From Clockmakers to a China Missionary





From Clockmakers to a China Missionary:
Books Written by James Hudson Roberts (1851-1945)

A Flight for Life and an Inside View of Mongolia (Pilgrim Press, Boston, 1903) Roberts and Related Families (MS, 1921) Thrilling Tales from Far Cathay (MS, 1931)       Map of North China (page 31) Our Ancestors, What Were They Like? (MS, 1934)

James Hudson Roberts, the great-grandfather of the author of this site, was born in 1851 in Hartford, Connecticut, into a family of Puritan heritage. He was confirmed into the First (Center) Congregational Church in Hartford at the age of twelve and, after hearing a calling in 1867 to become a missionary in China, was ordained in 1877 in the Congregational Church in Hartford. A week later he married Grace Lilla Howe, and on the same day they set out to Peking, China, to begin their missionary work. Seventeen months later JHR knew Chinese well enough to preach effectively. In 1880 the couple moved to the Chinese town of Kalgan, 140 miles northwest of Peking, where they established their mission. The family returned to the U.S. on furlough in 1887-1889, Grace returned to America in 1894 just before the Sino-Japanese war to aid in the education of their sons, and JHR followed on a second furlough in 1896-1898. The "Boxer Rebellion" of 1900 led to killings of many foreigners and their Chinese friends and converts, and the Kalgan missionaries first went into Mongolia hoping to find temporary refuge there and then continued to Siberia and on through Europe to America, with JHR arriving in New York in October 1900. His experiences at this time are recorded in his only published book, A Flight for Life (1903).

The missionary couple returned to China in 1901 but returned to Hartford in 1906 to help support aging relatives. In 1917 sickness intervened, leading to the death of Grace Lilla (Howe) Roberts in 1920. During this time JHR worked on a family genealogy which he compiled in 1921 under the title "Roberts and Related Families." The early Roberts family included some important early American clockmakers, notably Gideon Roberts (1749-1813). JHR also remarried in 1921, this time remaining in Connecticut.

"Thrilling Tales from Far Cathay" (written in 1931) contains on pages 1-26 the story told by Captain Lew Buah, commander of the Chinese warship FU PO in the battle with the French at Foochow in August 1884 which had been told to JHR while he was a missionary in Kalgan. Captain Lew arrived in Kalgan in December 1885 or January 1886, and probably told his story shortly afterwards. JHR did not vouch for the truth of the story, but it does correspond well to historical events. The first episode occurs during 1874 when Japan sent an expedition to occupy Formosa, withdrawing later in return for an indemnity. Two Chinese naval vessels were lost in this year in storms, AN LAN and TA YA, of which AN LAN appears to have been the smaller. AN LAN probably was Lew's command, the loss of the other ship also being referred to in the story. Captain Lew's next command, "Chee An," is easily recognizable as CHI AN, while his command at Foochow, "Hoppo", can only be FU PO. As to Captain Lew's claim that he saved his ship, other sources are contradictory - a contemporary photograph caption says that FU PO was the only ship afloat after the battle while another source says she broke her back running up the river. At any rate, the punishment of overly competent officials was typical of the last years of the Chinese Empire, and is not in itself reason to doubt Captain Lew's word. This story was published by Lt. Stephen S. Roberts, USN, in Warship International, No. 1 (March) 1974, pages 51-57.

Otherwise "Thrilling Tales" focuses on the life-story of the Empress Dowager of China including the events up to and during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. A small bit of the text on page 74 is obscured by a newspaper clipping pasted over it. The obscured text reads: "On the first night after leaving Peking, they slept, like travelers of the very lowest class, on the raised brick platform of the inn, where not even rice was obtainable for the evening meal, so that they were compelled to eat common porridge made of millet." The illustrations listed after the table of contents were not filed with the manuscript. "Our Ancestors, What Were They Like?" (1934), the last of the writings presented here, was based on the genealogical research that he began in 1906. James Hudson Roberts died on 15 May 1945, shortly before the birth of his second great-grandson, James Newton Roberts. (Primary source: "Our Ancestors, What Were They Like?," pages H-L at the beginning.)

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