AndersonJN

During this trip, J.N. Anderson was so moved by China's great need, he wrote a letter of appeal to the SDA Mission Board. The letter was read out to the delegates by Elder W.A. Spicer at the 1903 General Conference Session. As a result four doctors and two nurses arrived late in 1903 to join the Pilquists in Henan, central China. They were Drs. Harry and Maude Miller, Drs. Arthur and Bortha Selmon, Charlotte Simpson, and Carrie Erickson. J.N. Went to Shanghai to meet up with these six new missionaries, and took them via Hankou to Xinyang, Henan where the Pilquists were. The six medical missionaries started a clinic at Xincai (新蔡), Henan. This marked the beginning of the Adventist medical missionary work in China.

From Hongkong, J.N. Anderson made numerous trip into China mainland, particularly the southern provinces of Guangdong 廣東and Guangxi 廣西, where he visited many towns and villages. Fourteen months after arriving in Hongkong, the Anderson family moved to Canton to establish the church headquarter inside China, and J.N. Anderson became the Director of the China Mission. The three pioneer Adventist missionaries were happy that they now had realized their dream of making their home in Canton-China proper, since Hongkong, where they were before, was a British colony. Canton was regarded (and still is) as one of the most important metropolis of South China, being the center of political, commercial, and industrial activities. By the end of 1903, there were 12 foreign missionaries working in different parts of China, and the Adventist church was well established in this land of 400 millions people.

They took over the house of the Wilbur's, because the Wilbur's needed to return to Hongkong due to health reasons. Mrs Anderson described the condition of their home in Canton in these words:

"The building itself was a gray-brick structure of two stories. The dwelling was above and the lower floor is intended to be a chapel. But the chapel street door was shut and padlocked with a heavy iron clasp and staple. How that empty room with its closed door spurred us into diligent study.....

At the rear, connected with our premise stands the "old chapel". This was the spot where Huang San Tsuen came instruction from the Bible, after those remarkable visions in which he believe himself to have been called to destroy all idle worship our of China. From this old chapel, he went forth on that mission which, from a small beginning of reform in his own family and among his own kinsmen and neighbors, later developed into the Taiping Rebellion. ..... It was of interest to us that, following only the Scriptures as their guide, the Taiping adopted "Ten Heavenly Rules" as their moral standard of conduct, observing 'the  seventh day as their day of worship, and of praise to God. Our small training school for young men was after a time opened in the 'old chapel', where the Taiping leader had been taught." (Anderson 1920b, p.40)

In the spring of 1904, Ida Thompson, Emma's sister, established the first Adventist school in Canton, called the Bethel Girls' School. This name was chosen because Thompson was supported by the Wisconsin Conference of SDA, and that the intermediate school in Wisconsin Conference was called "Bethel School". This was indeed a bold move, as at that time the prevalent  Chinese custom is to regard sending girls to schools as wasteful because they soon will be married out from the parents' family to the husband's family. However, the school proved to be a good means of attracting new converts for the church.

In 1905, Benjamin L. Anderson (Jacob's younger brother) with his wife Julia, arrived at Hong Kong from the US to join Jacob and Emma as missionaries to China. They were sent by the church to Amoy (known today as Xiamen) in the Fujian province to open up new territories in the southeastern part China.

Consolidation of the China Mission (1906-1909)

1906 marked a significant year of the Adventist Church in China, because in the spring of that year, Elder Anderson ordained the first Chinese national minister of the SDA Church. His name is Nga Pit Keh (郭子颖) who came from Amoy or Xiamen (厦門), the neighboring province of Fujan (福建). Shortly after that, other Chinese members also joined the missionaries in spreading the message of the Adventist church. That year, J.N. Anderson's younger brother, B.L. Anderson and his wife, Julia, also accepted a call to go to China. The couple landed in Amoy in March 1906 and established the mission headquarter in the small island, Ku Lang Yu, just off Amoy on the coast of Fujan province.  

During his China years, J.N. Anderson kept a fairly good account of the early days of the China Mission in his diary. When he returned to the US in 1909, he shipped these records prepaid. But when he tried to pick up the trunk in San Francisco, the company wanted to be paid again. J.N. refused and the records were lost. The only dairy that survived covered the period from 1906 to 1907 and these records are now housed in the Heritage Room of the Library of Union College, NE. From these records, we can get a fairly good picture of the situation in China Mission during those years.

(This section needs expanding to provide

more details on the progress of the

Adventist message in southern China)

By 1906 when the diary begins, there were 21 Seventh-day Adventist missionaries in China - some of whom are stationed in central and north China. Here is a brief summary of some of the places that were mentioned in the dairy, and where the China Adventist churches or congregation were formed...

• • R. Caldwell spent time in Canton and Hong Kong doing colportuering work.

  • Drs H. & M. Miller and A.C. & B. Selmon (4 medical doctors) were in Shang Tsai,  Henan province.

  • Also in Henan province were Eric Pilquest and his wife Susan. They worked in several towns including Shang Tsai 新蔡, Lo Shan 羅山. They left the British & Foreign Bible Society to join the Adventist Church.

  • Elder J.J. Westrup in Sin Tsai, Henan province.

  • Shanghai 上海, Jiangsu

  • Hangkow 漢口, Hubei

  • Ru Nan Poo

An interesting episode in the diary relates to a trip that J.N. and Dr. H. Miller took in February of 1906, where they travel to a place called Kai Fung Fu 開徍府, in Henan province, and found some 50 or more decendants of the Chinese Jews. Figure 11, taken by Miller, shows two Chinese Jews standing in front of a stone stele with Chinese inscription commemorating the founding and rebuilding of the Jewish synagogue at Kai Fung Fu some 50 years previously.

During all these years, Mrs. Emma Anderson stood by her husband, not only fulfilled her role as a support missionary wife and mother, but also helped kept the books for the mission as well as Sabbath School works. But the manifold burdens in a foreign land proved a great strain on her health. In 1909, Jacob and Emma Andersons and their family returned to the United States.

Post China Years

After returning to the US, J.N. Anderson taught Biblical Languages and Religion at Washington Missionary College (Now Washington Adventist University), Washington D.C. from 1910 to 1915 and again from 1924 to 1928. From 1915 to 1924,  he joined Union College, Lincoln, NE as Professor of Greek, Hebrew and Mission. He returned to Union College again, from 1934 to 1943, becoming Professor Emeritus in 1943. His contribution was so valued by the Adventist community in Lincoln, NE, he was affectionately known as the "Grand Old Man of Union College". His portrait at Union College is shown here as Picture 1.

In 1920, J.N. Anderson's wife, Emma published two books based on their experience in southern China. The book With Our Missionaries in China was published by Pacific Press, while the book A'Chau and Other Stories was published by Review and Herald Press. Both books are well-loved by those who are interested in the gospel work in that great country of China.  Emma Anderson, who had been battling with health issues since the days of China,  passed away in 1925. Two years later 1927, J.N. Anderson married Daisy B. Shrade, a Sevethn-day Baptist from Wisconsin. She too passed away in 1941. In 1945, he married Louise Stahnke of Lincoln, NE. It was in Lincoln, NE that he spent his remaining years.

J.N. Anderson showed great love for China even after he returned to the US. While he was teaching at Union College, a great portion of his income was used to assist students from China. Many of these students returned to China to take up the work of the Chinese Church, continuing to uphold the gospel torch ignited by this courageous missionary couple, J.N. and Emma Anderson. 

After retirement, J.N. Anderson continued to live in Lincoln, NE with this third wife Louise Stahnke and was active in the Adventist community in Lincoln. He died on February 23, 1958 in Lincoln, and was buried in Mauston, WI.