Lelia Judson Tuttle
A young white woman with dark hair in an updo, in an oval frame
Lelia Judson Tuttle, from the 1906 yearbook of Teachers College, Columbia University
BornMay 12, 1878
Caldwell County, North Carolina
DiedNovember 8, 1967 (age 89)
Caldwell County, North Carolina
Occupation(s)Educator, college dean, Christian missionary
Known forTaught at McTyeire School and Soochow University in China
Notable workTuttle Educational State Forest (donated first 168 acres in 1956)
RelativesWorth Tuttle Hedden (niece)

Lelia Judson Tuttle (May 12, 1878 – November 8, 1967) was an American educator and missionary in China. She was chair of the English literature department at McTyeire Institute in Shanghai from 1910 to 1926, and dean of women at Soochow University from 1926 until 1941.

Early life and education

Tuttle was born in Caldwell County, North Carolina, the youngest of at least eleven children of Benedict Marcus Tuttle and Mary Anne Elizabeth Cochrane Tuttle. Her eldest brother, Herndon Tuttle, was a friend of Charlie Soong, giving her an early connection to Chinese Methodists.[1]

She graduated from the North Carolina State Normal and Industrial College in Greensboro (now UNC-Greensboro) in 1900, and earned a master's degree from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1906.[2] She trained for mission work at Scarritt College for Christian Workers in Kansas City.[3]

Career

Tuttle taught at Davenport College in North Carolina from 1902 to 1904. She went to China as a Methodist missionary in 1909.[4] She was head of the English literature department at McTyeire Institute in Shanghai until 1926, when she became dean of women at Soochow University.[1][3] She left China in 1941.[5]

Tuttle spoke about her experiences in China to community and church groups on her furlough visits to North Carolina,[6][7] and in her later years.[8][9] In 1956, she gave 168 acres of land in Caldwell County to the Tuttle Forest Foundation.[10] The Tuttle Educational State Forest is named for her.[3][11]

Personal life

Tuttle died in 1967, at the age of 89, in Caldwell County.[12] Twenty boxes of her papers and artifacts from China are held by the special collections library at UNC-Greensboro.[3][13] Her family has made additions to the collection in recent years.[14] One of her nieces, Worth Tuttle Hedden, was a novelist.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 Hobson, Fred. "Brer Rabbit in China: Leila Tuttle and the American Missionary Experience" in The Silencing of Emily Mullen and Other Essays (LSU Press 2005): 29-58. ISBN 9780807130971
  2. ↑ Teachers College, Columbia University, Class Book (1906 yearbook): 103. via Internet Archive
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Resource: Leila Judson Tuttle Papers and Chinese Artifacts". ArchivesSpace, UNC-Greensboro. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  4. ↑ "Will Tell of China; Lelia Judson Tuttle, Returned Missionary, to Speak in Lenoir". The Charlotte Observer. 1944-03-26. p. 45. Retrieved 2023-12-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Dodge, Evelyn (1953-02-22). "Missionary Says China To Get Some Good Out Of Red Misery". The Charlotte Observer. p. 55. Retrieved 2023-12-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Articles from China Exhibited at Lenoir". The Charlotte Observer. 1922-09-26. p. 13. Retrieved 2023-12-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Miss Lelia Judson Tuttle to Be Guest Speaker for A.A.U.W." The Daily Times-News. 1937-11-03. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-12-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Chinese Missionary To Be Church's Guest Speaker". The Knoxville Journal. 1942-03-14. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-12-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Methodists to Hold Three-Day District Meet". The Post. 1942-06-04. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-12-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Houser, Troy (1987-06-19). "Forest Offers Wilderness Experience". Hickory Daily Record. p. 19. Retrieved 2023-12-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "About Tuttle ESF". North Carolina Forest Service. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  12. ↑ "Obituary for Lelia Judson Tuttle". Winston-Salem Journal. 1967-11-10. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-12-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ Adams, Cynthia (2020-09-01). "Flagstone Farm Fuses Past and Present". O. Henry Magazine. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  14. ↑ "New Acquisitions – Spring 2023". SCUA News. 2023-05-31. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  15. ↑ LeForge, P. V.; Warner, Sara (2006). "Wives of High Pasture: Worth Tuttle Hedden and Her Novel of the Oneida Community". Utopian Studies. 17 (2): 347–364. ISSN 1045-991X.
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