Carl and Elisabeth Wahl Papers

Carl B. Wahl was born on March 19, 1886 in Paton, Iowa, the youngest of twelve children of Christian and Anna Gertrude Wahl. He grew up in a devout home and made his profession of faith in God at age ten in the Paton Evangelical Church. After attending public schools in Paton, he worked at various jobs until 1909 when he entered North Western College (now North Central College) in Naperville, IL, an institution of the Evangelical Church. He was active in sports, debate, publications, and the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions. During the summer of 1910 he attended a YMCA conference and heard an appeal for workers in China. After college, Carl was a teacher and superintendent of public schools in Sheffield, Iowa. In 1913 he entered the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Naperville, IL and received his B.D. in 1916. On Nov. 17, 1915 his appointment to China was issued by the Mission Board of the Evangelical Church, and he left for China on September 7, 1916. After a year of language study in Nanking, Carl was assigned to do evangelistic work in Shenchow, where he met Wilhelmina Elisabeth Schempp, a German missionary of the Evangelical Church.

Wilhelmina Elisabeth Schempp was born on August 3, 1884 in Eisenach, Germany, the third of ten children of Pastor Johannes and Fredericke Schempp. Her father was a parish pastor who later became president of the Evangelical seminary in Reutlingen. Elisabeth felt an early call to missions. She went to the United States in 1908 for a year of language study. In 1909 she went to Shenchow in the interior of China and became a teacher.

Carl and Elisabeth were married on July 29, 1919 in Hankou (Hankow). In the fall of that year they moved to Tongren, Guizhou (Tungjen, Kweichow Province) to establish the Ming Teh Boys' School. Carl supervised the building of the school and their new home. Carl and Elisabeth were the parents of four children: John (1920); Margaret Elisabeth (1923), Anna Gertrude (1925), all born in Tongren (Tungjen), and Helen Louise (1927) born on furlough in Reutlingen, Germany.

The Wahls experienced a number of temporary evacuations due to disruptions caused by thieves, floods, and political events. During one Communist threat in September 1934 the family left Kweichow province by river boat. Carl had been ill for sometime with intestinal problems and during the slow river boat trip his condition worsened. On November 24, 1934 he was admitted to Hunan Yale hospital and emergency surgery was performed, but he died on December 3 at the age of 48.

Elisabeth and the children traveled to Germany in 1935 and then to the United States. Elisabeth secured the approval of the Evangelical Church Mission Board to return to China as a teaching missionary. The two younger children accompanied her while the others lived with relatives in the United States. In 1941 the younger children were evacuated to the U.S. but Elisabeth carried on her ministry until the Japanese invasion until forced to escape by perilous journey to Mumbai (Bombay), India. She eventually settled in Naperville, IL where she continued to be active in the church. Elisabeth died at age 93 on December 18, 1977.