E2024-G144

The Western Missionaries Laid to Rest in Gwangju: Yangnim-dong Missionary Cemetery

Narrative

Located in Yangnim History and Culture Village next to Honam Theological University is the Yangnim-dong Missionary Cemetery. Buried there are over 20 Westerners as well as one Korean. Among them are many women, as well as some children. The cemetery shows the influence of a Western style cemetery, which differs greatly from traditional Korean style cemeteries. Among those buried here, there are even some people who had returned to America, but wanted to be buried in Gwangju where they spent much of their lives. Men buried in the cemetery include Clement C. Owen (1867-1909), Louis Christian Brand (1894-1938), Ronald B. Dietrick (1927-2015), and Dick H. Nieusma Jr. (1930-2018). Women include Anabel Major Nisbet (1869-1920), Harriet Knox Dodson (1884-1924), Katheryn Gilmer (1897-1926), Amelia Emerson (1860-1927), Cara Ross (1868-1927), Gertrude Philbrook Chapman (1869-1928), Ella Graham (1889-1930), Jessie Smith Levie (1896-1931), Thema Barbara Thumm (1902-1931), Elizabeth J. Shepping (1880-1934), and Ruth J. Nieusma (1930-2016). Among those buried here, there is even a married couple, Dick and Ruth Nieusma. Through this, we can see that many women in particular left their homeland to do missionary work in a far away country and never returned.

Story Map

• Missionary Legacy: Western Christianity’s Transformation of Gwangju
  • As Seen Through Landmarks: The Influence of Western Missionaries in the Early Japanese Colonial Period
  • The Western Missionaries Laid to Rest in Gwangju: Yangnim-dong Missionary Cemetery
  • The Introduction of Western Residential Housing: Missionary Wilson’s House
  • Gone Too Soon in a Foreign Land: Missionary Children Who Passed Away in Gwangju
  • The Bell Family
  • The Nightingale of Korea: Elisabeth Johanna Shepping and the History of Nursing in Korea
  • Korea in the Early Twentieth Century as Seen by Western Missionaries in Gwangju