William Summerill Vanneman

William Summerill Vanneman (January 5, 1863 – October 29, 1933) was an American medical missionary.[1][2] From the fall of 1890 until his death, he worked as a physician in Tabriz, Iran for the Presbyterian mission. Vanneman was appointed as chairman of the relief committee in Tabriz during the Armenian genocide and the Persian famine of 1917-1919.[3] He was awarded the Order of the Lion and the Sun in 1896 by the Shah of Persia.

William Summerill Vanneman
Born(1863-01-05)January 5, 1863
Penns Grove, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedOctober 29, 1933(1933-10-29) (aged 70)
Tabriz, Iran
Alma materPrinceton University
University of Pennsylvania
Known forMedical and humanitarian relief in Iran
Spouse
Marguerite Amy Fox
​
(m. 1890)​
Children4

Early life

Vanneman was born in Penns Grove, New Jersey, to Edwin Alwood Vanneman and Josephine Newell. He attended Salem Collegiate Institute and then studied at Princeton University before attending medical school at the University of Pennsylvania.[1] After receiving his medical degree in 1888, Vanneman became a resident physician at Blockley Almshouse.[4]

On August 21, 1890, Vanneman married Marguerite Amy Fox, who had just graduated from nursing school at Blockley Almshouse.[2] Part of her responsibilities in Tabriz involved traveling to and caring for the leper village.[5] Their children, all born in Tabriz, were: Aimee Sherin, Dorothy Jewett, Irene Wood, and Ruth.

Mission

On May 6, 1890, Vanneman received a commission from the Presbyterian Board of Missions to serve as the replacement physician for George W. Holmes in Tabriz, Iran.[6][7][8] He left for Tabriz in September 1890 and joined Mary Bradford who was in charge of treating the female patient population.[8] Vanneman's medical responsibilities involved providing medicines to the general population at the mission's dispensary and making home visits. Apart from his medical responsibilities, Vanneman was the treasurer for the Tabriz and West Persia mission, which included the mission at Urmia.[9]

Former missionaries at the Presbyterian mission in Tabriz included Joseph Plumb Cochran as well as William Levi Whipple, the father of Allen Whipple, whom the Whipple procedure is named after.

Vanneman experienced early opposition from the local Armenian population and Tabriz officials when the mission church and school were ordered to be closed.[10] With time, however, Vanneman would form a strong relationship with the city, and in his 1921 report, Robert Elliot Speer described him as “the best known and most respected citizen of Tabriz”.[11] Vanneman also developed a close relationship with the Shah of Persia, Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar, and in 1896, he served as a physician for the Shah's month-long journey from Tabriz to Tehran.

Cholera

When the cholera pandemic reached Tabriz in October 1904, Vanneman stayed to keep the mission’s dispensary open and make home visits to cholera patients.[12] By the end of the fall, Vanneman helped build three dispensary wards and an operating room.[12]

Persian Revolution

During the Persian Constitutional Revolution in 1909, the Shah of Persia, Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar, held Tabriz under siege. As a result of the siege, Vanneman witnessed starvation and an increased number of stomach and intestinal disease cases in the city.[13] Russian forces occupied Tabriz in the ten years that followed the revolution.

Persian famine

In the years spanning the Armenian genocide and the Persian famine between 1915 and 1919, Vanneman was appointed by the U.S. consul in Tabriz to be chairman of the relief committee in Tabriz.[3] In this role, he communicated with Secretary of State Robert Lansing and U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau to manage funds sent by the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, now known as the Near East Foundation.[14] The committee is the oldest nonsectarian international development organization in the US and the second American humanitarian organization to be chartered by an act of the US Congress.

Ottoman occupation

When Russian troops left Tabriz in 1918, the Ottoman forces gained control of Tabriz. In the months leading up to the takeover of the city, foreigners were advised to leave the city because they were at risk of becoming hostages. Vanneman, along with several others from the mission, however, remained in Tabriz to keep the mission and its medical services open. On September 8, 1918, Vanneman was arrested by the Turkish troops who desired to gain access to money in the relief funds. Mullahs in Tabriz protested to the Turkish troops against his imprisonment.[11] Vanneman was released 44 days later on October 28, 1918.

In 1921, Vanneman's daughter, Irene Wood Vanneman, joined the Tabriz mission as a missionary teacher.[2]

Death and legacy

Vanneman died from pneumonia in Tabriz, Iran, on October 29, 1933, at the age of 70.[2] For his services to the Shah, he was awarded the Order of the Lion and the Sun.[1]

References
  1. Princeton university. Class of 1886; Evans, Frederick (1911). After twenty-five years, class record of 1886. The Library of Congress. [Princeton, Princeton university press].
  2. Ancestry Library Edition
  3. "SAYS TURKS AIDED RECENT MASSACRES; Troops Allowed Kurds to Kill Hundreds, American Missionary Reports. RUSSIA THE SOLE HOPE Occupation of Persia Alone Can Save Situation, a Missionary Writes". The New York Times. 29 April 1915. ProQuest 97747814.
  4. Philadelphia Inquirer. 1 November 1896. p. 4. ProQuest 1826816251. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. "Incoming, Letters, 1910". Evangelism in Iran: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions. Vol. 205. p. 69. OCLC 965518861.
  6. "Incoming, Letters, 1889 - 1890". Evangelism in Iran: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions. Vol. 6. p. 17. OCLC 965518861.
  7. Karimi, Linda (May 1975). Implications of American missionary presence in 19th and 20th century Iran (Thesis). doi:10.15760/etd.1826.
  8. Speziale, Fabrizio (2012). Hospitals in Iran and India, 1500-1950s. BRILL. p. 96. ISBN 978-90-04-22829-0.
  9. "Incoming, Minutes West Persia, 1887 - 1899". Evangelism in Iran: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions. Vol. 17. Part 2. OCLC 965518861.
  10. "Document 475". Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President, Transmitted to Congress, December 4, 1893. Office of the Historian.
  11. Speer, Robert E.; Carter, Russell K. (1922). Report on India and Persia of the Deputation: Sent by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. to Visit These Fields in 1921-22. Board of foreign missions of the Presbyterian church in the U.S.A. OCLC 1256731786.
  12. One Hundred and Third Annual Report of the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America. Reports of the missionary and benevolent boards and committees to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Vol. 1905. 1891. OCLC 1052535883.
  13. One Hundred and Eighth Annual Report of the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America. Reports of the missionary and benevolent boards and committees to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Vol. 1910. 1891. OCLC 1052525468.
  14. Iran (Persia): Records of the U.S. Department of State Central File: Decimal File 891.48, Internal Affairs Of States, Iran, Calamities. Disasters., January 29, 1912 - June 7, 1921
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