William Henry Roberts (25 October 1847 – 24 December 1919) was a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

minister from the United States who worked for many years as a missionary in

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

Biography

Roberts was born on 25 October 1847, in

Botetourt Springs Botetourt Springs (originally: Sulphur Spring Tract) is a mineral spring and was a historical settlement on the border of Roanoke County, Virginia, and Botetourt County, Virginia, United States. The spring is located from Fincastle, Virginia, F ...

, Virginia. He studied at

Roanoke College Roanoke College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Salem, Virginia. It has approximately 2,000 students who represent approximately 40 states and 30 countries. The college offers ...

and Richmond College (now the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...

), then went on to the

Northern Baptist Theological Seminary Northern Seminary is a private Baptist seminary in Lisle, Illinois. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. History The Seminary was founded in 1913 by the Second Baptist Church of Chicago under the name ''Northern Baptist Theol ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He served under

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

General

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

with the

Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was a field army of the Confederate States Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most often arrayed agains ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Roberts became a missionary supported by the

American Baptist Missionary Union International Ministries is an international Baptist Christian missionary society. It is a constituent board affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. The headquarters is in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, United States. History The soc ...

, working among the

Kachin people The Kachin peoples (, ; , ) are a collection of diverse ethnolinguistic groups inhabiting the Kachin Hills in northern Myanmar's Kachin State, as well as Yunnan Province in China, and the northeastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and As ...

around

Bhamo Bhamo ( ''ban: mau mrui.'', also spelt Banmaw), historically known as Manmaw (; ) or Hsinkai () is a city in Kachin State in northern Myanmar, south of the state capital, (Myitkyina). It is on the Ayeyarwady River. It lies within of the border ...

and

Myitkyina Myitkyina (, ; Jingpho language, Jinghpaw: ''Myitkyina'', ; , ''Sèna'') is the capital city of Kachin State in Myanmar (Burma), located from Yangon, and from Mandalay. In Burmese language, Burmese it means "near the big river", and Myitkyina i ...

from 1879 until 1913. On his arrival in Burma, Roberts obtained grudging permission from the Burmese king,

Thibaw Min Thibaw Min, also Thebaw (, ; 1 January 1859 – 16 December 1916), was the last king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and also the last Burmese monarch in the country's history. His reign ended when the Royal Burmese armed forces ...

, to build a school and educate the Kachins. The king, a devout

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, granted Roberts "land the size of a buffalo skin". Roberts bought a buffalo skin, cut it into thin strips and used it to measure out the mission compound. Although his wife soon died from

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

, Roberts was to carry out his mission for 34 years. His daughter, Dora, and his son-in-law, John E. Cummings, also became missionaries to Burma. In 1881 Roberts remarried and established a school in

with his second wife, Alice Roberts (d. 1933). They had a son, William Henry Roberts, Jr. In 1917, the Roberts retired from missionary work and returned to

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located roughly west of Downtown Boston, and comprises a patchwork of thirteen villages. The city borders Boston to the northeast and southeast (via the neighborhoods of ...

, where Roberts died in 1919.Shawn Zambrows
Matters of Faith: Myanmar school to honor legacy of First Baptist Church of Redlands member
''Redlands Daily Facts'', April 27, 2019

Legacy

Roberts was followed by the Swedish-American missionary

Ola Hanson Ola Hanson (June 25, 1864, in Åhus, Sweden – October 17, 1929, in St. Paul, Minnesota) was a Swedish-American missionary who worked with the Jingpo people, Kachin people in Burma. Hanson came to the United States in 1881, settling in Oakland, ...

, who arrived in 1890 and did much work in compiling a grammar and dictionary for their Jinghpaw language, and in translating hymns and the Bible into Jingpaw. In 1892 George J. Geis arrived, establishing a mission at Myitkyina, to the North of Bhamo. A school in Bhamo was named after Alice Roberts.

Biography

Legacy

References

Further reading