Between 1897 and 1938, 74 single women were sent as missionaries to Korea by the women’s organizations within the Methodist Episcopal Church (South). Josephine Eaton Peel (1853-1920) was the first among them to set foot on this land.

Born in the town of Waco, Texas, to Bryant Lorenzo Peel, a minister of the church, little information has been recorded concerning her early years. She became “Mrs. Campbell” upon marrying Rev. Alonzo M. Campbell, with whom she would have a son and daughter. However, tragedy struck in 1885 when her husband died from illness, followed by her children just a short time later.

Only 33 years old and having already experienced such misfortune, Campbell enlisted as an overseas missionary. She was dispatched to China and served at mission hospitals in Shanghai and Suzhou for the next decade.

In 1895, the church made the decision to enter Korea. Bishop E.R Hendrix and Dr. C.F. Reid, who had been working in China, arrived first with the help of the nobleman Yoon Chi-ho, who in that year returned to political office as vice minister of education. By 커뮤니티 1897, the church sent Campbell to Korea as it was especially keen to spread the gospel to local women and girls. Campbell invited Dora Yu, one of China’s first cross-cultural missionaries, to join her as she had become something of a daughter to her.

As her church’s first woman missionary in Korea, Campbell was at the forefront of evangelistic activities involving women. She practiced medicine, preached the gospel and trained indigenous Koreans to work as Bible women. Campbell was also involved in establishing mission stations in places including Wonsan, Chuncheon, Gaeseong and Cheorwon. Perhaps her greatest legacy is the Baehwa Girls’ School (originally the Carolina School), which she founded in 1889. The school moved in 1915 to its current location at Pirundae-ro in Jongno District.