Fidelia Fisk

Fidelia Fisk was born 1 May 1816 in Shelburne, Massachusetts. Her uncle Pliny Fisk was also a noted missionary. She graduated from Mount Holyoke Seminary in 1839, and subsequently taught there. She had worked very closely with Mary Lyon, whom she considered as close as family. == In Qajar Iran ==

In 1843, she resigned her post at Mount Holyoke Seminary and went to Qajar Iran as a missionary among the Christian Assyrians (who were once called "Nestorians" by Americans during the late 18th century, but is now an outdated term). Fisk had been recruited for the job by missionary Justin Perkins to continue the work of Judith Grant, the wife of missionary Asahel Grant. Fisk had labored in Iran for fifteen years, much of the time as teacher in a female seminary, she also served as a nurse and extended social support for some of her students. By her last year in Urmia 1858, she had some 40 students. It was upon her leaving the school was named "Fiske Seminary". == Late life and death ==

In 1858, she returned to the United States with broken health, with the idea she would eventually return when she was healthy to do so. After her departure from Urmia, Nancy Jane Dean replaced her at the Fiske Seminary. Fisk was never able to return to Iran. She died on 9 August 1864. At the time of her death, she was engaged in writing Recollections of Mary Lyon (Boston, 1866). == Publications ==