Baptist Cameos

Ann Hasseltine Judson, (b. Bradford, Mass., Dec. 22, 1789; d. Amherst, Burma, Oct. 24, 1826). American missionary to India; wife of Adoniram Judson. Ann (“Nancy”) became a Christian when she was 16. In June, 1810, she attended a missionary meeting at the Bradford Congregational Church when four young students from Andover Theological Seminary petitioned to be sent as foreign missionaries. One of these young men was Adoniram Judson, who was invited to dine in the Hasseltine home. On Feb. 5, 1812, Judson and Ann Hasseltine were married, and they sailed for India Feb. 19. During the voyage they studied the question of baptism and were convinced that the Baptist position was scriptural. Arriving at Calcutta, they were baptized by one of the associates of William Carey. Being ordered by the East India Company to leave India, they were permitted to go to the Isle of France, thence to Madras. When forced to leave Madras, they boarded the only ship in harbor ready to sail, which was bound for Rangoon, Burma; they arrived at that port July 13, 1813. They were in Burma six years before the first convert was baptized. In the bitter conflict between the British and Burmese armies, Judson was imprisoned many months and would have died had not Mrs. Judson, despite her own illness, managed to get food to him. After his release and their removal to Amherst, Mrs. Judson was stricken while her husband was absent on a mission to Ava, and she died Oct. 24, 1826.

Biographical sources:
Bubbard, Ethel Daniels. Ann of Ava, 1913.
Knowles, James D. Memoir of Mrs. Ann H. Judson, late missionary to Burma.
Simmons, Dawn Langley. Golden boats from Burma, 1961.

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