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Annetta Thompson Mills Papers, 1857-1993Finding Aid© 2006
Biographical NoteAnnetta Eugenia Thompson (Mills) was born in Portage, NY on July 20, 1853 to Robert W. Thompson and Sarah van Slyke. She had an older sister, Alletta, and a half brother, Lincoln, who was deaf. Annetta taught at the Western New York Institution for Deaf- Mutes in Rochester, NY (later the Rochester School for the Deaf), where her brother and another boy, Charles G. Mills, were students. There she met the Rev. Dr. Charles R. Mills, father of Charles G. Mills and a widowed missionary to Chefoo, China, who had come to Rochester to visit his son. She accompanied him back to China, they married in 1884, and in 1887 she founded the Chefoo School for the Deaf. They had three children, Samuel John Mills (1886-1970), Roger Sherman Mills (1889-1964), and Ruth Edna Mills (1891-1898; died of scarlet fever). Annetta administered the Chefoo School school until her retirement circa 1924; her niece Anita E. Carter succeeded her. She lived in Kuling for several years and 1926 moved to Nanking where her son, Samuel, ran the language school for new missionaries. Following the Nanking Incident in 1927, Annetta left China and lived with her son, Roger, in Chicago, until her death on April 19, 1929. As of 1989 the school still existed; the name of the school had been changed to the Yantai School for the Deaf, to reflect the name change of the town in which it was/is located. Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Contents of the CollectionThis collection consists primarily of materials about the life of Annetta Thompson Mills and the history of the Yantai (Chefoo) School for the Deaf in Yantai, China. Also included are documents pertaining to Anna Aschenbach's visit to China in 1987 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the school. It is a comprehensive collection consisting mostly of photocopies of documents. There are also some original photographs as well as reproductions and photocopies of images. NOTE: There is no container list online for this finding aid. You may contact the Sophia Smith Collection if you want one sent to you. Return to the Table of Contents Search TermsReturn to the Table of Contents |
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