Baldwin, Mary Briscoe

(May 20, 1811-June 1877). Missionary to Greece and Syria. She was born at Belle Grove, Frederick County, Virginia. When she was twenty-four, Baldwin went to Athens, Greece, to teach at the girls' school established by the Rev. and Mrs. John Hill. She was part of the Athens Episcopal Mission School family and its leadership from 1835 until 1852. From 1852 until 1866, Baldwin operated her own school in Athens. For the next several years, she ran an industrial mission where she provided sewing employment to needy Athenian women. In 1871 Baldwin moved to Jaffa, Syria, and established her own mission school. Her cousin, Mary Julia Baldwin, was the educator after whom Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia, was named. After Mary Briscoe's death, the school she founded in Jaffa was renamed the Mary Baldwin Memorial School. Baldwin died in Jaffa.