The Story of the Foochow Foreign Cemeteries

Transcribed by George D. Ngu in December, 2010, with pictures inserted for illustration The Story of the Foochow Foreign Cemeteries George Carleton Lacy With an Afterword by Walter Nind Lacy December, 1951 The Story of the Foochow Foreign Cemeteries 1 The Story of the Foochow Foreign Cemeteries 2 Introduction It seems strange that the Anti-Cobweb Club, with its traditional interest in research and its symbolized interest in witches, has not left to posterity a story of the graveyards of Foochow. These sacred spots are full of historical suggestions and raise numerous intriguing questions to which available answers are rapidly disappearing. In these weeks of enforced idleness in Foochow, with almost no one from whom I could gather missing information, I have spent some sunny and some chilly hours “dwelling among the tombs.” So many discoveries have been made, including discoveries of how much most of us do not know about the early foreign residents in Foochow, that I have been lured into trying to find some of the missing information and making available a few notes that I have read largely from the stones, for those (such a meeting being now impossible) who in better times, might have responded to a notice of an Anti-Cob meeting devoted to this subject. We have been handicapped in research by the loss of records and the inaccessibility of persons whose memory could bridge the gaps, but we are deeply indebted to those who have responded to letters of inquiry. Also, shortly before his departure from Foochow in 1951, an attempt to reconstruct a record of the International Cemetery was made by Mr. William M. S. Brand, son of Mr. Henry Shelley Brand the eminent cemetery authority, and for 53 years a leading figure in Foochow foreign community life. This valuable book is now in the custody of Mr. Y. S. Liu, treasurer of the Sheng Kung Hui (and of numerous other organizations, including business manager of this cemetery), and was generously loaned to me to glean from it such facts as I could pick up; but alas! The photographs and drawings cannot be reproduced for you all to see. The use of the title “Foreign Cemeteries” is a misnomer, for in the international cemetery now are many Chinese graves, as is true also of the French cemetery, once called the Catholic Cemetery. There was also a Japanese Cemetery which strictly speaking could be included as a foreign cemetery, but of which little information is available. In fact, any use of any of these terms is open to criticism. The oldest, and most nearly correct perhaps, is the “The American Cemetery”, although strictly speaking it was never regarded as American community property, but has always been owned and maintained by the Methodist and American Board Missions, but open to others. There are numerous graves not connected with either of these two missions. Such, for example as that of the child of American Consul and Mrs. Price; (the wife of another American Consul, J. T. Gracey, was buried in the International Cemetery), that of the Quade child from the Seventh Day Adventist Mission, the grave of missionaries and their children from Amoy or elsewhere, who were summering at Kuliang, or were travelling. Among these is the grave of a Swedish missionary who was killed by pirates at Kimpai. We find also the grave of a The Story of the Foochow Foreign Cemeteries 3 Foochow business man, Jay Dinsmore, who died from wounds inflicted by bandits at Shahsien, and one stone apparently erected by the cemetery committee reads, “Unknown sailor – rest in peace.” One wonders, therefore, what principle or rule, if any, determined who should be buried in this so-called American missionary cemetery, for strictly it is neither American nor missionary, except that the land was purchased by the two American missions, and its upkeep has always until now been their responsibility and at their charge. The title deeds for all parts of this cemetery are written in the name of the Methodist Mission, and in 1951 they were registered in the name of the Methodist Church, and its upkeep taken over by its Executive Committee. Joint possession of the property now is entrusted to the committees of the two churches, but the deeds stand in the name of the Methodist Church. The British Cemetery has more recently been called the International Cemetery, although, according to agreement it is now limited neither in religion nor nationality; its deeds are registered at the British Consulate (I do not know of any recent transfer) and the British Consul when present in Foochow usually attended and presided over the meetings of the cemetery committee, and, when absent, was notified of the intention to hold such meetings, and consulted as to procedure. Even trustees and members of the committee have not all been British, and recently not a majority of them: Mr. Krohn, for many years, business partner of the German Consul. Siemssen was a trustee of the cemetery at the time of his death, and is buried there. (There has always been a considerable proportion of graves of those other than British, including many Americans and some Germans, Russians, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, and others.) At a very recent meeting of “The Foreign Community”, the name was officially changed to “Foochow International Christian Cemetery”, although the regulations still do not limit burials to those who had professed the Christian faith, as in the past there have been buried here those who are Parsees, Buddhist, or of other faiths. The tomb-stones in this cemetery indicate that there have never been bars to race or creed, in the burying of the dead in this cemetery. The one requirement seems to be the desire or wish of one’s family or friends to have the burial here, or to be one of finance, the present price being five loads of rice. There may be less question about designating what was once called the Catholic Cemetery, as the French Cemetery, though even here the case is not clear, for on the inside of the east wall is a large inset which reads, “Cimeterie Catholique” and on the south wall, in letters almost as large and conspicuous, are two plaques which read respectively, “Partie reserved sux Espagnals” and “Partie concree aux marines Francaise.” And the western part of the enclosure, without any designation, seems to be occupied almost entirely by Chinese graves. The justification for calling it a French cemetery seems to be that the care-taker claims he get his wages from the French consulate in Amoy, and on the outside of the surrounding wall, just to the left of the entrance gate, is a slate tablet inset, which reads, “Cimeterie Francais French Consul 15 Mai 1930.” The care-taker insists it belongs to the French consul who sends a small stipend which helps to keep up the place (the care-taker is there only part time.) Judging from the above dates, probably the present arrangement was made after the predominance of the French priests in the Roman Catholic Church had given way to a larger number of Spanish and American; (I understand that the Spanish bishop is buried in his own small burial ground near the Cathedral, and that other Spanish priests, recently without national distinction, have been buried with the Chinese clergy, The Story of the Foochow Foreign Cemeteries 4 near the North Gate). American Cemetery When we begin to look into the histories or beginnings of these burying grounds it is obvious that the so-called American Cemetery came first. There is a published history of this spot, an account by Bishop Wiley who was buried there, preceded by his wife and child. The earliest date on any tombstone of a foreigner’s grave, that we have discovered or to which any allusion is made, is that of Mrs. M. C. White of the Methodist Mission, who arrived in Foochow on September 6, 1847, and died on May 25, 1848. This apparently precipitated the first Methodist land purchase, a lovely spot in an olive orchard on the south-eastern slope of the hill, Chong Seng Sang. I quote from Walter Lacy’s “A Hundred Years of China Methodism”: “Her body was laid in what has since become the Mission Cemetery… under a wide-spreading olive tree, deep in the soil of the land she loved so well.” Their joint purchase of their first burying ground was indicative of the intimate friendship that had characterized the relations between the two missions from the time the first Methodists arrived on the same ship from Amoy with the Reverend L. B. Peet, of the American Board Mission, on Dong Ciu Island. The arrangement carefully preserved the identity of each mission lot by the erection of small boundary stones, bearing the names in Chinese of the two missions on either side. Mrs. White’s grave was placed close to one of these stones, as though to make sure that no one after death should separate her from those who had been close friends from her arrival in China. Curiously enough the second grave to appear was that of Mrs. Peet, who arrived in Foochow on the same ship and the same day (according to the record on this stone,) 6th September, 1847, and dying 13th July, 1856. Her grave snuggles close to the boundary stone on the Mei Bo Hui side, The Story of the Foochow Foreign Cemeteries 5 so that only the little stone stands between. The deeds for the two plots are written separately and in early decades the graves were arranged separately by missions; but as the cemetery began to fill up all such boundaries disappeared, and there is no indication of separating lines in the extensions that have been purchased, nor in recent burials. The conduct of the cemetery has been by mutual agreement through a joint committee, which shared expenses. Most of the original olive trees have died, though a few still stand. At one time a beautiful growth of stately royal palms was cultivated. The wanton destruction of these lofty trees was one of the pathetic features of the Japanese occupation period when the cemeteries were ruthlessly desecrated. These palms were simply cut down and their trunks fell as they would, breaking stones as they crashed, and lay like a litter of Jack-straws to rot on the ground until the return of the foreigners at the end of the war. For the most part the grounds have now been restored to their former appearance of tidy order, flowers are blooming, broken stones have been repaired, over-turned ones righted, and all graves, but one, are now names: one grave has no marker whatsoever, though some one recollects that it is probably that of the child of Dr. W. W. Williams. (I have made a record of all inscriptions so far as they are legible. There is one child’s grave, which some one has surmised to be the grave of Bishop and Mrs. Wiley’s infant, which apparently had an inscription now completely obliterated.) The graves are arranged in five fairly definite rows, two on the left and three on the right, of the walk as one proceeds from the gate toward the farther side (south west) of the grounds. There is less regularity in the placing of the tomb stones; some seem to stand at the head and some at the foot of the grave, or else not all heads are in stands between the graves that are end to end. Also some inscriptions are on the face, and some on the opposite side; several have Chinese The Story of the Foochow Foreign Cemeteries 6 inscriptions on what may be termed the front or the back of the stone; sometimes one language, sometimes the other, is above. As one now observes strangers walking through the grounds and reading the inscriptions, the Chinese epitaph on Mrs. White’s grave is seen to attract attention, and it has often been quoted either for its quaint language or apologetic, and one wishes that more had been disposed to follow the example of inscribing some words that would be meaningful to these later visitors to the foreign cemetery and leave it not so completely a “foreign cemetery”. Among the tomb stones few stand out as especially striking, and though such individual comment may be quite too personal and out of place, it adds interest. To my mind the large quartz bolder with the single character for Walker (和) that stands between the graves of Joseph Elkanah Walker and his wife Eliza Adelaide Claghorn, is the outstandingly attractive stone. These missionaries came to Foochow in 1872 and moved to Shaowu in 1876, where for twenty years together they pioneered in this remote part of the province. After the death of his wife he continued alone for six years with the companionship of his daughter and other missionaries who joined the station and established the North Fukien Synod of the Church of Christ in China. The stone has a majestic simplicity that is characteristic and beautifully unique among the variety of stones in this little cemetery. The tall, highly polished red Italian marble shaft which marks the grave of Bishop Isaac W. Wiley of the Methodist Episcopal Church is sure to attract attention. One wishes that the epitaph had given more of the facts of the life of this man who came to Foochow as a medical missionary in 1851, buried his wife and child here, later returned as a bishop of his church, assigned to preside over the Foochow Conference, and while discharging this duty died and was buried beside the graves of those who had been with him in his missionary labors thirty-one years earlier. Mrs. Wiley had lived here only two years, having died in 1853. In my boyhood days the grave that always fascinated me was that of Dr. William Osgood. It was then near the corner of the grounds, close to the wall at the right of the gate. There was a beautiful white marble cross at the head, and the grave was surrounded by a black iron chain set in a low granite base. The iron chain disappeared during the Japanese occupation (as did several from the International Cemetery -- as noted below), but otherwise the grave stones in this burying ground were little damaged during those days, but the inscriptions were in several cases obscured, and a few of the stones were broken. But for the loss of the chain and the obscuring of some of the inscription, the Osgood grave was undamaged. At the top of the cross is still clearly discernible the monogram and below that “In The Story of the Foochow Foreign Cemeteries 7 the cross of Christ I glory”. The first name can no longer be deciphered, but other records show the name to be “D_____ William Osgood, M.D.” arrived at Foochow January 22, 1870 and died at Sharp Peak August 17, 1880. Some date in Chinese characters has become illegible. On one side of the base stone is the statement, “Erected by the foreign community of Foochow as a token of respects.” On the opposite side of this base stone is a quotation from Jeremiah, 49:11; this reference is also nearly illegible, but was verified from the Bible which shows the text to be correctly inscribed, “Leave thy fatherless children. I will preserve them alive, and let the widows trust in me,” although there is no indication that Dr. Osgood left more than one widow, and the respect of the foreign community would indicate only a faulty selection of a scripture passage. In referring to various grave-stones, it ought to be remarked that when the cemetery was restored after the Japanese occupation the cemetery committee undertook to see that broken stones, were, if possible, repaired and missing stones replaced. In a few cases where there had never been stones, these were supplied, which probably account for incomplete data as to names and dates in a few cases. It may be that the Construction Bureau would welcome the missing information and would undertake to add it to the stones, especially if accompanied by a fee (How to send that is another question.) With the withdrawal of missionaries from Foochow, this cemetery has been registered as “Church property” and its maintenance entrusted to the local Church Committee, representing the Methodist and the Church of Christ in China. Despite various rumors there seems every indication that the new government will respect the integrity of these “foreign” cemeteries, provided the racial lines are not drawn. (The day after this was written new number plates appeared, indicating that the name of this road had been changed to North Progress Road (Ching Bu Peh Lou) on which this cemetery is No. 5.) The Story of the Foochow Foreign Cemeteries 8 International Cemetery The history of the international or former British Cemetery, is not so easily traced, the earlier records having been destroyed, and even the grave register having disappeared. However, as noted above, Mr. W. M. S. Brand, left a “reconstructed record.” This is a fascinating history, but it The Story of the Foochow Foreign Cemeteries 9 is far from complete, and some of the dates need cross checking and questions and statements appear to be in conflict. From some former residents of Foochow, whose memories span the past half century, we have received gratefully, statements and information, with which to supply some of the gaps, and correct some of the inaccuracies in Mr. Brand’s valuable work. Apart from the American Mission Cemetery just described, the earliest burying ground for foreigners in Foochow seems to have been provided in what was later a part of the Venerable Archdeacon Wolfe’s extensive purchase of land for residence and garden in the corner opposite St. John’s Stone Church. This site was later occupied by Dr. Rennie’s residence (which became Dr. Brewster’s residence.). According to the ground plan supplied by Mr. Brand it was only a section of the north end of this lot, not more than about fifty feet long and thirty or forty feet deep, with entrance from Archdeacon Wolfe’s garden, that was set apart as a burying ground and registered later at the British Consulate. There is some confusion in the records as to when and by whom it went into Archdeacon Wolfe’s hands and was registered at the British Consulate as a Cemetery, for the Archdeacon did not come to Foochow till long after graves began to appear. The graves in the present International Cemetery were obviously, some of them, transferred from this first burying plot, but there seems to be no way of ascertaining which ones, nor when the transfer began to take place. On the one hand we have photographs of the present cemetery dated 1895, one taken from the Sing Ding School hill, before the Hwasang martyrs had been buried there in early August 1895 showing numerous grave stones in the western part of the grounds, and on either side of the chapel. Also an old cash book shows that in May, 1896 there were purchased 37 heart shaped stones, which were set to mark unnamed graves in the present cemetery. Very The Story of the Foochow Foreign Cemeteries 10 evidently this Cheng Pu Tou cemetery had begun to fill up in the early nineties. The loss of the early grave register deprives us of the exact date of the first burials here and we have conflicting testimony as to when the Archdeacon Wolfe grounds served and when this site was first purchased (it was not all bought at one time) and it is impossible to say which is the first grave. The earliest stone date is that which reads “Sacred to the memory of W. Conner who departed this life at the British Consulate on the 28th of February 1851 in the 32 years of his age”. This would seem to indicate that it was his death which precipitated the lease of a lot of land to serve as a grave yard just as Mrs. White’s death had led the American community to purchase what was eventually the American cemetery. But then why was it purchased in Archdeacon Wolfe’s garden (or was it?) Mr. Brand’s story contains this paragraph: “The original site became rapidly filled, mostly by daring young seamen around thei