Robert Samuel Maclay

[한강희]

Robert Samuel Maclay

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Robert Samuel Maclay
Missionary to China
Born	February 7, 1824(1824-02-07) Concord, Pennsylvania
Died	August 18, 1907 (aged 83) Los Angeles, California

Rev. Robert Samuel Maclay (Chinese: 麥利和; Pinyin: Mài Lìhé; Foochow Romanized: Mĕk Lé-huò; February 7, 1824 - August 18, 1907) was a member of Methodist Episcopal Church who spent most of his missionary life in Far-Eastern countries like China, Japan and Korea.

 

Contents

[hide]

• 1 Life
  • 1.1 Early life
  • 1.2 Life among the Chinese
  • 1.3 Missionary work in Japan and Korea
  • 1.4 Retirement
  • 1.5 Family life
• 2 References

//

Early life

Robert Samuel Maclay was born on February 7, 1824 in Concord Township, Pennsylvania, into a family of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Maclay entered Dickinson College in 1841. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1845, received his Masters in 1848, and later was honored with a Doctor of Divinity from his alma mater. One year after his graduation, Maclay was ordained in the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1847, Maclay was appointed as a missionary to Foochow, China.

Life among the Chinese

On April 12, 1848, Maclay arrived in Foochow, where he spent 23 years preaching the Gospel, establishing schools and churches, and learning the local vernacular Fuzhou dialect. While in China he published two books: Life Among the Chinese with Characteristic Sketches and Incidents of Missionary Operations and Prospects in China (1861) and an Alphabetic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Foochow Dialect that he completed with Rev. C. C. Baldwin (1870).

Missionary work in Japan and Korea

In 1871, Maclay returned to the United States and was appointed superintendent of the newly-founded mission in Japan. Maclay arrived in Yokohama on June 12, 1873 and immediately set about learning the Japanese language and seeking converts. He became an integral part of the Wesleyan mission in Japan, helping to found and serve as first president of what is now the Ayoma Institute in Yokohama. While serving in Japan, Maclay was asked to travel to Korea to survey the possibility of a Methodist mission there. In June, 1884, Maclay made a brief visit to Seoul, where he acquired the permission of the king to begin medical and educational mission work. He declined leadership of the mission, though, and returned to Yokohama.

Retirement

Maclay retired from the mission field in 1887 and returned to San Fernando in California. He became the dean of the Maclay School of Theology (named for his brother Senator Charles Maclay), and spent the rest of his life as an educator. Maclay died on August 18, 1907 in Los Angeles, California.

Family life

Maclay had been married twice. In July 10, 1850 he was married to Henrietta Caroline Sperry in Hong Kong; in June 6, 1882 he was married secondly to Sarah Ann Barr in San Francisco. There were no children out of his second marriage. His youngest son Edgar Stanton Maclay (1863-1919) was a historian. His bother Charles Maclay was a state senator of California. His nephews included Judge Robert Maclay Widney, a founder of the University of Southern California, and Dr. Joseph Widney, the second president of the University of Southern California.

References

• Scott, Bonnie (December 2005). "Samuel Maclay: Methodist Episcopal Missionary, 1824-1907". http://chronicles.dickinson.edu/encyclo/m/maclayRSbiog.htm. 
• American Presbyterian Mission (1867). Memorials of Protestant Missionaries to the Chinese. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press. 
• Broomhall, Alfred (1982). Hudson Taylor and China's Open Century: Barbarians at the Gates. London: Hodder and Stoughton.