Birth: 14-02-1792
Death: February 1867
Native Place: Templeton, Massachusetts
Country : United States
Place of Vision: Constantinople and Beirut
Path of the Cross is the path of suffering. It can be visualized more evidently in the life of a missionary. Fleeing in wartime, dwelling amid the plagues and calamities, enduring opposition and persecution with patience, sickness, loss of dear ones, continuously shifting from one place to the other, forty years in foreign land…-but never turned back! “I am Yours… Send me where You will; arm me with Christian courage, and most cheerfully I go to the ends of the earth to proclaim Your salvation!; You don’t need my services. I beg the privilege of serving You.” were the prayers of William Goodell who never faltered in his commitment to serve the Lord even amid sufferings.
Goodell, as a missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, reached Malta in January 1823 along with his wife Abigail and other missionaries. There they stayed several months studying the languages of the East. By November they moved to Beirut and served among Arabs, Turks, Jews, Greeks, Maronites, Franks, etc. So, practicing various languages has become their daily routine. Amid constant opposition from Catholic Church, wars and plagues, they served there till 1828. Beirut thus became the head-quarters of missionary operations in Syria.
After returning to Malta, Goodell finished his New Testament translation into Armeno-Turkish by 1830. In 1831, he was appointed to start a mission at Constantinople. Calamities, plagues, wars, opposition from Greeks and Catholics, and persecution followed them. Once fire consumed what all they had. His son died of Typhoid in 1841. The same year Goodell finished translating the whole Bible into Armeno-Turkish and worked on its revision till 1863. During his time, Turkey experienced the Protestant Reformation movement. He was also instrumental in establishing numerous schools.
Goodell, after accomplishing forty years of fruitful ministry in the Turkish Empire (1823-51; 1853-65), went back to America in 1865 and continued to serve the Lord till his last breath.
