A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Shuck, Henrietta
SHUCK, HENRIETTA,
Was born in Kilmarnock, Virginia, on the 28th. of October, 1817. She was the daughter of the Rev. Addison Hall, a Baptist clergyman of that place, and there her early days were spent. In 1831, Miss Hall was summoned from Fredericksburg, where she was at school, by her father to attend a camp-meeting which was held near her birth-place. She was converted on that occasion, and was baptized on the 2nd. of September, 1831, when she was hardly fourteen; but her extreme youth did not prevent her from keeping faithfully the vows she so early took upon herself. On the 8th. of September, 1835, Miss Hall was married to the Rev. J. Lewis Shuck, a missionary about to be sent by the Baptist church to China, for which country they embarked on the 22nd. of September. They reached Singapore in May, 1836, where their eldest son was born, and in the following September they arrived at Macao, where they remained till March. 1842, when they removed to Hong-kong. While at Macao, Mr. and Mrs. Shuck were allowed to prosecute the study of the Chinese language, the instruction of youth, and teaching the people. On their arrival at Hong-kong they renewed their labours on an enlarged scale, and without restraint. Mrs. Shuck interested herself principally in the schools. She possessed considerable knowledge of the written language, and still greater familiarity with the coloquial of the Chinese, and devoted joyfully and successfully be time and talents to the mission. During the last year of her life a new school-house had been erected, and a school gathered under her care of twenty Chinese boys and six girls, besides her own four children. Her prospects of usefulness had never been greater than during this year. But in the midst of her highest hope, which children were seeking instruction, and the heathen were inquiring the way to Christ, her life was suddenly cut short. She died on the 27th. of November, 1847, soon after the birth of her fifth child.
Under a secret conviction that her end was near, she had "set her house in order," and was prepared for the event, while, at the same time, she prosecuted her daily duties with her usual cheerfulness, and laid out plans for labour which would have required long life to perform. During Mrs. Shuck's eight years' residence in China she did much to help her husband in his work, besides giving direct instruction. Her aid and ready sympathy were always offered to the stranger or the afflicted, and she was constantly employed in acts of kindness and charity.