Newell, Harriet Atwood (1793–1812)

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Newell, Harriet Atwood (1793–1812)

One of the first American women to travel overseas as a missionary. Born Harriet Atwood on October 10, 1793, in Haverhill, Massachusetts; died on November 30, 1812, on the Isle of France (now Mauritius); daughter of Moses Atwood (a merchant) and Mary (Tenny) Atwood; attended Bradford Academy in Massachusetts, 1806–07, also attended a private academy, 1810; married Samuel Newell (later a missionary), on February 9, 1812, at Haverhill, Massachusetts; children: Harriet (born prematurely in 1812 and died five days later).

One of the first two American women to travel overseas as a missionary, along with Ann Hasseltine Judson, and the first American missionary to die on foreign soil (1812).

The third of nine children, Harriet Atwood Newell was born to devout Christian parents in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on October 10, 1793. During the two years she attended Bradford Academy (1806–07), she demonstrated her intelligence and kept a journal which recorded her religious awakening. Unlike the emotional conversion of her friend Nancy Hasseltine, who as Ann Hasseltine Judson would later join her on her missionary endeavors, Newell experienced a calm and logical acceptance of her faith. In 1808, her father died of tuberculosis, and the following year she decided to join the Haverhill (Massachusetts) Congregational Church and devote her life to serving God. In 1810, she attended a private academy and spent a few weeks with her sister Mary Atwood , who was teaching at the Byfield (Massachusetts) Academy.

In October 1810, Harriet met her future husband Samuel Newell, a Harvard graduate who was attending Andover (Massachusetts) Theological Seminary. Her friend Hasseltine agreed to marry another Andover student, Adoniram Judson, and Samuel proposed to Newell in April 1811. She feared that her fragile health might interfere with his plans to become a foreign missionary in India, but months later decided to marry him, well aware that the journey would be difficult and that she could expect never to return to see her family.

On February 9, 1812, they were married in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and ten days later, with the Judsons, sailed from Salem on the Caravan for Calcutta, India. They arrived in India on June 16, the first American missionaries in the country. After spending a few weeks with British missionaries at Serampore, they were ordered by the British East India Company, which at the time virtually ruled the country and was opposed to attempts to Christianize Indians, to return to America. The company reconsidered after a few days, however, and granted them permission to go to the Isle of France in the Indian Ocean. Newell was pregnant when she embarked with her husband on August 4. The voyage proved difficult and lengthy, and she was ill much of the time; a daughter whom they named Harriet was born prematurely on the ship, dying only five days later. She was buried at sea. On October 31, the boat docked at Port Louis, Isle of France, and Newell was brought ashore, weak from tuberculosis and childbirth. She died a month later, on November 30, 1812, in a mudwalled cottage on the island. Her husband continued his work in Ceylon and Bombay and died less than ten years later. Harriet Newell's grave at Port Louis was marked with a monument by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and her brief career, perceived by some as almost martyr-like, became for years an inspiration to aspiring overseas missionaries.