Title Page | Collection Summary | Biographical/Organizational Note | Scope and Content | Arrangement
Biographical Notes
Frans August Larson
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1870, Apr. 2 | Born, Hällby Estate, Tillberga, Västmanland, Sweden |
| 1890 | Moved to Stockholm, Sweden, where he worked as a carpenter |
| 1893 | First missionary to Mongolia for the Christan and Missionary Alliance after a six-week missionary training in England |
| 1897 | Married Mary Rodgers (died 1947), an American missionary working in Kalgan (Zhangjiakou), China, a town on the border of Mongolia along the Great Wall. They made their home in Kalgan while he traveled often in Mongolia. |
| 1900 | Leader of a group of Christian missionaries escaping the violence of the Boxer Rebellion. Larson led them through a gate in the Great Wall and across the Gobi Desert to Urga (Ulaanbaator, Mongolia). While the group of missionaries took the railroad from Urga to Sweden, Larson, with his wife and children, remained in Kiachta, Siberia to work as a foreman and an interpreter for Mongolian workers in a French-Russian gold mine. |
| 1901 | Larson family relocated first to Sweden and then to Albany, N.Y. |
| 1901-1902 | Guide and interpreter for Swedish railroad engineers in Siberia and Mongolia |
| 1902 | Expedition guide for C. W. Campbell, British consul in Shanghai, China Established "Tabo-ol," his horse ranch north of Kalgan, on the Mongolia steppes Family moved back to Kalgan, China |
| 1902-1913 | Distributed Bibles in Mongolia for British and Foreign Bible Society. |
| 1912-1914 | Advisor to President Yuan Shikai of the Republic of China on Mongolian issues, brokered peace deal between Mongolia and China |
| 1914 | Business agent, Andersson, Mayer & Co. |
| 1920 | Named a duke of Mongolia by Bogdo Gegen, the Living Buddha, the ruler (khan) of Mongolia |
| 1922 | Started F.A. Larson and Company, a trade company with offices in Kalgan, China, and Urga, Mongolia |
| 1923 | Expedition guide for Roy Chapman Andrews, paleontologist, American Museum of Natural History, hunting dinosaur remains in Gobi Desert |
| 1927 | Expedition guide for Sven Anders Hedin, Swedish geographer and travel writer, in Mongolia |
| 1929 | Traveled to Sweden Published Mongoliet och mitt liv bland mongolerna. Stockholm: Bonnier |
| 1930 | Published Larson, Duke of Mongolia. Boston: Little, Brown and Company |
| 1937-1939 | Advisor to Chiang Kai-shek on northern China and Mongolia providing information on Japanese military activities |
| 1939 | Fled Mongolia after Japanese bomber planes destroyed the Buddhist temple where he lived; moved to California to be near his wife and several adult children Mink farmer in Sweden, financial failure Purchased farm in Alabama to raise chickens where his wife joined him |
| 1943 | Moved to California |
| 1950-1951 | Traveled to Sweden |
| 1951-1957 | Lived part of each year with children in California and summers on Vancouver Island with Swedish friends, the Swahn family |
| 1957, Dec. 19 | Died, Vista, Calif. |
| 2007 | Publication of The Memoir of Frans August Larson. Bloomington, Ind.: The Mongolia Society |
Mary Rodgers Larson
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1869, Aug. 24 | Born, Albany, N. Y. |
| 1891 | Student, Northfield Bible Training School, Northfield, Mass., Jan.-Apr. |
| 1891-1893 | Evangelist, Vermont Domestic Missionary Society |
| 1894-1897 | Missionary, Christian and Missionary Alliance in Peking (Beijing), China |
| 1897-1939 | Missionary, Mongolia and Kalgan (Zhangjiakou), China |
| 1897 | Married Frans August Larson, Beijing, China |
| 1900 | Family fled Boxer Rebellion in China through Mongolia, Russia, Sweden and to the United States |
| 1901-1902 | Lived with her parents in Albany, N.Y., along with her two children |
| 1902-1930 | Larson family returned to Kalgan, China, spending summers in Mongolia. |
| 1930-1939 | Traveled several times between China and California where she had adult children |
| 1939-1943 | Joined her husband in Alabama where they ran a chicken farm; volunteered with local churches; developed severe dementia |
| 1943 | Moved to California to be near adult children |
| 1947, July 24 | Died, Long Beach, Calif. |
Note: Some biographical information for Mary Rodgers Larson is from the Northfield Mount Hermon Archives; Northfield Bible Training School--Student files. The Library of Congress thanks archivist Peter H. Weis for his assistance.
Children of Frans August Larson and Mary Rodgers Larson
- Mary Louise Larson Walker (1898-1991)
- Katherine (Anna) Larson Barnes(1900-1983)
- Frans August (Augie) Larson, Jr. (1903-1970)
- John Albert (Al) Larson (1906-1978)
- James Rodgers Larson (1907-2007)
- Margaret Larson Pressey (1911-1997)
Mary Louise Larson Walker
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1898, Apr. 5 | Born, Kalgan (Zhangjiakou), China |
| 1900 | Family fled Boxer Rebellion in China through Mongolia, Russia, Sweden and to the United States |
| 1901-1902 | Lived with maternal grandparents in Albany, N.Y., along with mother and sister |
| 1902-1917 | Larson family returned to Kalgan, China, spending summers in Mongolia |
| circa 1906-circa 1916 | Student, The Chefoo School, Chefoo (Yantai), Shandong Province, China |
| 1917 | Moved to California to live with her aunt |
| 1918 | Graduate, Pasadena High School, California |
| 1918-1921 | Nursing student, Rochester General Hospital, Rochester, N.Y. |
| 1922-1923 | Registered nurse and private-duty nurse, California |
| 1924-1926 | Nurse, Peking Union Hospital, Beijing, China |
| 1926-1927 | Chief of nurses, Lutto Hospital, Tungchou, China |
| 1927 | Married Charles Lester Walker (died 1990) |
| 1927 | Returned to the United States moving between New York and Massachusetts |
| 1928 | Birth of daughter, Virginia |
| 1934 | Naturalized as a U.S. citizen |
| 1938 | Traveled to California and lived with brothers and sisters for a year, then returned to New York |
| 1941 | Walker family moved to Cornwall, Conn. |
| 1944 | Nurse, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md., summer, then returned to Cornwall, Conn. |
| circa 1986-1991 | Alzheimer's patient, Geer Memorial Health Center, North Canaan, Conn. |
| 1991, June 23 | Died, North Canaan, Conn. |
Charles Lester Walker
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1901, July 24 | Born, Chelsea, Mass. |
| 1920 | Graduate, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H. |
| 1924 | Graduate, Yale University |
| 1924-1926 | English teacher, Yale-in-China, Changsa, China |
| 1927 | Married Mary Larson |
| 1928 | Birth of daughter, Virginia |
| 1928-1929 | Employee, John Price Jones Corp. |
| 1930-1931 | Employee, Book of the Month Club |
| 1932-1937 | Moved to Winchester, Mass. to work in his father's business |
| 1938-1948 | Employee, The Commentator (magazine) |
| 1940 | War correspondent in China, Harper's magazine |
| circa 1940-circa 1988 | Freelance writer, articles in American Mercury, Atlantic, Collier's, Harper's, New Yorker, and others |
| 1990, Aug. 9 | Died, Cornwall, Conn. |