Eliza Grew Jones (March 30, 1803 – March 28, 1838
) was an American
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
and
lexicographer
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoreti ...
. She created a
romanized
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
script for writing the
Siamese language, and created the first Siamese-English dictionary.
Biography
Eliza Coltman Grew was born on March 30, 1803. Her father, Rev. Henry Grew, was a native of
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
,
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
. Presaging her future accomplishments, an early school teacher noted that she had an unusual ability in languages, learning Greek without the aid of a teacher.
She married Rev. Dr.
John Taylor Jones
John Taylor Jones (July 16, 1802 – September 13, 1851) was an American missionary, and one of the earliest Protestant missionary to Siam (now Thailand) with his wife, Eliza Grew Jones. He is credited with introducing to Siam the modern worl ...
on July 14, 1830. Her husband was
ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...
in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
two weeks later under the
American Baptist Missionary Union
International Ministries is an international Baptist Christian missionary society. It is a constituent board affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. The headquarters is in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, United States.
History
The soc ...
, and the couple was then assigned to work in
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. They lived there for over two years before being transferred to
Siam
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...
.
Jones' first large work was a Siamese-English dictionary that she completed in December 1833, after she had been transferred to Siam. It was not published due to the difficulty of printing with Siamese type, and thought to be lost until an untitled manuscript in the
British Museum Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
was identified in 2007 as an extant copy of the lost Jones dictionary.
Later, she also created a romanized script for writing the Siamese language. She wrote portions of Biblical history in
Siamese.
In Burma and
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, she gave birth to four children, two of whom died in childhood.
![Eliza-grew-jones-grave](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Eliza-grew-jones-grave.jpg)
Jones died in
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
of
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
on March 28, 1838. She is buried in the
Bangkok Protestant Cemetery
The Bangkok Protestant Cemetery is a cemetery catering mainly to the foreign community in Bangkok. To date, the cemetery has over 1800 interments (around 1100 names are legible on extant gravestones), and it is still accepting burials on a limited ...
.
References
Further reading
*''Dana Lee Robert, American Women in Mission: a social history of their thought and practice, Mercer University Press (1997)''
*''Eliza G. Jones, Memoir of Mrs. Eliza G. Jones, Cornell University Library (March 21, 2007)''
*Sigourney, Lydia Howard. 1851. Letters to My Pupils: With Narrative and Biographical Sketches. (Her former teacher wrote of her on pp. 294–302.)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Eliza Grew
1803 births
1838 deaths
Writers from Providence, Rhode Island
American lexicographers
Creators of writing systems
Baptist missionaries in Thailand
Baptist missionaries in Myanmar
Women linguists
Women lexicographers
Deaths from cholera
Burials at the Bangkok Protestant Cemetery
19th-century American women scientists
19th-century American women writers
19th-century American writers
Baptist missionaries from the United States
Female Christian missionaries
American women non-fiction writers
American expatriates in Thailand
American expatriates in Myanmar
19th-century Baptists
Missionary linguists
19th-century lexicographers
infectious disease deaths in Thailand