WISHING YOU A VERY MERRY                                      CHRISTMAS AND                                            GOD'S BLESSINGS FOR 2025                                            

           

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800: ELIZA WHITERSPOON P/22

                                                                   Read Part One HERE

In this story I will continue to focus on a woman named Eliza Whitherspoon. She lived from 1855 - 1932. In 1900, she again appeared as a delegate to the Southern Missouri and Arkansas Conference. By 1901, the Arkansas and Southern Missouri minutes list her as a "conference evangelist" meaning she travelled and preached and was assigned to a specific church. She was appointed to the Phelps County Missouri Circuit in 1904 and in 1905 she was appointed to the Neosho Circuit.

In an August 15, 1905 report, Elizabeth described a quarterly meeting where the Free Methodist District Elder J.M. Roberson preached as follows: "Sin abounds everywhere. However, I am pressing on my upward way. The Lord enables me to grow stronger every day. I am so glad I belong to the blood-washed company. I love the Lord. I love His people. I am devoting all I have to this cause - talent, time, voice, silver and gold; not a mite do I withold."

In the 1908 - 1909 annual conference minutes, Eliza was appointed to the Harrison County Circuit together with Oliver Dryer. And in 1910, she was co-appointed to the same county with Grace Huntsinger.

At the 1911 General Conference, Eliza gave the opening prayer for the nineteenth session. That session was particularly important and having a woman evangelist give the opening prayer was most likely intentional as Bishop Walter Sellew brought forth a motion to allow women to be ordained deacons in the same maner men are allowed to be ordained.

Eliza continued to serve in various appointments around Arkansas and Southern Missouriuntil around 1813 when she moved to Kansas. She continued her work with the Free Methodist Church until her death in 1832.

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; ELIZA WITHERSPOON P/21

                                                                  Read Part One HERE

In this story I will focus on a woman named Eliza Whitherspoon. She lived from 1855 - 1932. Her parents were W.A. Whiterspoon and Caroline Whitherspoon from Bates, Missoutri, USA. They were members of the Free Methodist Church. 

In the July 8, 1895, issue of "The Free Methodist," Eliza sends a ministry report from Virginia, Missouri noting that she, her mother and her sister had been "advocating the principles of Free Methodism" in that part of the country for seventeen years. She tells her readers her family is the lone Free Methodist family in the area where "God sent us help and souls were converted to God - more than twenty souls."

 Far from being a single report, Eliza begins appearing regularly in "The Free Methodist" over the next few decades as she writes ministry reports on her work as a Free Methodist Evangelist in Arkansas, Southern Missouri, and eventually Kansas.

In 1895, Eliza begins to appear in conference minutes, but not as an evangelist. That year she was a delegate to the Arkansas and Southern Missouri Annual Conference, and served on conference committees discussing education and raising money to publish the minutes.

In 1900, she again appears as a delegate to the Southern Missouri and Arkansas Conference. By 1901, the Arkansas and Southern Missouri minutes list her as a "conference evangelist" meaning she travelled and preached and was not assigned to a specific church. She was appointed to the Phelps County Missouri Circuit in 1904 and in 1905 she was appointed to the Neosho Circuit.

Read Part Twenty-Two HERE

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800: HELEN MAGILL WHITE P/20

                                                                  Read Part One HERE

In this story I will continue to focus on a woman named Helen Magill White. She lived from 1853 - 1944. Upon Helen's return to the US, she embarked on a teaching career with an appointment as principal of a private school in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. She left this position in 1883 to accept the opportunity to organise the Howard Collegiate Institute, a newly established women's school in West Bridgewater, Massachussets. With authority to select teachers, she appointed two of her sisters to the school, and her father contributed by investing in a laboratory and a gym.  

Although the student body grew under Helen's administration, a combination of family problems and a conflict with the trustees over her campaign for better sewage caused her to resign in 1887. She then briefly held teaching positions at Evelyn College, a women's annex to Princetown University that soon shut down and at Brooklyn High School, but her career was effectively over by the time she turned 35.

In 1890, she married Andrew Dickson White, a diplomat and former president of Cornell University. She lived with her family in Russia while Andrew served as US minister and ambassador there from 1892 - 1894. In 1897, he received a similar position in Germany,where they lived until 1903. Helen earned a reputation as a brilliant conversationalist, well able to discuss such subjects as architecture, sculpture, music and literature.

Helen eventually retired to Kittery Point, Maine, where she died in 1944.

Read Part Twenty-One HERE

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800: HELEN MAGILL WHITE P/19

                                                                   Read Part One HERE

In this post I will focus on a woman named Helen Magill White. She lived from 1853 - 1944. Helen was born in Providence Rhode Island, USA. She was one of five daughter of Quakers Edward Hicks Magill, a classicist, and Sarah Beans Magill. Her father's commitment to the education of women allowed for all the Magill girls to become sufficiently well educated to pursue careers as college teachers. 

Helen showed special promise as a student, and when her father assumed the position of sub-master at the prestigious Boston Public Latin School for boys, she became the only girl to study there. At age 15, she enrolled in the first class of the recently founded Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, shortly before her father became the school's president. 

After graduating in 1873 as the second in her class, Helen spent two more years at Swarthmore in what would now be called postgraduate studies. She then began studying Greek at Boston University. In 1877, she became the first American woman to earn a doctorate, with a dissertation on Greek drama. The following four years, she spent in England, pursuing classical studies at Newnham College of Cambridge University.

Read Part Twenty HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; ANNA ADAMS GORDON P/18

                                                           Read Part One HERE

In this story I continue to focus on a woman named Anna Adams Gordon. She lived from 1853 - 1931. During the First World War, Anna was instrumental in convincing President Woodrow Wilson to harden the federal government's policies agains the manufacture of alcoholic beverages, most notably by criminalising the use of foodstuffs to make alcohol. 

Later in 1919, temperance organisations scored a mjor victory with the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which fully established prohibition in the United States. After this success, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union under Anna's guidance began to turn more towards temperance enforcement, and causes peripheral to the temperance movement, such as citizenship for immigrants, women's rights in the workplace and child protection. 

In November 1922, Anna was elected president of the World Women's Temperance Union, and she resigned her presidency of the national Woman's Christian Temperance Union organisation.

Anna died in 1931.

Read Part Nineteen HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; ANNA ADAMS GORDON P/17

                                                           Read Part One HERE

In this story I will focus on a woman named Anna Adams Gordon. She lived from 1853 - 1931. Her parents were James M. snd Mary Clarkson Gordon, both Christian abolitionists. They lived in Boston, Massachusetts. When she was three, the family moved to Auburndale.

Anna attended Boston High School, Lasell Seminary and Mount Holyoke College. She spend a year abroad in San Sebastian with her sister Laice Gordon Gulick, who had started a school for girls there in 1871.

In 1877, Anna met Frances E. Willard at a Dwight L. Moody revival meeting, in the building where Willard was holding temperance meetings. The two became close friends. Anna eventually moved into Willard's residence as her personal secretary. She subsequentlty followed her empoyer on her travels through the US, Canade and Europe, spending a year in England.

Anna and Willard remained close friends until Willard's death in 1898, when Anna became the vice-president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. in 1914, Anna became the president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

Read Part Eighteeen HERE

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800: jULIA O'REE HENSON P/16

                                                                 Read  Part One HERE                                                                                                          

In  this story I will focus on a woman named Julia O'Ree Henson. She lived from 1852 - 1922. Julia was the daughter of Henry and Ann O'Ree and was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, British North America. 

Julia emigrated to the United States in 1883 and seven years later she worked as a dressmaker and lived in a boarding house in Boston.

Julia married George D. Henson in 1894. By 1900, she and her husband operated a rooming house with 19 other residents on 25 Holyoke Street, Boston.

 Julia lived in a neighourhood near African American women leaders in social action and the arts. In 1904, she donated her home to be used for unmarried African American women - who did not have access to college dormitories or quality rooming houses - at the request of her friend Harriet Tubman, who often stayed with Julia at her home

By 1910, her husband had died and she was living alone in her mortgaged house on Arie Street. She supported herself by working as a dressmaker.

Julia founded the African American Northeastern Federation of Women's Clubs with Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin. She was, furthermore, co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP). 

Read Part Seventeen HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; ELLA SHEPPARD P/15

                                                                  Read Part One HERE

In this story I will continue to focus on a woman named Ellas Sheppard. She lived from 1851 - 11915. Ella's skill as a pianist immediately drew the attention of Fisk treasurer and musician George White, who appointed her his choir's accomampanist and assistant choral director as he prepared his troupe for a tour of the North. Though frail and sickly, Ella valiantly remained with the troupe for seven years. She accompanied the choir on piano, oversaw many of their rehearsals, conducted the Jubilees from her position among the singers on stage, and continued to collect and transcribe spirituals until the troupe's repertoire numbered over a hundred.                                                                                                                                     

When in 1878, an exhausted and exasperated White finally resigned as director, Ella stood in for him for the troupe's last months. She joined White's subsequent troupe of Jubilees but retired from Jubilee work when he disbanded the group in 1882.

Ella built a house for her mother and half sister in Nashville, and married one of the most prominent black ministers in the US, Rev. George Washington Moore. They lived at first in Washington D.C., agitating against the saloons in their neighbourhood until it had been transformed into one of the most desirable areas in the city.

Returning to Frisk, she trained and inspired generations of Jubilees, and by the time of her death in Nashville in 1915, Ella had become in intellect, in spirit, and in musical attainment one of the truly gifted women of the world.

Rrad Part Sixteen HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; ELLA SHEPPHARD P/14

                                                                   Read Part One HERE

In this story I will focus on a woman named Ella Shepphard. She lived from 1851 - 1915. Her father was Simon Sheppard and her mother was Sarah Sheppard. Ella was born enslaved on Andrew Jackson's plantation. Her father had purchased his freedom by hiring himself out as a Nashville, Tenessee liveryman and hack driver. 

When Ella was a little girl, her enslaved mother threatened to drown Ella and herself if their owners refused to permit her husband to purchase her and her daughter Ella's freedom.But an elder prevented her, predicting that "the Lord would have need of the child." 

Sarah's owners refused to release her mother, but allowed Ella to go with her father (Ella's mother was promised that her freedom could be purchased by her husband Simon, but the slave mistress reneged on the agreement. "Sarah shall never belong to Simon," she declared. "She is mine and she shall die mine. Let Simon get another wife." He later married another enslaved woman for whom he paid $1,300 to free her) and fearful he and his daughter might be re-enslaved, Simon fled penniless to Cinicinnati, Ohio.

A German woman taught Ella to play piano. Ella also managed to persuade an imminent white vocal teacher to give her twelve lessons provided she keep them a secret and arrive and depart at night by the back door. After her father's death from cholera, Ella supported herself, her stepmother and half-sister Sosa by teaching at a school for former enslaved persons. Managing to save about six dollars in five months, she proceeded to Nashville in 1868 to enroll at the Fisk Free Coloured School.

Read Part Fifteen HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; LUCY FARROW P/13

                                                             Read Part One HERE                                                                                                                                 

In this post I will contine to focus on a woman named Lucy Fellow.She lived from 1851 - 1922. Lucy was mightily used in the city of Portsmouth. She saw about two hundred come to Christ and most of these received the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. Lucy continued on and went to Liberia, Africa. There she worked among the Kru people with Julia Hutchins. She even ministered to the king of the Kru. Reports came back of Liberians becoming saved and baptised in God's Spirit.

Upon leaving Liberia in 1907, Lucy returned to the United States. She held one revival meeting in Littleton, North Carolina. Soon, in May 1908, Lucy was back at Azusa. Here she ministered from "a small faith cottage" at the back of the Mission, where people came to her for prayer.

Lucy later returned to Texas to live with her son. In 1911 she contracted tuberculosis and died at the age of sixty. Her life was full of God's power and the lives of many were touched by her ministry.

Read Part Fourteen HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; LUCY FARROW P/12

                                                              Read Part One HERE

In this post I will contine to focus on a woman named Lucy Farrow. She lived from 1851 - 1922. After having this wonderful spiritual experience of Holy Spirit Baptism, Lucy returned to Texas to pastor once again. Here she told Seymour and her congregation about her experience. She would later introduce Seymour to Parham. It is through Lucy's and Parham's association with Seymour that Seymour came to a Pentecostal understanding of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This teaching and experience would become a major feature of the Azusa Revival.

Lucy was fifty-six when she came to Azusa. While there, she laid hands on many, praying for them, and they would receive the same experience of Spirit baptism. At Azusa she did much teaching as well.

Lucy did not stay at Azusa indefinitely. She ministered throughout America, holding meetings in Louisiana, North Carolina, Virginia, New York, and even in England. In Texas she worked with Parham's ministry one again. Lucy continued to lay hands on people and see them come into the experience of he baptism in the Holy Spirit. An early skeptic named Howard Goss heard Lucy speak at Azusa and became convinced of the experience. Later, as he saw Lucy ministering to others and they experienced this baptism, he said that "his heart became hungry again for another manifestation of Gd... So I went forward that she might place her hands upon me. When she did, the Spirit of God again struck me like a bolt of lightning; the power of God surged through my body, and I again began speaking in tongues."

Read Part Thirteen HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; LUCY FARROW P/11

                                                              Read Part One HERE

In this story I will focus on an African-American woman named Lucy Farrow, She lived from 1851- 1911. Lucy was born in Norfolk, Virginia. She was the niece of abolitionist Frederick Douglass. In 1871, she lived in Mississippy and had a son. By 1890, she was living in Houston, Texas and was a widow.

In Houston Lucy pastored a small mission-church. Her connections to Azusa began with her association with William Seymour. He attended her church in Houston and was given leadership for a season while Lucy moved east to Kansas.

Lucy left for Kansas to work in the Bible College of early Pentecostal leader, Charles Fox Parham. At Parham's school she heard his teaching on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit being evidenced by speaking in tongues. In one of Parham's meetings, Lucy had this spiritual experience of being baptised in he Spirit and she spoke with other tongues. She is the first recorded black person to have had this experience.

Read Part Twelve HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF Of 1800; SOPHIA STURGE P/10

                                                                    Read Part One HERE 

In this blog I will focus on a woman named Sophia Sturge. She lived from 1849 -1936. Sophia was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. Her parents were Quaker abolitionists Joseph Sturge and his second wife Hannah Sturge Dickinson. After an education at home, Sophia devoted her life to philantrophy and to attempts at reform.

 Sophia was a president of the Young British Women's Temperance Association and a member of the Women's Liberal Social Council. She was a strong supporter of suffragism. 

As a supporter of the Irish Home Rule Movement and appalled by the poverty in Ireland, Sophia moved to Connemara in 1888, where, with financial assistant from some Quakers, she set up a basket-making industry in the village of Letterfrack, which had already become a place of residence for several other Quakers.

Sophia taught the young girls the art of basket-making leading to a self-sustaining enterprise that sold many of its products in Britain. She lived there for seven years but then returned to England for health reasons.

By 1900, pacifism had become the main focus of Sophie's activities and she attended several international peace conferences. She was involved in the setting up of the "Friends Emergency Committee" during the First World War. After the war Sophie went to the Netherlands where she helped German children affected by the war. She also spoke at many British schools.

Sophia died in 1936.

Read Part Eleven HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; IDA GAGE P/9

          

                                                       Read Part One Here

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Ida Gage She lived from 1849 - 1915. As she embarks on her ministry in the Free Methodist Church she appears in mumerous local news papers from 1897 - 1906. 

From 1907 - 1908, Ida appears in the Michigan Conference Minutes as a licensed conference evangelist. This is an important distinction. The Free Methodist Discipline outlines the difference between "an evangelist" and "a conference evangelist," noting that "a conference evangelist" went through the same training as local pastors (men) and was approved by the annual conference. Evangelists were approved by the quarterly, implying that they were under more intensive supervision than those licensed and reviewed on a yearly basis.

 The fact that Ida's conference license was allowed to transfer from Ohio to Michigan shows the level of respect she held within the denomination. That is further illustrated when the Michigan Conference appoints her to the Jasper and Seneca Circuit for a year.

From the period of 1910- 1911 Ida is not listed in any Free Methodist Conference. However, this is not surprising since her ministry changed when she moved to California. Instead of preaching on a circuit she largely worked as a nurse but she did renew her conference evangelist license with the Southern California Conference in 1912 so perhaps she combined the two occupations.

Ida died in 1915.

Read Part Ten HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; IDA GAGE P/8

                                                       Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Ida Gage. She lived from 1849 - 1921.  Like B.T. Roberts, Ida believed that the Free Methodist Church could not support racial equality and ignore gender inequality. Her debate at the 1890 Conference shows her spirit and fire as she defends her right to minister after Olin Owen, a delegate from the Dudquehanna Conference, speaks up in opposition to women in leadership.

Ida noted that she felt called to preach and the opposition to ordaining women is very much like the opposition to free slaves. She noted as well that she has gone to areas where no pastor was within twenty miles. While there people would beg her to baptise  their babies, but she didn't have the authority. The only reason for this was "the bureaucracy of the denomination."

Ida clearly had a gift of oratory and was an eloquent and passionate public speaker. While much of her personal history is missing, we know that by 1880 she has moved to Michigan, where she preached and lived with relatives. 

Read Part Nine HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; IDA GAGE P/7

                                                       Read Part One HERE

In this story I will focus on a woman named Ida Gage. She lived from 1849 - 1921. Ida is one of the many forgotten Free Methodist women evangelists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, while Ida might have been overlooked in the larger denominational histories, her legacy lives on through her speech at the 1890 General Conference and the debate on ordaining women. 

In 1890, Ida was not a licensed evangelist, she was just a member of the denomination who had previous experience preaching in Michigan, and was responding to a call to serve within the Free Methodist denomination. By 1892, she was "on supply," meaning she was travelling and preaching for the Ohio Free Methodist Conference. By 1893, she was a licensed evangelist who travelled around the northern part of Ohio. She spent several years in Bowling Green, Ohio, preaching and also preached as far south as Mansfield, Ohio. 

While her denomination refused to give her the status of an ordained elder, Ida was not deterred. She didn't give up hope in her faith or her denomination and she continued to pursue her call to ministry. 

Read Part Eight HERE

 

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; DR SARAH ANNE GRANT P/6

                                                                                    Read Part One HERE                

In this story I will focus on a woman named Sarah Anne Grant. She lived from 1845 - 1916 and served as an evangelist in Northern Indiana, Iowa and Oklahoma for the Free Methodist Church. While she appears as a licensed evangelist for the Northern Indiana Conference in 1890 and 1801, her ministry in Iowa and Oklahoma appears to have been more informal.

In 1911, Sarah again appears as a licensed evangelist in the Southern California Conference. And in 1912 - 1913, she serves as the pastor of the Methodist church in San Diego, which was a rough place to minister in. At that time Sarah was active working with women in the red-lights districts. Some of the male tourists, who had visited the red-light districts ended up coming to her church when they heard the gospel and were converted.

Sarah's time as pastor of the San Diego church came during a time in the denomination where countless women were pursuing evangelists' licenses and serving in ministry. In 1910, 81% of all licensed evangelists were women, which was an almost 50% increase from five years ago in 1905 when only 33% were women. By 1910, women evangelists who were appointed to a church, like Sarah was, and served in the post for two years, could also be appointed as ministerial delegates to the quarterly and annual conferences. Previously, they had only been allowed to serve as lay delegates. The designation of "ministerial delegate" was just another acknowledgement of their important work within the denomination. However, it is ironic that women could be appointed to the same delegate position as ordained male elders but were still not allowed to become one.

Read Part Seven HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; ANNA ELIZABETH DICKINSON P/5

Read Part One HERE

In this story I continue to focus on a woman named Anna Elizabeth Dickinson. She lived from 1842 - 1932. During the 1863 United States Senate Elections, with the deepening of the Civil War, Mary campaigned for several candidates. She spoke eloquently and powerfully in support of the Republicans' anti-slavery platform.

 When Mary spoke at the Cooper Institute in New York City, more than 5,000 people attended the event. It was reported that she "could hold her audience spellbound for as much as two hours." Mary earned a standing ovation in 1864 for an impassioned speech on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. In attendance were President Abraham Lincoln and civic and military leaders. Invited by Republican leaders, she was the first woman to speak to Congress.

After the Civil War, she remained one of the nation's most celebrated speakers for nearly a decade, making a speech every other day on everage.She spoke about reconstruction, African - American rights, women's rights and other issues. As another means of support, she began writing. In her writings she addressed technical training for workers, better treatment of prisoners, assistance for the poor and compulsory education for all children.

Mary lived out the final years  of her life quietly in New York and died in 1932.

Read Part Six HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; ANNA ELIZABETH DICKINSON P/4

Read Part One HERE

In this story I will focus on a woman named Anna Elizabeth Dickinson. She lived from 1842 - 1932. Her parents were John and Mary Edmundson Dickinson and lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They were Quakers. Mary was educated at the Friends Select School of Philadelphia as well as the Westtown School. At age 14, she converted to the Methodist Church, and remained active in the church throughout her life.

In 1857, at the age of fifteen, Mary went to work as a copyist. In 1859 and 1860, she was a teacher in Berks County, Pennsylvia. And in May 1861, she obtained a clerkship for the United States Mint; she was one of the Mint's first female employees.

In 1857, she began to give public speeches on abolition, reconstruction, women's rights and temperance. Her success led the way for future women speakers. In her first public speech, she addressed a man who derided women at a Progressive Friends Meeting. In 1861, she spoke in Philadelphia at the Friends of Progres meeting at Clarkson Hall about "The Rights And Wrongs Of Women" and she addressed the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society in the fall of that year. Lucretia Mott arranged for a lecture tour, sponsored by the Massachusets Anti-Slavery Society for Mary, who quickly became a popular speaker. The series of speeches helped lead the Emancipation Movement.

Read Part Five HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; SUSIE KING TAYLOR P/3

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Susie King Taylor. She lived from 1848 - 1912. Though Susie opened a number of schools, she had to eventually close all of them after chartered schools for African-Americans were established and she could no longer make a living through teaching. She then became a domestic servant to Mr and Mrs Green, a wealthy white family.

During the Reconstruction era, Susie became a civil rights activist after witnessing much discrimination in the South. She would travel once again to Boston in 1874 and entered into service for the Thomas Smith family in the Boston Highlands. After the death of Mrs Smith, Susie next served Mrs Gorham Gray until her marriage to Russell L. Taylor.

Susie devoted much of the rest of her life to work with the Women's Relief Corps, a national organisation for Female Civil War Veterans, where she held many positions, including guard, secretary and treasurer.

Susie died in 1912.

Read Part Four HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; SUSIE KING TAYLOR P/2

                                                  Read Part One HERE

In this story I will continue to focus on a woman named Susie King Taylor. She lived from 1848 - 1912. As the Civil War began, Susie was sent back to the country to her mother. She, along with her uncle and his family, fled to St Catherine's Island to seek protection from the Union Fleet. 

After two weeks, they were all transferred to St Simon's Island. While on the gunboat during the transfer, she was questioned by the commander of the boat, inquiring where she was from. Susie informed him that she was from Savannah. He then asked her if she could read and write. When he learned that she could he handed her a notebook and asked her to write her name and where she was from. 

After being on St Simon's Island for three days, Commodore Goldsborough visited Susie and asked her to create a school for children on the island. She agreed to do so, provided she be given the necessary books for study.She received the books from the North and began her first school.

Susie married Sergeant Edward King and they returned to Savannah after the Civil War. While there she opened a school for African-American children (whom she called the "children of freedom.") and an adult night school. Sadly, her husband died soon afterwards.

Read Part Three HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; SUSIE KING TAYLOR P/1

 

In this post I will share a story of a woman named Susie King Taylor. She lived from 1848 - 1912. Susie Taylor, born Susan Ann Baker was the first of nine children born to Raymond and Hagar Ann Reed Baker. She was born into slavery on a plantation owned by Valentine Creest on the Isle of Wight in Liberty County, Georgia. 

When Susie was about seven years old, her grandmother Dolly Reed was allowed by the plantation owner to take Susie to go live with her in Savannah, Georgia. Susie's grandmother sent her to be educated through what was known as an "underground education." Under Georgia law, it was illegal for enslaved peopled to be educated. Susie was taught by a friend of her grandmother, a woman known as Mrs Woodhouse. She was a free woman of colour who lived a half mile away from Susie's grandmother's house. Mrs Woodhouse had the students enter one at a time with their books covered to keep from drawing too much attention by the police or the local white population. 

Susie attended school with about 25 to 30 children for another two years, after which she would find instruction from another free woman of colour, Mrs Mathilda Beasley, who would continue to educate Susie until May 1860. Mrs Beasly then told Susie's grandmother that she had taught Susie all that she knew but that someone else would have to be found to continue Susie's education. Susie was then educated by the son of their landlord, a boy named James Blouis, until he entered the Civil War.

In 1862, Susie was given the opportunity to obtain her own freedom.

Read Part Two HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN 1600; ANNE WILLIAMS DUTTON P/6

                                                                                  Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on Evangelical women born in 1600, this time focusing on a woman named Anne Williams Dutton. She lived from 1692 - 1765. Anne was born in Northampton, England. Along with her parents, she attended the Independent Church at Catle Hill in Northampton where she experienced conversion. In her late teens Anne began to attend an open-membership Baptist Church, pastored by John Moore, where she was baptised.

In 1714, Anne married a Mr Cattell and they moved to London. While there, she worshipped with the Calvinistic Baptist Church that met at the premises on Wood Street, Cripplegate. When her husband died in 1720, she moved back to Northampton. The following year she married Benjamin Dutton, a Baptist preacher, who in 1732 became the pastor of the Baptist Congregation in Great Hansdon, Huntingdonshire.

Benjamin perished at sea in 1747. By that time Anne had begun to write. As for the isssue whether she could write as a woman, she maintained that she wrote not for fame, but only for the glory of God, and the good of souls.

To those who might accuse her of violating 1 Timothy 2:12, she answered that her books were not intended to be read in a public setting of worship, which the text was designed to address. Rather, the instruction that each of her books gave was private, for they were to be read  by believers in their own private houses. Her public use of her pen for God's glory broke the convention of her days and inspired other women to do the same.

 Anne died in 1765.

P.S. This is my last story in the series on Evangelical women in 1600. In my next post I will return to sharing stories on Evangelical womn in 1800.                                                          

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN 1600; ELIZBETH BATHURST P/5

                                                                                  Read Part One HERE                                                                                                           

In this post I will continue to focus on Evangelical women born in 1600, this time focusing on a woman named Elizabeth Bathurst. She lived from 1655 - 1685. She was born in London, England. Her father was Charles Bathurst and her step-mother Grace Bathurst. She attended a Presbyterian Church but in 1678 two prominent Friends visited the Bathurst home where religious seekers were often welcomed. As a consequence of that visit, she became a Quaker. 

During the 1680's, Elizabeth travelled in the minstry, often with her father,  enduring persecution and time in jail. She was imprisoned at least once in the Marshalsa prison.

Elizabeth was recognised during her lifetime by the Quaker community as a gifted writer. George Whitehead, who discussed her major work with her before its publication in 1683, commented on her "excellent gift, both of understanding, life and utterance." She has been described by historian Sarah Apetrei as "by far the most theologically sophisticated" of the numerous women leaders among early Quakers.

One of her writings was "The sayings of Women... in several places of the Scriptures" presenting a theological defence of women's authority to preach and teach.

Elzabeth died in 1685.

Read Part Six HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN 1600; HESTER BIDDLE P/4

                                                                                  Read Part One HERE          

In this story I will continue to focus on Evangelical women born in 1600, this time focusing on a woman named Hester Biddle. She lived from 1629 - 1697. Hester was born in Oxford, England and brought up as an Anglican. Her conversion to the Quakers took place after hearing Edward Burrough and Francis Howgil preach in 1654.

Hester stated that she found "Peace of Conscience" in joining the Quakers. She began to write a number of pamphlets. However, it was stil illegal for a woman to deliver an address in public. Consequently Hester suffered a probable 14 arrests and imprisonments and in some cases was beaten as well. Nevertheless, she continued to write more pamphlets. Her 1662 pamphlet was written while she was actualy imprisoned in Newgate.

Hester travelled within Britain, as well as Ireland and Scotland. Moreover, she travelled abroad to Canada, the Netherlands, Barbados and Alexandria. Most famous of all was her visit to France in 1694 - 1695. Having previously visited Mary II of England, she obtained permission to address Louis XIV of France, during which - in line with her Quaker beliefs - she urged him to pursue policies of peace.

Hester died in 1710.

Read Part Five HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN 1600; ANNE WALDEGRAVE DOCWRA P/3

                                                                                 Read Part One HERE

In this story I will continue to focus on Evangelical women born in 1600, this time focusing on a woman named Anne Waldegrave Dowcra. She lived from 1624 - 1710. Anne was born in Bures, Essex, England. Her father was William Waldegrave, who was a Justice of the Peace. Anne received a very good education, including, very unusally for women, the study of law.

Anne married James Dowcra, of an old landed family who by 1665 had become a supporter of the Quaker movement. After her husband died in 1672, Anne moved to Cambridge where she welcomed Quakers, local or travelling, into her home.

Quakers were teaching in Cambridge from as early as 1653, when two women were condemned to a public whipping after discussing their religious views with some students. George Fox, the founder, himself visited Cambridge in 1655 and was heckled and harrassed by students, but managed to hold a meeting with Friends.

Anne wrote several tracts on the subject of religious tolerance as from 1682. She also strongly upheld the role of women in the Friends, to be one of active support. As a final gift to the Quakers of Cambridge, she bequeathed her property in Jesus Lane on a thousand year lease with other property and money, to fund a graveyeard.

Anne died in 1710. 

Read Part Four HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN 1600; BATHSUA REGINALD MAKIN P/2

                                                                                 Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on Evangelical women born in 1600, this time focusing on a woman named Bathsua Reginald Makin. She lived from 1600 - ca 1675. Bathsua was the daughter of Henry Reginald, who was a schoolmaster of a school in Stepney, London. 

At the age of sixteen, Bathsua published a book with Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, French and German verses. She argued primarily for the equal rights of woman and girls to obtain an education in an environment or culture that viewed women as the weaker vessel, subordinated to men and uneducable. In 1621, Bathsua married Richard Makin, a courtier. The couple moved to Westminister, London.

By 1640, Bathsua was known as the most learned woman in England. She was tutor to the children of Charles I of England, and governess to his daughter Elizabeth Stuart. Bathsua was also tutor to Lady Elizabeth Langham, daughter of Ferdinando Hastings, 6th Early of Huntingdon, probably until Lady Elizabeth's marriage in 1652.

By 1673, Bathsua and Mark Lewis had established a school of gentlewomen in Tottenham, High Cross, then four miles out of London. The school at which Elizabeth was governess, taught music, song and dance, but also writing in English, keeping accounts, Latin and French. If students wished, they could also learn Greek, Hebrew, Italian and Spanish.

We have no further information on Bathsua but believe that she died ca 1675.

Read Part Three HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN 1600: RACHEL SPEGHT P/1

 

In this post I will begin to take a break from Evangelical women in 1800. Instead I will begin to share some stories of Evangelical women born in 1600, whose stories I recently disovered, the first one being a story of a woman named Rachel Speght. She lived from 1597 - ca 1661. 

Rachel was born in London, England. Her father, James Speght, was an ordained doctor of divinity from Christ's College in Cambridge. He was the rector of two London churches, St Mary Magdalen, Milk Street and St Clement, Eastcheap.The identity of her mother is unknown, but she seems to have been a profound influence on her. 

Rachel was brought up in the heart of London's clerical and mercantile commnity. She married at age 24, in 1621, to a Calvinist minster named William Proctor and lived with her husband in Upminster, Essex until 1627, then in London at St. Giles, Cripplegate until 1634. After 1634, she lived in Stradishall, Suffolk.

Rachel wrote and published a number of works. In her writings she used Scripture to emphasize women's traditional virtues and to establish them as men's equals. She was careful not to confuse this spiritual equality with social or political equality. Her writings reveal that she was unusally well educated in rhetoric, logic, classical and Christian texts and Latin, and that she had a thorough knowledge of Christian scripture.

Her husband died in 1661, and it is likely that his wife predeceased him, as she is not mentioned in his will.

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800; MARIA WOODWORTH ETTER P/175

                                                                 Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Maria Woodworth Etter. She lived from 1844 -1924. In 1912, Maria joined the Pentecostal Movement and preached widely in Pentecostal circles until her death in 1924. Meantime in 1918, she founded what what is today Lakeview Church (Temple) of Indianapolis.

 Of local interest in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the fact that Maria held tent revivals meetings in Dallas in 1912 and 1922.

In 1912, as many as 5,000 people attended the five months of meetings. In 1922, despite the severe cold and pneumonia that hampered Maria's speech, she continued to minister. One reporter wrote, "It is one of the most remarkable sights of a lifetime, to see this evangelist of great age, still pressing the battle for God, standing heroically for the great fundamentals with His approval in Signs and Wonders following."

When a critic said she should be home in bed, she remarked, "When I start to preach and He gives me a shock of power from His heavenly battery, I feel like I was sixteen years old - Glory" How can I go to bed? I have to tell people about Jesus."

From Dallas she went on to conduct a two-week campaign in Fort Worth. At this time, one observer noted that, "Although she is almost 78 years old, she is just as strong in faith, and God is using her mightily in the ministry of healing and preaching." In this meeting besides praying for the sick, she taught on spiritual gifts and then prayed for 50 Christan workers who sought her help. She always had time to counsel and pray with someone in need.

Maria died in 1924.

P.S. I will take a break on sharing stories on Evangelical women in early 1800. Instead I will do a brief series on Evangelical women who lived in 1600, whose stories I recently disovered. Afterwards, I will begin to share stories on Evangelical women in the second half 1800.

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: MARIA WOODWORTH ETTER P/174

                                                                  Read Part One HERE

In this post I will focus on a woman named Maria Woodworth Etter. She lived from 1844 - 1924. Maria was born in New Lisbon, Ohio, USA. When Maria was thirteen years old, she was born again. She immediately heard the call of God and dedicated her life to the Lord. She said, "I heard the voice of Jesus calling me to go out in the highways and byways and gather the lost sheep."

When Maria was nineteen years old, she married Philo Horace Woodworth, whom she divorced for infidelity in 1891. She had six children with Woodworth, five of whom died young. In 1902, she married Samuel Etter. He died twelve years later in 1914.

Maria had been part of a Disciples of Christ congregation, but when she chose to enter evangelistic ministry, she was prohibited from public preaching by that denomination because she was a woman.  However, she found support in a local Quaker meeting, and there she received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit while praying for "an anointing for service." After this experience, she began to preach. Hundreds were saved in these early campaigns and reporters came across the country to report what was happening.

Maria was a diligent Bible student. She soon came to believe that divine healing is an integral part of the Gospel, and she began preaching this in 1885. The sick were healed, many were slain in the Spirit and thousands were won to Christ. As her meetings grew she purchased an 8,000-seat tent in which to conduct her services.

Read Part One Hundred And Seventy-Five HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMAN IN EARLY 1800; JOSEPHINE ST PIERRE RUFFIN P/173

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Read Part One HERE                  

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Josephine St Pierre Ruffin. She lived from 1842 - 1924.

In 1896, the National Organisation of Afro-American Women merged with the Coloured Women's League to form the National Association of Coloured Women's Clubs (NACWC). Mary Church Terrell was elected president and Josephine served as one of the organisation's vice-presidents. 

Just as the NACWC was forming, Josephine was integrating the New England's Woman's Club. When the General Federation of Women's Clubs met in Milwaukee in 1900, she planned to attend as a representative of three organisations: The Woman's Era Club, the New England Woman's Club and the New England Woman's Press Club.

 Southern women were in positions of power in the General Federation and, when the executive committee discovered that all of the New Era's Club members were black, they would not accept Josephine's credentials. Josephine was told that she could be seated at a representative of the two white clubs but not the black one. She refused on principle and was excluded from the proceedings. This event became known as the "Ruffin Incident" and was widely reported in newspapers around the country, most of whom supported Josephine. Afterwards the Woman's Era Club made an official statement that "coloured women should confine themselves to their clubs and the large field work open to them there." 

In 1910, Josephine helped form the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP). She was one of the charter members of the NAACP. 

Josephine died in 1924. 

Read Part One Hundred And Seventy-Four HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800; JOSEPHINE ST PIERRE RUFFIN P172

                                                    Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Josephine St Pierre Ruffin. She lived from 1842 - 1924. Josephine supported women's suffrage and in 1869, joined with Julia Ward Howe and Lucy Stone to form the American Woman Suffrage Association (ASWA) in Boston. Julia and Lucy also founded the New England Women's Club in 1868. Josephine became its first black member when she joined in the mid-1890's.

When Josephine's husband died in 1886, she used her financial security and organisational abilities to start the "Woman's Era," the first newspaper published by and for African American women. She served as the editor and publisher from 1890 - 1897. While promoting interracial activities. the "Woman's Era" called on black women to demand increased rights for people of their race.

In 1891, Josephine served as the first president of Boston Co-Worker's Club. And in 1894, she organised the Woman's Era Club, an advocacy group for black women.

In 1895, Josephine organised the National Federation of Afro-American Women with Julia O. Henson. She convened the First National Conference of the Coloured Women of America in Boston, which was attended by women from 42 black women's clubs from 14 states. 

Read Part One Hundred And Seventy-Three HERE

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800; JOSEPHINE ST PIERRE RUFFIN P/171

                                                    Read Part One HERE

In this post I will focus on a woman named Josephine St Pierre Ruffin. She lived from 1842 - 1924. Josephine was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her parents were John St Pierre, of French and African descent from Martinique, and her mother was Elizabeth Matilda Menhenick from Cornwall, England. Her father was a successful taylor and founder of a Boston Zion Church. 

Josephine attended public school in Charlestown and Salem, and a private school in New York City because of her parents' objections to the segregated schools in Boston. She completed her studies at Bowdoin College, after segregation in Boston schools ended.

Josephine married George Lewis Ruffin when she was sixteen years old. The couple moved to Liverpool but returned to Boston soon afterwards and bought a house in the West End. Working with her husband, Josephine became active in the abolitionist movement. During the American Civil War, they helped recruit black soldiers for the Union Army. They also worked for the Sanitation Commission, which provided aid for the care of the soldiers in the field. After the war ended, Josephine turned her attention to organising for the Kansas Freedmen's Relief Association, collecting money and clothes to send to aid southern blacks resettling in Kansas, known as Exodusters. 

Read Part One Hundred And Seventy-Two HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: FRANCES ELIZABETH CAROLINE WILLARD P/170

                                                                     Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard. She lived from 1839 - 1898. Frances's suffrage argument also hinged on her interpretation of Scripture. She claimed that natural and divine laws called for equality in the American household, with the mother and father sharing leadership. She expanded this notion of the home, arguing that men and women should lead side by side in matters of education, church, and government, just as "God sets male and female side by side throughout his realm of law."

Frances's work took to an international scale in 1883 with the circulation of the Poly.glot Petition against the international drug trade. She also joined May Wright Sewall at the International Council of Women meeting in Washington D.C., laying the permanent foundation for the National Council of Women of the United States.She became the organizations's first president in 1888 and continued in that post until 1890.

Frances also founded the World WCTU in 1888 and became its president in 1893. She collaborated closely with Lady Isabel Somerset, president of the British Women's Temperance Association, whom she visited several times in the United Kingdom.

Frances died in 1898.

Read Part One Hundred And Seventy-One HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800; FRANCES ELIZABETH CAROLINE WILLARD P/169

                                                                    Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard. She lived from 1839 - 1898. In 1874, Frances participated in the founding convention of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) where she was elected the first Corresponding Secretary. In 1876, she became head of the WCTU Publications Department, focusing on publishing and building a national audience for the WCTU's weekly newspaprt, The Union Signal.

In 1879, she became president of the National WCTU, a position she held until her death. Her tireless efforts for the temperance cause included a 50-day speaking tour in 1874, an average of 30,000 miles of travel a year, and an average of 400 lectures a year for a 10-year period, mostly with the assistance of her personal secretary Anna Adams Gordon.

As president of the WCTU, Frances also argued for female suffrage, based on "Home Protection," which she described as "the movement... the object of which is to secure for all women above the age of twenty-one that ballot as one means for the protection of their homes from the devastation caused by the legalized traffic in strong drink."

Read Part One Hundred And Seventy HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800; FRANCES ELIZABETH CAROLINE WILLARD P/168

                                                                     Read Part One HERE

In this post I will focus on a woman named Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard. She lived from 1839 - 1898. Her parents were Josiah Flint Willard and Mary Thompson Hill Willard. They lived in Churchville, near Rochester, New York. Her father was a farmer, naturaliser and legislator. Her mother was a schoolteacher. 

In 1841, the family moved to Oberlin, Ohio, where, at Oberlin College, Frances' father studied for the ministry and her mother took classes. In 1846, the famiy moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, where the family joined the Methodist Church. In 1858, the family moved to Evanston, Illinois, where Frances attended the North Western Female College.

After graduating from North Western Female College, Frances held various teaching positions throughout the country. She worked at the Pittsburgh Female College andat the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in New York. In 1871, she was appointed president of the newly founded Evanston College for Ladies, a Methodist Institution closely associated with the Northwestern Unitversity When the Evanston College for Ladies became the Woman's College of Northwestern University in 1873, Frances was named the first Dean of Women and Professor of English and Art, until her resignation in 1874.

Read Part One Hundred And Sixty-Nine HERE