Church of Scotland Moderator visits Taiwan and great-aunt’s graveside
Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan
Written by Lydia Ma
The Rev. Dr. John Cairns Christie from the Church of Scotland (COS) visited Tainan on October 20, 2010 and set aside time to pay respects to his great-aunt, Dr. Elisabeth Christie, whose resting place is in Tainan Christian Cementery.
Cairns is the current General Assembly Moderator of the COS. During his tour of Taiwan, he stayed in Tainan for 2 evenings, visited PCT Headquarters in Taipei, and attended church services in Taipei and Changhua area. He also visited Tsou Aborigine reservations in Alishan before boarding a plane on October 24, 2010.
Cairns’ great-aunt is remembered as the first woman missionary doctor. She served diligently as a midwife and died in 1901 at the age of 37. Also known as the wife of Rev. Duncan Ferguson, Elisabeth came to Tainan as a pastor’s wife and a doctor. She was devoted to studying and learning Taiwanese and spent a lot of time visiting and sharing the gospel with women living in rural areas.
Because Taiwanese women were shy and modest at the time and refused to call on men doctors when they were ill, churches in England began to send women missionaries who were also ObGyn specialists and pediatricians.
During a trip to Kaohsiung with her 3 children at the end of 1900, Elisabeth contracted a disease from which she never recovered. After spending 40 days confined to her bed, she passed away on January 17, 1901 at the young age of 37.
