Isabella Ruth Eakin Dodd

Isabella Ruth Eakin Dodd (June 26, 1861 – July 4, 1937) was an American Presbyterian missionary in fields located in present-day Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and China.

Isabella Ruth Eakin Dodd
An older white woman, wearing a black hat and coat, and glasses
Isabella Ruth Eakin Dodd, from her 1923 passport application
Born
Isabella Ruth Eakin

June 26, 1861
Rose Point, Pennsylvania
DiedJuly 4, 1937 (age 76)
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Other namesBelle Eakin Dodd
Occupation(s)Presbyterian missionary, translator, writer
SpouseWilliam Clifton Dodd
RelativesJohn Anderson Eakin (brother)

Early life

Isabella Ruth "Belle" Eakin was from Rose Point, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Joseph A. Eakin and Elizabeth McCay Eakin.[1] She graduated from Western Female Seminary in Oxford, Ohio, in 1886.

Career

Eakin began as a Presbyterian missionary in North Siam (now Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand) in 1887, following her older brother John Anderson Eakin,[2] her older sister Elizabeth, and other relatives in their similar work in the region.[3] With her husband, Dodd opened a mission at Lamphun near Chiang Mai in 1891, from 1904 to 1907 ran a mission in Kengtung,[4] and in 1917 opened a mission station in Yunnan Province,[5] considered "the most remote station of the Presbyterian mission".[1]

A white woman and a white man, standing in front of a map and a brick wall; she is wearing a white blouse and a skirt; he is wearing a light-colored suit with a starched collar; both are wearing glasses
Isabella Ruth Eakin Dodd and William Clifton Dodd, from a 1917 publication

Dodd wrote several articles about her work for American periodicals, especially Woman's Work.[6][7][8] She finished the book that she began with her husband, The Tai Race: Elder Brother of the Chinese (1923),[9] and translated the Gospel of Matthew into a Tai dialect. She retired from the mission field in 1928.[1]

Publications
  • "An Evangelistic Tour in Laos" (1890)[10]
  • "Lampoon as We Found it, After Two Years' Absence" (1896)[11]
  • "Last Stages of a Long Journey and Arrival at the Goal" (1898)[12]
  • "A Tribe of Laos Highlanders" (1899)[13]
  • "A Tour of Buddhist Temples in British Territory" (1899)[14]
  • "A Laos Mother in Israel" (1901)[8]
  • "The Lao Girls' Orchestra at Chieng Mai" (1903)[7]
  • "A Chieng Tung Cremation" (1906)[15]
  • "Incidents of a Visit to Kengtung State" (1910)[6]
  • "Unoccupied Fields" (1919)[16]
  • The Tai Race: Elder Brother of the Chinese (1923, with William Clifton Dodd)[9]

Personal life

Eakin married fellow missionary William Clifton Dodd in 1889. They adopted a daughter, Leila Marie, in 1898. Her husband died in 1919, and she died in 1937, at the age of 76, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.[1] She was remembered as a notable former member when Clintonville Presbyterian Church held its centennial in 1941.[3]

References
  1. "Mrs. W. C. Dodd Dies; Retired Missionary" The New York Times (July 11, 1937): 33.
  2. "The Rev. John A. Eakin; Retired Presbyterian Missionary Dies in Bangkok, Siam". The New York Times. 1929-01-22. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  3. "Clinton Church Plans Centennial". The News-Herald. 1941-08-08. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-11-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Swanson, Herbert R. (1982). "The Kengtung Question: Presbyterian Mission and Comity in Eastern Burma, 1896–1913". Journal of Presbyterian History (1962–1985). 60 (1): 59–79. ISSN 0022-3883. JSTOR 23328466.
  5. "Dodd, William Clifton". Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity Online. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  6. Dodd, Belle E. (May 1910). "Incidents of a Visit to Kengtung State". Woman's Work. 25: 107–108.
  7. Dodd, Belle Eakin (May 1903). "The Lao Girls' Orchestra at Chieng Mai". Woman's Work for Woman. 18 (5): 105–106.
  8. Dodd, Belle E. (May 1901). "A Laos Mother in Israel". Woman's Work for Woman. 16: 134–136.
  9. Dodd, William Clifton; Dodd, Isabella Ruth Eakin (1923). The Tai race, elder brother of the Chinese. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: The Torch press.
  10. Dodd, Belle E. (August 1890). "An Evangelistic Tour of Laos". Woman's Work for Woman. 5 (8): 209–211 – via Internet Archive.
  11. Dodd, Belle E. (May 1896). "Lampoon as we Found it, After Two Years' Absence". Woman's Work for Woman. 11 (5): 129–130 – via Internet Archive.
  12. Dodd, Belle E. (December 1898). "Last Stages of a Long Journey and Arrival at the Goal". Woman's Work for Woman. 13 (12): 326–327 – via Internet Archive.
  13. Dodd, Belle E. (January 1899). "A Tribe of Laos Highlanders". Woman's Work for Woman. 14 (1): 9–10 – via Internet Archive.
  14. Dodd, Belle E. (May 1899). "A Tour of Buddhist Temples in British Territory". Woman's Work for Woman. 14 (5): 122–126 – via Internet Archive.
  15. Dodd, Belle E. (May 1906). "A Chieng Tung Cremation". Woman's Work. 21 (5): 113–114 – via Internet Archive.
  16. Dodd, Belle E. (1919). "Unoccupied Fields". Olive Trees. 33 (5): 378 – via Internet Archive.
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