Showing 30 results

Andrew Daniel Gramley (1873-1958), American minister, was the son of William L. and Amanda R. Gramley. He was born July 30, 1873 in Sugar Valley, Clinton County, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Lock Haven High School in 1891. Gramley entered Central Pennsylvania College in New Berlin and received his bachelor's degree in 1894 and his Master's degree in 1897. Several years later, in 1911, he earned his bachelor of divinity degree from Temple University in Philadelphia, from which he also earned a doctorate in sacred theology.

Gramley was licensed to preach by the Central Pennsylvania Conference on March 9, 1895. He was ordained elder in 1899 and served appointments at Cumberland Circuit, (Junior Preacher); Penns Creek, Bellwood, McClure, Loganville, East Prospect, Baltimore (Christ), York (Christ), Williamsport ( First), York (Trinity), Milton (First), and Marysville. He also served on the faculty at the School of Methods at Central Oak Heights, and as Secretary of the Educational Aid Society, Chief Conference Reporter. He was on the Board of Ministerial Training, and was a Trustee of Albright College.

Gramley was also a Trustee of the Bible Conference Society and member of the program committee. He served as Secretary of the State of Missions Committee, and delegate to the Joint Committee for the Centennial Celebration in 1916. He was also co-editor of the Centennial Celebration volume and co-historian of the "History of the Central Pennsylvania Conference."

Gramley married Ada Laura Meals of Mt. Holly Springs, Pennsylvania, on October 13, 1898. They raised two sons, George Heil and Dale Hartzler. Gramley died December 2, 1958, and is buried in the Mt. Holly Springs Cemetery.

John Emory Godbey, American Methodist preacher, teacher, editor, and author, was born August 11, 1839, in Casey County, Kentucky. He was educated in private schools. His education at St. Charles College, in St. Charles, Missouri, was interrupted by the Civil War. The college was seized by Union troops.

He joined the St. Louis Annual Conference in 1859. Godbey married Mary S. Halloway on November 2, 1865. She died in 1910. He then married Martha Virginia Dunnavant in 1911.

In 1867, while stationed in Washington, Missouri, Godbey opened a private high school, his first educational venture. After two years as presiding elder, he was appointed to First Methodist Episcopal Church, South and afterward to Cook Avenue Church, both in St. Louis.

While in St. Louis, Godbey played an important part in establishing the Southwestern Methodist in 1882. He was elected editor, and served in this post until it was combined with The St. Louis Christian Advocate in 1890. He was then appointed to the presiding eldership of the Kansas City District and served until 1894, when he was elected editor of The Arkansas Methodist in Little Rock. While editing that paper, he was sometime professor of philosophy at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. He served in these roles until 1905. He returned to the St. Louis Annual Conference in 1910 and was stationed in Kirkwood, Missouri. He died on February 29, 1932, at the age of 92.

Augustus Waldo Drury (1851-1935), Professor of Systematic Theology and Church History at Bonebrake Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, served as the denominational historian during his lifetime. He had a number of academic interests, most notably in theology, history, and later in his career he was interested in secularization, the local histories of Dayton, Ohio area, and William James. Drury is most well known for his biography on Otterbien as well as his three volume history of the United Brethren Church in Christ; Drury received high praise from his denomination for these works.

Drury was a husband and father and had an avid correspondence with a significant number of persons related to the United Brethren Church in Christ. He would regularly receive questions regarding lineage in families and church relations, as well as financial histories--such as a minister's salary at a particular church.

Lewis Davis (1814-1890) was considered the "Father of Higher Education" in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. At eighteen, he came under the influence of Methodist itinerants, who encouraged him to enroll in the academy at New Castle, Virginia. For two years, Davis taught at a local school in western Virginia, where he joined the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. He was licensed to preach in 1838, and spent the next eight years as an itinerant in Scioto Conference, where he became a champion of higher education in the church. Davis became a presiding elder in 1845. In 1841 he married Rebecca Bartles.

Davis was the first financial agent for Otterbein University, the new institution projected by the Scioto Conference. In 1850, Davis became president of Otterbein, a position he held until 1871. He was elected bishop in 1853 and held that office until 1860. Davis left Otterbein in 1871 and became senior professor at Union Biblical Seminary (now United Theological Seminary) in Dayton, Ohio. He retired to emeritus status in 1886. His wife survived him by five years.

David Edwards (1816-1876) was a United Brethren bishop and editor. His family immigrated to Ohio when he was five. When he was eighteen, Edwards converted and became a member of the United Brethren Church.

In 1836, he was ordained in the Scioto Conference. In 1845, he was elected editor of the Religious Telescope. He held that position for four years and refused reelection in 1849. Instead, the General Conference elected him bishop, a position he held for six successive terms.

Edwards was instrumental in founding Otterbein University and in establishing the foreign mission work of the church.

Robert Cowden (1833-1922), United Brethren Church minister and educator, was born May 24, 1833, in Ohio.

Cowden began his church career by assuming leadership in his local church's Sunday School. Beginning in 1877, Colonel Cowden, as he was known throughout the church because of his military service during the Civil War, served as executive secretary of the Sunday School Association for thirty-six.

During his years of service, two significant developments occurred: First, following the example of the Chautauqua camp meeting organization and the New York Normal Union, a school for training teachers and leaders, the United Brethren Church organized the Bible Normal Union in 1886. It issued diplomas to those who completed a prescribed course of study. Second, the Home Reading Circle was organized in 1887, and provided a three-year reading course of study. In 1889, the United Brethren Church Sabbath School was managed by Cowden as its secretary.

Cowden was charged with organizing and maintaining the Sunday School which replaced the Sabbath School in 1905. The General Conference of 1909 decreed that there should be a unified denominational program for the Sunday School, the Youth Society, and Men's work. As a result the Departments of Sunday School, Brotherhood, and Young Peoples work were created. Cowden assumed leadership of the Sunday School Department. He continued in this work until his retirement in 1919. Cowden died in 1922.

Wayne Clymer (1917-2013), minister, bishop, educator, and psychologist, was born in Napoleon, Ohio, on September 24, 1917, son of Grace Susan Hulvey and George A. Clymer, a minister in the Evangelical Church. Clymer attended Asbury College, receiving his B. A. in 1939. In the fall of that year he entered Columbia University, and while attending there he became pastor of Immanuel Evangelical Church in Ozone Park, New York, and then St. Paul's Evangelical Church in Forest Hills. He completed his M.A. in 1942. Clymer went on to receive a B.D. from Union Theological Seminary in 1944.

In 1946, Clymer was appointed to the faculty of Evangelical Theological Seminary (ETS) as professor of pastoral theology. While there, he continued his graduate studies toward a Ph.D. at New York University, receiving his degree in 1950.

Clymer was ordained by Evangelical United Brethren Bishop John S. Stamm, and was a member of the Atlantic Conference. He went on to post-doctoral work at the New School for Social Research, Columbia University, the William Alanson White School for Psychiatry, and took clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Saint Luke's Hospital in New York City. In 1957 Clymer was elected dean of ETS, succeeding Paul Eller. In 1967 he was he was chosen as President.

Clymer was ordained by Evangelical United Brethren Bishop John S. Stamm, and was a member of the Atlantic Conference. He went on to post-doctoral work at the New School for Social Research, Columbia University, the William Alanson White School for Psychiatry, and took clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Saint Luke's Hospital in New York City. In 1957 Clymer was elected dean of ETS, succeeding Paul Eller. In 1967 he was he was chosen as President. The year prior, 1966-1967, Clymer and his wife lived overseas where he served as consultant to the United Church of Christ in the Philippines on ministerial training, and taught at both Saint Andrew's Theological Seminary in Manila and at Trinity College in Singapore.

The North Central Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church elected Wayne Clymer to the episcopacy in 1972, and he was assigned to the Minnesota Area, where he served for eight years before being assigned to the Iowa Area in 1980. In 1976, Clymer was appointed president of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Clymer traveled extensively during his tenure as bishop, visiting countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Clymer and his wife retired to Minnesota in 1984. Bishop Clymer died from a stroke on November 25, 2013, while delivering a eulogy at Brooklyn Center United Methodist Church in Minnesota.

Charles Samuel Braden (1878-1970) was a Methodist Episcopal Church missionary and educator. He received his B.A. (1909) and Doctor of Divinity (1943) degree from Baker University in Kansas. In 1912, Braden earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1926. He also studied at Columbia from 1911-1912. In 1911 he married Grace Eleanor McMurray.

Braden was appointed a missionary in July 1912 and a month later arrived in Cochabamba, Bolivia. In 1914 he was ordained into the ministry. Braden left Bolivia in 1915 and went to Santiago, Chile, where he was a professor and president of the Union Theological Seminary. In addition, he managed the Union Book Store and was the editor of El Heraldo Christiano. While Braden was in Chile (1916-1922), he pastored several churches including First Church in Santiago.

Upon his return to the United States, he became the assistant secretary of the Methodist Episcopal Church Board of Foreign Missions and the secretary of the Methodist Life Service Commission. He taught in the department of religion and literature of religions at Northwestern University from 1926 until his retirement in 1954. Braden was active in several professional organizations and the author of numerous articles and books.

Grace McMurray Braden (1888-1951) was a Methodist Episcopal Church missionary to Bolivia and Chile with her husband, Charles S. Braden. Grace Braden received a B.A. from Baker University in Kansas in 1909 and taught high school in Cheney, Kansas, from 1909 to 1911 before her missionary appointment.

Edward W. Bauman (1927-2021), United Methodist minister, writer, producer and educator, earned his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Boston University Graduate School. Bauman began his church career in 1951 as a probationary minister with the North East Ohio Annual Conference. By 1952, he was appointed beyond the local church to attend school. In the following year, North East Ohio ordained him as an elder in full connection. The Utica church became Bauman's first pastoral appointment from 1954 to 1956. The next year saw Bauman appointed as a chaplain to American University in Washington, D.C., a post he would keep until 1960 when he started teaching at Wesley Theological Seminary. He continue to teach full time at Wesley until 1965. During this time period Bauman moved his clergy credentials from North East Ohio to the Washington Annual Conference in 1958. In the Spring of 1965, the Washington area bishop appointed him to Foundry Church where he served as senior pastor until his retirement in 1991.

Bauman was an excellent communicator and in 1979 Time magazine recognized this fact by naming him as one of the most outstanding ministers in the United States. Part of this recognition by time centered on his weekly Sunday morning WMAL-AM radio broadcasts which spanned more than thirty years. Radio, however, was not the only medium by which the public could listen to Bauman’s sermons. His career in television and film lasted thirty-five years (1958-1992). Televison stations across the United States broadcasted his shows from WMAL-TV studios. The films, which were based on the televison shows, were shown by military chaplains on bases or ships around the world.

Audiovisuals were not the only medium by which Bauman reached out to the public. He wrote eight books. The titles are The Life and Teaching of Jesus, An Introduction to the New Testament, God’s Presence in My Life, We’re Spreading the Good News, John’s Gospels in the Modern World, Beyond Belief, Intercessory Prayer, The Bible and New Life for the Church and God of Our Fathers and A Study Guide for the Film and TV Course. Other forms of ministries outside the local parish and after retirement included a variety of retreats and church renewal seminars.

In 1993, Bauman headed to Calcutta, India, to spend time working with Mother Teresa with a focus on her Home for the Dying located in Khaligat. The experience made such a lasting impression that Bauman started to work with hospices in the Washington, D.C. area upon his return.

Later Bauman would serve as an associate minister at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. The Washington National Cathedral named him a member of the Associate Faculty of The College of Preachers.

George W. Andrew (1896-?), American minister and educator, served in the Methodist Protestant Church. He was originally from Indiana, received his education at High Point College in North Carolina where, prior to entering the ministry, he studied to be an engineer. He was licensed to preach in the Methodist Protestant Church in 1928 in the Indiana Conference. He did not serve in the Indiana Conference, but was loaned to the Board of Missions. He and his wife were asked to teach at the Alvan Drew School in Kentucky. While teaching, he established preaching points and held services in the mountain country. They taught at the school for four years, from 1922 to 1926. Andrew left the school to complete his A.B. degree and was later ordained by the Methodist Protestant Church in the North Carolina Conference in 1928. After some illness, he accepted the pastorate of the College Church at Tehuaca, Texas and served from 1930 until 1934. He was then asked to return to the Alvan Drew School as superintendent but left in 1939 due to failing health and moved to Texas. Information about them after that date is incomplete.

Ethel Glyde Anderson (nee Lea) (1897-1961) was born March 7, 1897 in Erie, Pennsylvania, and later moved with her family to Elgin, Illinois. She was educated at Elgin High School; Elgin Junior College; and Northwestern University. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and an accomplished musician. She joined the First Methodist Church in Elgin around 1909. After completing her B.S., she taught mathematics and music in high school for two years. In 1921 she was appointed missionary to China by the United Evangelical Church, and in 1922 married H. C. Anderson. She returned to the United States with her husband. She died in 1961.