A
COUPLE FAITHFUL UNTIL DEATH
Missionaries William
and Grace Cadman
William
Charles Cadman was born on
April 4, 1883
in Rotherhithe, a south suburban part of
London
,
England
. During that same year in
Vietnam
, King Kien Phuc came to the throne and the Nguyen court in the Qui Mui year
signed the peace treaty with the French Governor General Harmond to begin the
domination of
France
over
Vietnam
.
Charles
grew up without religion during the 20th century industrial age and sought a job
in the printing business. In 1904, he became a Christian and traveled to
Canada
for theology school and then to
America
to attend a course at the Missionary Training Institute in
Nyack
,
New York
.
After
graduating in September 1910 William traveled to
China
to work with the Missionary R. A. Jaffery in Quang Dong to spread the gospel.
During this same period, A Ph D.A.B. Simpson who founded the
Gospel
Alliance
Church
(Hoi Truyen Giao Am Lien Hiep) which brought to countries that did not know the
"Light of Salvation", began missionary work in
Vietnam
,
Persia
, and the
Sudan
. The missionary post was located in the
port
of
Tourane
(DaNang) and the missionaries were; R.A. Jaffrey, Paul M. Hosler, and G. Lloyd
Huglers. Over a hundred thousand Vietnamese in both the North and South
parts recieved the gospel for the first time in over a century. In 1914, W.C.
Cadman obeyed God's vision and went to
Vietnam
. Once there, he met a fellow missionary by the name of Grace Hazenberg
who shared his heart and mind and they married
July 27th, 1915
in
Yunnanfu
,
China
.
Mrs.
Grace Cadman was born in
September 27th, 1876
at
Fulton
,
Illinois
which is on the
Mississippi river
. Grace's parents were missionaries who were evangelizing to the
Afrikaners (Once called the Boers [1]) in
south Africa
. She received her masters degree in
South Africa
. God seemed to have chosen her for missionary service as in 1913, she was
chosen by the Evangelism Association to be one of the six missionaries to go to
Tourne (
Da Nang
),
Vietnam
. Once there, they bought buildings which started the first mission of
Christ in
Vietnam
. During the brginning of WW I, Grace chose to stay, maintain and
develop the mission. She stayed even though
Vietnam
did not permit foreigners to evangelize and resulted in many other missionaries
leaving. After Mr. and
Mrs. Missionary Cadman's marriage, they return to
Vietnam
, stayed almost a year,
returned to
China
for a few months, and
then returned to
Vietnam
at the end of 1916 when
Vietnam
reversed its policy of
permitting missionaries in their country.
They
resided in
Hanoi
and
in 1917 bought a house, built a church, and one year later built a
printing shop for their Christian evangelism mission. In the beginning,
they experienced many road blocks from both the Vietnamese and the French
officials however, as time went on as their seed sprouted, their church became
strongest and biggest in
Southeast
Asia
and
had many annex churches along the northern coast of
Vietnam
.
Their
first mode of transportation was bicycles, then an old Citreon auto, and
eventually bought an eight cylinder Ford. They used this transportation to
visit Christians, distribute Bibles, and to spread the word about Salvation and
the love without condition of God.
They
had only one child. Agnes, born at
Yunnanfu
,
China
.
Agnes was born with an illness that made her paralyzed although she recovered
some while on a trip to
Canada
.
Agnes died in 1922 and was buried in a cemetery in
Hanoi
.
The
Missionary Cadmans worked together with Missionaries J.D. Olsen and I.R.
Stebbins as well with associates like Mr. Phan-Khoi. Mrs. Cadman was
very instrumental in the Vietnamese translation of the Bible that took them ten
(10) years to complete (in 1926).
Although
the Vietnamese language of Chu Quoc Ngu (invented by the priest Dac-Lo at the
end of the 17th century and approved by the government in 1910 to replace the
Chu Nom language (half Chinese and half Vietnamese) was rather new, it found
favoritism among the common people because of its easy reading where as, the Chu
Nom was enjoyed by the more educated. Their Bibles were very much accepted by
all.
Among
their other duties as missionaries, they busied themselves with translations for
hymnals, Christian leaflets, and a monthly newsletter. These other Christian
publications helped the Vietnamese Christian Churches in expanding their
communications of God through out
Vietnam
. Mrs
Cadman also printed a publication called "The Call of French Indochine"
which brought attention of Christianity in
Vietnam
to
the people in the
United
States
.
Their
Hanoi
printing published millions and millions of Christian literature during their 30
years existence. They had them printed in Vietnamese,
Cambodia
,
Lao, and mountain dialects which efficiently spread the word of God and brought
salvation to so many souls in
Indochina
.
In
April of 1942 those missionaries who did not leave
Vietnam
were
arrested and interned by the Japanese at My-Tho. While imprisoned the 66
year old Mrs Cadman suffered a minor stroke which weakened her. Mr Cadman
spent his time working on a Vietnamese Bible dictionary which he started in
1940. Although he did not make corrections before he died, this
precious book is still being used by Vietnamese Christians who study and
learn the words of God from the Bible.
In
1945, with the surrender of the Japanese and the end of WWII, the missionaries
Mr. & Mrs. Cadman, E.F. Irwin, and D.I. Jeffrey were freed. After November
of 1945 Mr. and Mrs. Cadman were the only two who remained in
Vietnam
. Mr. Cadman
remark was that "our brothers and sisters in Christ over here are in danger
and we can not leave them alone, so we stay". On
April 24th, 1946
Mrs. Cadman died at the
age of 69. Mr .Cadman was the only missionary in
Vietnam
for ten (10) months
until the Christian Missionary Association (CMA) sent missionaries. Mr.
Cadman sent a message to the
United States
to announce the bad
news, "Grace Cadman was faithful until death". Indeed, she
had been faithful to God, with her mission, and to her husband to glorify the
name of God.
In
1947, Mr. Cadman came to the
United States
for a long vacation.
From the profits of speaking, he purchased a new printing machine from
England
and on
April 26th, 1948
, he married Anna G. Kegerize.
After doing mission work for over 30 years, he and his wife returned to
Vietnam
2 months later.
This
was his sixth term as a missionary. Upon arriving in
Vietnam
, they began building a
printing shop in Dalat and once completed moved everyone from
Hanoi
to their new location.
Once settled he reviewed his 8 years work on his Bible dictionary.
Mr.
Cadman made the following statement, while in the country was having
difficulties after WWII, "I feel the urging of spreading the Salvation of
God to the souls being lost and that is why I have opened the printing shop.
Jesus is coming and He will come soon. At that time, we will meet Him face
to face and shall receive a reward of faithfulness to Him. We praise the
Lord, He is our permanent host. And living with Him, we will have peace.
During the end of my life, He confidently talked to me and I do not consider
anything important to me even my life or my physical body, as to have enjoyed
more fully what I have done for my Lord Jesus and to be a witness for the grace
of my Lord God".
On
November 30th 1948
, while waiting for an
airplane to
Hanoi
, Mr. Cadman had a
severe heart attack that cause him much pain for many hours. After a few
days of rest he continued his work and on Sunday December the 7th of that same
year while attending a prayer meeting conference with other missionaries, he
grabbed his chest while at the breakfast table and his head fell back at, he
died at
7:30AM
at 65 years of age.
Mr.
Cadman's funeral took place on
December the 12th, 1948
in the conference room
of the Dalat school. Missionary Jeffery was the chairman of the ceremony
and gave the English speech of Mr. Cadman's life. Next was a very
moving French speech by Mr. Orgaud and then Pastor Duy-Cach-Lam's
Vietnamese
speech represented the Vietnamese evangelists. The whole ceremony gave
oration praising Mr. Cadman's service as a missionary and for his
evangelism in
Vietnam. The Dalat
hospital donated a Red Cross ambulance ornamented with beautiful wreaths for
transportation to the cemetery. It was a simple funeral however, full of
longingly remembrance under the cold Dalat sky in December. Mr. Cadman
left behind his wife of eight months, two elder brothers, and one sister living
in England.
Not
only did the two missionaries give their whole lives to preach the Gospel
in
Vietnam, they left their
inheritance to the church to build a Christian orphanage at Hon-Trong Nha Trang
with 18 acres under the supervision of the International Children's Organization
and was inaugurated on
September the 4th, 1953
.
Mr.
and Mrs. Cadman were the first missionaries in
Vietnam
and all remain
there. Their daughter buried in
Hanoi
, Mrs. Cadman buried at
Mac Dinh Chi,
Saigon
, and Mr. Cadman in
Dalat. After many years of neglect, the burial sight of Mr. Cadman was
relocated by the Christian Church of Dalat and Pastor Le-Thanh-Chung of the
Baptist
Church
in Colrado Springs.
On his headstone they carved; "A man faithful until death".
Huong-Mai
In
the summer of 1999
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Mr.
& Mrs.
Wm. C. Cadman,
circa 1929
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Tombstone for Mr. Cadman
Ðà Lạt August 1999.
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