Judson, Emily [Chubbock] (1817-1854)
Third wife of Adoniram Judson
Emily Chubbock grew up amid poverty in central New York. With courage she acquired an education and became a teacher in the Utica Female Seminary and eventually a well-known literary figure, writing novels and magazine feature articles under the pen name “Fanny Forester.” When Adoniram Judson returned to the United States in 1845, he was eager to find an able writer to do a biography of his second wife, Sarah. Recognizing Chubbock’s outstanding writing ability, he met with her. Very quickly she became his wife and in 1846 they sailed together for Burma (Myanmar). She had a great zest for life, a rich sense of humor, a vivid writing style, and a total love for Judson and the mission in Burma. She brought a lightness of touch and great gaiety to his life after many years of hardship and struggle. After the death of both Adoniram and a newborn son in 1850, she returned to the United States in 1851, where she assembled materials for Francis Wayland’s famous biography of her husband, wrote three more books of her own, and cared for her daughter and five stepchildren. She died of tuberculosis.
Paul Clasper, “Judson, Emily (Chubbock),” in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998), 346.
This article is reprinted from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, Macmillan Reference USA, copyright © 1998 Gerald H. Anderson, by permission of Macmillan Reference USA, New York, NY. All rights reserved.
Bibliography
Archival material at the Everett Needham Case Library of Colgate University in Hamilton, New York is comprised of correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, and unpublished critical assessments.
Digital Texts
Eddy, Daniel Clarke. The Three Mrs. Judsons: And Other Daughters of the Cross . Boston: Thayer & Eldridge, 1860.
Hartley, Cecil B. Three Mrs. Judsons: The Celebrated Female Missionaries. Philadelphia: G.G. Evans, 1863.
Judson, Emily C. Alderbrook: A Collection of Fanny Forester’s Village Sketches, Poems, etc. Boston: W.D. Ticknor, 1847.
_____. Allen Lucas: The Self-Made Man. Utica: Bennett, Backus, & Hawley, 1847.
_____. The Kathayan Slave, and Other Papers Connected with Missionary Life. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1853.
_____. Memoir of Sarah B. Judson, Member of the American Mission to Burmah. New York, London: Colby & Co., 1848.
_____. An Olio of Domestic Verses. New York: L. Colby, 1852.
_____. Trippings in Author-land. New York: Paine and Burgess, 1846.
Kendrick, Asahel Clark. The Life and Letters of Mrs. Emily C. Judson. New York: Sheldon, 1860.
Willson, Arabella M. Stuart. Lives of the Three Mrs. Judsons: Mrs. Ann H. Judson, Mrs. Sarah B. Judson, Mrs. Emily C. Judson: Missionaries to Burmah. Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1855.
Wyeth, Walter N. Emily C. Judson: A Memorial. Philadelphia, PA: W.N. Wyeth, 1890.
Primary
Judson, Emily C. Charles Linn, or How to Observe the Golden Rule. With Other Stories. New York: Lewis Colby & Co., 1847.
_____. The Great Secret, or How to be Happy. New York: L. Colby, 1847.
_____. John Frink, or The Third Commandment. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1853.
_____. Lilias Fane, and Other Tales. Boston: Gleasons, 1846.
_____. My Two Sisters: A Sketch from Memory. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1854.
_____. Tales for All Seasons. London, 1850.
_____. Wayside Flowers: or, Tales and Pencilings. London, New York, Edinburgh: T. Nelson and Sons, 1860.
_____. Wayside Preaching. [Boston]: Woman’s Baptist Missionary Society, [between 1834 and 1854].
_____. The Life and Letters of Emily Chubbock Judson (Fanny Forester). Edited by George H. Tooze. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press in cooperation with the American Baptist Historical Society, 2010- .
Secondary
Anderson, Courtney. To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson. Boston: Little, Brown; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1956.
Hunt, Rosalie Hall. Bless God and Take Courage: The Judson History and Legacy. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 2005.
Tooze, George H. Judson Treasures of the First Baptist Church, Malden: With a Short Biography of the Life of Emily Chubbock Judson. Malden, MA: [First Baptist Church], 1979.
Wayland, Francis. A Memoir of the Life and Labors of the Rev. Adoniram Judson, D.D. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Co., 1853.
Portrait
Kendrick, A. C. The Life and Letters of Mrs. Emily C. Judson. New York: Sheldon, 1860.