This is a complete transcript of the oral history interview Jennie Kingston Fitzwilliam (CN 272, T5) for the Billy Graham Center Archives. No spoken words which were recorded are omitted. In a very few cases, the transcribers could not understand what was said, in which case [unclear] was inserted. Also, grunts and verbal hesitations such as “ah” or “um” are usually omitted. Readers of this transcript should remember that this is a transcript of spoken English, which follows a different rhythm and even rule than written English. Chinese place names are spelled in the transcript in the old or new transliteration form according to how the speaker pronounced them. Thus, "Peking" is used instead of "Beijing," if that is how the interviewee pronounced it. Chinese terms and phrases which would be understood were spelled as they were pronounced with some attempt made to identify the accepted transliteration form to which it corresponds. Three dots indicate an interruption or break in the train of thought within the sentence of the speaker. Four dots indicate what the transcriber believes to be the end of an incomplete sentence. ( ) Word in parentheses are asides made by the speaker. [ ] Words in brackets are comments made by the transcriber. This transcript was created by Alice L. Fitzwilliam and Robert Shuster and was completed in September 2003. Please note: This oral history interview expresses the personal memories and opinions of the interviewee and does not necessarily represent the views or policies of the Billy Graham Center Archives or Wheaton College. © 2017. The Billy Graham Center Archives. All rights reserved. This transcript may be reused with the following publication credit: Used by permission of the Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. BGC Archives CN 272, T5 Transcript - Page 2 CN 272, Tape 5. Oral history interview with Jennie Kingston Fitzwilliam by Paul Ericksen, October 31, 1985. ERICKSEN: This is an interview with Jennie Kingston Fitzwilliam by Paul Ericksen for the Missionary Sources Collection of Wheaton College. This interview took place in the offices of the Billy Graham Center Archives on October 31, 1985 at 3:30 pm. Well, the first thing I=d like to do is pick up a few details - dates and what not that we seemed to have skipped over in our previous interviews. First thing, can you tell me the years that you were at Moody? FITZWILLIAM: Let=s see, from 20...22...22 fall of >22 to the fal...till Christmas at...of >25. ERICKSEN: And in what year did you apply to CIM [China Inland Mission]? FITZWILLIAM: I=d say probably 1924. ERICKSEN: Okay. FITZWILLIAM: I= not totally in my Moody time. I just don=t have the exact.... ERICKSEN: Yeah. Do you remember when you traveled to China? FITZWILLIAM: Yes, I...I arrived there on October 18, 1926. ERICKSEN: All right. And when were you evacuated to Shanghai? FITZWILLIAM: You mean in that first year? ERICKSEN: Yes, from when you were in language school. FITZWILLIAM: Goodness. I couldn=t remember that. ERICKSEN: I don=t need a day.... FITZWILLIAM: I...I think it was...we were there in Yang...Yangzhou the wintertime and it was sort of toward the spring. That is as near as I can remember. ERICKSEN: So would it be 1927? FITZWILLIAM: It=d be 1927, yeah. ERICKSEN: And then, how long were you in Shanghai? FITZWILLIAM: Well, let=s see. We finished out our...my first year in China. My husband came out two weeks later and we were allowed to be married on my first year in China [anniversary]; that was October 18, 1927. Yeah, >27 © 2017. The Billy Graham Center Archives. All rights reserved. This transcript may be reused with the following publication credit: Used by permission of the Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. BGC Archives CN 272, T5 Transcript - Page 3 ERICKSEN: So you had been in Shanghai about half a year? FITZWILLIAM: Yes. I think we left...stayed there probably about a half a year ERICKSEN: So then you were designated shortly after you were.... FITZWILLIAM: Maybe it was a year, because we finished our first language exam. And I think...I=m kind of hazy [laughs]. ERICKSEN: Then you were designated shortly after you were... FITZWILLIAM: Yes, we were designated ERICKSEN: ...right around the time you were married? FITZWILLIAM: Yes ERICKSEN: Okay. And hat was the name of the village you were stationed in while you were working with the Kachin? FITZWILLIAM: Longchiu ERICKSEN: All right. Now we=re going to skip to after you got back to the United States. After you had been at the CIM youth hostel in Philadelphia, when did you return...when did you come to Wheaton? FITZWILLIAM: Let=s see. I think I was there about a year. I think we had the hostel about a year and then the parents came home. I think I came...I think we came here [Wheaton] to be here for the fall...the September opening of school that...the next year. When would that be? Let=s see. ERICKSEN: You were repatriated in 1943. FITZWILLIAM: 1943. And I think we were in Shangh...Philadelphia probably the whole of 1944. And I think we came out to Wheaton in the fall of 1945. ERICKSEN: Okay. FITZWILLIAM: Maybe it was.... >44? When was peace declared? ERICKSEN: 1945. FITZWILLIAM: I know we got here for the fall...the fall semester because Jack had a [unclear] school. ERICKSEN: Let=s go into a couple of other things. Maybe we can back up then and.... © 2017. The Billy Graham Center Archives. All rights reserved. This transcript may be reused with the following publication credit: Used by permission of the Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. BGC Archives CN 272, T5 Transcript - Page 4 FITZWILLIAM: Uh-huh. ERICKSEN: When did you become the Dean of Women at the [Philadelphia] Bible...Bible Institute? FITZWILLIAM: Let=s see. I was there 1952 to 1957. ERICKSEN: Oh. That doesn=t help. I mean, it helps, but I was thinking it was in the late forties. FITZWILLIAM: No. ERICKSEN: Okay. When FITZWILLIAM: It wasn=t until... ERICKSEN: ...when.... FITZWILLIAM: ...Jack had graduated. ERICKSEN: Yeah. When did you reapply to the mission? FITZWILLIAM: Let=s see. [Pauses] 1950 I did deputation work so it must have been late 1949 ERICKSEN: Okay. [Pauses] FITZWILLIAM: Or 1948, like that. Jack graduated [from college] in 1951 and I was away [pauses] I was away for his senior year, so...doing deputation work... ERICKSEN: Uh huh. FITZWILLIAM: ...so it must have been...it must have been late >49 or early >50. ERICKSEN: Okay. Where were you working while you were here in Wheaton during that period? FITZWILLIAM: At Wheaton College in the accounting department. ERICKSEN: Okay. Well, maybe I can check with them and find out when.... FITZWILLIAM: Yeah. [Unclear] I was...I was away for that year and then I came...as soon as I couldn=t go back to China so I came back to Wheaton College again. Then I was away for Philadelphia and after I had been there for five years I came back to Wheaton College. I always worked in the accounting department. ERICKSEN: About the period of deputation, what was involved in that? © 2017. The Billy Graham Center Archives. All rights reserved. This transcript may be reused with the following publication credit: Used by permission of the Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. BGC Archives CN 272, T5 Transcript - Page 5 FITZWILLIAM: Well, I traveled around in all of the Midwest section to conferences and...and just visiting churches ERICKSEN: Had...did you have to do another orientation session? FITZWILLIAM: No, no, but the mission wanted me to do...to do deputation work for that year before I...well, China was so unsettled they didn=t know whether we could...whether I could go or whether I couldn=t go, so they wanted me to do deputation work for a year until it was a little more clear... ERICKSEN: Yeah. FITZWILLIAM: ...what was going to happen. And then when China definitely closed, I went back to Wheaton College. ERICKSEN: So, did you resign from the mission at any point... FITZWILLIAM: Well, I don=t think... ERICKSEN: ...that you needed to officially reapply? FITZWILLIAM: ...I officially resigned. No, I didn=t need to reapply. ERICKSEN: Oh. FITZWILLIAM: I was always more or less.... ERICKSEN: Like reactivating? FITZWILLIAM: Yeah. ERICKSEN: Okay. Now going to the time when you were at Chefoo School, how long were you under house arrest? FITZWILLIAM: I think it was about a year. Let=s see, war was declared in... ERICKSEN: December 7, 1941 [The actual declaration of war was December 8, 1941]. FITZWILLIAM: ...1941. I think we were about...well, maybe it was nine or ten months, something like that. ERICKSEN: Do you remember when you were transferred to Temple Hill? FITZWILLIAM: I don=t remember the date. I=m...I=m not sure I have anything at home that would tell me that. © 2017. The Billy Graham Center Archives. All rights reserved. This transcript may be reused with the following publication credit: Used by permission of the Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. BGC Archives CN 272, T5 Transcript - Page 6 ERICKSEN: Okay. So that would...let=s see, that would put you leaving Chefoo School somewhere late summer - August maybe, or September - somewhere between September and December? That would be about nine months to a year. FITZWILLIAM: Yeah. ERICKSEN: How long were you at Temple Hill? Do you recall that? FITZWILLIAM: Well, I just don=t recall just how many...how long it was.