Katherine L Schaeffer
Katherine L Schaeffer (Chinese: 謝高福) (March 1, 1867 – April 8, 1931) was an American Protestant Christian missionary to Hainan, China.[1]. K L Schaeffer spent 37 years as a missionary in Hainan, China (1894 - 1931) and was the first Protestant missionary to contribute to the translation of the Gospel of Mark [2], Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles [3] into the Hainanese language[4] by adopting the Hainan Romanized writing system. K. L. Schaeffer is remembered today as one of the early missionaries of the Hainanese Christian community along with the earlier two Protestant missionaries in Hainan: Carl C. Jeremiassen and Frank Patrick Gilman (1853 - 1918).
Early life and mission to China
Born in Somers, Wisconsin to German American parents Philip Jacob and Louisa Schaeffer originally from Hesse-Homburg, Kate attended Kenosha High School (now merged to become Mary D. Bradford High School today) in Kenosha, Wisconsin.[5] In 1894, the Board of the American Presbyterian Mission Society dispatched K L Schaeffer to Hainan Province, China with the status of a missionary. She arrived at the Kachek (嘉积镇) village Mission Station (modern day Jiaji Township which today is part of the City of Qionghai, which is the second largest cityon Hainan island where she worked alongside other American Prebyterian missionaries such as Miss H. Montgomery, Reverend W. J. Leverett, and Dr. and Mrs E. D. Vanderburgh whom had also arrived on the same year [6].
Missionary work on Hainan Province
It was during this period when K L Schaeffer first began learning the local Hainanese language and, in order to facilitate the missionary work, utilised the Hainan Romanized alphabet to teach the local church adherents. In 1914, the Gospel of Mark was published into the Hainanese language and in 1916, the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles were published for the first time in the Hainanese language. Prior to this, of the New Testament publications, only the Gospel of Matthew and Gospel of John had been published earlier in 1899 through the translation work by the missionary Carl C. Jeremiassen. K L Schaeffer taught as a teacher at the local Girls School that was opened by the missionaries to teach girls who were totally illiterate on how to read and write for the first time.[7]
K L Schaeffer returned intermittently back to the United States during furloughs in 1902 and also 1924 to sell a plot of land to raise more funds for the mission. On 2 January 1931, on her trip from the US to Hong Kong, she fell gravely ill and passed away due to liver cancer after autopsy diagnosis at Matilda International Hospital in Hong Kong in 1931.
Works
- Gospel of Mark in Hainan Romanized.
- Gospel of Luke in Hainan Romanized (Bǽh-oe-tu), published in 1916.
- Acts of the Apostles in Hainan Romanized.
- The Isle of Palms (information furnished by K L Scheffer)
Notes and further reading
- ↑ Annual Report of the Woman's Presbyterian Board of Missions pg. 106 mentions K. L. Schaeffer
- ↑ K L Schaeffer: Gospel of Mark in Hainanese published by the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1914
- ↑ Acts of the Apostles in Hainanese by K L Schaeffer
- ↑ Yale University 1940 Directory
- ↑ Kenosha History Center: Katherine Schaeffer
- ↑ The Isle of Palms: Sketches of Hainan, page 112
- ↑ Woman's Work: Volume 29 Page 42
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