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Elizabeth Freeman Barrows Ussher (20 October 1873 – 14 July 1915) was a Christian missionary and a witness to the Armenian Genocide. Barrows described the atrocities against the Armenians as "systematic and wholesale massacre." Much of her life is described in the 1916 publication by her own father John Otis Barrows.〔John Otis Barrows, (In the land of Ararat, a sketch of the life of Mrs. Elizabeth Freeman Barrows Ussher, missionary to Turkey and a martyr of the great war. ) PDF file, direct download.〕 She was the wife of missionary physician Clarence Ussher. ==Life and work== Elizabeth Freeman Barrows was born in Kayseri, Ottoman Empire on 20 October 1873 to Christian missionary parents. Due to her brother's poor health condition, when Barrows was two years old she and her family moved to Manisa in the hope that a change of environment would be helpful for the child. Once in Manisa, the Barrows family remained with other missionaries already stationed there. After Elizabeth's brother's health improved, the family traveled to Constantinople, where they managed to find a house in Besiktas, a suburb of the city. When Elizabeth was seven, the family visited the United States and headed for New England. The family eventually settled in Atkinson, New Hampshire and, at the age of eleven, Elizabeth Barrows was baptized in the local church. The Barrows family then moved to Newington, Connecticut, where Elizabeth received her early education. She continued her education with Evangelist preacher Dwight L. Moody at the age of fourteen in 1888. Barrows entered the Northfield Seminary and studied there for three years. After returning to her family residence in Connecticut, she became a teacher in a local school. In 1895, after teaching for nearly a year, she was accepted in Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. She was known as 'Beth' by her classmates and was elected vice-president of her class. A classmate wrote of her: After graduating from the seminary, Barrows decided to return to the Ottoman Empire and serve as a missionary in the region. She embarked from Boston, Massachusetts, on 18 October 1899 and arrived in Constantinople, where she remained for five days and then took a boat to Trabzon. From Trabzon she went to Erzurum en route to Van, where she was to be greeted by Clarence Ussher and other missionaries. However, in the meantime, an order was sent from Constantinople demanding that Barrows be sent back to the capital under suspicion of Armenian revolutionary activity. The suspicion was based on a telegraph sent from the England branch of the Armenian Relief Society, suggesting that she take care of Armenian orphans. Through the intervention of the American consuls in Erzurum, permission was ultimately granted. Barrows married Clarence Ussher on 26 June 1900 in a church in Van. The wedding was the first American wedding in Van and the ceremony was attended by many Ottoman dignitaries and prominent members of the Armenian community. Following her marriage, Elizabeth Ussher became a teacher at a girls school in Van and was the head of the musical department. She also taught Biblical studies to various other schools in the area and was part of the Young Woman's Christian Association in Van. She helped provide shelter for orphans and widows and taught them arts and crafts. Many of the items produced by the orphans and widows were sold around the world. After teaching for a few years, she decided to return to the United States in 1908, where she visited her family in the town of Stonington, Connecticut. After staying for a year, Ussher decided to return, embarking from Boston on 24 July 1909 and arriving in Batum. After making a brief stop in Tiflis, Ussher went to Echmiadzin, Armenia to witness the anointment of the new Catholicos of All Armenians, Matthew II Izmirlian. She then departed from Echmiadzin and stopped in Igdir and eventually arrived in Van. A few years later, however, World War I began. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Elizabeth Barrows Ussher」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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