Kilborn, Omar Leslie

  • From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: See full biography at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Leslie_Kilborn
  • Wiki Biography:
    • Omar Leslie Kilborn November 20, 1867 – May 18, 1920), was a Canadian medical missionary who greatly advanced Western medical techniques in West China. He was one of the founders of the West China Union University in Chengdu, Sichuan, China and was a member of the Canadian Methodist Church. He was an educator, a leading professor of science and medicine, and the author of multiple medical and linguistic texts.
    • Kilborn was born in Frankville, Ontario, Canada on November 20, 1867. As the younger of the two sons of a village blacksmith, Kilborn worked many jobs along with his brother, Roland K. Kilborn. 
    • Kilborn believed that his duty as a medical missionary was to heal and care for the sick Chinese and fellow missionaries in China as well as “[teach] the science of medicine to young Chinese Christians in Mission Medical Colleges”. He hoped to bring western medicine to the Chinese, for the Chinese and by the Chinese.
    • In 1911, Kilborn organized the Chinese Red Cross Society in Sichuan and served the sick and wounded in the revolution. In 1913, the Kilborns also opened the Renji Hospital for Women, the first women’s hospital in West China, with a four-floor medical building that had 120 beds for patients.
    • With the regulation put out by the Church, missionaries were expected to learn Mandarin as their priority upon their arrivals in China. To help the newly-arrived missionaries to learn Chinese, Omar Kilborn composed the book Chinese Lessons For First Year Students in West China. Published in 1917 by Union University, Kilborn’s book includes frequently used Chinese words and phrases useful in daily conversations and missionary works. This book was used as a first year textbook for Chinese language students until the 1930s.
    • Kilborn also wrote, Our West China Mission: the Departments of Work and Their Cost, about his medical mission in China.
  • Second Great Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=4441
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/140340164/omar_leslie-kilborn