First American woman missionary to China dedicates short life to Lord
By Joanne Sloan
Henrietta Hall Shuck (1817–1844) was the first American woman missionary to China.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of her birth.
She was born Oct. 28, 1817, to Colonel Addison Hall and Susan Edmonds in Kilmarnock, Virginia. The greatest influence on her life was her father, a devout Christian.
At the age of 13, she attended a girls’ school in Fredericksburg. One day her teacher wrote on the board, “Where shall I be a hundred years’ hence?” This question made Henrietta ponder her relationship to God. She made a confession of faith at a camp meeting and was baptized when she was almost 14.
Family life
Her mother died two months later. She took responsibility of her two younger sisters and three younger brothers. The rest of her life she wrote them long letters, encouraging them in their faith.
She moved to Richmond and studied at the Classical and English School. She taught Sunday School at First Baptist Church, Richmond. She met Jehu Lewis Shuck, a student at the Baptist Seminary. They both belonged to the American Baptist Board for Foreign Missions.
Henrietta wrote of her love for missions: “The sincere prayer of my heart is, ‘Oh, that I were qualified to become a missionary of the cross.’”
Jehu was ordained Aug. 30, 1835. Seventeen-year-old Henrietta and Jehu were married Sept. 18. They were appointed for foreign missions at a service at First, Richmond.
They sailed for China, stopping in Burma for Henrietta to visit the grave of Ann Judson. Judson’s memoirs had inspired Henrietta to become a missionary. They reached Singapore in March 1836 where Henrietta later gave birth to a son named Lewis.
In September 1836 the Shuck family arrived in Macoa, located 40 miles from Hong Kong. The Chinese government allowed foreigners in Macoa.
Henrietta founded a small boarding school. She taught two to eight pupils. She also bore another son, Ryland, and a daughter, Henrietta.
The family worked there six years until the end of the first Opium War (1839–1842), also called the Anglo-Chinese War.
They moved to Hong Kong in 1842. Henrietta was the first Western woman to live there. They established the first Baptist church, Queen’s Road Baptist Chapel, and soon founded two more churches.
In 1843, Henrietta set up a boarding school for about 15 students, both boys and girls. This school pioneered education for Chinese girls. The next year the expanded school had 32 boarders.
‘God is our Friend’
She penned her last letter to her family in Virginia shortly before her death. “I rejoice to be able to say that recently … I have felt so much happiness, so much joy,” she wrote. “How delightful to know that God is our Friend, and that all things shall work together for our good.”
On Nov. 26, 1844, after the birth of their fifth child, Henrietta suddenly became ill and died at age 27. She was buried in Hong Kong Cemetery.
Henrietta holds a special place in the annals of Southern Baptist missionary history: her fame is second only to Lottie Moon.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — Joanne Sloan, a member of First Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, has been a published writer of articles and books for 30 years. She has a bachelor’s degree double majoring in history and English from East Texas State University (now Texas A&M–Commerce) and a master’s degree specializing in English from the University of Arkansas (1978).
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