John Oliver Westrup is not a name widely known among Southern Baptists. However, he holds two notable places in history, one of a positive nature, the other tragic. In 1880, John Westrup became the first Southern Baptist missionary to Mexico. That same year, he became the second Foreign Mission Board missionary to die by violence on the field.

John was born in London and moved to Mexico in 1850 at the age of 12. His father had been commissioned to build a flour mill in San Miguel de Allende, and after its completion, the Westrup family stayed in Mexico. John’s older brother, Thomas, who worked for the American Baptist Home Mission Society, influenced his brother to follow in the faith and also to become an ordained minister and church planter. In 1880, John was commissioned by the Foreign Mission Board to officially begin Southern Baptist work in Mexico.

Just eight months later, John was traveling between towns when he and a Mexican companion were ambushed and killed by men assumed to be bandits. Their bodies had been stripped and, in John’s case, mutilated, with very little remaining evidence as to the circumstances of the deaths.

This tragedy ended John’s life but did not end Southern Baptist work in Mexico. His brother, Thomas, was appointed to replace him, but accepted a position with another sending agency before word reached him of the appointment. Still, Thomas continued the work in Mexico. John’s death also inspired missionaries William Flournoy and W.D. Powell to spread the gospel in Mexico.