Dr. Mary West Niles, med. missionary for blind in China

"DR. MARY WEST NILES was a Medical Missionary for the blind in China."

[The foregoing sentence comes from the following document regarding Dr. Mary West Niles' parents and siblings, downloaded 2020 from http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/n/i/l/Stephen-S-Niles/GE...]

Notes for REV. D. D. WILLIAM ALLEN NILES:

The Rev. W. A. Niles, DD was a native of the city of Binghamton, N.Y. and son of the Rev. Benjamin Niles, the first pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of that place. He was a delicate boy, subject to diseases of the joints. At a very early age, he had serious trouble with one of his ankles, which threatened at one time the loss of his foot, and it was treated with severe remedies. At the age of seventeen, he had hip disease, which resulted in the shortening of one of his lower limbs. Not withstanding these troubles, he maintained a cheerful disposition, and an unwavering trust in God, which made him a general favorite.

Mr. Niles was an alumnus of Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., and a graduate of Auburn Theological Seminary In 1850, he left the Seminary, and on June 27th of that year, he married Mary E. West, also a native of Binghamton. His first pastoral charge was undertaken in the service of the American Board of Home Missions at Beaver Dam, Wis. where he purchased a lot and built a house for his family. He remained in that place for three years, and his eldest son, William Henry was born there. After this, he spent one year in Milwaukee, and edited a temperance campaign paper, which carried the state for no license. In 1863, he removed with his family to the city of Watertown, Wisconsin, where he again purchased a home, and for six years, preached in the Congregational church of that city. Here, three children were born to him, Mary West Niles, Lucy Dunning Niles, and Silas West Niles.

Upon the decease of Mrs. Niles’ father in Binghamton, it became necessary to assume the charge of Dr. West’s family, which consisted of Mrs. Niles’ mother, aged seventy and her step-grandmother, aged 84. Consequently, Mr. Niles removed both families to Corning, New York, where he had been invited to preach to the Pres. church of that place. Here the family remained for twelve years and a half. In the meantime, the old church on the hill was deserted, and a new stone church erected, at the expense of forty thousand dollars. Frequent revivals marked the history of the church, and it enjoyed a season of great prosperity. During his residence in Corning (in the year 1868), Mr. Niles received the degree of D.D. from Hamilton College. In 1872, the Pres. church in Hornellsville, N.Y. gave him a call to become their pastor, at a salary of twenty-three hundred dollars, with the promise of a parsonage. As he was educating his children liberally, he accepted the invitation, in 1873, where he resides at the present writing, still the pastor of the Presbyterian Church of this village of about ten thousand inhabitants. After one year of life in Hornellsville, the people purchase a parsonage, upon a lot, connected with the church lot, at an expense of five thousand six hundred and fifty dollars. This lot Mr. Niles improved by setting out trees bearing delicious fruit, especially plums of very fine variety. The house was however, old and very small, and the people promised a new parsonage upon the same lot. In June, 1884 Dr. Niles removed, with his family to a very pleasant house on Genessee Street, where the family now reside, waiting for a new parsonage. (from "The Family Record - Rev. W. A. Niles, D. D." by Mrs. Mary E. Niles (May 29, 1884))

Niles, William Allen, D.D., the only son of Rev. Benjamin and Mahlah (Dunning) Niles, was born in Binghamton, N.Y., May 29th, 1823. He graduated at Williams College, in the class of 1847, and at Auburn Seminary in 1850, and was ordained by the Presbytery of Ithaca, June 22nd, 1850. He preached at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, as a Home Missionary, 1853-59; at Corning, N.Y., 1859-72; and at Hornersville, N.Y., 1872. His son, William Henry Niles, is a Home Missionary in Jacksboro, Texas; and his daughter Mary West Niles, M.D., is a Missionary Physician in Nanking, China. Dr. Niles is an able sermonizer and a popular preacher, much sought for on public occasions, both secular and religious. He is a ready platform speaker, abounding in sparkling wit and humor. He is also well known as a leader of Sunday-school Institutes, and as a writer on kindred topics, and has published notes on the Catechism and a series of graded lessons on Bible study. He is a frequent contributor to the secular and religious press, and for a time edited a Temperance paper. He is fertile in expedients for doing Christian work, and his ministry has been attended with numerous revivals. He is a public-spirited citizen, a wise counsellor, and a faithful prebyter, as well as an earnest Christian. (from Presbyterian Encycolpedia; edited by David R. B. Nevin; Presbyterian Encyclopedia Publishing Co.; Philadelphia, PA; 1884.)

Children of MARY WEST and WILLIAM NILES are:

. REV. WILLIAM HENRY8 NILES, b. May 06, 1851, Beaver Dam, Dodge Co., Wisconsin; d. June 04, 1924, Roscoe, Sullivan Co., New York.
ii. DR. MARY WEST NILES, b. January 20, 1854, Watertown, Jefferson Co., Wisconsin2; d. January 14, 1933, Pasadena, Los Angelos Co., California.
Notes for DR. MARY WEST NILES:

She was a Medical Missionary for the blind in China.

iii. LUCY DUNNING NILES, b. June 17, 1856, Watertown, Jefferson Co., Wisconsin2; d. September 18, 1861, Corning, Steuben Co., New York3.
Notes for LUCY DUNNING NILES:

She is interred in Binghamton, New York.

iv. SILAS WEST NILES, b. August 27, 1859, Watertown, Jefferson Co., Wisconsin; d. April 13, 1930, Pasadena, Los Angeles Co., California.
v. LOTTIE NILES, b. September 12, 1861, Corning, Steuben Co., New York; d. August 11, 1895, Unknown.
vi. REV. JOHN SERGEANT NILES, b. August 12, 1864, Corning, Steuben Co., New York4; d. February 24, 1933, Pasadena, Los Angelos Co., California; m. ANNA PARMELEE HORTON, February 05, 1890, Unknown; b. October 02, 1863, Stockbridge, Oneida Co., New York; d. August 31, 1948, Hollywood, Los Angeles Co., California.

	Notes for REV. JOHN SERGEANT NILES:

In 1888 he did summer mission work in Ong and DeWeese, Nebraska.

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