Robert Black Price Sr. (1881 - 1946)

Born 21 Oct 1881 in Raymond, Hinds, MS

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah Neal (Armistead) Price — married 30 Jun 1908 in Hinds, Mississippi, United States

Died 10 Dec 1946 at age 65 in Learned, Hinds, Mississippi, United States

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Biography

Robert was born in 1881. He was the son of Thomas Price and Fannie Blunt. He graduated from Southwestern Presbyterian University, Clarksville, TN 1901, and Vanderbilt University Medical School in 1906. He took one year internship in Mississippi Charity Hospital, Vicksburg, Miss.

He married Sarah Neal Armistead in Raymond, MS in 1908. ^[1]

Dr. Robert and Mrs. Sarah Armistead Price served as medical missionaries in Taichow from 1915 until they were evacuated in 1941. They were appointed to China in 1915. After a year’s language study in Nanking, in 1916 they were assigned to the newly opened Taichow station where they served until World War II intervened. The Chinese in Taichow remember Dr. Price as the unfortunate doctor who had six daughters, all but one born in Taichow. He built the 60-bed Sara Walkup Hospital in 1922, with funds provided in memory of his mother by William Henry Belk of the Belk Department Stores of North Carolina. He served as superintendent of the hospital. A three-story building was added in 1930, and a one-story building housing tuberculosis patients. In 1927 the hospital in Taichow changed flags six times during the Chinese civil war. It did not close during the Japanese occupation in 1938, and the missionary presence continued through 1941. ^[2][3]

They returned home on furlough in 1932 when their daughter Elizabeth was born. They also returned in 1937, sailing on the Empress of Asia and re-entering through Canada. ^[4] In August 1941, the American consulate ordered American women and children home due to imminent war with Japan. Dr. Price (and his first cousin Rev. Robert "Pete" Richardson) were caught in China when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and (they were) held until returned as exchange prisoners on the Swedish repatriation ship, the Gripsholm, in September 1942. ^[5][6]

They had children born in Mississippi: Robert Black Jr. (1909-1910 died in infancy.) and Mary Kate (Wells) (1910-1993). The children born in China were Caroline Armistead (Stockett) (1918-2001); Anne Armistead (Truly) (1920-1995) and Beverly Blunt Price (1925-1928 buried in Shanghai.) and lastly Elizabeth Armistead (Johnson) (1932-2012) born in Mississippi.

Dr. Thomas Price passed away in 1946 and was buried in the Morrison Cemetery Learned, Hinds County, Mississippi. ^[7]

Research Notes

Presbyterian Church U.S. Missionaries to China 1900 - 1920
Following the pioneer missionary work of Scottish Presbyterian missionary Robert Morrison, begun in 1807, and the arrival of the first American missionary, Rev. Elijah Coleman Bridgman in 1830, plans for American Presbyterian missionary work in China began in 1837. The first missionary appointees “were instructed to visit different points in the eastern archipelago and on the continent for the purpose of acquiring the most definite information for the best location of the mission.” A.J. Brown, 274. There were more than 1700 Presbyterian missionaries to China and Taiwan over the decades, including ministers, teachers and medical personnel. ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ [1]: "Mississippi, County Marriages, 1858-1979," database, FamilySearch. Robert B Price, 30 Jun 1908; citing Marriage, Hinds, Mississippi, United States, 00456, citing multiple county clerks; Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} [2] phcmontreat.org Biographies -- PCUS Missionaries to China 1900 - 1920 published by the Presbyterian Heritage Center.
3. ↑ [3] Rev. E.C. Scott, D.D. (Stated Clerk of the General Assembly) Compiler MINISTERIAL DIRECTORY of the PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, U.S. 1861-1941 1942, Published by Order of the General Assembly Press of Von Brockmann-Jones Co. Austin, Texas p.594
4. ↑ [4]: "United States Border Crossings from Canada to United States, 1895-1956", database, FamilySearch. Robert Black Price, 1937.
5. ↑ [5]: "New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch. Robert B Price, 1942; citing Immigration, New York, New York, United States.
6. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #98279064 Elizabeth Armistead Price Johnson (1932-2012) (contains bio above mentioned.)
7. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #11038330 Robert Black Price (1861-1946)

• [6]: "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch. R B Price in household of Dr. T Price, Beat 4 (part of) Raymond town, Hinds, Mississippi, United States.