He arrived in Clayton County, Illinois, in 1883 to undergo a blacksmithing apprenticeship with his uncle in Peoria, and later moved to nearby Secor, where he married Pauline.

[9] The university pastor recommended Vautrin to the recruiters of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society, who requested that she replace a teacher in China.

[8] Iris Chang, writer of The Rape of Nanking, notes that Vautrin was "Tall and Handsome in her youth, with long dark hair, she was a vivacious and popular woman who attracted numerous suitors," but who decided that instead of getting married she would become a missionary.

While at Columbia University, Vautrin was approached by a teacher from Ginling College, and was asked to serve as president of the institution for one year.

She created courses on education administration and management, an innovative student-teaching program, and handled the planning and funding of the new campus by the West Gate of Nanjing.

During the fall semester of 1922, Vautrin hosted a fundraiser to build an elementary school for 150 local, mostly illiterate children who lived in the homes near Ginling College's campus.

"[11] In 1926, after Vautrin returned from a brief visit to her family in America, the Chinese Nationalist government's Northern Expedition troops under General Chiang Kai-shek captured Nanjing.

[12] While in Nanjing, the army perpetrated the Nanking Incident, which involved the destruction and looting of the city and the slaughter of native citizens as well as foreigners.

[citation needed] Upon hearing of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, Vautrin cancelled her planned furlough, scheduled for 1938, and immediately returned to Nanjing from Tokyo in order to protect Ginling College and its students.

Anticipating a direct Japanese assault on the city, the foreigners who chose to stay in Nanjing organized the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone (ICNSZ) on November 15, 1937.

[6] When the Imperial Japanese Army took complete control of Nanjing in December 1937, she and other foreign nationals—including John Rabe—worked to protect civilians in the Nanking Safety Zone.

Ginling College took up its full role as a refugee haven, at times harboring up to 10,000 women in buildings designed to support between 200 and 300.

[6] One of her entries was a prayer: Oh, God, control the cruel beastliness of the soldiers in Nanking tonight, comfort the heartbroken mothers and fathers whose innocent sons have been shot today, and guard the young women and girls through the long agonizing hours of this night.

[citation needed] Vautrin would patrol the campus grounds and repel incursions of Japanese soldiers into the college and rescue and care for refugees.

The occasional shots that we hear out on the hills, or on the street, make us realize the sad fate of some man—very probably not a soldier.On 19 December: In my wrath, I wished I had the power to smite them for their dastardly work.

[12] Near the end of her service at Ginling College, Vautrin wrote several entries that lacked her previous determination and optimism.

Can no longer forge ahead and make plans for the work, for on every hand there seems to be obstacles of some kind.In the spring of 1940, suffering from severe stress probably due to worry about the fate of Ginling College and its students,[6] Vautrin was accompanied back to the United States by a colleague.

[14] One entry in her journal, recorded shortly before her death, displays her devotion to Ginling College and the people of China, whom she served for 28 years as a Christian missionary: Had I ten perfect lives, I would give them all to China.Resting Place: Salt River Cemetery, 9433 South Shepherd Rd., Shepherd, Michigan, US Vautrin was awarded the Order of Brilliant Jade on July 30, 1938, by the Chinese government for her sacrifices during the Nanjing Massacre.

[15] Her work saving the lives of Chinese civilians during the massacre is recounted in the biographical book, American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking, written by historian Hua-Ling Hu.

In the 2009 film John Rabe, Minnie Vautrin is replaced by the fictive Valérie Dupres of an "International Girls College" as an important fellow Nanking Safety Zone committee member.