EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; OTOLIA MARIA CARRINGTON CUNNINGHAM P/60

                                                                                                                                                                               

In this story I will focus on a woman named Otelia Maria Carrington Cunningham. She lived from 1867 1934. Otelia was born in Virginia to privilege and married a wealthy North Carolina tobacco farmer, but experienced hardship in 1910 when her husband's tobacoo business went bankrupt.

Otelia then got a job and sought to make other women's lives better by fighting to give them a voice regarding their own lives and their own future. She believed if women could contribute to society - support the war effort, hold jobs, raise children - they had a right to vote.This despite the fact that in the South women were generally thought to be too ladylike and genteel to have the vote.

Otelia was president of the North Carolina Equal Suffrage Association in 1917 and 1918 when the women's sufrage movement had decided to focus on supporting the war effort. She worked for the state, speaking to schools and other organisations about fire safety. 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; MAY ELEANOR FRAY P/ 59

In this story I will focus on a woman named May Elenanor Edick Frey. She lived from 1865 - 1954. Her father was a bricklayer, her mother was a suffragette. She possessed a gift for story telling and eventually became a reporter.

While covering the story of a revival, she met her future husband Peter Isaiah Frey. He shared the story about how he was delivered from alcoholism after experiencing salvation in Christ. The next night May herself experienced an encounter with God whilst she was writing notes for her story. She sensed an urgency to make a decision for Christ so she surrendered her life to Christ that night and never turned back. 

In the beginning she doubted the validity of women preachers because she never experienced seeing one, but people kept asking her to "take a night" of the campaign. Even through her self-doubts, others saw her gifts, talents and abilities. Those around her took notice and nudged her onward to lead. A group of local pastors within the Baptist Denomination of the Northern states (now American Baptists) urged her to become fully ordained. They met her for about two and a half hours to interview her and unanimously told her they wanted to ordain her as a pastor. With much humility, she accepted and was confirmed as the first ordained woman in the Northern Baptist Convention in 1905.

May was first exposed to Pentecostalism through a friend who called in someone to pray over her when she was dying from tuberculosis. Before the pastor finished praying, she scared her nurses and everyone around her by getting up and walking around. She reported that she was completely and miraculously healed. Though she was an ordained pastor in the American Baptist Denomination, a second Pentecostal experience at the age of 54, led her to seek ordination with the Assemblies of God.

May led a remarkable life because she served selflessly. She pastored, was a chaplain-nurse, travelled overseas for missions work, was a world-famous evangelist and became an accomplished writer.

May died in 1954.

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800: EVANGELINE BOOTH P/58

                                                                                                                                                                         

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Evangeline Booth. She lived from 1865 - 1950. Evangeline's only political involvement was to throw the weight of the Salvation Army behind the movement for prohibition and against the later movement for repeal.

On April 10, 1923, Evangeline officially adopted the United States as her homeland when she became a naturalised citizen. 

Her reign as Commander of the American Salvation Army came to an end in 1934 when she was elected as the organisation's International Commander-in-Chief. For five years she led the Salvation Army's work in eighty countries.

Evangeline retired in 1939. In 1950, she died at the age of 84 in Hartsdale, New York.

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; EVANGELINE BOOTH P/57

                                                                                                                                                                               

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Evangeline Booth. She lived from 1865 - 1950. Under Evangeline's leadership, the American Salvation Army expanded its already far-reaching social services. 

She established hospitals for unwed mothers, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, services for the unemployed, homes for the aging adults, and prison work. Evangeline Residences were opened to provide homes for working women.

After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, disaster relief became part of the Salvation Army's services. The disasters services expanded during World War I to include the Army's famous canteens featuring "doughnuts for doughboys". For the Salvation Army's work during the war, Evangeline was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1919.

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; EVANGELINE BOOTH P/56

                                                                                                                                                                         

In this post I will focus on a woman named Evangeline Booth. She lived from 1865 - 1950. Evangeline was the daughter of William and Catherine Booth, the founders of the Salvation Army. She was educated at home and grew up doing the work of the Salvation Army, assuming a position of responsibility in the Marylbone district of London at the age of 17. Known for both her musical talent and her striking personal appearance, Evangeline soon received the byname "White Angel of the Slums."

In 1889, at the age of 23, Evangeline was given charge of the Salvation Army's International Training College in Clapton, London and put in charge of all Salvation Army forces in the home counties (London and the surrounding area).

Following this, Evangeline became the Commander of the Army's forces in Canada. Because of a family tragedy, her time in Canada only amounted to a few years. In 1903, Evangeline's sister, Emma Booth-Tucker, who along with her husband commanded the American Salvation Army, was killed in a train-acccident. Emma's husband tried to carry on by himself, but was not able to do so. In 1904, Evangeline was appointed to replace him. She served as the Commander of the United States forces for the next thirty years.

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; MARY LEE CAGLE P/55

                                                                                                                                                                           

In this story I will continue to focus on a woman named Mary Lee Cagle. She lived from 1864 - 1955. Mary and her husband organised many new churches and were widely recognised as district leaders. Mary was the lead pastor when Lubbock First Church of the Nazarene was founded in 1909. She was also instrumental in founding Abilene First Church. She is referred to as "The Mother of Holiness in West Texas."

Mary and her husband, furthermore, conducted revivals and organise churches in New Mexico, Arizona and Wyoming.She organised at least 28 congregations. She served in the elected position of District Evangelist for the New Mexico and Abilene Districts and always chaired one or more district committees. Through 1928, she was always elected a ministerial delegate to her denomination's General Assembly: she was usually the first clergy person elected to the delegation.

She preached her final sermon on her 90th birthday, blind and supported by aids on either side. Mary died in 1955.

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; MARY LEE WASSON CAGLE P/54

In this post I will continue my story of a woman named Mary Lee Wasson Cagle. She lived from 1864 - 1955.The survival and expansion of the denomination New Testament Church in Christ depended largely on three women: Mary Lee Harris, Donnie Mitchum and Elliott J. Sheeks. Donnie and Elliott were both wives of local businessmen. Together, the three women organised new churches in Tenessee and Arkansas. 

In 1895, Mary also organised the first congregation in Texas near Abilene. In 1899, she and Elliott were ordained as ministers at the first denominational council held in Milan. As pastor, evangelist and superintendent, she oversaw a growing network of congregations.In 1900, she married H.C Cagle.

In 1902, Mary convened the first annual meeting of the Texas Council of the New Testament Church in Christ; her continuing influence in the Eastern Council (the Tennessee and Arkansas churches) helped tie the group's two branches together. In 1904, she helped create the Holiness Church of Christ (HCC) by leading her organisation into union with the Independent Holiness Church, which had churches in east Texas and the Oklahoma Territory. In 1908, the HCC merged with holiness denominations from the east and west coasts to form the present-day Church of the Nazarene.