Minnie M. Argetsinger
Middle-aged white woman wearing glasses, her dark hair arranged in an updo.
Minnie M. Argetsinger from a 1919 publication.
Born
Minnie Miranda Argetsinger

March 2, 1882
Mansfield, Pennsylvania
DiedMarch 17, 1954
Boston, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Baptist missionary in China, the Philippines

Minnie Miranda Argetsinger (March 2, 1882 – March 17, 1954) was an American Baptist missionary in China and the Philippines for 32 years.

Early life

Argetsinger was born in Mansfield, Pennsylvania,[1] the daughter of James M. Argetsinger and Ruby Soper Argetsinger.[2] Both of her parents were born in Pennsylvania. Her brother George Argetsinger was a New York State senator.[3]

Argetsinger trained as a teacher at Mansfield State Normal School, graduating in 1901.[4][5] She pursued further training at New York University and Columbia University.[6][7]

Career

Argetsinger was a teacher in Mansfield, Tioga County, and Yonkers as a young woman.[5] She was commissioned by the Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission Society in 1919, and sent to Chengdu, Sichuan province.[8][9] She trained teachers in China at the Union Normal School, and ministered to children, elderly women, and refugees.[6] She provided a reading room in her home for local visitors.[10]

Argetsinger was in the United States on furlough in 1928, and again from 1935 to 1937.[11][12] In 1939, she wrote from Chengdu about the aftermath of Japanese bombardment: "I picked up a hot piece of shrapnel off the lawn, the other day," she wrote to her brother, noting that the metal was American-made scrap iron.[13]

In 1948 she wrote with optimism about the place of women in the new China: "Dawn has already passed in the expansion of women's work. The work for women at the present time has no limitations and is full of possibilities."[10] By 1949, when Western missionaries were no longer allowed in China, she was reassigned to Capiz province in the Philippines for her last two years of mission work.[1][14] She retired in 1951. Into her last years, she spoke across the United States, to church groups and other organizations, about her work.[15][16]

Personal life

Argetsinger and her friend Mary E. Gifford lived together in Yonkers;[5] they also owned a camp together called "Giffarget" in the Adirondacks, beginning in 1916.[17] Argetsinger died in 1954, while in Boston to attend a church gathering.[5] There is a small collection of her correspondence in the American Baptist Historical Society archives.[18]

References

  1. 1 2 "Woman Missionary Speaker will be at First Baptist". Battle Creek Enquirer. January 17, 1953. p. 5. Retrieved November 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "Without Warning Expires in Chair". Star-Gazette. July 23, 1908. p. 9. Retrieved November 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "George Argetsinger". Elmira Advertiser. February 13, 1951. p. 10. Retrieved November 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Mansfield State Normal School (1897). Catalogue of Students. p. 8.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Deaths: Miss Minnie Argetsinger". Mansfield Advertiser. March 24, 1954. p. 4. Retrieved November 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 "Baptist Missionary in Orient Here for Rally". The La Crosse Tribune. March 26, 1952. p. 10. Retrieved November 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (1919). Our work in the Orient 1871-1919. Columbia University Libraries. Chicago : Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. pp. 121.
  8. ↑ Annual of the Northern Baptist Convention. The Convention. 1920. p. 161.
  9. ↑ The American Baptist Year-book. American Baptist publication society. 1919. p. 311.
  10. 1 2 Kirkwood, Dean R. (1948). Thirst amidst four rivers. Columbia University Libraries. New York : American Baptist Foreign Mission Society [and] Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. pp. 25, 28–29.
  11. ↑ "World Wide Guilds to Conduct Spring Rally". The Times-Tribune. March 12, 1936. p. 20. Retrieved November 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Missionary to China Makes Spokane Visit". Spokane Chronicle. June 10, 1937. p. 6. Retrieved November 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ Clune, Henry W. (December 23, 1939). "Seen & Heard: Tomorrow is Christmas Eve". Democrat and Chronicle. p. 15. Retrieved November 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Baptist Mission Worker to Speak". The Evening Times. March 20, 1952. p. 15. Retrieved November 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Emmanuel First Baptist". Reno Gazette-Journal. January 26, 1952. p. 6. Retrieved November 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Neenah Woman Selected as President of Missionary Society of Baptist Church". The Post-Crescent. March 27, 1952. p. 18. Retrieved November 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ Barlow, Jane A. (2004-06-01). Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks: The Story of the Lake, the Land , and the People. Syracuse University Press. p. 131. ISBN 9780815607748.
  18. ↑ "Argetsinger, Minnie Miranda (1882-1954), 1934–1954". American Baptist Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
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