Melroses' Mission in China

Travel
John Caldwell Melrose and his wife, Margaret Rae Melrose, moved to Hainan, China and founded a Christian mission. They departed their homes in the Midwest on December 12, 1890, bound for San Francisco.

They then left San Francisco on September 23, 1891 aboard the SS City of Rio de Janeiro, bound for Yokohama, Japan. Aboard, they met a group of Japanese students, who were returning home. These students were possibly the first group of Japanese students to study abroad in the Modern era. The City of Rio de Janeiro was built in 1878 and sunk in 1901 while returning from Hong Kong, with a tremendous casualty rate, resulting in San Francisco's deadliest shipwreck

John C. and Margaret Rae Melrose traveled from Yokohama to Hoihow aboard the Danish ship Frejr. The Frejr was built in England, and was one of the most profitable ships in the Far East in its era.

Key Events
In 1900,  a telegram from the US Consul came through warning the missionaries to leave due to the Boxer Rebellion. Several of them set off with fifteen armed guards, and while they were en route, an order came from Peking to kill all foreigners. Luckily, they were protected by a French gunboat and the French and German consulates.

People involved:

 * John Caldwell Melrose
 * Margaret (Rae) Melrose
 * Paul Cunningham Melrose
 * Andrew Rae Melrose
 * Esther Melrose
 * Hugh Rainey Melrose
 * (Anne) Marie Melrose
 * (Esther) Sylvia (Melrose) Ryan
 * Margaret (Melrose) Wiley
 * John Agnew Melrose

References:

 * Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance (ebook referencing the Frejr on page 114): https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=TLgmAQAAIAAJ&rdid=book-TLgmAQAAIAAJ&rdot=1