Judson

Judson, ADONIRAM, American missionary to Burma, was born in Malden, Massachusetts, August 9, 1788. He graduated at Brown University in 1807, passed through Andover theological seminary, and in 1812 married Ann Haseltine and sailed for India. There they joined the Baptists. After many difficulties they settled in Rangoon, and ere long Judson began to preach and write in Burmese, translating portions of the New Testament (1817-21). He received the degree of D.D. from Brown University in 1823. In 1824 the missionaries removed to Ava, where, during the Burmese war, Judson was imprisoned; and he subsequently laboured at Amherst, Promé, Rangoon, Maulmain, and, with remarkable success, among the Karen jungles. His devoted wife died at Amherst in 1826. In 1833 his translation of the Bible was completed, and this was followed by a Burmese-English dictionary. Judson's second wife, widow of G. D. Boardman (q.v.), died in 1845 on the voyage home to America. He returned to Burma in 1846, and completed his dictionary at Maulmain, but his health failed, and he died at sea, on his way to Mauritius, 12th April 1850. His first wife was author of a History of the Burmese Mission, and assisted her husband with his translations. His third wife, Emily Chubbuck (1817-54), was known in the literary world as Fanny Forrester. See Lives by Wayland (Boston, 1853) and Judson's son Edward (New York, 1883).