Burtner, Luther Olin

Luther Olin Burtner (1858-1910) was a United Brethren Church missionary. He attended Shenandoah Institute in Virginia, and graduated from Bonebrake Theological Seminary in 1888. In 1885 he was licensed to preach by the Virginia Conference, and in 1888 he was ordained. Burtner then transferred to the Maryland Conference and began his first pastorate at Keedysville, a position he held for four years. From 1892 to 1893 he served at Walkersville.

Later in 1893, he sailed for Sierra Leone, where he was the superintendent in charge of the work of the Foreign Missionary Board of the United Brethren Church. His first furlough was taken in 1896, and while in the United States, he attended the General Conference. Burtner returned to Sierre Leone in 1897, and was one of the few missionaries to escape the massacre of 1898.

Upon his return to the United States, Burtner was appointed to the Hagerstown (Maryland) circuit. In 1898 he was named the presiding elder of the Maryland Conference.

A second missionary tour of duty began in 1901 when he arrived in the Philippines to oversee the work of the Women's Missionary Association. After three years of work, he took a furlough. Between the period of 1904 and 1909 he suffered from failing health and was only able to serve periodically in the home and foreign mission fields.

He married Jennie Light Burtner who served with him on the mission field.