The following sketch and letters were transcribed from documents located at the Hill Memorial Library (Special Collections) at LSU.
Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections
Special Collections, Hill Memorial Library
Louisiana State University Libraries
Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University
Andrew Hynes Gay and Family Papers 1857- 1957, Call Number: Y82, Box #1, Folder 9
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[The following sketch was written by Mary Dickinson Gay, mother of Anna M. Gay about 1871…]
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| Rev. Elias Brown Inslee Sr. |
A Completed Life
It was many years ago, for I just can remember it, that I used to go up to the Plantation now and then on a visit, and one thing interested me very much on those occasions. Every day at a certain hour, a little canoe made with tiny wheels on the side, like a side-wheel boat, would come skimming down the bayou, propelled by a sturdy, thoughtful young man, who brought, as his only freight, a pile of books 1ying on a plank in the bottom of his craft. Jennie, a little friend of mine, used to tell me that that was Mr. Inslee and he came to recite his lessons to Mr. Doremus.[1] We both thought it very strange that a grown-up young man should go to school and it always seemed queer that he didn't keep on down the bayou those pretty bright days and take his pleasure, instead of always landing so quietly and walking up to the house with all those big hard books. Jennie used to tell me marvelous tales about him, how he had built a tiny house on the other side of the bayou, under a great big oak tree, and that he lived there by himself and never ate anything but hard crackers, as hard as bricks, and drank a little tea. She said her mother and all the ladies used to send him nice things but he never would eat them, for afterwards, if they would go there to see him, they would find them upon a shelf untasted. Moreover, she said his bed was nothing but a shelf nailed up to the wall with a hard mattress on it, and he had a little table to put his lamp on, and a chair, and that was everything in the world he had in his house. So I wondered much at this young man, and couldn’t understand why he lived that way and used to ask a great many questions on the subject, but it was long, ere I comprehended his life. They told me he was preparing himself to be a minister and a missionary to China and he had to study very hard to enter college, that he had not much money and was training himself to live on very plain food so that he would have all his money with which to educate himself, and besides, it was better for his health to live in that way, so that he could study all the time without interruption.
Several years passed by, and Mr. Inslee had gone to Scotland to complete his education. Mother used to get long letters from him, which she said were very interesting, and she even had them published in our little town journal. I can't remember them much, though I have some put away that I cut out of the paper for my scrap book. I thought such a remarkable man must write remarkable letters.
After a while, I don't know how long, Mother told me he had arrived in the United States, with his theological education complete, to be ordained as a minister. He was ordained at Oakland College by his old friend Mr. Doremus and later paid us a visit. Of this visit, I remember very little, as I felt rather shy of him and kept out of the way. He returned to New York and from thence wrote back to his friends that he was married, had brought with him from Scotland a young wife[2] but left her at his Brother's in New York when he came South. All his friends thought it rather a breach of confidence that he had not communicated this fact while with them. I did not however, I was delighted; it was so much in keeping with his quiet and reticent nature. He did not wish to be overwhelmed with questions, curiosity and congratulations.
They sailed for China from New York. I heard that they both studied the Chinese language on the way over. He was 34 years old at that time.
The next event was a letter from him all the way from China, and this was a very great event in my mind. China was many thousand miles further off then than it is now. The pacific Railroad existed only in dreams, if indeed it existed at all. Letters came at intervals for several years and I was always wild with delight at the sight of another thin blue envelope with the foreign stamps and sheets of closely written transparent paper. At length he told us that he had sent us a box of Chinese curiosities as a present. Oh! how I longed for its arrival and counted the days with childish impatience. I shall never forget the day it did come and the glorious fun of unpacking it.
A young man was visiting us at the time and was as excited as myself. In his haste and delight at getting every queer little object out, he broke several and lost many of the labels. Our mistakes were ludicrous in the extreme, and the anxiety of the elder members of the family really dreadful.
I remember one circumstance. “Pickles, Pickles, Jar of Pickles!” shouted Benny, diving into the box, and tearing off a quantity of papers and wrappings from a glass jar. I seized it in ecstasy, and behold! A jar of snakes, bugs and lizards preserved in alcohol. The collection of curiosities was most interesting and valuable, and many a day I displayed them to my young friends with pleasure and pride.
Mr. Inslee mentioned in one of his letters that he had a little son, and then again, a daughter. During the Confederate War he returned with his family to New York, as the Board of Foreign Missions no longer sustained the missionaries. He met with much trouble on account of his sympathy with the South and had to take refuge in Canada. He wished to come South but the lines were so closely drawn, he could not succeed. While in America this time, his fourth child was born. He had lost one little son in China, the eldest, I think. We did not see him at all this time for he soon returned to his work in the foreign land.
During all this time I saw little of my old friend Jennie. I knew however that she had met with that sad sad trial, the loss of a devoted Mother. Her father had married again and Jennie was living with an Aunt.[3]
Just at the beginning of the War I was surprised and delighted at receiving a visit from her and found her charming company. Every day on my return from school I would find Jennie playing on the guitar, either in the house or out in the garden under the trees, and always in high spirits, singing every variety of songs, gay and sad, in merry succession. On Saturdays we generally went on a little frolicking excursion somewhere and not a shadow of her eventful future ever crossed her path. In looking back now at that happy time when we were all so light hearted and especially Jennie, and thinking of the trouble she has had since, it seems to me it was a kind of rest for her, before entering the thorny weary way she had to tread.
After several weeks of girlish pleasures and amusements her brother came for her suddenly. The storm of War was gathering, he was about to enlist in the army, and she must come home. We parted regretfully but not sadly, she promised me another visit and I contemplated one to her.
Only a few weeks had passed from that day. Jennie's father had died and Jennie had gotten married. I was amazed at the news of her marriage. She wrote me a loving letter telling amid tears the death of her fond father, and amid smiles the love she had found in her new relation and how long she had loved him.[4]
I felt entirely separated from her then, a rival held her affections and she no longer cared for my school girl feelings and amusements, and yet she was only a year or two older than I.
The War had fairly commenced now, and on every side nothing else was spoken of or thought of. A year flew by before I received news of Jennie. I was then told that she had a fine little boy to occupy her attention. Not long after, sad news reached me of the death of her young husband. Going on a sortie from Port Hudson a bullet had grazed his hat, but he escaped unhurt; the next day his horse stumbled and fell, killing him instantly.
Jennie wrote to me then of her sad and lonely life. That but for her child she would wish to lie down and die, all her happiness was gone and often, she said in her letters, that she felt so useless in the world and could not see what her mission was in life.
Five years ago my Mother and brother were in Edinburg, and in one of her letters Mother gave me the following facts. Mr. Inslee had lost his wife, and with the four little motherless children, he had made the homeward voyage and arrived in London. What he suffered during those months of trial, no one knows, we can only guess by incidents here and there. One of the children [Helen] was a baby only eight months old, and they brought a cow for it part of the way on the Vessel. Once they encountered a terrific storm and while passengers and crew were shrieking with terror and praying, for their lives, a little Dora, eight years old, was seated on the floor of her cabin with the baby in her lap, and the other children clinging to her, and she quieted their fears by singing, the Sabbath school hymns with the faith and trust of childhood. When crossing Egypt's desert sands on the railroad, the supply of water was exhausted and the little ones showed how well they had learned the lesson of self-denial from their father, by saving the little drinking water they had for the baby, never complaining of their own thirst.
At length they reached London and went to the house of a friend. She told Mother that when she opened the door and saw Mr. Inslee, carrying the baby, and the three others standing around him, all looking so tired and travel-worn, she burst into tears and seizing the baby in her arms, she brought them all in, and it seemed to her that she could not do enough for them. When bathing the baby's emaciated limbs and lulling it to rest, the long journey over, and the others reciting their adventures and trials and crying over the loss of their own dear Mother, she said she could not restrain her tears at all.
Mr. Inslee spoke little of their troubles; they were not, yet over for him. He visited my Mother in Edinburgh and said that it was his intention to take the children to his brother in New York, at least for a while. His wife told him over her death-bed that his work there in China was too important to be abandoned on account of her death and she begged him to take the children back to America, get married again, and return to his work.
Very soon after his arrival in the States, the little baby died and rested forever from its weary journey. Mr. Inslee came South. I was on G. T. [Grosse Tête] at the time, and late one evening a man knocked at the door and announced himself as our old friend Mr. Inslee. We welcomed him warmly, he told us he had walked from Baton Rouge (l6 miles) just to have one look at his dear old house, he would leave the next day to return to his foreign home, probably never to return. As he sat by the fire that night, talking quietly and thoughtfully of his old friends and plans, and patiently answering our questions about China, I thought he looked old and careworn. His hair was quite gray, his step I had noticed was rather slow, and his form bent.
Before we were up in the morning, he had been up the Bayou to the old Oak Tree under which his little house had stood, and as soon as breakfast was over he bode us adieu and retraced his footsteps to Baton Rouge. Always the same quiet, reticent character, but there must have been deep feelings and emotions under that calm exterior. Few men would have so chiseled a place in their memory as to walk 32 miles for the pleasure of beholding it for a few minutes.
I don’t know how long he remained in the United States but I do know that the strangest part of the story occurred during that stay. He went to see Jennie and, after a brief courtship, they were married and went to New York on their way to China. I could not realize it at all, and even when Mother, who met them in New York on her return from Scotland, told me all about it, and how Jennie seemed so much in earnest in the work before her, and how she had Mr. Inslee’s three children and her own to take care of. For my part I could not understand her willingness to undertake it all and it seemed to me her prayer to be shown her mission had been answered.
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| "Jenny" Eliza Eugenia Sherburne Inslee |
After some months a letter arrived from them, telling how they were situated and of a school they had opened at Hangchow and many intensely interesting facts of their life among those curious people.
For nearly three years we heard from them quite regularly. Jennie had a baby boy and the next time, a dear little girl.[5] But the little girl died when only four months old, and Jennie wrote to me that it was such a great trial for her to lose the precious one, and then too they were obliged to move away and leave the little grave where they could never visit it again.
About the close of the three years, we were pained to receive a letter from her, telling us of the serious illness of Mr. Inslee. He was afflicted with dropsy which had been gradually coming on for some time. Their place of residence was very unhealthy and they had not the means of leaving it.
In her letter she poured out her sorrows into Mother's friendly ear. The usual remittances from the Board had been delayed and they had suffered extreme want. She and her children had known hunger many a day and she was obliged to see her husband failing before her eyes for want of the proper food and medical attendance. At the time she wrote however he had borrowed money and gone on a little trip for his health, and she had parted from him with the fear that she might never see him again. Still her faith and trust in God was unshaken. We heard from Mr. Inslee during his journey. He wrote that his health was failing fast, he could scarcely hope ever to see his family, again, and that it gave him great pain to think of leaving the helpless ones in that far-off land. He did not ask Mother to do anything for them, but the fact of his writing to her at that time of weakness and trial seemed to plead for her assistance.
We felt a great deal of anxiety about them and wrote time and again. Funds were also forwarded for their need, but not a word could we hear and we could not but fear that he had died and she was trying to get back. At last, to our infinite surprise and delight, they wrote to us from Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Inslee was still alive but in the last stages of dropsy, and Jennie was the mother of twins, only three or four months old. Oh! what a burden of care on her weak shoulders! A sick husband, 7 children[6], and poverty! They came from China to California, thence by Pacific Railroad to Louisville. And on the cars, 7 days and nights, Mr. Inslee was obliged to sit outside on the platform, as his breathing was too labored for him to remain in a closed car. At length after a few months more of suffering, they came to Port Hudson, Louisiana, Jennie's old home, and how it must have soothed and rejoiced her heart to gaze upon the familiar scene. Perhaps she thought that her trials were about to cease. After a few weeks among her friends and relatives, they proceeded to Bethany, Mississippi, where a home was offered them. They wrote that they met with great kindness and attention, and their expressions of surprise and gratitude gave me the impression that such had not been the case during their sojourn in Louisville. Mr. Inslee rallied a little and finally was advised to visit some spring in Texas, the waters of which were beneficial in similar cases. He started accordingly but was taken extremely ill before leaving, and left home in such a state that poor Jennie had again the sad parting to go through, this time indeed forever. He came down to New Orleans on a boat, seated on a chair in the cabin, unable to move. For 8 long weary months he had never once laid down, sat always, laboring for breath, and nearly suffocating in a close room.
The porter placed him in a hack and took him to Mr. Doremus’ house.[7] That was on Saturday. On the following Tuesday they wrote asking Mother to come down as he could not live and asked to see her. She went, but he could scarcely speak, would fall into a stupor, then arouse and call for her, but seldom attempted another word, only once asked her to care for his poor family and when he died on Saturday he still thought of her.
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| Times Picayune April 6, 1871 |
Death struck him suddenly. He gasped out, "Mrs. Dickinson, is she there?" She put her hand on his and said, "Yes, I am here" but the weary soul had gone to rest. All that love could do to soothe and cheer his last moments was done, but his wife did not receive the messages sent for her in time. Last week, according to his own request, his body was taken to Grosse Tête, the place he loved so well, and there by the little church he helped to build, amid some of his earliest friends, he was laid to rest.
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Additional note by Anna Gay McClung:
In one of my mother's journals, she tells of the death in New Orleans of Mr. E.B. Inslee, one of the earliest missionaries to China, from the Southern Presbyterian Church. His body was brought from New Orleans to Baton Rouge by boat, accompanied by my grandmother, Mrs. A. M. Dickinson, on April 9th 1871. The boat landed at Mr. Gervais Schlater’s plantation where my mother met it and persuaded Mrs. Dickinson to get off and spend the night with her at her home on Ridgefield Plantation. The next day she sent her to Baton Rouge in a buggy, and from there she accompanied Mr. Inslee’s body to Grosse Tête, where he was buried in the little churchyard surrounding the Presbyterian Church which he helped to build.
Their children were:
E. B., Dora, Eugenia, Amédée, Leila and Exedron, Eugenia Maggie and Charles Sherburne (the twins.)
Signed Anna M. Gay McClung (Mrs. Chas. J. McClung)
[Letters from Rev. Elias Brown Inslee…]
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Hangchow July 4, ‘68
Mrs. Dickinson
Dear Friend
It seems a long time since we heard from you or have written to you. As the mail is about to leave and as Jennie is writing to you, I will also say a word. She got a letter from you some time ago and is now answering it. I suppose she will tell you all the important news. We were much grieved to hear of the sad condition of the once happy South, and of your gloomy prospects. We can only pray that our Father will stand by you to help you through this ordeal, that may yet be a blessing to cause you to rejoice in the eternal world though we cannot see His goodness and mercy in it now. I have had many tokens of kindness from you many encouragements many tangible favors which I trust we may recount with joy in Heaven. And while pilgrims here let me ask of you one more favor that is that in case of temporary want, while the Destroyer is abroad in the land, you will ask of my brother Charles in New York a few hundred dollars as you may need, and I will be responsible for it. My credit will be good with him I think for a small amount. Or if you will let me know though it will require more time I will direct him to send it to you. God may grant us these privileges sometimes for our good in life as well as in our rest in Heaven. I am sorry you had to bring Charley home on account of want of funds, but I trust a kind Father will direct all things for the best.
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Hangchow China 1868
We are expecting to start boarding schools here. Dr. Wilson thinks we will be sustained in 100 scholars girls and boys. We are expecting two young men out to join us soon and hope they will come out married. A missionary lady is as useful here as her husband. I think Jennie is generally pleased with her Chinese life and will no doubt be very useful when she gets a little more of the language which she acquires very rapidly. I am very highly pleased with her though she likes to be petted a great deal. She has however so many other qualities that I can readily bear with that. In many respects I think she is so like her sainted mother of whom I retained many relics until I got this living one. It is all so strange it appears like a dream, though we look on it as a special providence. She has a fat baby which she has named after me and thinks there is none like it. Dora is growing to be quite a girl. All are quite well and go to school. Eugenia is the Madam. Amedee is getting quite tall and is healthier here than in La. Delia and Exedron are also progressing favorably. We get the news from America tolerably regularly but when the Pacific railroad is completed we shall expect the news in less than one month. Americans are beginning to come to China to make a tour instead of to Europe. The foreign treaties are to be revised this year and all hope for a much greater opening into the country. All things now appear favorable. Our Saviour’s Gospel will no doubt soon be preached in every part of this great empire. I will try to give you some ideas of this progress at a future time.
Your old friend
Elias B. Inslee
Louisville, Ky Feb. 13th, ‘71
Dear Mrs. Dickinson
We have not heard from you in a long time but hope ere we leave this city. We expected to have left a day or two since but storm prevented—we have had little else except snow—ice and frost since we came here. I never thought we should suffer so much from the cold. My disease is greatly increased by it and I am now much worse—have commence to spit blood again and it is somewhat doubtful if I ever get south as one of our children is suffering with pneumonia or some throat disease and prevented our getting off when we might have gone. When we arrived here I could travel no further—was nearly dead. Soon the river closed with ice and until recently no boats could run to N. Orleans. I am not able to ride so far by the cars. I am very weak can scarcely walk and so nervous as to be unable to sit or sleep except under influence of medicine. I wrote to Dr. Doremus—he proposed that I should go into the Farmale [Female] school buildings at Plaquemines as being handier, and wrote to get me the privilege but since large buildings have been offered us at Bethany in the hills where we can keep school if I get well—if not I know not what will be the end of our troubles and afflictions. We now propose to get down the river as soon as able and stop at Port Hudson. With the view of going back into the country.
May God keep you all-- Yours truly
E. B. Inslee
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I would prefer to come to Grosse Tête but I fear it would not be well, so says my physician and advised me to try it first in the hills. If I get well there—may go elsewhere. The same with regard to Plaquemines it is too malonious for my disease. While sick I would indeed like to be near you but I have become so like a child through weakness and the nature of my disease that you would no doubt soon be tired of me. I trust I may get well however and I hope to meet you in this life, God’s dealings with us oh how wonderful. My afflictions how great but they are sent to me in mercy and I can do nothing but worship Him who plies the rod in both love and mercy. I receive no punishment that I do not deserve. My sins are great and I must be chastened till I may be allowed perhaps to praise my Saviour in Heaven. The more I am afflicted the nearer I seem to come to Him and I trust that may continue till death is swallered up in victory, though I plead with him to lighten my sufferings. He may yet do so and may also make use of me for His own glory even in this life.
Regards to Charley, Mary & you Sister. May our Father bless you all.
303 Third St.
Louisville, Ky.
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Bethany, Miss. April 8, ‘71
Dearly Loved & honored Friend.
Cares & troubles have weighed so heavily on me and occupied my time so much of late that although I have wished so often to write to you, week after week has passed without my doing so.
Although for the sake of seeing you and dear Mrs. Leftwich and loving loveable lovely little Mary often I would have like to live on Grosse Tête—this place seems so much healthier and better suited to one with Mr. Inslee’s disease that we decided to live here if we could.
The people here are very kind indeed to us. They all seem to be hard pushed to make ends meet but willing to help us as well as they can.
I am teaching doing my own cooking, house cleaning and nursing with the children’s help so you may know I have precious little spare time.
I had my babies baptized by Dr. Doremus when Presbytery met here.
Jennie had on a dress Mary sent to China to E.B.
You know Mr. Inslee named one baby Eugenia Maggie and the other Charlie Sherburne. I have so little time to write I must close by telling what I think you already know is that my poor husband has gone to Sour Lake Texas to try the efficacy of its waters.
May God bless the means. With much love I am yours truly and sincerely
Eugenia E. Inslee
(Eugenia Sherburne)
[written the day Mr. Inslee died, but she did not know it]
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| "Jenny" Sherburne Inslee -Image from the vertical files of the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia, PA |
The following are notes I (John McBride) made while researching the principal characters of this story:
Mary Dickinson Gay, the writer of this sketch and childhood friend of Jenny Sherburne, was the daughter of Mrs. A. M. Dickinson who befriended Elias Brown Inslee while he was a young student. The elder Mrs. Dickinson was born “Anna Maria Turner” in 1814 at Nashville, Tennessee. At 14 years, she became the bride of Charles Henry Dickinson Jr. They removed to Louisiana and built Live Oaks Plantation in Rosedale, just west of Baton Rouge on property given by his maternal grandfather, Joseph Erwin. Charles built an impressive sugar cane operation before his untimely death in 1846. He was 40 years old. Anna continued to manage the plantation for the next 40 years. The beautiful main home remains, is privately owned and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Charles’ father, Charles Henry Dickinson Sr (1778-1806), is notable because of his involvement in a famous duel with Andrew Jackson. They were long time acquaintances likely encouraged by their shared love of horse racing. Jackson is credited with convincing Charles to move to Tennessee from his home in South Carolina. A succession of allegations of cheating embellished with a slew of vindictive personal barbs escalated the conflict between the two. Dickinson was killed in the duel but not before having lodged a ball in Jackson’s chest an inch from his heart. Jackson carried Dickinson’s lead and the painful complications it caused for the rest of his life. Charles Jr was 2 months old at the time of his father’s death.
Elias Brown Inslee was born in Woodbridge, New Jersey on the 23rd of April, 1822 to Mary and Gage Inslee. He had as many as eight siblings. The family had been in New Jersey for at least 2 generations. While some Mission Board accounts claim Elias was a Scot, records show this is clearly not the case. At any rate, young Elias moved south very early in his life. He made a profession of faith at Grosse Tete, Louisiana and became an elder there. Was ordained evangelist by the Louisiana Presbytery and was eventually licensed by the Mississippi Presbytery.
Mary Dickinson Gay, the writer of this sketch and childhood friend of Jenny Sherburne, was the daughter of Mrs. A. M. Dickinson who befriended Elias Brown Inslee while he was a young student. The elder Mrs. Dickinson was born “Anna Maria Turner” in 1814 at Nashville, Tennessee. At 14 years, she became the bride of Charles Henry Dickinson Jr. They removed to Louisiana and built Live Oaks Plantation in Rosedale, just west of Baton Rouge on property given by his maternal grandfather, Joseph Erwin. Charles built an impressive sugar cane operation before his untimely death in 1846. He was 40 years old. Anna continued to manage the plantation for the next 40 years. The beautiful main home remains, is privately owned and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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| Live Oaks Plantation on Grosse Tête bayou, Rosedale, LA Built in the 1820’s by Charles Henry Dickinson Jr. and Mrs. Anna Maria Turner Dickinson. |
After schooling at Oakland College (the property now Alcorn State) in Mississippi and Seminary in Scotland, he and his Scot wife left for China in 1856. Support while abroad was sporadic at best causing Elias to temporarily engage with the London Mission to avoid an abrupt return home. At that time, the London Mission, including Hudson Taylor, was operating in Ningpo, the same area the Inslee's had established a school. One of Elias' letters home to the Mission Board mentions an episode with Taylor. A battle occurred a few miles from the mission. At least 200 were killed. Inslee and Hudson Taylor went to dress the wounds of the survivors...
Then in the March 1874 issue the following anecdote is recorded:
"He was a rough and rugged character - qualities that make a pioneer. Once on a coasting vessel they were attacked by pirates and several missionaries aboard went below to pray. "You all do the praying and I'll do the shooting," he said. The crew were in terror. He found a small cannon and loading it with nails and bits of iron, he waited until the pirates were alongside, then swept their deck with a volley. Surprised they sailed away. From that time he was given free passage on boats of that company."
The story is also recounted in Samuel Isett Woodbridge's, Fifty Years in China. That account places the ship enroute to Hong Kong and names the ship's owner as Oliphant & Co.
S.I. Woodbridge (1856-1926) was a lifelong Presbyterian missionary to China; he died in Shanghai. In 1884, Samuel married Jeannie Wilson Woodrow, first cousin of the US President, Woodrow Wilson. They were married in Tokohama, Japan. Samuel was also Novaline Sentell's great-uncle. Her mother was a Woodbridge. Samuel would have likely known Jennie Sherburne Inslee. His father was Jahleel Woodbridge who served as Pastor in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. Samuel's grandfather was Sylvester Woodbridge who served as Pastor in New Orleans where Rev. Doremus and Inslee frequented.
Inslee and his first wife, Euphemia Ross, remained in China for 8 years until the US Civil War interrupted their funding. They were forced to return home. They entered at New York City and found the prospect of crossing battle lines on their southerly route near impossible so they "refugeed" in Canada for the duration of the war. A very difficult return trip to China in late 1865 included the theft of much of the funds they had raised in Canada. Elias believed these difficulties attributed to his wife's death at Shanghai. From a letter he wrote August 16, 1866:
"We came out the last time nearly two years since, expecting to start an independent Southern mission, and had funds to sustain us two years in the field, which we obtained from Canadian friends and others, while we were exiles in Canada. But in attempting to sail from New York, were wronged out of passage money. Thus we were driven, after two months delay in enemy country, to embark for Hong Kong instead of Shanghai, on a miserable vessel, which cost my poor wife her life. The sufferings through which we have passed since the toxin of war sounded are such that I do not care to refer to them or think of then. Suffice it to say they have cost me my dear wife and one little boy. My little boy died after the first voyage home. My wife lingered until the 10th of February, 1866. (She had practically starved for 6 months on shipboard)"
Inslee's travels to and from China prior to the US Civil War involved an arduous route by way of India, the Middle East, the Isthmus of Suez, and Great Britain as the transcontinental railroad had not been constructed. After the Civil War, when Elias and Jenny made her first trip, they travelled by way of Panama to San Francisco, though the Panama Canal would not be open for another 47 years. Elias writes an interesting account of travelling overland the route where the canal would one day exist...
After a work convention in New Orleans, Karen and I visited Rosedale and found the graves of Elias and Eugenia in the little graveyard just across the street from the city building. There is no Church building remaining but the corner lot is dotted with impressive old Oak trees that probably saw the characters of this narrative come and go.
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| Aspinwall, Panama 1854 |
Aug 13, 1867That trip included Jenny and children- Dora, Exhedron, Zelia Anna, and Amedee Sherburne Young (Jenny's child from her first marriage). The next leg of that trip took them to Nagasaki, Japan. Young Amedee, I read, developed measles as they reached Japan. Elias writes that during their Nagasaki layover, they met the famous missionary and marine, Jonathan Goble.
We arrived at Aspinwall [Panama] on the 18th of June. My family did not suffer except from seasickness, though the vessel was much crowded with passengers of all grades and professions. Crossing the Isthmus of Panama occupied about 4 hours. The heat was excessive and railroad accommodations very inferior- the passengers frequently taking fire by means of flying sparks from the locomotive. We did not stop or pass through Panama City, but were sent directly, by a small steamer in waiting, on board the large fine steamer Sacramento. We arrived in San Francisco July 3.
After a work convention in New Orleans, Karen and I visited Rosedale and found the graves of Elias and Eugenia in the little graveyard just across the street from the city building. There is no Church building remaining but the corner lot is dotted with impressive old Oak trees that probably saw the characters of this narrative come and go.
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| Graves of Elias and Jenny in Rosedale, LA on Bayou Grosse Tete. The Church building is long gone. |
[1] John Edward Caldwell Doremus (1816-1878) was a Presbyterian minister born in NYC who, in 1850, resided with his wife and several children on the plantation of Eugene Amédée Sherburne (Jennie’s father) near Port Hudson, Louisiana. Doremus was an 1836 graduate of NYU, studied law in Springfield, IL under Abraham Lincoln (according to an NYU Alumni Bulletin) ultimately choosing the Ministry as a profession and moved south. He served as a Teacher of Greek and Latin at the Presbyterian sponsored Oakland College (at present day Alcorn, Mississippi), and filled the pulpit at a number of Churches including 1st Presbyterian, Baton Rouge. Doremus died in North Louisiana at Vienna, while serving the Pastorate of the Presbyterian Church there. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Ruston, LA.
[2] Euphemia Helen Ross (1840-1866) a native Scot, met Elias Inslee while he completed his studies in Edinburgh. She and Elias had 5 children of which only two reached adult-hood. She passed away in Shanghai, China.
[3] Jennie was 9 when her mother, Margaret Newton Lindsay, died on July 25, 1852 at Fontania Plantation, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.
[4] Jennie married William James Young (1839-1863) on November 19, 1859 a year before her father passed away. William was the son of Eliza Ann and David Young who lived at The Plains in East Baton Rouge Parish. They were charter members of The Plains Presbyterian Church. William and Jennie had one son, Amédée Sherburne Young, who became a physician and practiced in the Baton Rouge area.
[5] The boy was Elias Brown Inslee Jr born February 2, 1868. Margaret Newton Inslee was the girl born April 26, 1869 in Hangchow, China (Hangzhou)
[6] The seven surviving children were- Dora Chrstiana Inslee (1857), Exhedron Alexander Inslee (1860), Lelia C Inslee (1861), Amédée Sherburne Young (1861), Elias Brown Inslee (1868), and twins Charles Sherburne Inslee (1870) and Eugenia Maggie Inslee (1870)
[7] The 1870 census shows the Doremus family included his second wife, Elizabeth, and their 7 children living with him in New Orleans. At that time, JEC Doremus was serving as representative for the American Bible Society.
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