Samantha Knox Condit (August 27, 1837 – August 18, 1912) was an American teacher and Presbyterian missionary, working in the Chinese community of

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

and surroundings.

Early life

Samantha Davis Knox (known as "Mansie") was born in Hollidays Cove, West Virginia, the daughter of Andrew Knox and Elizabeth Knox.Mary Ferguson and Mary Campbell Bowman
"The History of Hollidays Cove: A New Ferry Established in the Cove"
''Weirton Daily Times'' (January 2, 1974): 6. via Newspapers.com She trained as a teacher at Steubenville Female Seminary in Ohio."Samantha Knox Condit"
''The Assembly Herald'' (October 1912): 541.

Career

Samantha Knox taught English at the Steubenville Female Seminary for fourteen years after her graduation from the same school. As Mrs. Condit, she worked with her husband as an American Presbyterian missionary in the Chinese community of

from 1872 until she died in 1912. She began and presided over the Occidental Board of Foreign Missions from her own home in its first months. She helped to found a rescue home for Chinese women in San Francisco, later called the

Donaldina Cameron House The Donaldina Cameron House, formerly known as the Occidental Board Presbyterian Mission House and Chinese Presbyterian Mission House, is a historic building built in 1908, and located in Chinatown, San Francisco, Chinatown in San Francisco, Cali ...

after

Donaldina Cameron Donaldina Cameron (July 26, 1869 – January 4, 1968) was a New Zealand-born American Presbyterian missionary who was a pioneer in the fight against slavery in San Francisco's Chinatown, who helped more than 2,000 Chinese immigrant girls and wom ...

."Noted Mission Worker Dies After Long Career"
''San Francisco Examiner'' (August 20, 1912): 3. via Newspapers.com In 1888 she attended the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as a delegate representing the Woman's Missionary Society. She organized activities for women and children at the Chinese Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, where her husband was the pastor, and taught Bible classes. "Mrs. Condit has been engaged in the work in the Chinese quarter for the past twenty-six years, and makes a house-to-house visitation each week," explained a 1998 report. Samantha Knox Condit was also involved in temperance work, as in 1882, when she presented a petition to the mayor of Oakland from the women of the city, demanding that saloons be kept closed on Sundays.

Personal life

Samantha Knox traveled to California in 1871 to stay with her brother William. She married an old friend, the Rev. Ira Miller Condit (1833-1915), in 1872, and helped to raise his children from his first marriage. Samantha Knox Condit died in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

in 1912, after a long illness, aged 74 years."Death of Mrs. Condit"
''Woman's Work'' (November 1912): 254.

Ng Poon Chew Ng Poon Chew (, March 14, 1866 – March 13, 1931) was an author, publisher, and advocate for Chinese American civil rights. He published the first Chinese-language daily newspaper to be printed outside of China.Franklin Ng,Ng Poon Chew" in ...

was one of the pastors assisting at her funeral service.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Condit, Samantha Knox 1837 births 1912 deaths American Presbyterian missionaries Female Christian missionaries People from Weirton, West Virginia