Mary Elizabeth Van Lennep (née, Hawes; April 16, 1821 – September 27, 1844) was an American missionary, school founder, and memoirist.

Her religious writings were contained in a journal which she commenced in January 1841 and closed in June 1843, just before leaving home;[2] the unpublished manuscript was found after her death.

[7] In October 1838, Van Lennep's father took her to the family of Dr. and Mrs. Fitch in New Haven, Connecticut[8] where she joined a sewing circle and read the New Testament in French.

Here, she also read Shakespeare, some of Milton's short poems, John Marshall's The Life of George Washington, and Jared Sparks.

Her father was an advocate for seasonable hours, and was exceedingly annoyed by any irregularities either in rising or retiring, which broke in upon family order, or interrupted the regular studies and duties of the day.

She knew her father did not want to exclude her from society; on the contrary, that he chose to have her mingle freely with her young friends, and participate with them in all the appropriate enjoyments of social engagements.

[13] Impressed with the importance of missions, she formed a society among her young friends to sew and knit for the purpose of providing clothing for the families who were abroad.

The first was a season of sickness by which Van Lennep almost died, which began in August 1841,[14] and continued through the summer, which gave her time for reflection.

It was a manuscript of about 500 pages, compactly written, in which the principal events of two and a half years of her life were briefly noticed, together with the influence which these had upon her character.

Although in all her letters there were sufficient indications that she was always under the influence of religious principle, and that she greatly desired her friends might sympathize with her in this, yet there were times when she made a more than ordinary effort to turn their attention to the subject of religion.

As noted in her journal, she had a constant sense of her dependence on divine aid in all her efforts to promote the spiritual welfare of others, and this was especially true when contemplating her qualifications for the work of missions.

She had from early youth been a devoted, self-denying worker of the church at home, but now that her field was about to be changed, she felt a new and increased sense of dependence upon God for aid.

Born in Smyrna, he was a missionary under the patronage of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and was destined to return to Turkey.

After the wedding, the couple spent their honeymoon at Niagara Falls, as well as stopping by Rochester, New York for a meeting of the American Board.

[19] Along with her piano and bureau,[20] she sailed from Boston in company with her husband and father, in the barque, Stamboul, on October 11, 1843, with the missionaries well-accommodated on board.

She hoped also to have remained in her Smyrna home, as she had for some time regarded it, until she should have qualified herself by a study of the languages, to take her place among the missionaries of the East.

In addition, she was perplexed when at length, a new and very important field was assigned as the scene of their future labors, the main burden of which was to rest upon herself.

[26] In this same period, 1843–44, Rufus Anderson, of the American Board, visited Levant-based missionaries and became convinced of the need for a female seminary for the Armenians in Constantinople.

[27] In January 1844, while Van Lennep was too ill to leave her bed, she became aware of a proposed plan for their removal to serve in another area, and that they were candidates for Trebizond.

[34] In it, as she never separated religion from the active duties and daily enjoyments of life, so in her private journal she did not disconnect these; and while it contains a faithful record of her religious views and feelings, it gives them in connection with the objects and events by which she was influenced in her dealings with the world around her.