John Elias Williams (Chinese: 文怀恩; pinyin: Wén huái ēn) (1871 - 24 March 1927) was a missionary to China, he served with the American Presbyterian Mission for 28 years. He was also the vice president of the University of Nanking. He was murdered in Nanjing Incident on 24 March 1927.
Williams was born and raised in Ohio. He was a coal miner in his teenage years. He graduated from Marietta College, Ohio, and Auburn Seminary, New York. He applied to the Presbyterian Board of Missions and was assigned to China. He married Cora Lilian Caldwell, daughter of missionaries in August 1899, and sailed with her to China that same month. They raised four children.
Williams served several years as principal of the Presbyterian Academy in Nanking, a boys' school. He later taught for an year at Waseda University, Tokyo. He returned in 1907 to Nanking, where he helped open Union College, formed by the union of several mission schools. Williams served as acting dean of the college of arts and science and as vice president.
Williams was shot and killed by a Chinese soldier on the campus of the university, during an outbreak of violence against foreigners, now known as the Nanjing Incident.
Famous quotes containing the words john and/or williams:
“People named John and Mary never divorce. For better or for worse, in madness and in saneness, they seem bound together for eternity by their rudimentary nomenclature. They may loathe and despise one another, quarrel, weep, and commit mayhem, but they are not free to divorce. Tom, Dick, and Harry can go to Reno on a whim, but nothing short of death can separate John and Mary.”
—John Cheever (1912–1982)
“What breaks capitalism, all that will ever break capitalism, is capitalists. The faster they run the more strain on their heart.”
—Raymond Williams (1921–1988)