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Virginia "Jennie" M. Atkinson (1861-1941) was a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, missionary in China from 1884-1940. After graduating from Lagrange Female College in Georgia, she went to China in October 1884 with Laura Haygood. Working primarily in the Shanghai and Soochow regions, Atkinson taught, was instrumental in establishing several schools, and involved in women's work.

In Soochow, she was placed in charge of the city day schools under the Woman' s Board and later established a center in the western part of the city which accommodated four of the schools. She founded the Atkinson Academy for Boys in 1896 and the Davidson Girls' School. When the Boxer Rebellion erupted, she took many Chinese Christians to Japan where they were refugees for four months. In 1901 Atkinson returned to Soochow and continued her work with the day schools. During this period of her work another center, the Embroidery Mission, was opened, providing evangelistic work, teaching, and housing for many Chinese women.

Atkinson also purchased land, with the approval of the Women's Board, to provide buildings for the Davidson Girls' School, the Louise Home for Missionaries, the Moka Garden Embroidery Mission, and the Kindergarten and Kindergarten Training School. She then moved to Changshu to work with Chinese teachers and Bible women (evangelist/teachers for women). With the assistance of her Alabama Conference, Atkinson again purchased land near the Center at Moka Garden, on which the Dowdell Church was built for the Embroidery Mission and the women's work of the church.

Upon her retirement in 1927 with emeritus status she received special permission to stay in China near Soochow, remaining through the Japanese invasion, ministering to the Chinese. Due to poor health and the growing threat of war, Atkinson eventually left China in 1940. She was later buried in China.

Louise Avett (1903-1994), an American missionary, was born May 7, 1903, in Norwood, North Carolina. She received an A. B. from Duke University and an M. A. from Scarritt College. Avett taught fifth grade in the United States prior to her missionary service in China, which lasted from 1932 to 1945. Part of her service included evangelistic and social work in the Soochow, Changhsu Ku, Haito, Huchow provinces of East China and the Houchuan Province of West China. Teaching duties included working at the Hwa Mei, Hochuan, Dahoba, Tongnan, and Gwei Chin Tze primary and middle schools. When itinerating, Avett would stay with numerous families and minister to them for several days at a time. She also taught in Hong Kong during the 1960s. Louise Avett died in 1994.

The Badley family have a long history of missionary service in the Methodist Epsicopal Church and the Methodist Church. There are three individuals who exemplify this commitment. They are Brenton Hamline Badley, Brenton Thoburn Badley, and Theodore Charles Badley.

Brenton Hamline Badley (1849-1891), Missionary, was born in Monmouth, Indiana on April 27, 1849. He was the son of the Reverend Arthur Badley who served in the Des Moines Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Brenton married Mary Margaret Anna Scott on August 8, 1872, and joined the Des Moines Annual Conference in September of that same year. Badley was transferred to the North India Annual Conference and arrived in India in December of 1872, where he was appointed to the city of Lucknow. Within six months he preached his first venacular sermon, and went on to spend the next four years in rural evangelism. He then returned to Lucknow where he served the remainder of his life. The development of the Centennial Boys School into Reid Christian College, now Lucknow Christian College, was his greatest accomplishment. Mr. Badley went on to write numerous books and articles on Indian Missions for a variety of American publications, and prepared the Indian Missionary Directory in 1876. Brenton Hamline Badley died in 1891.

Brenton Thoburn Badley (1876-1949), Bishop and Missionary, was born in United Provinces, India on May 29, 1876, the son of Brenton Hamline Badley. In 1900, after completing his course studies, he traveled as a Methodist missionary to India, where he worked as a professor at Lucknow for ten years. Badley then served as Secretary of the Epworth League for India and Burma, as well as Associate Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church from 1917-1919. The Central Conference of Southern Asia elected him editor of its weekly publication "The Indian Witness" in January of 1924. Before serving in that capacity he went to the General Conference in Springfield, Massachusetts, where in May of 1924 he was elected bishop. He supervised the Bombay, Gujarat, Hyderabad, and South India Annual Conferences as his first assignment. Later, he was moved to Delhi, and spent four years supervising the Delhi, North India and Indus River Conferences, the latter of which was eventually put into the Bombay Annual Conference. He authored many articles in America and India, and wrote twelve books before his death at Mirzapore, India, on February 1, 1949.

Theodore Charles Badley (1879-1965), Missionary and Christian Educator, was born in Lucknow, India in 1879, the son of Brenton Hamline Badley, and the brother of Brenton Thoburn Badley. He was married to Clara Nelson in 1904. After the two arrived in Lucknow, Badley became a teacher at Lucknow Christian College. Later, he became Secretary of the Council of Christian Education, where he endeavored to upgrade Methodist educational institutions throughout India. Badley became the Delhi superintendent before retiring to Claremont, California, where he died on June 21, 1965.