Rev Burr Hastings Baughman was born in Bu¬itzenborg, Java, Indonesia on 21 October 1910 to a Methdist missionary couple. He earned his baccalaureate from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in 1930 and his B.D. degree from Garrett Biblical Institute in Evansion, IIIinois in 1938.
In 1932-1942 Rev Baughman taught in various Methodist boys schools in Penang and Singapore and also preached in local churches on Sundays. He also worked with the Methodist mission to the Sengoi, an indigenous people group (Orang Asli) in Peninsula Malaya.
During the Japanese Occupation between 1942 and 1945, Rev Baughman was detained at the Detention Camp. After his release, Rev Baughman continued to work with the Sengoi mission until 1948. In 1946, he married Giam Tek Lin in Malacca. After being informed that he was not allowed to build a Sengoi school or residence for himself anywhere in the Malaysian jun¬gle, Rev Baughman was transferred by the Methodist Church to Kapit, Sarawak, to work among the lbans in late 1948.
Rev Baughman was assigned to oversee the lban mission and worked together with another mission¬ary, Lucius Mamora, who had been serving there for many years. From 1948 until his retirement in 1975, he worked among the lbans of the Rejang, traveling to preach in lban longhouses. His wife, Madam Giam, taught at a Methodist school in Kapit.
On Christmas eve, 1949, Rev Baughman baptized the first group of I bans of 29 into the Methodist Church at a mission service in Panto, Kapit. Among them were the three lban chiefs, Pengulu Jugah, Pengulu Sibat and Pengulu Jinggut together with their families.
Rev Baughman was fondly remembered for many achievements. He worked to promote adult literacy among the lbans. He produced many of the materials that were needed to teach literacy. He was a member of the Inter-church Committee on Bible Translation, translating several books of the Old Testament into lban. He also, with Rev Mamora, translated hymns that are still sung in the I ban Methodist Church. He was the author of an instructional reference text titled “Speaking I ban”. He was also a pioneer lecturer at the Methodist Theological school in Sibu.
To honour his contributions he was awarded Honorary Pegawai Bintang Sarawak (PBS) by the Governor of Sarawak in 1964. In 1975, the couple retired to Florida, USA.
He died on 2 December 1998 at Brandon, Hillsborough.
References:
1) Earnest Lau.Borneo’s first lban Methodist.MM, October 1950, p.8.
2) Reverand Burr Hastings Papers, Brantley Palmer, Keene State College
3) The Encyclopaedia of lban Studies, Vinson and Joanne Sutlive, The Tun Jugah Foundation, 2001.
Compiled by Menglei, translated by Christina