Charlotte is buried in the plot next to this gravestone marking her twin daughters’ grave in the churchyard.

The first American woman missionary arrives in India

A former parishioner of Saint James, Charlotte White, daughter of the late William Augustus Atlee, made history when she was appointed a missionary by the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, thereby becoming the first American woman missionary of any denomination.

Shortly after arriving in Calcutta in 1815 after 129 days at sea, Charlotte married Joshua Rowe, a British Baptist missionary. The couple served at a mission station at Digah, near Patna, teaching the faith to British soldiers and local people. Charlotte had great gifts as a linguist, teacher and administrator.

Following the death of her husband and the British missionary society’s resistance to funding her as a missionary, she returned to America. She was buried at Saint James, next to her daughters, in 1863. Read more about Charlotte Rowe Hazen