Charles Robert Hager

Last updated
Charles Robert Hager
Hager at graveyard of Morrison.jpg
Hager at Dr. Robert Morrison's graveyard, Macao
Born(1851-10-27)October 27, 1851
DiedJuly 13, 1917(1917-07-13) (aged 65)
Resting placeOak Park Cemetery
NationalityAmerican
Education M.D., D.D.
Alma mater Oberlin College
Pacific Theological Seminary
Occupation Clergyman/ Missionary/ Physician
Known forthe baptizer of Dr. Sun Yat-sen
TitleFounder and the first Minister-in-charge, China Congregational Church
Term1883-1910
SuccessorRev. Park Yung
Spouse(s)Lizzie Winona Blackman
(1860-1895) (1894 marr.)
Maria von Rausch
(1863-1918) (1896 marr.)
ChildrenRobert Morrison Hager (1897-1972)
Elsie Hager (a.k.a. Mary Elizabeth Hager) (1901-1986)
Harold Charles Hager [1] [2] (1909-1987)
Parent(s)Rudolf Hager(1813-1878)
Elizabeth Hager(1819-1905) [3]

Rev. Dr. Charles Robert Hager (October 27, 1851 - July 13, 1917) [4] was a Swiss-born American missionary sent to Hong Kong and China by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to start the Hong Kong Mission (later renamed as South China Mission) in 1883. He was best known as the baptizer of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the first president and founding father of the Republic of China. Rev. Hager was the founder, and was regarded as the first Minister-in-charge, of the China Congregational Church in Hong Kong.

Contents

Picture of the baptism record of Dr. Sun Yat-sen taken in the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum, Hong Kong. The picture-in-picture shows a copy of the very original record in Hager's handwriting. Baptism Record Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum.jpg
Picture of the baptism record of Dr. Sun Yat-sen taken in the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum, Hong Kong. The picture-in-picture shows a copy of the very original record in Hager's handwriting.

Early life

Charles Robert Hager was born in Nänikon, Switzerland, October 27, 1851, to a farmer Rudolf Hager and his wife Elizabeth. The Hagers moved to America in 1858 and made Honey Creek, Sauk County, Wisconsin their new home. Charles R. Hager was enrolled in the preparatory department of the Oberlin College from 1867-1870, 1872-1874 and in college from 1874-1878. In 1882, he graduated from the Pacific Theological Seminary, Oakland, California [4] and was ordained to the Congregational ministry at San Francisco, California, February 16, 1883. [3] [5]

Hong Kong Mission

Before there were the strict Immigration Laws, thousands of Chinese from the Kwong Tung province found their way, as laborers and as merchants into the United States. Many of these were converted in the Missions opened for the Chinese in the larger cities. An appeal, by these converts, was made to the American Missionary Association, for a minister to their province, Kwong Tung, but in vain. They then turned to the American Board, and finally secured a single man, the Rev. C.R. Hager, in 1883. [6] [5]

Hager, immediately after his ordination, traveled on the steamer SS City of Tokio from San Francisco to Hong Kong and was ashore on 31 May 1883. With the help of Wan Tsing-kai, he rented a 3-storey house at 2 Bridges Street, Central and opened the mission including a school there. On 4 May 1884, Sun Yat-sen was baptized to become the second member of the mission church. [7] [8]

During his first term, 1883-1890, Hager had charge of 7 government schools in Hong Kong, and opened chapels in San Ning City, Miu Pin, Kwong Hoi and Hoi In, all in the San Ning District, which is now called Toishan. [9]

In February 1891, owing to a serious illness, Hager was forced to take a long furlough and returned to America via Switzerland. In 1893, he began his study of medicine at Vanderbilt University and Nashville University and obtained his M.D. degree in 1894. [9]

South China Mission

During Hager's long furlough in the States, the mission was renamed as South China Mission with its center relocated in Canton (Guangzhou).

Dr. Hager rejoined the mission after his marriage with Lizzie Winona Blackman in Chicago on June 20, 1894 and the couple traveled back to China in September of the same year. However, after a very brief stay and service in Canton, Mrs. Hager died on the date of March 7, 1895 primarily due to kidney complaint. It was a sad and heavy stroke to Dr. Hager. Within a few months he was back once more in Hong Kong, and working harder than ever, especially with his "fine art" of country tours.

A part of the headstone of Mrs. Lizzie B. Hager had been left behind at the roadside when the cemetery was removed/relocated. It has recently been reunited with its tomb base. Lizziebhagerheadstone abandoned.jpg
A part of the headstone of Mrs. Lizzie B. Hager had been left behind at the roadside when the cemetery was removed/relocated. It has recently been reunited with its tomb base.

On December 31, 1896, Dr. Hager married Maria von Rausch of the Basel Mission, Hong Kong, a lady who had been in mission work five years, and who opened the first kindergarten in South China. They got three children: Robert Morrison Hager, Elsie Hager, and Harold Charles Hager.

At the beginning of 1897, a chapel was rented on Staunton Street, Central District of Hong Kong where evening services were held every night. According to Hager, half of the rent was raised by the Chinese believers while the other half was paid by himself so that the mission board (ABCFM) was practically at no expense in reference to this new enterprise. The congregation of the Hong Kong church commenced to increase and in 1898, a lot at the corner of Ladder Street and Bridges Street was bought for nearly $8000 on which was built a 4-story Mission House. On October 12, 1901, the newly erected church was dedicated.

During his second term of service, Dr. Hager largely devoted himself to his country work. He was described as an indefatigable worker and endured all sorts of hardships and privations. In his zeal, he went beyond the Sz Yap District, as far as Yeungkong City, 200 miles south-west of Canton, and into San Hing and Tung On, north of the Hoi Ping District, into the "regions beyond." His itineraries were generally made on foot and in all kinds of weather, and attended by great hardships. This strenuousness resulted in a complete breakdown in 1910. He hoped that an ocean voyage would restore him and accordingly he left his family in Hong Kong and sailed for San Francisco. The change did not benefit him, so, in a few months, Mrs. Hager and children joined him, making their home in Claremont, California. He was then released from the mission in 1912.

Death

During his last years, Dr. Hager still labored among the California Chinese, and across the border in Mexico, and frequently sent money to the South China Mission. Dr. Hager died July 13, 1917, at Claremont, California, of cancer of the stomach. He was buried at the Oak Park Cemetery with his second wife, Marie Hager, who died a year later.

Photo Archive

Hager was fond of photography and most of his works are archived here by the Basel Mission: Photos by C.R. Hager@Basel Mission Archives (BM Archives)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yau Ma Tei</span> Area in Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong

Yau Ma Tei is an area in the Yau Tsim Mong District in the south of the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions</span> 1810–1957 American Christian missionary organisation

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most important of American missionary organizations and consisted of participants from Protestant Reformed traditions such as Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and German Reformed churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lingnan University (Guangzhou)</span> University in Guangzhou (Canton), China

Lingnan University was a private university from 1888 to 1952 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was established by a group of American missionaries in 1888 as the Canton Christian College (格致書院).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kwong Wah Hospital</span> Hospital in Kowloon, Hong Kong

Kwong Wah Hospital is a 1,141-bed Charitable hospital in Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong. Located on 25 Waterloo Road, Kwong Wah Hospital is the main district general hospital was founded by the Tung Wah Group in 1911, and managed by the Hospital Authority since 1991. It provides a full range of medical services to the population of West Kowloon and Wong Tai Sin. It is Kowloon Central Cluster's major acute teaching hospital, and also a Neurosurgical and Antenatal Diagnosis referral centre. The Hospital has established various clinical centers, including Lai Kwok Wing Urology Centre, Minimally Invasive Surgery Training Centre and Chan Feng Men Ling Cardiac Centre. There are integrated Breast Centre and Dr Stephen Chow Chun-kay Assisted Reproduction Centre. It has established a Community Based Geriatric Service, Respiratory Care Unit, Acute Stroke Unit, TWGHs BOCHK Diabetes Centre, Wong Wha San Renal Memorial Centre, and a Nuclear Medicine site. Kwong Wah Hospital is also a pioneer in Integrative Chinese and Western Medicine. TWGHs has established TWGHs Wilson T S Wang Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Treatment Centre in Kwong Wah. The hospital has participated through joint consultation for designated diseases under protocols which developed by both Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine practitioners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Griffith John</span> Welsh Christian missionary (1831-1912)

Griffith John was a Welsh Christian missionary and translator in China. A member of the Congregational church, he was a pioneer evangelist with the London Missionary Society (LMS), a writer and a translator of the Holy Bible into the Chinese language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lutheran Church of China</span> Lutheran church in China (1920–1951)

The Lutheran Church of China was a Lutheran church body in China from 1920 to 1951. It was established as a result of the consultations between the various Lutheran missionary bodies in China that was initiated during the China Centenary Missionary Conference held in Shanghai in 1907. The church survived as an organised body after the Chinese Communist Revolution but was absorbed into the state-backed Three-Self Patriotic Movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Samuel Maclay</span> American missionary in East Asia (1824–1907)

Robert Samuel Maclay, D.D. was an American missionary who made pioneer contributions to the Methodist Episcopal missions in China, Japan and Korea. He served as the first president of Aoyama Gakuin University.

Medical missions in China by Catholic and Protestant physicians and surgeons of the 19th and early 20th centuries laid many foundations for modern medicine in China. Western medical missionaries established the first modern clinics and hospitals, provided the first training for nurses, and opened the first medical schools in China. Work was also done in opposition to the abuse of opium. Medical treatment and care came to many Chinese who were addicted, and eventually public and official opinion was influenced in favor of bringing an end to the destructive trade. By 1901, China was the most popular destination for medical missionaries. The 150 foreign physicians operated 128 hospitals and 245 dispensaries, treating 1.7 million patients. In 1894, male medical missionaries comprised 14 percent of all missionaries; women doctors were four percent. Modern medical education in China started in the early 20th century at hospitals run by international missionaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Hartwell</span> American missionary to China (1825–1905)

Charles Hartwell was an American Board missionary to Fuzhou, China in the second half of the 19th century.

The Peniel Missionary Society was an interdenominational holiness missionary organisation that was started in Los Angeles, California in 1895 by Theodore Pollock Ferguson (1853–1920) and Manie Payne Ferguson (1850–1932) as an outgrowth of their Peniel Mission. It was merged with the World Gospel Mission in 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basel Christian Church of Malaysia</span>

The Basel Christian Church of Malaysia or BCCM, formerly known as Borneo Basel Self Established Church, is one of the four Lutheran bodies in Malaysia. In 2009 BCCM had 112 congregations nationwide and 63,000 baptised members. In 2023, BCCM had 64,500 members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Scott Ament</span>

William Scott Ament was a missionary to China for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) from 1877, and was known as the "Father of Christian Endeavor in China." Ament became prominent as a result of his activism during the Boxer Uprising and controversial in its aftermath because of the personal attacks on him by American writer Mark Twain for his collection of punitive indemnities from northern Chinese villages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twain–Ament indemnities controversy</span> Controversy in 1900 over missionary activity in China

The Twain–Ament indemnities controversy was a major cause célèbre in the United States of America in 1901 as a consequence of the published reactions of American humorist Mark Twain to reports of Rev. William Scott Ament and other missionaries collecting indemnities from Chinese people in the aftermath of the Boxer Uprising.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taiwan Lutheran Church</span>

The Taiwan Lutheran Church is one of the six Lutheran bodies in Taiwan. It currently has 80 mission sites nationwide with a total of 11,422 baptized members.

Lewis Hodous was an American Board missionary to China, educator, Sinologist and Buddhologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luther Halsey Gulick Sr.</span>

Luther Halsey Gulick Sr. was a missionary to the Hawaiian Kingdom, and several other places. Although educated in medicine, in later life he became a newspaper editor while several of his children became active in public health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliza Jane Gillett Bridgman</span> American missionary (1805–1871)

Eliza Jane Gillett Bridgman (1805–1871) was a pioneer educational missionary in China. She was born in Derby, Connecticut, to Canfield and Hannah Gilett. Graduating at age sixteen, she became an assistant teacher at the boarding school from which she graduated. She continued her career in education and was appointed principal at another boarding school at age twenty-two.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary West Niles</span> American physician (1854–1933)

Mary West Niles was an American physician and missionary. Niles was the first woman missionary physician at the Canton Hospital and opened a school for the blind in China. Niles learned the Cantonese language so she could translate the English Braille system into Cantonese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church Missionary Society in China</span>

The Church Missionary Society in China was a branch organisation established by the Church Missionary Society (CMS), which was founded in Britain in 1799 under the name the Society for Missions to Africa and the East; as a mission society working with the Anglican Communion, Protestant, and Orthodox Christians around the world. In 1812, the organization was renamed the Church Missionary Society. The missions were financed by the CMS with the local organisation of a mission usually being under the oversight of the Bishop of the Anglican diocese in which the CMS mission operated.

References

  1. "Missionary Journal - Births". The Chinese Recorder. 40: 534. 1909.
  2. 'From Southern China to Southern California', The Missionary Herald (Boston, September 1917), p.397
  3. 1 2 The Congregational year-book (Boston, 1917), p.474
  4. 1 2 Oberlin College Alumni Association (1917). Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Vol. 14. Oberlin College for the Alumni Association. p. 148.
  5. 1 2 ".... Rev. C. R. Hager, a recent graduate of our Pacific Theological Seminary, and for more than a year past a very successful and greatly beloved pastor at Antioch, in this State... was ordained as a Missionary at Bethany Church, on Friday, Feb. 16..." W. C. Pond, The American Missionary Magazine v.37 1883, p.180-181
  6. C. A. Nelson (1930). "Peaceful Penetration and Cheerful Co-operation - A Case in the South China". The Chinese Recorder. 61: 450.
  7. "...At present there are some seven members in the interior belonging to our mission, and two here, one I baptized last Sabbath,a young man who is attending the Government Central School. We had a very pleasant communion service yesterday..." - Hager to Clark, 5 May 1884, Hong Kong, #17, Reel 260, ABCFM Papers (microfilm), p.3
  8. "...We had a pleasant communion yesterday and received one Chinaman into the church..." - Hager to Pond, 5 May 1884, Hong Kong, #18, Reel 260, ABCFM Papers (microfilm), p.3 postscript
  9. 1 2 Rev. C. A. Nelson (1917). "Obituaries". The Chinese Recorder. 48: 797–798.