Harriet Newell

Who was Harriet Newell?

Harriet Newell was born Harriet Atwood at Haverhill, Massachusetts in Oct 1793. She was part of the first wave of Christian missionaries to go overseas from the United States. She died less than a year into her journey and became a hero and role model for Christians during the Nineteenth Century. Many children were named for her over the following decades.

She married in February 1812 to Rev. Samuel Newell. Along with Adoniram Judson and Ann Judson they went off to preach in India and Burma. They were expelled by the East India Company and went on to Mauritius, where she died November 30, 1812. She had given birth to a child who died after five days. Her memoirs were published posthumously, going into a number of editions.