Isabella Thoburn (March 29, 1840 – Sept. 1, 1901) was an American

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

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 ...

best known for her establishment of educational institutions and

missionary work A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

North India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...

, subsequent to the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

's relinquishment of power to the British government in India.

Biography

Isabella Thoburn was born in 1840 near St. Clairsville, Ohio. She attended local schools and the Wheeling Female Seminary in Wheeling, Virginia (now in West Virginia). In 1866, after she had taught for several years, Isabella was invited by her brother

James Mills Thoburn James Mills Thoburn (March 7, 1836 – November 28, 1922) was an American bishop and missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church as well as an author. He did missionary work in India and greatly increased the number of Christian practitioners in ...

, a Methodist Episcopal missionary in India, to assist him in his educational and missionary work in India. She delayed her departure until 1869 when the formation of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the

enabled her to undertake missionary work under denominational affiliation and auspices. Thoburn, 1903, pp. 418-420 In India, Thoburn's work culminated in the founding of an important woman's college,

Isabella Thoburn College The Isabella Thoburn College (formerly the Lucknow Women's College and often called informally IT College) is a private multidisciplinary (humanities, social sciences, sciences, commerce, management and engineering) college for women in Luckno ...

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

(1870), as well as a Methodist High School in

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

. These two educational establishments were among the first in

colonial India Colonial India was the part of the Indian subcontinent that was occupied by European colonial powers during and after the Age of Discovery. European power was exerted both by conquest and trade, especially in spice trade, spices. The search for ...

, catering to the educational and religious needs of an emergent

Anglo Indian Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Anglo-Indian" has a ...

population in

Awadh Awadh (), known in British Raj historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a historical region in northern India and southern Nepal, now constituting the North-central portion of Uttar Pradesh. It is roughly synonymous with the ancient Kosala Regio ...

. Thoburn returned to the United States for a period to study at Lucy Rider Meyer's Chicago Training School for City, Home, and Foreign Missions in Illinois. In 1887, Meyer appointed her as the first house mother and superintendent of the school's new Methodist Deaconess Home for training female deacons.Keller, Rosemary Skinner, Rosemary Radford Ruether, and Marie Cantlon. ''Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America: Women and religion: methods of study and reflection''. Vol. 1. Indiana University Press, 2006, pp. 824-38. She died in 1901 in Lucknow,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, at the age of 61.

Citations

Sources

* *Methodism: Ohio Area (1812–1962), edited by John M. Versteeg, Litt.D., D.D. (Ohio Area Sesquicentennial Committee, 1962). *

External links

*
Isabella Thoburn College (website)

Isabella Thoburn's biography at the Boston University School of Theology website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thoburn, Isabella Methodists from Ohio People from St. Clairsville, Ohio 1840 births 1901 deaths Methodist missionaries in India American expatriates in India American biographers American missionary educators Founders of Indian schools and colleges Female Christian missionaries 19th-century American people 19th-century American philanthropists Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church 19th-century American women philanthropists

Biography

See also

Citations

Sources

External links