Showing 15 results

Dr. Jean Collins (nee Gurd) was born in Montreal 1903 and received her English Degree from McGill University in 1925. She went on to complete her Masters and taught for four years in the English Department. She was an active member of the Church and engaged in the beginnings of the C.G.I.T. movement. After marriage to Dr. Ralph Collins in 1929 she moved to Angola to work with him. They served in Camundongo until 1947 when they were appointed to organize and direct Emmanuel Seminary in Dondi. After their retirement from Angola in 1959 she returned to Ottawa to work at Carleton University. Mrs. Collins was a nominee for Moderator in 1974 and in May 1975 she received an honorary D.D. from United Theological College in Montreal. Dr. Jean Collins died March 29, 1994.

Emma Jane Crosby (nee Douse) (1849-1926) was born around Barrie, Ontario. Her father was prominent Methodist Missionary John Douse. She grew up in Ontario and was trained at Hamilton's Wesleyan Female College and taught there for a time. She married fellow missionary Thomas Crosby in 1874 and joined him at Fort Simpson (Lax Kw'alaams) where he was engaged in mission work among the Indigenous Peoples. They remained there for 23 years. In 1880 Emma, with the help of the Woman's Missionary Society founded the Crosby Girls' Home and later, in 1890 the Crosby Boys' Home which became Port Simpson Residential School in 1893. In 1897 the Crosby's moved to Victoria as Thomas became President of the British Columbia Methodist Conference. The Crosby's had eight children.

Annie Helen Hale (d. 1982) trained for 3 years at the City Hospital in Hamilton. She had post-graduate work at the Presbyterian Hospital in Newark, New York and then set sail for China as a missionary. En route to China, she met fellow missionary Frederick John Reed and they married in November, 1921. They returned home from 1926-1929 due to growing agitations in China. In 1929 they returned and went to Kiating, then were transferred to Tzeliutsing in 1934 where they worked at the Mission Middle Schools and Nurses Training School until 1948. They returned to Canada in 1949 and Anne died in 1982. The children of Frederick and Annie were Dorothy, Newton, Donald, Elinor May and Malcolm. All of the children were born in China, some attending the Canadian School for Missionaries Children in Chengdu, and some Llewellyn Hall (Home for Missionaries Children) in Oshawa, ON.

Laura Hannah Hambley (1877-1951) was a Methodist and United Church of Canada missionary to West China, 1904-1943. Hambley was born on March 16, 1877 in Port Perry, Ontario. She graduated from the Toronto Normal School in 1896, and later attended the Methodist National Training School from 1903-1904. She had teaching experience in both Ontario and New York City before she was appointed by the Women's Missionary Society to Chengtu, West China in 1904. After Chinese language instruction, she taught at a middle school. Following that assignment she was relocated to a school in Jenshow (1908-1910). While on furlough in 1911, she travelled across Canada on a speaking tour promoting WMS work. Upon her return to China in 1912, she oversaw the planning and construction of the Tzeliutsing Girls' Middle School, where she taught until 1942. Illness caused her to return to Canada in 1943. She retired to Winnipeg, but continued to travel the country for speaking engagements. She died December 4, 1951.

Gertrude Bigelow Jolliffe (b. 1881) was a missionary to China. She married Charles Julius Pasmore Jolliffe in 1906 and they went to China together. Rev. and Mrs. Jolliffe opened the Canadian Methodist station at Luchow. From 1922 to 1937, Rev. Jolliffe was in charge of the station at Jenshow. During this period, he also taught for a few months at a United Church college in Japan and served for two years as minister at Erin and Hillsburgh, Ontario. In 1937, they returned to Canada.

Lena M. Dunfield, later Jolliffe (1879-1974) was a missionary to China with the Women's Missionary Society of the Methodist Church of Canada. She married Richard Orlando Jolliffe in 1905, and together they pioneered missions in the salt wells area of Tzeliutsing. They also produced a large volume of Christian literature and the monthly magazine, Christian Hope. They retired in 1945 to Rockwood, Ontario.

Mary Letitia Lamb (1879-1961) was a Methodist/United Church missionary to China. She was born in St. Andrew's East, Quebec, attended McGill University part-time as a young adult, and was active in young people's work in the Methodist Church. In 1920 she volunteered to be Matron of the Canadian School for Missionary Children in West China; she learned the Chinese language and in 1926 was appointed by the Woman's Missionary Society to evangelistic work. She returned to Canada in 1941.

Margaret Jean MacDondald was born on April 15, 1917 in Bredenbury Saskatchewan. She studied at Carleton University, the University of Ottawa, Yale, Columbia, and New College in Edinburgh. In 1951 MacDonald went to Japan as a missionary. She worked closely with Haramachida United Church of Christ, teaching kindergarten, English, and helping with worship services as well. MacDonald returned to Canada in 1981 after working in Japan for 30 years, and she retired in 1982. MacDonald settled in Vancouver upon her return and served as President of the Vancouver School of Theology Women's Auxiliary, and she helped prepare for the 1983 World Council of Churches. MacDonald suffered a mild stroke at 90, and passed away on July 4, 2012.

The Martha Wilson Memorial Bible Institute was established by Louise McCully, a missionary with the Presbyterian Church of Canada Foreign Missionary Society. Administration of the school was transferred to the Woman's Missionary Society of The United Church of Canada after union.

Lily May McCargar was born on December 14, 1887 at Maxville, Ontario. She was educated in Ontario and attended the Margaret Eaton School of Literature and Expression in Toronto. She moved to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in 1909 to teach English to members of the Chinese Methodist Mission Church. She joined the Woman's Missionary Society in 1921 as a mission worker, and was sent to Vancouver to work with the kindergarten at the Chinese Methodist Church (which came under The United Church of Canada in 1925). In 1933, she chose to use her year of furlough by traveling to China to study Cantonese. Before returning to Canada, she visited Jerusalem, Egypt, Germany, and the United Kingdom. During a second furlough, she attended the lectures at the Canadian School of Missions and at Emmanuel College in Toronto. Lily McCargar died on November 6, 1947 at Vancouver.

Ethel Susan McEachran was a Presbyterian, and later United Church, missionary and educator. She was born on September 13, 1881 in York County to Colin and Martha (née Proctor) McEachran. She attended the London Normal School and taught for nine years. While the exact dates are unknown, records indicate McEachran also attended the Ontario College of Education and the Presbyterian Missionary and Deaconess Training Home.

In 1913, McEachran was appointed by the Presbyterian Church in Canada's Foreign Mission Committee, Western Section to Korea. From 1913-1915 she was stationed in Sŏngjin (now Kimch'aek) to learn Korean and probably to teach at the local girls' school. In 1915 she founded the Young Saing Girls' School in Hamhŭng, becoming its first principal. She took a leave of absence and returned to Canada in order to attend Queen's University in Kingston, from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1922. She remained principal until 1941 when the wartime exodus of missionaries forced McEachran to return to Canada.

She continued her missionary work in a domestic setting, being stationed as superintendent of St. Columba House in Montreal between 1941 and 1943, then at Settlement House, Regina between 1945 and 1947, and finally to carry out community work in Saskatoon. McEachran retired to Toronto in 1951, but continued teaching English classes for immigrant communities.

McEachran died on October 27, 1959 at the age of 78, and is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto.

Belle Chone Oliver (1875-1947) was overseas medical personnel with the Presbyterian Church in Canada, then United Church of Canada. She was born at Ingersoll, Ontario on January 25, 1875 daughter of Adam Oliver and Helen Rintoul. Dr. Oliver matriculated the O.M.C.W. in 1900 and served as house surgeon at the Philadelphia Women’s Hospital before she went to India under the Presbyterian Church in Canada, arriving in January, 1902. There, she served as a medical missionary in hospitals under the Women’s Medical Service in the Central India Mission of the Presbyterian Church in Canada in Indore, Neemuch, and Dhar. In 1915 she was appointed the first medical missionary to Banswara, with the opening of that station. In 1929 she was appointed a secretary of the National Christian Council of India with special responsibilities for the Christian Medical Association of India. In this capacity she travelled extensively throughout India and visited Burma, Ceylon, and special centres of medical work in Japan, China and Europe and was a delegate to the International Missionary Council meetings in Jerusalem and Madras. Dr. Oliver was credited with the development of the Women’s Medical College at Vellore, South India into the Vellore Christian Medical College for men and women and for raising the standard of training and equipment for doctors and nurses. Dr. Oliver served in India for 45 years and retired in 1944 to Fort William, Ontario. Dr. Belle Chone Oliver died on May 21, 1947.

Eunice Peters was a Methodist and United Church of Canada missionary to West China, 1923-1948. Peters was born on September 10, 1898 in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She was educated at the Provincial Normal School and taught in New Brunswick before attending the Methodist National Training School in Toronto. In 1923 she was appointed by the Women's Missionary Society of the Methodist Church to West China. She received language instruction at Fowchow and taught at the missionary school there until 1926. Records indicated that she was assigned to teach at schools in several different cities during her time in China: Kiating (1926-1928); Fowchow (1929-1930); Chungking (1930-1932); Junghsien (1932-1936); Chungking (1938-1941), where she also carried out urban social work; Chengtu (1941-1947), and finally Kiating (1948) where she was responsible for evangelistic work. Between 1944 and 1946 she studied at the Hartford Theological Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut, where she received a Bachelor of Religious Education. In 1948 she returned to Canada, where she was eventually posted to the Chinese United Church Mission in Victoria, British Columbia from 1952 to 1962. She formally retired to Victoria in 1964. Eunice Peters died on February 5, 1991 at the age of 92.

Joyce Sasse (b. 1940) was a United Church rural minister and an overseas missionary. She was adopted and raised on a farm-ranch in Milk River, Alberta. Sasse felt the call to rural ministry at a young age when she noticed a disconnect between the local ministers and the rural community. To become a minister she studied theology at the University of Saskatchewan and focused on rural issues and historical initiatives like the credit union movement. As a result she earned a Bachelor of Arts (1962), Bachelor of Theology (1965), Bachelor of Divinity (1968) and Master of Divinity (1987). She was ordained as a United Church minister in 1965. To broaden her experience she served as a missionary in Korea working on community development from 1967-1971. Upon her return to Canada she served as Executive Director of the YWCA. From 1974 to 1978 she worked as Saddle Bag minister in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan as part of the Division of Mission’s experimental project on rural ministry. From her ordination to her retirement in 1998, Sasse served at the following charges: Morse/Chaplain (1965-1967), Moose Jaw (1974-1978), Tugaske (1978-1986), Rockford (1986-01989), and Pincher Creek (1989-1996). To further rural ministry during her career, Sasse worked with the International Rural Church Association, helped found the Canadian Rural Church Network and contributed significantly to the Centre for Rural Community Leadership and Ministry (CiRCLe-M). Upon retirement in 1998, Sasse continued to support rural ministry through speaking engagements and publications. More recently she has been working on the Annora Brown Art and Life Legacy Project.