Johns Family Archives
Item set
- Title
- Johns Family Archives
- Description
- Most of the photographs in this collection were taken by Alfred Johns, educational missionary of the Canadian Methodist Mission. Johns was the first mathematics professor at the newly established West China Union University, Chengdu, Sichuan, when he and his wife Myrtle Madge Johns arrived in West China in 1910.
- Abstract
-
Brief Statement about Alfred and Myrtle Johns
By Ken Johns
My grandparents, Alfred and Myrtle Johns went to Chengdu in 1910 as newly married 26 year olds from the farm lands of south west Ontario.. Alfred had studied mathematics at university and Myrtle had school teaching experience. They went to China without any knowledge of the language but once they were fluent enough, Alfred taught mathematics at the University in Chengdu. Myrtle taught school for a while but in 1913 began a family with the birth of my father, Martin Johns, in 1913. Another child came along in 1915 and they returned to Canada for a one year furlough in 1917 before going back to China. By the time they left china for the last time in 1925, there were five children in the family. The church authorities were unwilling to let the children return to China in 1926 due to an uncertain political situation so my grandparents remained with their family in Canada.
My grandfather eventually became a Mathematics Professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada. He was known as a caring teacher throughout his long career.
Alfred died in 1959 and Myrtle in 1977. - Creator
- Alfred Johns
- Date Created
- 1910 - 1925
- Location
- Sichuan and Hubai provinces in China, and locations on travel routes to West China
- Event Records
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1910-1911 Johns' First Yangtze River Journey
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1911 Johns' Mt. Omei Trek
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1911-1912 Nationalist Revolution Evacuation
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1912 Famine Relief
- Provenance
- These photographs have remained in the Johns family through three generations. Ken Johns inherited them from his father, Martin Johns, oldest son of Fred and Myrtle. Ken Johns digitized the images and transcribed the captions.
- Source
- Courtesy of Ken Johns
- References
- Martin Johns. 1992. Bamboo Sprouts and Maple Buds: Being Memoirs of a Life Begun in China in 1913 and Transplanted to Canada in 1925. Hamilton: Martin Johns
- Access Rights
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Items
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Yangtze River Boats at Shore A group of four houseboats are at the edge of a rocky shoreline on the Yangtze River. The opposite shoreline is visible in the background. This is the upper Yangtze above Ichang during the Johns's first trip to West China. -
1910-1911 Johns' First Yangtze River Journey Alfred and Myrtle Madge Johns of the Canadian Methodist Mission took their first trip to West China leaving Vancouver on the Empress of Russia in 1910 and travelling up the Yangtze River in December 1910 through January 1911. Alfred took photographs of scenes and stops along the way, documenting their progress from Shanghai up through the Yangtze Gorges to Chongqing in great detail. -
12 A Chinese Gunboat on the Yangtze A boat with flags is parked at the river shoreline where several women are washing their clothes in the water. The boat has several flags folded above the cabin. Steep cliffs are seen on the opposite shore in the background. -
The Riverboat Captain Getting a Haircut A Chinese riverboat captain is seated and posing in the formal posture of the upper classes, while a man at his side prepares to cut his cue. Following the 1911 declaration of liberation, men stuggled in the decision to cut their cues, a symbol of imperial domination. If the revolutionaries were not successful, having no cue would be a visible sign of siding with the rebels. Both men wear padded cotton gowns. A man in the background appears to be carrying some food on a tray. The scene takes place on the riverbank. -
The Riverboat Captain with His Son and Crew A group of Chinese stand on a rocky shore. The man in the center is the riverboat captain of the Service's boat. He is holding the Johns' captain's infant grandson, who wears a hat with protective talismans. On his right stands the Johns' captains daughter wearing a white side-closing gown. The two men wearing caps are the Chinese language teachers of the Johns and Services. -
Row of Houseboats Tied to Shore on the Yangtze River A group of four houseboats are at the edge of a rocky shoreline on the Yangtze River. The opposite shoreline is visible in the background. This is the upper Yangtze above Ichang during the Johns's first trip to West China. -
06 Sailboat on Lower Yangtze River Small sailboat with two crew members in the waters of the lower Yangtze where it is wide and calm. The flat countryside of the opposite shoreline is visible in the background. -
04 Vaccination Party on Yangtze Steamer Three rows of tightly packed missionary men, women and children pose with their sleeves rolled up while having their smallpox vaccinations on board a steamer on the Lower Yangtze. One man appears to be having a dose of chlorophorm to put him out during the vaccination. Most of the others are smiling proudly for having gotten their shots. -
03 Women's Missionary Society Party Aboard the Empress of Japan, 1910 Members of the Canadian Women's Missionary Society (WMS) on Board the Empress of Japan enroute to begin their missionary careers in West China. Top row: Misses V. Shuttleworth and Mabel E. Thompson. Middle top row: Miss Mary Totten Smith. Middle lower row: Misses Alice L. Estabrook and Brooke? (could this be Miss M.L. Perkins?). Bottom row: Misses Olive M. Turner and Ethel McPherson. Miss Perkins was an unmarried female missionary sponsored by the Canadian Methodist Mission while all the others were sponsored by the Women's Missionary Society. Records are not clear as to the identity of the woman in the middle lower row. -
02 Canadian Missionaries Aboard the Empress of Japan, 1910 Six Canadian missionary couples on board the Empress of Japan enroute to begin their missionary careers in West China. Top row: Rev. Thomas Bateman, Dr. David McKinley, Alfred Johns, Fred Abrey, Gordon Jones. Middle row: Mrs. Elsie Abrey, Mrs. Myrtle Johns, Dr. Omar Kilborn, Dr. Retta Kilborn, Mrs. Susie Mabel McKinley. Front row: Mrs. Clara Jones, Roland Kenneth Kilborn, Mrs. Alice Bateman. The Kilborns are the only seasoned missionaries in the group. -
Mrytle & Fred Johns Wedding Full Portrait Full figure portrait of Alfred and Myrtle Madge Johns on the occasion of their wedding at UsborneTwp, near Exeter, ON. -
Mrytle & Fred Johns Wedding Portrait Upper body portrait of Alfred and Myrtle Madge Johns on the occasion of their wedding at UsborneTwp, near Exeter, ON.