Map of North American Birth Places of West China Missionaries
Item
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Title
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Map of North American Birth Places of West China Missionaries
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Identifier
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MAP_002
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Description
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This map is based on genealogical data Cory Willmott and Amy Kaler compiled for 500 missionaries who served in West China. The data for the map represents a subset of this data of the 382 missionaries who were born in North America. It demonstrates how in both Canada and the US, the majority of missionaries were born in the Northeast or the Midwest, while only few are born in the South or West. The anomoly is that almost half (48%) of the West China missionaries were born in Ontario. This is out of proportion to their numbers in West China where Canadians represent only about a third of the missionaries, the others being born in the various countries of the United Kingdom, China and other foreign countries.
A likely explanation for the huge number of West China missionaries born in Ontario is that the Canadian Methodist Mission had only the West China mission, whereas other mission societies had missions in other parts of China, as well as in other parts of the world, which limited the number of missionaries they could send to West China. Another reason is that Ontario Protestant communities shared common origins and were extremely tight knit, providing the social environment in which ideas could easily be materialized into actions. Finally, funnel institutions such as Toronto's Victoria College and Ontario chapters of the Epsworth League and the Student Christian Movement efficiently recruited for the West China mission.
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Creator
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Cory Willmott prepared the map data and created the map graphic.
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Date Created
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2024-08-12
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Provenance
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Original work by Cory Willmott
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Publisher
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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
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Record Date
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2024-08-12
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Contributor
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Cory Willmott
Percentage of North American Missionary Birth Places by Region (n382)