Woman's Foreign Missionary Society

Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America was a 19th-century Protestant woman's missionary organization. It was founded in the Tremont Street Methodist Episcopal Church, in March 1869 founded in Boston, Massachusetts. The society was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York in 1884. Its earliest periodical was entitled, The Heathen Woman's Friend, with other publications established later on.

History

Dr. Clara Swain

Mary Clarke Nind

Sigourney Trask

Nancie Monelle Mansell

The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society organized in the Tremont Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Boston, in March day 1869 by eight women who responded to a call sent to 30 churches.^[1] The eight founders were, Mrs. Lewis Flanders; Mrs. Thomas Kingsbury; Mrs. William B. Merrill; Lois Lee Parker; Mrs. Thomas A. Rich; Mrs. H.J. Stoddard; and Mrs. P.T. Taylor.^[2] A window in the Tremont Street Church commemorates the event and preserves their names.^[1] The first public meeting of the society was held in the Bromfield Street Methodist Episcopal Church, May 26, 1869. The speaking was quickly followed by decisive action. At a business meeting held by the women at the close of the public occasion, it was voted to raise money to send as a missionary to India, Isabella Thoburn, sister of Bishop James Mills Thoburn. An appeal for a medical woman soon followed. As a result of prompt and efficient measures to procure funds, the services of Isabella Thoburn and of Clara Swain, M.D., were secured. These two women sailed from New York City for India, via England, on November 3, 1869, reaching their destination early in January, 1870. They were cordially received, and soon entered upon a their work, Thoburn organizing schools and superintending the work of Bible readers, and Swain's medical ability gaining for her admission to many places that were closed to others. This society sent to India, China, Korea, and Japan the first woman medical missionary ever received in those countries. By 1903, its 34th year, it had 265 missionaries carrying on its work in India, China, Japan, Korea, Africa, Bulgaria, Italy, South America, Mexico, and the Philippines, by means of women's colleges, high schools, seminaries, hospitals, dispensaries, day schools, and "settlement work".^[3]

The society was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York in 1884. Its receipts during the first year were US$4,546.86, and in the year 1903, $491,091.75, with a total from the beginning of $6,850,853.. Six Branches were organized the first year. By 1903,there were now eleven, the first the New England, and the 11th the Columbia River Branch. The first number of the society's first periodical, The Heathen Woman's Friend, appeared in June, 1869, with Harriet Merrick Warren as its editor for 24 years.^[3]

References

Bibliography

• This article incorporates text from a work in the public domain: Baker, Frances J. (1898). The story of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1869-1895 (Public domain ed.). Curts & Jennings. 
• This article incorporates text from a work in the public domain: Howe, Julia Ward; Graves, Mary Hannah (1904). Representative Women of New England (Public domain ed.). New England Historical Publishing Company. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Woman's Foreign Missionary Society.

• Baker, Frances J. (1895). The Story of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1869-1895 (Public domain ed.). Curts & Jennings. 
• Gracey, Mrs. J. T. (1888). Medical Work of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society: Methodist Episcopal Church [with Supplement] (Public domain ed.). Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, Methodist Episcopal Church. 
• Methodist Episcopal Church. Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. Northwestern Branch (1889). Annual Report of the Northwestern Branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church (Public domain ed.). Northwestern Branch. 
• Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church (1886). Annual Report (Public domain ed.). Charles A. Coffin. pp. 4–.