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William B. Scranton

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This article is about the American Methodist missionary to Korea in 1880s. For others, see William Scranton (disambiguation).
William Benton Scranton
William B. Scranton
Born(1856-03-29)March 29, 1856
New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
DiedMarch 23, 1922(1922-03-23) (aged 65)
Kobe, Hyogo, Japan
NationalityUnited States
Occupation(s)Missionary, Doctor
Known forfirst Methodist missionary in Korea

William Benton Scranton (May 29, 1856 – March 23, 1922) was a medical doctor and a Methodist missionary in Korea.

Biography

William B. Scranton was born on May 29, 1856 in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of William Talcott Scranton, a merchant, and Mary Fletcher Scranton. His father died when William Scranton was sixteen and moved to Ohio with his mother. He graduated from Yale University in 1878 and the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1882 and practiced as a medical doctor in Cleveland, Ohio for three years.

One of American missionaries for Japan, Robert S. Maclay, visited Korea in 1884 to seek permission from the king Gojong to start Methodist mission work, in 1884, and he was granted limited permission to establish a Methodist mission only for educational and medical work. After receiving the news about the permission, the missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal Church selected Rev. Henry G. Appenzeller and Dr. William B. Scranton.[1] Mary F. Scranton decided to accompany her only child, William Scranton, as an agent of the Methodist Woman's Foreign Missionary Society (WFMS).

William Scranton arrived in Japan in February 1885 with his wife, Loulie Wyeth Arms, and his mother for mission in Korea. Because of the political uncertainty in Korea caused by Gapsin Coup occurred in 1884, Scranton went alone to Korea, leaving his wife and mother in Japan. At the invitation from Dr. Horace N. Allen, a Presbyterian missionary in Korea, Scranton joined Gwang Hye Won, a western-style Royal hospital opened in early 1885, but soon decided to establish a separate Methodist hospital. In June 1885, Scranton's wife and mother were reunited with William Scranton at a newly purchased house near the U.S. legation in Seoul. Scranton converted the house for a Methodist dispensary and began receiving patients on September 10, 1885. The dispensary was expanded in 1886 to include 5 wards, and the king Gojong gave it the name, Si Pyung Won (시병원, 施病院), meaning "the universal relief hospital."[2]

After experiencing struggles with Merriman C. Harris,[clarification needed] Scranton resigned from the Methodist mission in 1907[3][4] and became Anglican. He moved to Manchuria in 1916 and to Kobe, Japan in 1917. Scranton had served as medical inspector for the American Consulate in Kobe until he died from pneumonia on March 23, 1922. He was cremated and the ashes interred in the Kobe Foreigners Cemetery located in Kasugano.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ "April Marks 130th Anniversary of Methodist Missions in Korea". International Bulletin of Missionary Research.
  2. ^ "구한말 정동이야기-시병원". Korea Creative Contents Agency (KOCCA).
  3. ^ "감리교 최초 선교사 스크랜턴 목사 복권 추진". 한국경제신문. March 18, 2015.
  4. ^ "The history of the Scrantons". Ewha Voice by Ewha Womans University. November 2, 2009.
  5. ^ "조선을 향한 생명과 사랑, 윌리엄 스크랜턴". tv.jtbc.joins.com. JTBC. December 24, 2015. minute 56:15-58:55. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
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