John Andreson was the first Presbyterian missionary to go to Madras where he is still remembered for the church and school he established there. The first paragraph below is taken from the book British & Foreign Evangelical Review which contains a detailed account of John Anderson's life and missionary work. There is a link below to the complete book, as well as a link to his entry in Wikipedia.

Rev. John Anderson of Kirkpatrick Durham and Madras

JOHN ANDERSON was born in 1805, in the parish of Kilpatrick-Durham, situated in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, which, with the county of Wigton, forms that interesting portion of Scotland which is known as Galloway. His father was a poor man in humble life, and afflicted with blindness, yet industrious, and able to work hard for the support of his family. His mother was an excellent, intelligent woman, full of strong affection, and possessed of much of that force and vivacity of character that distinguished her son. John was the eldest son in a family of nine children, and, as may well be supposed, endured much hardship in his youth, He was cradled and nursed in poverty; yet, like many of his class in Scotland, he obtained at the parish school the elements of a sound and wholesome, though limited, education. At a Sabbath school in the neighbouring parish of Urr, he received his first religious impressions. It was there, as he afterwards said, that the Lord Jesus found him, and implanted in his heart the incorruptible seed of the Word, which, though it lay long unfruitful, at length sprang up and flourished. The trials and hardships, the vicissitudes and adventures of his youth were more than usually varied and severe; but the force of his character surmounted all obstacles, and grace in his heart saved him from the power of many temptations. At length, after having obtained a scanty knowledge of the Latin language, he entered the University of Edinburgh, in his twenty-second year. His college career was distinguished from first to last. He became, by hard toil, one of the first Latin scholars of his day, and carried off not a few leading prizes in several of the classes. Professors Pillans and Wilson bestowed upon him well-won marks of distinction. Having completed his preliminary studies, he entered the Divinity Hall in the Session 1830-31, and enjoyed the high advantage of sitting at the feet of Dr Chalmers and Dr Welsh. While prosecuting his studies with singular energy and success, he supported himself by teaching an evening school at Leith, or private pupils in Edinburgh, or by acting as tutor in a family. Like many young men at the Scottish universities, he had to work for the means of education at the very time his education was going on ; and in his case, as in many others, the double toil implanted in his constitution the seeds of future weakness and disease.

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