Women We Should Know: Betsey Stockton

Wonderful. Thank you. Father, we thank you that you are a fountain of blessing to us,

your people, that you have given us this wonderful promise of the Spirit who bubbles up as streams

of living water within us, making existence life itself in knowing you. Thank you too,

Lord, that your Holy Spirit has manifested himself in the wonderful and beautiful lives of so many of

your people. And we are going to consider one this morning together. So continue to work that good

work of your recreation in our lives, that they may be adorned increasingly with the fruits of

your Spirit, that they might resemble your Son, Father, in whom is your delight, that we might

have lives that are deeply glorifying to you and wonderfully fulfilling to us. We ask it in Jesus'

name. Amen. All right. If you could hand these in when you're done, we'll use them again in the future.

Well, we're continuing our series on women you should know, but just might possibly not,

ones that are a little bit less known. And we are considering this morning Betsy Stockton,

we might say indentured servant who sat with queens. Indentured servant who sat with queens.

There she is. Betsy Stockton never knew the exact details of her birth.

Wherever her year of birth appears in any of the literature or records, there's always a question

mark after it. The identity of her father is unknown, as is her mother. She is listed in a census that we

have of a mulatto. So most likely, judging from the common experience, her mother was an enslaved woman

woman and her father, her mother's owner. One wonders if her mother, her birth mother, was ever given

the joy of naming her daughter. As Betsy, her name, B-E-T-S-E-Y, distinctively, as Betsy, was a favorite name

among the white woman of the Stockton clan, in whose Princeton home, baby Betsy saw the light of day

and her birth mother's face.

While just a little girl, mother and daughter were separated. And Betsy was placed in the Philadelphia

home of Robert Stockton's daughter, Elizabeth. There is Elizabeth. Elizabeth and her husband,

Ashbell Green. Ashbell Green, here is Elizabeth's husband, Ashbell Green was pastor of the Second

Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. And one might have thought this a relatively hopeful situation

for Betsy. Indeed, later, Betsy would refer to the Ashbell Greens as a, quote, affectionate,

indulgent household, even being spoiled. And describe her wards as, quote, reform-minded people

who supported the abolition of slavery. And it was true that Ashbell Green was for abolition,

indeed played a leading role in drafting the church's position on slavery for the Presbyterian

General Assembly that met in 1818, which stated forthrightly, and this would have been in Ashbell

Green's prose, okay, we consider the voluntary enslaving of one part of the human race by another

as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights of human nature, as utterly inconsistent

with the law of God, which requires us to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is manifestly the duty

of all Christians to correct the errors of former times, former times, and as speedily as possible

to efface this blot on our holy religion and to obtain the complete abolition of slavery

throughout Christendom, and if possible, throughout the entire world. Sounds wonderful in principle.

And although Green wrote that Betsy Stockton, quote, was never intended to be held as a slave,

that was indeed her status, even if her condition held affectionate features.

Betsy writes of her master providing an education through tutoring and the use of his enormous private library.

So she did have many wonderful, wonderful opportunities. Thus, if this is a warm glow,

surely it is still a dark landscape.

Sadly, we have, in several intervals of Betsy's life, very little to go on.

We can construct an external biography as to the outward shape, but her interior life is often hidden from us

by the absence of written remains, as is so typical of many indentured servants.

Telling her story is, as one has put it, often feels like trying to read a book with pages torn out.

Just get frustrated at what's missing.

Or maybe singing, it's like singing a hymn when you forget some of the words, as I often do and increasingly these days.

But, for all the gaps, we're going to go ahead and try, because despite all these tantalizing gaps,

it really is a wonderful story and well worth telling.

When, in 1812, Ashbell Green, again, he had been president of the Second Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia,

in 1812, Ashbell Green was summoned from his Philadelphia pastorate to assume the presidency of Princeton College.

There it is.

Isn't that a mighty handsome college there?

Not much has changed since.

It's still equally bucolic, but that's an aside.

I'm getting hisses.

I'm no.

And, indeed, the town of Princeton then and the college became the setting for the next season of Betsy's life,

and significantly in several ways.

The new president's arrival came at a time of crisis.

I knew before I left my pastoral charge that the college was in a most deplorable state, he writes.

I went with a resolution to reform it, or fall under the attempt.

And by reform, he meant reshape the college into what its pious founders intended it to be, as he writes.

Well, that would prove a challenging ambition for the degeneracy of the times, would prove tenacious.

To give a sense of the depths of the nadir to which the college had fallen from its founding hopes of being a nursery of piety,

let me give a few incidents from the beleaguered president's diaries that he records here in his memoirs.

In one act of notable, flagitious impiety, I love that term.

What a great term.

Flagitious impiety.

Mind-boggling against an instinct for what is appropriate.

Flagitious.

We are told of one student who, under cover of darkness, forced his way through a window in the college prayer hall,

and then cut through the leaves of the college Bible to form a cavity in which he inserted a pack of playing cards.

That when they opened the Bible to read scripture, a pack of playing cards fell out.

Then there was the big cracker incident.

The big cracker consisted of a hollow log with two pounds of gunpowder confined in the cavity.

This infernal machine, as the president called it, this infernal machine, was set off at the entrance of Nassau Hall.

This was the, that's that very lovely building right there.

On the Sabbath, which betrayed religion as the true target of this explosion.

Well, the discharge cracked walls and broke windows throughout the whole building,

hurling a fragment of the log through the door of the, the, the prayer, prayer hall.

So, even the president himself came under assault by a liquor animated student rowdy,

who aimed a blow at his head with an and iron.

Well, such was the bleak and lawless backdrop of a spiritual awakening,

which would stir, stir the Princeton campus.

Of the 105 students in the college at the time,

a mere 12 even professed any religion at all.

But the small cohort of disciples, along with the president,

had been praying daily for a descent of God's quickening spirit.

And when Ashbell Green had come into office,

he had instituted, as part of the college curriculum,

and thus required of all students, a weekly Bible recitation.

That is, every student had to read, reflect upon,

and present a synopsis of the content,

systematically through every book of the Bible.

And it seems that many a student,

though they treated it merely as,

this discipline is merely an academic exercise,

they began in doing so to experience,

as they read the Bible,

you can read in some of their journals,

that the Bible began to read them.

And the Holy Spirit, the great matchmaker,

was wedding their hearts to the Savior.

In this manner, writes the president,

the divine influence seemed to descend like a silent dew from heaven.

I mean, this is one of these really interesting things

when you study revivals in this period.

Some of them come through the remarkable and dramatic use of means,

preaching, revival preaching,

but some of them seem to be all out of connection with many means,

or certainly not dramatic means that we would often associate with it.

Just the simple, basic exercise of some of the simple disciplines of reading the Bible.

And great spiritual things happen.

Well, Betsy too, Betsy Stockton,

in her campus home,

the campus home of the president,

she lived in the president, Ashbell Green's home,

had been also engaged in this discipline.

She picked up the same discipline of reading her Bible systematically.

And she heard each day in their family altar,

because the servants would have,

she was always a part of the family altar with his children.

The fervent prayers of the president himself,

and indeed for her soul,

and the souls of his children.

And she too,

by the same spirit,

had in the joyful words of Green,

quote,

met with a saving change of heart,

in that very same awakening.

The minutes of Princeton's first Presbyterian church record that on September 20th,

quote,

quote,

Betsy Stockton,

a colored woman living in the family of Reverend Dr. Green,

applied for admission to the Lord's table.

Well,

the elders were satisfied as to the evidence of her experimental acquaintance with religion.

You remember from last time we explained that experimental,

we would say experiential.

This was deeply,

a deep reality in her experience.

They called it experimental in those days.

So upon,

there,

in the judgment of charity,

a credible evidence of experimental religion,

she was then baptized,

baptized,

and received into full communion.

Well,

right at this time,

the Greens freed Betsy from any obligation to remain in their household.

So as an indentured servant,

basically,

you were required to stay as a servant in a household for an express amount of time,

and then you would be released or given your freedom.

And,

and this they did.

I should say,

this would have been well in advance of the practice at the time in New Jersey.

So this was incredibly progressive,

even for ministers of the gospel in that day,

to just,

to,

to release her.

So she's released,

and needs no longer remain in their household as a servant.

But,

she actually requested,

and was given permission to stay on as a paid domestic helper.

That way,

she was able to continue to have access to what was surely one of the most ample and edifying libraries in the entire country in that day.

And in that library,

she continued to be tutored by the president himself,

and especially by his son,

James,

who took a diligent and affectionate interest in Betsy's education.

Uh,

Betsy was very keen to learn,

and also attended,

uh,

a local Sabbath school.

Uh,

and again,

remember,

Sabbath school is a school that,

that isn't simply devoted to religious instruction.

It's devoted to reading,

writing,

arithmetic,

pretty much all instruction,

but just meets on a Sabbath day,

which would be the only day available for people that,

that,

that work,

children that would work to be able to attend.

It's called Sabbath school.

And Osborne,

uh,

a Princeton seminary student who taught,

uh,

the Sabbath school classes was greatly impressed by Betsy's scholarship.

And when she surprisingly asked him for an academic reference,

uh,

he happily obliged,

writing,

quote,

she has a larger acquaintance with sacred history and the Mosaic institution than almost any ordinary person,

old or young I have ever known.

Later,

he specified what he meant by ordinary person is anyone who is not a minister of the gospel or on a present ordination track.

That's,

that's a remarkable comment,

commendation there.

More,

more knowledge of the Bible and the Mosaic institutions than anyone he knew.

Um,

Osborne went on,

I recollect a multitude of instances where for my own information,

I have questioned her about some fact in biblical history or some minute point of Jewish antiquities and have immediately received a correct answer.

Obviously showing the effects of Ashbell Green's ample library in which she spent much time.

Um,

um,

neither was Betsy keeping all this education to herself for she started her own class in town to instruct,

instruct black children in the community.

Now,

perhaps you are wondering for what purpose was Betsy seeking academic recommendations?

What's going on here?

Well,

it seems that in her newfound faith and newly acquired freedom,

she was eager to exercise both in no ordinary way.

It seems there was blossoming in her heart,

a desire to go to Africa as a missionary to carry the saving message of Christ to those who would never hear it at all,

unless someone would be willing to bring it to them.

Now,

overseas missions was just in its first infancy in America.

The first to leave for foreign shores were two couples who sailed from Boston to Burma in 1812,

uh,

among whom,

well,

Adam Ironman and Judson were one,

the subject of an earlier lecture that,

that we've given here.

Uh,

they sailed to Burma in 1812,

uh,

and there were as yet no opportunities to go to Africa with the nascent American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

Okay.

Uh,

uh,

but there was one in the making to go to the remote sandwich islands.

The sandwich islands is what we now call Hawaii.

Uh,

Captain Cook actually named it the sandwich islands after the Earl of Sandwich,

uh,

after whom the sandwich was named,

uh,

because he was such an inveterate gambler that he never even wanted a break in his gambling,

uh,

uh,

to eat meals.

So his servants would bring him a little slice of beef between two slices of bread.

So,

uh,

that is the,

uh,

but,

but that's extra.

That is not part of the notes.

Um,

uh,

uh,

back to Hawaii.

Okay.

Uh,

why Hawaii?

Uh,

you may wonder why Hawaii?

Well,

that's a story that is quite extraordinary.

And one that takes us back here to New Haven and Yale.

Uh,

it turns out,

uh,

it turns out that a Hawaiian boy named Obukaya,

there he is,

uh,

Obukaya,

who had lost his parents in the internecine tribal wars back in the Hawaiian islands,

and,

and,

and,

and fleeing that violence,

had seen a ship passing by,

swam out,

and,

and stowed away in this passing ship,

and eventually shows up at a port,

New Haven,

and he,

and,

and,

uh,

there,

there he shows up,

Obukaya,

in an ill-fitting sailor suit,

found himself wandering on the Yale campus,

and was taken in by students,

who,

thinking him a curiosity,

brought him to Yale president Timothy Dwight,

uh,

who received him in his,

oh,

oh,

did I forget Timothy Dwight?

He's,

he's,

he's,

he's somewhere.

You see him all around,

I mean,

I'm,

I'm,

I'm sure you all have pictures of him in your home,

uh,

uh,

but,

uh,

uh,

there,

uh,

there,

President Dwight,

with President Dwight,

Obukaya,

learned to read and write English,

along with a daily dose of gospel.

Uh,

I heard of God as often as I lived with this family,

uh,

writes Obukaya.

Well,

before long,

he had put his trust in Christ,

he had put his trust in Christ,

and burned with a desire to return to his island people,

to bring them the good news of Jesus.

And it was Obukaya's Yale students,

uh,

uh,

companions,

who conceived of a vision of starting a foreign mission school to equip Obukaya,

Obukaya him,

and some others like him.

There were a couple of other,

um,

uh,

Hawaiian boys,

uh,

to carry the gospel back to their people.

Uh,

so this,

found this,

these are some of the names,

and then they have their Hawaiian names,

and you,

you,

you'll see their names.

This is from the original little entry book at,

uh,

at the,

the college that was founded,

the foreign mission school.

And Yale senior Edwin Dwight,

a relative of President Dwight,

uh,

who would,

he was the student that first found Obukaya wandering on the campus quad.

He became the first principal of this new mission school established in Cornwall,

Connecticut,

uh,

in 1817.

Uh,

here's the,

there's the,

uh,

there,

there was,

uh,

it's burned down,

so we can't see it anymore.

Alas,

uh,

uh,

uh,

uh,

sadly,

oh,

it's so heart-wrenching.

Obukaya gets through his training and is about to go,

but he never made it back to his people with the gospel,

for he died of typhus,

uh,

just,

uh,

just about a year later.

Uh,

but,

but,

the torch that he had hoped to carry that had slipped from his dying hand was taken up by the Yale students who held him so dearly,

held him so dear.

Uh,

so,

um,

there we go.

Um,

uh,

the,

uh,

the,

uh,

first installment of two missionary couples set sail for Obukaya's island home on October 23rd,

1819.

So there's Hiram Bingham,

who,

again,

pretty famous name at Yale,

you know,

the Binghams,

um,

and,

uh,

yeah,

and there's Sybil.

This is,

that's a good one.

Uh,

that's actually painted by Morse,

is in Morse College,

who was also a really,

a really good artist.

Um,

so,

uh,

love that frill.

But here's another picture of them that I really like.

Isn't that,

it's a sweet picture.

There they are on the field.

Um,

the old,

uh,

daguerra,

uh,

thing there.

So,

uh,

yeah,

so,

so they were the,

they were the first,

uh,

Hiram and Sybil Bingham.

Uh,

and then the other couple that went with them,

um,

uh,

Yalies,

uh,

also,

um,

that's,

uh,

Lucy and,

um,

and,

uh,

Thurston.

Uh,

well,

no,

no,

no,

Thurston's their last name.

It's,

uh,

uh,

Asa.

Yeah.

Asa and Lucy Thurston.

So,

uh,

there they go.

Look at those wonderful gloves there.

Pretty,

pretty neat.

As we'll see in a moment,

those clothes that they left for didn't end up matching the climate.

Very well where they were going to show up,

but we'll get to that in a moment.

Uh,

so there they go.

That's the first installment to the sandwich islands and God blessed their endeavors opening doors.

So many doors,

in fact,

that they called for reinforcements.

We need more missionaries to come.

And it was this opportunity to bring the gospel to foreign lands that had prompted Betsy,

who heard about this,

to suddenly seek out references from her teachers.

Uh,

and,

uh,

so we've mentioned Osborne's reference.

You heard a little bit of that.

Her Sabbath school teachers glowing reference.

Well,

her other reference came from Ashbell Green.

I mean,

no shabby reference that the president of Princeton college,

uh,

and his commendation was without reserve.

Quote,

few of her age and sex have read more books on religion than she.

And he,

he,

he,

he's the president of a universe of a college,

you know,

so he's around college students.

Um,

neither can they give a better account of them.

So she had,

she had,

she had assimilated this stuff.

Wonderful.

Uh,

well,

as it turned out,

uh,

there was another,

uh,

there he is.

there was,

uh,

uh,

uh,

uh,

another missionary candidate from Princeton,

uh,

Charles Stewart.

So there's Charles Stewart.

And,

uh,

he had also been awakened in that same awakening where,

uh,

Betsy,

uh,

had been revived,

uh,

or had closed with Christ.

And,

uh,

uh,

with his new bride,

he also hoped to answer the call to the Hawaiian missions.

Uh,

there he is again with his bride,

uh,

Harriet was her name.

That's Harriet.

So Charles and Harriet Stewart.

Um,

both the Stewart's and Betsy,

uh,

would have to pay a substantial share of their own expenses to get to the mission field.

And one might've thought this a daunting obstacle from,

uh,

only recently freed indentured servant.

Uh,

but she had been saving up her wages paid to her in the president's household.

And president green supplied all the shortfall to get her to the field.

Uh,

Betsy was to be specially attached to the Stewart family.

Now expecting,

uh,

she would be ideal help with the baby,

but,

but president green insisted that she was quote,

well qualified for higher employment in a mission than domestic drudgery.

Uh,

not that some domestic drudgery would not be the lot of all missionaries that show up on the field,

but green was keen that Betsy's role not be restricted to such.

The contract,

uh,

signed with the board of foreign missions indicates Betsy's work as quote,

the great enterprise of endeavoring to ameliorate the condition of the heathen generally,

and especially to bring them to a saving knowledge of the truth that as it is in Jesus.

Then there's a strange clause appearing in the contract that Betsy quote,

is to be regarded and treated neither as an equal,

nor as a servant,

but as an humble Christian friend.

What did this mean?

Did Betsy wonder or have anxiety as to how this would play out among her missionary colleagues?

Not as an equal,

but not as a servant?

Well,

she would soon have the opportunity to discover what relations would be like.

As November 19th,

1822,

Betsy Stockton boarded the whaling ship,

Thames,

docked in New Haven Harbor.

She would be the very first American single female missionary to land on foreign shores.

Isn't that extraordinary?

The very first single American missionary to land on foreign shores.

I'm very careful with that language.

Technically,

not the first to leave for foreign shores,

but to land on foreign shores.

As it turned out,

there was a widow,

Mrs. Charlotte White,

who just a couple of years earlier,

had headed out to Burma with the Baptists as a widow,

but she ran into another missionary single man on the boat.

And they,

yeah,

they were,

by the time they arrived,

they were married.

So,

so Betsy Stockton is the first single female woman missionary from America to arrive on foreign

shores as a missionary.

So,

just to be precise there in case you hear something different.

I'm not confused.

So,

yeah.

Well,

as the long voyage to the South Seas commenced,

so did Betsy's journal.

It's wonderful.

She has a journal for this time.

And it commences with this sentence.

Here begins the history of things known only to those who have bid the American shores a long adieu.

So,

here,

there,

there are a bunch of missionaries parting and leaving from New Haven,

New Haven Harbor.

So,

well,

yes,

things that begin known only to those who leave for foreign shores.

One thing that quickly began and known only to those who leave American shores upon the open seas is stomach distress.

For the next entry,

the very first day on board reads in her diary,

the weather became stormy and the seasickness commenced.

Only to be followed the next day with this entry.

It blew very hard in the day and in the night increased to a gale.

sea sickness increased with it.

I myself very sick.

When the first first Sabbath on board rolled around,

all the missionaries were far too sick to hold service.

And I can't help but wonder if Betsy's entry,

my soul longed for the courts of the Lord,

didn't in part reflect a longing for terra firma.

Apparently,

the weather,

the weather,

they were on a whaling ship.

It's a period whaling ship,

not the Thames,

but one very much like it.

And apparently,

the weather,

the weather,

the weather really pitched and swayed,

making meal,

taking meals on board,

a remarkable feat.

Our table,

she writes,

our table makes a curious appearance.

It is spread over with frames.

Every plate,

dish,

and cup sets in a frame and is so fastened.

And even thus,

we cannot get a meal without holding on with one hand,

I guess to the table,

so you can stay in your chair,

holding on with one hand and attempting to eat with the other.

So it must have been pretty remarkable.

There was another observation Betsy made while at table,

perhaps attentive to how the phrase from her contract,

treated neither as an equal nor as a servant,

would play out.

They ate at two tables.

She writes,

there are 11 persons at each table.

At the first,

the captain and one of the mates,

with nine of the missionaries.

At the second,

two mates,

three of the missionaries,

and four Hawaiian natives,

and myself.

The provisions of both tables are alike.

In the division of the missionary stores,

I always have my share,

so that I have indeed a double portion of the good things of this life.

For Mr.

and Mrs.

Stewart give me always a share of theirs.

The last apple and orange were cut in three pieces and divided between us.

This observation and experience turns out to have been very meaningful to Betsy,

who notes,

this impression of dividing the last orange and apple,

this impression that such little things make on my mind will never be erased.

Well, by the end of the voyage,

Betsy would refer to the stewards as my best friends.

Good for them.

Not only was there a united front with food for the missionaries,

but also when it came to gospelizing the unsaved sailors who surrounded them

by praying and preaching for their conversion.

We all retire for 15 minutes every evening,

directly after public prayers,

to pray for them.

Again, all of these are from Betsy's journal here.

I say retire.

That is, we go to different parts of the ship.

Some of us into the riggings,

some out into the boats,

and others on the spars.

The spirit of the Lord has, I trust,

been striving with some of the sailors.

Though many are yet, I fear, in the gall of bitterness.

Some, however, are rejoicing in the Lord.

How would your heart rejoice with us?

Could you see these hardy sons of the ocean,

who would scorn to complain of any earthly hardships,

bowing with the spirit of children at the cross of Christ?

Much of her diary, it seems,

is actually addressed to Ashbell Green,

almost like a personal letter.

And he would later,

he would be the one that would later collect this

and print it in the little missionary journal

that the Presbyterians would send out.

Well, much of the Sabbath preaching on board

was aimed at reclaiming these hardy sons of the ocean.

From such texts as Genesis 19, 17,

escape for your lives.

Well, there was certainly no escaping from the sermons,

confined on boat as they were.

Five-month voyage, too.

Not a few, it seems, were, in fact, reclaimed.

And many others were, at least, if not reclaimed,

at least reformed.

As Betsy notes later in the voyage,

when the boats were launched in pursuit of a whale.

So remember, the missionaries are on a whaling ship.

It's not as if you could just,

they have all these, like, passenger ships

that are, like, going to the Sandwich Islands.

You just take whatever ship was going there,

and it was probably going to be a whaling ship.

So they go after whales, too.

Pretty dangerous, pretty dangerous to do.

So, Betsy writes,

four months ago, these boats,

as they're lowering the little ships

to go after the whales,

four months ago, these boats would not have been lowered

without having our ears assailed with oaths.

Swearing, in other words.

Yet, not a profane word is now heard.

Remarkable reformation.

Then she writes, I imagine, with a smile,

clearly, Satan is very much out of humor.

With the progress that the spirit is making with the sailors.

Well, if Satan was out of humor,

Betsy was not.

Sometimes the sun was so hot overhead,

she thought herself hallucinating.

The weather is so warm, she writes,

that the tar is dripping from the rigging

and the water from my face.

The ship almost in a calm,

and we under a vertical sun.

They're right at the equator, too.

I am ready to think that I have seen something new under the sun,

if nobody else has.

Hallucinating.

But this fiery globe would work more than heat stroke for Betsy.

She writes of witnessing, quote,

one of the most sublime scenes that ever the eyes of mortals beheld.

No language could paint it.

It was the setting of the sun.

The scene kept changing from beautiful to more beautiful,

and yet more beautiful still,

until I could think of nothing but the bright worlds above

to which the saints are hastening.

As soon as it was over and the sun had disappeared,

we were assembled on the quarter deck for prayers.

Here my soul found free access to the throne of grace

and rose with delight in the contemplation of that God

who is the author of all our joys and of all our good.

Moving from nature to the spiritual realities that they suggest

is a common feature of Betsy's journals

and very typical of the spirituality of this period.

Once their vessel was in a complete calm,

but unknown to Betsy,

was being insensibly drawn by a current

toward a craggy rock

upon which assuredly they would have met a watery end.

Witless of the danger,

she felt no distress at all.

But it was a false ease,

she realized subsequently.

This she saw as emblematic.

She writes in her diary,

Can there be anything more like a sleeping Christian

or an unawakened sinner as this?

In some of Betsy's words,

we find a window upon her younger days

in the green household,

which we had lacked

and which seems hearteningly

to witness a real friendship

and fond remembrances of home,

she calls it.

To Green,

as she writes,

of being a little homesick.

Oh, thought I,

if I could but spend one Sabbath evening

in your study,

how my heart would rejoice.

Yet she draws back

from indulging in such thoughts.

But I must not look forward

to that Sabbath

which will never end,

there to see face to face

what we now see dimly through a glass,

and to meet you with my other friends

whom I have left behind.

But her fond memories

and affectionate ties

keep surfacing.

Tis true,

the endearments of home

cannot be forgotten.

My mind often returns

to your family altar.

There,

I have often left my burden,

and I cannot forget

that consecrated spot.

Two things

put wind in her sails

amid such doldrums,

emotional doldrums,

praying friends at home

and present friends on board.

It is a source of consolation to me,

she writes,

to be able to think

that you with many others

in my native land

pray for me.

Were it not for that,

I should almost despair.

Good reminder for us

to pray for our missionaries.

And later,

she writes to Ashbell Green,

when you think of me

as a stranger

in a strange land,

think of me still

as one who has

kind friends.

The sustaining bond

of friendship

were especially felt

toward the stewards

for whom Betsy

was part of the family.

The ties were only deepened

with the birth

at sea

of their son,

his name memorializing

the circumstance

of his birth.

Little Charles Seaforth

was his name,

who Betsy considered

my charge.

The little fellow

beguiled many

of my lonely hours.

The first moment

I saw this little innocent,

I felt emotions

I was unacquainted

with before.

This, no doubt,

arose from my deep

attachments

to his parents.

Betsy and Stuart's lives

would be affectionately

entwined,

not only on the mission field,

in which they were

about to arrive,

but for their entire lives.

Their final arrival

on that field,

there they are,

you can see that boat,

you can't quite see it,

but there's the American flag

that's on that ship.

Their final arrival

upon that field,

five months,

after five months

on the open ocean,

has some typical marks

of cross-cultural encounter.

It seems

the Hawaiian greeting party

were more scantily clad

than the newcomers.

And this sorely tested

their missionary mettle.

As Betsy describes,

two or three canoes

loaded with natives

came to the ship.

Their appearance

was that of

half man,

half beast.

naked,

except a narrow strip

of tapa

round their loins.

Apparently,

the shock

was just too great.

If you're wondering

what a tapa is,

apparently,

yes.

It's that little,

little tiny,

little strip

there,

but nothing,

nothing at all else.

So,

as Betsy continues,

when they first

came on board,

the sight

chilled our very hearts.

The ladies

immediately retired

to the cabin

and there burst

into uncontrollable tears.

And some of the gentlemen

turned pale.

My own soul

sickened within me

and every nerve

trembled.

Are these,

thought I,

the beings

with whom I must spend

the remainder

of my life?

But she rallied

and shifted

her focus

from thongs

to theology.

They are men

and have souls

was the reply

my conscience made

prompted by the spirit.

So,

good.

Gifts

were exchanged

and perhaps

it was no coincidence

that upon receiving

coconuts

and fish

from the locals,

the missionaries

gave them

pants

and shirts

in return.

Divergent

amounts

of apparel

was not

the only

cross-cultural

incident,

as Betsy tells.

I brought

my little boy

on deck

who was

two weeks old.

Some of them,

the native,

the Hawaiians,

the locals,

some of them

took him

in their arms

and in ecstasy

exclaimed,

Araha

Miatai,

forgive me

for those of you

who speak

Hawaiian,

I don't know

how to pronounce it.

It means

very great love

to you,

very great love

to you

and kissed him

the baby,

a little seaworth.

She continues,

that last

expression

of affection,

Betsy primly

inserts,

we could have

dispensed with

very well

but

we have

to become

all things

to all men

that we might

gain some.

What a great

application

of that

mighty

Pauline principle.

For the sake

of the gospel,

we will let them

kiss our babies.

Flexible missionaries

indeed.

Betsy's time

in Hawaii

would prove

quite short

but no time

was wasted.

She

announced

to the locals

that she

would start

a school.

They in turn

requested

enthusiastically

that instruction

begin the very

next day

and it did.

She was ready

to go.

By all

accounts,

she was

a very

skilled,

that's not

Betsy,

I'll explain

this in a moment.

By all

accounts,

she was

a skilled

and well

loved teacher.

she was

also

well loved

by the

king of

Hawaii's

favorite

queen.

There she

is

with a

servant

there.

He had

four

queens,

four wives

but his

favorite queen,

she,

who of

all the

foreign

guests,

the missionaries

that were

there,

would invariably

select Betsy

to sit

with her

on the

royal sofa

in state

functions.

It's

wonderful.

They had

a real

connection.

And when

the king's

son,

there he

is,

and when

the king's

son's

education

was considered,

it was

Betsy

who was

selected

to provide

the

responsibility.

So it

would seem

a one-time

indentured

servant

had become

the companion

to queens

and the

tutor

to heirs

of parent.

Isn't that

wonderful?

It would

appear the

fulfillment of

the proverb,

do you see

one skillful

in their

work?

They

shall

stand

before

royalty.

Proverbs

22,

29.

But

these

gifts

were not

exhausted

on royalty.

She was

keen to

establish,

very keen

to establish

a school

also for

the

commoners

and did

so.

As she

wrote to

Ashbell

Green,

I have

now a

fine

school

for the

lower

class

of

people,

the

first,

I believe,

that has

ever been

established.

She's

certainly

right about

that.

The school

started with

30 and

grew,

meeting every

afternoon with

Betsy instructing

in the native

tongue in which

she had managed

by then to

become quite

proficient.

She certainly

was busy with

all of her

teaching,

alongside the

much care that

she provided

for Harriet

Stewart,

who seemed

to constantly

struggle with

her health.

perhaps it

was the

press of

duties that

caused

Betsy to

abandon her

journal,

which sadly

ends at

this time.

Her final

entry records

how she was

longing for

some letter

from home,

and hopeful

as one

ship was

expected from

Boston and

another from

New York.

So her

last entry

of her

diary,

I often

visited the

beach to

watch for

sails.

Then poignantly

notes,

the vessel

arrived at

last,

but brought

me no

letters.

perhaps there

is encouragement

here for

our communication

with our

missionaries

abroad,

for like

cold water

to a thirsty

soul,

so is good

news from a

far country,

it says in

Proverbs.

Betsy's

sojourn upon

her Hawaiian

mission field

would prove

short,

lasting only

two and a

half years,

for Harriet

Stewart had

become so

ill they

feared she

would be

lost if

they did

not return.

And Betsy,

so much a

part of the

family,

would not

leave Harriet's

side,

nor the

now two

young children

who knew

her as

their second

mother.

It would

take the

Stewart's

and Betsy

gruelingly

nearly a

year to

sail back

to America.

Harriet,

it seems,

would never

fully recover

her broken

health and

die just

four years

after their

return.

during this

time with

Father

Charles,

often away

for long

stretches as

Navy

chaplain,

couldn't

hold down

the missionary

so he

became a

Navy

chaplain.

Odd job

to pick up

when your

wife is

very ill,

but he

was away

a lot.

But Betsy

would for

seasons drop

her new

venture in

Philadelphia

to come

and take

care of

the children

in upstate

New York.

Now three

children and

waning

Harriet.

Well, that

new venture

of Betsy's

was an

extraordinary

one and

surely no

less challenging.

A prominent

Philadelphia

printer,

publisher,

and philanthropist

Matthew

Carey

trembled for

the future

of his

city.

There he

is.

Go

through our

streets,

lanes,

and alleys,

and view

the appearance

and manners

of children,

dirty,

ragged,

quarreling,

often cursing

and swearing,

and sowing

the seeds

of vice

and crimes

which are

likely to

consign them

when the

fruits of

that education

have arrived

at maturity

to houses

of refuge,

penitentiaries,

and jails.

Well, to

counter this

grim specter,

a colored

infant school

was to be

established for

children two

to five years

old.

But who

could plausibly

captain such

a vessel?

But Carey

thought he

had his man,

and she

was a woman.

Fame as a

missionary

educator marked

out Betsy as

the ideal to

direct such

an outreach.

And her

services were

sought with

a salary of

$200 per

year.

I think that

was reasonably

high in my

translations.

$200 a year.

Betsy accepted

the challenge.

On the first

day of May,

1828,

46 little

urchins were

present.

But by the

end of the

month,

another 29,

that makes

75,

were added.

And it

kept growing

at reports

of Betsy's

surprising

success.

Oh,

here's a,

this is not

Betsy's infant

school,

but this is a

period infant

school.

No surprise

that success

was surprising.

I mean,

what hopes

could a

teacher have

with 115

infants in

the classroom?

115 between

ages 2 and

5.

I mean,

I keep

trying to

picture the

classroom.

Am I

missing

something?

Or could

Betsy Stockton

have been one

of the most

talented teachers

ever?

Ever?

I mean,

this seems

extraordinary

to me.

I do

children's

church,

and I

love it,

but there

are not

115 there

between 2

and 5.

That would

be very

challenging.

Well,

okay,

I guess

she did

have,

she did

have one

classroom

assistant.

Okay,

so maybe

that's it.

Maybe that's

it.

No,

gee,

no.

An

oversight

committee

visited

and wrote

up a

report.

It was

not to

be expected

that in

the short

space of

one month,

any material

change could

be affected

in the

manners and

habits of

the children,

ignorant and

uneducated.

But they

found the

infants,

quote,

more cleanly

in their

persons,

more regular

in their

attendance,

and more

attentive to

the exercises.

And they

found their

teacher,

quote,

active,

energetic,

and

intelligent.

Reflecting

upon,

quote,

her capability

and the

trying nature

of her

duties,

the committee

recommended

an immediate

raise in

her salary

by 25%

to $250

a year.

Indeed,

indeed,

I say.

Betsy's

reputation

as a

teacher grew

during her

tenure at

the Gatskill

Street Infant

School,

beyond the

bounds of

Philadelphia.

And in

April 1829,

it seemed

she was

headhunted.

A Methodist

missionary,

William Case,

there he

is,

sought to

establish

similar infant

schools among

the Native

Americans in

the wilds of

Canada,

and sought

Betsy's

expertise in

this venture.

mother.

Once again,

we wish we

had more

access to

her mind

in this

matter.

Was it

the missionary

motive that

allured her?

She leaves

us no

record at

all of

her thoughts,

but in

any case,

she quitted

the classroom

in Philadelphia,

perhaps a

leave of

absence,

and headed

to the

shores of

Grape

Island on

the Canadian

side of

Lake Ontario.

I mean,

this is

the wilds

with Native

American boys,

and establishes

an infant

school among

the natives.

And it

seems to

have gone

really,

really well.

But then,

equally unknown

is why she

returned.

For within

six months,

she was back

at the

Gaskell School

carrying on

where she

left off.

Maybe it was

just a leave

of absence

that they

gave her.

We don't

know.

The school

and its

infant students

continued to

flourish back

in Philadelphia

when she

was back,

and one

might easily

have imagined

Betsy making

it the

site of

her continued

labors.

It was an

extraordinary

impact.

But,

as had been

the case

in the

Hawaii

mission,

her adopted

kin and

the fate

of Harriet

intervened.

Harriet

finally and

sadly slipped

away September

6th,

1830,

leaving three

children

motherless.

Well,

not entirely,

for within

the month,

Betsy resigned

her post at

Gaskell to

take her

adopted children

under wing.

Children across

Philadelphia wept

at the loss,

but the

Stewart children

wept for joy

at the comforting

sight of

Aunt B,

as they called

her,

arriving,

Aunt Betsy.

Betsy gathered

the children

and bundled

them off to

Princeton.

And this is

right at the

same year,

that's a print

taken at the

very same year

that she

returned there.

So,

and why not?

Is that not a

lovely,

lovely,

excuse me,

okay?

My wife is

kicking me under

the table.

Okay.

She returned

to her original

home.

Ashbell Green

was no longer

there,

but his son

James,

who had been

her tutor

in youth,

you recall,

was.

And their

fast friendship

added special

sweetness to

that season

of life

for Betsy.

The Stewart

children would

remain in her

care five years

until Charles,

their father,

remarried and

came down to

collect them and

move them back

up to New

York.

And then,

for the first

time in her

life,

Betsy lived

alone.

A sorrowful

episode stains

this period.

Her home

church,

the First

Presbyterian,

remember the

one in which

she had been

baptized and

become a

member,

First Presbyterian

of Princeton,

sadly became

the painful

site of a

deep failure

of Christian

love.

Their

there it

is.

While the

church

accepted

black

members,

and you

remember

Betsy

Stockton

was one

of them,

coloreds,

as they

call them,

were relegated

to a

segregated

seating up

in the

balcony.

They all

had to

sit alone

apart from

the whites.

Then in

1835,

the church

burned down.

during the

reconstruction,

the whites

and the

blacks found

temporary

refuge in

different

buildings.

So the

whites went

to the

chapel at

the seminary

there,

Princeton

Seminary,

and there

blacks were

not allowed.

So the

blacks just

had another

little spot

that the

coloreds would.

But then

once the

new

construction

of their

church

was

complete,

the white

members

declared the

new

sanctuary

a whites

only,

denying their

black sisters

and brothers

in Christ

access to

their

church.

Here was

their

interim

pastor,

and he