Sarah Hall Boardman

Who was Sarah Hall Boardman?

Sarah Hall Boardman, born in Alstead, New Hampshire, spent 20 years of her life in Burma doing missionary work. She and her husband George Boardman sailed to Burma in 1824, just one week after their wedding. She was widowed in 1831.

Although during this era a widowed missionary wife would be expected to return to her homeland, Boardman continued to proselytize Karen in the jungles and supervised mission schools. In 1834 she married Adoniram Judson. Her Burmese translation of The Pilgrim's Progress is still in use today. She also translated the New Testament into Peguan. in 1844 she gave birth to Edward Judson, who later pastored a church in New York City named after his father. Her illness forced the family to return to the United States in 1844, but she died en route at Saint Helena. While in the United States, Judson asked Emily Chubbuck to write Boardman's biography, and he subsequently married Chubbuck.

Sarah and George Boardman had a son also named George Dana Boardman, often referred to as "George Boardman the Younger".