John L. Mateer letters, 1894-1895

File — Box: 3, Folder: 16

Identifier: C-Misc 105

Scope and Contents

Two holograph letters written by John L. Mateer to his mother, Mrs. Mary N. Mateer. One of the letters, dated May 26, 1894, was sent from Pueblo, CO, and the other, dated April 10, 1895, was sent from Peking, China. The letters provide a personal narrative of the the Protestant mission effort in China in the late 19th century.

Dates

Creation: 1894-1895

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research without restrictions

Biographical / Historical

John Lowrie Mateer was born in 1848 in Adams, PA to John Mateer and Mary Nelson Diven Mateer. Mateer studied printing and lithographing in order to take charge of the Presbyterian Press in Shanghai, China. He served in China from 1872 to 1876, after which he returned to the United States and bought a farm in northwest Missouri. He married Jane Eliza Stewart in 1879 and became involved in the manufacture of molasses from 1883 to 1885. He also spent two years in Onargo, Illinois, in the hardware business with his brother Will, and six years selling sewing machines in Burlington, IA.

Mateer's wife died in 1893. He married Mary La Rhue Sellers in 1894 and returned to China to manage the American Board Press in Peking. Mateer died in 1900, just a few weeks before the Boxer Rebellion.