Smith, Anna

Anna Smith (1876-1963) was an Evangelical United Brethren Church missionary to Sierra Leone. She attended school in Houghton, New York. Smith taught in public schools and then married William Boardman (?-1902). They went to Africa in 1902 and were Stationed at the Kunzu mission in Sierra Leone. Soon after their arrival in Africa Boardman died, but Smith carried on her work until she was furloughed in 1904. From 1904 to 1906 she was a field worker in the United States.

After returning to Africa in 1906 she married Reverend J. Hal Smith (1862-1915), and they became the first missionaries into Kono Land in the interior of Sierra Leone. Anna smith worked diligently at language study of the Kono dialect, and she successfully translated the four Gospels, as well as creating a dictionary and basic grammar book. Due to ill health she was forced to return to the United States in 1908. She remained on furlough until 1909. Smith returned to Sierra Leone later in 1909. A second furlough was taken from 1911 to 1912. From 1912 to 1914 she was again in Africa, but was forced to return to the United States due to failing health.

Unable to return to Africa, Smith began work with the Board of Foreign Missions as a fund raiser. She was elected Special Secretary in 1916 of the United Brethren Mission Board. In 1942 she retired. Soon after Smith became pastor of the Wayne Valley Evangelical United Brethren Church near Cory Pennsylvania (Erie Conference).

The Mende are one of the major ethnic groups in Sierra Leone occupying mainly the eastern and southern regions. Together with the Kono, Susu, and Yalunka ethnic groups, the Mende comprised one half of the population. The Mende language is a language of the Mende branch of the Niger-Congo family.