Josiah Nelson Cushing

Background

Josiah Nelson Cushing was born on May 4, 1840 at North Attleboro, Massachusetts, the son of Alphams N. and Charlotte Everett Foster Cushing.

Education

His early education was begun in the local school and continued at the age of fifteen in the Opalic Institute at East Attleboro, where he was converted during a revival meeting under the Rev. C. G. Finney.

He prepared for college at Pierce Academy, Middleboro, Massacusetts, and entered Brown University, from which he graduated in 1862.

In 1865 he completed his seminary training at Newton Theological Institution, and was ordained in Providence, Rhode Island, shortly thereafter.

Career

In the spring of 1865 he had sought appointment under the American Baptist Missionary Union, and was designated to work among the Shans of Burma. While seeking a wife during the following year he taught at Newton.

On October 24 he and his wife set sail for the East, arriving in Rangoon, March 11, 1867. For seven years he was stationed in Toungoo, studying the Burmese and Shan languages, making evangelistic tours throughout the Shan States, and preparing tracts, Gospel translations, a grammar and handbook of the Shan tongue.

In 1874 ill health forced the Cushings home. One year was spent in Washington, D. C. , another in Boston, and then in June 1876 they resumed their work in Burma, making their headquarters at Bhamo, a new station near the Chinese border. From 1880 until 1885 Cushing resided in Rangoon and gave his time to translation and preaching. His wife and son, Herbert, returned to America in 1880, to remain permanently.

On November 23, 1880, he finished his translation of the Shan New Testament, and on January 13, 1885, the remainder of the Bible. Soon thereafter he sailed for America by way of the Pacific, and spent a year with his family in Newton, Massachusetts, where he took special work in the Institution. In the fall of 1886, leaving his family, he returned to Burma. For a part of the year 1887 he was principal of the Baptist College in Rangoon.

From 1888 to 1890 he was pastor of the Rangoon Baptist Church. In 1891 he completed the stereotyped edition of the Bible in the Shan tongue.

In 1892 he was given charge again of the College (now Judson College) and continued in the office of principal until Feburary 14, 1905. It was he who virtually transformed the school into a college, securing endowment, erecting buildings, and gaining educational standing for it. In 1894 the institution became affiliated with Calcutta University on a “First Arts, ” or Junior College basis. Cushing filled many offices and received many honors.

He was for nearly twenty years a member of the India Government Text Book Committee and vice-president of the Burma Educational Syndicate.

In 1891 he was a delegate to the meeting of the Evangelical Alliance in Rome.

Achievements

• His enduring monuments are the College, his Shan Bible, and his Shan Bible Dictionary. He rendered distinguished service to the British Burma Government, the cause of of scholarship, and Christian missions. In addition to the authorship of various tracts and articles, and his work of translation, he wrote a book, Christ and Buddha.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Buddhism in Southern Asia

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Christ and Buddha (Classic Reprint)

    (The following computer-generated description may contain ...)

  • Shan and English dictionary

    (This book was digitized and reprinted from the collection...)

  • Elementary Handbook of the Shan Language (1880)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • A Shan and English Dictionary 1881

    (Originally published in 1881. This volume from the Cornel...)

  • A Shan and English dictionary.

Connections

On August 28, 1866 he was married to Mrs. Ellen (Winsor) Fairfield of Boston.

Father:

Alphams N. Cushing

Mother:

Charlotte Everett Foster Cushing

Spouse:

Ellen (Winsor) Fairfield

Son:

Herbert