David Cargill
David Cargill [1]
an English Wesleyan missionary, was converted under the Methodist ministry while pursuing his studies at the University of Aberdeen. In 1832 he was sent as a missionary to the Friendly Islands. In 1835 he and Mr. Cross commenced the Christianization of the Fiji cannibals of Laguemba. After a visit to England, Cargill was reappointed to the Friendly group with a special view to employing his learning for the translation of the Scriptures into the native tongue. Expectations were blasted, however, by his sudden death, at Vavao, April 24, 1843, only five months after his brave coadjutor, Cross, had laid down his weary life on a neighboring island. Cargill wrote a Life of his wife, Margaret, with Notices of the Progress of Christianity in Tonga and Fiji (Lond. 1853, 12mo). See Minutes of the British Conference, 1844; Newcombe, Cyclop. of Miss. 1854, p. 721; Missions in Tonga and Fiji, etc. (See William Cross).
