
author
1864–1942
A missionary writer who turned years of hardship, prayer, and work in China into vivid, personal books. Her life joined artistic beginnings in Canada with a long and demanding calling overseas.

by Rosalind Goforth
Born near Kensington Gardens in London on May 6, 1864, Rosalind Goforth was raised in Canada after her family moved to Montreal when she was very young. She studied at the Toronto School of Art and originally planned to continue her art training in London, but her path changed after she married Jonathan Goforth in 1887.
Together, the Goforths served as Presbyterian missionaries in Manchuria and other parts of China. Their life was marked by intense travel, evangelistic work, and deep personal loss: they had eleven children, and five died in infancy or early childhood.
Rosalind Goforth also became known as an author, writing books including How I Know God Answers Prayer, Goforth of China, and Climbing: Memoirs of a Missionary's Wife. She died in Toronto on May 31, 1942, leaving behind writing that gives a direct, personal view of missionary life in her era.