John G. Paton

John G. Paton

Missionary to the South Sea Islands

John Paton quit school as a young boy because of a cruel schoolmaster. But he was determined to become a missionary, so he studied at home.

Born into a fine Christian home in Dumfries, Scotland, in 1824, John saved enough by the time he was twelve to pay for six weeks of private schooling. He continued to work his way through school, university, divinity school, and medical training. Finally, at the age of thirty-four, he was ordained by the Presbyterian Church of Scotland and commissioned as a missionary to the South Sea Islands.

On November 5, 1858, John and his new wife, Mary, arrived on the island of Tanna in the New Hebrides, a group of eighty islands now known as Vanuatu, about fifteen hundred miles northeast of Australia.

Other missionaries had established a solid work on Anatom, a southern island in the New Hebrides, and several of their converts accompanied the Patons north to Tanna. At first the Patons felt overwhelmed by the warring cannibals of Tanna. Then they realized that the Christians from Anatom had been just as savage only a few years earlier.

The Tannese people worshiped and feared many idols and had no concept of a loving God. Witches and wizards in each village cast spells they claimed controlled life and death. They stirred up the people to drive out the missionaries.

Warfare between tribes increased, with some of the worst fighting happening right outside the Patons' house.

Three months after arriving on Tanna, Mary Ann Paton gave birth to their son, Peter, but she became sick with fever and died on March 3. Their son also died from fever less than three weeks later. Paton was so shaken by these tragedies that he could hardly continue, but God sustained him.

Not long after this, white traders--who also hated missionaries because they discouraged the natives from buying rum and muskets--deliberately sent three sick sailors among the people to spread measles, knowing that the witch doctors would blame Paton. The epidemic killed a third of the people, and the survivors sought revenge.

Two local chiefs protected Paton for a time, but that only increased the intertribal warfare. Soon Paton was running for his life, protected for a while by one chief, only to be chased by the same tribe the next day. He almost certainly would have been killed and probably eaten if a passing ship had not rescued him.

He had been on Tanna less than four years.

John then spent nearly two years speaking to churches in Australia and Scotland, raising financial support and recruiting more missionaries. One of those recruits, Margaret Whitecross, married and later returned with John to the islands.

One of Paton's objectives was to build a ship dedicated to serving the missionaries of the South Sea Islands. They needed dependable support, regular supplies, and on occasion--such as Paton had experienced--rescuing. Also, he found it unsatisfactory to rely on the unpredictable arrival of trading vessels for these services. Plus, why encourage visits by those unscrupulous traders with their immoral and abusive crew members?

Paton raised the money for the ship by selling "shares" for a few cents each to thousands of Sunday school children as well as adults in Australia and Scotland. It was a great success, and the Dayspring was built in Nova Scotia. In 1865 it delivered John Paton, his new wife and son, and several other missionaries to the South Sea Islands. A hurricane wrecked the Dayspring in 1873, but French slavers salvaged her for a brief time. This greatly distressed Paton because the natives were inclined to welcome her, not realizing that the traders aboard were likely to kidnap them as slaves. A second storm destroyed her for good. Later, a Dayspring II and finally a Dayspring III served the island missionaries.

Upon returning to the islands, John longed to settle again on Tanna, but the mission board assigned the Patons to Aniwa a few miles east. Superstitions on Aniwa were just as godless, but possibly because the island was smaller, there was less warfare and cannibalism. As the Patons learned the language, they slowly gained the people's confidence and were able to present the Gospel until nearly everyone on the island became a Christian.

In his later years, Paton traveled widely on behalf of missions, but he always returned to his home on Aniwa until old age and failing health forced him to leave the island permanently in 1904. Though he was very sad to go, he rejoiced that the people now lived in peace and faithfully worshiped God.

He died January 28, 1907.