Thibaw Min
Lyon was succeeded by William Henry Roberts, a former soldier who had fought in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Roberts obtained grudging permission from the Burmese king, Thibaw Min, to build a school and educate the Kachins. Although his wife soon died from malaria, Roberts was to carry out his mission for 34 years. Ola Hanson, an accomplished linguist of Swedish origin, arrived in Katchinland in 1890 and was to remain for 38 years. He formulated an alphabet for the Jinghpaw language using the Latin script, prepared educational materials in the language as well as a grammar and a Jinghpaw-English dictionary, translated over 200 hymns into Jinghpaw and wrote a book on "Katchins: Their Customs and Traditions" (1913). Hanson also began work on a Jinghpaw translation of the Bible, translating St. John's Gospel within two years of his arrival.