.To include every trip John Franklin Goucher made during his lifetime in the above chronology is an impossibility. The sheer number of events would render the timeline unreadable:
500 trips across the United States.
25 trans-Atlantic voyages.
8 trans-Pacific ones.
3 journeys through the Suez Canal.
2 trips across Asia on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
These travels span the entirety of Goucher's life: He made his last trip to West China at 76 years old, only a year before his death.
500 trips across the United States.
25 trans-Atlantic voyages.
8 trans-Pacific ones.
3 journeys through the Suez Canal.
2 trips across Asia on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
These travels span the entirety of Goucher's life: He made his last trip to West China at 76 years old, only a year before his death.
Goucher's motivation, if distilled and simplified down to a very base level, can be described as religious and educational. He himself characterized it as such:
"I have had six definite and distinct calls. First to be a Christian. Second almost immediately, to be a minister. Then, third, as clear and definite, to minister to young people. Fourth for missionary work. Fifth for Christian Education in all lands. Sixth, a clear call to work for the Unification of Methodism. Definite as were these calls, sometimes one was largely involved in another, as missions and education..."
The Gouchers were primarily concerned with the financing of missions and schools, though the minister was responsible for the organization of a vernacular school system in India that served as a demonstration for a new educational model based on merit. There were 3,000 students in this system at one time. Only Aoyama Gakuin appears in the timeline, but he contributed to other international institutions in Japan, China, Korea, India, and Germany. The Gouchers' donations totalled approximately $500,000, or the equivalent of $12 million today. In addition to Methodist schools, they funded a hospital in West China and several other projects.
"I have had six definite and distinct calls. First to be a Christian. Second almost immediately, to be a minister. Then, third, as clear and definite, to minister to young people. Fourth for missionary work. Fifth for Christian Education in all lands. Sixth, a clear call to work for the Unification of Methodism. Definite as were these calls, sometimes one was largely involved in another, as missions and education..."
The Gouchers were primarily concerned with the financing of missions and schools, though the minister was responsible for the organization of a vernacular school system in India that served as a demonstration for a new educational model based on merit. There were 3,000 students in this system at one time. Only Aoyama Gakuin appears in the timeline, but he contributed to other international institutions in Japan, China, Korea, India, and Germany. The Gouchers' donations totalled approximately $500,000, or the equivalent of $12 million today. In addition to Methodist schools, they funded a hospital in West China and several other projects.
"A recorder is bewildered by the variety of his swift activities" -- Dr. Frank G. Porter
Sources Consulted
Knipp, Anna Heubeck, Thaddeus P. Thomas. The History of Goucher College. Baltimore: Goucher College, 1938.
Ungar, Sanford J. “Transcending Boundaries: Educating Global Citizens for the Next Century.” Address to Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan, November 15, 2002.
Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum, "The Goucher Mummy." Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum. http://archaeologicalmuseum.jhu.edu. http://archaeologicalmuseum.jhu.edu/the-collection/object-stories/the-goucher-mummy/ (accessed December 15, 2016).
Goucher, John F. John Franklin Goucher diary for 1897, 1897. Diary. From Digital Maryland, The John Franklin Goucher Papers. http://collections.digitalmaryland.org/cdm/ref/collection/gojg/id/1115 (accessed December 11, 2016).
Ungar, Sanford J. “Transcending Boundaries: Educating Global Citizens for the Next Century.” Address to Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan, November 15, 2002.
Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum, "The Goucher Mummy." Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum. http://archaeologicalmuseum.jhu.edu. http://archaeologicalmuseum.jhu.edu/the-collection/object-stories/the-goucher-mummy/ (accessed December 15, 2016).
Goucher, John F. John Franklin Goucher diary for 1897, 1897. Diary. From Digital Maryland, The John Franklin Goucher Papers. http://collections.digitalmaryland.org/cdm/ref/collection/gojg/id/1115 (accessed December 11, 2016).
Header and quotation images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.