Horace Tracy Pitkin (1869–1900) was a missionary in China of the

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian mission, Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the l ...

. Chinese Boxers killed him during the

Boxer Uprising The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious ...

in 1900. Yale China Mission, (now the

Yale-China Association The Yale-China Association (), formerly Yale-in-China, is an independent, nonprofit organization based in New Haven, Connecticut which sponsors educational programs in and about China in order to further understanding between Chinese and America ...

), was founded in his memory."Horace Tracy Pitkin 1869 ~ 1900,
Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity

Early life and decision for China

Pitkin was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

to Horace Wells Pitkin and Lucy Tracy Yale, daughter of Rev. Cyrus Yale. His father was a merchant with government stores in Philadelphia and Louisville and acquired a generous fortune. His uncle was artist Seth Wells Cheney, brother of

Ward Cheney Ward Cheney (23 February 1813 Manchester, Connecticut - 22 March 1876) was a pioneer manufacturer of silk fabrics. Biography Cheney was principal founder of the house of Cheney Brothers and was most active in its business management. He entered the ...

, and his grandnephew was NY Senator Mortimer Yale Ferris. On his father's side, he was a descendant of attorney general William Pitkin IV, grandfather of Gov. William Pitkin, the cousin of Founding Father

Oliver Wolcott Oliver Wolcott Sr. ( ; November 20, 1726 December 1, 1797) was an American Founding Father and politician. He was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation as a representative of Connecticut, ...

, and on his mother's side, he was a descendant of the family of

Elihu Yale Elihu Yale (5 April 1649 – 8 July 1721) was a British Americans, British-American Colonialism, colonial administrator. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Yale lived in America only as a child, and spent the rest of his life in England, Wales, a ...

, the founder of

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

. His sister was Mary Yale Pitkin, wife of landscape architect Charles Eliot, son of

Charles William Eliot Charles William Eliot (March 20, 1834 – August 22, 1926) was an American academic who was president of Harvard University from 1869 to 1909, the longest term of any Harvard president. A member of the prominent Eliot family (America), Eliot fam ...

, President of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, and member of the Eliot family. Charles's architectural firm had the contract of Biltmore's landscape and was a cousin of

T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

.1893 - 1897, Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot
The Cultural Landscape Foundation, connecting people to places The Pitkin family settled in Manchester (Connecticut). Entering

Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...

in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1884 Pitkin took a leading role in the campus Christian Endeavor movement. Entering Yale in 1888, he excelled in music, writing, and volunteer activities. He was widely admired for his sunny disposition and strong convictions. In the summer of 1889 at Dwight L. Moody's Northfield (Massachusetts) School, he signed the Student Volunteer Movement (SVM) pledge, indicating his intention to become a missionary. Following graduation from

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

in 1892, he entered

Union Theological Seminary Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (shortened to UTS or Union) is a Private college, private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University since 1928. Presently, Co ...

, New York, then spent an interim year as traveling secretary for the SVM. In 1894, with his fiancee, Letitia Thomas, a graduate of

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...

, Massachusetts, he offered himself for service with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Pitkins at Eaglesnest

Work in China and death

Pitkin graduated from

in 1896, then he and Letitia were married. The couple sailed from New York in November 1896, traveled through the Holy Land, Egypt, and India before landing at

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

in May 1897. At

Baoding Baoding is a prefecture-level city in central Hebei province, approximately southwest of Beijing. As of the 2020 census, Baoding City had 11,544,036 inhabitants, of which 2,549,787 lived in the metropolitan area made of 4 out of 5 urban distri ...

, in present-day

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

province, he joined the ABCFM mission. During the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

in 1900, the missionary compound in Baoding was overrun by anti-missionary and anti-foreign Chinese Boxers. Pitkin was killed and the other missionaries serving in the city were also killed or later executed. In all, fourteen Presbyterian, Congregational, amid China Inland Mission missionaries were killed at Baoding. Letitia and an infant son were in the United States when Pitkin was killed. Pitkin's death motivated several students at Yale to create an organization to send missionaries to China. One said that "Pitkin's martyrdom... made me determined to see if possible that Pitkin's sacrifice was atoned for somehow by us as Yale men." The Yale Mission in China was established in June 1901.

References

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Full text online

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Notes

External links

Yale Boxer Rebellion Memorial to Horace Tracy Pitkin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitkin, Horace Traacy 1869 births 1900 deaths American Protestant missionaries American missionaries in China Protestant missionaries in China Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Yale family