Some of the first known Methodist missionary work was a result of visits from British Columbia to Wrangell in 1877 by the Reverend Thomas Crosby, pastor of the Fort Simpson Methodist Church. In 1886 John and Ethelda Carr were sent by the General Agent for Education in Alaska, Dr. Sheldon Jackson, to start a school...
Leader in and Student of Mission Following graduation from Dillard University in New Orleans, Emma Wilson Strother went to work with her mother, Clara J. Wilson, who was one of the superintendents of the National Friendship Home in Cincinnati. Emma later became superintendent of the Mother’s Memorial Center (now Wesley Child Care Center), which was...
First Continuous Methodist Presence in Alaska Lydia Hill Daggett was a native of Boston who played a pivotal role in introducing Methodism into Alaska in the late 1880s. Her labor resulted in the opening of the Jesse Lee Home and School in Unalaska, the first successful Methodist outpost with continuity in the territory. She also...
Pioneer in establishing schools for women and girls Hester Williams, “Aunt Hester,” was a former slave who had little formal schooling, yet she pioneered in establishing schools for women and girls in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In 1882 Hester Williams addressed the Louisiana Annual Conference and told of her work among the freedwomen. She had “a...
Pioneer missionary among the Navajo Widowed at an early age, Mary Eldridge entered the United States Indian Service and went to work at Haskell Institute, a training school for clerical and commercial work, in Lawrence, Kansas. From there she went to a school on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to work among the...
Early Proponent of the Deaconess Movement Jane Bancroft Robinson, daughter of a Methodist minister, studied in the United States, Switzerland, and France, earning many degrees, including a Ph.D. She was professor of French Literature and Language at Northwestern University and dean of its Woman’s College from 1878 to 1885. She married George O. Robinson in...
Pioneer Missionary among Freedwomen and Girls Jennie Hartzel began work among the freedwomen in New Orleans in 1876. Her work was approved by officials of the Methodist Episcopal Church and reported through the Freedman’s Aid Society. With Bishop Wiley and Dr. and Mrs. R.S. Rust, she raised funds; and a school with three teachers was...
Long-serving missionary to Native Americans in Oklahoma Educator, nurse, civic and church leader, Elizabeth Fulton, at age seventeen, braved the dangers of traveling West to answer the call to become a teacher at the mission school at Tishomingo, Indian Territory, which is now Oklahoma. It is claimed that five of her pupils became chiefs of...
Outstanding Proponent of Human Rights for Women and Persons of all Races Born in Georgia, Carrie Parks Johnson grew up in a family of Methodist ministers and became an outstanding proponent of human rights for women and persons of all races. From 1899 until her death, she was actively engaged in promoting conference work, programs...
Early Women’s Home in Hawaii Home and foreign missions, as known in the early days, met in Hawaii, the national Corresponding Secretary announced that Mrs. Angie Newman had organized an auxiliary of the Woman’s Home Missionary Society in the First Methodist Church of Honolulu. A significant sentence followed: “A Japanese woman has been employed to...
