Josephine Carrier Lawney (April 29, 1881 – February 27, 1962) was an American physician, college administrator, and Baptist medical missionary in China. She was dean of the Women's Christian Medical College in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

Early life

Josephine Carrier Lawney was born in Chicago and raised in

Readsboro, Vermont Readsboro is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. The town was named after John Reade, a landholder. The population was 702 at the 2020 census. The hamlet of Heartwellville is in the northern part of Readsboro, approximately nor ...

, the daughter of Josephine Rosella Carrier Laughna and James E. Laughna. Both parents were born in New England. (The names ''Laughna'' and ''Lawney'' were pronounced similarly; Josephine and her sister Letty Jane used the latter spelling.) Her mother died when Josephine was fifteen years old, and the Lawney girls were raised by relatives named Crosier. She worked at a chair factory in Vermont to support herself and her college education. She earned her medical degree at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1916.

Career

Lawney worked at the Pittsburgh Tuberculosis Hospital after medical school. She was commissioned by the Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission Society as a missionary in 1919, and assigned to the

Margaret Williamson Hospital The Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University (), commonly known as the Red House Hospital (), is a teaching hospital in Shanghai, China, affiliated with the Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University. It is rated Grade 3, Class A, ...

and the Women's Christian Medical College in Shanghai from 1919 to 1943. She became a professor and dean of the medical school. She learned to speak

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

, and studied

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

, beri-beri, and

anemia Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...

in China. In 1925, she attended a conference at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

on "America's Relations with China." After celebrating her fiftieth birthday in Shanghai, she took a study furlough in the United States from 1931 to 1933. During war with Japan, she treated refugees in a camp near Shanghai. When the United States entered

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 opposin ...

, Lawney was interned as an enemy alien from 1941 to 1943, and worked as a physician in the prison camp. She returned to the United States in 1943, and spoke about her internment experience, while also studying at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. From 1946 to 1948, she was back in China to establish a medical service, until missionaries were no long allowed. Back in the United States, from 1948 to her retirement in 1955, she worked at the Associated Missions Medical Office, and helped to found a Baptist church on Long Island.

Personal life

Lawney was a close friend of Margaret Treat Doane, the daughter of hymn writer William Howard Doane. In 1948, her hometown church in Readsboro, Vermont, dedicated a plaque honoring her missionary work. Lawney died in 1962, aged 80 years, at a hospital in New York City, after several months of illness. Her grave is in

Heartwellville, Vermont Readsboro is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. The town was named after John Reade, a landholder. The population was 702 at the 2020 census. The hamlet of Heartwellville is in the northern part of Readsboro, approximately nort ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawney, Josephine C. 1881 births 1962 deaths Activists from Chicago People from Readsboro, Vermont American women civilians in World War II Baptist missionaries in China Christian medical missionaries Physicians from Vermont American women physicians Baptist missionaries from the United States Female Christian missionaries 20th-century Baptists 20th-century American people