Gertrude Jenness Rinden
A yearbook photo of a young white woman with bobbed dark hair
Gertrude Jenness, from the 1923 yearbook of Mount Holyoke College
Born
Gertrude M. Jenness

July 4, 1901
Rochester, New Hampshire
DiedFebruary 29, 1992 (aged 90)
Rochester, New Hampshire
Occupation(s)Missionary, educator, writer
Known forMissionary in China from 1926 to 1937, author of children's books

Gertrude Jenness Rinden (July 4, 1901 – February 29, 1992) was an American missionary, educator, and writer.

Early life

Gertrude M. Jenness was born in Rochester, New Hampshire, the daughter of Daniel Fremont Jenness and Ida May Wiggin Jenness. She was a birthright Quaker, a member of the Gonic Meeting.[1] She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1923.[2]

Career

Rinden taught at a Quaker school in Maine after college.[1] She served as a missionary at Diongloh and Fuzhou from 1926[3] to 1937, with her husband, under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.[4] In 1927 she and her husband fled temporarily to Taiwan during increased violence.[5] She worked mainly with women and children.[6][7] She and the Rindens' three small children were called back to the United States in 1937, in response to increasing danger from war.[8] In 1938, her husband fled Fuzhou shortly before his house was bombed by Japanese forces.[9][10] He was in the United States during World War II.[4] While she was in the United States she spoke about China to community groups.[11][12][13] They returned to China after World War II, then were evacuated again in 1949; she taught for a year in Kobe, Japan, after that.[14]

Back in the United States, Rinden was a school teacher and elementary school principal at Friends Seminary in New York,[15] and wrote books for young readers. Books by Rinden include The Watch-Goat Boy (1948),[16] The Bible Goes Round the World (1948),[17] Sidewalk Kids (1954),[18] Kenji (1957),[19] and Ten Open Doors (1963).[20] She also wrote teaching materials, including Junior Teacher's Guide on the Changing City (1963),[21] and contributed a chapter, "We Want to Stay Here for Christmas", to an edited collection called Christmas Around the World.[22] Her story "Dragon Boat" was serialized in Jack and Jill in 1957.[23]

Personal life

Gertrude Jenness married Arthur Owen Rinden in 1926. They had three children, Paul, Margaret, and Edith, all born in China.[24] Her son Paul was a lawyer and served in the New Hampshire state legislature.[25] Arthur Rinden tried to divorce her in 1965, but the court refused, with the judge noting, "She lived with her husband through physical danger, hardship, and adversity and showed consistent devotion to Mr. Rinden and his work."[15] They did eventually divorce, and she lived with her widowed sister in Rochester, New Hampshire, in her later years.[26] Gertrude Jenness Rinden died there in 1992, aged 90 years, at a nursing home.[1] Her letters to her friend Sarah Junkin Bray about missionary life in China after World War II are held in the Congregational Library & Archives in Boston.[27]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Deaths" (PDF). Friends Journal: 39. December 1992.
  2. ^ Mount Holyoke College, Llamarada (1923 yearbook): 141.
  3. ^ "Missionary Appointments for the Year ending August 31, 1926" Annual Report: American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 116(1926): 43.
  4. ^ a b "Rev. A. O. Rinden to Speak Friday at Hartford Church". The Landmark. 1941-10-09. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Rev and Mrs. Rinden Escape to Formosa". The Boston Globe. 1927-03-30. p. 25. Retrieved 2021-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "To Speak on China". St. Albans Daily Messenger. 1939-02-09. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Rinden, Gertrude (1934-04-01). "Play Activities in Countyr, Cities, and Villages in South China". The Vermont Missionary. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  8. ^ "Wife Fled from China with her Three Children". The Caledonian-Record. 1939-02-20. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Jap Bombs Ruin Missionary Homes". The Boston Globe. 1938-07-02. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "China (continued)". The Boston Globe. 1938-07-02. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Missionary From China to Speak at All Souls". The Bangor Daily News. 1939-03-15. p. 17. Retrieved 2021-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Missionary to Speak on New China at Dover-Foxcroft Today". The Bangor Daily News. 1939-05-10. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Mrs. Thomas C. Brown Again Heads Middlesex-Union Mission Group". Fitchburg Sentinel. 1942-05-06. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Visitor from Japan". Iowa City Press-Citizen. 1950-07-31. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ a b "Minister Denied Divorce; Court Calls Wife Devoted". Hartford Courant. 1965-08-24. p. 9. Retrieved 2021-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Rinden, Gertrude Jenness (1948). The Watch-goat Boy. Friendship Press.
  17. ^ Rinden, Gertrude Jenness (1947). The Bible Goes Round the World ... Friendship Press.
  18. ^ Rinden, Gertrude Jenness (1954). Sidewalk Kids. Friendship Press.
  19. ^ Rinden, Gertrude Jenness (1957). Kenji. Friendship Press.
  20. ^ Rinden, Gertrude Jenness (1963). Ten Open Doors. Friendship Press.
  21. ^ Rinden, Gertrude Jenness (1963). Junior Teacher's Guide on The Changing City. Friendship Press.
  22. ^ Wernecke, Herbert H. (1962). Celebrating Christmas Around the World. p. 25.
  23. ^ "Friends and Their Friends" (PDF). Friends Journal. 3: 699. October 26, 1957.
  24. ^ "Mrs. G. J. Riden to Speak Monday at All Souls". The Bangor Daily News. 1939-03-18. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-09-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "New Committee to Consider School Prayers". Nashua Telegraph. 1965-06-25. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-09-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ "In re Estate of Teague, 139 N.H. 667". Casetext. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  27. ^ Sarah Junkin Bray Papers, Congregational Library, Boston MA.
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