Rev. John Chester Hyde Papers

Rev. John Chester Hyde, Jr. (1864-1941) was born in Philadelphia, Pa., and received his bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1886. In October of 1888, Hyde "volunteered for the foreign field" after hearing British evangelist Dr. Henry Grattan Guinness speak at a church in Boston about the English Baptists' mission in the Congo Independent State. Upon graduating from Newton Theological Institute at Newton Center in 1889 with a thesis "on Africa," Hyde joined the Livingstone Inland Mission on assignment through the American Baptist Missionary Union. The Livingstone Inland Mission was the first Christian mission in the Congo. Hyde was "the first American-born College and Seminary graduate fully ordained to perfect the organization of the" A.B.M.U.'s Congo Mission. He served in the mission, also referred to as the Congo Balolo Mission, from 1889 to 1892. Throughout his tenure in the Congo, Hyde was Mission Treasurer at Mpalabala. He also "participated in inducement of steamships to deliver European exports[,] … [r]egistered land and reorganized native transport," and other activities that may have been instrumental to the construction of the first Congo Railroad. Hyde married Jessie Alice Benton in 1893 and with her had two children, Grace (1896-1988) and Sylvia, who was born June 10, 1900 and died September that same year. He married Rose Anna Roy, "widow of Charles G. Hartsock, fellow Missionary in Africa," in 1902. After returning to the United States, Hyde worked as a pastor or associate pastor at several churches in New England and at Euclid Avenue Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio. He was pastor emeritus of First Baptist Church in Lowell, Mass., when he died in his home on Nov. 9, 1941.

Hyde's papers are contained in seven series: Writings about Congo, Biographical, Correspondence, Ephemera, Photographs, Publications, and Collection.

The collection was assembled by Rev. John Chester Hyde (1864 -1941) in Mataldi/Lukolela, Belgian Congo around 1890. He brought the collection with him when he returned to the United States in the 1890s and cared for it until his death in 1941. The collection was passed to his daughter (Grace Hyde Bradley, 1896-1988) and then to her daughter (Ann Bradley Anderson, ? - 2013). Upon the latter's death, it passed to her husband, George Harold Anderson. Hyde's papers along with twenty-one African artifacts were donated to the Penn Museum on March 6, 2014, by Anderson.

The bulk of Hyde's papers, including his autobiographical entries, cover his time in the Congo and were composed from the field, after his return to the United States, or in his later years. Many of the works are undated and unpublished. "From the Congo Free State" was composed between 1889 and 1892 while Hyde was in the Congo and likely was published in The National Baptist. The words "Dexter 1909" are handwritten on "Is the Apportionment Too High?" a document probably written to persuade church members to donate money to foreign missions. In this incomplete draft, Hyde details the "crude heathen degradation like that found along the Congo" and "the great sacrifices which missionaries undergo in the foreign field to preach the gospel." He warns that those who "hesitate about working in your own church" are ultimately failing missionaries abroad. Hyde includes a lengthy passage naming several missionaries who died in the field and under what circumstances. It is undated but was written after his return. Writings about the Congo also include a draft and publication of an English translation of an article from an undated issue of Belgian magazine Mouvement Géographique, which ran from 1844 to 1922 and documented Belgian colonization of the Congo. The translation was written by Jessie A. Hyde at some point between 1893 and 1900, the years the Hyde family lived in Connecticut. A news clipping believed to be from an earlier English translation can be found in Jessie Hyde's folder.

John Chester Hyde began at least two drafts of his memoirs, "The Story of the Busy Life of Rev. John Chester Hyde Jr.," and "Excerpts from the Memories of Rev. J. Chester Hyde Jr." The typed drafts end on pages 13 and 8, respectively, with some handwritten pages contained in the former. Hyde shares memories of his early life in Philadelphia and Bristol, Pa., activities of immediate and extended family from his childhood, and his education into adulthood. He writes of the 23-day journey on the Africaan (also spelled Afrakaan), a Dutch "ship laden with gin, gunpowder, and missionaries," from England to the Congo and is more detailed regarding his first few days on the African continent. Hyde names a number of missionaries from the English Baptist Mission and also a few "colored" "self-supporting missionaries of the Methodist church" there from the Bishop Taylor Mission. Both drafts discuss the marriage of Charles Grant Hartsock (also spelled Hartsook) to Rose Anna Roy, "many years later Mrs. Hyde and your beloved step-grandmother," and the death of Hartsock due to illness. In the longer draft, Hyde visits several other mission stations by steamer.

Rose Anna Roy, or the second Mrs. Hyde, is prominent in the Immediate Family folder. An article in an unidentified newspaper likely printed in Massachusetts profiles Mrs. J. Chester Hyde, "First White Woman in Belgian Congo." December 1944 is handwritten on the paper. Other editorial marks are made within the text. It is unclear whether the document is a markup or final printing. Reporter Grace Deschamps writes of Charles Grant Hartsock's (Mrs. Hyde's first husband's) initial contact with King Mongombi, when "the young American missionary heroically confronted the head of a tribe which customarily made short work of uninvited guests." In lengthy quotes, Mrs. Hyde describes treatment of women in the Congo, including the beating of a child bride resistant to marrying the chief. "[T]he brutality of the white man toward the black, Deschamps writes, happened "on a far greater scale, … Mrs. Hyde made clear." Deschamps calls the work of the missionary "the only leavening force of mercy in the rampant cruelty that prevailed in the Dark Continent." A copy of this article is stored with the J.C. Hyde Papers.

The majority of letters and postcards in the Correspondence Series communicate missionaries' challenges in the Congo Independent State. One letter to Rev. Hyde is in French and from an official in the Congo Independent State in 1891. A circular from Conseil Protestant du Congo Acting Secretary J. Ohrneman is in a packet that includes meeting minutes of the CPC's Diamond Jubilee Conference in 1938, Notes on exhibition of Protestant Work, and Notes on Pageant Massed Choir. Malcolm Guthrie, the writer of the Exhibition of Protestant Work, makes a specific request for work that has "a definite propaganda value," including "various things produced by the natives on Mission stations." The purpose of the pageant is to reenact "the triumphs of the Gospel penetrating this mysterious continent through hardships, sacrifices, persistence, and courage."

The remaining items in the collection are somewhat miscellaneous in nature, though they do relate to previously mentioned subjects. As no organizational principle was apparent in the containers the items arrived in, archival staff imposed an order on the records.

Other people mentioned: Jessie A. Hyde, Rose Anna Roy, Grace Hyde, K.J. Paterson (Swedish missionary), Andrew Young (English missionary), Dr. H. Grattan Guinness, Percy Comber (brother of the famous Thomas Comber), William Sheppard (spelled Shepherd), Mr. and Mrs. Henry Richards, Dr. J.N. Murdock, Samuel M. Lapsley, D.L. Moody, John Wanamaker, Charles G. Hartsock, Bobangi Tribe, Lukolela people Places: Mpalabala, Matadi, Kasai River, Stanley Pool Organizations: American Baptist Missionary Union, Conseil Protestant du Congo LOC subjects: Guinness, H. Grattan -- (Henry Grattan), -- 1835-1910; Congo Balolo Mission; Missions -- Congo (Democratic Republic); American missionaries in the Congo--19th century, American missionaries in the Congo--20th century; Methodist Episcopal Church – Missions; Missions -- Africa – History; Livingstone Inland Mission – History; World Christianity; Baptists -- Missions – Congo; Baptists -- Missions -- Congo (Democratic Republic); American Baptist Missionary Union; American Baptist Foreign Mission Society.

Rev. J.C. Hyde Papers SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Container Series

Writings about Congo, From the Congo Free State, c. 1889-1892; Is the apportionment too high? 1909; By Jessie A. Hyde, c. 1893-1900; Misc. Published writings and drafts were authored by J.C. and Jessie A. Hyde while missionaries in Palabala, Congo Independent Free State and after the missionary appointment concluded. Newspaper clippings may have originated in The National Baptist. Other essays are directed to a church audience. Published writing also includes an English translation from an undated issue of the Belgian magazine Mouvement Géographique, and a guest column by J.C. Hyde in a 1940 issue of the Lowell Sunday Telegram. In their writings, the Hydes discuss construction of the Congo Railroad, means of traveling to and within the Congo, daily life in the Congo, missionary activities, "rivalry for ivory," Christianization of "heathen" nations, Belgian and French governance of the region, poverty in the Congo, gatherings at Stanley Pool, the Livingstone Inland Mission, the Congo Balolo Mission, and Presbyterian and English Baptist missionaries.

Biographical, Autobiography; Obituary and Funeral; Family Tree; Immediate Family In unpublished memoirs addressed to his grandchildren, Hyde reflects upon his early life in Philadelphia and Bristol, Pa., education, seminary, entrance into missionary work, traveling to the Congo on a "ship laden with gin, gunpowder, and missionaries," "colored" missionaries from the Bishop Taylor Mission, native conversion experiences, and anecdotes from the field. Other items include published and unpublished drafts of Hyde's obituary, funeral programs, a eulogy for Hyde's daughter, and an article in an unidentified newspaper about Hyde's second wife.

Correspondence, 1891-1897, 1914-1937 The majority of letters and postcards to and from J.C. Hyde communicate missionaries' challenges in the Congo Independent State. A circular from Conseil Protestant du Congo Acting Secretary J. Ohrneman is in a packet that includes meeting minutes of the CPC's Diamond Jubilee Conference in 1938, Notes on exhibition of Protestant Work, and Notes on Pageant Massed Choir. The series also includes a letter in French by J.C. Hyde to an unknown recipient, and a letter to Mr. Hyde from R.M. Sims of the Peddie Institute in Hightstown, N.J. A letter to Mr. Hyde from John Whitehead communicates the rapidly decreasing population of Bombangi tribe in the Lukolela region of the Congo Independent State. Other writers include Lawson Forfeilt and Henry D. Sims.

Ephemera, U Penn, 1886 Tickets to University of Pennsylvania events at the American Academy of Music in 1886. Arranged chronologically.

Photographs, photographs 1898-1941. Rev. J.C. Hyde, Jr., pictured with his family, and in later years with caretakers in Lowell, Mass.

Publications, U. Penn Class of 1886 Reunion, Minkanda Miazintumwa, 1891 The University of Pennsylvania class of 1886 reunion program booklet contains details about the event and a biographical paragraph of J.C. Hyde. Another book is believed to be a Bible published in 1891 in an unidentified language, possibly Kyote.

Collection, Misc. Newspaper articles, display signage, and lists related to object collection of J.C. Hyde. An unidentified newspaper from Dec. 1897 mentions items from "the Congo State of Africa" in a collection of curios on display at Association Hall. There is also a list of artifacts "loaned to Mr. Bonnell Mar. 6 1937," and a list of African artifacts acquired by the Penn Museum Mar. 6, 2014.

Publication Information: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives,

Finding Aid Author:

Use Restrictions:

Geographic Name(s)

• Congo (Democratic Republic)

Personal Name(s)

• Guinness, H. Grattan
• Hyde, Jr., John Chester, Rev.
• Moody, Dwight Lyman

Subject(s)

• Bobangi People
• Livingstone Inland Mission
• Missionaries