Bright. Mild. To Church and S.S. Miss Carelton spoke in A.M. Nellie's classmate at
Folts. Took walk with Wagner and Young. To church for Lunch. To Epworth League. Talked. To bed 8:45. Thankful for Centenary & health.
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Folts is the Folts Mission Institute, a place where people studied missionary work. It was in Herkimer, NY. Nellie was apparently enrolled there at the time. The Institute no longer exists, but here is some information about it, taken from the website,
Folts Homes, which is what the institute eventually became.
Folts Homes History
In 1867, John A. and Catherine Folts began construction of the mansion at North Washington and State Streets in Herkimer, New York. Mr. Folts was a carpenter/contractor who also operated a sawmill on another site in partnership with Aaron Snell. In 1871 John Folts died, leaving the property to his wife and their only son, George Philo Folts. After Catherine Folts died in 1880, George P. Folts and his wife, Elizabeth, lived in the house until 1893. Mr. and Mrs. Folts transferred ownership of the property to the Northern New York Conference of the Methodist Church. The property “was to be used for the advancement of Christian education of male and female young people who, through a lack of personal funds, were unable to further their education.” The Folts Mission Institute was incorporated November 17, 1892, presented to the Women’s Foreign Ministry Society September 13, 1893, and dedicated November 21, 1893. The first class was graduated from the Folts Mission Institute in 1895.
In 1911, George P. Folts died at the age of 75. In 1914, the Folts Mission Institute fell under the jurisdiction of the Women’s Missionary Society of the Methodist Church. Due to declining enrollment brought on by competition from other education institutions, the Mission Institute closed in 1927.
Incidentally, 1919 was a momentous year for China. That was the year of the May Fourth Movement, which sparked the beginning of Chinese nationalism. No doubt missionaries had trouble continuing to operate in China during that time. Here is an excerpt from a Wikipedia article about those events.
The
May Fourth Movement was an anti-
imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student demonstrations in Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting the Chinese government's weak response to the
Treaty of Versailles, especially allowing Japan to
receive territories in Shandong which had been surrendered by
Germany after the
Siege of Tsingtao. These demonstrations sparked national protests and marked the upsurge of
Chinese nationalism, a shift towards political mobilization and away from cultural activities, and a move towards a populist base rather than intellectual elites. Many political and social leaders of the next decades emerged at this time.
The term "May Fourth Movement" in a broader sense often refers to the period during 1915-1921 more often called the
New Culture Movement.
