1861 - James Holmes & Henry Parker

October 1861

Yantai, Shandong

One of the earliest Protestant missionaries in Shandong Province was the American James Landrum Holmes, who was born in Preston County, West Virginia, in 1836. He was ordained to the ministry at the age of 22, just a month after he was married. The newlyweds had already been appointed as missionaries with the Southern Baptist’s Foreign Mission Board. On August 21, 1858, Holmes and his wife Sallie sailed on the ship Falcon for Shanghai, arriving six months later in February 1859.

Shanghai was a bottleneck for missionaries, and Holmes desired to work in a more needy location where the people had no exposure to the gospel. In May 1859 they conducted an exploratory trip northward into Shandong Province. When they landed at Chefoo (now Yantai), James was “much impressed with the sight of the rugged hills, the pure, clear air, and the tall and vigorous frames of the Chinese.”[1] At Tengzhou the Holmes were the first foreigners most of the Chinese had ever seen. Hundreds crowded around and stared in amazement. James later wrote, “to our great discomfiture, the crowd had followed us to our quarters, were pressing in at the door, and peering through every aperture they could find.”[2]

James and Sallie Holmes felt God wanted them to move to Shandong, but permission was not granted for some time. China was at war with England and France, and only when the war was ended and Yantai was made a ‘treaty port’ were they allowed to reside in the province. On the last day of 1860 they arrived in Yantai, along with their infant son Jesse and the Hartwell family. Together they were the first resident Protestant missionaries in Shandong Province.

In April 1861 Henry Parker and his wife, and Dudley and Susan Smith began the work of the American Protestant Episcopal Church in Yantai. They had arrived in China two years earlier, and had commenced work at Juji, a village three miles (five kilometres) from Yantai, before opposition scuttled their attempts to establish a church.

The Taiping Rebellion was still raging throughout China and conditions were unsafe as rebel groups and bandits took advantage of the unrest to murder and loot. In October 1861 a band of marauders known as the Nianfei was approaching Yantai. This group had been systematically destroying towns and villages throughout the province, so Holmes and Parker

“went out to the rebel camp to intercede for the safety of their town. The two did not return, and eight days later their bodies were recovered…. [They] are remembered for losing their own lives in seeking to protect others, a vivid and moving example of Christian love and courage.”[3]

Other sources suggest that the two martyred missionaries had gone out to the rebel camp believing they were Taiping soldiers, as

“the Taiping leader had been favourable toward Christianity and was hospitable to missionaries—but these marauders probably had no actual connection with the Taipings. The two missionaries did not return, and eight days later their bodies were found 15 miles [24 km] from Yantai. Holmes was only 25-years-old when he was killed. Later the people erected a monument in his memory.”[4]

Norman Cliff, a former missionary in Shandong and a prominent church historian, wrote, “What exactly took place is not known, but eight days later their bodies were recovered, covered with wounds and burns. They were buried on Lighthouse Island in Yantai Bay, as foreigners could not be buried on the mainland.”[5]

After Henry Parker’s death, his grieving wife and son returned home. In 1862 Susan Smith died of cholera and her husband returned to America, leaving no one to continue the work of the Episcopal Mission in Shandong.

The outcome for the Southern Baptist work in the province was markedly different. Although she was suddenly left a widow with young son, Sallie Holmes decided to continue the work God had called them to. She served in China for twenty more years.[6]

1. John J. Heeren, On the Shantung Front: A History of the Shantung Mission of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. 1861-1940 in its Historical, Economic, and Political Setting (New York: The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, 1940), 40.
2. Heeren, On the Shantung Front, 41.
3. Baker J. Cauthen, Advance: A History of Southern Baptist Foreign Missions (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970), 84.
4. Winston Crawley, Partners Across the Pacific: China and Southern Baptists, Into the Second Century (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1986), 49.
5. Norman Howard Cliff, A History of the Protestant Movement in Shandong Province, China, 1859-1951 (Michigan: A Bell & Howell Company, 1994), 39.
6. Later, when the famous Southern Baptist missionary Lottie Moon came to Shandong she was much influenced by Sallie Holmes’ quenchless zeal and enthusiasm. See Catherine B. Allen, The New Lottie Moon Story (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1980), 133.