Martha Foster Crawford
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Martha Foster Crawford (January 28, 1830 -1909) was an American writer and missionary to China (1852–1909). She was the first foreign missionary from
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. Her parents were the deacon, John Lovelace Savidge Foster, and Susanna Hollifield Foster. In 1851, shortly before she became a missionary to China, she married
Tarleton Perry Crawford Tarleton Perry Crawford (May 8, 1821 – April 7, 1902) was a Baptist missionary to Shandong, China for 50 years with his wife. Early life and education Crawford was born in Warren County, Kentucky. He was the fourth son of John and Lucretia Cr ...
, whom she had known for three weeks. They arrived in
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
in March 1852. During their marriage, they adopted two children. Crawford wrote several books and diaries. ''Zao yang fan shu'' (Foreign Cookery in Chinese; 1866) was the first Chinese-language Western cookbook published in
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
.


Early years and education

Martha Elizabeth Foster was born in Jasper County, Georgia, January 28, 1830. She was one of ten children, six boys and four girls. While a child, the family removed to
Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...
. She was educated in the common schools and Messopotamia Girls' Seminary at
Eutaw, Alabama Eutaw ( ) is a city in and the county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The e ...
. She prepared herself for the occupation of schoolteacher. At the age of 15, she had a
believer's baptism Believer's baptism or adult baptism (occasionally called credobaptism, from the Latin word meaning "I believe") is the practice of baptizing those who are able to make a conscious profession of faith, as contrasted to the practice of baptizing ...
, having been the child of a deeply religious family of Baptist faith.


Career


Missionary

At 19 years of age, Foster expressed a great desire to become a foreign missionary. About this time, one Tarlton P. Crawford went to
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, to be examined and secure appointment by missionary board to serve in foreign fields. He expressed a desire to find and marry some woman who wanted to be a missionary. The next day, the secretary received a letter asking the board to appoint Miss Foster to Chinese missionary work. The secretary showed the letter to Mr. Crawford. He set out at once to find the young lady. He found her teaching in a neighboring village, boarding at the village hotel, kept by a Baptist, who introduced the two. In three weeks, they were married. Before leaving for China, they visited 50 churches of the Baptist association, upon which they depended for support. Mr. Crawford was appointed by the F. M. B. of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1851 a missionary to Shanghai. They sailed from New York, November 17, 1851, via
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, arriving March 30, 1852. After a rough passage, they landed in
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
in 102 days. From there, they proceeded up the coast of China to Shanghai, by schooner, in 17 days. The mission board bore all expenses. At the end of 12 years, the Crawfords went into
Shantung province Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...
. They labored there for 30 years with two other missionaries. In 1893, they went to Tai An Foo at the foot of
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. Dr. Crawford spent nearly twelve years in Shanghai from the time of arrival, but their health became much impaired there, and so they moved to Tungchow-fu, Shantung, among the early settlers there. After spending thirty years there, and becoming convinced that Baptists could work more efficiently by putting more direct responsibility upon, the local churches instead of making them merely contributors to a Central Board, he with several others moved to the west of the province, in 1894, to Tai-an-fu, where he was laboring when the Boxer troubles arose. They returned to the U. S. in the autumn of 1900, after finding that they could not soon return to the interior, but their hearts were much in China, and they did so long to return to die in the land for which they had given their lives; and they had planned to be on the return sea voyage just at the time Mr. Crawford died. This was his fifth and her third visit to the U. S. during the fifty years they spent as missionaries.


Writer

Crawford wrote several books and diaries. ''Zao yang fan shu'' (Foreign Cookery in Chinese; 1866) was the first Chinese-language Western cookbook published in Shanghai.


Selected works

* 18??, '' Shan-Tung province : our North-China mission field'' * ''Martha Foster Crawford diaries, 1846-1881'' * 1866, ''造洋飯書. Zao yang fan shu'' * 1872, ''A story of three little girls'' * 1883, ''Discouragements and encouragements of the missionary situation in China : an excellent work for distribution by mission societies'' * 1888, ''A call to north China''


References


Attribution

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Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Martha Foster 1830 births 1909 deaths Baptist missionaries from the United States Female Christian missionaries Baptist missionaries in China 19th-century American writers 19th-century American women writers American cookbook writers People from Jasper County, Georgia American expatriates in China American women non-fiction writers