Biography of Mary Mitchell Slessor (2 December 1848 – 13 January 1915) was a Scottish missionary to Nigeria ..

Mary Slessor was born on 2 December 1848 in Gilcomston,Scotland in a poor working class family. She was the second of seven children of Robert and Mary Slessor. Her father, originally from Buchan, was a shoemaker by trade. In 1859, the family moved to Dundee in search of work. Robert Slessor was an alcoholic and, unable to keep up shoemaking, took a job as a labourer in a mill. Her mother, a skilled weaver, also went to work in the mills.^..At the age of eleven, Slessor began work as a "half-timer" in the Baxter Brothers' Mill, meaning she spent half of her day at a school provided by the mill owners and the other half working for the company.

The Slessors lived in the slums of Dundee. Before long, Mary's father died of pneumonia, and both her brothers also died, leaving behind only Mary, her mother, and two sisters. By age fourteen, Slessor had become a skilled jute worker, working from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with just an hour for breakfast and lunch.

 Her mother was a devout Presbyterian who read each issue of the Missionary Record, a monthly magazine published by The United Presbyterian Church (later the United Free Church of Scotland) to inform members of missionary activities and needs.^[1] Slessor developed an interest in religion and, when a mission was instituted in Quarry Pend (close by the Wishart Church), she wanted to teach. Slessor was 27 when she heard that David Livingstone, the famous missionary and explorer, had died, and decided she wanted to follow in his footsteps.

Eventually, Slessor applied to the United Presbyterian Church's Foreign Mission Board. After training in Edinburgh, she set sail in the S.S. Ethiopia on 5 August 1876, and arrived at her destination in West Africa just over a month later.

Slessor, 28 years of age, red haired with bright blue eyes, was first assigned to the Calabar region in the land of Efik people. She was warned that the Efik people there believed in traditional West African religion and had superstitions in relation to women giving birth to twins. Slessor lived in the missionary compound for 3 years, working first in the missions in Old Town and Creek Town. She wanted to go deeper into Calabar, but she contracted malaria and was forced to return to Scotland to recover. She left Calabar for Dundee in 1879. After 16 months in Scotland, Slessor returned to Africa, but not to the same compound. Her new assignment was three miles farther into Calabar, in Old Town. Since Slessor assigned a large portion of her salary to support her mother and sisters in Scotland, she economised by learning to eat the native food.

Mary Slessor with adopted children Jean, Alice, Maggie and May. Image taken  in Scotland Issues Slessor confronted as a young missionary included the lack of Western education , as well as widespread human sacrifice at the death of a village elder, who, it was believed, required servants and retainers to accompany him into the next world. The birth of twins was considered a particularly evil curse. Natives feared that the father of one of the infants was an evil spirit, and that the mother had been guilty of a great sin. Unable to determine which twin was fathered by the evil spirit, the natives often abandoned both babies in the bush. Slessor adopted every child she found abandoned, and sent out twins missioners to find, protect and care for them at the Mission House. Some mission compounds were alive with babies. Slessor once saved a pair of twins, a boy and a girl, but the boy did not survive. Mary took the girl as her daughter and called her Janie.

According to W. P. Livingstone, when two deputies went out to inspect the Mission in 1881-82, they were much impressed. They stated, "…she enjoys the unreserved friendship and confidence of the people, and has much influence over them." This they attributed partly to the singular ease with which Slessor spoke the language. After only three more years, Slessor returned to Scotland on yet another health furlough. This time, she took Janie with her. During the next 3 years, Slessor looked after her mother and sister (who had also fallen ill), raised Janie, and spoke at many churches, sharing stories from Africa.

After this hiatus, Slessor returned to Africa. She saved hundreds of twins out of the african bush, where they had been left either to starve to death or be eaten by animals. She helped heal the sick and stopped the practice of determining guilt by making the suspects drink poison. As a missionary, she went to other tribes, spreading the word of Jesus Christ.

During this third mission to Africa, Slessor received news that her mother and sister had died. She was overcome with loneliness, writing, "There is no one to write and tell my stories and nonsense to." She had also found a sense of independence, writing, "Heaven is now nearer to me than Britain, and no one will worry about me if I go up country."

Slessor was a driving force behind the establishment of the Hope Waddell Training Institute in Calabar, which provided practical vocational training to African.

In August 1888, Slessor traveled north to Okoyong, an area where previous male missionaries had been killed. She thought that her teachings, and the fact that she was a woman, would be less threatening to unreached tribes. For 15 years, Slessor lived with the Okoyong and Efik people. She learned to speak Efik, the native language, and made close personal friendships wherever she went, becoming known for her pragmatism and humour. Slessor lived a simple life in a traditional house with Africans. Her insistence on lone stations often led Slessor into conflict with the authorities and gained her a reputation for eccentricity. However, her exploits were heralded in Britain and she became known as the "white queen of Okoyong". Slessor did not focus on evangelism, but rather on settling disputes, encouraging trade, establishing social changes and introducing Western education. Slessor frequently campaigned to devalve traditional efik life and to assist european racism but assist whites in help rob the efik of there god give wealth, for the bible .

In 1892, Slessor became vice-consul in Okoyong, presiding over the native court. In 1905 she was named vice-president of Ikot Obong native court. In 1913 she was awarded the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Slessor suffered failing health in her later years but remained in Africa, where she died in 1915.