Today’s Leader of Faith
Esther E. Baldwin
Home Call : 26 Feb 1910
American missionary, Teacher, Translator, Writer.
Esther E. Baldwin (1840–1910) was an American missionary to China known for her dedication to evangelism and education. known as the “Chinese Champion.” She had a profound understanding of China’s religious and political issues and worked tirelessly to foster better relations between China and the United States. Baldwin served as president of the New York Woman’s Missionary Society for two decades, advocating for missionary work and cultural understanding. She dedicated 18 years to missionary work in Fuzhou, China, balancing education, medical advocacy, and translation efforts. She supervised day schools, trained Bible women, and edited the Youth’s Illustrated Paper in Chinese. Recognizing the need for female Christian physicians, she was the first to advocate for sending a medical woman to China, supporting the establishment of China’s first hospital for women and children. She also translated Berean Lessons into Chinese for use by Methodist missions. Witnessing the growth of Christian missions, she played a key role in expanding education and faith among Chinese women and children.
Baldwin was born in Marlton, New Jersey, on November 8, 1840, to Rev. Mathias Jerman, a Methodist Episcopal minister. Despite being frail in her youth, Esther was deeply studious and became a Christian at the age of ten. She received her early education at home, then attended public and private schools in Salem, New Jersey, before completing a full course at Pennington Seminary in either 1859 or 1860, graduating with the highest honours. In 1860, she taught mathematics, Latin, and French in Virginia but resigned due to her Northern sympathies during the Civil War. In 1862, she married Rev. Stephen Livingstone Baldwin, and they sailed to China, where she engaged in missionary work, overseeing schools and Bible women.
Recognizing the need for female Christian physicians, Baldwin advocated for the first women’s and children’s hospital in Fuzhou. She also translated Berean Lessons into Chinese and edited the Youth’s Illustrated Paper. After 18 years in China, health issues forced her return to the U.S., where she became president of the New York Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society for 20 years. She was a vocal advocate for women’s rights and actively defended Chinese immigrants in the U.S. Her book, “Must the Chinese Go?”, addressed anti-Chinese discrimination, earning her the title “Chinese Champion.” A skilled debater, she spoke widely on the “Chinese question” and Methodist causes, including at Chautauqua in the 1880s.
Baldwin died suddenly at the family home in Brooklyn, New York, February 26, 1910 at the age of 69, , after a lifetime of dedicated missionary work in China, advocacy for women’s education and medical missions, and support for Chinese immigrants in the U.S.