Calista Vinton Luther (September 1841 – July 1924) was an American missionary and medical doctor, born in Burma (Myanmar). She was a physician after completing her medical degree in 1885, and ran a small sanitarium in New Jersey.

Early life

Calista Vinton was born in Burma, the daughter of American Baptist missionaries

Justus Vinton Justus H. Vinton (17 February 1806 – 31 March 1858) was an American Baptist missionary who worked for 25 years in Burma (now known as Myanmar) preaching the gospel amongst the Karen people. Early life Justus Vinton was born on in Willingt ...

and Calista Vinton. Her parents had been working in Burma for seven years when she was born. She was educated at

Suffield Academy Suffield Academy is a private preparatory school located in Suffield, Connecticut. It was founded in 1833 to train young men for ministry in the Baptist Church. The tuition fees for students are currently $65,000 for boarders and $38,700 for day s ...

in Connecticut from 1854 to 1858.

Career

From 1864 to 1872, she and her husband continued her parents' work and ran the Kemmerdine Mission schoolSlater Memorial Museum website, ''The Muse'' newsletter (Summer 2009)
/ref> and clinic in Kyimyintaing, three miles from

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

(Yangon). Calista Luther wrote an algebra textbook in the Karen language. Rev. Luther's health suffered, and they moved to the United States. In Philadelphia, Calista V. Luther trained as a physician at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1885, and practiced in that city. She,

Marie K. Formad Marie K. Formad (1860 – February 21, 1944) was a Russian Empire-born American physician based in Philadelphia. Early life Formad was born in Russia. She moved to the United States in 1883. Her older brother (sometimes mistakenly referred to ...

, and two other women doctors ran an evening dispensary for working women to receive medical care and advice at a convenient time. She ran a small summer sanitarium for women in

South Orange, New Jersey South Orange, officially the Township of South Orange Village, is a suburban township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village's population was 16,198, reflecting a decline of 766 (4.5%) fro ...

and Old Saybrook, Connecticut. She spoke on women's medical education, and modern treatments for insanity. Among her patients was Viscountess de Suzannet, the former Margaret Knower. Luther retired from medical work in 1917. Luther wrote a biography of her parents, ''The Vintons and the Karens'' (1880). She also contributed a chapter on Karen children to ''Child Life in Many Lands'' (1903). She was president of the Woman's Baptist Foreign Mission Society in Newark, New Jersey, and of the Alumnae Association of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. In 1903, she spoke at the annual meeting of the New Jersey Woman Suffrage Association.

Personal life

In 1864, Calista Vinton married a fellow missionary, Robert Morris Luther, an ordained minister trained at Princeton Theological Seminary. They had two daughters, Edith and Agnes, both born in Burma. Calista Vinton Luther was widowed in 1903 and died in July 1924, in Brooklyn. Her brother's grandson was surgeon

Gordon Seagrave Gordon Stifler Seagrave (18 March 1897 – 28 March 1965) was a Burmese-born American missionary, physician and author. Life and career Born in Rangoon, he was the son of American Baptist missionaries Rev. Albert Ernest Seagrave and Alice Vin ...

. Gordon Seagrave was the father of historian Sterling Vinton Seagrave, and grandfather of actress Jocelyn Seagrave.

References

External links

The Gutenberg Project website, ''The Vintons And The Karens - Memorials of Rev. Justus H. Vinton and Calista H. Vinton''
Calista V. Luther's biography of her parents, Justus and Calista (online copy). {{DEFAULTSORT:Luther, Calista V. 1841 births 1924 deaths Baptist missionaries in Myanmar Baptist missionaries from the United States Female Christian missionaries American expatriates in Myanmar American women physicians 19th-century Baptists