William Carey
1761-1792, Cobbler and Pastor in England
1761 Aug. 17, Carey born at Paulserspury, Northamptonshire
1773 Teaches himself Latin
1775 Becomes apprentice shoemaker; religious talks with John Warr
1776 Dec., conscience stricken over stolen shilling, begins serious spiritual search
1779 Feb., leaves Church of England; Sept., apprentices with Thomas Old
1781 Marries Dorothy “Dolly” Plackett
1782 June, begins preaching every other week; daughter Ann born
1783 Oct.,baptized by John Ryland, Jr.; daughter Ann dies; seriously ill and loses hair; Dec., when Thomas Old dies, takes over business and cares for Old’s family
1785 Son Felix born; summer, fails trial sermon for ordination; Aug., begins pastoring in Moulton on trial basis; reads Captain Cook’s Journals and begins thinking about missions
1787 Aug., ordained; Oct., baptizes his wife, Dorothy
1788 Son William, Jr., born
1789 Begins pastorate at Baptist church in Harvey Lane, Leicester; son Peter born
1791 Daughter Lucy born?
1792 May 12, publishes An Enquiry on missions; May 31, preaches “Expect great things, attempt great things” sermon; Oct. 2, helps to found Baptist Missionary Society (BMS); daughter Lucy dies
1793-1834, Missionary and Professor in India
1793 Jan. 9, commissioned as missionary to Bengal; May? son Jabez born; June 13, sails from Dover with family; Nov. 11, arrives in India
1794 Feb., settles in Sundarbans jungle; June, moves to Mudnabatti to manage indigo factory; Oct., son Peter dies; suffers attack of malaria
1795 Mar., Dorothy slips into delusions
1796 Son Jonathan born
1797 Completes draft of Bengali New Testament
1799 Summer, moves to Kidderpore; Oct., William Ward, Joshua and Hannah Marshman, and others arrive
1800 Jan., moves to Serampore, helps organize missionary community ; Dec., baptizes son Felix and first Indian convert, Krishna Pal
1801 Feb., first Bengali NT printed by Serampore Press; Apr., appointed teacher at Fort William College, Calcutta
1804 First of 19 mission stations established
1807 Ordains son Felix; granted doctorate by Brown University; Dec., Dorothy dies
1808 May, marries Charlotte Rumohr; Sanskrit NT published
1812 Fire at Serampore destroys years of translation work
1815 Andrew Fuller, last of BMS founders, dies; tensions increase between BMS and Serampore mission
1817 Younger missionaries leave Serampore to form rival mission
1818 Serampore College founded; Sanskrit Bible published
1820 Organizes Agricultural Society of Bengal
1821 May, Charlotte dies
1822 Summer, marries Grace Hughes; son Felix dies
1823 William Ward dies
1827 Serampore severs ties with BMS
1830 Calcutta bank crash; Serampore in financial jeopardy; Serampore reunites with BMS
1834 June 9, Carey dies at Serampore
1837 Joshua Marshman dies; Serampore mission closed
Christianity & Missions
1761-1792, Cobbler and Pastor in England
1769 Junípero Serra founds mission at San Diego
1770 Evangelist George Whitefield dies
1771 Francis Asbury brings Methodism to America
1779 “Amazing Grace” published
1784 New “Sunday school ” movement enrolls 250,000 children
1791 John Wesley dies
1793-1834, Missionary and Professor in India
1795 London Missionary Society (LMS) founded
1796 Scottish and Glasgow missionary societies founded
1797 America’s 2nd Great Awakening begins in Kentucky
1799 Church Missionary Society (CMS) founded in England
1804 British and Foreign Bible Society founded
1807 British slave trade abolished
1810 First American foreign missions group, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
1813 Adoniram and Ann Judson arrive in Burma
1816 Richard Allen elected bishop of African Methodist Episcopal Church
1817 Robert Moffat arrives in South Africa, begins 50 years of work; John Williams, famous South Seas missionary, sent
1820 American missionaries arrive in Hawaii
1825 Charles Finney ignites revival in New York
World Events
1761-1792, Cobbler and Pastor in England
1769 James Watt patents steam engine
1776 Declaration of Independence
1778 James Cook discovers Hawaii; Voltaire dies
1780 Benedict Arnold’s plot
1781 Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason; planet Uranus discovered; British surrender at Yorktown
1783 Montgolfier brothers’ hot-air balloon
1784 Benjamin Franklin invents bifocals
1785 Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro
1789 French Revolution begins; Washington begins 1st term
1791 U.S. Bill of Rights
1793-1834, Missionary and Professor in India
1793 Eli Whitney invents cotton gin
1796 Edward Jenner improves vaccination against smallpox
1800 Washington, D.C. replaces New York as U.S. capital
1812 Napoleon invades Russia; U.S. declares war on Britain; Grimm’s Fairy Tales
1818 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
1819 Beethoven goes deaf; five years later writes 9th Symphony (“Ode to Joy”)
1820 U.S. Land Law fixes land price at minimum of $1.25 per acre
1826 The Last of the Mohicans
1834 Spanish Inquisition abolished; Abraham Lincoln elected to Illinois legislature
Mark Galli is associate editor of Christian History.
Copyright © 1992 by the author or Christianity Today/Christian History magazine.Click here for reprint information on Christian History.
