Background
Eliza Agnew was born on February 2, 1807 in New York City, New York, United States, the daughter of James and Jane Agnew.
Eliza Agnew was born on February 2, 1807 in New York City, New York, United States, the daughter of James and Jane Agnew.
She was educated in New York.
From her school days she cherished the resolve to enter mission work, but until her thirty-third year she devoted herself to service in her home, in the "Sabbath-school, " and in the distribution of Scripture and tracts.
By 1839 her only close home ties had been severed by the death of her parents, and she turned to the American Board of Boston and secured appointment to their Ceylon Mission. She sailed from Boston on July 30, 1839, on the Black Warrior, and arrived at Jaffna, Ceylon, January 17, 1840.
In 1842 she was stationed at Oodooville (Uduvil), just north of Jaffna, as "teacher" in the Female Boarding School. Here she spent forty-three years without furlough, save for one brief vacation in South India. Owing to her presence the religious history of the school was truly remarkable. She visited the graduates and ex-pupils in their homes, counseling them in matters of housekeeping and in affairs of the spirit.
In 1879 she resigned as principal of the school and removed to Manepay (Manipay), a town to the west, to pass her remaining years with the Christians there. The last two years of her life were spent in the home of the Misses M. and M. W. Leitch, missionaries in Manepay of the American Board.
In June 1883 she had a paralytic stroke and died. She was buried in Oodooville near the school over which she had presided.
On December 28, 1823, she was converted during a revival meeting and joined the Orange Street Presbyterian Church.
She was a woman of prayer and was much concerned for the spiritual welfare of her charges.
Quotes from others about the person
The Missionary Herald: "It is largely owing to the work she was permitted to do that female education is more advanced here (Ceylon) than in almost any other heathen land. "