Guide to the Paul C. Cassat Papers

Paul Clifford Cassat, missionary and educator, was born July 28, 1889, in Woodbine, Iowa, to David Williams and Lillian May Berryhill Cassat. Cassat graduated from Park College, Parkville, Missouri, in 1913 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In his senior year of college, he applied to the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. for missionary work in China and was appointed by the Board in April 1913 to the Shantung Mission. He left for Shantung (Shandong) Province, China, in September 1913.

Cassat spent nine months at Chefoo Language School studying Chinese in preparation for his permanent assignment. In 1914, he was assigned to the boy's high school in Tsingtau (Tsingtao) as a teacher of English and the gospels. When Japanese forces invaded Tsingtau that autumn, all missionary personnel had been evacuated to Tsinan. During this period Cassat taught English language classes at the Young Men's Christian Association.

Cassat returned to Tsingtau in December 1914 and resumed his teaching. He was assigned supervisor of the elementary and high schools served by the Shantung Mission.

Rowena Wilson was appointed as a missionary in May 1915 to the Shantung Mission by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. She left for Japan in September and, in October, she and Paul Cassat were married in Kobe, Japan. Following their wedding, they returned to Tsingtau, China. Rowena Cassat studied the Chinese language and did evangelical work with Chinese women and children. The Cassats' two daughters, Jean in 1916, and Barbara in 1918, were born in China. Jean died in 1918.

In 1916, Paul Cassat was assigned as supervisor for all the educational work of church related schools in the area established by the mission. In 1917, he accepted the position of treasurer and registrar of Shantung Christian University in Tsinan (Jinan). He also served as secretary and treasurer for the American Red Cross Chapter in Tsinan in 1918.

The Cassats returned to the United States for a furlough in 1920. During this furlough, Paul Cassat stayed in New York City to do deputation work for the Board of Foreign Mission of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., speaking in churches and encouraging contributions to the building program for Shantung Christian University. In 1921, the Cassat family returned to Tsinan. Rowena Cassat taught English as a second language in the University and Latin and Algebra to children of British, Canadian, and American missionaries. Paul Cassat, in addition to his work assignment, was made chairman of the University Chapel Planning Committee and served as treasurer for the Shantung Relief Committee (established for famine relief).

In 1923, the Cassat family returned to the United States on medical leave due to Paul Cassat's health. In 1925, the Cassats resigned from the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Paul Cassat accepted the position of comptroller and, later, assistant treasurer at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York.

Paul Cassat was also active in his community. In addition to membership in various clubs, he was an elder in the Presbyterian Church and the Director of Vassar Bank in Arlington, New York. In 1935, he retired from Vassar College and took up residence in Beaufort, South Carolina. He died in 1936.

Following her husband's death, Rowena Cassat earned a Master's degree in Education from the University of Iowa in 1938. From 1939 to 1943, she was employed by the Board of Education in Springfield, Ohio, as Director of Family Life Education. During World War II, she set up and supervised child care centers for working mothers. In 1945, she accepted the position of Associate Secretary of Missionary Personnel, Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. where she remained until her retirement in 1957.

Rowena Cassat died in May 1993 in Asheville, North Carolina.