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MY FATHER’S AMERICAN EDUCATION
 
 

1. Before I came to America

When I was in the second grade of an elementary school, Korea was liberated from the Japanese occupation on August 15, 1945.
Since then, I heard that my mother was talking about my father’s American education of ten years to my elder sisters, neighbors and some acquaintance.
I was very young and used to sit right next to her while she was talking about this story like any other old stories which she used to talk to me.
So I heard about father’s American story over and over, so that I could remember it quite clearly even now. Following is what I heard from my mother.
Father was around 11 or 12 years old by Korean age, he was sent to America and had ten years’ education.
The last school he had attended in America was the University of Pennsylvania Business School, where he studied for 3 years, just one year short of the full 4 year course.
For some reasons he made a temporary return visit to Korea which was done by the trans-pacific liner taking 30 days for one way travel from Tokyo Harbor of Japan to San Francisco.
He discussed with his father about the difficulty of money transfer from Korea to America through an American Missionary staying in Seoul, Korea, and found another means of money transfer.
Obviously it was the summer, and when he was about to take the trans-pacific liner from Tokyo Harbor to America, the first world war broke out totally unexpectedly and Immediately the world-wide naval blockade followed, prohibiting all the civilian navigations, therefore he couldn’t return to his school, and his college education was stopped indefinitely.
Around ten years later, he returned to America to take care of his personal matters including visiting the Wharton School, but at that time he could not restart his education since he was taking care of his family business. He also looked for his American friend who had kept father’s belongings temporarily. But the friend was drafted to the Army and stationed to the European front where he was killed during the battle. So father had lost almost all his belongings. He returned home from his second American visit the next year.
Prior to his initial departure from Korea, he had studied English for a year or two at an elementary school in Seoul, Korea, and then attended the Blue Mountain Foreign Language Institute as an alien student at Tokyo, Japan for an additional year.
He was accompanied by two people for the long travel to an unknown Country, one was his uncle, and the other, Kim Kyu-sik, a graduate of Roanoke College, Roanoke, VA.
It appeared that Kim Kyu-sik took the team of both nephew and uncle to New York City, found a place to live, and then took father to a private elementary school, where father took an entrance examination and unfortunately failed despite his preparation for two or more years.
One of the teachers at the school advised him to visit a local library to borrow some books for further preparation, which he did. Those books aroused his interest for reading and so he continued to study them without rest during days and nights.
Sometime later he took the second exam and passed it without difficulty, and so was accepted as a student there.
There were some episodes during his school days, most likely while he was in the Williston Seminary, which were described later in thiswebpage.


2. My family life with parents

I was the last child and only son of my parents, and so parents were getting old while I was growing up.
We were living in Seoul, Korea when the Korean War started in 1950 which was lasting for 3 full years. Seoul was occupied twice by the Communist Army, first by the North Koreans in 1950 from June to September, and next by the Red Communist Chinese army in January of 1951 for a few months.
Before the second invasion to Seoul, almost all citizens of Seoul fled and took refuge in Pusan, the Southern Harbor and second largest city of Korea, where all of us lived until the Arormistice in July 1953.
Father was working in various jobs of some companies, and finally in 1953, he became an administrative superintendent of Children’s Charity Hospital in Pusan run solely by the funds from American Charity organizations. By that time he was sixty years old, and his health was steadily declining, so that finally he resigned the job despite sincere encouragement from some American councilors.
He was hospitalized in the City Hospital of Taegu, another southern city, but he continued to deteriorate until he died on February 18, 1954, leaving mother and me far away from our home town. He was buried in the family grave site in Jinju, Gyeongnam where he had been born. I was 16 years old and a first grader of a high school.
The cause of death was obviously chronic obstructive lung disease since he was a heavy smoker.
Despite considerable hardships, I managed to graduate the Medical School of Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, and after 3 years mandatory military service in Korean Army, I came to America in the June of 1967 on the exchange visitor’s visa for postgraduate medical education including internship and residency under the program of Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates.
I determined to search my father’s footsteps in America which had happened so long ago, and carried the only proof of his experience, his graduation photo as my mother had explained.
With the tumultuous life of our family, we were not left with any documents or other proofs.


3. My visit to the University of Pennsylvania

I started my internship at the Jersey City Medical Center, Jersey City, NJ in 1967, and then in 1968 I went to the Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, for my two year residency until 1970.
In the summer of 1969, I visited the Alumni Association of University of Pennsylvania, where I explained about my father’s study there until 1914 for 3 years. Since he was not a graduate, I was referred to the Archives with two helps, who opened the door and climbed a storage area while I was waiting in the waiting room. They eventually found father’s record for one year from 1913 to 1914 as a freshman at the Wharton School. How did I know that 1914 was the final year of his study? Because the First World War broke out in 1914. The year book 1913 to 1914 also showed Jaone Chung to be a freshman with his residence address.
Therefore it was obvious that he had only one year study at the University of Pennsylvania. The school record showed Williston Seminary as his former school.
Next I found Williston Academy to be the new name of the old Williston Seminary, and contacted the Academy to get his four year record from 1909 to 1913.
I wanted to visit the Williston Academy, but my training schedule didn’t allow enough time needed for this long distance travel for several years.
From the school record I also found father’s residence to be 633 West 115th Street, New York City.
Here was my first question: According to my mother, father had 3 years study at the University of Pennsylvania, but it was only one year study at the Penn. I kept this question in my mind for the time being, hoping to have an answer in the future.
From July 1970 to December 1971 I worked at the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital for my third year residency and fellowship at Bronx, New York.


4. My first visit to the Williston Academy

In 1971 I went to the old residence of father and found an old 4 story building very close to the University of Columbia, with the sign of Korean Methodist Church. I tried to see the minister but he was not in the Church at that time, so I didn’t see any staff there.
After I finished my training, I took my family to Rochester, NY and started my private practice in internal medicine. I was pretty busy in my solo practice and didn’t have leisure enough for our family tour or long distance travel.
In 1979 I had a request from my brother-in-law to take his daughter living in Los Angeles, CA to her newly accepted Smith College from my home. Just the day before trip, I realized that Smith College in Northampton, MA was located very close to the Williston Academy in Easthampton, MA. So I decided to make visits to the two schools on the same day.
It was the last Sunday of August, 1979, and we arrived at Northampton around noontime, so we went to a restaurant for our lunch, and there I made a call to the Williston School, and asked the school operator how to contact the Alumni Director. Surprisingly she did connect me to him without delay, and so I was able to introduce myself to him. He said he was in a very important meeting in the auditorium, but he advised me to come over there, and to ask the school guard to inform him of my arrival, so I did as he said to me.
When we met, I showed him the school photo, and he gave me some copies of father’s photos taken there during his school days. Interestingly he said he didn’t find that photo and copied it. [ I kept talking about “my father’s graduation photo to anyone, but after a long time later I found that it was not a graduation photo!].
He said that the school had new buildings, but the main building in the center of the photo was saved and located near the school and became the Town Library.
I asked him whether it was a boarding school, and he answered, “Yes, it is.” He looked inside the car where my wife and two young boys were. He asked me about their ages and said to me that If I consider boarding schools for them when they grow up , he might also consider Williston Academy, and at that time I must write about father’s school record, and the fact I met him on that day.
He gave me a direction for my return trip home, and advised me that I could see the town library on the left side of Park street.
It was the most memorable experience to me. I don’t even remember the name of the alumni director, and he was really such a fine gentleman!
This visit offered my wife and me a new thought on our boys’ education.
Father went through hardships for his education of this boarding school and college. We were raising two young sons in America. Why shouldn’t we try hard to give them the best schooling?
I started reading books like American boarding schools and American colleges. And then, Henry, our first son, was sent to the Choate Rosemary School, and in 3 years, James, his younger brother, followed suit.


5. My second visit to the Academy

In the summer of 1985 when Henry was waiting for his senior grade, I took him for a trip for his college interview starting with the Cornell University, then went to the Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, from where we were heading to the Brown University, Providence, RI. On the way I made a slight detour to arrive at the town library of Easthampton and entered the Library through the very door seen in the father’s school photo taken in 1913.
It seemed to be a typical country library where several old men were sitting in the chairs reading papers and others seemed dozing comfortably with library windows half open. I looked around and found a middle-aged lady sitting in front of a lectern on the left side, and I walked directly to her, introduced myself and Henry, and then showed the same school photo to her asking, “Do you recognize this picture?”.
She opened her eyes wide and appeared very interested, saying, “Aha, this is the photo of the old Williston Seminary, the door of which both of you just entered through..” At this point, I pointed at my father in the picture saying, “He was my father, and my son, Henry’s grandfather.” She seemed quite interested, “It showed the year of 1913, well before I was born. I have been living here all my life, and have seen Williston children like you once in a while. If you have time, may I go downstairs to bring some very old Williston pictures?” I said to her, ‘Certainly, ma’am.”
Soon she brought a fairly large box containing many pictures of the old Williston Seminary, which she explained to me thoroughly one by one. When she finished, I thanked her deeply. Before our departure, I asked her if she could take our pictures in front of this memorable library door, and she consented. So three of us went out of the door and two of us were standing in front of the door which she closed for our picture-taking, and then she went out to the Park Street with bidirectional lanes. She walked to the middle of the street and raised her both hands stopping cars from both directions and moving forward and then backward while taking several photos. After having finished, she walked to us and let the patient drivers leave. I thanked her again truly sincerely. This was indeed another great visit!
My next stop was the Alumni Office of the Academy, where I asked the secretary for father’s former school, which couldn’t be found with his school record. She looked through his student files and didn’t see the former school. During her busy search, she pulled an old two-page letter from Charles Edey Fay, who wrote this letter on January 8, 1956 asking about Jewhan Chung and his address with some serious problems.
Immediately I realized that Jewhan Chung had to be the uncle of father, who was supposed to be father’s legal guardian and care taker since father was around 10 years old by American age. The content was quite serious though it happened very long time ago.
Therefore I said he was father’s uncle and asked for copies of the letter for future review, which will be thoroughly examined later since we were on our trip for school interviews. After return to home, I read the letter carefully, and found that he had introduced himself as an acquaintance of Jewhan Chung, a student of the Williston Seminary, there was the misappropriation by a Presbyterian missionary of funds intrusted to him for delivery to Jewhan Chung.
The Board of Foreign Missions initially denied this accusation, but later accepted the wrongdoings and then many years later the members agreed to repay the damage and send a check payable to Jewhan Chung through Mr. Fay, but a long time elapsed since the last communication with Jewhan Chung, so Mr. Fay was just asking any way to contact Jewhan Chung.
The letter was written in 1956, and Jewhan Chung died in 1916, and my father died in 1954. I was very busy in my practice, being unable to make search for this case at that time. I decided to wait until I have some leisure and then forgot about it later.
In 2005, I retired to a country lake home and at times I considered visiting the Williston School when I have chance to visit New England resorts.


6. My third and fourth visits to the Williston Northampton School

In late June of 2013, I returned home from my month-long trip to Korea, soon thereafter I had a notice from Lillian, my daughter-in-law, living in Newport Beach, CA, reminding me of the one hundred year anniversary of father’s Williston Seminary photo taking.
She must be an attentive person who did remember the year of father’s photo taking by looking at the framed original photo hanging on the wall of the living room, which still showed a very faint “1913”. So we decided to make our family memorial visit to the campus of Williston Northampton School, and I made an appointment on the last Saturday of August around noon not later than 13:00 by military time with Mr. Jeffrey Pilgrim, the Alumni Director.
It was not easy for ten family members to participate, so it’s limited to four of us including Connor, my grandson, James, my second son living in Manhattan, NY, Henry, my older son, and me, only four males, which made me feel a little bad but we could make another memorial visit when two young grandchildren grow up.
We met Mr. Pilgrim near the Homestead, who showed the campus leisurely while explaining thoroughly about each building, which took almost an hour before leading us to the important Emily Williston Memorial Library. I had quite a few photos taken. Then I asked him to take me to his office and there offered a check to the Williston Northampton School in memory of my father, Jaone Chung.
Before having finished the tour, Mr. Pilgrim said to me, “By the way your father didn’t graduate!”, which was quite a surprise, but that was not the right time for me to discuss further, so I decided to search this issue to later dates.
In the month of June, 2014, my sister-in-law living in California visited our home and three of us made our trip to the Bar Harbor, Maine for a week and then on the way home, I realized it was too long a drive for a single day, requiring almost 12 hours on a straight driving. So I thought it must be a great idea to stay one night in Easthampton, the same place where my father had slept more than a hundred years ago for four years. So I made some search for a nice hotel in Easthampton, but it was disappointing that there was not a single hotel in Easthampton! So I found one in the city of Northampton, and after checkout the next morning we went to the same Library where my wife and I had a photo taken. Next I went to the Alumni office again, showed the school photo to a secretary inquiring whether the photo was not the graduation photo. She checked through and told me that it was not the graduation photo. She showed me portraits of several graduates, but could not find father’s portrait. So she confirmed that father didn’t graduate. Then I asked her what this photo could be. She said that it had to be a class photo. This last visit to the Williston School was June 19, 2014.
That was enough for me to accept that father did not graduate in 1913. That made me contact Mr. Pilgrim for further inquiry and I was referred to Mr. Richard Teller, with whom I exchanged several messages and discussions, which will be conveyed here later.


7. My strenuous search

In August 2014, I found an ad “Photo Contest 1. Artistic Photos 2. Memorable Photos on the periodical from North American Branch of my alma mater, Seoul National University Medical School Alumni Association.
I applied and participated in the Photo Contest with my father’s story and several photos in the Memorable Section. I had enthusiastic responses from the readers since my father’s story was quite rare in Korea and I finally won the prize. At that point, I felt that I should search for answers to many unsolved questions.
I had following questions

(1) Why was father’s residence, 633 West 115th Street, New York City, the Korean Church which I never heard from father while he had talked about his rented place, the story of which will be written later?
(2) From the letter of Mr. Charles Edey Fay I need to find the name of the Presbyterian Missionary who committed misappropriation, the amount of the loss, the copy of the check made at that time, the Board of Foreign Missions, and finally who Charles Edey Fay was.
(3) Why didn’t he graduate the Seminary while he attended for four full years?
(4) Why did mother say that father studied at Wharton School for three years instead of one year? Father would never have given the wrong information to mother since I believe that he was always the perfectly honest person all his life.
(5) Who was the infamous missionary?
(6) The fate of the board of foreign missions
(7) The relationship between father and his uncle, Jewhan Chung
(8) I was certain at that point that I could come up with some more questions later.


Question 1 Korean Methodist Church

The first and easy search was the visit to the Korean Church since it is in the New York City and my son, James, is a New Yorker, born in New York and living in Manhattan since his graduation from Harvard in early 1990’s and so we visited his family at least twice a year. On my second visit I was able to meet Rev. Yongbo Lee, which was January 6, 2015. He showed me inside the old fourth floor building of which the first floor was the worship area, the second floor Sunday school for children, the third and fourth floors had regular three apartment rooms with one larger ones having even fire places and one common bath and shower room each floor. This building will have an extensive renovation or reconstruction soon.
Rev Lee explained to me that this building had been originally used as dormitory for students before it was purchased by this Korean Church in 1927 and then became the Korean Methodist Church and Institute. He brought an old book of Christians written in Korean and found the Korean name of my father, 정재원. Father had been there with his uncle Jewhan Chung at least from 1909 to 1913, possibly as early as 1903 or 1904, and his stay there had been much earlier than the establishment of the Korean Church at the same building, but I couldn’t understand how my father’s name was listed there, possibly some acquaintance must have written his name there, I believe. Since the renovation was imminent, I revisited on June 6, 2015 to take pictures the inside of the Church.
Here are two anecdotes from father when he had friends or relatives remembering his young days in America.
One day a Korean minister named Syngman Rhee came to a small room in the building while father and his uncle already occupied a larger room. Rev Rhee had submitted his doctoral dissertation paper to the Princeton University but failed, so he came to this place for preparation of his second dissertation and planned to stay for several months.
Episode 1.
Rev. Rhee was in late thirties, and father in his late teens, and both of them was getting quite close to each other, enough to exchange some Korean jokes.
Here is an example

Rhee: “Jaone, I couldn’t sleep all night last night.”
Father, “Why couldn’t you sleep?” Rhee, “There was bright moonlight shining all over the place, and I wanted to drink a glass of wine or anything else.” Father, “Then, why didn’t you drink it?”
Rhee, “Don’t you realize that I am a minister?, How can a minister drink like a drunkard?”
Father, “Sir, it’s very simple. If you want to remain as a minister, don’t think about wine or anything else. However if you can’t control yourself, throw your pastoral robes away and drink like hell. It’s as simple as that!”
Rhee, “You naughty boy, get out of here.”
I checked Rev. Rhee’s record and found that this episode had to happen in the year of 1910.
One day Rev. Rhee baptized father. He also succeeded in acquiring the doctoral degree.at the Princeton afterward.
Later he returned to Korea to become the first President of the Republic of Korea in late 1940’s.

Episode 2.
In the same residence he and his uncle heard the very sad news of Japanese annexation of Korea in the year of 1910. They were upset and despondent so that both of them held together and cried all day long in the vacant floor. Our country was lost to Japan by force. This meant that all Koreans became country-less people.
Our beloved native country had five thousand years of history since our common mythological ancestor, Dangun, the legendary founding father of Go-Joseon, ancient Chosun, started the Country around Pyongyang.
During this long history, our Country had many invasions from Chinese, Mongolians, Manchurians, and frequently Japanese pirates. But never before had our Country been totally annexed by any invaders except the Japanese, the most cruel and vicious humans.
Whenever Koreans made demonstrations for independence, the Japanese armed police or soldiers pushed their bayonets through the abdomens all the way so that the blades came out of the other sides of torsos or backs.
Do you, readers, think I am exaggerating? My mother was one of many, many Korean eye witnesses who happened to see those Korean peasants being killed by the Japanese in the streets under the broad daylight on March the first, 1919 when many Koreans went out to the streets to voice “Long live Korea”. So much for the Japanese atrocity and Korean sufferings ever since 1910 Annexation of Korea by Japan.
When I was in the Church, there was a long hanging banner with the following phrase in Korean, “I wept sitting on the river bank.” , which must have meant the Hudson River and reminded me of father’s talks of crying all day long with his uncle in the vacant floor of the current Church building. Now it is the time for me to move to the next issue.


Question 2 Charles Edey Fay’s letter

When I read this letter at the Williston Alumni Office in 1985 on my second Williston visit, it was 35 years after my father’s death, 69 years after Jewhan Chung’s death, and even one year earlier before Mr. Fay’s death. It was too late a discovery for Jewhan Chung since he died only two years after his graduation from the Colorado School of Mines. This must have been a totally unexpected news fo father and mother since they seemed unaware of this unethical conduct committed by the Missionary.
Let me summarize this letter. Mr. Fay was told by Jewhan Chung of the fund from my grandfather to be misappropriation by a Presbyterian Missionary stationed in Korea, and after Mr. Fay’s vigorous request for investigation and compensation with Dwight H Day, the treasury of the Board of Foreign Missions, finally very late the Board agreed to pay the amount of loss and sent a check payable to Jewhan Chung presumably around 1955 or so. Mr. Fay mentioned that he met Jewhan Chung around 25 or 30 years ago, but it was much earlier than that. According to my calculation, it had to be around, 1956-1906(year of the Williston admission)=50 years, or 1956-1910=46 years!
So the check must have been sent back to the Board since the payee could not be located for sure.
After the board members unanimously decided to pay for the loss not much later than 46 years ago, why did it take around 40 years of period?
I want to know from the board of foreign missions about the amount of the check, and why it had to wait almost half a century before issuing one check?.
The problem was that I couldn’t find this board of foreign missions.
Did it disappear into the thin air and cease to exist?
It took a long time before I had an answer, but the answer did not help solve my above questions. I will discuss about the fate of the board later.


Question 3 Father finished only the third grade at the Williston Seminary

After my last visit of June 19, 2014, I wrote to Mr. Pilgrim that I wanted to know how and why my father didn’t graduate in 1913 considering his starting year at the Williston Seminary was 1909 and, if so, how could he be accepted at the Wharton School?. Mr. Pilgrim referred me to Mr. Richard Teller, Archivist.
I exchanged with him several times. Following is his explanation: Father’s transcript indicated that he missed a lot of school in the spring of 1912. No explanation is given, but illness is the probable explanation. He therefore repeated his 11th grade in 1912-13 and did not graduate with his class. Nor did he return to Williston in 1913-14. So he is not in either the 1913 or 1914 senior yearbooks. He probably went directly on to college. This letter was surprisingly written on the same day of my visit, in the afternoon of June 19, 2014 while I visited the Library and Alumni Office in the morning of the same day, and then the second letter was sent the next day with copies of academic records along with one old photo of a student in the student room there.
Here I am going to quote from my Webpage, My Father’s Footsteps in America IV:
“Following are some anecdotes from mother about father’s hardships:
He missed his school for one year because he was unable to pay for his tuition, which I discovered to be the year of 1911, verified by his school record. For some months his money ran out with no means to replenish, and could not eat regular meals. So at times he went to a local ice-cream parlor to feed himself on credit.
Consequently he lost his weight noticeably. In the long winter time he shoveled snow for some residents including his adopted mother, Miss Ellie, for which he was paid a few pennies each time. Miss Ellie told him to come to her home to eat with her, but father was too shy to do that without paying for his meals.”


Question 4 Mother’s confused school years: Wharton School for 3 years should have been Williston Seminary for 3years.

Here is my thought. Mother must have been confused Williston Seminary with University of Pennsylvania when she talked about three years’ study at the Penn instead of the Williston.
Then now I can understand the whole story from my mother:
Her claim of 3 years’ study at the Penn should be the Williston days, and she was told that father studied at the Wharton School, which fully explains Question (4).
Mother talked about the difficulty of money transfer from Korea to America through an American Missionary, not knowing the unethical misappropriation committed by the Missionary. Money was not transferred timely, sometimes not entirely, and father really suffered from hunger of such long period.
I want to know how the regular students of the Seminary were fed? One meal, two meals, or three full meals per day were given? I sent my two sons to Choate Rosemary Hall and didn’t know any meal problems. Possibly in those old days the students had to buy their own meals, I wonder.


Question 5 Who was the infamous American Missionary?

This is my deep suspicion, which challenges full proof.
After I read my Fay’s letter, I found that Jewhan Chung had attended and graduated the Williston 3 years earlier. I had his school record where I found a slip of paper showing

1910.s. Jewhan Chung (Seoul, Korea)
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colo.
Born 16, Aug, ’84
Address while at W. c-o Dr. George H Jones, Seoul, Korea
Ad. 125 Bubling Well, Shanghai, China
Bul, retd, no inf. 8/’22
died about 1911 or 12 S.N.M.

I feel that Dr. George H Jones must be an important person to Jewhan Chung considering this name has been kept in Jewhan Chung’s record ever since 1910.
Who was Dr. George H Jones around 1910 or earlier? Again I will quote from my webpage.
George Heber Jones (14 August 1867 – 11 May 1919) was an American Christian missionary in Korea. Jones, who grew up in Utica, New York, is notable as the first Protestant Missionary in Korea who took an academic approach to the research of Korean religions.
He arrived in Korea in 1887 as a Methodist minister; while there, he not only made major contributions to the spread of Christianity in Korea, but also founded three academic journals: The Korean Repository, The Korean Review, and Shinhak Wolbo (Theology Monthly).
He also played a significant role in encouraging Korean immigration to Hawaii; of the first ship of Korean migrant laborers bound for Hawaii to work on sugar plantations there, which departed on 22 December 1902, more than half came from his church in Incheon.
In July 1907, he was the subject of a murder attempt; Yale University professor George Trumbull Ladd attributed the attack to opinions Jones had expressed in an article he wrote about the suppression of a Korean riot, in which he praised the Japanese police. He died in Miami, Florida on 11 May 1919 after a long illness; his funeral was held in Leonia, New Jersey four days later. His Korean Name:
조원시, 趙元時, Jo Won-si. Cho Wǒnshi.
In view of the above information, I have strong suspicion that Dr. George Heber Jones was the same Presbyterian Missionary who had committed misappropriation described in the letter of Mr. Charles Edey Fay, even though I have had no way to prove that Dr. Jones was the very Presbyterian Missionary described in Mr. Fay’s letter and the American Missionary mentioned by my mother. I have my firm belief that Mr. Fay had learned the fact from Jewhan Chung, and he prudently described him as “a Presbyterian Missionary” to avoid any disputes of the personal slandering. Besides, Dr. Jones had praised the inhuman acts of the most cruel Japanese police while they had slaughtered the helpless Koreans asking for liberation from Japanese rules. As a Christian Missionary, how could he advocate and praise the most cruel Japanese slaughter of peaceful Koreans?
I firmly believe that the person named George Heber Jones be the same American Missionary who had committed the misappropriation!


Question 6 The doom of the board of foreign missions

When I started to investigate the misappropriation, naturally I tried to find the board of foreign missions, so I made inquiry to a number of Presbyterian Church in my town, New York City and so on, but didn’t have success. In other words I didn’t receive any acceptable answers to my question.
Finally I was able to find the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, PA by October 2015, and then made my inquiries successively. I gave a reference archivist search items of Sangwhan Chung, Jewhan Chung, and Charles Edey Fay, but he could not find any materials in their holdings.
Their holdings relating to mission work in Korea were extensive so that the archivist selected some record collections which could be helpful in my research. In order to do it I had to come personally to the Society and to look through the collections. It was not easy for me to visit there and work alone and stay for some time possibly in a hotle, so I haven’t visited there yet.
In my multiple exchanges I learned that the Board of Foreign Missions ceased to exist. From another reference archivist, I learned the following information: The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America was organized in 1837, The Board remained in existence until 1958, at which time its activities were transferred to the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations (COEMAR) of the newly formed United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. In 1972, COEMAR was replaced by the Program Agency.
In 1983, the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A (UPCUSA) reunited with the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (PCUS) to form the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The Program Agency of the former UPCUSA worked jointly with the General Assembly Mission Board of the former PCUS until 1988, when the General Assembly Council of the reunited Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was formed.
In 2008, the General Assembly Council was reunited with the General Assembly Mission Council. In 2012, the General Assembly Mission Council was renamed the Presbyterian Mission Agency, the current name.
I wrote to an administrator of the Agency whether they are responsible for some remaining problems of the Board of Foreign Missions or not, and he replied firmly that the current Agency had nothing to do with any business or problems of the Board. So I found that the Board simply demised without any legitimate successor in the year of 1958.
However I still want to find the name of the Presbyterian Missionary, the amount of the check made payable to Jewhan Chung and the reason why it took almost half a century to make the check since the members unanimously agreed to pay for the loss at the Board meeting.


Question 7 The role of Jewhan Chung

I will go over the situation of the first travel from Korea to America possibly in 1903.
Father was born on August 9, 1893, and Jewhan Chung, his uncle on August 16, 1879. So father was only ten years old and his uncle, Jewhan, was 24 years old when they arrived at the New York City. Grandfather could not send his ten year old son to a faraway foreign country alone, and so he sent his younger brother along with his son to be a caretaker and guardian.
According to mother, the uncle started to take his own education and succeeded in graduating the Colorado School of Mines. I also found that he graduated the Williston Seminary in 1910 and went directly to the Colorado School presumably graduating in 1914.
What I am trying to figure out is this: Jewhan was originally entrusted with the responsibility of a caretaker and guardian for father, and on his own without approval of grandfather, he took advantage of the situation instead devoting himself to promoting father’s education.
The end result was as following:
Jewhan had 4 years’ Williston education with its graduation, and another 4 years’ education at Colorado School of Mines with its graduation.
Father had presumably 5 years’ elementary school education at NYC (the school not known), 3 years’ academic grades at Williston, only one year study at the Wharton School.
The person fully succeeded in the higher education was Jewhan Chung,
Father had only one year freshman course at the University of Pennsylvania.
The second point of his unexplainable situation was that in 1906, he went out to the Williston as a freshman while father was still 13 years old and presumably left alone in NYC. Is it acceptable to leave a thirteen year old student alone without any help?
Because of lack of funds, father could not continue his class and had to skip the third grade, but there was no problem for Jewhan to continue his study steadily until he graduated the school as originally planned.
I conclude that this 24 year old uncle took advantage of the situation, and used money for his own benefit while sacrificing his nephew’s education and welfare.
Jewhan could be a second culprit next to the Presbyterian Missionary.
It seems that I have found two unethical persons responsible for father’s mishap.



Question 8 Remaining issues

1, Where was father’s elementary school?
I thought that he arrived at the New York City in the late season of 1903 since he told me that Wright brothers made their first flight while he was in America when I talked about the first flight by the brothers on December 17, 1903. Soon after his arrival, he went to an elementary school for entrance examination, but he failed and then prepared for 3 months before he passed the test and then entered the school. I could not find this former school from Williston and from Wharton Schools.
I even tried New York Historical Society for couple times but since he was a foreign student, he had to go to a private school and the Society did not have any record of the private schools at that time. Therefore sadly I cannot find his elementary school.

2, Father’s second visit to America
Some years after the end of the First World War, he made his second trip to America and stayed in the New York City for several months from August of 1923 to the Spring of 1924. He went to Wharton School to discuss about his continuing the school, but gave up because he was unable to find the fund. Next he tried to find his American friend to whom he entrusted keeping his belongings, but his friend was drafted to the Army, dispatched to the European front and then killed in the battlefield. So his belongings were lost without its owner or keeper.
I have four photos father took with his friends, and with multiple efforts I found the place and will be posted here.

3. Anecdotes on father's Williston days

Episode 1 Shortly after his arrival at the United States, the first flight of the Wright brothers succeeded. How sensational that news could be! That proves the time of his arrival at the United States to be the year of 1903.

Episode 2 In hot summer evenings old men were sitting on their chairs in the streets, and talking about their experiences of the civil war. They were very frightened.

Episode 3 In a small rural town of northwestern Massachusetts, an oriental student came to study in the seminary, an all-boy boarding school. Many students in the class tried to tease him, which led to physical fights, which became daily routines after the school hours.
Father sustained facial bruises, swellings, bleedings, and discolorations just about every day. At first the class teacher tried to intervene with these tussles, but not with much success, and so left things as they were.
It was normal for father to come to the class in the morning with bruise marks on his face, but once in awhile, he had his clean face without bruises, then the teacher pretended to be surprised, and singled him out to ask how he managed to keep his face intact.
So there were almost daily fights for a year. At the end of the first year, the devils said, "That's enough. No more hassles, no more fights." Afterwards came peace to all of them and they became very good friends.

Episode 4 Father would have boils on his nape frequently, which was noticed by his teacher, who said to him, "Jaone, watch the back of your neck." Then the classmates tried to give hard times to him. These naughty students told him, "Teacher told you to look at the back of your head. Show me how you can look at that." Obviously the teacher meant father to care for the back of neck, but these naughty devils would never leave him in peace, just trying to make fun of him.

Episode 5 The freezing inexpensive dorm
This northwestern Massachusetts town had a very cold winter. The inexpensive dorm where father lived had no luxury system of cold and hot water, but only cold water all year round. The wash room was in the first floor, and father stayed in the second floor. So on a cold winter morning he washed his face and head with freezing cold water, and then rushed upstairs. By the time of his reaching the dorm room door, his face and hairs were literally frozen, covered with ice. He then moved his frozen face and head to the stove with burning woods inside, then in a few minutes all the ice melted and he cleaned his wet face and hairs with his towel.

Episode 6 Father's adopted mom in the town.
There was a single, middle-aged woman in the town, one day she said to him that she wanted to adopt him as her son. And he accepted her offer, and so they were adopted mother and son. She originally was a maid to a pastor who had no family. So the pastor adopted her as his daughter, and when he died, she inherited all his property and assets. She never married, living as a single, wealthy woman. One day a woman in the town came to father and said, "I wanted to come to see you and say to you that your country people, Koreans and my ancestors, the Huns, were all neighbors a long time ago. I am so glad to see you.”

Episode 7 Friendship with Mr. Heegyeong Lee
There was Korean Association in New York City at that time, but unfortunately it was split into two divisions, one for South Koreans, and the other for North Koreans. My father and Mr. Heegyeong Lee [이희경(李喜儆)] became sworn brothers. My father was from a southern province of Korea, and Mr. Lee from a northern province. So both of them were not accepted to either south or north Korean division. Divisive Koreans were very factional even during these hard times.

Episode 8 The financial difficulties from missing remittances
Father had missing remittances from the American Missionary causing missing school and meals consequently.
When father went to America along with his guardian Jewhan Chung, his uncle, he was only ten years old. Grandfather made an arrangement with a Presbyterian missionary who was entrusted with the task of transfer of money from Korea to America. Father experienced the frequent failures of money transfer with excessive delays and sometimes even no transfer at all though grandfather did send very sufficient amounts for the living costs and tuitions to both of them.
Mother told me that it had been so difficult to transfer money from Korea to America in those days with anecdotal description as following:
At one time he could not pay the full year tuition so that he had to skipp one school year. He had been without money for months, and could not buy foods for a long time, so that he even lost weight noticeably. He had eaten only ice cream from some stores on credit.
He had worked including snow cleaning for some houses including his adopted mother’s to get a few pennies per hour. His adopted mother (possibly Miss Ellie) had told him to come to her for eating any time, but he was too shy to eat in her house without payment.
Finally after ten years’ destitution resulting from the inadequate money transfer, he decided to return to Korea for serious discussion with grandfather to find some better means of remittance. Obviously grandfather and father made some satisfactory financial arrangement, but world war one broke out before his return to America, and the plan of his American education came to a halt for good. So I was under the understanding that father had had terrible financial distress all those years from 1903 to 1914 due to the enormous difficulty of international money transfer despite the help from a Presbyterian missionary working in Korea.
In 1985 I ran into an unexpected discovery as to the cause of this whole problem, when I was shown a copy of two page letter of an acquaintance of Mr. Jewhan Chung’s. It described clearly that misappropriation committed by a Presbyterian missionary was claimed by Jewhan Chung, and Mr. Charles Edey Fay, the letter writer, contacted and discussed with Dwight H. Day, Treasurer of the Board of Foreign Missions. To make a long story short, the Board members unanimously made up the amount of the loss and sent a check to Mr. Fay. However both my father and his uncle passed away by that time.
There was no name of the Presbyterian missionary I could find until the time when I received a slip of paper from the Williston School Archives, along with the full school records of Jewhan Chung and Jaone Chung, my father. This slip had several lines of typed notes from Jewhan Chung’s file, and showed the name of Dr. George H. Jones, a well-known Presbyterian missionary stationed in Seoul, Korea from 1887 to the first decade of 1900.
I have very strong feeling that the missionary in question had to be George H. Jones. With this information I want to explore and find the full record of money transfer from Sangwhan Chung, my grandfather in Seoul, Korea to Jewhan Chung, my granduncle in New York City, New York and search the record at the Presbyterian Historical Society.
I did resent at the faulty claims of Jewhan Chung’s having had nervous breakdown on the part of the Board of Foreign Missions, another claim that the Presbyterian mission was free of legal obligations even in face of the proven misappropriation by their missionary, and the fact that Jewhan Chung and my father had actually suffered badly because of their wrongdoings, and father didn’t complete the college education simply because of the missionary’s continuous pilfering from the fund.
I also want to contact and meet with the authority of the Presbyterian Historical Society and appeal this injustice committed by the missionary and acquiescence, disregard or even collaboration on the part of the Board of Foreign Missions. I also want to appeal to the authority on the above unfortunate situation for the compensations such as monetary settlement based upon the actual amount of financial loss, their truthful apology and possibly symbol of their repentance such as establishing statutes of Jaone Chung, my father and Jewhan Chung my granduncle, at the campus of Williston Northampton School who had studied together in the school year of 1909 to 1910. Currently the search for the record is going on.
 
Photographs

1. Willistlon Seminary 1913
TNPk86wKFRMm2aOg7oAdNq8NOylBqt41EzSDZ84n

2. Easthampton Town Library
rmJrY8JGVKUsnKDKEmIK_RiJqUDnGdPH-H63GLd1 3. Town Library Easthampton 1985
vSTbK-o45U6Az5VeCYC5nHq7xO1NgtkF2-3d7NK_

4. Emily Williston Memorial Library August 31, 2013
uuTDNAFczrfLY6qFVYmyNkZTcJfMPtR0RLw_nML1

5. Emily Williston Memorial Library Hee and Kwan Chung June 19, 2014
ZY4bzrk5JsID2XoFug6h-aN7rwixTyxdackuXLuA

6. Zachs Admission Center - August 31, 2013
VaBR8DDaArbsURbXnXn5wTAw0hmWWxdMSyjNg9lG

7. Mr. Jeffrey Pilgrim and Kwan Chung August 31, 2013
N6FIvvQFVDNqYYccJk7DwVkPnPN4SwVyk9ioDs1V

8. Entrance of Korean Methodist Church and Institute September 8, 2014
2CsiHx2ilDQKjLB8saZUXgHpH8nxr3lMsveSwFvr

9. Frontal view of the building - Only right half belongs to the Church Sept 8, 2014
GsxBOTHbdMGMn-4We_mmSshxeBruNTKI11BPc1ey

10. Charles Edey Fay’s two-page letter January 8, 1956
DU9uvU3h_e2uGmSfEoD7DuWV8qCLE9gCl4J1Kguc
9uaWxERmXnV5ldr44YhCVhyAiO_q7hLrRGTt0WgO


11. A slip of paper Jewhan Chung 정지환 종조부의 학교기록
b4IXWUGvJCB4hXoWO9ASWRhd6prwW_na0jLgdZkR

12. A slip of paper Jaone Chung (father) 선친의 학교기록
XGE9Ir63YIA7vT9zNLQQc5zpobxXMPuCeTJBhfCD

13. Portraits of Jaone Chung (father) left and Jewhan Chung (granduncle) right : 좌측 선친사진, 우측 종조부사진
ENJI44bdc4hZ2LwAIwk7gS1c-ZrxYMH6gsUgH53W>… -rw5OtNVNRP-ls0a8IhHXoMjzeXK0NcmU23lvdaE

14, Father’s address during his Wharton School days 1913 to 1914 from the yearbook: 3911 Pine Street, Philadelphia, PA: 대핛기절주소
tumblr_pu2lfdwOej1y8jhw4o1_640.jpg

15. Henry(son) and Connor(grandson) in the Penn campus February 15, 2015 : 아들과 손자가 펜대학교 방문사진
MecoJ_LYkCW7DFxIGPRC0Hrk1E0zs2mdQz4neZ7Y

16. The cover of THE STORY OF “MARY CELESTE” 메리 쎌레스트 이야기 것장 사진
AdnIxif7UZewzniCv33qK7Z-TaylZMcPICiv6pSe

17. Mr. Charles Edey Fay's tombstone: 미스터 페이의 묘시
Larger memorial image loading...

18. S.S. Siberia Maru, the transpacific liner which father went aboard. July 1923 ; 시베리아 환태평양 여객선 사진
HBkJU6nnEOH7qLSrpqnAvGCVZWgOtN6BuHXVkS5a

19. Father in front of stone wall alone and with Dr. Leewinter of 1923;
btifrlmwFRpVNcmlzrsKTDhaMVngYynlHZggKxUlYcyvpRrgodG4c7F52VVeQcxXCS0lxRhpy2NGwgup

20. Kwan Ho at the same spot standing close and apart from the wall January 6, 2015;
Away from stonewall...In contact to stonewall<

21. Father with a friend along a footpath winter of 1923
XNUq0LMyi2x44I5OV3x_Ft8F8W_ezMNqOpQwJtlW

22. Father with Dr. Lee<1923
Je2pQX-xgHM7GdWl_0G3A-u01FZfPAQ6Zhuoantz

23. Kwan Ho standing near the bench site Dec 4, 2017
qk9Tq01a9p5UjOJoSQ13Pb94G8NgUjISl4xUCwmo

24. Kwan Ho sitting on a bench opposite to the old bench site Nov 15,
fL-0Ss9IeCv5mi2xv6tLazoELqD_XwTY6sLhPNZx


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