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Preferred Citation

Fanny Kean Leake Patton Diary, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries.

Biographical / Historical

Born in Prince George County, Fanny Kean Leake Patton (1867-1939) married fellow Virginian Rev. J. Lindsay Latton (1866-1915), and in the late 1880s the couple joined the American Episcopal Mission in Kyoto, Japan, where they would work for fifteen years. Fanny taught bible class and gave music lessons under Miss Leita Bull, who ran the Ladies Institue in Osaka and St. John's Orphanage. Active as a member of the Woman's Auxiliary of the Episcopal Church, Fanny appears to ahve also worked at the St. Agnes School for Girls in Kyoto.

Content Description

Collection contains a single diary of American woman Fanny Kean Leake Pattaon (1867-1939) during her time with the American Episcopal Mission in Kyoto, Japan. She and her husband Rev. J. Lindsay Patton (1866-1915), worked in Japan as missionaries for fifteen years starting in the late 1880s. By the time the diary was written, they had been overseas for several years and had five children, some of whom were born in Japan. The diary includes documentation about Fanny and her husband's religious activity and travel, as well as details about her every day life doing missionary work and teaching. It also has information about the Otsu Incident (an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Czar Nicholas Alexandrovich during his visit to Japan in 1891), and Russia and Japan's falling out afterwards. Fanny in fact visited the Czar the day after the Otsu Incident.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• American diaries
• Diaries
• Episcopal Church--History--19th century
• Episcopal Church--Missions
• Episcopal Church--Missions--Japan
• Japan--History--1868-
• Married people in missionary work
• Missionaries
• Missionaries--United States--19th century
• Missions -- Japan
• Personal narratives
• Russia--History
• Teachers
• Teachers--Diaries
• Women missionaries--United States
• Women teachers
• Women teachers--United States--History--19th century
• Women travelers--Diaries
• Women--Diaries