Daoji Mission House / To Tsai Church 道濟會堂 - 75 Hollywood Road [1888-????] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Daoji Mission House / To Tsai Church 道濟會堂 - 75 Hollywood Road [1888-????]

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Submitted by annelisec on Sat, 2014-10-25 05:57
Current condition: 
Demolished / No longer exists
Date Place completed: 
1888-01-01

A member of the Congregation of the To Tsai Church, Mary Ayou Caldwell, sold her house and property at a deep discount to the congregation so they could build a meeting house.

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Photos that show this place

1924

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Submitted by David on Sat, 2014-10-25 18:15.

From: http://www.amo.gov.hk/en/trails_sheungwan2.php?tid=9

Original Site of the Daoji Mission House 
75 Hollywood Road

The Daoji Mission House was built by the Chinese Christians of London Missionary Society in 1888. When Dr Sun Yat-sen studied in the Hong Kong College of Medicine, he always went there for religious gatherings. Later, a new church named Hop Yat Church was built at the junction of Bonham Road and Seymour Road to cope with the increasing need. The original site of the Daoji Mission House was then sold for the construction of a commercial building. This historic site is now marked by the Dr Sun Yat-sen Historical Trail.

Submitted by David on Mon, 2015-01-26 14:58.

Jill writes: 

I am hoping to find the marriage and baptism records of the To Tsai Church for the 1890s, in case Hannah and my grandfather Charles Warren got married there in 1897 or 1898, given Hannah's stepmother's association with the church. (Hannah's age at marriage is given as 17).

The To Tsai church was run by the London Missionary Society (LMS). Their records have ended up in the SOAS in London, see: https://www.soas.ac.uk/library/archives/collections/missionary-collectio...

I'm not sure if they'd have copies of marriage & baptism records, but would be worth a look if you haven't already.

If anyone else has successfully looked up marriage or baptism records from the To Tsai Church, please could you let us know where you found them?

Regards, David

Submitted by jill on Wed, 2015-01-28 20:59.

Many thanks for this tip, David. I haven't yet had any luck in my online search off the SOAS catalogue, but that doesn't mean anything. I'll contact SOAS and let you know. The fact that Carl Smith was able to consult the records must mean that they're around somewhere.

Jill

 

Submitted by jill on Thu, 2015-01-29 23:56.

I've had a negative reply from the archivist of the special collections at SOAS, who isn't aware of any lists of baptisms or marriages in connection with the LMS. She believes that these were kept by the individual churches in Hong Kong. Perhaps this is so and it just needs a personal visit at the right time.

I have also had a negative reply from the pastor of Christ Church in regard to St Peter's, suggested to me as a possibility in http://gwulo.com/comment/23989#comment-23989. I didn't get any reply at all from St Andrews or Holy Trinity in Kowloon. 

I wonder where Carl Smith found his information. All suggestions welcome.

Jill

Submitted by David on Fri, 2015-01-30 14:56.

If you have time, it might still be worth a visit to SOAS to look at the incoming correspondence from HK to the LMS HQ (http://archives.soas.ac.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=...):

Incoming correspondence from missionaries in the South China mission field to the London Missionary Society headquarters. Early correspondence comes from Macau [Macao] and Canton [Guangzhou] as well as places in Ultra Ganges [S E Asia]. Later the correspondence from Hong Kong predominates, though there is also, in almost every year, a separate series of letters originating in Canton.

There are also the reports from their people in HK (http://archives.soas.ac.uk/CalmView/TreeBrowse.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog...).

It's not as useful as a direct list of baptisms & marriages, but I'm thinking of the lists Annelise compiled for St John's Cathedral, http://gwulo.com/node/9223, which were originally published in the Cathedral's magazine. Perhaps there is some similar detail included in the correspondence from HK to London?

Good luck, and please let us know if you get any lucky breaks to find this information.

Regards, David

Submitted by jill on Sat, 2015-01-31 03:50.

Annelise has certainly done very valuable work by copying the Church Notes. The ability to crosscheck the St John’s lists with the Jurors Lists, Patricia Lim’s database and Tony Banham’s lists through Gwulo is a huge step forward. Thank you for the links to the South China missionaries’ correspondence at SOAS. I’ve previously checked the correspondence in the ‘China Missions’ section of the Church Missionary Society Archive at the British Library which covers 1834-1914 – “Original Letters and Papers of Missionaries”. No mention of marriages or baptisms though in the period I was looking at. However I don’t think it has the large South China section that is at SOAS. The Rev. Carl Smith’s records seem to be divided into pre-war (1923-43) and post-war. I suppose it’s possible that he collected information from church records that were subsequently destroyed during the war, but it would be nice if some turned up. 

Jill