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Name: BLAKESLEE, Helen Virginia (Dr.)

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Birth Date: 5 Nov 1883 Blakeslee, USA

Death Date: 23 Mar 1963 Clermont Lake County, Florida

First Date: 1911

Last Date: 1953

Profession: Africa Inland Mission osteopath

Area: Matara, Kijabe

Author: Beyond the Kikuyu Curtain

Book Reference: Red 31, Hut, Grasshoppers

General Information:

Grasshoppers - Dr Blakeslee had arrived at Kijabe 10 years after Lee Downing ………. Pioneer blood flowed in her veins. Her grandfather founded a village in Pennsylvania and served its people as judge, postmaster and principal trader. In gratitude they called it 'Blakeslee'. Virginia practised her profession of osteopathy in her home state until she met Charles Hurlburt at a Bible conference……… she sailed for Kenya. In 1927 Virginia moved to Kijabe to teach ……….condemned female circumcision. … Sixteen years after Hulda's [Stumpf] murder, Virginia moved to her old home, Githumu. Many friends greeted her but without the spontaneous goodwill she had always known before. The circumcision controversy still rankled, undermining the old relationship of trust ………… Mau Mau

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