Rosetta Sherwood Hall (September 19, 1865 – April 5, 1951) was a medical
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
educator
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
. She founded the
Pyongyang
Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...
School for the
Deaf
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
, helping develop educational resources for disabled Koreans and implementing women's medical training.
Early life and education
Rosetta Sherwood was born in
Liberty, New York
Liberty is a town in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was 9,885 at the 2010 census. The town contains a village also named Liberty. The village is bisected by New York State Route 52 (NY 52) and NY 55, and is ...
, the eldest of English immigrants, Phoebe (née Gildersleeve) and Rosevelt Rensler Sherwood. She graduated from Oswego State Normal School in 1883 and worked as a local school teacher. After attending an 1886 visiting-lecture about the need for medical missions in India, she enrolled in the
Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...
. She graduated with her medical degree by 1889.
Career
While working in lower
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
at Madison Street Mission Dispensary, she met her Canadian-born husband Dr.
William James Hall
William James Hall (January 16, 1860 – November 24, 1894) was a medical and religious missionary in South Korea, Korea, primarily in Pyongyang, Pyeongyang during the 1890s. Upon graduation from medical school, he continued working in New York ...
. Dr. William Hall also was working at the same dispensary and was listed to leave on a medical mission to China with the
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...
of Canada, which inspired her to apply for a similar position. She was officially called by the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1890. Her future spouse received his call in 1891. They did not marry, however, until they "met in the foreign field" as they were each separately placed by separate mission boards. They married in June 1892. She lost her U.S. citizenship when she married a Canadian.
She founded the Baldwin Dispensary in Seoul (renamed the Lilian Harris Memorial Hospital). In 1894, she initiated the teaching of sight-impaired people in Korea by teaching a blind girl, using a modification of
Braille
Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...
that she had developed. In 1899 she established the Edith Margaret Memorial Wing of the Womens Dispensary (Pyongyang). In 1909, she established a school for people with
hearing impairment
Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken l ...
s. Along with two Korean doctors (Dr. Taik Won Kim and his wife, Dr. Chung-Hee Kil), she founded the
Chosun
Joseon (; ; Middle Korean
Middle Korean is the period in the history of the Korean language succeeding Old Korean and yielding in 1600 to the Modern period.
The boundary between the Old and Middle periods is traditionally identified with t ...
Women's Medical Training Institute in 1928, with the goal of eventually elevating it to a Women's Medical School. After Hall’s retirement, Dr. Taik Won Kim and Dr. Chung-Hee Kil took charge of the Women’s Medical Training Institute from 1933 to 1937. This institute became Kyungsung Women's Medical School in 1938 thanks to the financial contribution of Kim Jong Ick. It became co-educational school in 1957. Currently, it has developed into one of the leading medical schools in Korea,
Korea University College of Medicine
Korea University College of Medicine is the medical school of Korea University. It is located in Seoul, South Korea. As one of the oldest medical schools in South Korea, it has been historically regarded as one of the country's top medical school ...
. Hall was also responsible for getting or helping get other institutions of higher learning established. In 1933 she left Korea. She died on April 5, 1951 in
Ocean Grove, New Jersey
Ocean Grove is a unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Neptune Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States.