Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Title
Date(s)
- 1855-1906 (Creation)
Extent
1.24 cubic feet
Name of creator
Biographical history
Daniel Kumler Flickinger (1824-1911) was an American United Brethren preacher and missionary bishop. He was largely self-educated. Beginning in 1846, he taught several terms in a rural school in Ohio. He married Mary Litner on February 25, 1847. His pastor recommended him for a quarterly conference license to preach, which was granted in April, 1849. He was then licensed by the Miami (Ohio) Conference, United Brethren in Christ, in 1850.
After serving as a junior preacher for a year, he resigned to enter Miami (Ohio) University. After the death, in 1851, of his wife he never returned to the university.
Flickinger accepted an appointment in 1851, but his poor health kept him from taking an assignment in 1852. Instead, he accompanied Bishop J. J. Glossenbrenner to Virginia and married the bishop's daughter Catherine on January 9, 1853.
Flickinger was ordained at the 1853 session of the Miami Conference and assigned to the Dayton Circuit. His second wife died in August 1854. He then offered himself to go to Africa to establish a mission, and departed on January 4, 1855. While in Sierra Leone, he married Susan Woosley, a missionary for the Congregationalists, on October 30, 1855. He and his wife returned to America in 1856, but Flickenger made a return trip to Africa in 1857 to help in the settlement of two missionaries.
Upon his return he was elected secretary of the missionary work for his denomination, but resigned a few months later due to poor health. In 1858 he as reelected to the post and continued in this office until 1885 when he was elected the first missionary bishop for the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. His tenure as bishop lasted four years. He died on August 29, 1911 at Columbus, Ohio, and was buried at Oxford, Ohio.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Record types include: diaries, letterbooks, oversized photographs, a book, a map, and three scrapbooks. The diaries (1895-1906) describe his trip to Africa with considerable detail about the work there. Included within these diaries are the records of African members. The 1902 letterbook contains letters concerning the Daniel F. Wilberforce cannibalism charge. There are three oversized photographs, a book written by Flickinger titled History of the Flickinger Family and a map in german of the Berlin area. Clippings comprise the bulk of the 1901 scrapbook. These clippings helped form the basis of his book, Fifty-five Years of Active Ministerial Life which is located in the library department. The other two scrapbooks are mainly comprised of clippings as well. The 1882-1895 scrapbook also contains lectures on Africa. The third scrapbook is a history of the United Brethren Church.
System of arrangement
Arrangement Series: Correspondences Series: Diaries Series: Miscellaneous Series: Scrapbooks
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
There are no restrictions regarding this collection.
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Detailed use restrictions relating to our collections can be requested from the office of the archivist at the General Commission on Archives and History. Photocopying is handled by the staff and may be limited in certain instances. Before using any material for publication from this collection a formal request for permission to publish is expected and required.
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
For additional material related to Daniel Kumler Flickinger see the Original Evangelical United Brethren Records (EUB 5, Folder 39); and the Records of the Evangelical United Brethren Church (Accession 1972-002).
Also see his autobiography: Fifty-five Years of Active Ministerial Life which is available in the Methodist Center Library.
Related descriptions
Notes element
General note
When citing material from this collection please use the following format: Direct reference to the item or its file folder, Daniel Kumler Flickinger Papers, United Methodist Church Archives - GCAH, Madison, New Jersey. Do not make use of the item's call number as that is not a stable descriptor.
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Archivist's note
Prepared by Lacey Brother, Student Assistant and Mark C. Shenise, Associate Archivist
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Wilberforce, Daniel F. (Subject)