William Henry Roberts (25 October 1847 – 24 December 1919) was a Baptist minister from the United States who worked for many years as a missionary in Burma. [1]
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Roberts was born on 25 October 1847, in Botetourt Springs, Virginia. He studied at Roanoke College and Richmond College (now the University of Richmond), then went on to the Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Chicago. [1] He served under General Robert E. Lee with the Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War. [2] Roberts became a missionary supported by the American Baptist Missionary Union, working among the Kachin people around Bhamo and Myitkyina from 1879 until 1913. [1]
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States located between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's estimated population as of 2018 is over 8.5 million.
Roanoke College is a private, coeducational, four-year liberal arts college located in Salem, Virginia, United States, a suburban independent city adjacent to Roanoke, Virginia.
The University of Richmond is a private liberal arts university in Richmond, Virginia. The university is a primarily undergraduate, residential university with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School of Arts and Sciences, the E. Claiborne Robins School of Business, the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, the University of Richmond School of Law and the School of Professional & Continuing Studies.
On his arrival in Burma, Roberts obtained grudging permission from the Burmese king, Thibaw Min, to build a school and educate the Kachins. The king, a devout Buddhist, granted Roberts "land the size of a buffalo skin". Roberts bought a buffalo skin, cut it into thin strips and used it to measure out the mission compound. [2] Although his wife soon died from Malaria, Roberts was to carry out his mission for 34 years. His daughter, Dora, and his son-in-law, John E. Cummings, also became missionaries to Burma. Roberts was followed by the Swedish-American missionary Ola Hanson, who arrived in 1890 and did much work in compiling a grammar and dictionary for their Jinghpaw language, and in translating hymns and the Bible into Jingpaw. In 1892 George J. Geis arrived, establishing a mission at Myitkyina, to the North of Bhamo. [3]
Thibaw Min, also Thebaw or Theebaw was the last king of the Konbaung Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and also the last Burmese sovereign in the country's history. His reign ended when Burma was defeated by the forces of the British Empire in the Third Anglo-Burmese War, on 29 November 1885, prior to its official annexation on 1 January 1886.
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases it can cause yellow skin, seizures, coma, or death. Symptoms usually begin ten to fifteen days after being bitten by an infected mosquito. If not properly treated, people may have recurrences of the disease months later. In those who have recently survived an infection, reinfection usually causes milder symptoms. This partial resistance disappears over months to years if the person has no continuing exposure to malaria.
Ola Hanson was a Swedish-American missionary who worked for the Kachin people in Burma. Hanson came to the United States in 1881, settling in Oakland, Nebraska. He attended the Swedish Baptist Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, graduated from Madison Theological Seminary in Hamilton, New York, and was ordained in 1890.
