LUCY LORD (1817 - 1853)

Lucy Lyon Lord, missionary to China, was the niece of and assistant to Mary Lyon, the founder and principal of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which Mrs. Lord attended for a year. In 1846 she became engaged to Edward C. Lord, a graduate of the Princeton Theological Seminary, who shared her desire to join the missionary community. After their marriage they joined a Baptist mission in China, where they lived for four years until sickness overwhelmed Mrs. Lord and she was forced to return to the United States early. She died a year later.

Mrs. Lord’s memoir includes an entry from her diary addressing the difficulty the missionaries faced at winning converts:

“On the last Sabbath in June, we were permitted to receive two native members into our little church. We now number nine – six missionaries and three natives. Perhaps I have not mentioned that one native member died last fall. It is less than three years since our church was organized, since which time we have received by baptism four native converts. This may seem to you to be making slow progress. In one sense it does seem slow and discouraging. But to us, who begin to see what heathenism is, and what mighty obstacles are here to be overcome, the conversion of one soul is a matter of great rejoicing. Our native assistant has just buried his wife. There is some reason to hope that she was a true believer in Jesus, though she was not reckoned among his people.” (p. 241)

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