{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}} '''Levi Spaulding''' (22 August 1791 – 18 June 1873) was a missionary for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and led a team of American missionaries to choose the ''American Madura Mission'' site for the Tamil people of South India.<ref name="Rn">{{cite book |last= James |first= Elias Olan |title= The Story of Cyrus and Susan Mills |publisher= Stanford University Press |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3oWaAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA117 |year= 1953 |pages=99–210 |isbn= 978-0-8047-1102-9}}</ref><ref name="Rn1">{{cite book |author=<!-- not stated --> |date= 1871 |title= Annual report of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions |location= |publisher= American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=KWIsAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA56 |pages= 61-120 |isbn= |access-date=}}</ref> <ref name="Rn2">{{cite book |last= Woods |first= Leonard |title= Memoirs of American missionaries, formerly connected with the Society of Inquiry Respecting Missions, in the Andover Theological Seminary|publisher= Peirce and Parker |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wDsabsJPYqYC&pg=PA101 |year= 1833 |pages=101–200}}</ref><ref name="R1">{{cite book |last= Anderson |first= Gerald H. |title= Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions |publisher= Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ8BFk9K0ToC&pg=PA633 |year= 1999 |page= 633 |isbn= 978-0-8028-4680-8}}</ref><ref name="Rn4">{{cite book |author=<!-- not stated --> |date= 1852 |title= ‘English and Tamil dictionary’, by Knight and Spaulding |location= |publisher= American Mission Press | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8yEtAAAAYAAJ&q=Levi+Spaulding |page= |isbn= |access-date=}}</ref><ref name="Rn3">{{cite book |author=<!-- not stated --> |date= 1835 |title= The Congregational magazine (formerly The London Christian instructor) |location= |publisher= Oxford University | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wfUDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA186 |page= 186|isbn= |access-date=}}</ref>
He was an evangelist, hymnist and published a ''Tamil dictionary'' and an ''English-Tamil dictionary''.<ref name="R1"/><ref name="Rn4"/><ref name="R3">{{cite book |author=<!-- not stated --> |date= 1862 |title= ‘A comprehensive Tamil and English Dictionary of High and Low Tamil’, by Miron Winslow |location= |publisher= Hunt | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=S-RGAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR7 |page= vii |isbn= |access-date=}}</ref><ref name="R4">{{cite book |author=<!-- not stated --> |date= 1863 |title= ‘The American Presbyterian review’, by Cordell, Grubb and Yu |location= |publisher= C. Scribner | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=DD89AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA506 |page= 506 |isbn= |access-date=}}</ref>
{{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = The Reverend | name = Levi Spaulding | birth_date = {{Birth date|1791|08|22}} | birth_place = Jaffery, New Jersey | death_date = {{Death date and age|1873|06|18|1791|08|22}} | education = Dartmouth College | alma_mater = Andover Theological Seminary | occupation = Christian missionary | spouse = }}
==Biography== {{expand section|date=July 2012}}
===Early life=== He was born on 22 August 1791 in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, to Elisabeth and Phinehas Spaulding. He pursued a career as a farmer until the death of his father in 1809. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1815 and Andover Theological Seminary in the Tabernacle Church, Salem, Massachusetts in 1818. Along with Henry Woodward, Fisk, and Miron Winslow he was ordained by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in 1818 and was married to Mary Christie the same year.<ref name="Rn2"/><ref name="R1"/><ref name="Rn3"/><ref name="R2">{{cite book |author=<!-- not stated --> |date= 1840 |title= ‘History of American missions to the heathen, from their commencement to the present time’, by Joseph, Peck, Mudge, Cutter and Mack |location= |publisher= Spooner & Howland | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HwDPAAAAMAAJ&q=American+Madura+Mission%2C+Levi+Spaulding&pg=PA328|page= 328 |isbn= |access-date=}}</ref>
===Missionary work=== As a missionary under ABCFM, he along with fellow-missionaries like John Scudder, the first medical missionary, sailed for Calcutta, India on 8 June 1819 from Boston and arrived Jaffna, Ceylon, on 1 December 1820. Upon his arrival at the mission station, he was initially placed at Manepay (also spelled as Manipay), where he served between 1821 and 1828; later, he served at Tellippalai (also spelled Tillipally) from 1828 and 1833.<ref name="Rn"/><ref name="Rn2"/><ref name="R1"/><ref name="Rn3"/><ref name="R2"/>
He spent most of his missionary career at Oodooville (also spelled Uduville or Uduvil), where he supervised the church, schools, and did evangelistic work among heathens in villages. Besides his work in school at Oodooville, he was a preacher who preferred to go into the crowd and reach them in their own idiom; hence, he got to know the natives mind and heart better than other missionaries. His wife Mary Spaulding took charge of the girl's boarding school in Uduvelli for almost forty years. In January 1834, he led the group of American missionaries to explore the suitable locations for a new ABCFM mission station to the Tamil people of South India; thus, Madura, also spelled Madurai, was identified as the right site for new ''American Madura Mission'' under the guidance of Levi Spaulding. In July 1834, Henry Richard Hoisington and William Todd visited; subsequently, Hoisington returned after two months while Todd remained.<ref name="Rn"/><ref name="Rn1"/><ref name="R1"/><ref name="Rn3"/><ref>{{cite book |author=<!-- not stated --> |date= 1865 |title= Historical sketch of the Ceylon mission |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=41QoAAAAYAAJ&q=Todd&pg=PA29|location= |publisher= American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions |page= 29|isbn= |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=<!-- not stated --> |date= 1848 |title= Report of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Volume 39 |location= |publisher= American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pw_PAAAAMAAJ&q=Levi+Spaulding&pg=PA188 |page= 154|isbn= |access-date=}}</ref>
He died at an age of eighty-one on 18 June 1873 after fifty-four years of missionary service in India and Sri Lanka.<ref name="Rn2"/><ref name="R1"/>
==Bibliography== From 1838, he devoted much of his time in revisions for mission press and translation activities. He published a translation of ''Pilgrim's Progress'' and wrote hymns.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://cyclopedia.lcms.org/definitions?mode=index&page=0&index=SPAULDING.LEVI&definition=A330CF89-B266-EE11-9148-0050563F0205 |title= Spaulding, Levi |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= Christian Cyclopedia |publisher= |access-date= October 22, 2025 |quote=}}</ref> He also wrote tracts which included ''Social Hymns'' and ''Sacred Songs''. In 1852, he compiled and published a ''Tamil dictionary'' and an ''English-Tamil dictionary''.<ref name="R1"/><ref name="Rn4"/><ref name="R3"/><ref name="R4"/>
He also spent considerable time at Madras, a mission station of ''American Madras Mission'', at the behest of Bible Society in Madras for the revision of Scriptures. While at Oodooville, he made sure he translated at least one page of Bible into Tamil language, a day.<ref name="Rn"/><ref name="R1"/>
==See also== * Union College, Tellippalai * American Ceylon Mission
== References == {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== * [https://books.google.com/books?id=-bYPAAAAIAAJ&dq=Levi+Spaulding&pg=RA1-PA304 The Missionary Gazetteer - Author: Charles Williams] * [https://books.google.com/books?id=35RVAAAAYAAJ&dq=Levi+Spaulding&pg=PA77 Annual report, Volumes 37–41] * [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ho0PAAAAIAAJ&dq=Levi+Spaulding&pg=RA4-PA145 Annual report, Volumes 32–36 - By American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions - pages. 44–150] * [http://saveamericancollege.blogspot.in/2008_04_28_archive.html A brief history of the American Madura Mission] * [https://books.google.com/books?id=oDkwAQAAMAAJ&dq=Levi+Spaulding&pg=PA353 The Quarterly Register, Volume 8 - By American Education Society - p.353] * [https://books.google.com/books?id=wlRJAAAAMAAJ&dq=Levi+Spaulding&pg=PA104 The Quarterly Christian spectator, Volume 8 - p.104]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Spaulding, Levi}} Category:Protestant missionaries in Sri Lanka Category:Protestant missionaries in India Category:American Protestant missionaries Category:People from Jaffrey, New Hampshire Category:Dartmouth College alumni Category:1791 births Category:1873 deaths Category:Andover Newton Theological School alumni Category:American missionaries in India