Guide to the John Samuel Nisbet Papers

John Samuel Nisbet was born Aug. 6, 1869, in Lancaster County, South Carolina. He attended Arkansas College in Batesville from 1891 to 1894, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. Nisbet briefly pursued a career as a teacher before deciding upon a religious vocation. In 1898 he earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Southern Presbyterian University in Clarksville, Tennessee, and was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (PCUS) Ouachita Presbytery the same year. Nisbet served the PCUS in various capacities over the next few years. He was the pastor at churches in DeQueen and Richmond, Arkansas, from 1898 to 1899; the stated supply in Collierville, Tennessee, from 1899 to 1901; an evangelist in Brownwood Presbytery while living in San Angelo, Texas, from 1901 to 1902; and the pastor in Humboldt, Tennessee, from 1902 to 1906.

In 1907, Nisbet and his wife, the former Anabel Major of Clarksville, Tennessee, whom he married in 1899, traveled to Chunju, Korea as missionaries for the PCUS. At the Chunju Station, Nisbet directed the Boys' School, taught language studies, supervised the Sunday School, and engaged in evangelistic work. Anabel Major Nisbet taught at the school and conducted language and religion classes for Korean women. During his tenure at Chunju Station, Nisbet also directed the construction of several new buildings for the mission, including the William M. Junkin Memorial School for Girls.

In 1911, the Nisbets transferred to the Mokpo Station in Korea, where John Nisbet continued to teach and evangelize. He founded and administered the Mokpo Bible School for Men and supervised the building of a hospital and school facilities. Anabel Major Nisbet conducted women's classes and administered the McCallie School for Girls.

After Anabel’s death in 1920, John Nisbet married Elizabeth Walker in 1921. John and Elizabeth remained at Mokpo Station until 1939, during which time a daughter, Margaret, was born. After returning to the United States, they settled first in Albemarle, North Carolina, and then in Montreat, North Carolina, in 1942. John Samuel Nisbet died in Montreat on December 20, 1949. Elizabeth Walker Nisbet died on April 19, 1958, in Denver, Colorado.