14 Facts About Justus Vinton

Justus H Vinton was an American Baptist missionary who worked for 25 years in Burma preaching the gospel amongst the Karen people.

Justus Vinton was born on 17 February 1806 in Willington, Connecticut.

Justus Vinton attended the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution.

Justus Vinton married Calista Holman in 1834, and three months later set sail to Burma in company with other missionaries: Mr and Mrs Wade, Mr and Mrs Howard, Mr and Mrs Dean, and Mr and Mrs Osgood and the two disciples.

Justus Vinton worked on the translation of the New Testament into Karen and wrote commentaries.

Between 1834 and 1848, Justus Vinton labors were confined to Moulmein district with occasional visits to Rangoon and Tavoy.

In 1847 Mrs Justus Vinton's health failed and she returned to America for treatment.

Justus Vinton visited the Baptist churches in almost all the states and raised funds for the indebted Baptist Missionary Union.

Rev Eugenio Kincaid, who was in Rangoon at that time, asked Justus Vinton to come to Rangoon and help with relief work.

Justus Vinton went to Rangoon at once; waiting for a formal authorization of his transfer from the Baptist Mission Union would have required six to eight months.

Six weeks after the capture of Rangoon, Justus Vinton's family joined him in Rangoon.

The Baptist Mission Union censured Justus Vinton for abandoning his post without authorization and going to Rangoon; he resigned from the Missionary Union and accepted, unpaid, the affiliation of American Baptist Free Mission Society.

In 1858 Justus Vinton went to Shwekyin to find appropriate locations for posting native preachers; he contracted a jungle fever there, and died on 31 March 1858.

In 1872, long after the death of Justus Vinton, he was finally vindicated by the Baptist Missionary Union and Brainerd rejoined the church.