Nancy Jane Dean (April 8, 1837 – March 5, 1926), often referred to as Jennie Dean or N. J. Dean, was an American educator and Presbyterian missionary serving Assyrian Christians in Qajar Iran (now Iran). She served as the head of Fiske Seminary, a girls' boarding school in

Urmia Urmia or Orumiyeh ( fa, ارومیه, Variously transliterated as ''Oroumieh'', ''Oroumiyeh'', ''Orūmīyeh'' and ''Urūmiyeh''.) is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran and the capital of Urmia County. It is situated at an alt ...

Early life

Nancy Jane Dean was born on her family's farm in Livonia Township, near

Plymouth, Michigan Plymouth is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, United States. The population was 9,370 at the 2020 census. The city of Plymouth is surrounded by Plymouth Township, but the two are administered autonomously. Plymouth is a western suburb of Metro ...

, the youngest of the thirteen children of Gabriel Dean and Lydia Bradner Dean. Both of her parents were born in New York state. She trained as a teacher at the

Michigan State Normal School Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

Ypsilanti, Michigan Ypsilanti (), commonly shortened to Ypsi, is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 20,648. The city is bounded to the north by Superior Township and on the west, south, and ...

, graduating in 1860.Class of 1860 notes
''The Aurora'' (Michigan State Normal College 1895): 158. Dean was a school teacher in Michigan for six years.

Career

Mount Holyoke Seminary Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

graduate

Fidelia Fisk Fidelia Fisk (also known as Fidelia Fiske; 1 May 1816 – 9 August 1864) was an American Congregationalist missionary and teacher. She founded the Fiske Seminary boarding school in Urmia in West Azerbaijan Province, Qajar Iran. Early life Fide ...

e founded Fiske Seminary, a girls' boarding school at Urmia in 1843, to educate Christian Assyrian girls (which at the time were referred to as "

Nestorians Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian N ...

", and is no longer a preferred term) and to train teachers. Fiske left the school and Iran in 1858 for health reasons. After her departure it was renamed Fiske Seminary.D. T. Fiske, ''Faith Working by Love, as exemplified in the Life of Fidelia Fiske'' (Congregational Publishing Society 1868). Nancy Jane Dean arrived at Urmia to teach at the school in 1868, and became the school's principal. She took a furlough from 1875 to 1878, and spoke to church groups about her work. In 1890, the Urmia mission reported that "Miss Dean, the faithful worker of twenty-two years, has been quite broken down... she has never given up entirely, and her presence, her experience and her spirituality exert untold influence over the girls of the boarding school." Nancy Jane Dean left the mission field in 1892, in poor health.Cora C. Bartlett
"Setting the Standard at Teheran"
''Woman's Work'' (August 1911): 177. "Her presence and influence will be long missed," commented one report. As she was leaving, before reaching

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...

, her pack train was attacked by vandals and some of her possessions were taken. She returned briefly to Persia in 1899, before permanently retiring in 1904. In retirement, Dean continued to lecture on Persia and work with Presbyterian women's groups. In 1920 and 1923, she was an honored guest at meetings of the Woman's Missionary Society of the Presbytery of Detroit.

Personal life

Nancy Jane Dean died in Detroit in 1926, aged 88 years."Survivor of Ox-Cart Days Reaches Her 100th Birthday"
''Detroit Free Press'' (January 16, 1935): 8. via

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References

External links

* * Matthew Mark Davis
"Evangelizing the Orient: American Missionaries in Iran, 1890-1940"
(Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University 2001). {{DEFAULTSORT:Dean, Nancy Jane 1837 births 1926 deaths American Presbyterian missionaries Female Christian missionaries People from Wayne County, Michigan Eastern Michigan University alumni Presbyterian missionaries in Iran American expatriates in Iran Educators from Michigan American women educators