Asahel Grant
American physician / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Asahel Grant (August 17, 1807 – April 24, 1844) was one of the first American missionaries to Iraq.
Asahel Grant | |
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Born | August 17, 1807 |
Died | April 24, 1844 |
Known for | one of the first American missionaries to Iraq |
Asahel Grant was born at Marshall, New York, studied medicine at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and practiced in Utica, New York.[1] In 1835 he went as a missionary with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to Iran.[2] He settled at Urmia and worked among the Nestorians there and elsewhere in western Asia. He died in Mosul in the Ottoman Empire.[3] He was a daring adventurer throughout the Middle East, but had little success in converting the fierce Nestorians, whom he considered among the "ten lost tribes" of Israel.[4][5] He wrote The Nestorians[6][7] and an appeal for Christian doctors to engage in missionary work.[8] Like David Livingstone before him (although not as famous), Grant thrilled western audiences with his adventures, inspiring a number of biographies, including those cited on this page. His success as a physician not only saved his life on several occasions, but opened the way for missionary successors.[9]