David Raymond Taggart served as a missionary with his wife for the Reformed Presbyterian Church Mission in South China at the beginning of the 20th century.
Born in Pennsylvania, USA in 1880, he graduated from Geneva College in 1903, then spent several months in the RPCNA Indian Mission in Oklahoma.
He entered the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary the autumn of 1904, was licensed to preach and finished his seminary course in 1907.
He did post-graduate work at Wisconsin University and at Michigan University. He supplied pulpits in various congregations, and in 1910, was ordained to do missionary work in China.
That same year, he was married to Sara Emma Wilson of Ohio, the sister of Lena Wilson, who became Mrs E C Mitchell. Together they went to the China mission in the autumn of 1910 and served till 1916, first at Tak Hing, later at Do Sing, finally at Lo Ting. Sara taught Sabbath School classes and generally helped as she could.
Like other RPCNA missionaries, the Taggarts owned a holiday villa on Cheung Chau, Hong Kong, where they spent their summers, and this villa appears on a Mission photo of 1911, our earliest known picture of the missionary villas. The Taggart’s villa can be identified as European House 25, in the south of the island.
Following his service on the mission field, Rev Taggart taught Greek in Muskingum College, then accepted a call to the pastorate in Topeka, Kansas, where he served until 1938. Sara served as pastor’s wife.
In 1933 Synod appointed him editor of the church periodical, The Covenanter Witness, and with the help of his wife, he served as editor for the rest of his life.
He was elected Moderator of the Reformed Presbyterian Church Synod in 1953, and the following year was given the degree of Doctor of Divinity by Geneva College.
Dr Taggart died in November 1958.
Sara Taggart died in Topeka, Kansas, in 1967.
Source: The Reformed Presbyterian Church Missions
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First impressions
Rev Taggart recorded his first impressions after arriving in China from industrial America in 1910:
Another thing is the market place, and the way they carry goods from the market. He knows no wrapping paper but a bamboo withe, or a straw, on which he strings his fish, pork dumplings and other things. When you remember that the breadwinner in a large household earns but ten to 12½ cents a day, you will see how one land, at least, has solved the question of high prices.
Native oranges may sell for five cents a dozen but are often peeled and sold by the fraction of an orange. It is not uncommon to see little piles of three peanuts each displayed for sale.
Another distinctive feature of the market is that every coin is tested by ear and eye before it is accepted. In a recent deal for mission property I saw four hundred dollars paid out in 20 cent pieces, yet every coin was inspected and tested before it was accepted.
A third thing that cannot pass unnoticed in China is the almost entire absence of the use of any power except that generated within the human frame. Water buffaloes are used in plowing and treading out grain, but aside from that, all work seems to be done by brute force and awkwardness. Rice is hulled by a foot power machine; boards are sawed with a hand saw; small boats are propelled by oars or dragged by men walking along the shore, or a few by treadmill.
For where wages are so low, how much better is a man than a sheep? One more impression: So often one meets with blind people. Blind men, blind women, blind children, blind babies! Not all are born blind, but every eye disease known to science flourishes here.
Source: The Reformed Presbyterian Church Missions