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Name: HOLE, Edgar Thomas (Rev.)

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Birth Date: 28 Nov 1869 Salem, Ohio

Death Date: 7 Mar 1943 New York City

Nationality: American

First Date: 1902

Profession: Served with Friends African Industrial Mission (American). HQ at Kaimosi

Area: North Kavirondo, Kaimosi, Drumkey - Kismayu

Married: In Cuyahoga, Ohio 14 Apr 1897 Adelaide May Weider b.12 July 1874 Cleveland, Cuyahoga (she arrived with their child at Kaimosi in 1903)

Children: Margaret J. (1899-1899); Leona May (17.1.1902 Cleveland, Cuyahoga-1979); child born at Kaimosi 3-5-1904 did not survive; Morlan Newcomb (14.11.1905 Managoti-1991)

Book Reference: Gillett, Weller, Kenya Diary, EAHB 1905, KAD, Hut, North, Playne, Drumkey, Red 22, EAHB 1906, EAHB 1904, EAHB 1907, Red Book 1912

General Information:

Kenya Diary - May 1904 - Kaimosi - I dined with Mr Hole, one of the missionaries, who gave me an excellent dinner, but only tea to drink ............ I breakfasted with Hole, and to my amazement he told me his wife gave birth to a child early this morning [3rd May]. I had never noticed Mrs Hole's condition last night! ...... There are altogether in Kaimosi 3 American missionaries, Messrs. Hole, Blackburne and Chilson, the two former being married and having their wives with them. About a fortnight ago Dr. Wenthe arrived to join them. He introduced himself as an American Quaker and sponged on the mission for everything. The mission was getting rather tired of him, and hoped he was not going to stop much longer, when he was killed ..... (Mayes in fight with some Nandi - irresponsible) ..... Primarily I blame Mayes, and then I blame the indiscretion of the mission and thirdly the stupidity of Wenthe.
Drumkey 1909 - Friends' Africa Industrial Mission, Lirhanda - Mr Edgar T. Hole, Secy. & Treas. Field Committee and Mrs Hole
Red Book 1912 - E.T. Hole - Kisumu
EAHB 1905 - With advance party of Friends' Africa Industrial Mission to Kaimosi
Draughtsman in US 1900 census
Ane Marie Bak Rasmussen, A History of the Quaker Movement in Africa, 1995 1st school set up by Hole at Kaimosi in Feb 1903. Even for the Friends, the relationship between the four departments of their work — the evangelical and the industrial together with the medical and the educational, which were soon added — was not always without problems as the work developed over the years. But from the outset, all four departments appeared necessary, and missionaries engaged in them with great energy. Willis Hotchkiss left Kaimosi after only about six months because of disagreements with the other two missionaries.° But already in that same year, in 1903, a missionary doctor, Elisha Blackburn, arrived, with his wife and Edgar Hole's wife. In 1904 Emory and Deborah Rees came, and in 1907 Edna Chilson, wife of Arthur Chilson. All these missionaries took part in all aspects of the work, but as time passed, and some kind of specialization became necessary, Arthur Chilson concentrated more and more on evangelization, while Emory Rees used a good deal of his time translating the New Testament into Luragoli together with the first African convert, Akhonya, later on with Yohana Amugune, and finally for many years with Joel Litu.61 The women missionaries were active in educational and evangelizing work among women. Meanwhile, the industrial work assumed a relatively independent position with the arrival in 1912 of Fred Hoyt, who took charge of the milling and building activities, and in 1913 of C. Frank Conover, who was an agriculturalist. Medical work was continued when Dr Archie Bond took over from Dr Blackburn in 1917, while the educational department, which at first developed alongside the evangelistic work, gradually became more and more important. In 1929 Everett Kellum arrived to supervise all Friends educational institutions. All these and other missionaries, together with their wives, took part in evangelization, and often saw their own departments as serving the overall purpose of converting the Africans to Christianity. But the two missionaries who became the most prominent preachers were Arthur Chilson and Jefferson Ford, who came to Kenya in 1914. It was Jefferson Ford who, together with Joel Litu, translated the Old Testament into Luragoli.

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