Boudinot Currie Atterbury (June 10, 1852 – May 21, 1930), from a wealthy New York family, trained to be a medical doctor and worked with the Presbyterian missions in China and later with Chinese communities in the United States.

Early life

Atterbury was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on June 10, 1852. He was a son of Benjamin Bakewell Atterbury (1815–1900) and Olivia Eggleston ( Phelps) Atterbury (1821–1894). His father was a New York merchant with a shipping agency in Manchester. His brother, Anson Greene Phelps Atterbury, and one of his sisters, Olivia Phelps Atterbury, married into the

Van Rensselaer family The Van Rensselaer family () is a family of Dutch descent that was prominent during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries in the area now known as the state of New York. Members of this family played a critical role in the formation of the Unite ...

, who had relatives working in China (some of whom were killed in the Boxer uprising). His maternal grandparents were Anson Greene Phelps and Olivia Egleston. Boudinot Atterbury’s uncles included

James Boulter Stokes James Boulter Stokes (January 31, 1804 – August 1, 1881) was the third son-in-law of Anson Greene Phelps to become a partner in the mercantile business of Phelps, Dodge & Co. Early life Stokes's parents, Thomas and Elizabeth (née Boulter) Stok ...

, Daniel James, and William Earle Dodge, wealthy families that supported and funded his missionary work in China. Among his ancestors was Bishop Francis Atterbury as well as his grand-uncle,

Elias Boudinot Elias Boudinot ( ; May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821) was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress (more accurately referred to as the Congress of the Confederation) and served as President ...

, first

president of the Continental Congress The president of the United States in Congress Assembled, known unofficially as the president of the Continental Congress and later as the president of the Congress of the Confederation, was the presiding officer of the Continental Congress, the ...

. He attended Phillips Academy class of 1869 before going to

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, leaving as a non-graduate in 1873. After three years work experience he attended medical school under Dr.

Frank Hastings Hamilton Frank Hastings Hamilton (September 13, 1813 in Wilmington, Vermont – August 11, 1886 in New York City, New York) was an American surgeon. Hamilton was the son of Calvin and Lucinda (Hastings) Hamilton. Through his mother, he was a descendant o ...

Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States ...

from where he graduated with a medical degree in 1878. He expanded his medical knowledge, working in New York, Paris and Palestine.

Career

In 1879, Atterbury moved to China as a medical missionary. He built a hospital in Peking with funding from family and friends, treating the poor and training Chinese medical students. Another of his sponsors was Deborah Matilda Douw, who was also related via the Van Rensselaer connection. She survived the uprising by disguising herself in traditional Chinese clothing. Douw had funded a pavilion for female patients at the hospital and paid for a female physician for the facility. In 1896 he was awarded the

Order of the Double Dragon The Imperial Order of the Double Dragon () was an order awarded in the late Qing dynasty. The Order was founded by the Guangxu Emperor on 7 February 1882 as an award for outstanding services to the throne and the Qing court. Originally it was aw ...

by the Dowager Empress for his services during the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the ...

of 1894. In 1894 Atterbury attended the medical mission at Pao-ting-fu whilst the resident doctor took leave. During his tenure he built, at his own expense, a dispensary and additional hospital rooms. He also donated funds at a later date for equipment to the hospital. Due to ill health he left China in about 1898 and did not return, but continued his work amongst the Chinese population in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

and

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. In 1900 several of his colleagues in China were killed during the Boxer uprising.

Personal life

On August 18, 1890, Atterbury was married to Mary Josephine Lowrie (1858-1910) at Tien-Tsin, China by the Rev. J.W. Lowrie, the bride's brother. Mary was born in China, the daughter of missionaries Amelia and Rev. Reuben Post Lowrie, who lived and worked there, but was educated in America. Together, they were the parents of Boudinot Bakewell Atterbury (1892–1976), a businessman who married Ruth Rand, a daughter of Lyman Fiske Rand and sister to Gertrude Rand. Marguerite "Daisy" Atterbury (1896–1988), and Olive Atterbury (1898–1962). His wife Josephine died in Pasadena in 1910 and he died on May 21, 1930 in

Altamonte Springs, Florida Altamonte Springs is a suburban city in central Florida in Seminole County, Florida, United States, which had a population of 46,231 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is in the northern suburbs of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Metro ...

. After his death, his daughter Daisy returned to China to continue the missionary work and was interned in the Japanese

Weihsien Compound The Weixian Internment Camp (), better known historically as the Weihsien Internment Camp, was a Japanese-run internment camp called a ”Civilian Assembly Center” in the former (), located near the city of Weifang, Shandong, China. The com ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

(repatriated 1943).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atterbury, Boudinot Currie 1852 births 1930 deaths People in health professions from Manchester People from New York (state) American Presbyterian missionaries Presbyterian missionaries in China Christian medical missionaries American expatriates in China Presbyterian missionaries in the United States British emigrants to the United States