Missionary Q's in China

["Clayton E. Quarterman" <clay@paco.net>]

Dear Q List,                                                     Odessa, Ukraine

For those interested in the history of the Midway Quartermans and the
church, I came across an interesting tidbit:

As you may have read in Stacy or the Quarterman book, the Midway church sent
out her first missionaries quite ceremoniously around 1845. They were some
of North America's first wave of foreign missionaries to the Far East.
Pastor Robert Quarterman's son (Rev. John Winn Quarterman) and daughter
Susannah Q. Way (wife of Rev. Richard Quarterman Way) had a tearful send-off
from the church.

At that time, missionaries sometimes went to the field to stay for life. As
it ended up, the Ways did NOT stay in China forever, returning in 1858. John
Quarterman, however, was not so fortunate. After 10 years of service, he
caught smallpox and died in Ningpo, China, on 14 Oct 1857, being buried there. 

The really interesting detail regarding all this is that these missionaries
served together with one of the fathers of the modern missions movement,
Hudson Taylor. They were serving in Ningpo, China, on a missions compound of
the Presbyterian Church, and Taylor was a regular there. It was at this time
he was just starting to develop his "Second Wave" of modern missions -- the
drive away from the coastal, colonial settlements into the interior of
China. Thus was founded the "China Inland Mission", the first of many such
missions, seeking to spread Christ without spreading Western culture.

Taylor was a colleague and personal friend of the Ways and Quarterman,
visiting frequently in their home. Since he was single at the time, he was
more mobile and carried on an itinerant ministry. When John Quarterman fell
ill, he had to be quarantined. There was poor knowledge of treatment of the
disease at the time. Since others couldn't risk exposure to themselves or
their families, Hudson Taylor volunteered to minister to the sick John, thus
risking infection. After being tended to by Taylor for a week, John died.
Due to the subsequent fame of Taylor, this personal friendship and interest
should be taken as an honor to the Quarterman family, as a credit to the
character of Taylor, and as an honor to the Name of Jesus Christ, whom they
served.

I found a couple of books which refer to the incident. Unabridged editions
of the well-known book, "Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret" make reference to
it. I would love to find out if John's grave can still be located,
especially after the subsequent anti-Western rampages of the Boxer Rebellion
in 1900.

It is just these sorts of events and human interest stories which are
uncovered in family research which make it so worthwhile. It brings out the
drama of the past, and can inspire like nobility (or humility) in us. In
case you're wondering, I am not serving as a missionary through the
inspiration of the events recorded here, but one does have to wonder about
the overall influence of the Covenant of Grace in the Quarterman family. For
me, it was more of the influence of being taught the Shorter Catechism as a
child by my grandfather, Thomas P. Quarterman of Savannah. Just as referred
to in Stacy, the blessings pass "from generation to generation".

Dr. Clayton E. Quarterman
Presbyterian Church in America
Odessa, Ukraine

Source: 
"Hudson Taylor in Early Years", Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor (London:
CIM/Religious Tract Society, 1911)
        Tells a lot about Quarterman and the Ways, and relates details of
the event above.