History of Concord, (Lancaster County) Pennsylvania United States of America

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Robert Samuel Maclay, missionary and educator, was born in Concord, Pa., Feb. 7, 1824; son of Robert and Arabella (Erwin) Maclay. He was graduated at Dickinson college, A.B., 1845, A.M., 1848; entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1846, and on Oct. 13, 1847, sailed as a missionary to Foochow, China. He was married, July 10, I850, to Henrietta Caroline Sperry, at Hong Kong, China. He assisted in translating the New Testament in the Foechow dialect and was superintendent and treasurer' of the Foochow mission, 1852-72. He was transferred to the Japan mission in 1872 as superintendent and treasurer; assisted in translating the New Testament into Japanese; was a delegate from Japan to the ecumenical conference, London, England, 1881, and helped to found the Anglo-Chinese college at Foochow, China, 1881. He was married secondly in San Francisco, Cal., June 6, 1882, to Sarah Ann Burr. He obtained permission from the king of Korea to establish Christian missions in his kingdom in 1884. He established the Anglo-Japanese college, Tokyo, 1883, and was its president, 1883-87; established the Philander Smith Biblical institute, Tokyo, 1884, and was its dean, 1884-87. He was ministerial delegate from Japan to the general conference of the M.E. church, New York, 1888, and was dean of the Maclay College of Theology, San Fernando, Cal., 1888-93. He retired from active educational work in 1898 continued his home at San Fernando. Dickinson conferred upon him the degree of D.D. in 1861. He is the author of: Life among the Chinese (1861); Dictionary of the Chinese (1871), and sketches of the Japan M.E. for Reid's History of Methodist Missions.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Concord, (Lancaster County) Pennsylvania

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