John Heron

Life

Heron was born in Derbyshire, England. His father, E. S. Heron, was a Scottish-born Congregational minister. In 1870, at the age of fourteen, he emigrated with his family to the United States, settling in Knoxville, Tennessee. He entered the medical school of the University of Tennessee in 1881 and graduated with highest honors in 1883. He then trained at a New York University hospital. He is said to have declined a faculty position offered by his alma mater in order to pursue missionary work in Korea.

In the spring of 1884, the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. decided to open a mission in Korea and appointed Heron as a missionary. For this reason, he is regarded as the first medical missionary the Northern Presbyterian Church formally appointed for Korea. Political instability in Korea, however, prevented him from entering the country immediately. After marrying Harriet Gibson in April 1885, Heron stayed in Japan to study the Korean language and customs. He landed at Incheon on June 20 of that year and arrived in Seoul the following day.

Ministry and Accomplishments

• Medical ministry: Heron treated patients alongside Horace Allen at Jejungwon, the royal hospital that opened in April 1885. When Allen left in 1887 to enter diplomatic service, Heron became the hospital's second director. He also succeeded Allen as royal physician to King Gojong and received from the king the court rank of gaseon daebu. In addition, he traveled to rural areas outside Seoul to treat patients.
• Church and literature ministry: He is credited with starting the worship gatherings held at Jejungwon, which later became Namdaemun Church. In 1887 he served on the Bible translation committee, and in 1889 he was elected chairman of the council of Presbyterian missionaries. In 1890 he founded the Korean Religious Tract Society together with Horace Underwood and the Methodist missionary Franklin Ohlinger. The society published Christian books and periodicals and was the forerunner of today's Christian Literature Society of Korea.

Death and Burial at Yanghwajin

In the summer of 1890, a severe outbreak of dysentery swept through Seoul. While caring for patients, Heron, already weakened by overwork, contracted the disease himself and died in July of that year. He was just over thirty years old and had been in Korea for about five years. He is recorded as the first Westerner buried at Yanghwajin, and his burial is described as the beginning of Yanghwajin's use as a missionary cemetery. It is said that on his deathbed he told the Koreans at his side that Jesus loved them and had given His life for them. His widow, Harriet, married the missionary James Gale in 1892.

Influence on the Korean Church

Together with Underwood, Heron laid the foundations of the Northern Presbyterian mission in Korea from its very beginning. Jejungwon later developed into Severance Hospital and the Yonsei University College of Medicine. The Korean Religious Tract Society that he founded laid the groundwork for Christian literature ministry in the Korean church. Above all, because he died while caring for patients during an epidemic, his story is frequently told in the Korean church as an example of the sacrifice involved in medical missions.

Assessment

Historians of medicine regard Heron as a capable physician and a devoted missionary. At the same time, some note that because his ministry lasted only a little over five years, he is less well known than Allen or Underwood. Sources differ on his date of birth (1856 or 1858) and date of death (July 26 or 27).