When he was 16 he was given a bible and decided he should honour the giver and take time to read it. By the end of it he called himself a Christian and determined that he should live out that faith. He fought hard against the idea of becoming a missionary or a minister but eventually saw it as God's call on his life.
He eventually decided to enroll in school at Mount Hermon for five years, Amherst college for two and Princeton for another 2. While there he heard Henry Forman talk about India and the needs of the people. He decided that he would go to India as a lay pastor. He had dreams of preaching to the untouchables, but when he arrived the mission had other plans for him. He became a teacher of economics and the leader of a leper colony.
His first look at the leper colony was a series of broken down mud huts. It was a dismal, depressing place. Higginbottom took matters in hand and turned into a place of beauty with neat homes, gardens, and a lovely chapel. It went from five christians to over half of the people there turning the Lord.
Teaching economics lead him to see the need for good gardens and agricultural use of land, which sent him back to school for more training. He bought rough tough land, brought in a bunch of students, seed, tools and set to work. Every student had to work the land. From those humble beginnings the school was born. A highly productive farm was developed and a people fed.
This is the legacy of Sam Higginbottom..