Ann Judson

Judson, Ann née Hasseltine, 1789—1826

by Benjamin Colbert

Ann Hasseltine was born in Bradford, Massachusetts, the daughter of John Hasseltine (d. 1832) and Rebecca Hesseltine, née Barton. Around the age of 16 she became a committed Christian, attending the Congregationalist church. In 1812, she met and married Adoniram Judson (1788-1850), appointed missionary to the East Indies by the newly formed American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. They departed for India in the same year, continuing on to Burma (Myanmar) where they founded a Baptist mission. Ann Judson returned home in 1823-24 during which time she wrote her Account. After resuming her missionary duties, the Anglo-Burmese war (1824-26) resulted in her husband being taken prisoner as a foreigner. Her ministrations to him during this time weakened her health and she died in 1826.

Sources:

Knowles, James D. Memoir of Mrs. Ann H. Judson, Wife of the Rev. Adoniram Judson, Missionary to Burmah: Including a History of the American Baptist Mission, in the Burman Empire. 2nd ed. London: Wright and Cramp, 1829. Print.

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