Late nineteenth-century Turkey was characterized by civil unrest and violence. Following the end of the reformist Tanzimat period (1839-1876) and rule of Sultan Abdulaziz (1861-1876), Christian missionaries were often the targets of violent, and sometimes deadly, attacks. The murder of Reverend Justin W. Parsons in 1880 serves as just one example of the brutality experienced by missionaries abroad.

Parsons, a graduate of Williams College and Union Theological Seminary, served as a missionary in Turkey with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) for 30 years. He and his wife, Catherine Jennings, established schools and organized medical facilities in and around Constantinople. This collection primarily contains correspondence to Parsons’ brother-in-law, Isaac Jennings, regarding Parson’s death. Jennings, a lawyer based out of Vermont, sought the involvement of the U.S. State Department as well as pecuniary damages from the Turkish government on behalf of his sister.