Homer Bezaleel Hulbert was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 missionary, journalist and political activist who advocated for the independence of Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

.

Biography

Hulbert was born in New Haven, Vermont

New Haven, Vermont

New Haven is a town in Addison County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,666 at the 2000 census. New Haven contains the village of Belden as well as Brooksville, New Haven Junction and New Haven Mills.-Geography:...

, in 1863 of Calvin

Calvin Butler Hulbert

Calvin Butler Hulbert was president of Middlebury College from 1875 until 1880. As president, Hulbert suspended the entire student body of the college following a controversy over hazing...

 and Mary Hulbert. His mother Mary Elizabeth Woodward Hulbert was a granddaughter of Mary Wheelock, daughter of Eleazar Wheelock

Eleazar Wheelock

Eleazar Wheelock was an American Congregational minister, orator, educator, and founder of Dartmouth College....

, the founder of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

. After graduating from Dartmouth, Hulbert attended Union Theological Seminary

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...

 in 1884. He originally went to Korea in 1886 with two other instructors, Delzell A. Bunker and George W. Gilmore, to teach English at the Royal English School. He stayed until his expulsion by the governor-general of Korea on May 8, 1907.

Legacy

Hulbert's tombstone reads “I would rather be buried in Korea than in Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...

.” He is interred at Yanghwajin Foreigners' Cemetery

Yanghwajin Foreigners' Cemetery

Yanghwajin , also known as the Hapjeong-dong International Cemetery, is a cemetery overlooking the Han River in the district of Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Designated in 1890 as a site for foreign missionaries by King Gojong, the site is currently open to the public from 9:00am to 6:00pm and is...

 in Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

. He was the recipient of the Order of Merit for National Foundation by the Korean Government. He is occasionally referred to in Korean as a 독립유공자 ("contributor to independence"). He was reported to have been a close personal friend of Emperor Kojong.

Selected bibliography

• 1892 The Korean Repository (He was the editor of this monthly magazine)
• 1889 Knowledge Necessary for All
• 1903 Sign of the Jumna
• 1903 Search for a Siberian Klondike
• 1905 The History of Korea
• 1905 Comparative Grammar of Korean and Dravidian
• 1906 The Passing of Korea
• 1925 Omjee - The Wizard
• 1926 The Face in the Mist

External links

• The Hulbert Memorial Society