John G. Salchow
No Image

John G. Salchow (1865-1945) was born in Junction City, Kansas, and died in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents emigrated from Germany before he was born, and he grew up working on his family's farm in Kansas. Sometime around 1883 his sister Bertha A. M. Salchow secured a few copies of The Christian Science Journal and passed them on to him to read. He then ordered a copy of Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by mail, and after reading a few pages he was healed of stomach trouble. As a result of his interest and their own reading of the textbook, Salchow's entire family embraced the new faith and helped establish a church in Junction City, Kansas, in 1890. Along with his parents Henrietta F. Salchow (b. Pretzer) and Charles F. H. Salchow and his sister Hanna C. Anderson (b. Salchow), he studied Christian Science with Eddy's student Joseph G. Mann. Salchow and his parents joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 1, 1893, and he worked there as a utility man for many years. Many of his siblings also joined the church: Margaret "Maggie" D. Salchow, who would later work in Eddy's Pleasant View home as a maid, on July 1, 1893; Bertha, who studied Christian Science with Eddy's student Emma D. Behan and became a Christian Science practitioner, on July 1, 1893; Henry Salchow, who studied Christian Science with Eddy's student Mary E. Dunbar, on January 6, 1894; and Hanna on June 30, 1894. He married Mary M. Salchow (b. McNeil) in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1906, and she joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 4, 1909.

On the recommendation of Mann, Salchow worked in the homes of Eddy for nine years until her passing, starting in January 1901 at her Pleasant View home in Concord, New Hampshire, and then at her Chestnut Hill home in Boston, Massachusetts, when she moved there in 1908. Eddy referred to him as "Faithful John"; he worked as a handyman, proficient in working on the plumbing, heating, and electrical systems of the homes, and briefly as a watchman. He cared for the horses, milked the cows, planted and maintained the vegetable and flower gardens, and when Eddy bought her first car, he cared for it and learned how to drive. He also made ice cream for Eddy every day. Salchow enjoyed amateur photography, and in 1911 he published exterior and interior pictures of the Chestnut Hill home in his Souvenir Album of the Home of Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. From October 1915 to November 1917 he lived in the Isle of Pines, Cuba, where he was employed to grow fruit for an American corporation, the Swetland Packing Company. Upon his return from Cuba, he farmed again in Kansas, but moved back to Boston by 1930.

See more letters.

John G. Salchow
No Image

John G. Salchow (1865-1945) was born in Junction City, Kansas, and died in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents emigrated from Germany before he was born, and he grew up working on his family's farm in Kansas. Sometime around 1883 his sister Bertha A. M. Salchow secured a few copies of The Christian Science Journal and passed them on to him to read. He then ordered a copy of Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by mail, and after reading a few pages he was healed of stomach trouble. As a result of his interest and their own reading of the textbook, Salchow's entire family embraced the new faith and helped establish a church in Junction City, Kansas, in 1890. Along with his parents Henrietta F. Salchow (b. Pretzer) and Charles F. H. Salchow and his sister Hanna C. Anderson (b. Salchow), he studied Christian Science with Eddy's student Joseph G. Mann. Salchow and his parents joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 1, 1893, and he worked there as a utility man for many years. Many of his siblings also joined the church: Margaret "Maggie" D. Salchow, who would later work in Eddy's Pleasant View home as a maid, on July 1, 1893; Bertha, who studied Christian Science with Eddy's student Emma D. Behan and became a Christian Science practitioner, on July 1, 1893; Henry Salchow, who studied Christian Science with Eddy's student Mary E. Dunbar, on January 6, 1894; and Hanna on June 30, 1894. He married Mary M. Salchow (b. McNeil) in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1906, and she joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 4, 1909.

On the recommendation of Mann, Salchow worked in the homes of Eddy for nine years until her passing, starting in January 1901 at her Pleasant View home in Concord, New Hampshire, and then at her Chestnut Hill home in Boston, Massachusetts, when she moved there in 1908. Eddy referred to him as "Faithful John"; he worked as a handyman, proficient in working on the plumbing, heating, and electrical systems of the homes, and briefly as a watchman. He cared for the horses, milked the cows, planted and maintained the vegetable and flower gardens, and when Eddy bought her first car, he cared for it and learned how to drive. He also made ice cream for Eddy every day. Salchow enjoyed amateur photography, and in 1911 he published exterior and interior pictures of the Chestnut Hill home in his Souvenir Album of the Home of Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. From October 1915 to November 1917 he lived in the Isle of Pines, Cuba, where he was employed to grow fruit for an American corporation, the Swetland Packing Company. Upon his return from Cuba, he farmed again in Kansas, but moved back to Boston by 1930.

See more letters.