Minnie M. Argetsinger

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

Minnie M. Argetsinger
Minnie M. Argetsinger from a 1919 publication.
Born
Minnie Miranda Argetsinger

March 2, 1882
Mansfield, Pennsylvania
DiedMarch 17, 1954
Boston, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
OccupationBaptist missionary in China, the Philippines

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. "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. "Deaths: Miss Minnie Argetsinger". Mansfield Advertiser. March 24, 1954. p. 4. Retrieved November 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "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. 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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