Rosetta Sherwood Hall (September 19, 1865 – April 5, 1951) was a medical

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 ...

and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

. She founded the

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

School for the

Deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

and Blind. Dr. Hall spent forty-four years in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, helping develop educational resources for disabled Koreans and implementing women's medical training.

Early life and education

Rosetta Sherwood was born on September 19, 1865, in

Liberty, New York Liberty is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Sullivan County, New York, Sullivan County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 10,159 at the 2020 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 Census Report QuickFacts, ...

, the eldest child of English immigrants, Phoebe (née Gildersleeve) and Rosevelt Rensler Sherwood. She graduated from Oswego State Normal School in 1883 and worked as a local school teacher. After attending an 1886 visiting-lecture about the need for medical missions in India, she enrolled in the

Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania Founded in 1850, The Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP), formally known as The Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, was the first American medical college dedicated to teaching women medicine and allowing them to earn the Doctor ...

. She graduated with her medical degree by 1889.

Career

She founded the Baldwin Dispensary in Seoul (renamed the Lilian Harris Memorial Hospital). In 1894, she initiated the teaching of sight-impaired people in Korea by teaching a blind girl, using a modification of

Braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...

that she had developed. In 1899 she established the Edith Margaret Memorial Wing of the Women's Dispensary (Pyongyang). In 1909, she established the Pyongyang School for the Deaf and Blind. Along with two Korean doctors (Dr. Taik Won Kim and his wife, Dr. Chung-Hee Kil), she founded the

Chosun Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

Women's Medical Training Institute in 1928, intending to elevate it to a Women's Medical School. After Hall’s retirement, Dr. Taik Won Kim and Dr. Chung-Hee Kil took charge of the Women’s Medical Training Institute from 1933 to 1937. This institute became Kyungsung Women's Medical School in 1938 thanks to the financial contribution of Kim Jong Ick. It became co-educational school in 1957. Currently, it has developed into one of the leading medical schools in Korea, Korea University College of Medicine. In 1933 she left Korea.

Personal life

While working in lower

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

at Madison Street Mission Dispensary, she met her Canadian-born husband Dr. William James Hall. Dr. Hall was working at the same dispensary and was listed to leave on a medical mission to China with 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 ...

of Canada, which inspired her to apply for a similar position. She was officially called by the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1890. Her future spouse received his call in 1891. They did not marry, however, until they "met in the foreign field" as they were each separately placed by separate mission boards. They married in June 1892 and she lost her U.S. citizenship when they married. She died on April 5, 1951, in

Ocean Grove, New Jersey Ocean Grove is an Local government in New Jersey#Unincorporated communities, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) that is part of Neptune Township, New Jersey, Neptune Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United State ...

, and was buried with her family at the Yanghwajin Foreign Missionary Cemetery in Yanghwajin, Seoul.

References

Bibliography

* Hall, Rosetta S. (1906) "The Clocke class for blind girls," ''Korea Mission Field'' 2 (No.9, July) 175-76. * Hall, Rosetta Sherwood, ed. (1897)
Life of Rev. William James Hall: Medical Missionary to the Slums of New York, Pioneer Missionary to Pyong Yang, Korea
'; Introduction by Willard F. Mallalieu. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Rosetta Sherwood 1865 births 1951 deaths Canadian educators Canadian women educators Canadian Protestant missionaries Protestant missionaries in Korea Female Christian missionaries Christian medical missionaries Former United States citizens Canadian expatriates in Korea Canadian people of American descent Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania alumni People from Liberty, New York Burials at Yanghwajin Foreign Missionary Cemetery