Neumann, Robert 萬 (1823-1890) Alternative Names: Chinese Name: Wan 萬 Religious Affiliation: Berlin Missionary Association for China (Protestant)

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Reference Aids: Wylie, Memorials of Protestant Missionaries to the Chinese, pp. 208-209.

Compiler: R.G. Tiedemann

Robert Neumann, German missionary (Lutheran) (male), was born 19 June 1823 at Sommerfeld, Krs. Crossen, Prussia, in Germany, the son of a clothdresser. Was educated at Seminary of the Berlin Missionary Society, Berlin (1845-1849). He was ordained in 1849 at Berlin, Germany. In 1850 entered the Berlin Missionary Association for China (BHV) in Berlin, Germany.
He arrived in China with his wife on 28 March 1851 at Hongkong and worked in Hongkong and Guangdong mission. Following the death of Karl Gützlaff in August 1851, Neumann assumed control of the moribund Chinese Union. He visited the island of Hainan in 1854. He left China in 1855.
He later emigrated with his family to the United States, arriving in New York on 10 July 1857 in the ship Quebec from Hamburg. He subsequently was pastor in Pittsburgh, PA, and New York City. Among the pastors of the Pittsburgh Synod, Index No. 610: Neumann, Robert Henry, Admitted 1859, Pittsburgh, German Parish; removed to the Ministerium of New York in 1865: Castle Garden Mission. (Pastors of the Pittsburgh Synod — January 15, 1845 to June 15, 1924).
1862-1864, Rev. Henry Neumann (sic!) pastor at Trinity German Evangelical Lutheran Church, Franklin Township, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. (Ellis Beaver Burgess, Memorial History, 1925, p. 242).
1863-1864 Rev. Robert Neumann, pastor at St. Paul's German Evangelical Lutheran Church, Glenfield, Pennsylvania. "Pioneers of this community were chiefly Germans, many of whom were Lutherans in faith, but no church services were held until 1860, when they were visited by Rev. W. A. Passavant and Rev. H. C. Kaehler.... The congregation was regularly organized by Pastor Robert Neumann, February 8, 1863, with twenty-five communing members. In the early synodal records it is known as the 'Kilbuck Church'. On April 11, 1863, an application was made for a charter, which was signed by Pastor Robert Neumann [and others]...." (Burgess, pp. 250-251.).
"... the Castle Garden Mission of Pastor Robert Neumann, begun under the Ministerium, but continued under New York and New Jersey Synod auspices when Neumann changed synod affiliation in 1875. The Synod considered the Castle Garden Mission's support 'one of the high Christian duty and mercy'. Castle Garden Mission had managed to form colonies of immigrants sent to settle new lands in the west. One group, which moved from Russia and settled in Franklin County, Nebraska, forming a congregation there (St. Paul's Germany Lutheran Church of Wilhelmsruhe), was at least temporarily affiliated with the distant Synod through the ordination of their spiritual leader, a pious schoolmaster, F. W. Scheibel." Neumann had long been acquainted with Scheibel. (pp. 213-214)
The Lutheran Emigrant Mission, "a joint effort of the New York and Pennsylvania Ministeria begun in 1862. It too employed a missionary, Pastor Robert Neumann, formerly a General Synod missionary to China, who had been called to serve the German Lutheran immigrant population passing through the United States port of entry at Castle Garden near the southern tip of Manhattan Island. An ambitious Committee was supporting plans for a third mission project — 'Emigrant House' — also near Castle Garden, a dormitory facility with 'an office and Chapel' under development by Pastor Wilhelm Heinrich Berkemeier ..." (p. 142). This caused friction with Neumann (p. 143). [See Lutheran Cyclopedia, (1975), p. 85, 405.] In 1888 the Rev. Robert Neumann was living at 106 Summit, Brooklyn, NY (Brooklyn Directory 1888, 1889).

Robert Neumann died in 1890 at New York City, U.S.A.

He married Hermandine Schulze (born in Prussia in February 1827). Had issue: Hannah Neumann (born ca. 1854); Henrietta ["Etta"] H. Neumann (born May 1856 in Berlin, Germany, she married the widower Francis E. Williams ca. 1893), and and 8 other children, 8 of the 10 died young.

Literature:
Robert Neumann, China's Hoffnung : Missions-Predigt am Jahresfeste des Chinesischen Missions-Vereins an der Madue den 22. Juni 1856 zu Belkow, (Stettin : Grassmann, 1856).
Robert Neumann, Die Pflanzung des Christenthums im Innern von China : Wie ist sie möglich, und wie ist sie zu beginnen? Eine Denkschrift des Missionars Neumann. Hrsg. von dem Pommerschen Haupt-Verein zur Evangelisierung Chinas (Stettin : Grassmann, 1856).

Archival Material: Archives of the Berlin Missionary Society: Kirchliches Archivzentrum, Landeskirchliches Archiv der Evangelischen Kirche in Berlin-Brandenburg, Bethaniendamm 29, D-10997 Berlin, GERMANY.

Persons Index: Neumann, Robert / Neumann, Hermandine (Mrs. R. Neumann) / Schulze, Hermandine / Gützlaff, Karl Friedrich August

Subject Index: Hongkong / Guangdong / Berlin Missionary Association for China / Hainan / Chinese Union