The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
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Grout, Aldin

Aldin Grout papers

1832-2014 Bulk: 1832-1896
2 boxes 1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 797
Depiction of Rev. Aldin Grout
Rev. Aldin Grout

Aldin Grout was among the first American missionaries to the Zulus. Experiencing a religious conversion in his early twenties, Grout dedicated his life to the ministry, studying at Amherst College (1831) and Andover Theological Seminary (1834) before accepting an overseas appointment through the American Board of Christian and Foreign Missions. In Nov. 1835, Grout and his new wife Hannah (Davis) sailed for South Africa, destined with two other missionary couples for the Natal Province. Even after Hannah died of a lingering illness following the birth of a daughter in December 1835, Grout pressed onward in the cause, not returning home until the end of 1837. Placing his daughter under the care of family, and remarrying to Charlotte (Bailey), he wasted little time in returning to South Africa, remaining there from June 1840 until retiring in 1870, primarily at Umvoti station. In his latter years in Springfield, Grout was active in ABCFM efforts to translate the Bible into Zulu (1883) and he wrote occasionally about his missionary experiences. Aldin Grout died in Springfield on 1894, followed by Charlotte in 1896.

The roughly 195 letters in the Grout collection provided a remarkable commentary on American missionary activities in colonial South Africa, Grout’s personal religious convictions, and the lives of the Zulus to whom he ministered. The collection also includes a handful of fragmentary autobiographical and historical sketches written after Grout’s retirement, a wealth of letters from Grout’s wives and fellow missionary workers, Hannah and Charlotte.

Background on Aldin Grout

A pioneering American missionary among the Zulus, Aldin Grout was born at Pelham, Mass., on Sept. 3, 1803. The son of Joel Grout (1765-1835) and Asenath Wilder (1767-1868), Grout graduated from Amherst College with the class of 1831 and while in Amherst, was swept up in an intense revival that led him to dedicate his life to propagating the gospel. After preparing for the ministry at the Andover Theological Seminary (MA 1834), he received an appointment from the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions to serve as one of six missionaries seeking to build a base among the Zulus of southern Africa.

Required by the ABCFM to be married before entering the field, Grout wed Hannah Davis on Nov. 17, 1834. The daughter of Ethan and Eliza Davis, Hannah was born in Holden, Mass., on Feb. 26, 1805, and had, as the History of Holden reported, a mind that “was impressed with the importance of personal religion.” Educated at Mrs. Fiske’s boarding school in Keene, N.H., and at the Ipswich Female Seminary, she seems to have been a natural for the missionary life. Her brother Elnathan — a graduate of Williams College and the Theological Institute at Hartford, Conn. — had originally intended to pursue missionary work in South Africa, but relented, becoming a home missionary for two years before settling into pastorates in Ashburnham, Fitchburg, and Auburn, Mass.

Aldin and Hannah Grout sailed from Boston on Dec. 3, 1834, aboard the bark Burlington, arriving at Cape Town on Feb. 5, 1835. After a period of acclimation and preparation, three of the missionaries, David Lindley, H. L. Venable, and Alexander E. Wilson headed north to Matabeleland, while Grout, George Champion, Newton Adams, and their wives were assigned to Natal, relocating to Port Elizabeth early in the fall. Grout’s daughter, Relief Oriana Grout, was born in Bethelsdorp on Dec. 9, 1835, the first American missionary child in the region.

Although Hannah languished in ill health after the birth, the missionaries left their wives in Port Elizabeth and sailed to Port Natal (now Durban), then crossed into the interior to make contact with Dingane, half-brother and successor of Shaka Zulu. Several of Dingane’s inDunas were skeptical, if not hostile to the Americans, citing a fear for what had been predicted to Shaka, “that one white man after another would come into the country and ask to build a house and live till at last an army would come and take their country from them.” After a tense negotiation, however, Dingane agree in February 1835, to permit the missionaries to set up a school at Ginani on the Umsunduzi River to teach reading and writing.

As the agreement was being reached, Hannah Grout’s post-partum consumption worsened, ending in her death on Feb. 24, 1836. She passed “without a groan, a sigh, a struggle, or even a motion of her muscles,” Aldin wrote, and yet even after such a personal loss, he continued on for another twenty months until December 1837, when he took a leave to take his infant daughter back to the United States. His absence came at an unfortunate time: the fledgling mission stalled and was forced to shutter in the face of a renewal of conflict between the Zulus and Boers.

At home, Grout set plans for his return to South Africa. On Nov. 23, 1838, he married for a second time, wedded to Charlotte Bailey, a resident of Holden and a graduate of Mount Holyoke College. Charlotte proved Aldin’s equal in missionary zeal. After the couple returned to South Africa in the spring 1840, Grout obtained permission of Mpanda, Dingane’s successor, to establish a new mission and in April 1841, and he and Charlotte built Inkanyezi station near Empangeni. A brief suspension of ABCFM activity in Natal due a financial crisis in 1844 led Grout to retrench in Cape Town, but by June, he was back in the field, working as a governmental missionary for the state of Natal. As soon as he reasonably could, he reestablished ties with the ABCFM and set about establishing the Umvoti Mission Station in 1844. With the exception of a furlough 1855 and 1856, Aldin and Charlotte Grout remained in South Africa until 1870, when poor health necessitated Aldin’s retirement.

All three children of Aldin and Charlotte Grout were born in Umvoti: daughter Eliza Charlotte, became the wife of Congregational minister Frank H. Foster, and two sons Humphrey Grout and Aldin Philip Faure Grout, became successful greenhouse operators in Springfield, although both died as paupers after a bank failure. Aldin’s oldest daughter, Relief Oriana, eventually returned to Africa, becoming wife of missionary William F. Ireland. She served for many years as principal of the Ireland Home for Zulu Girls (Adams College), a college started by her husband at Amanzimtote.

Aldin Grout retired from missionary work in 1870 and settled in Springfield, Mass. Despite his age and uncertain health, he remained active in the cause, writing on his African experiences and collaborating for the ABCFM in the publication the first complete translation of the Bible into the Zulu language. He died in Springfield, Mass., on Feb. 12, 1894, followed by Charlotte on Dec. 26, 1896. The couple are buried in Springfield, Mass. Their sons are buried with them, in part thanks to funds raised in memory of Aldin and Charlotte at the Umvoti Mission.

Scope of collection

The roughly 195 letters in the Grout collection provided a remarkable commentary on American missionary activities in colonial South Africa, Grout’s personal religious convictions, and the lives of the Zulus to whom he ministered. The collection also includes a handful of fragmentary autobiographical and historical sketches written after Grout’s retirement, a wealth of letters from Grout’s wives and fellow missionary workers, Hannah and Charlotte.

Most of the more recent material in the collection centers on Grout’s great-great-granddaughter, Norine Lee (formerly Norine Phillips). In 1974, Lee and her husband Carl traveled to Natal to visit the site of Grout’s mission, now called Groutville. The collection contains photographs from that trip, a map, and a handful of letters addressed to Lee from a missionary she met, along with materials relating to genealogical work and her efforts to locate an archive for the Grout Papers.

The letters originated from two distinct sources, one within the family, the other not, and it is unclear how, when, and why these two parts were originally divided. In the finding aid, we have chosen to integrate them into three coherent series — Correspondence, Writings, and Photographs — although we have preserved the provenance in their physical housing. Box 1 contains materials that descended through the family, box 2 contains materials that came from a source outside the family.

Series descriptions

An exceptionally rich and detailed record of the lives of pioneering American missionaries in South Africa, the correspondence in this collection was written primarily by Aldin Grout, his first wife Hannah Davis Grout (prior to her death in 1836), and his second wife Charlotte Grout (post-1840). In significant detail, and sometimes at notable length, the letters describe the conflict-ridden early efforts to establish an ABCFM missionary presence among the Zulus and the Grouts’ encounters with a foreign culture, the politics of missionary activity in South Africa, and the sometimes rocky relations with a colonized people.

The majority of letters dated prior to 1870 were written individually or jointly by Aldin, Hannah, or Charlotte, and addressed similarly individually or jointly to the Davis or Bailey families. A handful of interesting letters were written to the Grouts from family, friends, or fellow missionaries, including Edward and Caroline Bailey posted in Wailuku, Hawaii, and a few letters to Hannah and Charlotte date from prior to their marriage to Aldin.

After the Grouts’ retirement in 1870 and return to Massachusetts, the correspondence is centered on family matters and the on-going commitments of the Grouts to their former mission at Umvoti, although they periodically received letters from connections in South Africa, including one from a former student at Umvoti, written in Zulu.

This varied assemblage of writing, documents, and miscellaneous notes includes a handful of drafts of autobiographical writings by Aldin Grout and a few published essays by him on his time in Africa and several published pieces about him.

Although the connection to the Grout papers is uncertain, the series also includes a business card for the Worcester daguerreian Andrew Wemple Van Alstin. Van Alstin is listed in Craig’s Daguerreian Registry as residing at 197 Main Street between 1855 and 1858, although he may have resided there as early as 1853.

The small number of photographs in the Grout collection consist of a series of color snapshots taken by Norine Lee in 1974 during her visit to South Africa to view sites associated with her ancestor, Aldin Grout. The series also includes modern copy prints of images of Aldin Grout and his wives Hannah David Grout and Charlotte Bailey Grout.

Inventory

Series 1. Correspondence
1834-1975
1832 Apr. 5
2p.
Box 1: 42
Contents:

Getting along at her “factory school.” News of acquaintances and family.

1833 June 22
2p.
Box 1: 43
Contents:

Relief is well and the school (Ipswich Female Seminary) in every way pleasant, “though we don’t have quite as much time for hard study as we should like.” Boarding situation.

1833 Dec. 18
2p.
Box 1: 43
Contents:

Ipswich Female Seminary: Miss [Zilpah] Grant is the lecturer for about 100 girls.

1835 Mar. 12
4p.
Box 1: 10
Contents:

Account of ocean crossing and arrival in South Africa. Has landed in Cape Town because Natal is in turmoil, with Dingane attacking the corrupt white men there; trouble further south with the Kaffirs [i.e. Xhosas] and Boers. Using the time to prepare for mission work, learn the language. Information from other missionaries: “Dingian… is a more important man than we had supposed. He is the most powerful chief of all the tribes in South A. and his tribe doubtless the largest.” Warm reception by people ion Cape Town; life and conditions in South Africa.

1835 Mar. 16
4p.
Box 1: 10
Contents:

Ordered to remain in Cape Town; learning Zulu language to prepare for Dingane. Advice for preparing for a long sea voyage: take care of your wife and suggestions for food to bring with (including cranberry sauce, fruit), clothing, and other goods. “And now my dear brother, perhaps you would like to know something of my own feelings since I left America respecting missions. I have not half enough of the spirit, but the work does not seem less desirable by any means. When I look out on the multitudes of mostly beings in Cape Town who know nothing , & have no one to teach them, I see no hope of their being saved unless the subject of missions takes a deeper hold on their hearts & efforts than heretofore…”

1835 Mar. 18
1p.
Box 1: 44
Contents:

Advice to young sister to follow the “straightforward path of duty, even though the natural feelings of the heart be crucified again & again… should you be called to labor for the perishing destitute beyond the limits of our native land don’t say at once, others can do better than you, & excuse yourself on that ground. If others can do better, let them do so, if they will. They are needed & so are you. If you could just look upon the miserable beings which fill the streets of this most favored spot in Africa, I am sure you would feel that there is much work to be done…”


Grout, Aldin and Hannah Davis Grout:
letter to Elnathan Davis (Cape Town, S.A.)

1835 May 20
4p.
Box 1: 10
Contents:

Suggestions for what goods and clothing to bring as a missionary. Uncertainty over how the missionaries will be received by Dingane; Dr. Graham has gone to investigate.

1835 Oct. 27
4p.
Box 1: 10
Contents:

Recent trip to Graham’s Town “to make inquiries in reference to our object.” Preparing for the journey by making ox yokes and learning Kaffir [i.e. Xhosa]. “From various hunts we find that the community as well as students are beginning to look with interest upon Africa as a field of missionary labour, which we are glad to see… But you know that H. and I feel for particular reasons a particular wish that you, and other good men and /women/, that you may bring with you should join us in our work.”

Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Parents (Norton, Mass.)
1835 Nov. 17
Box 2: 1
1835 Dec. 4
3p.
Box 1: 10
Contents:

Have learned of an opportunity to go to Natal by water. “The intelligence says that Dingaan up on Capt. G.’ second visit to him consented that he should remain with his people and teach them, That Dingann is now ready to receive more missionaries, and that Capt. G. has left for England that he may bring out six missionaries of the Church Society to labour with him. Capt. G says Dingaan has ceeded to him a large extent of territory inhabited by many thousand Zoolas, That Dingaan has given his word that he will not receive missionaries or traders other than such as he, Capt. G., shall bring.” Despite cautions not to upset what Graham has prepared, Grout plans to go ahead.

1836 Feb. 24
7p.
Box 1: 11
Contents:

Have arrived in Natal; birth of child Relief Oriana on Dec. 9. Hannah’s post-partum illness. Sailed with Brothers Champion and Adams to Port Natal, leaving wives at Bethelsdorp: “Notwithstanding all that has been said of the wickedness of the white people at Natal, or what may actually be true, they received us with open arms… We however should not expect the same treatment from them after we had preached to them the gospel, and reproved them for some of their bold acts of transgression, as drunkenness and polygamy.” Landscape and climate of Natal; travel in Natal interior. Dingane’s kraal; reception by Dingane, who “received and treated us with the utmost kindness and attention, supplying us each day with both sweet and sour milk. During our five days stay with him, he gave us a goat, and two cows for slaughter, and when we left he gave us five oxen for slaughter…” Capt. Gardner advises Grout and company not to leave before his return from England “lest “we should undo by then going all the good he had done.” Dingane and chiefs consent to accept missionaries, though chiefs express fear what had been predicted to Shaka, “that one white man after another would come into the country and ask to build a house and live till at last an army would come and take their country from them.” Allow the missionaries to base themselves at Natal while they build a school to teach the Zulus how to read and write. Plan to build station in Natal to teach Xhosa and other tribes destroyed by Shaka and Dingane. Hardships of return trip; return to Bethelsdorp. “Whether or not Dingaan shall want missionaries and teachers for all his kingdom, seems to depend upon the question whether his people can learn to read and write, the affirmative of which we think we can in a short time demonstrate and then we believe that Dingaan would rejoice to see an hundred missionaries come among his people at once…”

1836 Feb. 25
16p.
Box 1: 12
Contents:

Reporting the death of Hannah Grout to her parents: “She died without a groan, a sigh, a struggle, or even a motion of her muscles.” Lengthy and close accounting of the last days and hours of Hannah’s life. Brief mention of visit to Dingane’s kraal.

1836 July 29
4p.
Box 1: 11
Contents:

On the death of Hannah Grout. Have a station well commenced at Port Natal; a second conversation with Dingane is as encouraging as the first. “It was thought important that a white female be at each station and we therefore concluded that Dr. A. stop at Port natal, and br. Champion go to Dingaan’s country, and be either at one or the other place as circumstances should dictate. Urges Davis to come out as a missionary and suggests how he and his wife should outfit themselves.

Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Parents (South Hadley, Mass.)
1838 Apr. 20
Box 2: 1

Grout, Charlotte Bailey and Aldin Grout:
letter to James and Elizabeth Bailey (Montgomery, Mass.)

1839 Oct. 8
3p.
Box 1: 39
Contents:

Traveling to meet Aldin Grout in Southampton. “We are quite elevated here with the people above many other towns that pretend to much more knowledge and refinement as we as fame in others respects. We even look down upon Mt. Tom and Holyoke.” Spent time in Aldin’s absence with Austin Grout and mother Grout. Description of Montgomery; boarding situation in town; ladies mostly braid whips for the Westfield Whip Factory.

1839 Nov. 25
3p.
Box 1: 39
Contents:

Religious life in Montgomery.

Grout, Charlotte Bailey: letter from Myra Fairbanks Eells (Tshimakain Mission in Oregon Country)
1840 Jan 20
4p.
Box 1: 39
Contents:

Printed copy of letter and full transcription, from Eels, wife of Reverand Cushing Eells. Information on their journey west across the mountains, including perils such as fatigue, hunger, difficult passage, and “unfriendly Indians.” Mission conditions and Native American customs are mentioned.

Provenance:

Courtesy of The Caroline F. Schimmel Collection of Women in the American Wilderness.

1840 May 13
5p.
Box 1: 13
Contents:

Ocean voyage to South Africa. “Dingaan’s power is, we hear, very much broken, and we hear has been driven from his country, and that the Boers have issued a proclaimation, taking in to the territory they call their own, about half the country occupied by the Zulus including both Dingans residence and Givani the station occupied by by. Champion & myself…” Sickness spreading in Natal, brought in by slaves from a captured slave ship from the east coast.

Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Parents (Umlozi, S.A.)
1840 Sept. 29
Box 2: 2
1840 Nov. 10
3p.
Box 1: 13
Contents:

As yet at Umlosi; visit to Umpandi over country he had not yet traveled; camping in a poor tent. Killed a nine foot snake with poison fangs a quarter of an inch long. Attacks by lions on cattle; elephant. “Lions are apparently much thicker here than before the Dutch came, we think perhaps their shooting so many so many the other side of the mountain frightened them off over here.” Charlotte is now speaking Zulu with the natives and helping in school and is taking words for a Zulu-English lexicon.

Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Parents (Umlozi, S.A.)
1840 Nov. 27
Box 2: 2
1841 June 23
3p.
Box 1: 14
Contents:

Have moved to Inkanyezi, living in a hut supplied by the natives. Has commenced planting; am in good country though surrounded by wild beasts: elephants, buffaloes, hippos, lions, tigers, hyenas. People are friendly and show “a commendable disposition to attend meeting upon the Sabbath… We see nothing to fear from the people but much to be thankful for.” Eating mostly Indian corn for bread along with hippopotamus flesh.

1841 Sept. 5
4p.
Box 1: 14
Contents:

Hard to believe they have now planted and harvested hay and grain and are now eating apples. House in Umlosi is quite comfortable for Natal. Studying Zulu with Brother Champion and Charlotte. Has ploughed a new garden with untrained oxen; the Dutch laugh that the plough is too small. Was intending to go to Umpandi [Mpande kaSenzangakhona], brother of Dingane, but he is quarreling leaving them as yet without a permanent home.

Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Brother O. (Inkanyezi, S.A.)
1842 Mar. 7
Box 2: 2
1842 Oct. 22
3p.
Box 1: 15
Contents:

Fitting a house for Charlotte. News of family illness and death since last contact a year ago; predictions that Grout would die within two years have proven incorrect, though then wife of the man predicting has died. “The change became such among the Zulus that we did not feel justified in stopping among them…. and what the Lord will now do with us, or the poor Zulus, is yet to be seen.” Expects to remain in Natal and is fixing an old Boer’s house on Natal Bay “where are a thick population of natives.” Preached to nearly 700. “Umpandi [Mpande] is getting worse than Dingan was in putting his people to death. Two white men that were lately in his country he ordered out…” Has been called twice to preach to the Zulus and has done so: “I preached the gospel plainly to Dingan and his people, and have preached it as plainly to Umpandes people as I could, and offered to preach to Umpande, but he would not hear me. And now I have shaken all the dust against them.”

Grout, Aldin: Letter to James Bailey (Umgeni River, S.A.)
1842 Nov. 4
Box 2: 2
1842 Nov. 14
3p.
Box 1: 15
Contents:

Has just heard that James has entered college and will write him about the temptations of college life an the need to keep after “cultivation of his religious feelings.” Have just learned of a plot by Umpande to put the missionaries to death, though the rumors may be false. “The Utugela River is now just getting full, and I hear that Umpande has threatened that he will give the flesh of all that were friendly to me, as well as all who have in any way disobeyed him to the vultures and hienas as soon as the river is full so that none can escape to Natal.”

1843 Oct. 17
3p.
Box 1: 16
Contents:

Staying in an old house abandoned by a Boer as unfit for habitation. Grout’s hair is turning white; Charlotte is not yet graying. Has planted a little garden with vegetables. “The English are now in authority in this country. They have not yet determined whether the natives shall stop near where they now are or be put upon some place a little one side. It will probably be some months yet before the question will be finally settled. Then missionaries may look for permanent locations…”

Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Parents (Umgeni River, S.A.)
1843 Nov. 17
Box 2: 2
1844 Mar. 18
3p.
Box 1: 17
Contents:

Their mission has been recalled; people has raised funds for their support until a time when they hear whether the Board will allow them to continue. “I suppose the Millerites will by this time begin to ask where is the promise of his coming, and I am afraid that many will become infidels, and others that otherwise would have been comfortable, having waisted their substance will spend the rest of their days in want.”

1844 Apr. 16
1p.
Box 1: 17
Contents:

Grout and Charlotte are doing well. Has received a temporary appointment from the Cape government as missionary to the natives of Natal; hopes to leave for Natal.

1844 Apr. 29
3p.
Box 1: 17
Contents:

Birth of a son: “Charlotte’s sickness was rather severe, of about fifteen hours continuance, but terminated favorably and as yet both mother and child are doing well. She has yet no milk and the little fellow apparently does not like to engage in anything that is to produce no important result, and therefore persists in a determination to get his living in an easier way than by a dull drawing of the breast.” Appointed as Government Missionary to the Zulus at Natal along with Adams; has accepted and hopes to resume his work.

1844 May 7
3p.
Box 1: 18
Contents:

Charlotte is doing well; her illness was diagnosed as a prolapsed uterus. Baby Aldin is moving about and beginning to talk. People are collecting about a give “good attention to preaching upon the Sabbath.” Remains under the employ of the British government.

1844 Aug. 20
3p.
Box 1: 17
Contents:

Making their wagons ready: “We have yet no established government here and do not know for certain either how the land or natives will be disposed of…” Charlotte suffers some from having left Cape Town before she was ready; the baby does well. Living without a wife, with a native girl doing household work for him and living rough. Starting for Umvoti, a distance of about one hundred miles, “a lonely road with only a native for my company.”

1844 Oct. 4
2p.
Box 1: 17
Contents:

Charlotte has suffered another attack of dysentery, but is better again. The house at Umvoti is nearly ready for occupancy.

1844 Nov. 10
3p.
Box 1: 18
Contents:

Has been doing well, but warm weather makes him feel his age. Thanks for the package for goods from home: “We frequently now have an apple pie, as you do in yankee town… Sometimes stued fruit with sweet cream on it.”

1844 Nov. 10
3p.
Box 1: 18
Contents:

Locusts have descended on his oats and corn, despite precautions. The country “is amazingly fruitful under favorable circumstances, but there is many a step twixt the cup and the lip. Insects, draught and hail, and floods are always to be feared here.” Though uncertain about continuance by the government, they have set up a school and a one of the boys is now set up to teach and “gets beyond our expectations… Ubangu, the teacher, can read tolerably well in his own language and some in English. He can write some, can count, add, subtract, and multiply a little… He is perhaps sixteen years old. An old New England school teacher perhaps would thinking Ubangu rather a meagre school master, and so he would be there, and here too if we had better ones, but he can get the children on a little and at the same time be making advance himself. In fact untaught as he is, being a native, and knowing all the feelings, habits, &c of his people, & see that he has some important advantage over a white man from our country who knows nothing of natives. The customs of the people make if difficult getting their children to attend school regularly…”

1844 Dec. 29
3p.
Box 1: 18
Contents:

Another son [Humphrey] was born to Grout and with on Dec. 27. Aldin is getting large and sometimes troublesome.

1846 Feb. 13
3p.
Box 1: 19
Contents:

Charlotte writes that she is busy preparing for the Sabbath, instructing the women in what to do: “For the two last Sab. I have spoken to them without an interpreter but I talk so badly I fear I shall disgust them. I think however they understand me. I am obliged to speak in very short sentences… I think I make a little progress in the language but it is very little. I have recently completed a vocabulary consisting of Eng. words and Zulu definitions, which I find very useful.” Aldin implores James to make a profession of Christianity.

1846 Mar. 4
3p.
Box 1: 19
Contents:

Charlotte is gaining strength after exerting herself due to no help from the natives. Baby is doing well; Aldin is regularly in mischief and “aside from his restless, mischievous disposition is a pleasant child…” People are gathering about them and a boy and girl are living with them most of the time, working on oxen, wagon, and plough and in domestic work, respectively.

Grout, Aldin: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1848 Jan. 31
Box 2: 3
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to James Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1848 Aug. 16
Box 2: 3
1848 Sept. 27
4p.
Box 1: 20
Contents:

The last year has been the busiest of his missionary career. Has built a house for himself of unburned brick with native boys to help. Many of the boys now read Zulu and are learning English and arithmetic: “In this branch they advance very slowly, indeed, yet perhaps as fast as white boys would under the same circumstances for they have no printed book in this department and instead of sitting several years in the schoolroom when little boys hearing much about the subject they were all that time herding cattle in the field from morning to night.” Boys and girls are “quite under our controll and our great object has been to teach them religion which has been kept steadily in mind…” One boy is already employed as a teacher at the station and others hope to join him; some of them provide half their monthly wages for their own upkeep. Eleven has been admitted to church fellowship; some remarkable conversions. Asks prayers for a man, Unoahuela, who resists conversion; and his daughter, Unozintuba, whom he has refused to allow to attend.

Grout, Aldin: Letter to Parents (Umvoti, S.A.)
1848 Oct. 3
Box 2: 3
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1849 Mar. 3
Box 2: 3
Grout, Aldin: Letter to Parents (Umvoti, S.A.)
1849 Mar. 29
Box 2: 3
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1849 Oct. 2
Box 2: 3
1850 May 25
3p.
Box 1: 21
Contents:

Beginning to feel as if they have a home, having been at Umvoti for six years. Church now has 18 members with more in the wings and a sabbath school with about sixty. “Were out little village in New England it would not appear to advantage to be sure, but after traveling thirty miles in any direction about us looking at all we see, even what white men have done, we can say that none yet surpasses ours…. Just at present there is a mighty rush of emigrants from England to this place…”

Grout, Aldin: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1850 July 1
Box 2: 4
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Parents (Umvoti, S.A.)
1850 Oct. 15
Box 2: 4
Grout, Aldin: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1850 Nov. 26
Box 2: 4
Grout, Aldin: Letter to Parents (Umvoti, S.A.)
1851 June 19
Box 2: 4
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Parents (Umvoti, S.A.)
1851 July 28
Box 2: 4
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1851 Oct. 31
Box 2: 4
1853 Oct. 20
4p.
Box 1: 22
Contents:

Has had daguerreotypes taken by a Norwegian missionary, including of the family; sends them home.

1853 Oct. 22
4p.
Box 1: 22
Contents:

Often thinks the government under which they live inferior to that at home. Religion at a low ebb: “what is perhaps worse among us, when our members become cold hearted they give up to their old sins having no restraints of character to keep them, they turn just like the dog to his vomit, and the washed sow to her wallowing in the mire. We have had a few such cases, though not more than we might have expected…” Story of a man and wife who backslid into polygamy, the wives then attempting to poison one another.

Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1854 Apr. 20
Box 2: 4
1854 Apr. 22
4p.
Box 1: 23
Contents:

Does not know how James can work so hard: he brought a scythe to Africa and barely work half an hour. Has cattle and horses to tend, doing well: fate of his cattle; horses fare less well in Africa than America: “So you see if it were told at home what I have people would be deceived about it, hence I have not ever said as much to you till now, and if some of your good deacons who think missionaries should sit one a block and eat with their hands with the Kafirs should hear that a missionary owns 60 cattle & two horses, I am afraid the missionary would not get even their sixpence.”

1855 Apr. 14
4p.
Box 1: 24
Contents:

“What kind of condition do you suppose we are in out here in Africa? A word of two on that point. We have a first rate home…;” good food and plenty; good reading materials. “Good society we see by far too little of. We have no white neighbors nearer than five miles and very few within forty five miles that we can improve much by seeing…” Church has 49 members “and I think they give as great an amount of evidence of their conversion as is seen in churches at home. We have a regular day school taught by a native who does as well as we could expect. He has about twenty scholars…” There are no lead mines nearby, but coal is visible and gold has been found in small quantities, but is more abundant further south; copper is rich in Namakwaland: “it is a country where it seldom rains. The ground is dry and about as hard as a brick, and has barely a green thing on it from one end of the year to the other, but the ore is so rich they can afford to transport all the food an water for man and beast a long distance and they are now making what they call a tramway…”

1854 June 23
4p.
Box 1: 23
Contents:

Have just returned from an yearly meeting of missionaries. Children are well. Rode to see a dead elephant, killed by the natives. Have heard of an English lady who wishes to come among them.

1854 Aug. 30
4p.
Box 1: 23
Contents:

Garden; now includes coffee plants. An English woman is now living with the Grouts, helping to care for the children. Aldin learns slowly, “we cannot get him to fix his attention on his books…” Grout’s station, and others, now look more hopeful, the natives seeming more receptive.

1854 Oct. 3
4p.
Box 1: 23
Contents:

An English lady is living with the Grouts, helping to teach the children; the boys are learning well. Communion for about forty. Coffee tree now grows in the garden: “Coffee is grown much in this colony….”

1854 Nov. 25
4p.
Box 1: 23
Contents:

Adams, a missionary, is returning home and his wife will wish to visit missionary friends; the two Lindley daughters also heading to America. Charlotte and family are in good health.

1854 Dec. 13
3p.
Box 1: 23
Contents:

Mrs. Adams and the two Miss Lindleys are coming to America and can relay news of Africa.

Grout, Aldin: Letter to James H. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1855 July 28
Box 2: 5
1855 July 28
4p.
Box 1: 24
Contents:

“As to the good things of a good world to come I never have a serious doubt. Not however for anything I have done, but only because of Christ’s merit. I have spent a miserable unprofitable life in God’s right, but grace so abounds over it that I expect a government of righteousness notwithstanding.”


Grout, Aldin:
letter to Elizabeth Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)

1855 July 28
4p.
Box 1: 24
Contents:

Glad to hear she finds Mrs. Adams an agreeable women. Charlotte has been able to return to normal since the recent annual meeting at Umvoti.

Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Parents (Umvoti, S.A.)
1856 Apr. 16
Box 2: 5
Bailey, Elizabeth G.: Letter to Aldin and Charlotte B. Grout (Holden, Mass.)
1856 May 24
Box 2: 5

Grout, Charlotte Bailey:
letter to James Bailey (Durban, S.A.)

1856 June 23
4p.
Box 1: 40
Contents:

Visit with the Lindleys and finds it a treat to see an American. Pleasing package of American notions.

Bailey, Mary N.: Letter to Aldin and Charlotte B. Grout (Holden, Mass.)
1856 July 14
Box 2: 5
1856 Nov. 1
4p.
Box 1: 25
Contents:

Sorrow upon hearing of the death of his brother; “as to your lost son, I suppose you feel confident that what is your loss is his gain….”

1856 Dec. 9
12p.
Box 1: 25
Contents:

Continuing sadness over death of their brother: he seems to have known his death was coming. Have been absent from home visiting other missionaries; travel by ox cart and horse on roads so bad that Charlotte rode the horse and the children walked. Difficult river crossing. Visit with the Saunders, English settlers. Excitement in the Zulu country: the sons of Umpande (Cetewayo and Mbulazi) having been “uneasy”: exceptional long account of the Zulu Civil War of 1856 and Battle of Tugela River; attempted intervention of a British agent; and aftermath.

Bailey, James: Letter to Aldin and Charlotte B. Grout (Holden, Mass.)
1857 Feb. 9
Box 2: 5
Bailey, Abbie: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Holden, Mass.)
1857 Feb. 12
Box 2: 5
1858 Apr. 12
4p.
Box 1: 41
Contents:

Travel west through Albany, Auburn, Buffalo, Cattaraugus, and Cleveland. Preaching in the Third Presbyterian Church and spoke at a Union meeting; plan to speak at Lane Theological Seminary. Travel through New York and Ohio.

1859 Sept. 13
4p.
Box 1: 26
Contents:

Thoughts of mother and home.


Grout, Aldin and Charlotte Bailey:
letter to James and Elizabeth Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)

1860 Jan. 23
4p. (inc.)
Box 1: 27
Contents:

Interesting state of religion amongst them: a week of fasting and prayer propounded by missionaries to India: members, male and female, were questioned and “showed a good state of feeling,” and non-church members professed that they wished to join.

Bailey, John: Letter to James Bailey (Cold Spring, N.Y.)
1860 Mar. 8
Box 2: 6
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1860 Oct. 29
Box 2: 6
Grout, Eliza C.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1860 Oct. 29
Box 2: 6
Grout, Charlotte B.; Eliza C. Grout; R. Oriana Grout: Letter to Parents (Umvoti, S.A.)
1861 Jan. 18-22
Box 2: 6
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Parents (Umvoti, S.A.)
1861 May 14
Box 2: 6
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Parents (Umvoti, S.A.)
1861 July 11
Box 2: 6
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1861 Oct. 28
Box 2: 6
1863 Feb. 14
4p.
Box 1: 28
Contents:

Encouraging the Tylers to pursue missionary work; Mrs. Tyler’s brother has been drafted for the war at home. Oriana and Humphrey may wish they were back in Africa, “but we did what seemed to be our duty in sending them, & we must leave the event to God.” Interesting week of meetings and prayer, though facing a setback when Umqiko, one of their first converts and father of seven, has taken a second wife. Charlotte has four native girls working with her in housework or needlework. Aldin suffers from bowel complaints.

1863 Apr. 30
4p.
Box 1: 28
Contents:

Sorrow to hear of loss of Mrs. Perry’s son. Visit to the Tylers by ox cart. One person united with the church at communion this month; others were advised to wait: “it seems necessary among this people that they wait longer than among civilized people, so many of them turn back to heathenism.”

Grout, Charlotte B. and Eliza C. Grout: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1864 Feb. 25
Box 2: 6
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1865 Jan. 21
Box 2: 6
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1866 Jan. 30
Box 2: 6
1866 Mar. 17
4p.
Box 1: 29
Contents:

Mrs. Lloyd has gone to Pietermaritzburg to get her teeth filled; Eliza has “turned school maam… Aldin is much as usual, cannot take much responsibility, still he helps me in many things, and I am trying to get him to help himself by growing sugar cane, but he has not yet done much.”

Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1866 Nov. 21
Box 2: 6
Grout, Aldin: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1866 Nov. 22
Box 2: 6
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1868 Aug. 18
Box 2: 6
Grout, Aldin: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Umvoti, S.A.)
1868 Aug. 18
Box 2: 6
Bailey, Elizabeth G.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Holden, Mass.)
1869 Nov. 11
Box 2: 6
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (
1870 Jan. 30
Box 2: 7
Bailey, Edward: Letter to Aldin and Charlotte B. Grout (Wailuku, Hawaii)
1870 Jan. 31
Box 2: 7
Ireland, R. Oriana and William Ireland: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Amanzimtoti, S.A.)
1870 Mar. 16
Box 2: 7
Airth, Annie: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Islington, England)
1870 May 16
Box 2: 7
Wilder, A. G.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Andover, Mass.)
1870 June 22
Box 2: 7
Grout, Annie L.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (West Brattleboro, Vt.)
1870 July 12
Box 2: 7
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Amherst, Mass.)
1870 July 13
Box 2: 7
Grout, Annie L.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (West Brattleboro, Vt.)
1870 Aug. 23
Box 2: 7
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Springfield, Mass.)
1870 Sept. 2
Box 2: 7
Grout, Charlotte B.: Letter to Elizabeth G. Bailey (Springfield, Mass.)
1870 Oct. 14
Box 2: 7
1872 Oct. 28
4p.
Box 1: 30
Contents:

Grout is doing well; attended sessions of the meeting and preached to Dartmouth students. Now have some Chinese worshipping at the South Church and the interpreter and his wife will be admitted to membership: “they and their children speak good English, six children. The whole lot of them come in Chinese costume. The old commissioner lives here also and Young Wing who graduated at Yale a few years ago. The Commissioner who is the Boss of the whole is a thorough old heathen Chinee and he is charged to keep all the boys from becoming Christian. You may judge what the prospect is when you know that all the boys live mostly single in our best Christian families…” Noone from Harvard is willing to go on mission, and he fears “the foreign mission spirit is not alive there.”

Buchanan, Isabel: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Durban, S.A.)
1874 Feb. 20
Box 2: 8
Unidentified: Letter to Aldin Grout [in Zulu] (Springfield, Mass.)
1876 Sept. 6
Box 2: 8
Edwards, Mary K.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Inanda, S.A.)
1876 Sept. 16
Box 2: 8
Bailey, Abbie: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Holden, Mass.)
1876 Nov. 4
Box 2: 8
G., J. H.: Letter to Aldin Grout (Holden, Mass.)
1876 Nov. 29
Box 2: 8
Meade, S. A. : Letter to Aldin Grout (Cold Spring, N.Y.)
1876 Dec. 4
Box 2: 8
Mary: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Little Compton, R.I.)
1876 Dec. 11
Box 2: 8
Warriner, Lewis: Letter to Aldin Grout (Springfield, Mass.)
1876 Dec. 11
Box 2: 8
[illeg.], Agnes: Letter to Aldin Grout (London, England)
1876 Dec. 27
Box 2: 8
Child, Abbie B.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Boston, Mass.)
1877 Jan. 4
Box 2: 9
Bailey, Caroline Hubbard: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Wailuku, Hawaii)
1877 Jan. 9
Box 2: 9
Bailey, Abbie: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Holden, Mass.)
1877 Jan. 10
Box 2: 9
C., J. B.: Letter to Aldin Grout (Aurora, N.Y.)
1877 Jan. 10
Box 2: 9
A., George: Letter to Aldin Grout (Williamstown, Mass.)
1877 Jan. 23
Box 2: 9
Wall, May P. C.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Boston, Mass.)
1877 Feb. 7
Box 2: 9
A., S. L.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout
1877 Mar. 5
Box 2: 9
Wilder, G. H.: Letter to Aldin Grout (Chelsea, Mass.)
1877 Mar. 14
Box 2: 9
Wilder, G. H.: Letter to Aldin Grout (Chelsea, Mass.)
1877 Mar. 17
Box 2: 9
[illeg.], Agnes: Letter to Aldin Grout (London, England)
1877 Apr. 4
Box 2: 9
Bailey, Abbie: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Holden, Mass.)
1877 Apr. 16
Box 2: 9
Wilder, H. A.: Letter to Aldin Grout (Waltham, Mass.)
1877 June 5
Box 2: 10
Ireland, R. Oriana: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Amanzimtoti, S.A.)
1877 June 20
Box 2: 10
Mellen, L. N.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Clarendon Hills)
1877 Aug. 3
Box 2: 10
American Board of Commissioner for Foreign Missions: Letter to Aldin and Charlotte B. Grout (Providence, R.I.)
1877 Aug. 15
Box 2: 10
Foster, Eliza C.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Chelsea, Mass.)
1877 Aug. 28
Box 2: 10
Foster, Eliza C.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (North Reading, Mass.)
1877 Aug. 30
Box 2: 10
1877 Sept. 1
4p.
Box 1: 31
Contents:

“I am rather sorry you are to begin life sleeping on straw but that will in this weather be more comfortable than on a mat in a Kafir hut where I have many a time slept.” Has been asked to deliver a course of lectures on African missions at Fisk University.

Foster, Frank and Eliza C. Foster: Letter to Aldin Grout (North Reading, Mass.)
1877 Sept. 3
Box 2: 10
Chase, F. A.: Letter to Aldin Grout (Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.)
1877 Sept. 10
Box 2: 10
Ward, Langdon S.: Letter to Aldin Grout (Boston, Mass.)
1877 Sept. 12
Box 2: 10
Day, Daniel E.: Letter to Aldin Grout (Providence, R.I.)
1877 Sept. 21
Box 2: 10
Foster, Eliza C.: Letter to Aldin Grout (North Reading, Mass.)
1877 Sept. 25
Box 2: 10
Edwards, Mary K.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Inanda, S.A.)
1877 Dec. 3
Box 2: 10
1877 Dec. 5
4p.
Box 1: 31
Contents:

Advice on missionary work: “Go into those Godless houses and talk directly into the hearts of the inmates follow it with a prayer and it will not be in vain.” Does not like hearing Frank say that the clergy are lazy. The Indian Orchard case has waked up ministers all over New England.

1878 Aug. 7
4p.
Box 1: 32
Contents:

Glad to receive word of the new child. Boys are leading water to the new greenhouse at 235 Pine Street; growing sweet corn, celery. Baldwin has foreclosed on the mortgage for the house and plans to sell in September.

1878 Nov. 8
4p.
Box 1: 32
Contents:

Hear from Natal that there will be a war between the whites and Zulus and that the English have sent a large number of soldiers there. They remain in the house; frosts have killed everything in the garden. Garden.

1879 May 10
4p.
Box 1: 33
Contents:

Regarding stone; poor health.

1879 June 28
4p.
Box 1: 33
Contents:

Have thought a great deal about the stone. Wishes only to do his best to spread the gospel; was called to become a Christian at eight or nine and was living as a Unitarian prior and was glad to be called as a missionary to the Zulus.

Location of originals:

The original manuscript is housed at the Yale Divinity School Library Special Collections

Location of originals:

The original manuscript is housed at the Yale Divinity School Library Special Collections

ca.1880
1p.
Box 1: 35
Contents:

Brief (incomplete) draft including biographical notes from the time he “he broke away from a life of manual labor” at 22 through work with the “barbarous tribe of Zulus who had never seen or heard reading and writing, and declared it an impossible thing.”

1880 July 19
4p. (inc.)
Box 1: 34
Contents:

Thinking about the future, having retired from missionary work: “have looked back on my lifes work & endured hardness as a good souldier and hazzarded my life for the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I indeed find there occasion for rejoicing that called me to that work… I have fought a good fight, & have finished my course; & have kept the faither, and henceforth a crown of life is laid up for me…”


American Board of Christian and Foreign Missions:
telegram to Aldin Grout

1883 Sept. 3
1p.
Box 1: 1
Contents:

Birthday greetings

Rood, David: Letter to Aldin Grout (Boston, Mass.)
1888 July 10
Box 2: 11
Smith, Judson: Letter to Aldin Grout (Boston, Mass.)
1888 Dec. 18
Box 2: 11

Seelye, Julius H.; William S. Tyler; and Edward Hitchcock:
telegram to Aldin Grout

1889 Sept. 3
1p.
Box 1: 54
Contents:

Birthday greetings from Amherst College.

Smith, Judson: Letter to Aldin Grout (Boston, Mass.)
1890 Feb. 15
Box 2: 11
Smith, Judson: Letter to Aldin Grout (Boston, Mass.)
1890 Feb. 18
Box 2: 11
Smith, Judson: Letter to Aldin Grout (Boston, Mass.)
1890 May 14
Box 2: 11
Ireland, Meta M.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Winchester, Mass.)
1894 Jan. 4
Box 2: 11
Griffins, G. A.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (New York, N.Y.)
1894 Feb. 18
Box 2: 11
Ireland, William F.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Columbus, N.Y.)
1894 Sept. 20
Box 2: 11
1894 Oct. 22
3p.
Box 1: 4
Contents:

Glad to learn that a memoir of the life of Aldin Grout is to be written; reminiscences of brother Grout.


Tyler, William S.:
letter to Frank H. Foster

1894 Dec. 20
8p.
Box 1: 56
Contents:

Relaying information from Amherst College records on Aldin Grout.

Ireland, Meta M. and William F. Ireland: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Columbus, N.Y.)
1894 Oct. 28
Box 2: 11
Mount Holyoke College Alumnae Association: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Springfield, Mass.)
1895 Apr. 11
Box 2: 12
String, E. E.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Boston, Mass.)
1895 May 09
Box 2: 12
Makabeni: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout [in Zulu] (Umvoti, S.A.)
1895 May 15
Box 2: 12
Gill, James D.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Springfield, Mass.)
1895 May 22
Box 2: 12
Ireland, Meta M. and William F. Ireland: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Morris, N.Y.)
1895 June 21
Box 2: 12
Grout, Humphrey: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Ware, Mass.)
1895 July 3
Box 2: 12
Bailey, E.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Oakland, Calif.)
1895 July 4
Box 2: 12
Grout, Humphrey: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Ware, Mass.)
1895 July 8
Box 2: 12
Grout, Humphrey: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Ware, Mass.)
1895 July 11
Box 2: 12
Bailey, Abbie: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Everett, Mass.)
1895 July 15
Box 2: 12
Smith, Judson: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Boston, Mass.)
1895 Sept. 18
Box 2: 12
Bridgman, L. B.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Ceres, Cape Colony, S.A.)
1895 Dec. 17
Box 2: 12
Bridgman, H. M.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Ceres, Cape Colony, S.A.)
1895 Dec. 17
Box 2: 12
Mitchell, Mary H.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Springfield, Mass.)
1895 Dec. 30
Box 2: 12
Grout, Lydia B.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (West Brattleboro, Vt.)
1896 Mar. 5
Box 2: 13
Foster, Eliza C.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Oakland, Calif.)
1896 Nov. 8
Box 2: 13
Ware, Daniel W.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Springfield, Mass.)
1896 Nov. 18
Box 2: 13
Foster, Eliza C.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Oakland, Calif.)
1896 Nov. 23
Box 2: 13
Bailey, E.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Makanao, Hawaii)
1896 Dec. 7
Box 2: 13
Smith, Judson: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (Boston, Mass.)
1896 Dec. 15
Box 2: 13
Bailey, Abbie: Letter to Humphrey Grout (Everett, Mass.)
1896 Dec. 26
Box 2: 13
ca.1974 May 20
1p.
Box 1: 55
Contents:

Circular letter on missionary work among the Zulus with manuscript greetings to Phillips. With manuscript note

ca.1974 Sept. 17
1p.
Box 1: 55
Contents:

Circular letter on missionary work among the Zulus with manuscript greetings to Phillips. With manuscript note

Grout, Aldin: letter to Frank H. and Frederick M. Foster (Springfield, Mass.?)
ca.1880
2p.
Box 1: 36

Ireland, William Rutherford:
letter to Norine Lee (Chicago, Ill.)

1974 Oct. 14
1p.
Box 1: 46
Contents:

Information on their common great-grandfather.


Ireland, William Rutherford:
letter to Norine Lee (Chicago, Ill.)

1974 Oct. 30
2p.
Box 1: 46
Contents:

Information on Grout family; William Ireland, South African missionary (begun in 1849).


Ireland, William Rutherford:
letter to Norine Lee (Chicago, Ill.)

1975 Feb. 27
2p.
Box 1: 46
Contents:

Includes transcript of letter from Aldin Grout, dated at Umvoti, 1854-04-22, and included in the Ireland family memorabilia.

Avery, Henry: Letter to Aldin and Charlotte B. Grout (New York, N.Y.)
undated
Box 2: 14
Davis, Ethan: Letter to Aldin Grout (Holden, Mass.)
undated
Box 2: 14
Davis, Nellie M.: Letter to Aldin Grout (Hartford, Conn.)
undated
Box 2: 14
Foster, Eliza C.: Letter to Charlotte B. Grout (North Reading, Mass.)
undated
Box 2: 14
Series 2. Writings, documents, and notes
1834-2014

Grout, Aldin:
Journal (fragment)

1834-1835
10p.
Box 1: 9
Contents:

Journal of voyage from Boston of South Africa and early days of his life as a missionary. Possibly rewritten at a slightly later date from original.

1836 June
2p.
Box 1: 3
Contents:

Elegy on the death of Aldin Grout’s first wife on a mission in South Africa.

Van Alstin, Andrew Wemple: Daguerreian calling card (Worcester (Mass.)
ca.1855
Box 2: 14
Hampden Association of Congregational Ministers: Resolution on the death of Aldin Grout (
ca.1877
Box 2: 16
Robertson, R.: Letter to The political bishop of Natal: His latest bid for notoriety (
1878 May 20
Box 2: 15
ca.1880
24p.
Box 1: 37
Contents:

Section from memoir on missionary work in South Africa regarding the sickness and death of Hannah Davis Grout. Extract from W.P. Paine’s sermon [on death of Hannah Grout]. Extracts from Hannah Grout’s journal [on leaving Boston for South Africa; her feelings about death].

Grout, Aldin: Autobiographical writings
ca.1880-1883
Box 1: 5

Grout, Aldin:
autobiographical sketch

1880 June
3p.
Contents:

Brief sketch of Grout’s decision to become a missionary, arrival in Africa, and arrival of old age.


Grout, Aldin:
autobiographical sketch,

ca.1880
6p.
Contents:

Brief sketch of Grout’s life and missionary endeavors among the Zulus (incomplete).


Grout, Aldin:
autobiographical sketch

ca.1880
4p.
Contents:

Draft sketch of Grout’s calling and missionary endeavors among the Zulus (incomplete).

ca.1883
12p.
Contents:

Reflections on the history and challenges of translating the Bible into the Zulu language; difficulties with the language, missionaries, and disruptions from unrest among the Zulus following Dingane.

undated
4p.
Contents:

Reminiscences of arrival in Natal. Second sheet only of longer piece.

Newspaper clippings on and by Aldin Grout
1880-1894
3p.
Box 1: 49
1880 Nov. 3
3p.
Contents:

Article excerpted from The Congregationalist regarding Zulu missions in time of Dingane.

Contents:

Article excerpted from The Weekly Evangelist regarding Zulu missions in time of Dingane.

1883
1p.
Contents:

Reminiscences of early experience in Zulu language; from article printed in Springfield Daily Republican.

1886 Dec. 8
2p.
Contents:

From from article printed in Springfield Daily Republican.

1883 Sept. 3
1p.
Contents:

“A poem read by George B. Kilbon of this city at Rev. Aldin Grout’s 80th birthday, celebrated September 3, 1883”; from article printed in Springfield Daily Union.

Contents:

Eulogy on Grout; from article printed in Springfield Daily Republican.

Contents:

From from article printed in Springfield Daily Republican.

Newspaper clippings: T.M. Howell, A visit to Amherst (Ontario County Times)
1881 July 13
1 item
Box 1: 50

Grout, Aldin:
Last will and testament

1890 Apr. 10 (1974)
3p.
Box 1: 38
Contents:

Photocopy of Aldin Grout’s will.

Contents:

Genealogy copied in part from “The genealogy of the descendants of Capt. John Grout,” by Abner Morse (1857).

Contents:

Annual reports on American missionary efforts in South Africa and Natal.


Grout, Aldin:
biographical information

1971-1995
4 items
Box 1: 6
Contents:

Includes article from Dictionary of South African Biography and materials from Amherst College; genealogy of Grout family.

Map of South Africa
ca.1974
2p.
Box 1: 47
Miscellaneous
1980
3 items
Box 1: 48
Contents:

Includes photocopies from publications on missions in South Africa; letter from Smithsonian regarding the Grout memoir.

Newspaper clippings
1971-2002
7 items
Box 1: 51
Letter to Lepidoptera publications
2011-2014
Box 2: 18
Grout and Bailey family notes
undated
Box 2: 17
Series 3. Photographs
1974
Photographs: Grout, Aldin
undated
1 photograph
Box 1: 52
Contents:




Photographs: Grout, Charlotte Bailey
undated
1 photograph
Box 1: 52
Contents:




Photographs: Grout, Hannah Davis
undated
1 photograph
Box 1: 52
Contents:




Road sign for Groutville (S.A.)
1974
1 photograph
Contents:




“Our” rented bug (Volkswagen parked by sign for bridge over Umvoti River)
1974
1 photograph
Groutville, same church (back view)
1974
1 photograph
Contents:




Groutville, cemetery behind the church
1974
1 photograph
Contents:




Groutville, same old man and a couple of passers by
1974
1 photograph
Contents:




A small village on the way to the game reserve, “The old man and the new”
1974
1 photograph
Contents:




Rev. Steven’s plane: this little bug took us all over. Fantastic plane and pilot.
1974
1 photograph
Contents:




Zulu village
1974
1 photograph
Contents:




School room (69 children), teacher far right. Rev. Stevens and Carl on the left.
1974
1 photograph
Contents:




Cattle corral in village. Carl in So. Africa.
1974
1 photograph
Contents:




Chicken coop, 15″ high
1974
1 photograph
Contents:




Typical Zulu kraal in Natal (postcard)
1974
1 photograph
Contents:




Umvoti Mission, Groutville, Natal, South Africa
1974
1 photograph
Contents:




Aldin Grout monument (Umvoti, S.A.)
1974
1 photograph
Contents:




Administrative information

Access

The collection is open for research.

Provenance

Gift of Norine Lee, Nov. 2013 (2013-174), and Mark Scriber, Sept. 2019 (2019-157).

The Grout Papers arrived in SCUA in two separate accessions. The first (Box 1), focused largely on Aldin Grout, was passed through family to Norine Lee, who donated them in Nov. 2013. In pursuing her family history, Lee traveled to South Africa to see where Aldin had been posted, and included a set of photographs of that trip, along with some associated correspondence.

Six years later, Mark Scriber, a lepidopterist on faculty at Michigan State University, donated an approximately equal quantity of material (Box 2) centered primarily on Charlotte Bailey Grout. The provenance of these letters is less clear.

Digitized content

Selected material from the Aldin Grout Papers has been digitized and is available online through Credo.

Processing Information

Processed by I. Eliot Wentworth, Nov. 2013.

Related Material

The original manuscript of Grout’s “Incidents in the early history of the mission to the Zulus” was donated to Special Collections at the Yale Divinity School Library (RG 30).

Stevens, Harold, God’s Bush Pilot (Griffin, Ga. : Vision Publishing, 2002) is housed with SCUA’s book collections.

Language:

English

Copyright and Use (More information )

Cite as: Aldin Grout Papers (MS 797). Special Collections and University Archives, UMass Amherst Libraries.

Search terms

Subjects

  • American Board of Christian and Foreign Missions
  • Dingane, King of the Zulu, approximately 1793-1840
  • Missionaries–South Africa
  • South Africa–Description and travel–19th century
  • South Africa–History–1836-1909
  • Zulu (African people)
  • Zulu (African people)–History
  • Zulu (African people)–Kings and rulers

Contributors

  • Grout, Aldin [main entry]
  • Grout, Charlotte Bailey
  • Grout, Hannah Davis
  • Grout, Lewis, 1815-1905

Genres and formats

  • Correspondence
  • Photographs

Link to similar SCUA collections

Language(s): Zulu

Subjects

American Board of Christian and Foreign MissionsDingane, King of the Zulu, approximately 1793-1840Missionaries--South AfricaSouth Africa--Description and travel--19th centurySouth Africa--History--19th centuryZulu (African people)--History

Contributors

Grout, Charlotte BaileyGrout, Hannah Davis

Types of material

Photographs