Showing 1429 results

Mildred Simonds (1876-1969) was a Methodist Episcopal Church missionary to India for forty years. She received a certificate from the State Normal School in Steven Point, Wisconsin, in 1895. In 1902 she graduated from the Chicago Training School. Prior to entering mission work, Simonds taught school in Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois. In 1903 she was a teacher for one year at Chaddock Boys' School in Chicago. During her time at Chaddock she was consecrated as a deaconess.

In 1905 she was accepted as a missionary by the Des Moines Branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, and a year later she sailed for India. From 1906 to 1927 Simonds was stationed at Vikarabad in the South India Conference. She was involved in evangelistic and education work including supervising village and night schools and adult education. From 1927 to 1938 Smonds was stationed at Tandur and Narayanpet. She also worked at Dalthabad in 1942. During her missionary years, Simonds took four furloughs: 1913, 1920, 1928, and 1936. She retired from missionary work in 1946.

William John Shuey (1827-1920) was a minister in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. He was born on February 9, 1827 in Miamisburg, Montgomery County, Ohio, to Adam Shuey and Hannah Aley Shuey. He entered the active ministry with the United Brethren Church in 1849, and was appointed to his first charge at Lewisburg, Preble County, Ohio. In the autumn of 1851, he was transferred to Cincinnati, where he served the church for seven years. He was twice elected presiding elder in the Miami Conference of his church, and served two years as pastor of the First United Brethren Church of Dayton.

In 1855, Shuey visited Freetown, in Sierra Leone, for the purpose of locating a mission. In 1864, he was elected one of the agents of the United Brethren publishing house. Shuey helped to found a theological seminary - Union Theological Seminary in Dayton.

Shuey married Sarah Berger on March 7, 1848. They had four sons, three of whom survived to adulthood. William John Shuey died in 1920.

Justina Lorenz Showers (1885-1984) was a Church of the United Brethren in Christ churchwoman. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College (Pennsylvania) and served as secretary of Young Women's Work of the Women's Missionary Association. In April 1911, she married J. Balmer Showers, a professor at Bonebrake Theological Seminary and later bishop in the church.

Showers was an active leader in the Women's Missionary Association serving as a trustee (1921-1946) and its president (1941-1946). She was also president of the Women's Society of World Service from 1947 to 1955. For twenty-one years she was president of the Miami, Ohio, branch of the Woman's Missionary Association. In addition, Showers was president of the Dayton, Ohio, Young Women's Christian Association.

John Balmer Showers (1879-1962) was an Evangelical United Brethren Church bishop and church leader. He was born near Paris, Ontario, Canada, son of the Reverend Joseph and Margaret Showers. His childhood was spent in the small towns and open country of Onotario Province where his father served as pastor of United Brethren churches. John Showers was educated in Canada at an early age. He obtained a license to preach in United Brethren church at eighteen. Showers graduated from Lebanon Valley College (B.A., 1907) and Bronebrake (now United) Theological Seminary (B.D., 1910). He did graduate study at Chicago University (1910-1911) and Berlin University (1911-1912). A research trip was taken to the Far East in 1922. Showers married Justina Lorenz in April 1911.

He was licensed to preach by a local church in 1898 and by the Ontario Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ in 1899. In 1902 he was ordained by the Erie Conference. Showers served several pastorates including Dechard circuit (1900-1903) and Bradford Station (1903-1904) in Pennsylvania. He was at Westfield College (1906-1907) in Illinois and Belmont Mission in Ohio (1908-1910). From 1910 to 1926 Showers was professor of New Testament Literature and Interpretation at Bonebrake Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. In 1926, Showers became the associate editor of the "Religious Telescope." He remained in that position until 1933. From 1931-1933 he was an associate publishing agent for the denomination. In 1933, he became publisher of "The Otterbein Press," a position he held until 1945. The General Conference of 1945 elected John Showers to the episcopacy and he was assigned to be bishop in the Eastern Area. He was later assigned to supervise the North Central Area. In 1954, Showers retired as emeritus bishop. From 1954 to 1962, he lived in Dayton, Ohio. He died on September 25, 1962 and was buried in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Dayton Ohio.

In 1933, he became publisher of "The Otterbein Press," a position he held until 1945.