Jack Voelkel
Ann Hasseltine Judson (1789 – 1826) PART 1
“I am a creature of God, and He has an undoubted right to do with me, as seems good in His sight.”
We continue our series on Protestant missionary pioneers with the life of the first woman to leave the shores of the United States as a foreign missionary.
“Hurry and set the table, Ann. Dinner will soon be ready.” Ann didn’t need to be reminded, but it wasn’t the dinner that was on her mind, but their special guest, Adoniram. The whole town of Bradford, Connecticut was abuzz over the Clergy Association Meeting of the Congregational Church. Four young students of Andover Theological Seminary had petitioned the denomination to send them as missionaries to India, a totally new experience for the American Church. To respond to these visionaries, the Congregationalists had to hurriedly establish a Mission Board! Adoniram Judson, handsome, serious, and a brilliant student was their leader.
While enjoying Mrs. Hasseltine’s freshly baked rolls, Judson was also quick to notice her daughter, who waited on the table. Her father, John, a Deacon, noticed this attachment with some concern.
And well he might. Those who knew her described Ann as “cheerful, strong-minded, and intelligent” (Robert p. 22). She had attended Bradford Academy (one of the first in the United States that accepted women). When she was 17, a spirit of religious revival swept through the school. Ann was deeply touched. Seeking to follow the Lord with all her heart, she struggled against worldliness. A catalyst in her thinking was the writing of Hannah More, an English evangelical writer and educational reformer, a friend of William Wilberforce. “More argued that education for women should be geared toward making them of service to others, rather than transmitting ornamental accomplishments that served merely to assist them in finding husbands.” Ann was convicted of the sinfulness and futility of a life devoted to herself and she decided to seek a life of service and “usefulness” to others (Robert p. 23).
To deepen her understanding, she set upon a plan of theological self-study, similar to what the male students at Andover Seminary followed. She read the Bible daily, and when she encountered “dark or intricate subjects” asked for help from the ministers who frequently visited their home.
Following her graduation from the Academy, she got a job teaching young children – to be “useful,” and did her best to help them respond to the Gospel.
By now, Adoniram was a frequent visitor at the Hasseltine home. When he proposed marriage to her by letter, she recognized that she would not only be marrying a man but a vocation. The entry in her diary of September 10, 1810 illustrates her sober understanding of what it would mean to marry this young man whose eyes were set on serving God in India:
An opportunity has been presented to me, of spending my days among the heathen, attempting to persuade them to receive the Gospel. Were I convinced of its being a call from God, and that it would be more pleasing to him, for me to spend my life in this way than in any other, I think I should be willing to relinquish every earthly object, and in full view of dangers and hardships, give myself up to the great work. (Robert 23).
She waited two months to make a decision. She prayed frequently. “What about my duties to my family,” she asked herself. She was particularly close to her father. She didn’t know much about India, but what she knew frightened her. “Suppose they killed Adoniram, and I was left alone to suffer there, could I take that?” she asked herself. But then she thought of her relationship to God and her commitment to Him. Finally, she made a decision, and wrote the following in her diary:
“ I am a creature of God, and He has an undoubted right to do with me, as seems good in his sight…when I am called to face danger, to pass through scenes of terror and distress, he can inspire me with fortitude, and enable me to trust in him…But whether I spend my days in India or America, I desire to spend them in the service of God” (Durso).
Ultimately she arrived at the decision that it was the Lord’s will for her to marry Judson and be his helpmeet in carrying out the missionary task. She faced great opposition. Her friends considered it a “wild and romantic undertaking” (Robert p. 23). Her father declared that he would “tie her to a bedpost before letting her live in a foreign country.” However, in time he relented, “giving his blessing both to the marriage and his daughter’s commitment to missions” (Durso).
In 1812, Adoniram was ordained and he and Ann were married. She was 21. Two weeks later they were on the bark, Caravan, leaving Crowninshield’s Wharf in Salem, Massachusetts, bound for India, a trip of five months on the high seas. A month after leaving, she wrote in her diary the vision she set for her future ministry:
I desire no higher enjoyment in this life than to be instrumental of leading [women]…to the knowledge of the Savior. To have a female praying society, consisting of those who were once in …darkness, is what my heart earnestly pants after, and makes a constant subject of prayer. Resolved to keep this in view as one principal object of my life (Robert p. 24).
Landing in Calcutta, they observed the life and ministry of William Carey and his colleagues. She observed the impact of the schools the missionaries had started and commented in a letter to her sisters how strategic she saw education to be, especially in the lives of women, who rarely had an opportunity to study.
Frustrated in their plan to work in India, the Judsons went on to Burma1. Adoniram spent his days in language study, preparing to translate the whole Bible into Burmese. Ann had to manage the family and household, forced to use what little she knew of the language all day long. As a result, her spoken facility grew to be even greater than her husband’s.
Click Here for Part 2 of this Biography
1 Place names have been changed since the 19th Century. However, in this essay I will use the terms employed by the Judsons in their writings.
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