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Charles Bayard Mitchell (1857-1942) was a Methodist Episcopal Church bishop. He graduated from Mt. Union College (1877) and received a B. A. (1879), a M.A. (1882), a Ph.D. (1892), and a D.D. (1893) from Allegheny College. In July 1882 he married Anna Aull.

Mitchell entered the South Kansas Conference in 1880 and was a charter member of the 1881 Southwest Kansas Conference. He transferred to the Kansas Conference in 1884 and served as its financial secretary for two years. Mitchell served in the following locations: Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh (1886); Plainfield, New Jersey (1888); Grand Avenue, Kansas City (1892); Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis (1897); Cleveland (1901); and St. James, Chicago (1908)

Mitchell was a delegate to the General Conferences of 1904, 1908, and 1916, and was an alternate for the 1912 General Conference. He also attended the Ecumenical Conferences of 1901 and 1911. In 1916 the General Conference elected him to the episcopacy and assigned to the St. Paul, Minnesota area, where he served for eight years. While he was in Minnesota he was instrumental in raising substantial monies for several Methodist educational institutions in the region including Lawrence College, Hamline University, Parker College, Dakota Wesleyan, and the Wesley Foundation at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Mitchell was appointed to the Philippine Islands in 1924. He remained there until 1928 when he retired.

Mitchell was a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of several professional honor societies. He wrote three books: A Little Bundle of Letters from Three Continents (1895), The Nobelest Quest: and Other Sermons Preached in the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Cleveland, Ohio (1905), and The Way of a Man (1912). Mitchell died on February 23, 1942 and is buried Forest Lawn, Glendale, California.

Charles A. Merrill (1826-1896) was a Methodist Episcopal Church minister. He graduated from the Theological Institute in Concord, New Hampshire in 1855. Later that year he joined the Providence ( later New England Southern) Conference and served churches in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. In 1867 he was transferred to the New England Conference and pastored churches in Springfield ( 1867- 1868), Ipswich (1869-1870), Rockport (1871-1873), Woburn (1874- 1875), Holyoke (1876-1877), Easthampton (1878), Monson (1879-1881), Winchendon (1882-1884), Oakdale (1885), Tapleyville (1886- 1887), and Maynard (1888-1890). He resigned from active work in 1890 due to health reasons.

Merrill married twice. His first wife, Sarah A. Foster, died in 1852. They had one child, Charles F. In 1855 he married M. Sophia Truesdell. They had three children, Elmer T., Clifton S., and Effie A.

Marjorie Swank Matthews (1916-1986), first female bishop consecrated in The United Methodist Church, was born circa July 11, 1916 to Jess A. and Mae (Chapman) Swank. Before entering the ministry, Matthews was secretary and assistant treasurer for an automotive parts corporation. Matthews began her ministry in 1959 at Mt. Pleasant Methodist Church in Michigan. She was ordained as a local elder in 1965. Matthews also served Pleasant Valley-Leaton, Vermontville-Gresham, Sunfield-Sebewa Center, Evart, Ashley-Bannister, and Napoleon Methodist charges, all in Michigan. While at seminary, Matthews served LeRoy and Barre Center Presbyterian Churches in New York. Matthews was received as a Full Member into the West Michigan Conference in June of 1969. In 1976, she was appointed District Superintendent of the Grand Traverse District. On July 17, 1980, Matthews was elected United Methodism's first female bishop by the North Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church, she was appointed to the Wisconsin Conference, where Matthews served until her retirement in 1984. Matthews was a champion of women’s issues in the church and led many workshop for clergywomen and pastors’ wives. Matthews had a considerable academic career. She was awarded a Bachelor of Arts from Central Michigan University in 1967 and a Bachelor of Divinity from Colgate Rochester Divinity School in 1970. Matthews received a Master of Arts in 1971 and Doctorate in Philosophy in Humanities in 1976, both from Florida State University. Her doctoral dissertation was entitled “Issues and Answers in the Book of Job and Joban Issues and Answers in Three Twentieth Century Writers: Carl Jung, Robert Frost, and Archibald Macleish." Matthews had one son, William, and three grandchildren, Robbie, Lori, and Greg. She died after a prolonged bout with cancer on June 30, 1986. Matthews is interred in the Alma Cemetery, Alma, Michigan.

Edmund Simon Lorenz (1854-1942) was born in North Lawrence, Ohio on July 13, 1854 and died on July 10, 1942 in Dayton Ohio and was buried in Woodland Cemetery. He was the eldest son of Reverend Edward and Barbara (Gueth) Lorenz. The Lorenz family emigrated from Germany to the United States of America. Edmund Lorenz graduated from Otterbein University (A.M.) in Westerville, Ohio. Lorenz also attended Union Biblical Seminary, Yale Theological Seminary (LL.D.), and the University of Leipzig (D.Mus.). He served as pastor of the High Street United Brethren Church in Dayton, Ohio (1884-1886) After that Lorenz became president of Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania, in October, 1887. With his excellent executive abilities, he began to formulate and put into effect larger plans for the internal work and permanent support of the college. Failing health compelled his retirement in 1889.

Edmund Lorenz was music editor, composer and hymns written mainly for the United Brethren Church in Christ. He published his first book in 1875. Since then he has edited fifty books which include Sunday school song books, gospel song books, hymnals, anthem books, books for male voices and for primary classes, services and cantatas, sheet music and even organ music. His compositions are wholly of a religious character. In 1894, he founded the Choir Leader, in 1897 the Choir Herald, monthly periodicals devoted to choir music, and now recognized as being the leading publications of their class in the world. The Kirchenchor, a German choir monthly, also edited by him, was founded in 1897. Lorenz was an active member of the Y.M.C.A. His works include: Gates of Praise, with Isaiah Baltzell (Dayton, Ohio: United Brethren Publishing House, by W. J. Shuey, 1884); Notes of Victory, with William Ogden (Dayton, Ohio: United Brethren Publishing Company, 1885); Garnered Sheaves of Song for the Sunday School, with Isaiah Baltzell (Dayton, Ohio: W. J. Shuey, 1888); Songs of the Morning, with Isaiah Baltzell (Dayton, Ohio: W. J. Shuey, 1889); The Otterbein Hymnal (Dayton, Ohio: United Brethren Publishing House, 1892); Practical Church Music (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1909); The Beginners’ Choir, with Ira Wilson (Dayton, Ohio: Lorenz Publishing Company, 1911); Church Music: What a Minister Should Know About It (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1923); Music in Work and Worship (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1925); The Singing Church, 1937. His publishing company (Lorenz Publishing Co in Dayton, Ohio) become one of America's largest and most influential publishers of church music. His daughter, Justina, married Bishop John Balmer Showers.

James Jolene Loomis (1830-1871), Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Minister, was born in Newark, New Jersey. He moved to Albion, Michigan as a child where he stayed until he finished college. Loomis then taught for one year in Missouri before moving to Columbus, Texas to take a position with the County Clerk's Office. He joined the 21st Texas Volunteer Infantry at the start of the Civil War as a Methodist Episcopal Church South chaplain. After the war he became a school teacher in Columbus, Texas until 1867 when his wife, Mary Elizabeth Loomis died. He then moved himself and his children to Galveston, Texas where he taught school at the local Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He was ordained by Bishop William May Wightman, he appears to be a local ordained minister. In 1870 he moved to Goliad, Texas and became the headmaster of the Paine Female Institute, a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Women's College. He was also a Freemason, belonging to the Caledonia Lodge in Columbus, Texas. His daughter, Luna M. Branch joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, South as a missionary immediately after his death in 1871.

Rev. Carroll Summerfield Long, D.D., PhD. (1850-1890) American Methodist Episcopal Church missionary was born on January 2, 1850 in Athens, Tennessee. He was the oldest son of Reverend William R. Long (February 18, 1819-November 4, 1847) and Sarah Elizabeth (Atlee) Long (April 4, 1829-December 5, 1889). He attended East Tennessee Wesleyan College (Athens, Tennessee) with the intent of practicing medicine. However, he had a change in plans and wanted to live a more religious lifestyle. He became licensed to preach on June 22, 1872 under Reverend J. W. Mann. Higher education was important to Long, and he would return to East Tennessee Wesleyan College to complete his studies, receiving a B.A. in the classics in 1878, a M.A. in 1881, followed by an PhD in 1886.

In October 1875, Long was admitted to the Holston Conference and was stationed in Asheville, North Carolina where he would serve for four years as the pastor of the church. During which he would also serve as the president of Candler College for two of those years. In August 1879, he was elected as the principal of Powells Valley Seminary (Well Spring, Tennessee), where he would hold the position for a short five months before accepting an appointment as missionary to Japan. Long and his wife sailed from San Francisco, California on February 28, 1880 and arrived in Nagasaki March 20, 1880. Long was determined to become emerged within the Japanese culture, and took up to the study of the language and customs upon his arrival. Within less than 13 weeks, Long was able to give his first sermon in the vernacular of the people. Reverend Carroll Summerfield Long would serve a total of eight years as a missionary to Japan. Some of his many accomplishments include founding Cobleigh Seminary (1881), becoming the presiding elder of the Nagasaki and Nagoya districts, as well as founding a school for girls in Nagoya (October 1888).

His missionary experiences were not experienced alone, and in many aspects, could not be completed without his family. On June 3, 1879 he married Flora Isadore Smith (1861-1952), the daughter of Reverend William Conway Smith (1830-1881) and Mary Eliza (Hemens) Smith (1835-1929). They met through “Pen Pal,” as Flora loved to read “The Children’s Corner” and began an relationship through the correspondence that the two would have. During their time in Japan, Carroll and Flora would have 4 children: Mary Elizabeth Long Dayharsh (1880-1975), Flora Hortense Long Harrison (1881-1968), Pauline “Haru” Atlee Long (1883-1931) and “Michi” Geraldine Long Bailey (1888-1985).

Reverend Carroll Summerfield Long made his last return trip to the United States on August 17, 1890, and due to bad health, passed away at the home his friend Reverend J.D. Robertson in Asheville, North Carolina on September 4, 1890 and is buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery (Athens, Tennessee).

Roy Benton Leedy (1883- 1981), American minister, was born February 13, 1883 in Richland County, Ohio, and spent much of his childhood in Fremont, Ohio. He graduated from Northwestern Academy (now North Central College), and from Evangelical Theological Seminary. He received his license to preach in 1907, and his full membership in 1913 in the Ohio Conference of the Evangelical Church. In 1912 he married Rose V. Voigt, and they bore three children. After his first wife's death, Leedy married Margaret Koepnick Faust in 1933. He began his ministry at Bettsville, and later served at Akron, Kenmore, Marion-Salem, Flat Rock, Cedar Hill, Gibsonburg, Huron, Carey, Napoleon, Perrysburg, Green Springs, and Warren- Grace. During his years of ministry, Leedy served as secretary of the General Historical Society of the Evangelical Church, and served for 35 years as historian of the Ohio Conference. After his retirement in 1951 he finished his book, The Evangelical Church in Ohio, which was published in 1959. He received an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Baldwin- Wallace College in recognition of his work in collecting materials of and writing about the history of the Evangelical Church. Leedy died on January 2, 1981 at the Elyria Home in Elyria, Ohio, and is buried in Fremont, Ohio.

Quentin Charles Lansman (1920-1969) was a minister and educational administer in the Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) Church and later the United Methodist church. He served as both a pastor and later as a General Officer in the Board of Christian Education for the EUB Church and following its merger, as the Associate Director in the Department of Campus Ministry of the Division of Higher Education of the United Methodist Church.

Born in Shelby County, Iowa on September 6, 1920, he was the son of Charles and Johanna Lansman. He was educated in Audubon, Iowa and attended Westmar College at Lemars, Iowa, receiving his B.A in 1943. Lansman subsequently attended Evangelical Theological Seminary in Naperville, Illinois and received his Bachelor of Divinity in 1946. Lansman served two congregations in the Iowa Conference of the EUB Church: at Noble Center EUB in Griswold, Iowa and at Waterloo First EUB Church. Lansman enrolled in the Northwestern University PhD program and lived in Naperville Illinois during his resident work, serving as Associate Minister at Naperville First EUB Church. From 1959 to 1968 Lansman was a General Officer in the Board of Christian Education of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, based in Dayton, Ohio. Following its merger with the Methodist Church in 1968, Lansman became the Associate Director in the Department of Campus Ministry of the Division of Higher Education of the newly formed United Methodist Church, in Nashville, Tennessee. Lansman completed his doctorate at Northwestern in June, 1969 with his dissertation entitled, An Historical Study of the Development of Higher Education and Related Theological and Educational Assumptions in the Evangelical United Brethren Church: 1800-1954.

Lansman died unexpectedly on December 28, 1969 at the Lloyd Geweke ranch near Ord, Nebraska. Sections of his dissertation were posthumously published as a book with the title Higher Education in the Evangelical United Brethren Church, 1800-1954 in 1972 by the Board of Education of The United Methodist Church.

Frederick H. Krecker (1816-1889) was the third child of John Philip Krecker and Margaret (Dischinger) Krecker. He was born on May 31, 1816 in Philadelphia. Krecker was married twice, first to Isabella Weidenoyer (1819-1876), and then to Salina Schultz for the last six years of his life. He fathered seven children, five of whom survived to adulthood.

Rev. Krecker's life work was as an itinerant pastor who was converted into the Evangelical belief around the age of sixteen. He began preaching in 1837 in both German and English, continuing for almost fifty years mostly in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania.. His personal diaries mention his travels in service to his church in the following towns: Bethlehem; 1850-52, Fairville; 1866, Hazelton; 1875, Orwigsburgh; 1887-89. All were in eastern Pennsylvania. He was deceased on Dec. 27, 1889 and buried in Cressona, Pennsylvania. "Hallelulah" was the last word he uttered.

Paul R. Koontz (1890-1954) was an Evangelical United Brethren minister and editor. He graduated from Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania in 1911 and completed theological studies at Bonebrake Seminary in Ohio in 1914. Koontz became a member of the Pennsylvania Annual Conference in 1909. He married Elizabeth Lau.

After graduation, he returned to Pennsylvania to serve a few months in Carlisle. He was then assigned to Myersville, Maryland. Koontz also served in Mechanicsburg (1919-1925) and Baltimore (1925-1941). In 1941 the General Conference elected him editor of youth publications. While working as editor, he also was a member of the Department of Christian Education.

Koontz served on several boards of his conference, including Conference Trustees, Council of Administration, and Christian Education. He was on the Board of Trustees of Lebanon Valley College, in Lebanon Valley, Pennsylvania and United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. Six times Koontz was elected a delegate to General Conference. He served on the committee on audio-visual material and the committee of uniform lessons of the National Council of Churches. Koontz was a popular speaker throughout the conference.

One of Koontz's major contributions to the church was the Pennsylvania Conference Choir, which he organized in 1930. He was director of this choir for fifteen years. He was also known for his effective and efficient pastoral services.