Mary Ann Aldersey, Part 1

[00:00:00] Welcome to Women Worth Knowing, the radio program and podcast posted by Cheryl Brodersen

[00:00:10] and Robin Jones Gunn.

[00:00:11] There are so many Christian women with fascinating stories whether it's missionaries, musicians,

[00:00:17] reformers, authors or wives and mothers their examples are inspirational to us aren't

[00:00:22] they Cheryl?

[00:00:23] They are so inspirational.

[00:00:26] So this woman is inspirational that I have today but she's also quite a character and

[00:00:31] her life was full of setbacks but she was absolutely determined.

[00:00:37] And I just love her determination and I was telling you earlier in studio, I had heard

[00:00:42] of her before and we're talking about Mary and Aldersey and what I had heard about

[00:00:48] her I was really put off by you know you'll find that at the end of her life she has an

[00:00:54] altercation with one of my heroes of the faith and I didn't like her for that altercation

[00:01:01] and then when I read her whole story you're thinking, you know what?

[00:01:05] This woman did so much for Jesus was so determined to serve the Lord.

[00:01:09] I don't want to be like that.

[00:01:11] She was a great woman who had a great lapse you know.

[00:01:16] So let's talk about Mary and Aldersey.

[00:01:18] She was born in 1797 in a wealthy house in Hackney, London.

[00:01:24] So I wanted to put a timeline on this so I was thinking Jane Austen would have been about

[00:01:28] 25 years old.

[00:01:29] Oh, that's good.

[00:01:31] When Mary Ann was born.

[00:01:34] Her parents were Christians, they were congregationalists and their names were Joseph

[00:01:38] and Elizabeth Aldersey.

[00:01:40] Mary Ann was their fourth child.

[00:01:43] So when she was young a nurse used to fill her with stories about China and she started

[00:01:50] developing a heart for the Chinese women and the plight of the Chinese women.

[00:01:55] Later when she was older in her 20s Robert Morrison who was the first missionary to China

[00:02:02] and had translated the whole New Testament into the Chinese language visited her little

[00:02:08] congregational church and our congregational church was also part of the London Missionary

[00:02:13] Society.

[00:02:15] So she was getting these introductions to these missionaries and she was just taken

[00:02:19] with Robert.

[00:02:20] He was a widow, he was very handsome but he was also engaged to a second woman but

[00:02:26] he offered classes in Chinese.

[00:02:29] Well the interesting thing about that for the beginning they were only for men and he

[00:02:33] said no it's the women that are making a difference.

[00:02:35] I want to open it up to women.

[00:02:38] So Mary Ann began to take these classes and she took them with two other women who become

[00:02:45] very significant and one is Maria Tarn.

[00:02:49] And she was the daughter of the London Mission Society director but later Maria Tarn will

[00:02:56] marry a Reverend Dyer and they will go on the mission field together.

[00:03:03] But what's interesting about her is she will become even though she's going to die, the

[00:03:09] mother of Hudson Taylor, the mother of Hudson Taylor.

[00:03:12] So everything is going to connect.

[00:03:18] She married Samuel Dyer but I've got more on Maria for another podcast because she's

[00:03:23] going to be a whole podcast too.

[00:03:26] But in the meantime not only did she take these Chinese lessons but she also worked in

[00:03:33] the slums of London and working in the slums of London which weren't too far from her

[00:03:38] house.

[00:03:39] She was often pelted by rocks and brick bats.

[00:03:42] I don't know what brick bats are but it sounds really, really bad.

[00:03:47] And yet she continued to minister because she was wanting to help the young girls there

[00:03:53] in their plight.

[00:03:55] She was very petite and some even said frail but she had a will of iron and she would not

[00:04:02] be dissuaded.

[00:04:05] Her father told her you may not go to China, I need you because her mother died when she

[00:04:10] was 25 and her father said I need you to run the household.

[00:04:13] I would miss you too desperately.

[00:04:15] You're my last child and you're too frail and I don't want to see you die there.

[00:04:22] So what she did instead is she felt like the Lord was calling her to honor her father.

[00:04:26] She sponsored two women to go to Java because at this time China had closed because of

[00:04:33] the opium wars between England and China.

[00:04:37] So China was closed especially to the Brits and a war was going on.

[00:04:42] And she found out that in Java there was a huge Chinese settlement and she thought that's

[00:04:50] where I can minister.

[00:04:54] But as I said before because it became closed or father forbid her, she sponsored two women

[00:05:00] to go to Java through London City Mission or sorry London Mission Society.

[00:05:07] One was a lady named Maria Newell who had taken Chinese lessons with her.

[00:05:11] Another woman, she sponsored but that woman en route to Java had a nervous breakdown

[00:05:18] and was sent back.

[00:05:20] So then she took the support that she had and she said can it go to Maria Tarn Dyer and

[00:05:28] her husband Samuel since they're going to Hong Kong?

[00:05:32] So they did.

[00:05:34] Now there was a settlement with these families living in Java that Maria Newell was able

[00:05:46] to minister to but in the meantime not being able to go to China, not being able to go on

[00:05:55] the mission field.

[00:05:57] Maria Newell joined a society called I don't even know if you could pronounce it but it's

[00:06:04] SPFE.

[00:06:06] So it's society for the promotion of foreign education in the East.

[00:06:14] Is that a mouthful?

[00:06:15] Yes, such a mouthful.

[00:06:18] So she starts supporting that.

[00:06:20] She becomes this active member with these other women like how can we get the Chinese

[00:06:25] women educated?

[00:06:28] How can we get them to read and write and no skills because the more she heard of the

[00:06:35] plight of the Chinese women, the more grief she was.

[00:06:39] Women were for the most part housebound.

[00:06:41] They were kept as slaves in their own house.

[00:06:43] Their feet were bound.

[00:06:44] It was called the golden lotus so these little girls would be born.

[00:06:49] When there were about three or four, the four of their toes would be broken.

[00:06:55] Not the big toe but the other toes would be broken.

[00:06:58] Have you ever broken a toe?

[00:06:59] It's so painful.

[00:07:00] So painful.

[00:07:01] And they're three and four.

[00:07:02] Maybe.

[00:07:03] And they're turned under their feet and then they're bound in order to keep their feet small

[00:07:08] and petite and it's called the golden lotus.

[00:07:11] So the women then prided themselves on who had the smallest feet and it made walking,

[00:07:17] it made everything that they would do.

[00:07:20] Any household chores, very, very difficult.

[00:07:24] Also the men often beat their wives.

[00:07:26] The little girls were sold to be husbands of older men.

[00:07:31] Sold as young as eight and nine years old to be these wives of these older men.

[00:07:37] So Mary hearing that plight was thinking this is what we'll do.

[00:07:41] Well she got really, really excited because in 1832 her father said, you know what?

[00:07:48] I've been wrong.

[00:07:49] I've been convicted by the Lord.

[00:07:50] I think you should go to China.

[00:07:52] She was so excited.

[00:07:54] But in that same year her sister-in-law, her beloved sister-in-law died.

[00:08:00] And her brother was left as a widow with either.

[00:08:04] Now the sources change on this one.

[00:08:06] Some say he had five children, some say he had eight children and he begged Mary

[00:08:12] out to come live with him and take care of those children and she felt that was her responsibility.

[00:08:17] So she went to live with her brother to take care of these young children.

[00:08:22] And this is part of the way of the Lord because she became their tutor.

[00:08:27] She became their teacher and she was teaching all these children.

[00:08:31] Well one day a woman commented, oh Mary Ann, you look so happy.

[00:08:36] You look like a queen amongst all of these children.

[00:08:40] And this is what she replied, I would rather be in prison with the Chinese children around me.

[00:08:46] Oh my.

[00:08:46] Yes, she's her heart was really committed.

[00:08:49] Really committed to China.

[00:08:52] And though her nieces and nephews all loved her and all thought about that time with joy,

[00:08:59] it was said that Maria was frustrated and sometimes even depressed.

[00:09:04] But she continued to take Chinese language lessons from a Chinese gentleman

[00:09:09] that the kids all thought were so mysterious and fun because he would come

[00:09:13] and sell costume with his long-haired pigtail and give their aunt Chinese lessons.

[00:09:20] Well her brother remarried in 1837 at this freed up Mary Ann for the first time

[00:09:26] to go on the mission field.

[00:09:29] But by this time she's 40 years old and people are saying,

[00:09:33] nope, the same thing that happened to that missionary you were sponsoring is going

[00:09:37] to happen to you.

[00:09:38] You're going to go mental and you know, you're a risk.

[00:09:42] So she did two things.

[00:09:44] She decided one that she would be self-supported,

[00:09:48] that she didn't need the money and the support of the London Mission Society.

[00:09:52] Secondly, she submitted herself to a medical and mental exam

[00:09:57] to show that she was absolutely healthy mentally.

[00:10:02] However, submitting to this exam the doctor said,

[00:10:06] mentally you're sharp, you're ready for this but physically you are so frail.

[00:10:12] I'm afraid you're going to die in root or you know, in service to the Lord.

[00:10:18] Nevertheless, she was determined to go frail or not frail.

[00:10:24] She had met a doctor, Medhurst and his wife who were going to Java

[00:10:30] and she decided to go with them down to this island Java of Indonesia.

[00:10:39] And Dr. Medhurst had taken over Robert Morrison's ministry when he died

[00:10:47] and so he was very influential, very important.

[00:10:51] And he and his wife had already started schools for boys

[00:10:55] and set up printing presses that were printing the Chinese,

[00:10:59] the Bible and Chinese as well as books on Christianity.

[00:11:03] And if you remember Robert Morrison was the first to translate the Bible into Chinese.

[00:11:12] So they were taking up that work and they were printing it

[00:11:15] and getting it out to the Chinese settlements

[00:11:19] and the Chinese settlements were sending it back into China and Hong Kong.

[00:11:24] That's just remarkable because of that mid 1800s.

[00:11:28] I compare it to the Hawaiian history where same thing,

[00:11:31] the Hussarins, the Hussarins, the Hussarins, the Hussarins.

[00:11:34] So they were printing press that they brought over on the ship

[00:11:36] so they could do the work right there.

[00:11:38] Yes, so they brought it to you know, this island in Indonesia.

[00:11:42] So he and his wife were with Marianne

[00:11:47] when the ship called the Hashemi left the port of graves and kit.

[00:11:56] Now that doesn't sound very promising doesn't it?

[00:11:59] In 1937 and arrived to Java on December 2nd, 1837.

[00:12:07] Now Dr. Medhurst really and his wife Eliza,

[00:12:11] they really encouraged Marianne, you know,

[00:12:16] stay here in Java for a while.

[00:12:18] Get to know the Chinese and this will give you inroads when you move forward.

[00:12:23] So they had connections with the Dutch clockmaker

[00:12:27] and said you can stay with him for a few months

[00:12:30] and just kind of get your bearings.

[00:12:32] So upon arrival, Elizabeth exclaimed,

[00:12:36] I had arrived on the day of my dear parents wedding day.

[00:12:40] On the day of my arrival among the Chinese,

[00:12:42] it was also my wedding day.

[00:12:44] I have been betrothed myself to a people so interesting to me again.

[00:12:50] Committed. She's committed.

[00:12:52] And you said Elizabeth.

[00:12:54] Elizabeth was Dr. Medhurst wife.

[00:12:56] Got it.

[00:12:57] And so this is actually Mary Ann speaking.

[00:13:00] So I think I might have mixed that up.

[00:13:02] I got it now, okay, continue.

[00:13:04] So Dr. Medhurst suggested she worked in a special place called

[00:13:07] and this is where I don't know how to pronounce it

[00:13:10] but it looks like Sarah Baya.

[00:13:13] Sarah Baya, to me it looks like Sauer A Baya

[00:13:18] but that's where she started out in a Dutch settlement.

[00:13:23] Now she roomed, as I said,

[00:13:25] she took a room with a Dutch clockmaker and his chaffinies wife.

[00:13:28] They spoke no English and she spoke no Dutch.

[00:13:33] They spoke a little bit of the Malay dictionary language

[00:13:38] so she kept the Malay dictionary with her at all times

[00:13:41] so she could just communicate to her landlord.

[00:13:44] Well, her landlord was getting kind of upset with her

[00:13:49] because she wasn't going to church

[00:13:51] and she spent every Sunday going into the Chinese settlement

[00:13:54] and he didn't like that either

[00:13:56] because the Dutch considered at that time,

[00:13:59] the Dutch settlers, the Chinese so far below them

[00:14:02] and they didn't want them educated

[00:14:04] because they were their servants.

[00:14:07] And so he was really getting upset.

[00:14:09] So we asked her to leave.

[00:14:12] So Mary decided to purchase a house

[00:14:15] and with that house to set up a church

[00:14:18] with one of the Chinese men that she had led to the Lord.

[00:14:22] His name was Sion.

[00:14:24] And so she set up this church.

[00:14:25] She has him speak at this church

[00:14:28] and she's really using Sion as her main translator

[00:14:31] so she can minister to the Chinese.

[00:14:34] Another thing that she did is she knew basic nursing

[00:14:37] and she had a bag that she would take

[00:14:39] and she would minister to the people that she saw

[00:14:42] and she would take Sion with her

[00:14:44] and he would translate and she was paying Sion to do this.

[00:14:50] She starts the school for the girls

[00:14:52] and she gets some pupils and among those pupils

[00:14:57] are two young girls, Ati and Kit.

[00:15:01] And Ati and Kit received Jesus

[00:15:04] and really, really loved Jesus.

[00:15:08] At the same time there's a Scottish merchant

[00:15:11] who can't take care of his daughter

[00:15:13] and her name is also Mary.

[00:15:16] Mary Lysk and Mary begins to work with Mary Ann

[00:15:20] and Mary Lysk has this grasp of the Chinese language

[00:15:25] and Ati and Kit also speak Chinese

[00:15:28] where Mary Ann, though she studied it,

[00:15:32] though she even had Robert Morrison's dictionaries,

[00:15:36] is finding it so difficult to grasp this language

[00:15:40] and it said that she never fully grasped the language.

[00:15:43] She had enough to get by.

[00:15:45] I can imagine.

[00:15:46] It's a tonal language as well as words.

[00:15:52] Well, I knew and I know people who just pick up languages

[00:15:54] and others who have lived in this country for a long time.

[00:15:57] I still don't know how to converse fully.

[00:16:00] But it's not unusual.

[00:16:02] But still to have the heart to be there,

[00:16:03] I'm fully committed.

[00:16:04] What else can I do if I can't speak?

[00:16:06] Exactly.

[00:16:08] So she was going around and treating

[00:16:13] even the Javanese people

[00:16:15] and treating the Chinese people.

[00:16:18] One day, and this is important,

[00:16:22] one of the regions in Java asked for her help

[00:16:26] and she with their simple medicine

[00:16:29] was able to cure him.

[00:16:31] So he was indebted to her

[00:16:33] but that was not,

[00:16:35] you know, no one how indebted he was to her for a while.

[00:16:40] So she began to be a little suspicious of Sion

[00:16:45] as she grafts the Chinese language

[00:16:48] and as she talked to Mary Lysk

[00:16:51] they begin to see these inconsistencies.

[00:16:54] In so on.

[00:16:55] For instance, he still kept idols in his house.

[00:16:59] Secondly, none of his kids had converted to Christianity

[00:17:03] and she began to realize that he was not being honest

[00:17:08] with the money that she was giving him

[00:17:11] and he was doing the church all in pretence.

[00:17:15] She even found out that he decided

[00:17:19] that the young little Attie

[00:17:20] who was only like nine or 10

[00:17:23] should marry his drug addict son

[00:17:26] and he set up a like a betrothal arrangement

[00:17:31] with Attie's mother.

[00:17:33] Attie was so upset

[00:17:36] and she went to Mary Ann

[00:17:38] and she said,

[00:17:39] you know, I don't know what to do.

[00:17:41] I cannot marry Sion's evil son

[00:17:44] but if I don't my mother has threatened to kill me

[00:17:47] and Mary Ann said,

[00:17:48] well, she really killed you

[00:17:49] and she said, yes, she'll poison me.

[00:17:51] So Attie had to watch all the food that she ate.

[00:17:56] At the same time,

[00:17:58] a lot of opposition from the Dutch traders arose

[00:18:01] and they tried to remove Mary Ann from the island

[00:18:07] but here's where, you know,

[00:18:10] you reap what you sow.

[00:18:12] The region, the Javanese region

[00:18:14] who was in charge of the island with others,

[00:18:16] he convinced them that Mary Ann was an asset

[00:18:20] to the island as well as her school,

[00:18:23] her pupils and her healing

[00:18:28] arts.

[00:18:29] So she was able to stay.

[00:18:32] Yes.

[00:18:33] Well, at the same time

[00:18:36] she was feeling very cold to China

[00:18:39] and she thought, well, if I go to Hong Kong

[00:18:41] I'm that much closer to China

[00:18:44] and I can take Mary Lysk with me

[00:18:47] because she's really, really become like my daughter

[00:18:50] and Mary Lysk about this time is 14 or 15 years old

[00:18:55] and she wanted to also take Kit and Attie

[00:18:59] knowing that if they stayed their fate would be terrible.

[00:19:03] So she decided she's gonna make her way to Hong Kong

[00:19:06] because in Hong Kong is her friend, Maria Tarn Dyer

[00:19:12] who is set up a school for Chinese girls

[00:19:16] as well as a school for Chinese boys

[00:19:18] and she's thinking, if I can just get to Hong Kong

[00:19:21] that will be the next step before China.

[00:19:25] So she made plans with a certain English family

[00:19:28] that lived in Java and the wife of this English family

[00:19:35] had the idea to dress up these girls,

[00:19:39] Attie and Kit so that they could escape their homes.

[00:19:43] So she dressed up Attie as a wealthy Chinese woman

[00:19:47] and Kit as her servant.

[00:19:49] They were almost caught this one night

[00:19:51] as they were escaping

[00:19:53] but they were able to escape to the other side of the island

[00:19:56] to Dr. Medhurst's house, remember Dr. Medhurst?

[00:20:00] And so his wife then his wife Eliza

[00:20:03] dressed the girls differently every day

[00:20:06] because Sion had hired spies all over the island

[00:20:11] to catch these girls

[00:20:14] but the girls were never ever caught

[00:20:18] and they were able to be snuck on a boat

[00:20:20] by the Medhurst to Singapore.

[00:20:23] But before they left, they were both baptized

[00:20:26] Attie and Kit by Dr. Medhurst.

[00:20:29] Now when Attie's mother found out

[00:20:33] that her daughter was gone

[00:20:34] and could not be found, she raged up Mary

[00:20:37] and who was in the process of selling her house

[00:20:40] closing the school and packing for China.

[00:20:43] Mary Ann and Mary Lisk traveled to Macao first

[00:20:49] a Portuguese town near Hong Kong.

[00:20:51] And Mary, they are heard of a Dr. Mary Ann,

[00:20:55] Dr. Lockhart and his family who were moving to Hong Kong

[00:20:58] and she thought, you know if he's gonna commit

[00:21:00] and take his whole family to Hong Kong,

[00:21:02] I know it's safe to go.

[00:21:04] So she decided that she would catch the first boat

[00:21:07] that she could with Mary Lisk to Hong Kong

[00:21:11] but this took some time.

[00:21:13] In fact, Kit and Attie arrived before she did

[00:21:17] but again, they're Chinese

[00:21:19] and they were able to room with the diars for a time

[00:21:24] and you know, help with the school

[00:21:27] until Mary Ann could join them.

[00:21:31] The four Mary Ann and Mary Lisk

[00:21:37] and Kit and Attie were all reunited

[00:21:41] on Christmas Day in Hong Kong.

[00:21:48] Yes, in 1841.

[00:21:49] I just want to get my dates right.

[00:21:51] Yes.

[00:21:52] So they were all able to help with all of that

[00:21:57] and how remarkable that Mary Ann had the ability

[00:22:02] to make these decisions and help others

[00:22:05] and go because she's self-funded.

[00:22:06] Yes, oh it's really this 1842.

[00:22:09] I want to get this right.

[00:22:10] Yes, because they're going to stay for a time

[00:22:13] just you know as long as they can

[00:22:16] in Hong Kong or they're waiting actually

[00:22:19] for a port to open up in China.

[00:22:24] So the English won the war

[00:22:27] but they won it in a shameful way by introducing opium

[00:22:31] to the people so that the people would be high

[00:22:35] and not able to fight.

[00:22:37] In fact, in the book I read it said this is something

[00:22:40] that the English are still ashamed about.

[00:22:44] It really was.

[00:22:44] It was it was bad but you know the merchants

[00:22:47] wanted to get into the English merchants

[00:22:49] wanted to get to the goods, the Chinese goods.

[00:22:54] Yes, we need all the tea in China.

[00:22:57] That's right.

[00:22:58] So after a treaty between England and China

[00:23:01] was agreed upon five ports on the mainland opened up

[00:23:04] and one of those port cities was called Ningpo

[00:23:08] which is where Mary Ann decided that the four

[00:23:11] of them should go and set up the first school

[00:23:16] for girls in China.

[00:23:19] Now Ningpo was a very ancient city on the banks

[00:23:21] of the Young River and it had a wall around it

[00:23:25] that was five miles of granite.

[00:23:29] Now at first Mary Ann could not move into the city.

[00:23:32] She had to wait for while living on the outside

[00:23:35] of the city but soon a house opened up.

[00:23:40] And so inside the center of the city

[00:23:43] Mary Ann purchased that house and began to set up her school.

[00:23:48] So that's only part one.

[00:23:49] And she must have been so excited finally

[00:23:51] after all these years, the home of her heart.

[00:23:55] She has arrived.

[00:23:55] She's finally set up.

[00:23:57] Finally there.

[00:23:58] And she can finally set up this school for girls.

[00:24:01] So she's part of that education for girls

[00:24:04] but all will not be smooth.

[00:24:07] You know sometimes the Lord will coax us

[00:24:09] into the mission field and then there will be opposition

[00:24:13] and there will be hardship.

[00:24:14] And you're going to find that Mary Ann has hardship.

[00:24:18] She has opposition.

[00:24:19] All that comes in episode two, the hardship, the opposition.

[00:24:24] In fact, she will even be labeled the witch of Ningpo

[00:24:32] and there's a reason that she's going to be called

[00:24:35] the witch of Ningpo, all which will get into episode two.

[00:24:40] But again, there's going to be so much opposition,

[00:24:43] there's going to be slander,

[00:24:45] there's going to be even riots coming against her

[00:24:50] but she is going to persevere.

[00:24:52] So that's why you want to come back.

[00:24:53] Yes, right?

[00:24:54] I do.

[00:24:54] So wait.

[00:24:55] Thanks, Cheryl.

[00:24:56] Oh, it's going to be so good.

[00:25:06] Thank you for listening to Women Worth Knowing

[00:25:09] with Cheryl Broderson and Robin Jones Gun.

[00:25:12] For more information on Cheryl, visit Cherylbroderson.com

[00:25:15] or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.

[00:25:18] For more information on Robin, visit robingun.com

[00:25:21] or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.

[00:25:23] Join us each week for a lively conversation

[00:25:25] as we explore the lives of well-known

[00:25:28] and not so well-known historical and historical

[00:25:31] and historical and historical.

[00:25:33] And not so well-known historical and contemporary Christian women.

[00:25:37] If you think there is a woman worth knowing,

[00:25:39] we'd love to hear from you.

[00:25:40] Email us at www.cm.com.

[00:25:43] We hope you've enjoyed today's episode.

[00:25:47] Make sure you rate us on your podcast app, subscribe,

[00:25:50] and share it with a friend.

[00:25:52] Thank you again for listening to Women Worth Knowing

[00:25:54] with Cheryl Broderson and Robin Jones Gun.

[00:25:57] Women Worth Knowing is a production of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa.