Gertrude Howe (September 13, 1846 – December 29, 1928) was an American Methodist missionary educator and translator, based in China from 1872 until her death there in 1928.

Early life and education

Howe was born in

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Poughkeepsie (town), New York, Town of Poughkeepsie, New York (state), New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, New York, Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie i ...

, the daughter of Isaac Howe and Elizabeth Howe. Her family were

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

and active in

abolition Abolition refers to the act of putting an end to something by law, and may refer to: *Abolitionism, abolition of slavery *Capital punishment#Abolition of capital punishment, Abolition of the death penalty, also called capital punishment *Abolitio ...

work. She attended the

Michigan Agricultural College Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

in 1870 and 1871, and the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in 1871. She graduated from Michigan State Normal School in 1872.

Career

In her teens, Howe taught school in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County, Michigan, Eaton County and nort ...

, and was appointed principal of a primary school when she was 20 years old. In 1872, Howe went to Kiukiang (Jiujiang) in China, as a missionary under the auspices of the

Woman's Foreign Missionary Society Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church (acronym WFMS of the MEC) was one of three Methodism, Methodist organizations in the United States focused on women's foreign missionary services; the two others were the WFMS of ...

of the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

. She and medical missionary Lucy H. Hoag founded a girls' high school in 1873, requiring students to have unbound feet to enroll. She adopted and raised four Chinese daughters, including Kang Cheng, known as Ida Kahn. She taught her daughters English, and mentored several other Chinese students who continued their educations in the United States, including Mary Stone, Phebe Stone, and

Ilien Tang Ilien J. Tang (died May 18, 1920) was a Chinese educator. She started and supervised kindergartens in and near Nanchang, and was vice-principal at the Baldwin Memorial School for Girls. Early life and education Tang was born in Kiukiang (Jiujia ...

. She also assisted later women missionaries in China, including Welthy Honsinger Fisher. "While she spared no pains in laying broad educational foundations," according to a biographical pamphlet for church use, "she never lost sight of character-making, to which she gave the prominent place." Howe moved to

Chungking Chongqing Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the Central People's Government, along with Beijing ...

in 1883, and opened another girls' school; but her new school was destroyed within a few years, and she returned to Kiukiang. She translated a Methodist hymnal, and a history of

the Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

, for her students to use. She spoke about her work in the United States during her visits, including in Detroit in 1893, in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

in 1909, in

Brookline Brookline may refer to: Places in the United States * Brookline, Massachusetts, a town near Boston * Brookline, Missouri, a village * Brookline, New Hampshire, a town * Brookline (Pittsburgh), a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * Brookl ...

in 1919, and in

Lansing Lansing () is the capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. It is the sixth-most populous city in Michigan with a popul ...

in 1920. Howe's sister, Delia, joined her work in China from 1879 to 1882. Delia Howe became a physician in Detroit.

Personal life

Howe lived in Nanchang with Ida Kahn in her later years. She died there in 1928, after years of declining health, at the age of 82. Kahn wrote an English-language obituary of Howe, listing out her daughters Ida, Julia, Fannie, and Belle, and grandchildren, and detailing the specifics of her funeral.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, Gertrude 1846 births 1928 deaths American missionaries in China Eastern Michigan University alumni American Methodist missionaries Methodist missionaries in Sichuan American women educators 19th-century American translators Protestantism in Chongqing 20th-century American translators