Hathaway, M. Agnes

hathaway - full

M[ary]. Agnes Hathaway was born Dec. 2, 1863, in Bristol, N.Y., and raised in a Universalist family. She graduated in 1888 from Genesee Wesley University and taught school in New York State for about ten years before becoming Dean of Women at Lombard College. In May 1905 she was selected by the Women's National Missionary Association as a missionary to Japan. She served the church in Shidzuoka from 1905 to 1906. From 1906 to 1909 she served as interim supervisor of the Blackmer Home for Girls while Catherine Osborn was on leave. Upon Osborn's return, she continued to work at Blackmer through the earthquake of 1923. From 1925 to 1929, she was in the U.S., serving as a field secretary of the WNMA for Japanese work. She returned to Japan in 1929 to work at Blackmer. Upon her retirement in 1932, Japanese friends purchased a house for her in Zushi, where she lived until her death on Mar. 13, 1939. She was buried in Japan. "Among the great women of our church she should rank very high" (Women's Missionary Bulletin, v. 17, no. 15, Mar./Apr. 1939, p.2). [Photo of Hathaway and her cat Shiro, bMS 15002/2]