Emily Prankard

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Robert Morrison

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Emily Prankard Gilmour was a Protestant missionary to Mongolia with the London Missionary Society

James Gilmour, having only seen a picture of her, and heard stories of her from Mrs. Meech, her sister--although he had not seen or written her a line to her before, wrote Emily a letter in January, proposing marriage. Later, in the spring, he went up country and returned about July, to find that she had accepted his proposal. Many people thought he was running a great risk, but he assured them that he was at ease, for he had asked the Lord to provide. When the bride-to-be visited Gilmour's parents they were much pleased and said she would suit him well. Her first glimpse of her husband was from a boat near Tianjin as he stood on a lighter coming out to meet her. He was dressed in an old overcoat and had a large woolen comforter around his neck, -- for it was cold, -- not the usual method to make a favorable impression. She landed on Thursday and the following Tuesday, December 8, 1874, they were married. He afterwards wrote, "She is a jolly girl, as much, perhaps more, of a Christian and a Christian missionary than I am."

After there marriage Emily learned to speak Mongolian and joyfully shared all of Gilmour's experiences and dangers. Twice she spent the summer travelling about the plains of Mongolia with him, sleeping in a tent, and enduring hardships. But she physically was not able to endure that kind of life for a long time, so she began working among the Chinese girls in Beijing, where her husband joined her in the winter to work among the Mongols who came there. James and her had three children: James (Jimmie), William (Willie), and Alexander (Alec or Alick) who died as a toddler. Emily went home to be with Jesus 19 September 1885, not long after the birth of their third son.