Mary Emilia Brewer graduated from Grinnell College in 1885. She was a missionary with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to Sivas, Asiatic Turkey, 1888-1901, where she witnessed the massacre of Armenian Christians. She ran a girls' school in Sivas, teaching the Bible and English, and evangelizing. It is reported that at some point there was some kind of riot, and she successfully stood off the rioters at the front of her school. She was in charge of an Armenian orphanage for a while.
Sadly, she contracted typhoid fever, which destroyed her mind. (Apparently her long-term memory remained intact, but short-term memory thereafter was faulty.) She had to return to the United States, where it seems likely that she stayed with her parents in Grinnell, Iowa, for a while, and then went to an institution in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where she remained for many years, till the end of her life. The family always grieved that the career of such a bright, spunky young woman was cut so short.
Sadly, she contracted typhoid fever, which destroyed her mind. (Apparently her long-term memory remained intact, but short-term memory thereafter was faulty.) She had to return to the United States, where it seems likely that she stayed with her parents in Grinnell, Iowa, for a while, and then went to an institution in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where she remained for many years, till the end of her life. The family always grieved that the career of such a bright, spunky young woman was cut so short.
Mary Emilia Brewer graduated from Grinnell College in 1885. She was a missionary with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to Sivas, Asiatic Turkey, 1888-1901, where she witnessed the massacre of Armenian Christians. She ran a girls' school in Sivas, teaching the Bible and English, and evangelizing. It is reported that at some point there was some kind of riot, and she successfully stood off the rioters at the front of her school. She was in charge of an Armenian orphanage for a while.
Sadly, she contracted typhoid fever, which destroyed her mind. (Apparently her long-term memory remained intact, but short-term memory thereafter was faulty.) She had to return to the United States, where it seems likely that she stayed with her parents in Grinnell, Iowa, for a while, and then went to an institution in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where she remained for many years, till the end of her life. The family always grieved that the career of such a bright, spunky young woman was cut so short.
Sadly, she contracted typhoid fever, which destroyed her mind. (Apparently her long-term memory remained intact, but short-term memory thereafter was faulty.) She had to return to the United States, where it seems likely that she stayed with her parents in Grinnell, Iowa, for a while, and then went to an institution in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where she remained for many years, till the end of her life. The family always grieved that the career of such a bright, spunky young woman was cut so short.
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Mary E.
Brewer
1863 - 1946
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