Elizabeth Mars Johnson Thomson (November 1807 – 26 April 1864) was an African-American missionary in Liberia, "a major figure in Liberian education and religion."

Early life

Elizabeth Mars was born in Connecticut, the daughter of free black parents who were born in slavery. She attended the African Sunday School in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

Career

In 1830 Elizabeth Mars Johnson and her husband volunteered as missionaries for Liberia. They trained at the African Mission School in Hartford; by 1834 they were in Liberia. Elizabeth and her second husband established a Sunday school at

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

and Elizabeth taught at the school at

Cape Palmas Cape Palmas is a headland on the extreme southeast end of the coast of Liberia, Africa, at the extreme southwest corner of the northern half of the continent. The Cape itself consists of a small, rocky peninsula connected to the mainland by a san ...

from 1835 until 1845, under the authority of the Episcopal Mission Board. She took a furlough journey back to the United States, and then returned to Liberia, where she continued teaching for many years. Her school at Mount Vaughan in Cape Palmas was burned down in 1856 during an outbreak of violence. She went back to work after the school was rebuilt, until she experienced declining health and left the classroom in 1862.Randall J. Burkett
"Elizabeth Mars Johnson Thomson (1807-1864): A Research Note"
in Judith Weisenfeld, ed., ''This Far by Faith: Readings in African-American Women's Religious Biography'' (Psychology Press 1996): 187. ; originally published i
''Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church''
55(1)(March 1986): 21-30.

Personal life

Elizabeth Mars Johnson Thomson was married and widowed twice, and had at least two children who died before she did. She married William Johnson in Connecticut in about 1830; he died soon after their arrival in Liberia, along with their infant son. She remarried to James Madison Thomson, who was born in

Demerara Demerara (; , ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state from 1792 unti ...

(

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies. It was located on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first known Europeans to encounter Guia ...

) and educated in England; he died in 1838.Elwood D. Dunn, Amos J. Beyan, Carl Patrick Burrowes, eds.
''Historical Dictionary of Liberia''
(Scarecrow Press 2000). A daughter died in an epidemic in 1855. Elizabeth Mars Johnson Thomson died in 1864, aged 57 years, in Liberia.

References

External links

*Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, D. D
"A discourse, on the occasion of forming the African Mission School Society : delivered in Christ Church, in Hartford, Connecticut, on Sunday evening, Aug. 10, 1828."
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mars Johnson Thomson, Elizabeth 1807 births 1864 deaths Liberian educators Americo-Liberian people 19th-century American educators