Dr. William Edgar Geil (October 1, 1865, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania – April 11, 1925, in Venice) was an unordained evangelist, explorer, lecturer, photographer, and author of 10 books related to his travels. He lectured all over the world, illustrating his talks with lantern slides. He is believed to be the first American to have traveled the entire length of the 2,500-kilometer-long Ming section of the Great Wall of China. He visited the Five Sacred Mountains of China, about which he wrote in The Sacred 5 of China. He came to be considered an expert in Chinese culture and religion.
Early years and education
William Edgar Geil was born on October 1, 1865, in New Britain, Pennsylvania on his family farm. Geil moved to nearby Doylestown, Pennsylvania, where he acquired his education at the public schools, the Doylestown English and Classical Seminary, and Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, where he attended briefly but never completed graduation. At an early age Geil manifested a deep interest in religious matters and became an earnest and active member of the church. An indefatigable student, he became thoroughly versed in the Scriptures as well as in most of the important sacred literature, ancient and modern.
Career
Orator and evangelistic work
After leaving college, where he was famous as an orator, he engaged in evangelistic work, with credentials from the Doylestown church, and soon after made several trips to Europe. Geil visited Egypt, the Holy Land, and many of the ancient cities of the Mediterranean. Returning to America, Geil again engaged in evangelistic work. He then began his life work in religion with success and acclaim. He held revival meetings in various parts of New Jersey, New York and New England, and later made a tour of the south and west, addressing meetings of thousands of hearers and making thousands of converts. The Cincinnati Enquirer says of him: "His success has been more pronounced than that of any evangelist since Moody;" and the "Lowell (Mass.) Citizen" says that the meetings conducted by him were "the most remarkable series of meetings ever held in this city."
Isle of Patmos and Return to the Middle East
In 1896 he made another extended trip abroad, revisiting the Holy Land and its ancient environs, and many of the ancient towns of Asia Minor, and the Mediterranean. Among other points he visited the Isle of Patmos, and on his return wrote and published his book, "The Isle that is called Patmos," which reached a sale of many thousands, and was rewritten, enlarged and republished in 1904, after his second visit to the island, in that year. The alarming illness of his mother, to whose early training he says he owes most of his success, called him home in the early part of 1897, and soon after closing the eyes of his beloved parent in her last sleep, on May 2, 1897, he returned to Europe for a brief sojourn and then again took up his work in his native country with increased success.
The Great World Wide Tour
Purpose
On April 29, 1901, William Edgar Geil left on four-year trip around the world he self dubbed "The Great World Wide Tour". Geil wanted the United States to observe the state and conditions of missionaries around the world. The Great World Wide Tour's purpose was as best described by his pastor, as an "... independent observation of the whole missionary field, in its actual condition, operations, modes of organization, instruction and efforts, its different peculiarities, its needs, its difficulties, its relation to existing heathen religion, to international and denominational policies of political events; and what encouragement or discouragement may exist in the great work of extending the gospel to the world, and especially to the neglected parts of heathendom. A special object is to visit schools, colleges and institutions of sacred learning in connection with missionary operations and report the results to the whole Christian church." During this four-year trip Geil would use photography, notes, and maps to interact with the various peoples and cultures of the world. His three books Ocean and Isle (1902), Yankee on the Yangzte (1904), and A Yankee in Pigmy land ( 1905) would capture his stories and experiences of his travels during the Great World Wide Tour.