Tarleton Perry Crawford

Tarleton Perry Crawford (May 8, 1821 – April 7, 1902) was a Baptist missionary to Shandong, China for 50 years with his wife.

Crawford was born in Warren County, Kentucky. He was the fourth son of John and Lucretia Crawford. After his conversion to Christianity at the age of sixteen, he said: "I will spend my life in telling of Jesus' great mercy." He dedicated his life to mission work in China.

At the beginning of 1848 he entered Union University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where his studies were supported in part by the West Tennessee Baptist Convention. He graduated in 1851 at the head of his class.

Dr. Crawford worked on a farm in Denmark, Tennessee to help pay for his early education. He attended the Denmark Male Academy where he was top of his class. The Big Hatchie Baptist Association helped pay his way to Union University. The women of Browns Creek Baptist, Big Black Creek Baptist, Maple Springs Baptist and Clover Creek Baptist all sold their eggs and milk gathered on Sundays to help support him, and later Lottie Moon. He was first ordained by the Big Black Creek Baptist Church in Denmark, Tennessee. Brother Obediah Dodson was his pastor and very passionate about missions.

Crawford married Martha Foster, who had become Baptist in 1845. She had studied at the Institute of Lafayette in Alabama. They married on March 12, 1851 at her home in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, a week after their engagement.

At the close of 1850 Crawford was appointed as missionary to Shanghai, China by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Posted initially to Shanghai in 1852, Crawford and his wife Martha moved to Dengzhou in Shandong, perhaps to gain more independence from mission oversight. Crawford had a domineering character that caused much dissent; some Americans were concerned and he was rebuked by the American consul in Shanghai.

Crawford insisted that preaching was the sole duty of the missionary. He was dismayed by the fiasco involving Charles Gutzlaff's Chinese evangelists. He thereafter insisted Chinese should never be paid out of mission funds. His friend Dr. George Burton's becoming exhausted due to excessive medical work in Shanghai reinforced Crawford's entral conviction. Crawford itinerated widely around local villages (131 in 1875 alone). His singlemindedness meant that he closed down his wife's school in 1879, perhaps out of jealousy at her success with Lottie Moon at Shaling.

...
Wikipedia