The Storm of Life: A Missionary Marriage from Armenia to Appalachia
London: Gomidas Institute, 2016,
x + 285 pages, maps and photos,
ISBN 978-1-909382-23-7, paperback,
Price: UK£25.00 / US$35.00
To order please contact books@gomidas.org
The Reverend Robert Stapleton (1866-1945) and Doctor Ida Stapleton
(1871-1946) were American missionaries in Erzerum in the late Ottoman
Empire and the years leading to the rise of modern Turkey. They were
part of the extensive missionary community that sought to help Ottoman
Armenians, using the influence of New England Protestantism along with
Western education and culture. They witnessed the deportation of the
city s Armenian population and the great battle for Erzurum between
Turkish and Russian forces during World War I. They also participated in
the great effort by Near East Relief to aid the destitute peoples of
this region after 1918. Like other missionaries, their service to
Armenians ended in the early 1920s after the establishment of modern
Turkey. They continued their charitable work back in the United States
among another disadvantaged group the Appalachian poor in the Kentucky
mountains during the Great Depression of the 1930s. This book uses the
Stapletons private papers, as well as other primary and secondary
sources, to draw a picture of the missionaries everyday lives and
struggles.
About the author: Gretchen Rasch (MSc, Auckland University, New Zealand) is a science editor at the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, New Zealand. She grew up in New York State near her grandmother Elinor Stapleton Rasch, who was born in Erzerum in 1903 to Robert and Ida Stapleton. Gretchen has a keen interest in history and genealogy, which led to her research on the lives of her great-grandparents and the other missionaries of the Eastern Turkey Mission, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
Contents
Preface (vii)
1. Family Beginnings (3)
2. Preparation (17)
3. The American Board, Turkey and Erzerum Station (31)
4. The First Year in Erzerum (43)
5. Early Struggles (57)
6. Settled In 69)
7. Productive Years (85)
8. War Approaches (107)
9. Prelude to Massacre (117)
10. Bearing Witness (133)
11. The Battle of Erzerum (155)
12. Return to the City (167)
13. Near East Relief (181)
14. Tempest and Turmoil (197)
15. The Nationalists Take Control (211)
16. Oberlin Interregnum (227)
17. Line Fork and the Mountain Folk (235)
18. Hard Times: Medicine, Moonshine and Murder 257)
19. Into the Haven (271)
Acknowledgements (277)
Sources (279)
Illustrations
Ida Stapleton, graduation from medical school (1898) (25)
Map: The American Board Mission Stations in Asiatic Turkey (48)
Robert S. Stapleton (51)
Stapleton family, Michigan (1907) (89)
Ida and Elinor, Sibyl, John, Natalie (1908) (89)
Irene Vyshinsky, attaché Vishynsky, Robert, Eva, Sibyl, Ida, Miss Ash, Elinor, Natalie (cir. 1912) (101)
Elinor, Ida, Sibyl, Robert (Erzerum 1916) (160)
Robert, Elinor, Natalie, Ida, Sibyl (Michigan, 1918) (178)
Map: Near East Relief aid stations (1921) (187)
Line Fork, Pine Mountain – location of The Cabin (239
Robert and Ida, Line Fork (cir. 1932) (252)
Robert and Ida, Line Fork (cir. 1932) (266)
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About the author: Gretchen Rasch (MSc, Auckland University, New Zealand) is a science editor at the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, New Zealand. She grew up in New York State near her grandmother Elinor Stapleton Rasch, who was born in Erzerum in 1903 to Robert and Ida Stapleton. Gretchen has a keen interest in history and genealogy, which led to her research on the lives of her great-grandparents and the other missionaries of the Eastern Turkey Mission, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
Contents
Preface (vii)
1. Family Beginnings (3)
2. Preparation (17)
3. The American Board, Turkey and Erzerum Station (31)
4. The First Year in Erzerum (43)
5. Early Struggles (57)
6. Settled In 69)
7. Productive Years (85)
8. War Approaches (107)
9. Prelude to Massacre (117)
10. Bearing Witness (133)
11. The Battle of Erzerum (155)
12. Return to the City (167)
13. Near East Relief (181)
14. Tempest and Turmoil (197)
15. The Nationalists Take Control (211)
16. Oberlin Interregnum (227)
17. Line Fork and the Mountain Folk (235)
18. Hard Times: Medicine, Moonshine and Murder 257)
19. Into the Haven (271)
Acknowledgements (277)
Sources (279)
Illustrations
Ida Stapleton, graduation from medical school (1898) (25)
Map: The American Board Mission Stations in Asiatic Turkey (48)
Robert S. Stapleton (51)
Stapleton family, Michigan (1907) (89)
Ida and Elinor, Sibyl, John, Natalie (1908) (89)
Irene Vyshinsky, attaché Vishynsky, Robert, Eva, Sibyl, Ida, Miss Ash, Elinor, Natalie (cir. 1912) (101)
Elinor, Ida, Sibyl, Robert (Erzerum 1916) (160)
Robert, Elinor, Natalie, Ida, Sibyl (Michigan, 1918) (178)
Map: Near East Relief aid stations (1921) (187)
Line Fork, Pine Mountain – location of The Cabin (239
Robert and Ida, Line Fork (cir. 1932) (252)
Robert and Ida, Line Fork (cir. 1932) (266)