Ingalls, Marilla Baker (1828-1902)

American Baptist missionary in Burma

Marillla Baker was born in Greenville, New York, the daughter of Selah and Sally Baker. In 1850 she met Lovell Ingalls, a furloughed missionary from Burma (Myanmar) and guest in her parents’ home. The couple married and sailed for Burma the following year. Marilla joined the Arakan field of the Burma mission and taught school. Her effectiveness as a teacher attracted many inquirers, and the mission compound facilities had to be expanded. Upon the death of her husband, the American Baptism Missionary Union in 1858 appointed her for “independent work.” She centered her efforts at Thongze, a village deep in the jungle, and concentrated on teaching and tract distribution. When the railroad reached her isolated region in 1867, she designed a plan to distribute tracts at the stations. Having acquired a copy of the bible autographed by Queen Victoria, Ingalls used this gift to gain an audience with the queen of Burma, to whom she preached. Once, when she was under intense pressure from gangs and local Buddhists, a reward of 10,000 rupees was placed on her head, but her Christian friends prevented her capture. It is said she won one hundred buddhist priests to the Christian faith. She died in Thongze, after a ministry of more than 40 years in Burma.

William H. Brackney, “Ingalls, Marilla Baker,” in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998), 318.

This article is reprinted from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, Macmillan Reference USA, copyright © 1998. Gerald H. Anderson, by permission of Macmillan Reference USA, New York, NY. All rights reserved.

Bibliography

Digital Primary

Ingalls, Marilla Baker. Ocean Sketches of Life in Burmah. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, [1857].

Digital Secondary

Merriam, Edmund F. “Gone Home: Mrs. Marilla Baker Ingalls.” Baptist Missionary Magazine 83 (1903): 59-61, 76.

Thomas, W.F. “Funeral of Mrs. Marilla Baker Ingalls.” Baptist Missionary Magazine 83 (1903): 101-102.

“Obituaries.” Baptist Missionary Magazine 83 (1903): 296.

Primary

Ingalls, Marilla Baker. A Golden Sheaf from the Judsons’ Work at Ava. Boston: Women’s Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, 1881.

Secondary

Everts, Grace. By the Banyon Tree: In Memory of Marilla Baker Ingalls. Boston: American Baptist Missionary Union, 1907.

Whiting, Sarah F. The Story of the Queens Bible. [Boston]: Women’s Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, 1909.

Links

Thomas Ray, “Marilla Baker Ingalls: The Queen of Women Missionaries.” Baptist Bible Tribune.