The Persian Flower

The American Protestant mission to the Assyrians was established in Urmia in 1835 and was active for almost 100 years. The missionaries who served in the mission were often married before joining the mission and their children were born and raised in the mission field. In four notable cases, the sons of missionaries returned and joined the mission after receiving their education in the United States. However, infant mortality affected the children of the missionaries as well as the people they served. Of the 59 graves in the mission cemetery in the village of Seir, 41 belong to children. This volume contains a memoir of the short life of Judith Perkins, the daughter of Justin Perkins (1805-1869) who served as the first head of the mission.