Fredrick Jewell Burton
The home of Elder and Mrs F.B Jewell, Congo Border Mission.
Born in Ithaca, New York in 1875, Fredrick Burton Jewell was converted to the faith of Seventh Day Adventism at the age of 21 years. He went to school at Battle Creek Sanitarium where he studied nursing and trained to be a qualified nurse.
In 1912, Elder Melvin Studervant, superintendent of the Solusi Mission, gave a call for more missionaries to be sent to the mission for the progress of the work. In 1903, F. B Jewell and his wife Elnora Van Horn arrived at Inyazura mission in 1913, to serve as out-school inspector and teacher. Inyazura mission had been started only two years prior to the arrival of the Jewells.
He served for a long time alongside the Studervants and in 1921, he requested to go on a furlough much to his disappointment as there were no funds. They went on to work at Zambesi for a while then came into Solusi where Mrs Jewells entered a lifetime teaching career. She taught basically every subject at the mission. Elder Jewell on the other hand went out across the countryside checking on the out schools and seeking newer mission sites. This tireless effort deteriorated his health and he was afforded a furlough in 1926 whence John Van de Merwe took over his work until his return. Van de Merwe was a recent graduate from Spion Kop College in Natal.
Van de Merwe stayed on as Jewell’s assistant in charge of out schools. This was in a bid to help reduce the amount of burden put on Jewell that came with the responsibility. Despite Jewell’s rest from the furlough, his health did not improve much due to walking long distances and riding bicycles over the terrains. Thus in 1929, at the age of 54, Jewell was suspended from duty on the grounds of deteriorating health.
His suspension from duty did not last too long however. He recovered and continued on his noble course. During his four decades of missionary work in Africa, Jewell had taken keen interest on health care and especially, newborn deliveries. He took charge of the clinic and was particularly committed at the maternity ward where he learnt birth complications everyday to understand how he would improve on saving the lives of newborns and their mothers. He delivered more than 1000 babies and went around the villages on a bicycle checking the progress of patience. Having gone for furlough to the States only once in 1926, Fredick Jewel Burton laid to rest at Bulawayo on May 16th 1967 after 43 years of service in Africa. He was buried at Solusi Mission.
