Eleanor Chesnut (January 8, 1868 — October 29, 1905), sometimes written as Eleanor Chestnut, was an American Christian medical missionary and translator who worked in China from 1894 until her murder in 1905.[1]
Eleanor "Nell" E. Chesnut was born in Waterloo, Iowa.[2] She was a twin, and her mother died soon after her birth; she was raised by neighbors named Merwin, and later by relatives in Hatton, Missouri.[3] She attended Park College, a Presbyterian school in Missouri.[4] She graduated from the college in 1888, and attended Women's Medical College, the Illinois Training School for Nurses, and Moody Bible Institute, in her preparation for becoming a medical missionary.[5][6]
Eleanor Chesnut worked briefly as a physician at the women's reformatory in Framingham, Massachusetts. She sailed from San Francisco for China as a missionary in 1894.[7] She worked in Lianzhou,[8] where she ran a women's hospital, traveled by horseback to hold clinics in small villages,[9] and trained local women as nurses.[2][10] She advocated for the building of schools and public health measures. She also translated books into the Lianzhou dialect, including the Gospel of Matthew and a nursing textbook.[11] In a letter, she wrote, "I don't think we are in any danger, but if we are, we might as well die suddenly in God's work as by some long-drawn-out illness at home."[5]
During a furlough in the United States from 1902 to 1903,[12] Chesnut gave lectures[13] and raised funds for her work. "I do not feel that I am spiritual enough to be a missionary," she told a friend during this visit.[14] In October 1905, she and three other Americans, and one child, were killed by a mob stirred to violence by her removal of a ceremonial structure.[15][16][17]
In 1907, a brass plaque naming Chesnut as one of the five "Missionary Martyrs" was installed at the Presbyterian Foreign Mission Board headquarters in New York City.[5][18] Her story was presented (and continues to be presented)[19][20] as an example of Christian sacrifice in church educational materials.[21]
