Adoniram Judson

Short Name: Adoniram Judson
Full Name: Judson, Adoniram
Birth Year: 1788
Death Year: 1850

Adoniram Judson was born on August 9, 1788, at Malden, Massachusetts, the son of a Congregational pastor. He graduated from Brown University in 1807 and later studied at Andover Theological Seminary, where he learned Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. After a period of religious skepticism influenced by Jacob Eames, Judson returned to Christian faith following Eames’s death in 1808. He became interested in foreign missions and was licensed to preach in 1810 by the Orange Vermont Congregational Association.

In 1812, Judson and his wife Ann Hasseltine Judson were sent overseas by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. During the voyage to India, Judson adopted Baptist convictions, was baptized, and resigned from the Congregational board. This led to the development of Baptist missionary support in the United States. After difficulties with the East India Company, Judson relocated to Rangoon, Burma, in 1813, becoming the first American Baptist missionary to that region.

Judson devoted nearly forty years to missionary work in Burma. He spent several years learning the Burmese language and began Bible translation and evangelistic efforts. In 1817, a printing press arrived, enabling the publication of Christian tracts and portions of Scripture, including the Gospel of Matthew in Burmese. After twelve years of work, the mission had made eighteen converts from Buddhism.

During the First Anglo-Burmese War, Judson was imprisoned from 1824 to 1826 on suspicion of being a British spy. He endured severe conditions until his release following the Treaty of Yandabo. His wife Ann died in 1826. In 1828, Judson moved to Moulmein, continued translation work, and married Sarah Hall Boardman, widow of missionary George Dana Boardman. Judson completed the Burmese Bible translation in 1834, after approximately twenty four years of labor.

Following Sarah Boardman Judson’s death during a voyage to the United States, Judson returned briefly on furlough. In 1846, he married Emily Chubbock and returned to Burma, where he worked on an expanded Burmese-English dictionary, completed in 1849. He died at sea on April 12, 1850, in the Bay of Bengal.

Judson’s legacy includes the translation of the Bible into Burmese, the compilation of a Burmese-English dictionary, the establishment of numerous churches, and the foundation of long-term Baptist missions in Myanmar. His memoirs were published in 1853. He also authored several hymns, including “Our Father God, Who Art in Heaven” and “Our Saviour Bowed Beneath the Wave.”