1803–1817

The family of the miracle morning

The Bilderbecks of the 1803 account — the European resident Savarimuthu Pillai had come to visit, and Henriette who examined the statue — were flesh and blood, and modern scholarship can now name the household: Christopher Bilderbeck, born about 1758, a merchant of European descent who settled at Vadakkankulam late in the eighteenth century and died in 1817. A son, John, was born in 1809, six years after the weeping. When John died in 1880, the journal of an English missionary society recorded of him that he was "born in India… of a Roman Catholic family, and trained for the priesthood of that Church."

DocumentedThis moment rests on 4 sources.
Badley 1886p. 37
London Missionary Society. 3? Thomas Kilpin Higgs. B. Dorchester, Sept. 1803. Or. Newport Pagnell, D June 10, 1830. A. at Calcutta, Oct. 24 ; and at Chinsurah, Nov. 8, 1830. at Calcutta, Dec. 3, 1832. A Willam Harris. B. 1805 at Glasgow. Or. Sept. 8, 1830 H 1831. to Eng. Oct. 1832. D. Portsmouth, April 28, 1833. ' May 30, William Buyers. B. Dundee 1804. Or. Woolwich, Feb 16 1831. A. Oct. 9,1831. S. Benares. H. March 13, 1841, to 1843. Again H. 1845. Rt. to Benares at his own expense. In Feb. ^ 1859 he removed to Almorah and labored there till 1861. In 1863 resigned his connection with the Society. L. "Letters on India :" " Recollections of^Northern India." Lon., Snow. John Bilderbeck. B. in 1809 in I. Was a Roman Catholic. Joined Black Town Con'l Church, Madras. Visited Eng. in 1831. Or. Dec. 22 1831. A. s,t Madras. May 1,1832. In 1833 removed to Chittoor. Resigned in 1841 and joined the C. M. Sojeiety. James Pater^on. B. July 1807. Or. Dec. 21,1831. A. in Calcutta, June 8, 1832. Removed to Berhampore, July 1832. H. to Eng. Dec 21 1847 Rt Dec. 1850. Laboured at Calcutta. D. Dec. 10, 1854, on the Ganges, while on a missionary journey to Dacca. Orlando Thomas Dobbin. B. May 29, 1807, at Charlemont, Ireland. Or. Jan. 6, 1832. A. at Calcutta, June 8, 1832. On account of ill-health, Ret. to Eng. Dec. 1832. R. May 18, 1833. He subsequently became pastor at Arundel, Sus- A. Lf m May 9, 1856. {See " Memoir" by Jolin S. Wardlaw, ' Vizagapatam," "1857)7 John Campbell. B. 1804 in I. Ed. at Homerton Col. Or. Dec. 20, 1832. A. at Calcutta, July 6, 1833. S. Kidderpore. R. in April 1846 to Eno- Charles Miller. B. 1805 at Forfar. Or. May 29, 1833. A.Oct. 5, 1833. S. Neyoor 1833-37, Nagercoil, 1837-40. D. at Poonamallee, Sept. 9, 1841. Robert Cotton Mather, L.L. D. B. Nov. 8, 1808, at New Windsor, Manchester. E. at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Homerton Col. Or. June 10 1833 A. at Calcutta, Nov. 15, 1833, at Benares, Sept. 7, 1834. In May 1838 removed to Mirzapore, where he commenced a new station. H. to Eng. at the close of 1844. Rt. Nov. 26, 1846, and resumed his work at Mirzapore. H. to Eng. in 1857. While in Eng. revised and carried through the press the Urdu Bible ; also diglot New Test. (Eng. and Urdu). R. to Mirzapore, Feb. 7, 1861. In 1869 completed new edition of Roman-Urdu Bible, and commenced an edition in Urdu-Arabic with references. H. to Eng. in 1873. While in Eng. carried through the press a Hindustani version m of N. T. portion of Annotated Paragraph Bible, and, subsequently, 0. T. portion of the same. R. 1875. D. at Finchlav, near Lon, April 21, 1877. John Adam Shurman. B. 1810 in Westphalia. Or. June 10, 1833. A. Nov. 15, 1833. S. Benares. Devoted himself to the Educational and Scripture Translation department. Did much in preparing Urdu and Hindustani versions of the Scriptures. In April, 1842, went to Calcutta to superintend the printing of the Urdu version of 0. T. Ret. to Benares in June, 1843. In Oct. 1843 Ret. to Eng. Rt. via New York, Feb. 20, 1846. Labored at Benares, until his death, Oct. 1, 1852. George Welsh. B. 1803, at New Cunnock, appointed to Bangalore. Or, A. at Madras, Sept. 1834, and D. there Oct. 21, 1834. Thomas Boaz, LL.D. B. Aug. 10, 1806, at Scarborough. Or. June 18, 1834. A. at Calcutta, Dec. 10, 1834. Was pastor of Union Chapel. H. to En^. ia 147. Rt. Jan. 7, 1850. On account of iU-health Bet, to Eng. in Dec,
37

Indian Missionary Directory and Memorial VolumeCalcutta: Methodist Publishing House, 1886

Published before 1930. In the public domain, and reproduced here in full.

What this source establishes

John Bilderbeck's birth year, 1809 — six years after the weeping — and the family's Catholicism, in one line of a Methodist directory with no stake in either.