The Biographical Dictionary of America/Anderson, Rufus

ANDERSON, Rufus, missionary, was born at North Yarmouth, Me., Aug. 17, 1796. He was graduated from Bowdoin college in 1818 and from the Andover theological seminary in 1822. He was ordained as minister in 1826, and held the position of corresponding secretary to the American board of foreign missions for forty-two years, making visits in its interests to the Levant, India, Syria, Turkey and the Hawaiian Islands. From 1867 to 1869 he delivered at Andover seminary lectures on foreign missions. In 1868 Dartmouth college conferred upon him the degree of LL.D., and he was made a fellow of the American Oriental society. His publications include: "Foreign Missions, their Relations and Claims"; "Memoir of Catharine Brown" (1825); "Observations upon the Peloponnesus and Greek Islands" (1830); "The Hawaiian Islands, their Progress and Condition under Missionary Labor" (1864); "Bartimeus, the Blind Preacher of Maui"; "Kapiolani, the Heroine of Hawaii," and several publications relating to missions. He died May 30, 1880.