George Washington Farmer was a circuit rider in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and a soldier for the Federal Army during the Civil War. He was a member of the itinerancy in Mississippi in 1860-61, and in southern Illinois in the late 1860s and 1870s.
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.
Robert Frank Petersen, D.M.D., (1921-2007), United Methodist Church missionary to India, was a skilled dentist born in Portland, Oregon, on January 2, 1921. He graduated from the University of Oregon Dental School in 1943, and served as a dental officer in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1946. In 1951, Robert and his wife, Mary B. Petersen, went to India to work in dental medicine at Clara Swain Hospital in Bareilly, U.P., and remained there until 1954. After completing his dental missionary work in India, Robert and Mary returned to Oregon, and Robert continued his dental practice. Dr. and Mrs. Petersen had three children. Petersen died on January 15, 2007 in Medford, Oregon.
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.
Daniel Asbury (1762-1825) was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, on February 18, 1762. Though not directly related to Bishop Francis Asbury, he served with Bishop Asbury for many years, and was a close friend
Daniel Asbury went to Kentucky when he was about sixteen years old (1778). He was captured by the Indians and then handed over to the British who jailed him in Detroit. Escaping, he made his way back to Virginia around 1783. He was converted and received into the Methodist Conference in Virginia. His first circuit was Amelia in Virginia. In the year following his admission, he was sent to North Carolina, where he spent most of his later life. In 1794 Daniel Asbury held the first camp meeting in the North Carolina area. In 1824, he retired and settled near the present Terrell in Catawba County, North Carolina. There he married Nancy Morris. Asbury died in 1825, and was buried in the Rehoboth Methodist Episcopal Church.