Background

William was born on April 24, 1822 in New Alexandria, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. He was a great-grandson of James Speer who came from Ireland to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, about 1759, and a grandson of the Rev. William Speer, who graduated from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and became the first chaplain at the seat of the new government of the Northwest Territory, Chillicothe, Ohio; his parents were Dr. James Ramsey Speer, a physician of Pittsburgh, and Hetty (Morrow) Speer.

Education

William spent a year at Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and then entered Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1840. He began the study of medicine in his father's office, but having been strongly influenced toward missionary work while he was at Jefferson by Walter M. Lowrie, later known as the "martyr missionary, " he began the study of theology at Allegheny Seminary, now Western Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh.

Career

On April 21, 1846, Speer was graduated and licensed to preach, and on June 16 of the same year he was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry. Broken by the death of his wife and child and in failing health, he returned to America in 1850.

Chinese from Canton Province were then pouring into California in search of gold, and Speer felt called to minister to the people with whom he had labored in their native land. Accordingly, he and his wife sailed for the Pacific coast by way of the Isthmus of Panama. Arriving there, he began a varied program of religious and social work among the rapidly increasing numbers of Chinese people, chiefly in San Francisco.

With his educational and organizing experience, he was well qualified for the service he was called to render when, in 1865, he was chosen secretary of the board of education of the Presbyterian Church. To this work he gave ten years of active leadership during the disordered period following the Civil War.

Retiring from active service in 1876, he traveled extensively throughout the Orient, reviewing the progress of the work of which he was a pioneer.

He died at Washington, Pennsylvania.

Achievements

• William Speer organized the first Chinese church on the Western Continent, and established a weekly paper, called The Oriental, printed in both Chinese and English and dealing with both secular and religious matters, which did much to soften the racial antipathy that made the life of the Chinese almost intolerable. He also led in the successful agitation for the repeal of legislation in the mining regions unfavorable to the Chinese. He developed higher standards of education for the ordained ministry, encouraged the building and maintenance of church colleges and academies, and enlarged the available scholarship funds devoted to the education of worthy candidates for the Presbyterian ministry.

Works

More photos

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  • The Oldest and the Newest Empire: China and the United States (Classic Reprint)

    (The relation which the writer has held to Christian and p...)

  • God's Rule for Christian Giving: A Practical Essay on the Science of Christian Economy (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from God's Rule for Christian Giving: A Practical...)

  • The Great Revival of 1800

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

Connections

On May 7, 1846, he married to Cornelia Brackenridge. A child was born to them, but under the severe climatic conditions both mother and child died.

After the death of his first wife, on April 20, 1852, he was married to Elizabeth B. Ewing, a daughter of the Hon. John H. Ewing of Washington, Pennsylvania.

Father:

James Ramsey Speer

Mother:

Hetty (Morrow) Speer

Spouse:

Elizabeth B. Ewing

Spouse:

Cornelia Brackenridge

Great-grandfather:

James Speer

Grandfather:

William Speer

References

• Churches of the Valley: Or, An Historical Sketch of the Old Presbyterian Congregations of Cumberland and Franklin Counties, in Pennsylvania; pp. 1-337
• Memorials of foreign missionaries of the Presbyterian church, U. S. A 1895 Hardcover