William Henry Roberts (25 October 1847 – 24 December 1919) was a

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 ...

minister from the United States who worked for many years as a missionary 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 ...

Biography

Roberts was born on 25 October 1847, in

Botetourt Springs Botetourt Springs (originally: Sulphur Spring Tract) is a mineral spring and was a historical settlement on the border of Roanoke County, Virginia and Botetourt County, Virginia, United States. The spring is located from Fincastle. Botetourt Sp ...

, Virginia. He studied at Roanoke College and Richmond College (now the University of Richmond), then went on to the

Northern Baptist Theological Seminary Northern Seminary is a Baptist Christian seminary in Lisle, Illinois. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. Its president is William D. Shiell. History It was founded in 1913 by the Second Baptist Church of Chicago as ''Northe ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He served under

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...

General

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...

with the Army of Northern Virginia during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. Roberts became a missionary supported by the American Baptist Missionary Union, working among the Kachin people around Bhamo and Myitkyina from 1879 until 1913. On his arrival in Burma, Roberts obtained grudging permission from the Burmese king,

Thibaw Min Thibaw Min, also Thebaw or Theebaw ( my, သီပေါ‌မင်း, ; 1 January 1859 – 19 December 1916) was the last king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and also the last Burmese monarch in the country's history. His re ...

, to build a school and educate the Kachins. The king, a devout

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

, granted Roberts "land the size of a buffalo skin". Roberts bought a buffalo skin, cut it into thin strips and used it to measure out the mission compound. Although his wife soon died from

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

, Roberts was to carry out his mission for 34 years. His daughter, Dora, and his son-in-law, John E. Cummings, also became missionaries to Burma. In 1881 Roberts remarried and established a school in Bhamo with his second wife, Alice Roberts (d. 1933). They had a son, William Henry Roberts, Jr. In 1917, the Roberts retired from missionary work and returned to

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

, where Roberts died in 1919.Shawn Zambrows
Matters of Faith: Myanmar school to honor legacy of First Baptist Church of Redlands member
''Redlands Daily Facts'', April 27, 2019

Legacy

Roberts was followed by the Swedish-American missionary

Ola Hanson Ola Hanson (June 25, 1864 in Åhus, Sweden – October 17, 1929 in St. Paul, Minnesota) was a Swedish-American missionary who worked with the Kachin people in Burma. Hanson came to the United States in 1881, settling in Oakland, Nebraska. He at ...

, who arrived in 1890 and did much work in compiling a grammar and dictionary for their

Jinghpaw The Jingpo people ( my, ဂျိန်းဖော) are an ethnic group who are the largest subset of the Kachin peoples, which largely inhabit the Kachin Hills in northern Myanmar's Kachin State and neighbouring Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonom ...

language, and in translating hymns and the Bible into Jingpaw. In 1892 George J. Geis arrived, establishing a mission at Myitkyina, to the North of Bhamo. A school in Bhamo was named after Alice Roberts.

Biography

Legacy

References

Further reading