Background
House was born at Waterford, N. Y. in 1817, the second son of John and Abby (Platt) House.
clergyman Missionary physician
House was born at Waterford, N. Y. in 1817, the second son of John and Abby (Platt) House.
He was educated at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y. , at Dartmouth College, and at Union College, Schenectady, graduating from the lastnamed institution in 1837 with the degree of A. B. and Phi Beta Kappa honors. He took his medical course at the University of Pennsylvania (1841 - 42), the Albany Medical College (1842 - 43), and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, which graduated him with the degree of M. D. in 1845.
Commissioned in 1846, he reached Bangkok in March 1847 after a voyage of eight months. For four and a half years he conducted a dispensary in a floating house on the Menam. During the cholera epidemic of 1849, the fatalities of which were officially estimated at 40, 000 in Bangkok alone, he was busy night and day ministering to any who would accept his services.
Discovering a nascent interest in Western science on the part of several nobles and princes, he planned a series of chemical and physical experiments for the employees of the mission in order to "awaken their minds. " These experiments aroused a lively interest on the part of the progressive group, several of whom sought the privilege of attendance. Among these men were the prince who later became King Mongkut and others who entered his government. When King Mongkut ascended the throne in 1851 and opened the country to Western influence, House became one of his friendly councilors. When Sir John Bowring sought a revision of the treaty with England in 1855 the King wished House to act as advisor to the Siamese commissioners. This honor he declined, but he consented to serve as one of the translators of the English proposals.
Experience convinced him that much of the common suffering of the people was due to ignorance of nature, and he soon discerned that the ignorance was entrenched in religious beliefs. Persuaded that, in the long run, he could do more to alleviate distress by inculcating the Christian philosophy of the universe in the Siamese mind, he abandoned his profession and after a period of language study pursued the educational phase of the missionary's work. In 1852 he was placed in charge of a school for boys established by the mission in that year, and, except for a short period, he continued to be its superintendent to the termination of his service. On two occasions the King invited him to take service under him for the education of the princes. The mission school popularized Western education, and thus eventually led the way to the establishment of a public-school system in Siam. The school itself developed by stages into the present Bangkok Christian College. House discovered two varieties of shells previously unknown to naturalists, to which his name has been given: Cyclostoria Housei and Spiraculum Housei.
In 1879 he published Notes on Obstetric Practises in Siam, a pamphlet. Five religious tracts in Siamese are also credited to him, and several chapters in Siam and Laos as Seen by Our American Missionaries (1884), issued by the Presbyterian Board of Publication. He was ordained by the Presbytery of Troy in January 1856. He resigned from the mission in 1876 and retired to Waterford, N. Y. , where his death occurred some twenty-three years later.
He married Harriet Maria Pettit, November 27, 1855.
