{{Short description|American missionary in Korea (1870–1912)}} {{Infobox person | name = Alice Fish Moffett | image = MrsSAMoffett.png | alt = A white woman with dark hair dressed back, wearing a high-collared dark blouse or dress. She appears to have light eyes, and is slightly smiling. | caption = | other_names = | birth_name = Mary Alice Fish | birth_date = April 8, 1870 | birth_place = Virginia City, Nevada | death_date = July 12, 1912 | death_place = Pyongyang, Korea, Empire of Japan | occupation = Physician, medical missionary in Korea | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse = Samuel Austin Moffett | relatives = }}

'''Mary Alice Fish Moffett''' (April 8, 1870 – July 12, 1912) was an American Presbyterian medical missionary in Korea, with her husband Samuel A. Moffett.

== Early life == Mary Alice Fish was born in Virginia City, Nevada, the daughter of Charles Hull Fish and Martha Ann Warner Fish.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|date=1912-07-14|title=Mrs. S. F. Moffett, Who Passed Away in the Far East|pages=30|work=The San Francisco Call|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35015963/mary-alice-alice-fish-moffett/|access-date=2020-11-09|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Her father, a mining company president, was born in New York, and her mother was born in Illinois. Her father was active in Presbyterian mission work in San Rafael, California, teaching Bible classes for Chinese men at the YMCA for over twenty years.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1906|title=Chinese Mission for Men|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gB1GAQAAMAAJ&q=Alice+Fish+Moffett&pg=RA1-PA430|journal=Report of the Boards, Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. General Assembly|pages=430–431}}</ref>

She graduated from Santa Rosa Seminary (also known as Miss Chase's Seminary) in 1890.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|date=July 16, 1912|title=Death of Dr. Alice Fish Moffett|page=2|work=Press Democrat|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SRPD19120716.2.26&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1|access-date=November 9, 2020|via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=1907-02-02|title=Dr. Alice Fish Moffett at Presbyterian Church|pages=1|work=Santa Rosa Republican|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62878228/dr-alice-fish-moffett-at-presbyterian/|access-date=2020-11-09|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She earned her medical degree at Cooper Medical College in San Francisco in 1895, and served her residency at the Lying-In Charity Hospital in Philadelphia.<ref name=":2">Moffett, Eileen F. [http://koreanchristianity.cdh.ucla.edu/images/stories/moffett_chronology.pdf "Chronology: Samuel Austin Moffett (1852-1939)"] UCLA Online Archive of Korean Christianity.</ref>

== Career == Alice Fish first traveled to Korea in 1897, sponsored by her home church and the Benicia Presbyterial.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1898-03-25|title=The Benicia Presbyterial|pages=12|work=The San Francisco Examiner|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62877987/the-benicia-presbyterial/|access-date=2020-11-09|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She worked there as a Presbyterian medical missionary and Bible study teacher until her death in 1912, except for furloughs in 1902, 1906, 1908, and 1910.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> She reported about her efforts in Korea in ''Woman's Work'', an American church periodical.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Moffett|first=Alice Fish|date=November 1908|title=Events in Korea Mission, 1908|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uQvPAAAAMAAJ&q=Alice+Fish+Moffett&pg=PA247|journal=Woman's Work|volume=23|pages=247}}</ref> She married a fellow American missionary, Samuel Austin Moffett, and assisted his work in Pyongyang, as founder of a theological seminary and first president of the Presbytery of Northern Korea.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Corfield|first=Justin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5zKWBQAAQBAJ&q=Alice+Fish+Moffett&pg=PA140|title=Historical Dictionary of Pyongyang|date=2014-12-01|publisher=Anthem Press|isbn=978-1-78308-341-1|pages=140|language=en}}</ref> On their visits to the United States, both Moffetts spoke to church groups about their work.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1907-03-27|title=Annual Meeting|pages=1|work=Petaluma Daily Morning Courier|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62877037/annual-meeting/|access-date=2020-11-09|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=1902-05-22|title=Missionary Work in the Hermit Kingdom|pages=3|work=San Francisco Chronicle|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62877193/missionary-work-in-the-hermit-kingdom/|access-date=2020-11-09|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

== Personal life == thumb|The Moffetts Mary Alice Fish married Samuel Austin Moffett in 1899, in Seoul.<ref name=":3" /> She had two sons, James and Charles, who were young children when she died from dysentery soon after childbirth with a stillborn daughter in 1912, aged 42 years, in Pyongyang.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news|date=1912-07-14|title=Mrs. Dr. Moffett is Dead|pages=3|work=The San Francisco Examiner|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62877302/mrs-dr-moffett-is-dead/|access-date=2020-11-09|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Moffett's widower remarried in 1915, to her first cousin, Lucia Hester Fish.<ref name=":2" /> Both of her sons became Presbyterian ministers, and Charles was a missionary in India for 14 years.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1955-09-18|title=Pastor's Brothers to Aid in Installation|pages=4|work=The Advocate-Messenger|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62877418/pastors-brothers-to-aid-in-installation/|access-date=2020-11-09|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The Moffett Korea Collection at the Princeton Theological Seminary includes correspondence involving Alice Fish Moffett.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Moffett Korea Collection|url=https://commons.ptsem.edu/moffett/low-bandwidth|access-date=2020-11-09|website=Princeton Theological Seminary Library}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moffett, Alice Fish}} Category:1870 births Category:1912 deaths Category:American women medical doctors Category:Presbyterian missionaries in Korea Category:People from Virginia City, Nevada Category:Deaths from dysentery