# Edward Winter Clark > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Edward_Winter_Clark > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Edward_Winter_Clark.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Winter_Clark > Source revision: 1351007470 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American Christian missionary}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox religious biography | religion = Christianity | birth_date = 25 February 1830 | death_date = 18 March, 1913 | church = [American Baptist Foreign Mission Society](/source/American_Baptist_Foreign_Mission_Society) | spouse = Mary Mead Clark | honorific prefix = [Reverend](/source/Reverend) }} thumb|Clark with his wife, Mary '''Edward Winter Clark''' ('''E. W. Clark''') (25 February, 1830{{Cite book|last=McFayden|first=Narola|title=Traveling in Time with Pioneers of Our Faith|date=|publisher=Knowledge Foundation|year=2016|location=Nagaland}} – 18 March, 1913) was an American [missionary](/source/missionary). Clark is known for his pioneering missionary work in [Nagaland](/source/Nagaland) and for his work on transcribing the spoken [Ao language](/source/Ao_language) into a written script.[https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Clark%2C%20Edward%20Winter%2C%201830-1913 University of Pennsylvania website, ''Online Books by Edward Winter Clark'']{{Cite book |last=Clark |first=Edward Winter |url=https://archive.org/details/aonagadictionary00clar |title=Ao-Naga dictionary |last2=Clark |first2=Mary Mead |date= |publisher= |year=1911 |location=}} Clark created the first bilingual dictionary of the Ao language and along with his wife, Mary Mead Clark,{{Cite web |title=Nagaland Missions Movement |url=https://www.nbcc-nagaland.org/nagalandmissionsmovement/ |access-date=2026-02-08 |website=Nagaland Baptist Church Council |language=}} and set up the first school in the [Naga hills](/source/Naga_hills) region of North-East India. Mary Clark documented their experience in [Assam](/source/Assam) and the Naga Hills in ''A Corner in India''.{{cn|date=October 2024}} ==Early life== Clark was born on February 25, 1830, in [North East](/source/North_East%2C_New_York), New York, and baptized into the Baptist faith at age 14. He attended [Worcester Academy](/source/Worcester_Academy) from 1839 to 1841, earned his master's degree from [Brown University](/source/Brown_University) in 1857, and was [ordained](/source/ordained) a preacher in 1859.{{cite book|author=Bendangjungshi|title=Confessing Christ in the Naga Context: Towards a Liberating Ecclesiology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ws8ssfxXo8EC&pg=PA38|year=2011|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-643-90071-5|pages=38–}} Mary Mead was born in [Amenia, New York](/source/Amenia_(town)%2C_New_York).{{Cite news |last=Downey |first=Edward |date=9 April 2015 |title=Amenia, North East missionaries still have impact 150 years later |url=https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/local/2015/04/09/amenia-north-east-missionaries-historical-society-edward-clark-mary-meade-clark/25533907/ |access-date=8 February 2026 |newspaper=Poughkeepsie Journal}} They married in 1858 and had one child, Carrie, who died in 1863. == Ministry in India == Clark arrived at the [Sibsagar](/source/Sibsagar) Mission in 1871.{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=American-Nocte Relations |url=https://noctedigest.com/pioneers/f/american-nocte-relations |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250410232417/https://noctedigest.com/pioneers/f/american-nocte-relations |archive-date=2025-04-10 |access-date=2026-02-08 |website=Nocte Digest |language=en-IN}} On receiving permission, he moved to Molungkimong in March 1876 (an [Ao Naga](/source/Ao_Naga) village in the [Mokokchung district](/source/Mokokchung_district) of [Nagaland](/source/Nagaland)) and lived there until October 24, 1876.{{Cite news|date=December 21, 2019|title=Historical Beginnings of the Baptist Church in Nagaland|newspaper=Nagaland Post|url=https://www.nagalandpost.com/historical-beginnings-of-the-baptist-church-in-nagaland/208728.html|archive-date=December 14, 2021|access-date=December 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214013410/https://www.nagalandpost.com/historical-beginnings-of-the-baptist-church-in-nagaland/208728.html|url-status=dead}} Molung (Molungkimong) is the first Christian village in Nagaland, where 15 converts were baptized on December 22, 1872.{{Cite web |last=Mukherjee |first=Anusua |date=2023-02-11 |title=Documenting 150 years of Christianity in Nagaland |url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/books/documenting-150-years-of-christianity-in-nagaland/article66496792.ece |access-date=2026-02-04 |website=Frontline |language=en}} It was in Molungyimsen that the first Naga Christian Association was held. Molungyimsen is also known as the '''Cradle of Education''' as the first school in Nagaland was established in Molung (Molungyimse){{Cite web |last=Wijunamai |first=Roderick |date=2020-10-09 |title=The early story of Christianity in Northeast India |url=https://www.himalmag.com/comment/the-early-story-of-christianity-in-northeast-india-2020 |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=Himal Southasian |language=en}} in 1878. The first book in Nagaland was written and printed in Molungyimsen. In 1894 Clark moved the Naga Mission Center to [Impur](/source/Impur){{Cite web |last=Wijunamai |first=Roderick |date=13 Oct 2020 |title=The early story of Christianity in Northeast India |url=https://www.thesangaiexpress.com/Encyc/2020/10/13/The-early-story-of-Christianity-in-Northeast-India.amp.html |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=www.thesangaiexpress.com |language=en}} which is now known as the Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang ([Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang](/source/Ao_Baptist_Arogo_Mungdang)).Jamir, A Study on Nagaland: p 18 In 1905 Clark saw a record 190 baptisms. The Nagas were well aware that to accept Christianity would mean drastic changes in their social life. "Adherents of the old, cruel faith were quick to see that the gospel of peace and love would rapidly empty their skull houses and put to rout most of the old customs handed down from forefathers, for whom they held the greatest reverence. The missionaries presence and his teaching had spread like wildfire from mountain peak to peak and everywhere was fostered the suspicious spirit. Clark died on March 18, 1913 at age 83."Jamir, A Study on Nagaland: p 168 ==Legacy== [Christianity](/source/Christianity) brought an end to the practice of headhunting and destroyed most of the traditional culture and oral knowledge of the various Naga tribes. Clark's vision for a Christian Nagaland came true, with the high price of destroying the Naga's indigenous culture though it has advantages including marking the end to some cultural cruelties. By 1980 the Naga population was 572,742 and the Baptist population was 185,987.Joseph Puthenpurakal, Baptist Missions in Nagaland (Calcutta: Firma KLM, 1984): p 255 By 2020 the [Census of India](/source/Census_of_India) put the numbers of Christians to more than 90% of the population of Nagaland thus making it, with [Meghalaya](/source/Meghalaya) and [Mizoram](/source/Mizoram), one of the three Christian-majority states in India. Nagaland is known as "the only predominantly Baptist state in the world."{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A_WeVXmGKyoC&pg=PA258 |last=Olson |first=C. Gordon |title=What in the World Is God Doing |publisher=Global Gospel Publishers |location=Cedar Knolls, NJ |isbn=9780962485053 |year=2003 |access-date=2020-03-24 |via=Google Books}} In 2022, Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang membership was more than 200,000, worshipping in 163 congregations.[https://www.barnabastoday.com/2022/10/resources-christian-heritage-godhulas-daring-journey-milestones/ Barnabas Today website, ''Godhula’s Daring Journey: Milestones in Naga Christian Heritage'', article by Dr Asenla Ao dated 16 October 2022] ===Archives=== A biographer of Clark conducting archival research at the American Baptist Historical Society at the Mission Center noted that much of Clark's correspondence was difficult to read, "written on both sides of onion skin paper".{{cite book|author=Vibha Joshi|title=A Matter of Belief: Christian Conversion and Healing in North-East India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=621L9T5ykNgC&pg=PA262|date=15 September 2012|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-0-85745-595-6}}{{rp|262}} ==See also== * [Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang](/source/Ao_Baptist_Arogo_Mungdang) * [Nagaland Baptist Church Council](/source/Nagaland_Baptist_Church_Council) * [Angami Baptist Church Council](/source/Angami_Baptist_Church_Council) ==References== {{reflist}} ==Bibliography== *Kijung L. Ao, Nokinketer Muncgchen (Impur: Nagaland, Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang, 1972) *A. C. Bowers, Under Headhunters' Eyes (Philadelphia: Judson Press, 1929) *F. S. Downs, Christianity in North East India (Delhi, Ispeck: 1976) *Tegenfelt, A Century of Growth ==External links== *{{Find a Grave|18152185}} * [https://www.barnabastoday.com/2021/03/mary-mead-clark-her-life-and-_o-mcfayden/ Barnabas Today website, '' 'Mary Mead Clark: Her Life and Legacy' by Narola Ao McFayden'', review by James Elisha Taneti dated 26 March 2021] *[https://mosesonmissions.wordpress.com/2008/11/29/edwin-clark-missionary-to-naga-of-india/ {{sic|Edwin|hide=y}} Clark - Missionary to Naga of India] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Edward Winter}} Category:1830 births Category:1913 deaths Category:Baptist missionaries from the United States Category:Baptist missionaries in India Category:American evangelists Category:Headhunting accounts and studies Category:Mokokchung Category:American missionaries in India Category:19th-century Baptists Category:Brown University alumni Category:Worcester Academy alumni Category:19th-century American people --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Edward Winter Clark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Winter_Clark) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Winter_Clark?action=history)). 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