Please remove space in image's name. Missionary history in Daegu - The Korea Times
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    BLACKPINK, TXT, Stray Kids: K-pop stars headline international music festivals

  • 3

    Chun Woo-won apologizes to Gwangju victims, calls grandfather 'criminal'

  • 5

    Actors in Netflix series 'The Glory' dating

  • 7

    'Me': BLACKPINK's Jisoo off to smooth start as solo artist

  • 9

    SM Entertainment founder looks to future as company appoints new management

  • 11

    S. Korea to fully open DMZ hiking trails starting next month

  • 13

    Keywords of April original series lineups: female-centric and comedy

  • 15

    Donald Trump indicted; 1st ex-president charged with crime

  • 17

    Yoon gov't disputes Japanese media's claims about summit

  • 19

    Arrest warrant issued for ex-military commander over martial law scandal

  • 2

    Seventeen to drop new EP next month

  • 4

    Koreans warned against making inappropriate videos in Thailand

  • 6

    BTS Jimin breaks record for K-pop soloist with 'Face'

  • 8

    Ambassador offers taste of Ghana to Korea

  • 10

    Gwangju's popular Alleyway restaurant resurrects

  • 12

    Korea ready to greet BIE inspection team

  • 14

    INTERVIEWNorth Korean defectors bear brunt of remittance scams

  • 16

    Grandson of ex-president apologizes to victims of 1980 democracy suppression

  • 18

    Gimpo airport to launch care service for dogs

  • 20

    Regulators urge financial groups to minimize interest rate hikes

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • Yun Byung-se
  • Kim Won-soo
  • Ahn Ho-young
  • Kim Sang-woo
  • Lee Kyung-hwa
  • Mitch Shin
  • Peter S. Kim
  • Daniel Shin
  • Jeon Su-mi
  • Jang Daul
  • Song Kyung-jin
  • Park Jung-won
  • Cho Hee-kyoung
  • Park Chong-hoon
  • Kim Sung-woo
  • Donald Kirk
  • John Burton
  • Robert D. Atkinson
  • Mark Peterson
  • Eugene Lee
  • Rushan Ziatdinov
  • Lee Jong-eun
  • Chyung Eun-ju and Joel Cho
  • Bernhard J. Seliger
  • Imran Khalid
  • Troy Stangarone
  • Jason Lim
  • Casey Lartigue, Jr.
  • Bernard Rowan
  • Steven L. Shields
  • Deauwand Myers
  • John J. Metzler
  • Andrew Hammond
  • Sandip Kumar Mishra
Sun, April 2, 2023 | 02:44
Kim Ji-myung
Missionary history in Daegu
Posted : 2019-06-02 17:10
Updated : 2019-06-03 10:38
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Kim Ji-myung

Old photos of Korea in modern times fascinate me. The first photos taken by Westerners bring us back to the lost and never-seen land of the past.

As for those black-and-white photos of the 1900s, the town of Daegu is mostly covered by a flat layer of thatched-roof houses. An exception here is the giant spired cathedral emerging high, like Gulliver among the miniature people. The earliest photo with the name Gyesan and the year 1907 printed on the front is colored in pale sepia and orange.

Due to a sudden change of schedule during a recent meeting held in Daegu, I had an unexpected chance to visit and look around the cathedral. The Romanesque Catholic edifice was first constructed in 1886 directed by Father A. P Robert. An extension was added in 1911 when it became a bishop's church. The current shape of the enlarged structure was completed in 1918.

A postcard of the photo was published saying "Coree ― La Cathedrale de Taikou, consacree en 1919." Chinese brick workers who had participated in building cathedrals in Seoul and Pyongyang built the Gyesan Cathedral. The designer was a Frenchman, Father Louis Posner.

The cathedral is known for its unique stained glass with saints depicted in colorful Korean costumes. However, too much has changed, it seemed. Big apartments and modern office buildings surround the church. And parking spaces with vehicles efface the last elements of the bygone period.

But to my delight, on the low hilltop nearby, I found a compound of old quarters with trees and gardens. It was a few well-preserved old missionary houses, named after their former owners.

Pastor Adams, the first American missionary in Daegu, American Christian Missionary Switzer, missionary Chamness Blair and so on.

Dr. Johnson was an American medical missionary who opened a pharmacy in a small house and started to prescribe medicine. Later, he officially began his medical consultations under the name of Jejungwon, the first Western medical institution in Korea. Korean patients needed treatment for leprosy, endemic diseases and vaccines for smallpox.

Just below those missionary houses was the Garden of Mercy, a small graveyard for those foreign missionaries and their families.

Under the name Garden of Mercy, it was written, "Here rest the missionaries and their families who sailed across the Pacific to sacrifice themselves in spreading the Gospel and to care for our sick who were still poor and paganistic. Their prayers will continue on for the salvation and prosperity of our people."

In the graveyard rest 13 people, including three infants who died in the 1910s before reaching two years of age.

Magda Elizabeth Khler (1887-1913) was a Swedish woman from the Salvation Army. After 17 months of hard work, she caught typhoid from a patient and died in 1913. She was moved to Yanghwajin Cemetery in Seoul in 2000 upon the request of the Salvation Army Headquarters.

Chase Cranford Sawtell (1881-1909) and his newlywed wife arrived in Korea on Oct. 16, 1907. He also died of Typhoid while treating patients in 1909 at the age of 28. "I'm going to love them" were the words inscribed on his tombstone.

Buddy Henderson (1920-21) was born in Seoul to Harold H. Henderson, who first came to Korea in 1918 and headed Gyeseong School for 23 years. The Henderson family, including his sisters and brothers, served as missionaries in Korea.

Howard Fergus Moffett (1917-2013) and Margaret Delle Moffett, (1915-2010) are also buried here. Howard is the fourth son of the famous first-generation foreign missionary Samuel Austin Moffett. Howard worked as the head of Dongsan Hospital, and director of Keimyung University and Medical School. He set up 120 churches across Korea. He passed away in 2013 at age 96. Mrs. Moffett was his able life-long partner until she died in 2010 at age 94.

Assigned by the Evangelical Covenant Church of America, John Hamilton Dawson (1926-2007) served at Dongsan Hospital for three years. When he died in 2007 in the States he was buried in Daegu as he wished.

The feeling of disconnection and alienation from the past which I received at the cathedral was rectified instantly upon reading the names and stories of these people who lived and served in this city.


The writer (heritagekorea21@gmail.com) is the chairwoman of the Korea Heritage Education Institute (K*Heritage).


 
Top 10 Stories
1Chun Woo-won apologizes to Gwangju victims, calls grandfather 'criminal' Chun Woo-won apologizes to Gwangju victims, calls grandfather 'criminal'
2Koreans warned against making inappropriate videos in Thailand Koreans warned against making inappropriate videos in Thailand
3Ambassador offers taste of Ghana to Korea Ambassador offers taste of Ghana to Korea
4Gwangju's popular Alleyway restaurant resurrectsGwangju's popular Alleyway restaurant resurrects
5Korea ready to greet BIE inspection team Korea ready to greet BIE inspection team
6[INTERVIEW] North Korean defectors bear brunt of remittance scams INTERVIEWNorth Korean defectors bear brunt of remittance scams
7Yoon gov't disputes Japanese media's claims about summit Yoon gov't disputes Japanese media's claims about summit
8Gimpo airport to launch care service for dogs Gimpo airport to launch care service for dogs
9Regulators urge financial groups to minimize interest rate hikes Regulators urge financial groups to minimize interest rate hikes
10Mirae Asset, SK Telecom team up for security token business Mirae Asset, SK Telecom team up for security token business
Top 5 Entertainment News
1IU says she was excited to share screen with Park Seo-joon in 'Dream' IU says she was excited to share screen with Park Seo-joon in 'Dream'
2BLACKPINK, TXT, Stray Kids: K-pop stars headline international music festivalsBLACKPINK, TXT, Stray Kids: K-pop stars headline international music festivals
3[INTERVIEW] Foreign-born entertainers seek to revolutionize local industry INTERVIEWForeign-born entertainers seek to revolutionize local industry
4NewJeans, Apple join hands to bring immersive audio experience NewJeans, Apple join hands to bring immersive audio experience
5Celebrity chef Paik Jong-won takes his business skills to next level with 'The Genius Paik' Celebrity chef Paik Jong-won takes his business skills to next level with 'The Genius Paik'
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group