Boon Tuan Boon Itt was born February 15, 1865, in the village of
Bangpa, which was a Chinese settlement near Ratburi. After his
mother removed to Bangkok with her children, Boon Itt and his
younger brother Boon Yee entered the mission school and there
began their primary education. Only three years after that, Dr.
and Mrs. House resigned. When they were about to return home they
arranged to take Boon with them and undertook to have him educated
in America. At the same time the retiring missionaries agreed to
supervise the education of another Siamese boy, Nai Kawn, at the
request of his father.
Rev. J. A. Eakin, D.D., in his sketch of Boon Itt, gives this
touching picture of the night before his departure:
“The warm clothing, so different from anything that he had
been accustomed to wear, was all made and packed in his
little box. He had taken leave of his teacher and the school.
On the morrow he was to leave his native land. On that last
night his mother visited him, and sitting together in their
favorite place by the riverside, they talked long of the
future. Years afterward, when he was a student of Theology,
in a letter to his mother he referred to that night, and said
that her farewell words of counsel had always remained in his
mind, and had been a great help to him.”
The home of Dr. and Mrs. House was to be in Waterford, New York,
and thither they brought their young charges. Boon early became
imbued with the American idea of self-dependence. He sought to
learn to do as American boys do. In vacation time he looked for
jobs to earn money towards his own support. When Dr. and Mrs.
House assumed the responsibility for his education, they supposed
that their income would be sufficient to bear the expense; but
with the failure of their investments a serious problem confronted
them. Fortunately, Boon won his way into the hearts of the people,
so that the Presbyterian Sunday school of Waterford undertook to
make an annual contribution of seventy-five dollars, and continued
this amount until his full course was finished. Individuals also
assisted privately.