Mary J. Farnham
British-born American missionary in Shanghai (1833-1913)

Mary J. Farnham (née Scott; November 22, 1833 – February 22, 1913) was a British-born American missionary and temperance advocate. For 20 years, she served as president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) of China. As a missionary to Shanghai, Farnham conducted a free day school for poor girls and a large boarding school.
Early life and education
Mary Jane Scott was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, November 22, 1833. Her parents were Thomas Scott (1807-?) and Catherine (nee Dean) (1809-1832).
She was educated privately. A total abstainer from childhood, she was always interested in temperance work.
In 1854, after both parents died in a single day by a cholera epidemic, Farnham emigrated to the U.S. to live with her sister in New York, locating first in Albany, and afterward in Brooklyn.
Career
On May 4, 1859, she married the Rev. John Marshall Willoughby Farnham (1839-1917) in Schenectady, New York, and in October of that year, sailed with her husband for China, both Mr.
“Mary J. Farnham” enters the record as british-born American missionary in Shanghai (1833-1913). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Mary, Farnham and British-born can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mary J. Farnham” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.