America Witherspoon Drennan ( America Missouri McCutchen; July 23, 1830 – June 26, 1903) was an American educator and pioneer missionary to Japan. She did not acquire the Japanese language, and from the beginning of her career as a missionary, she was met with opposition and discouragement but it did not dissuade her. Yet, she organized classes in English language for young men; the Chautauqua Circle was formed and a periodical started; children's meetings and old women's meetings were held; Sunday schools were introduced; a Christian Endeavor Society was organized; and orphanage was started; and a girls' school was opened.
Biography America Missouri McCutchen was born in Pilot Grove Township, Cooper County, Missouri, July 23, 1830. Her father, John McCutchen, a Virginian by birth, soon after the close of the American Revolutionary War moved to southern Kentucky and located in what is known as the "Cumberland Country". Her mother, Annie Motherel, was born in North Carolina, but in early childhood, moved with her parents to Wilson County, Tennessee, and settled near where the city of Nashville, Tennessee, now stands. She married Mr. McCutchen in 1806, and they made their home in Kentucky. Mrs. McCutchen was a convert of the "great revival of 1800", that religious awakening that swept over Kentucky and Tennessee, resulting in the organization of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mrs. McCutchen was a member of the Woman's Missionary Society organized at Russellville, Kentucky.
When about eight years old, Drennan attended school in the neighborhood, accompanied by a male cousin, whose father was Rev. Robert Bell (1770-1853). She was educated at the Missouri Female College in Boonville, Missouri. After graduating, she returned to the same school for a post-graduate course.
Career Teacher In 1848, while attending the post-graduate course, she became engaged to be married to Rev. Finis Anderson Witherspoon (1826-1863), a young minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. They married on September 18, 1850. Mr. Witherspoon was pastor at Kinmundy, Illinois, where he died on October 26, 1863. Subsequently, she returned to her home in Missouri. She had the care of two orphan children, the son and daughter of Mr. Witherspoon's brother, and Drennan's father was growing feeble, so she felt it necessary to stay near him. She secured a position as a teacher in the Missouri Female College. Here, her influence was such that, in a short time, everyone connected with it was converted to Christianity, and a revival started which reached many in the town outside of the school. After the American Civil War, which ended in 1865, she stopped teaching to devote herself to the care of her aged father and the two adopted children.
After her father's death, she married Rev. James Alexander Drennan, on January 28, 1868. He was pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Lexington, Missouri. He died October 31, 1869. A month later their only child, a son, thirteen months old, died, too. She then began teaching at Lexington, having to provide for the education of two daughters, Mary (b. 1856) and Jane (b. 1863), of Mr. Drennan. With some variation she continued for several years as a teacher, part of the time at Oxford, Mississippi.
Development of the Women's Board of Missions In 1880, when the call came through the papers for the women of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church to organize a Board of Missions, Drennan responded to the call, and met with other women of the church in Evansville, Indiana, for the purpose of considering the matter. The organization was established, and Drennan was made chairman of the committee to select the location of the Board. Not long after this, a member of the Assembly's Board suggested that they ask Drennan to go to the foreign field. Before she accepted, one of the women said, "Oh, what good can one of your age do there?" One more year passed, and Drennan attended the second meeting of the Board, which convened at Bowling Green, Kentucky. At this meeting, Drennan suggested the organization of synodical and presbyterial societies. She also suggested the circular letter plan that was adopted and used successfully in many of our presbyteries. She was appointed synodical vice president of Missouri, which office she accepted, hoping to find satisfaction in this work. She organized some societies, but the work did not prosper.
Again, at McMinnville, Tennessee, she returned to teaching, but this work, formerly something she enjoyed doing, had now become irksome to her. She gave up the school and determined to offer herself to the Board of Missions, with the knowledge that she would have gone even had her application to the Board been rejected. After due consideration by the members of the Board she was accepted. The consecration service was held in the lecture room of the First Cumberland Presbyterian church at Evansville in March, 1883. From there, Drennan hastened on to Missouri to say goodbye to relatives, having already said good-bye to Kentucky friends; her visit to Missouri was saddened by the unexpected death of her oldest sister. After a few days spent with each member of her family, she headed to Kansas City, Missouri, and then spent a week in San Francisco.
Missionary to Japan Osaka Drennan sailed away on April 19, 1883, reaching Osaka, Japan on May 5, 1883. She was then 53 years old. Though she was thrilled to be in Japan, she was unable speak the language. As soon as her trunks arrived and her room was arranged, she began to look for something to do. Three days after her arrival, three young men came to her and asked to learn English. One of them already had some knowledge of the language, and through him she taught the others. She gave them a book on physiology. In studying this, they were led to talk of the human body and its structure; and from there, she led the conversation to Christianity. The students advanced so rapidly that by June 1, they had completed the work on physiology, and she put them on the regular Chautauqua course, the book they had studied being the first book of the course for that year. This was the beginning of the Chautauqua work in Japan. She had no idea at the time of its reaching beyond the circle of students in her own room, but within five months after she reached Japan, in October 1883, she had regularly organized the Chautauqua Circle.
Knowing that through the young men in her class, she could reach other people, she devoted much time to them, providing them with entertainment and preparing a pleasant room where they could come for recreation. The Chautauqua Circle continued to widen, including men and women, in a short time numbering 1,200 members. Through the influence of this work, many were prompted to send for Bibles. "The Mission", in speaking of this branch of the work, said: "It is of incalculable worth in the work."
On July 20, 1883, a Japanese festival was held in the city. Drennan was persuaded by her pupils to go with them to see the exhibit, which was indeed a unique sight to American eyes. It was the festival of the god of that section. All this was extremely interesting to Drennan, and she remained on the streets so long that she was overcome by the heat, and forced to resort to the ever-ready and convenient jinrikisha, to be brought back to her boarding house. She was so prostrated from the sun exposure and crowd that it became necessary for her to leave the city; accordingly, on the last of July she went to the mountains for rest. The stay in the mountains not proving beneficial, she remained only one week, but spent the remainder of the vacation as Kobe, by the seaside. It was a good place to rest. Miyoshi San and others of her pupils visited her at Kobe, and the time was spent in teaching English and learning what she could of the Japanese language.
In August 1883, the mission bought a lot on the Concession in Osaka for the purpose of beginning a school. There were three houses on this lot, which were used for dwelling-, boarding-, and schoolhouses. In September, Drennan moved into one of these houses and resumed her classes of young men. These classes increased so rapidly that it became necessary to have afternoon and night sessions. Three times each week during the fall and winter, she held children's meetings in different parts of the city. The three young men who were her first pupils assisted in this work. She first taught the young men the Bible lesson, a picture story, and the songs to sing, and they afterward repeated it all to the children. The rooms were often filled with children, and many grown people stood about the doors, eager to see what it was that pleased the children so much. This work was kept up until stopped by the priests.
The second week of October 1883, Drennan was requested to take for her own a baby who was one year old. She was teaching her Bible class when the parents came to her house with two of their children. The baby, Drennan called Daisy. The boy, whom the parents brought as nurse for the baby, was six years old, and too small, Drennan thought, for such a task, so a nurse was hired. But the boy, Shozo, was allowed to remain and go to school until he grew too large for a girls' school. Then Drennan sent him to his father, who had prospered in business. Daisy was bright, and soon learned to speak English, and to sing and play on the organ.
In the fall of 1883, while waiting for the opening of the girls' school, which took place in January, 1884, Drennan organized a Christian Endeavor Society. She was assisted in this work by Nishi San, who was an elder in the church at Osaka. The society grew very rapidly, and soon published a paper for free distribution, called Words of Life. Four hundred copies each month were published. The meetings were held in her rooms. This was the first Christian Endeavor Society in Japan.
Wilmina School for Girls On January 8, 1884, the Wilmina School for Girls (now Osaka Jogakuin University) was opened with four pupils, three girls and the little boy, Shozo San. By June, seventeen pupils were enrolled. For some reason, the English-speaking teacher, Drennan's interpreter, was removed, and Drennan was left with no one in the house who could speak to her in English. As she only knew a few Japanese words, she was forced to govern chiefly by signs. The need of more room was of even greater necessity than an interpreter, but it was some time before a new school building was erected to accommodate the rapidly increasing patronage. It was finished and they moved into it on May 19, 1887. From this time, under her management, the school not only paid all expenses, including teachers' salaries, and for all needed furniture and repairs, but at the close of the year, paid a small sum into the treasury of the mission.
The following year, she enrolled 45 boarding pupils and 105 day pupils. She began a night class for men in the spring of 1887 on Dojima Island this being one of the many small islands into which the city of Osaka is divided by the two rivers and numerous canals which pass through it. She had a large number of pupils every night studying the Bible after English lessons. She was at this place the night that the school building was burned, on February 8, 1888. She was not permitted to continue work at this place very long on account of the accumulation of school duties, caused by the sickness and retirement of Miss Renzer from the school. There was a fine prospect for building up a good church at Dojima. The Baptists took it soon after Drennan left.