McCaleb, John Moody, 1861-1953

Biographical note

John Moody (J.M.) McCaleb was born on September 25, 1861, in Duck River, Tennessee, to John and Jane McCaleb. At just six months of age, McCaleb lost his father who was shot and killed by a fellow Union Army soldier during the Civil War. The incident left Jane alone to raise six boys and to manage 365 acres of farmland.

Despite the family's unfortunate circumstances, Jane taught McCaleb how to read at an early age using the family Bible. When a subscription school started roughly two miles away, Jane sent McCaleb who was six at the time. Class was in session just three months out of the year to allow the children to help out at their homes.

In 1876, at age fifteen, McCaleb was baptized. From this young age it was evident that McCaleb was destined for a career in the church. Many community members felt he would make an excellent preacher from the talks and prayers he gave around the county. In the spring of 1888, at the age of twenty-six, McCaleb enrolled at the College of the Bible (now Transylvania College) in Lexington, Kentucky. While a student, he would occasionally preach on Sundays around the community and back home in the Tennessee area.

During college, McCaleb met his first wife, Dorothy (Della) Bentley, whom he married on October 7, 1891. Around that time, W.K. Azbill was organizing a group of missionaries to go to Japan. One of the missionaries he contacted was McCaleb who after careful consideration decided to go. McCaleb and his wife set off for Japan in the spring of 1892 with three other missionaries. While in Japan, the two had three children: Lois, James, and Ruth.

Soon after their arrival in Japan, the group opened a Sunday school and a charity school. The two female missionaries and Azbill oversaw the Yotsuya Ward, while McCaleb and his wife oversaw the Kanda Ward. Not long after their arrival, a lot was secured and a house was built in the Kanda Ward for the McCalebs to live in. The building was complete in 1899.

In 1899, the McCalebs returned to the United States on furlough. That same year, missionaries Mr. and Mrs. William J. Bishop arrived in Japan without a place to live. Therefore, in the McCalebs' absence, the Kanda Ward was turned over to the Bishops. When McCaleb returned to Japan, he was asked to teach in a middle school in the city of Kanazawa where he spent three months living with a Japanese family before returning to Tokyo to teach English.

On October 1, 1907, McCaleb opened Zoshigaya Gakuin, a boarding school for young men where English and Christianity were taught. That same year, his wife and three children returned to the United States permanently for the children's schooling. McCaleb continued to teach at the school until 1923 when it was closed because of damage done by the Great Kanto Earthquake.

In the late 1920s, McCaleb set off on a journey to visit missions around the world. He visited Korea, China, the Philippines, Singapore, India, South Africa, Egypt, Palestine, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Canada. He traveled 34,114 miles before returning home to Kentucky. McCaleb wanted to observe the work that other missionaries were doing in order to improve missionary work in the future.

McCaleb returned to Japan several more times before World War II broke out, and finally returned to the United States for good on October 22, 1941. After returning to the United States, McCaleb was invited to serve as a professor emeritus at Pepperdine University. In addition to teaching Asian Religion Studies at the University, McCaleb preached at various congregations in the area and even went to Juneau, Alaska, with a group of missionaries. In 1939, McCaleb's first wife passed away. A few years later, on January 27, 1942, he married again, this time to Elizabeth Reeves. The couple had plans to go to Japan but McCaleb's health declined and he passed away on November 7, 1953.

From the guide to the J.M. McCaleb papers, Bulk, 1891-1951, 1891-1995, (Pepperdine University. Special Collections and University Archives.)