William Furlsbury Carter Mission Part 6

Calcutta is on the Hoogli River. I traveled this river south to where it met the Ganges River on a steamer boat. My 2nd great granddaughter Jane Carter - daughter of Tommy Lavan and Kathryn Carter - traveled on it in Calcutta when she was there. When she asked the guide where the crocodiles where, He answered that there were no crocodiles. She said that there were in my time as I wrote about them and then she showed him the entries in my journal. Here is what I wrote:

William's Journal

Saturday, May 21, 1853: At 8 a.m. our attention was called to witness a singular sight. Our attention was excited by three or four hundred natives on the shore, howling and screaming. They gave us to understand that an alligator had caught a man; they pointed up the river. We looked and about one-quarter of a mile from us we saw the monster with the man. The alligator was about 20 feet in length; me made for him as fast as possible. He went down with the man and just before we get to him, arose without the man. Close to us, he went down and we saw no more of him. Soon after we passed, the man arose, but was dead. There was a man carried off in the same place yesterday.

The natives have a place built of bamboo by the shore, where they go to bathe; and this place had got broken away, so the alligator got in and caught the men. There is any amount of alligators and crocodiles in this river. The crocodiles will take an ox and use him up directly.
Fellow Missionaries

Abandoned dock on Hoogli River in modern Calcutta

Natives washing clothes today on banks of Hoogli River in Calcutta

River Boats like those William would have seen

William Furlsbury Carter Mission Part 5

Benares is one of the cities Bro. Fotheringham and I visited in India. Today Benares is called Varanasai. The following is a transcription of my original journal (with my spelling left the way I wrote it - thank you Tommy Lavan and Kathryn Carter.)

Fryday the 27 [May, 1853]

We got a ground at 11 A M. got of the bar at 7 P M. We Stoped at the Holy Citty Benares Sow caled [So called]. discharged freight and took in Cole This Citty is where all the hindoes that Can posably Come to Dye they think if they dye here they will gow directly to Heaven. 

it is a very large Citty. it looks very butiful I counted 40 Tempels in the Citty. a portion of them are near the waters edge they have large Fronts with marble Steps Running down to the waters edge, and Onnings Extend a long the Shore to Bath., & worship under. there is thousands, Wershiping, and batting (bathing) at the Same time. this they doe Evenig (evening) and morning. On the back Side of those onnings they have alters Erected that they perform Some of their Religious Cerimonies. the Population of Benares is Emece [immense]. 

There is one Temple that has 2 Colloms that extend 150 Feet above the Smaler Terets (turrets) on the temple The Temple & Coloms is 300 feet high. there is on the Front 2 tall Coloms & 2 Smaler ones a bout half as high; on the back Side the is 4 Coloms. the Corner Coloms is a bout 2/3 as tall as the tallest in front, and the middle ones in proportion. there is three domes one on each end and in the midle one that is Considerable larger than thoes on the ends and Extends a number of feet above the Ohers (others). the Roof is flat With Raelings around it. it is a Very large Temple and look very Butiful as you pas it. [Benares is a corruption of the name Varanasi. It is one of the seven sacred cities of Hinduism.]

Benares Today

Benares around the time William was there

Benares today showing steps down to the river

Early Benares with steps to the river where people could bathe and go to die

William Furlsbury Carter Mission Part 4

Mission Home - Calcutta, India. On arrival in Calcutta, India.

These pictures are from Calcutta itself. They were taken when Jane Carter went on a private tour of the old colonial quarters. The first 2 pictures are the most likely place where the mission home was located. The 3rd picture is the other most likely place where the mission home was located.

When Jane Carter was asked what a lone white girl was doing all by herself in Calcutta, she took out her typed copy of William's journal and told them. She said that everyone she met did everything they could to help her. Hence, the private tour by one of the guides to the old colonial quarter. The only other person on the tour was another Foreign Service worker.

The map is from 1858 in Calcutta and the red arrow points to Juan Bazaar Road, just inland from the municipal bazaar and not far from Fort William.

From William's Missionary Journal:

Monday [Wednesday] the 27 [April, 1853]
We went to Br Mieks hired house in 2 Youn Bazar Street [2 ½ Juan Bazaar Street], Calcutta, which was Aucopied by Sister Mcuine [Sarah McCune]. we took Diner and Super with her. We had an interview with Brs Meiek Saxton & Wife they apear to be in good faith. the most of the Church here have Apostatized. Especally (especially) the Natives. Br Willis [William Willis] & [Joseph] Richards have gon up the River Ganges 500 miles. they have ben gone from here four months. We find the Church here in a bad Condition. But we hope to the Condition of things for the beter. I must confess that times look dark at this time. but the darkest time is just before day. the heat here is very opresive

The Coolest place that I can find in the Shade I sweet like a man Over a furnice. U will not See a white man in the sreets (streets) of Calcutta from 10 in the morning till 5 in Eve they Cannot Endure the Son [James and Mary Ann Meiks were among the first four converts in all Asia. They were both born in India. They lived on a plantation eight miles south of Calcutta and had a “hired” house in Calcutta. This was the house the missionaries first visited when they arrived in India.]

William Furlsbury Carter Mission to India Part 3

The Howrah Bridge in Calcutta - spans the Hoogli River. I crossed it to get tickets for my travels. The bridge (and the city) don't look anything like I remember it. Again, thank you Jane Carter for the picture of the modern bridge.

History:

The end of the 17th Century witnessed the gradual emergence of the city of Kolkata brought about by the merger of three villages - Kolkata, Sutanati & Gobindapur, on the eastern bank of the river Hooghly, the other name of River 'Ganga.' On the western bank, Howrah came up as a bustling site of commerce.

The twin cities of Calcutta (re-named as Kolkata in the year 2001), and Howrah , were separated by the River Hooghly, and shared a common historical linkage towards the eventual construction of the Rabindra Setu, more commonly known as Howrah bridge. While Kolkata, from a small sleeping hamlet of artisans and mercantile community eventually developed, as a commercial hub of a modern metropolitan city, Howrah (virtually the store house of raw material resources) became its industrial satellite.

From my journal:

Wednesday, May 6, 1853: In the morning I crossed the river Hoakgly, to get a passage to Dinapore. I visited Fort William. There are 999 mounted cannon in the fort and 2,000 that are not mounted. The fort is hard to describe…It is a beautiful sight, one of the strongest forts in the world.

Thursday, May 5 (really 7), 1853: We had a meeting a few besides our own people met; we had a good meeting. Brothers Jones and Woolley preached. I traveled up the river to see the natives wash themselves and worship their idols. Thousands go to the river (each) morning to worship. All the natives that have a caste, burn their dead. They have a place fixed to burn them. All the low-castes, when their friends get sick and they think they will die, they take them to the river, lay half their bodies in the river, fill the mouth with mud and leave them to wash down the river, and if they should happen to recover, they lose their caste and can never get it again, and are disowned by their connections. They tell them that they were afraid to die. If they die before they get to the river, they throw them into the river. There are men employed to sink them when they arise in the water.

Calcutta in 1852

Calcutta about 1850

Fort William in Calcutta

Indians bathing in the Hooghly at Calcutta

Howrah Bridge in 1850 as William saw it

The Howrah Bridge today

William Furlsbury Carter Mission to India Part 2

(I am reproducing a dialogue originally posted on William's Facebook page and written in his own voice.)

This post begins a short look at part of my mission to India in 1852. My descendant Jane Carter - daughter of Tommy Lavan and Kathryn Carter - visited Calcutta and graciously provided pictures of the area in your day. I decided maybe you would like to see these sites from my perspective back in the 1850's. There is most more I could write but this will give you a taste for my travels.

The Ochterlony Monument existed in my day and by climbing to the top I could see the whole of Calcutta and regions around.

From Wikipedia:
The Shaheed Minar (Shôhid Minar; English: Martyrs' Monument), formerly known as the Ochterlony Monument, is a monument in Kolkata that was erected in 1828 in memory of Major-general Sir David Ochterlony, commander of the British East India Company, to commemorate both his successful defense of Delhi against the Marathas in 1804 and the victory of the East India Company’s armed forces over the Gurkhas in the Anglo-Nepalese War. The monument was constructed in his memory. It was designed by J.P. Parker and paid for from public funds.

In August 1969, it was rededicated to the memory of the martyrs of the Indian freedom movement and hence renamed the "Shahid Minar," which means "martyrs monument" in both Bengali and Hindi, by the then United Front Government in memory of the martyrs of the Indian independence movement. The present government has decided to illuminate the tower during evenings and allow visitors to the top. The last persons who went up there were former governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi and his family.

From my journal: 

Saturday, April 30, 1853: This morning Brother Jones and I were up in the monument, which is 180 feet high. We had a fair view of the city, river and shipping; and the country around as far as our eyes could extend. It is a very large city and looks very well. There are a great many large and beautiful buildings in Calcutta. The Government house is a splendid building.

Kolkata Monument today

Another Contemporary View of Kolkata

Shaheed Minar from William's Day

William Furlsbury Carter Mission to India (1852) Part 1

I would like to reproduce some entries I originally posted on William Furlsbury Carter's mission to India. With the announcement of a temple in India - his mission becomes more significant that ever.

William's Mission to India Part 1:

Here are pictures of the seven mission companions of William Furlsbury on his mission to India. Pictured here are Amos Milton Musser, b. 20 May 1830 in Donegal, Lancaster, PA; Nathaniel Vary Jones, b. 13 Oct 1822 in Rochester, NY; Robert Hodgson Skelton, b. 28 Nov 1824 in Burgh, Cumberland, England; Samuel Amos Woolley, b. 11 Sep 1825 in Pennsylvania; Truman Leonard, b. 17 Sep 1820 in Pottertown, NY; William Fotheringham, b. in Scotland in 1826 and died in Beaver, Utah in 1913; and Robert Owens, b. 10 July 1818 and in Los Angeles in 1883.

Amos Milton Musser

Robert Hodgson Skelton

Truman Leonard

Samuel Amos Woolley

Nathaniel Vary Jones

Robert Owens

William Fotheringham