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Missionary in China in the 1870's Andrew Stritmatter
Andrew Stritmatter was born in 1847 in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, the son of Thomas Stritmatter and Mary Magdalene Glasser. Thomas emigrated to the United States as a young child with his parents and three siblings in 1816. They came from Baden, Germany and settled in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. Thomas and Mary were married in 1843 in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. In 1858 the family moved to Blue Run, Scioto County, Ohio, five miles east of Lucasville, where they established a farm. The writings of Andrew Stritmatter reflect his thoughts and observations during the years from 1869 through 1880 and cover his days as a student at Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, his work as a Methodist circuit preacher in Southeastern Ohio, and his experiences as a missionary in China from 1873 through 1880. He was a prolific and descriptive writer whose observations of China and Chinese culture are vividly depicted. Included in this book are letters, written primarily to his sister Rose (with numerous references to his siblings, Joe, William, and Aggie), articles which were published in the Athens Messenger and the Western Christian Advocate and his diary after he returned to the U. S. The Athens Messenger is the local newspaper in Athens, Ohio and the Western Christian Advocate was an Ohio Methodist publication. Interspersed among his writings are other pertinent articles. Andrew’s letters were preserved by his grandchildren, Ruth Stritmatter Jarvis and John Stritmatter, and by Will Pool, Rose Stritmatter Pool’s grandson. His diary was preserved by his granddaughter, Joan Stritmatter Lyon. Ruth typed copies of his letters from the handwritten originals and some of the notations in italics are hers. The writings are organized in chronological order according to when they were written. By organizing it in this way, writings about a similar subject matter tend to be together. The Table of Contents also lists the publication date for the articles and a brief notation as to the subject of the letter or article. To help you identify places referred to in his writings there are five maps beginning on page viii. In compiling his writings the punctuation, grammar and spelling were kept in the original form. Often this was archaic spelling such as embassador, inclose, sulphuric, staid, etc. Lucy Stritmatter’s maiden name was spelled Combs and Coombs. In China many different spelling variations were used over the years by the French, Germans and English. In recent years China adopted a standardized spelling. On the maps you will see references to Kiukiang as Juijiang and Poyang Lake as Boyang Lake, etc. As a cross reference we have listed the place names by the old and new spellings on page xiii. There are several items of interest in the Appendix. Included are articles about Lucy Combs Stritmatter’s work as a medical missionary, charts of Andrew’s ancestors and descendants, copies of the following: one of his original handwritten letters, pages from his diary, an article from the Western Christian Advocate and an article from the Athens Messenger. In addition we have included an acknowledgments section in which we give a brief account of how this book was compiled and thank the many people who helped locate and preserve his writings.
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