Anderson, Rufus

ANDERSON, RUFUS: American Congregationalist; b. at North Yarmouth, Me., Aug. 17, 1796; d. in Boston May 30, 1880. He was graduated at Bowdoin College 1818; studied at Andover Theological Seminary 1819-22; became assistant to the corresponding secretary of the American Board 1822, assistant secretary 1824, and foreign secretary 1832, which last position he filled till 1866, resigning then because he was convinced that the age of seventy years constitutes “a limit beyond which it would not be wise to remain in so arduous a position.” He visited officially the missions of the Board in the Mediterranean 1828-29 and again in 1843-44, in India 1854-55, and in the Sandwich Islands 1863. His published works include: Observations on the Peloponnesus and Greek Islands (Boston, 1830); Foreign Missions, their Relations and Claims (New York, 1869); A Heathen Nation [the Sandwich Islanders] Evangelized (1870); a history of the missions of the American Board to the Oriental churches (2 vols., 1872) and in India (1874).