author
Lillias H. (Lillias Horton) Underwood
b. 1851
A pioneering physician and missionary, she left one of the most vivid firsthand accounts of everyday life in Korea at the turn of the twentieth century. Her writing blends close observation, cultural encounter, and the practical realities of medical work abroad.
1 Audiobook
Fifteen Years Among the Top-Knots; Or, Life in Korea
by Lillias H. (Lillias Horton) Underwood
About the author
Born in Albany, New York, on June 21, 1851, Lillias Horton Underwood was an American doctor, writer, and Presbyterian missionary. She earned her M.D. from the Woman's Medical College of Chicago and later traveled to Korea, where she worked alongside her husband, missionary Horace Grant Underwood.
She is especially remembered for her books about Korea, including Fifteen Years Among the Top-Knots; or, Life in Korea and Underwood of Korea. These works are valued for their detailed, firsthand picture of Korean society, missionary life, and the challenges of medical and educational work during a period of major change.
Underwood died in Seoul on October 29, 1921. Today, her writing remains useful not only as memoir and travel literature, but also as a historical window into Korea and the lives of early women physicians working overseas.