Harriet Newell, 19

Harriet Newell died on a tiny island a thousand miles from Africa and ten thousand miles from home. She’d just turned 19. It was late November, and for six of the past ten months, she had been on a wooden sailing ship. Since her wedding in February, she had crossed two oceans and buried her baby at sea. As she was dying, she had a message for her family at home: “tell them—assure them, that I approve on my dying bed the course I have taken. I have never repented leaving all for Christ.”

Following Christ early

Harriet Atwell was born into a Christian family and came to Christ as a young girl. Her journals and letters, even as a 12-year-old, show remarkable spiritual understanding. She seemed to live with a constant sense of eternity and of the shortness of life. On October 10, 1806, she wrote about how much she had enjoyed God that day, and then closed her journal entry with these words: “This is my birthday. Thirteen years of my short life have gone forever.” She couldn’t have known then how short her life would be, but she did spend most of her teenage years growing in grace and wisdom. She especially loved Sundays.

Final year in America, age 17

In October 1810, just after Harriet turned 17, a close friend came to visit. Ann Hasseltine was there to tell her that she was going to become a missionary’s wife. Ann explained how she had been wrestling with her decision for several months. In resolving to go, she had become the first American woman to make such a serious commitment. She would be risking her life for a world without the gospel. Ann’s news, and all that it implied, moved Harriet deeply.

In those days, almost no place on earth (except Europe and America) had any Christians. Besides long (and often permanent) separation from family, becoming a missionary meant dangers hard for us to imagine: thousands of miles on the ocean, loneliness, and entering the unknown with no examples to follow. Not to mention facing tropical diseases without effective medicines. Those who went knew they would probably never see home again. Despite these things, as Harriet thought of people dying without the gospel, she wrote, “Great God, direct me! O, make me in some way beneficial to their immortal souls.”

God answered quickly. Days later, she was introduced to Samuel Newell, a close friend of Ann’s fiancé, Adoniram Judson. He told the Atwells that he too planned to be a missionary. Harriet and Samuel quickly grew close. Then, in April, she received a life-changing letter from him. He asked if she was willing to live a missionary’s life. Sleepless nights followed as her fears fought her desires and her sense of duty. She’d prayed for an opportunity like this, but leaving home, friends, and a widowed mother weighed heavily on her. She filled her journal with her conflicting thoughts. In the end, she resolved to go.

A bride with no home, age 18

The fall and winter of 1811-1812 found Ann and Harriet preparing for two weddings and a four-month voyage. Ann and Adoniram married on February 5, followed by Harriet and Samuel on the 9th. The four newlyweds stepped on board the Caravan nine days later. Leaving Massachusetts in mid-February, they were bound for India on a cramped and seasickly honeymoon cruise. As subsequent events would show, Harriet must have been pregnant for the entire voyage.

They reached India in June, but after a friendly welcome by William Carey, the British missionary, they found out the rest of India didn’t want more missionaries. This news discouraged them after such a long passage, and they didn’t know where to go. All other doors looked closed, and they couldn’t bear the thought of quitting their work before it began. In time, they decided to sail for the Isle of France (today’s Mauritius), a speck in the ocean, 600 miles from Madagascar. But this meant backtracking 2,000 miles, and the only available ship only had room for two. Because of Harriet’s pregnancy, the Judsons sent the Newells ahead while they waited for another ship.

For a full month at sea, they went nowhere. Storms blew them around the Bay of Bengal. Then the ship started leaking so badly that they had to put in along the Indian coast for repairs. By mid-September they were back at sea. Then, a few weeks later, on a lurching ship somewhere between two continents, Harriet gave birth to a baby girl. Named for her mother, she lived just five days. Then they wrapped her tiny body in a bundle and dropped it gently in the ocean.

End of the road, age 19

A cold had taken her baby, but Harriet was sick too. She’d fought a fever for several weeks, and she was growing weaker. Samuel sensed he was losing his wife. When they reached the Isle of France, he found a place for them to stay as she slowly slipped away. After she died in late November, Samuel wrote to her mother to report her death. He made sure she heard Harriet’s last message – she had died with no regrets.

Reflections

Harriet had planned to be a missionary, but she didn’t live long enough to do anything – at least not humanly speaking. Yet she died with hope, comparing herself to King David, who didn’t live to see the temple built. She found comfort in the thought that she, like David, had prepared the way for those who would come later.

Was Harriet Newell some special kind of Christian? Of course, God hasn’t planned for every Christian to do what Harriet did. But He does tell us to make the most of our time on earth, and He does tell us to seek His kingdom first.

None of us knows how much time we have, but how many of us live like tomorrow will always come? Are we making frequent deposits in heaven’s bank account, or do we have hearts too set on earth? The past is sealed and the future is uncertain, but we each have today.

We can’t reclaim lost time, but we can redeem what’s left.

For more of Harriet’s story, look for The Life and Writings of Mrs. Harriet Newell, published in 1831 and available at archive.org.