary in China, written to her parents and talking about her recent missionary trips around Weifang (Shandong Province), preaching to Chinese Christians, staying overnight in a village school 'with the heat & the fleas', giving an eye-witness account of the Bohai Sea Earthquake on June 13, 1888, and discussing or mentioning several American missionaries, including her husband James Boyd Neal, Dr. John L. Nevius, Rev. James H. Laughlin and his wife Annie, Lottie Moon, Margaret Jane Hayes, and Julia B. Mateer"
Description: "Historically important content-rich original letter written by noted female American missionary in China, Elizabeth B. Neal which provides a lively first-hand account of her trips around modern-day Shandong province, interactions with Chinese Christians and other American missionaries, overnight stays in the countryside inns, the Bohai Sea Earthquake (June 13, 1888). The 17-page manuscript contains the text of three letters (two addressed to Mrs. Neal's father, and one to her mother), written in Tang Wu (likely, Tangwuzhen, south-east of Weifang), Wei Hien (or Weihsien, now Weifang) and Tengchowfoo (or Dengzhou, now Penglai). Original manuscript letter compiled over the course of two months. The letter is signed 'Lillie' and addressed to 'My very dear Father' or 'My dear, dear Mother'. It became possible to identify the author on the basis of the mentions of her husband, whom she calls 'James' and 'my beloved', and her obvious relative 'Sallie'. 'James' is Dr. James Boyd Neal (1855-1925), who worked for the North China and Shantung missions of the American Presbyterian Church in China for forty years."
Description: "In the text, the author vividly describes the hardships of missionary travels around the Chinese countryside between Weifang, Tangwuzhen and Penglai, and on the 'great road' between Chefoo (Yantai) and Chinanfu (Jinan), preaching to devoted local Christian women, staying overnight with Chinese girls, most of whom 'never seen foreigners before & it was both comical & trying to see them watch every movement of the undressing process', the protection device they installed against burglars at night. Very interesting is her eye-witness account of the destruction in Penglai during the Bohan Sea Earthquake, which occurred on June 13, 1888. There are also notes or longer passages talking about American Presbyterian missionaries in the area, including Rev. James H. Laughlin and his wife Annie (arrived to Weifang in 1881, Mrs. Laughlin died in China in 1891), Dr. John L. Nevius (1829-1893, served in China in 1854-1887), Lottie Moon (1840-1912, Southern Baptist missionary to China in 1873-1912), Margaret Jane Hayes (wife of missionary and educator Dr. Watson M. Hayes), and Julia B. Mateer (wife of missionary Dr. Calvin W. Mateer, died in China in 1898). Overall an important content-rich source on the history of American Presbyterian missions in China in the 1880s."--Web page of The Wayfarer's Bookshop, at where the letters were purchased
Date of Publication: 20 April 1888-16 June 1888
Place of Publication: Tang Wu, 30 miles west of Wei Hien [Shandong Province, China]; Wei Hien [Shandong Province, China] ; Tungchowfoo [Shandong Province, China] :
Publisher: [Producer not identified],
Date: 1888