Some Ordained and Licensed Women from the years 1929 -
1939 in the Kansas and Oklahoma
Conferences of the Pentecostal Holiness
Church.
Compiled By
Marilyn A.
Hudson, with Alicia Hutson , April 2006
The year was
1965 in Wellington, Kansas,
in the home of the pastor of the local Pentecostal Holiness
Church. The
guest evangelist, Mary E. Ford, was a woman just easing out of middle age
wearing a cream colored chiffon blouse, a sturdy brown woolen skirt, with
fading hair escaping from its once tidy bun.
Her wide pleasant face was a roller coaster of expressions from intense
concentration to hearty laughter.
Sitting at the
parsonage piano, a sturdy black upright, she is surrounded by the daughters of
the pastor and a friend of theirs who often came to visit. The visitor entertains them playing snappy standards
from the forties and crooning tunes from the fifties. She responded to the news that the oldest
girl was taking business courses by encouraging her to keep her chin up and not
let the men bully her. She recounted
with great hilarity a time when an employer had tried to bull her and all
laughed at the impossibility the image presented.
To all of
those gathered around the piano that afternoon she shared her love of God, her
courage, her experience, and her sense of fun.
To each and every one there she encouraged them to “press on” in their
faith and to get a good education
.
“Report Accepted....Character
Passed....”
The Holiness
and Pentecostal movements were unique episodes of American religious history
but shared a common thread in a willingness to accept women as instruments of
ministry
.
From the earliest days in both movements
women responded to God with a desire to preach the gospel with as much
enthusiasm as their male counterparts. As some elements of both merged to form
the Pentecostal movement, the invigorating dynamic of a life that sought to
live in the fullest relationship with God was not one that would accept
limitations easily.
An examination
of the official registers of membership for the Oklahoma
and Kansas Conferences of the Pentecostal
Holiness Church
for the years 1929-1939 reveals some interesting insights, identifies some
pioneer women, and provides a context for further discussion about the historic
role of women within the Pentecostal tradition.
The title stems from a reoccurring statement recorded in the
1929 year book. As the conference
business would progress the ministers present would offer their reports (how
many sermons preached, miles traveled, etc.) and at the conclusion there would
be a motion of “report accepted and character passed.” It is a fitting testimony to the role of
these women and their unique place in the history of the American church and
the Pentecostal tradition that without question each one was accepted.
Description of the
Project
A brief survey of records contained in the “Year Book of
the Pentecostal Holiness Church”
for the years 1929 to 1939 was conducted.
Names of obviously female ordained and licensed women were recorded and
their number compared with the total list of individuals. One limitation may be that some additional
persons on the lists may also be female and the use of initials in their names
may conceal that fact. Also, there is margin of error because of a few names
that can be either a man or a woman’s name and some women did marry changing
their name. However, women, according to
the most common format employed, were most often listed with the title of
“Mrs.” followed by their husband’s name, or their first names if a young woman
or “spinster”. The scope of this study
was to collect numbers of active female ministers, compile a list of
names, and identify early women
ministers, so no attempt has been made to gain broad or detailed biographical
information on all of them.
History
The Pentecostal movement of the 20th century is
generally considered to have begun
in1901. Agnes Ozman is believed to be
the first person to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of
speaking in tongues. She was a student in Charles Parham’s school in Topeka, Kansas
in January of 1901. An African-American
student there, William Seymour carried the message west to Los Angeles and from a mission located on Azusa Street the
experience spread across the country.
From its inception the movement seemed to epitomize an
equality of persons that was unique for the time period.
Service to God and blessings of the Holy
Spirit (“the anointing”) became the litmus test of value over issues of gender
or even race.
Pauline writings that for the Christian community existing
as one in Christ there was to be no longer “male or female” or “slave and free”
(Galatians 3: 28-29), now took on liberating meanings as leadership in the new
Pentecostal movement featured both women and persons of color.
The dynamic nature of the experience, and
the resulting sense of urgency in proclaiming the gospel, convinced many that
indeed the time of the Biblical “latter rains” had come.
Citing the prophet Joel in the Old Testament
, “
Then afterward I will pour out my
spirit on all flesh, your sons and daughters will prophesy...” (Joel
2:29-32), few in the movement felt they could place limitations on who
ministered.
Ordained and
Licensed Women, Kansas and Oklahoma, 1929 and 1939.
The following women were identified from the rolls of those
who served as formally recognized ministers.
With some exceptions, most had been admitted to the conference within
the same decade.
Most were assigned a
local church; some assisted their husbands in the work, while some served as
evangelists. On a administrative level, although they were frequently serving
on conference committees of the more traditional women’s areas such as
“Memoirs” ( a record of those who had died the preceding year) and “Public
Morals”, they were also in leadership roles dealing with issues of publication,
missions, and resolutions (i.e., 1939 in Kansas Mary E. Ford served on the
Committee on Resolutions and later would be conference secretary-treasurer
).
Some would in coming years be in key leadership roles on state levels and at
least one went on to be published in the national publication,
The
Pentecostal Holiness Advocate.
Attempts to
identify the earliest women licensed or ordained in these regions is
challenging due to the fact that the records from that time period are
incomplete or are not clear as to gender.
From information located, however, there are several women who were
ordained within a few years of Oklahoma’s
1907 statehood. Mrs. Dolly York of Oklahoma was admitted to
the ministry roll of the Oklahoma Conference in 1910 and Willa J. Short in
1911. In the Kansas Conference Annie E.
Carmack was admitted in 1913. The
earliest male counterpart was O.C. Wilkins
admitted in 1910.
Kansas
(24):
Barnes, Emma
Beal, Estella
Brownback, Nellie
Carmack, Annie E.
Downing, Annie M.
Filbert, Estella
Eslin, Lavonia
Ford, Mary E.
Hall, Alline
Hill, Edith
Hoel, Olive
Kaminska, Lucinda
Orr, Lizzie
Pinkston, Mrs. J.P.
Roth, Berthe
Shannon, Mary Katherine Butterfield Davis (1916)
Shively,
Ora B.
Spotts, Ruby
Sprogue, Mrs. E.H.
Thiele, Hellen
Taylor, Beulah
Trader, Marietta
Ward, Linna (later Rogers)
Wassom, Della
Wedeking, Nettie
Oklahoma
(107):
Adair, Gertrude
Allen, Reba
Anderson, Mrs Lillian
Atchley, Mrs. Sarah
Barger, Rosa (1927)
Beall, Estella
Bell, Eva
Bennett, Maggie
Bland or Blond, Vella Cleta
Booking, Viola
Brandstandt, Mrs. N.C
Brooks, Mrs. Eva.
Brown, Irene
Buchanan, Stella
Bullard, Beulah
Byus, Hazel
Campbell, Mrs. J.A. (1913)
Caldwell, Juanita
Carlton, Bell
Carmack, Annie
Carter, Carrie
Chilcoat,Fae or Eula
Clarke, Neva (1925)
Classen, Clara
Coley, Beatrice
Cooper, Nora
Cothran, Mrs. L.V.
Darrow, Mrs. C.L. (Smith)
Dooley, Mrs. Ed
Fowler, Mrs. S.S.
Frantz, Edna
Gaither, Mrs. S.E.
Glenn, Evelyn
Haley, Inez
Hallam, Mrs. Urchie
Hamilton, Naomi
Hampton, Mrs. H.W.
Hatfield, Mittie
Hargis, Lucile
Hill, Mrs. O.M.
Hope, Grace
Housdon, Minnie
Hurt, Mrs. Margarett
Hutto, Amana
Iley, Mrs. J.H.
Isbell, Mrs. Ruth
Jones, Margaret (1925)
Keener, Mrs. Lillie
King, Sadie
Landers, Essie D. (1926)
Laymon, Elsie
Lily, Mrs. L.V.
Little, Mrs. N.W.
Kern, Anna
Manning, Opal V.
Martin, Mrs. L.B. (1929)
McCully, Gladys
McGraw, Mrs. D.
Meeks, Mrytle
Mitchusson, Minnie
Moore, Ruth
Moore,
Vestal
Muse, Mrs. Dan T.
Nance, Bertha
Pierce, Mrs. Idell
Peters, Mrs. L.A. (1919)
Pinkston, Mrs. Anna
Pool, Mrs. T.W.
Poteet, Vera
Price, Miss Chessie
Revell, Mrs. Emma
Roberson or Robertson, Mrs. J.W.
Roberts, Pearl Mrs.
Rooms, Mrs. Myrtle
Rose, Martha
Ross, Mrs. Melvin
Scaggs, Chessie
Schockly, Mrs. Tinnie
Short, Willa
Smith, Mrs. C.L.(Maggie?) (1913)
Sparks, Mrs. E. W.
Spence, Mrs. H.N.
Stamphill, Myrtle
Stone, Myrtle
Steele, Edith
Stephens, Viola
Stratton, Laura
Sutton, Anna
Taylor, Emma
Taylor, Ellen
Thornton, Margaret
Townsend, Elsie
VanBrunt, Mrs. Dorothy
Varec, Iva
Wassom, Mrs. Della
Watt, Linnie
Weaver, Mrs. C.M (1929)
Wedel, Ello Lous
Wicks, Mildred
Wilbourn, Leeta
Williams, Mrs. W.A. (1913)
Wilkerson, Lucy.
Wilson, Clara (1929)
Wilson, Alice
Wilson,
Mollie (1925)
Wright, Mrs. L.E.
York,
Dolly (1910)
York, Mrs. W.C.
Summary
A survey of
the conference rolls for the regions of Oklahoma
and Kansas
for the years 1929 to 1939 reveal that women played a significant role and were
a definitive presence. The number of women who were formally recognized as
being ordained, licensed or doing the work of an evangelist is impressive
considering the overall size of the regions they served. The women who were
leaders in ministry at an early time period in the conferences of Oklahoma and Kansas
are identified adding to the rich history emerging of women in the Pentecostal
movement.
The survey also raises many questions worthy of additional consideration
and research.
For example, how does the
central region compare to the more populated areas of the south, home base of
the
Pentecostal Holiness Church,
at the same time?
How consistent are the
percentages of women to men in successive decades, and if there is a decline
can a cause be identified?
Who were the earliest women in the denomination as a whole to be recognized as
clergy?
How were women “called” to
service in the early days and in what ways did their fellow ministers mentor
them?
What impact, if any, did the
formation of the national “Women’s Auxiliary” in the nineteen forties and the
latter “Women’s Ministries” have on the number of women going into
ministry?
What were the nature and
content of their sermons? And finally, how successful were they in what they
did?
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A mosaic is a design created by many smaller pieces all uniting in common purpose to convey the artistic image of the creator. Only as one steps back to see the whole design does the meaning become clear.
