Talluru Thomas Gabriel

Talluru Thomas Gabriel
Born December 15, 1837
Machilipatnam,[1] Andhra Pradesh, India
Died January[2] 1, 1875[3]
Andhra Pradesh, India
Nationality Indian
Occupation Missionary
Church Canadian Baptist Mission/Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars
Ordained 1870[4]-1871[5] in Chennai[4]
Title The Reverend[6]

Talluru Thomas Gabriel[7] (born December 15, 1837;[5] died January 1, 1875[5][3]) was the founder[8][9] of the Canadian Baptist Mission[3] in India.

Thomas Gabriel was born in Machilipatnam[5] and grew up at Narasapur and Rajahmundry where he studied at the Lutheran School. After securing employment with the Telegraphs[3] Department in 1857, he worked at Rajahmundry and at Kakinada. Gabriel was influenced by the Lutheran[5] missionaries of Rajahmundry and became a Christian[4] through the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church.[3]

In addition to Thomas Gabriel's employment, he was active[10] in his new-found Christian faith. Gabriel was later transferred to Mumbai[4] but his sickness made him to go to Chennai in 1867[5] and in the Hospital, he came across Pastors of the American Baptist Mission/Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches and got baptized. Gabriel gave up[11] his job at the Telegraphs Department in 1869 to take up an ecclesiastical assignment with the Godavari Delta Mission but it was shortlived as he quit it in 1870 and got into business[3] in Kakinada to support himself after having exhausted all his money for the sake of the gospel.[5]

A chance stopover in Ramayapatnam at the Ramayapatnam Baptist Theoogical Seminary made Gabriel to appeal to the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec[12] through[13] John McLaurin to take up the Mission in northern coastal regions and thus led to the founding of the Canadian Baptist Mission in 1874[5] at Kakinada[14] with the arrival of John McLaurin[15] who came from Ramayapatnam to Kakinada by sea.

Gabriel died on January 1, 1875[16] uttering his last words, Jesus is precious.[16]

References

Notes
  1. John Craig, Forty Years Among the Telugus: A History of the Mission of the Baptists of Ontario and Quebec, Canada, to the Telugus, South India, 1867-1907, p.316.
  2. Indian Church History Review, Volume 3, Church History Association of India, 1969, p.131.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brenton Hamline Badley, Indian Missionary Directory and Memorial, p.223.
  4. 1 2 3 4 A. V. Timpany, The Canadian Baptist Telugu Mission in The Missionary conference: south India and Ceylon, South India missionary conference, 1879, Volume 2, pp.282-285.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Mary Stillwell McLaurin, Chetti Bhanumurti in John Craig, J. R. Stillwell, I. C. Archibald, A. E. Baskerville (Edited), Some of the Trophies: Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board Jubilee Volume, Telugu Trophies - The Jubilee story of some of the principal Telugu converts in the Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission in India from 1874 to 1924, American Baptist Publication Society, Toronto.
  6. The Missionary Review of the World, Volume 9, 1919, p.56
  7. C. L. Johnson, P. A. Srinivasa Rao, P. S. Sunder Singh (Edited), Canadian Baptist Mission 125 year's Jubilee Celebrations of Baptist Churches in Northern Circars, Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada, 1999. .
  8. F. R. Hemingway, Godavari district gazetteer, Asian Educational Services, Chennai, 2000, p.40.
  9. Orville E. Daniel, Rising Tides in India, Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board, 1963, p.72.
  10. Elizabeth Hayward (Edited), The Baptist Encyclopædia: A Dictionary, Louis H. Everts, Philadelphia, Volume 1, p.1181.
  11. The Missionary Review, Volume 28, Princeton Press, 1905, p.367
  12. The Gospel in All Lands, Proprietor, 1886, p.563
  13. Albert Henry Newman, A Century of Baptist Achievement, American Baptist publication society, p.142.
  14. Indica, Volume 37, 2000, p.42
  15. Edwin Munsell Bliss, The Encyclopedia of Missions, 1891, p.131
  16. 1 2 Teloogoo Mission Scrap Book, Expositor Book and Job Office, 1888, p.87.
Further reading
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