Samuel Isaac Schereschewsky

1831-1906. Missionary and translator. Born at Taurrogen in Russian Lithuania, of Jewish parents, he graduated from Breslau University. Through reading the NT he became a Christian. Going to the USA, he was baptized in a Baptist church (1854), studied in a Presbyterian seminary (1855-58), joined the Protestant Episcopal Church, and studied further at the General Theological Seminary, New York (1858-59). He served as a missionary in Shanghai (1859) and Peking (1863- 75); gifted in languages, he collaborated with others in translating the Prayer Book and NT into Mandarin, and undertook the OT by himself. He became bishop of Shanghai in 1877, but four years later was struck with paralysis. Despite his incapacity, one of his later achievements was the translation of the whole Bible into Wen-li, typing with one finger.