Horace & Lillias Underwood, Henry & Ella Appenzeller
On Easter Sunday, 5 April 1885, Presbyterian missionary Horace Grant Underwood and Methodist missionaries Henry and Ella Appenzeller reached Chemulpo, now Incheon. Their shared arrival brought different gifts into Korea’s emerging Protestant mission. Schools, Scripture and congregations would grow through their work alongside Korean believers and other missionaries.[1,2]
Underwood had trained at New Brunswick Theological Seminary. Henry, a former Pennsylvania schoolteacher, studied at Drew Theological Seminary before the Methodist board sent him and his new wife Ella to Korea. Their first landing did not mean immediate settlement together: unrest prompted the Appenzellers to return temporarily to Japan, while Underwood began resident work.[1–3]
Henry’s experience in the classroom soon found an outlet in Pai Chai Haktang, established in 1885. The boys’ school received royal recognition, and its new building was dedicated in September 1887. It became an ancestor of today’s Pai Chai University and Pai Chai schools. Biographer Griffis describes the first brick schoolhouse as long, low and only one storey high: a taller building would have offended expectations near the palace. Its modest height reflected the setting in which Henry was trying to establish a new institution.[2–4]
Ella’s contribution belonged within the expanding work for women. Historian Daniel M. Davies records that she assisted Mary F. Scranton in founding the school that became Ewha Womans University. Scranton opened Ewha Haktang in 1886 and remains its acknowledged founder. Ella’s assistance deserves recognition; her daughter Alice Rebecca Appenzeller would later lead Ewha.[2,5]
Their educational work accompanied church life. Griffis recounts a Christmas communion gathering in a Korean house: a room had been cleaned and newly papered, with the bread and wine arranged on a low table. Henry preached in Korean; Ella, the Scranton women and a small group of baptised Koreans attended.[3]
Lillias Horton arrived as a medical missionary in 1888 and married Horace in 1889. Her work brought care to women and marginalised patients.[9]
Underwood meanwhile helped establish Saemunan Presbyterian Church, prepared a Korean hymnal and chaired the Bible translation board. Korean initiative was already essential: Soh Sang Yune brought Christian books from Manchuria and invited Underwood to Sorai. In a 1905 report, he described four-hour joint translation sessions, supported by individual preparation. The board reread the whole New Testament to bring its wording into greater consistency.[1,6,10]
Today, Pew’s March 2025 report, based on a spring 2024 adult survey, identifies 33 percent of South Koreans as Christian. Separately, Joshua Project estimates 29.9 percent Christian adherents and 16.3 percent evangelicals.[7,8]
Pray for Korea’s Christian educators and congregations, that learning and discipleship may continue together, with women’s contributions and Korean leadership fully recognised.
References
[1] James M. Philips, “Underwood, Horace Grant,” in Gerald H. Anderson, ed., Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998), p. 689. https://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/t-u-v/underwood-horace-grant-1859-1916/
[2] Daniel M. Davies, “Henry G. Appenzeller: Pioneer Missionary and Reformer in Korea,” Methodist History 30, no. 4 (July 1992), pp. 195–205. https://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/a-c/appenzeller-henry-g-1858-1902/
[3] William Elliot Griffis, A Modern Pioneer in Korea: The Life Story of Henry G. Appenzeller (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1912), pp. 98–100 (arrival and temporary return), 208–210 (school building and W. B. Scranton’s Christmas-service recollection) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_modern_pioneer_in_Korea_-_the_life_story_of_Henry_G._Appenzeller_(IA_cu31924031023603).pdf
[4] Pai Chai Haktang History Museum, institutional history, accessed 19 October 2026: founded in 1885 by Henry G. Appenzeller. The school’s beginnings and royal recognition/building dedication are separate events. https://appenzeller.pcu.ac.kr/appenzeller/contents/295
[5] Ewha Womans University, History of Ewha and History of the Ewha Campus, accessed 19 October 2026. The institution attributes the founding of Ewha Haktang in 1886 to Mary F. Scranton, while distinguishing Alice Rebecca Appenzeller’s later presidency from her mother Ella’s earlier assistance. https://www.ewha.ac.kr/ewhaen/intro/history02-1.do ; https://www.ewha.ac.kr/ewhaen/intro/history-campus.do
[6] Lillias H. Underwood, Underwood of Korea (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1918), chapter III, pp. 61–62: Soh Sang Yune and the Sorai invitation. https://archive.org/details/underwoodofkorea00unde
[7] Kirsten Lesage, Kelsey Jo Starr and William Miner, Around the World, Many People Are Leaving Their Childhood Religions (Pew Research Center, 26 March 2025), chapter 1 and Methodology. Spring 2024 international survey; retrospective religious switching over respondents’ lifetimes. Sources rechecked 19 October 2026. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/03/26/religious-switching-into-and-out-of-christianity/ and https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/03/26/international-religious-switching-methodology/
[8] Joshua Project, South Korea profile KS, accessed 19 October 2026: 29.9% Christian adherents, 16.3% evangelicals. https://joshuaproject.net/countries/KS
[9] Meehyun Chung, “Centennial Commemoration of the Death of Lillias Horton Underwood,” Yonsei Medical Journal 62, no. 10 (October 2021), pp. 873–876, especially pp. 873–874. https://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2021.62.10.873 ; https://www.eymj.org/pdf/10.3349/ymj.2021.62.10.873
[10] Horace G. Underwood, report to Arthur J. Brown, Seoul, 15 November 1905. https://dh.aks.ac.kr/Edu/wiki/index.php/Report_From_Underwood_To_Brown_(19051115)
Artwork reference
Selected lithograph: artistic reconstruction of figures and separate campus vignettes. Pai Chai: Methodist Episcopal Church photograph. Ewha: original 1886 schoolhouse, Ewha Archives photograph. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boys_in_uniform,_Pai_Chai_High_School,_Seoul,_(s.d.)_(Taylor_paichai06).jpg ; https://manifold.sc.edu/read/pioneer-of-korean-female-education-missionary-lulu-e-frey-s-letters-from-ewha-haktang-1893-1918/section/465aeb39-734a-4304-baa4-f19b7247ce48
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