This post contains affiliate links. Recently, Cuddle Bug and I read William Carey: Obliged to Go by Janet & Geoff Benge. While we’ve read many of these books, this was the first one we’ve read in a while that contained vivid descriptions and great detail about Carey’s life.
About William Carey: Obliged to Go by Janet & Geoff Benge
William Carey was born to a working family, and his family had apprenticed him by the time he was a tween. However, due to the death of the man he was apprenticed to, Carey went on to learn to be a cobbler. He met his wife when he was apprenticing. She was older than him, and they had a child soon after marriage.
Before William married his wife, he had already learned Greek and was an ordained minister. However, he did not have much money, and he and Dolly lived a difficult life. Their poor living quarters caused them to be frequently sick, which affected their children and ultimately caused a few of their deaths.
Still, William was committed to spreading the faith, so much so that he volunteered himself to work as a missionary in India. However, Dolly wouldn’t hear of it.
Yet, William made that trip to India and stayed there for the rest of his life.
My Thoughts on the Book
I’m always in awe of people packing up and moving thousands of miles away. When William first made the trip to India in the late 1790s, he had to travel on a boat for almost half a year. I can’t imagine! Likewise, he had to learn the language and the local customs before he could start working with the Indian people.
William Carey certainly did not have an easy life. He was poor most of his early life. Several of his children died, his wife went insane, and he faced devastating losses in India, but he persevered with determination.
I give William Carey: Obliged to Go by Janet & Geoff Benge 5 out of 5 stars on the Mom’s Plans’ scale.
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