Bridgmen, Elijah Coleman

BRIDGMAN, ELIJAH COLEMAN: Congregational foreign missionary; b. at Belchertown, Mass., Apr. 22, 1801; d. in Shanghai, China, Nov. 2, 1861. He was graduated at Amherst College in 1826 and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1829 and that year on October 14 sailed for Canton under the appointment of the American Board. He arrived there on Feb. 25, 1830, and lived there till 1847, when he removed to Shanghai to supervise the translation of the Bible. In 1832 he began, as a labor of love, the valuable monthly The Chinese Repository and was its editor till 1851. In 1841 he brought out his Chinese chrestomathy. In 1844 he was one of the two secretaries of legation to Hon. Caleb Cushing when on his special mission to China and rendered important services. In February, 1852, he left Shanghai for a visit to America, arrived there June 16; on his return he left New York on October 12, and arrived at Shanghai on May 3, 1853.

Bibliography: E. G. Bridgman, Life of E. C. Bridgman, New York, 1864.