Charlotte Atlee White Rowe: The Story of America’s First Appointed Woman Missionary

by Reid S. Trulson

Publisher:

Mercer University Press

, 2021

Overview

Charlotte Atlee White was the first woman officially appointed as a missionary by any denomination or mission agency. The scandal of her 1815 appointment required her to prevail over gender bias, survive attempts to revoke her appointment, and surmount the challenge of insufficient funding. After marrying Joshua Rowe, a widowed missionary in Calcutta in 1816, she remained in India to serve with the British Baptists. There she overcame local prejudice against educating girls while starting schools, teaching in Hindi, and writing a Hindi spelling and grammar book as teaching aids. She confronted new scandal arising when her confidential correspondence was repurposed in America for anti-missionary propaganda.

Her developing missiology critiqued the role of money in mission and the system of language acquisition for new missionaries. Following her husband’s death in 1823, she continued to work alone while adapting her approach to the local culture. Eventually forced to seek financial aid in London, she foundthat official appointment by British Baptists would cause as much scandal in England as it had earlier in America. Her decade of work in India was now over.

Charlotte White Rowe’s consistent omission from early mission accounts led to her subsequent absence in histories of mission and gender studies. Based on sources in England, India, and America, her reclaimed story corrects numerous inaccuracies that appear in the few earlier references to her. Hers was a key element in the century-long process through which single and married women finally gained equal missionary appointment with men.

Key Features

• Corrects numerous inaccuracies that appear in the few earlier references to Charlotte Attlee White
• Explores the life of the first woman officially appointed missionary by any denomination or mission agency
• Demonstrates how Charlotte was a key element in the century-long process through which women finally gained equal missionary appointment with men

Contents

Part I: America - The Making of a Missionary

• Personal and National Revolution
• Charlotte’s World: Hannah, Mary, Harriet, and Ann
• Women Missionaries
• Closer to Appointment
• The Scandal
• Drama in Philadelphia
• The Woolcomber’s Son

Part II: India - The Testing of a Missionary

• A New Life in India
• The New Missionary at Digah
• The Affair of the Re-purposed Letter
• Death, Disarray, and Determination
• Alone
• Destiny in the Baptist Mission Rooms

Part III: America - The Overlooking of a Missionary

• Reentering America
• To Appoint or Not to Appoint
• Written Out of History

Product Details

• Title: Charlotte Atlee White Rowe: The Story of America's First Appointed Woman Missionary
• Author: Reid S. Trulson
• Publisher: Mercer University Press
• Print Publication Date: 2021
• Pages: 272
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9780881468038, 0881468037
• Resource ID: LLS:CHRLTTTLWMSSNRY
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-05-09T02:31:08Z

About Reid S. Trulson

Rev. Reid S. Trulson is the retired executive director/CEO of International Ministries. He previously served as the American Baptist representative to Europe in Austria and the Czech Republic, area director for Europe and the Middle East, Scripture Union regional traveling secretary in Ghana, and as an American Baptist pastor in California and Wisconsin.