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John Philip Newman was born in New York City on September 1, 1826. Without any significant formal education, he entered the Onedia Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1849.

Newman married Angeline Ensign in 1855, and after a number of appointments was transferred to the New York Annual Conference where he successfully served two of the largest churches in New York City between the years of 1859 to 1864. During 1860 he traveled extensively throught the Near East and Europe which produced the book, "From Dan to Beersheba."

From 1864 to 1869 Newman was assigned to New Orleans to establish the Methodist Episcopal Church in the south. In 1869 he was appointed to the newly erected Metropolitan Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. It was here that he became pastor to President Ulysses S. Grant, his family, as well as other high placed government leaders. He served three terms as Chaplain of the United States Senate in addition to his denominational responsibilities. In 1871-1872 he traveled to Greenland on the naval ship U.S. Congress, and shared in the beginning voyage of the naval ship U.S. Polaris as it prepared for its trip to the North Pole.

Upon Newman's return President Grant appointed him Inspector of U.S. Consulates in Asia and in that office traveled around the world. In 1876- 1879 he again served as pastor of the Metropolitan Church. His next pastorate, 1879-1882, was in the Central Church in New York City where Grant became a trustee

For a third time he returned as pastor of the Metropolitan Church, and served there until he was elected a bishop in 1888. His episcopal responsibilities took him not only on assignments in this country, but also to Japan, South America, Mexico, Scandinavia, and Russia. The Newmans had great interest in Jerusalem and provided through their estate enough funds and property in 1911 to allow the Board of Missions to establish in 1928 the Newman School of Missions in Jerusalem.

Bishop John Philip Newman died on July 5, 1899 in Saratoga, New York and was buried in Mechanicville, New York.

Costen Jordan Harrell (1885-1971), American Bishop, was born on February 12, 1885 in Gates, Colorado. Harrell was a Methodist Bishop and Seminary Professor. He began his ministry as student sully pastor at Park Avenue (Nashville, Tennessee). In 1910 he joined the North Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Harrell was ordained deacon in 1911 while serving the Epworth Church (Raleigh, North Carolina). He served the Trinity Church of Durham, North Carolina (1916-1919); First Church, Wilson, North Carolina (1919-1920); First Church, Atlanta, Georgia (1920-1925); Epworth Church, Norfolk, Virginia (1929-1933); West End Church, Nashville, Tennessee, 1933-1944. Harrell was fraternal messenger from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South to the General Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church, Columbus, Ohio (1932). He served as a member of the Commission on Budget and the Commission on Course of Study of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He was an alternate to the World Conference on Faith and Order. Harrell was the secretary of the General Commission on World Service from 1940-1944; In 1944 he was elected to the Episcopacy by the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference and assigned to the Birmingham area. As Bishop he beceame the Chairman of the Commission on the Study of the Local Church (1948-1952). He was also a member of the Board of Pensions and chairman of the Legislative Committee (1948-1952). Harrell was assigned to the episcopacy of the Charlotte area in 1949. Bishop Harrell was the vice-chairman of the Advance For Christ and His Church (1948-1956) and the Week of Dedication Program. He was elected as a member of the Executive Committee of the Council of Bishops (1952-1953). Bishop Harrell retired in 1956 from the Episcopacy and accepted a position as visiting professor of Homiletics and Methodist Polity and Discipline (1956). His parents were Samuel Isaac and Isa Costen Harrell. He received an A. B. degree in 1906 from Trinity College (Duke University). He then went on to receive a Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Arts Degree in 1910. Randolph-Macon College awarded him the Doctory of Divinity Degree in 1929. He also earned a Litt. D. from Birmingham-Southern in 1945 and the LL.D. Degree from American University in 1953. He married Amy Patton Walden of Athens, Georgia on June 6, 1917. They had one son. Bishop Harrell passed away in 1971.

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.

Eben Samuel Johnson (1866-1967), Bishop and chaplain, was born in Warwickshire, England on February 8, 1866. He is a direct descendent from one of John Wesley's original helpers. Johnson was raised and educated in England. He married Sarah Tilsey (born August 4, 1863) in 1884. At the age of sixteen he was preaching on an English Methodist circuit and later spent several years as a newspaper reporter in London.

When Johnson was ten years old he was admitted to the Queens Hospital in Birmingham, England. During his twelve week stay a number of events happened which shaped the rest of his life. The first was the impact of the amount of sickness, suffering, and dying of those who were around him. This created such a compassion for others within him that he knew then and there that the ministry was to be his life's calling. The second and third events happened simultaneously when his brother sent young Johnson two books. The first was a book on Pitman shorthand. Johnson quickly learned this type of writing and subsequently used it throughout his ministry. The second book was about David Livingstone. After reading this biography Johnson felt a strong conviction to serve the church in Africa. Later, when his mother was visiting him in the hospital, Johnson expressed this high calling to her. To which she replied that if God wanted him to serve in Africa, then it would come to pass. To his dying day Johnson felt that his mother's reply was his confirmation to serve as a missionary in Africa. All of these influences are elucidated in this collection.

In 1889 Johnson moved to the United States and was admmitted on trial sight unseen with the Northwest Iowa Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. While serving various churches within the conference he attended Mornnigside College in Souix City, Iowa.

When the Spanish-American War broke out Johnson became the chaplain for the Iowa 52nd Volunteers. He was mustered out of active service within a year but remained active in the National Guard until he was elected a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church. his final rank was that of major.

After recieving a degree from Oxford University in 1906, Johnson returned to Iowa to take up his pastoral duties. By 1915 he had become the district superintendent of the Souix City District. During this time period he was appointed secretary of the Northwest Iowa Annual Conference which lasted for twelve consecutive years. Johnson was elected a delegate to the General Conference in the years of 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1916. Being a proficient stenographer, he served as journal secretary to the General Conference in those four above mentioned sessions.

At the 1916 General Conference, Johnson was elected missionary bishop for Africa. His childhood dream being fulfilled, he quickly moved into the episcopal residence at Umtali, Rhodesia. The 1920 General Conference voted to empower him as a general superintendent. Johnson then moved the episcopal residence to Cape Town, South Africa to establish a new mission work. To his credit Johnson overcame many odds and established a firm work that included many indigenous pastors in key leadership roles.

Bishop Johnson retired in 1936 and took up residence in Oregon. He died on December 9, 1939, in Veteran's Hospital, Portland, Oregon and is buried in Riverview Abbey, Portland. He was survived by his wife, Sarah, and their three children. Sarah Tilsley Johnson died on March 29, 1967. Children include Samuel Darlow Johnson (Methodist minister in Oregon), Arthur Holmes Johnson (medical doctor in Alaska), and Dorothea Spears (who was married to an archivist in Cape Town, South Africa).

John Wesley Robinson (1866-1947) was born at Moulton, Iowa, January 6, 1866 and married Elizabeth Fisher in 1891. Having begun his career as a printer before he entered the ministry, he was educated at Garrett Biblical Institute. Robinson was ordained in the Des Moines Conference and after two years was transferred to the North India Conference. After a number of varied appointments he was elected in 1912 as a missionary bishop for Southern Asia, and in 1920 he was elected a General Superintendent. From 1912 when the National Missionary Council was organized in India until 1936 when he retired, he participated prominently in inter-church activities.

After retiring Robinson made his home in California briefly, but then returned to India to assume the editorship of The Indian Witness. In 1940 he administered the Lucknow and Hyderabad Conferences. He was again called from retirement this time to superintend the Delhi Conference. He died in India May 30, 1947. His grave is in the Kaladungi Cemetery near Nain Tal.

Reuben Herbert Mueller (1897-1982), American Evangelical United Brethren Church minister, general church officer, and bishop, was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He served in the U.S. Army in World War I. He married Magdalene Stauffacher on December 26, 1919. They had one daughter, Margaret Magdalene.

After studying at the Evangelical Theological Seminary and North Central College in Gainesville, Illinois, Mueller was licensed to preach in 1916 by the Evangelical Association.

He was given his first pastorate in 1921, ordained deacon in 1922, and elder in 1924. He served pastorates in Minnesota and Indiana before becoming a district superintendent in 1937.

In 1943, Mueller was chosen executive secretary of the Board of Christian Education of the Evangelical Church, and later of the Evangelical United Brethren Church,. In 1954, he was elected bishop. At the sixth General Assembly of the National Council of Churches in December 1963, Mueller was elected president, and served one three-year term. In the United Methodist Church (1968), he was assigned to the Indiana Area. He retired in 1972.

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.

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.

John McKendree Springer (1873-1963), a pioneering Methodist Episcopal Church missionary and bishop, was instrumental in developing Methodism in Africa. He graduated from Northwestern University (1895 and 1899) and received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Garrett Biblical Institute (1901). In 1901 he was appointed a missionary.

From 1901 to 1906 he was a pastor and the superintendent of the Old Umtali Industrial Mission in Rhodesia. During 1907 he and his wife journeyed across the continent of Africa. His first furlough was taken from 1907-1909, and when he returned to Africa in 1910, he was stationed in the Lunda country of Angola and Congo. Between 1910 and 1915 Springer had various appointments: Kalalua in North Western Rhodesia ( 1910-1911); Lukoshi in Belgian Congo (1911-1913); and Kambove (1913- 1915). A second furlough, taken in 1915, lasted until 1916.

Upon return to Africa, Springer became superintendent of the Congo Mission Conference but returned to the United States in 1918 to work on the Centenary and Inter-Church World Movement projects. In 1920 he was appointed superintendent of the Elisabethville-Luba District but was transferred to the Rhodesia Mission Conference in 1921 to serve as superintendent of the Mutumbara District. Another transfer occurred in 1924 when Springer joined the Congo Mission Conference a second time and was appointed superintendent. During this time he was stationed at Panda-Likasa. From 1925 to 1928 he was in the United States on furlough.

Returning to Africa in 1928, Springer continued his work as superintendent of the Congo Mission Conference but was stationed on the Likasi Circuit. His missionary work there would continue until 1935 when he was granted a fourth furlough. In 1936 Springer was elected Missionary Bishop for Africa and began travels through the continent. He retired in 1944 and returned to the United States in 1950.

Helen Emily Chapman Springer (1868-1949) was a pioneer Methodist Episcopal Church missionary to Rhodesia and the Congo. She graduated from Holyoke High School in Massachusetts and Women's Medical College in Philadelphia. In 1890 she sailed for Africa and soon married William Rasmussen (n.d.-1895). The Rasmussens arrived in Lower Congo, Africa, in 1891. Due to ill health they were forced to return to the United States after only a year and a half.

When they returned to the mission field in 1894, they were assigned to Isangila, Congo, but she was forced to leave Africa again due to failing health. In 1901 she returned to Africa and was stationed in Rhodesia at Old Umtali where she started a girls' boarding school. On January 2, 1905, she married John McKendree Springer, and they continued to work as missionaries in Africa. Helen Springer's work focused on translating Christian literature and scriptures into native languages. She also assisted her husband in his duties as bishop and missionary.

Helen Newton Everett Springer was the second wife of Bishop John McKendree Springer. She was a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Massachusetts General Hospital where she received a B.A. and a nursing degree. Springer arrived in Africa in 1921 and began work as a nurse in Kapanga, Congo. She also worked in Kanene and Elisabethville, Congo, as well as in Mount Silinda, Southern Rhodesia. Springer served as a missionary for twenty-one years.

John Samuel Stamm (1878-1956) was born in Elida, Kansas in 1878. After only five grades in public school, at the age of twenty he applied to the Evangelical College and Seminary. Not qualifying for advanced academic work, he took sub-academy courses, and twelve years later graduated from both the college and the seminary. After several parish appointments, he served the Glasgow Evangelical Mission in Missouri.

Stamm married Priscilla Wahl on March 19, 1912. He was elected to teach systematic theology at the Evangelical Seminary in Naperville, Illinois, and remained in this post until he was elected bishop in 1922. During his first eight years as bishop, Stamm served as General Secretary of Evangelism. Following his episcopal assignment he was President of the School of Theology in Reading, Pennsylvania until 1941. After this assignment , he served as President of the Pennsylvania Council of Churches 1945-1949, and then the Federal Council of Churches from 1948-1950. Stamm retired in 1950. He then moved back to Kansas City, Missouri, where he continued to preach. Bishop Stamm died on March 5, 1956.