07 May On This Day in UB History: May 7 (William Hanby)

Bishop William Hanby passed away on May 7, 1880. It was written, “He was a master of the secret of growing old gracefully. No one ever heard him complain that the former times were better.” His last words: “I’m in the midst of glory.”

Hanby was elected bishop in 1845-1849. He had been editor of the denominational publication for eight years, and much preferred that role. As bishop, he was regularly gone several months at a time, riding alone and frequently afflicted with vertigo. He didn’t want the burden of constant traveling–not with a wife, nine children (eight of his own, one adopted), and feeble parents at home.

To his relief, the 1849 General Conference again elected him as editor of The Religious Telescope.

Hanby supplemented his meager church salary by running a saddlery business, a trade he learned as a teen. When the occasional plague was going around, he would use his own money to buy medicine and personally dispense it among poor people. He kept a poor widow’s woodpile stocked.

The April 8 post told about his work in sheltering fugitive slaves. Hanby was said to be “a firm believer in the equality of the sexes, and never more delighted than when his daughters showed themselves the intellectual equals of their brothers.”

It was written, “He possessed a very tender conscience, was slow to give offense, and when overtaken in a fault, could not rest until he had said, ‘Forgive me, I was wrong,’ even if the injured one was the smallest child.”

Hanby’s last years were difficult. Three of his four sons died, as did his wife of 49 years. He suffered serious illness, and reportedly lost all of his property. But he never gave in to bitterness, and was cared for by his remaining children.

Interestingly, the Hanby name died out. Two sons only had daughters. The only son who had a son was Benjamin, but that grandson married late in life and had no children.

06 May On This Day in UB History: May 6 (Bishop Walter Musgrave)

Bishop Walter Musgrave passed away on May 6, 1950, in Huntington, Ind. He served 24 years as bishop, 1925-1949. Only three other bishops served longer than that. He was most know for his energetic, dynamic preaching.

Musgrave grew up on a farm near Stockport, Ohio, and at age 19 became a Christian in a Methodist church. He received a Methodist ministerial license, but three years later transferred to the United Brethren church. In 1903 he was assigned to a church near the West Virginia border. He promptly began starting a church in a nearby community–where, as it turned out, he met his future spouse. They were married February 6, 1904, and in November had their first child.

For nearly 20 years, Musgrave pastored various UB churches in southern Ohio, in what was then Scioto Conference. Then, in 1921, General Conference chose him to spearhead an ambitious renewal campaign called the Otterbein Forward Movement. He threw himself into it, but the campaign fell short of its goals. Regardless, the 1925 General Conference elected him as bishop.

Dr. M. I. Burkholder, who led the Huntington College seminary for 30 years, described Musgrave as “a dynamo in the pulpit.” Bishop Clarence Kopp, Jr., wrote, “He was probably one of the most animated and energetic of the old-fashion-style preachers. He would literally rush from one side of the pulpit to the other.”

He would pace back and forth, peering into the audience, talking rapidly while employing his signature gestures (like pointing his index finger while keeping one eye closed). His face would grow red, causing some people to fear he might be on the verge of having a stroke.

One time, Bishop A. M. Johnson, concerned for Musgrave’s health, suggested he scale back the energy and vigor he put into his preaching. Musgrave responded, “Well, I believe this!” He couldn’t do any less.

At Musgrave’s funeral, Dr. M. I. Burkholder quoted him as saying, “I don’t know what the Lord has for me on this earth, but whatever it is, He has all of me.”

05 May On This Day in UB History: May 5 (Bishop Edwards)

David Edwards, Bishop 1849-1876

On May 5, 1816, David Edwards was born in Wales. He would become one of our longest-serving bishops–27 years, 1849-1876–and one of the most influential. During that time, he played a role in starting our first college, a seminary, our missionary society, and our denominational publication and publishing house. A fellow bishop remarked, “I have looked upon Bishop Edwards on every side. He is the best man this Church has ever yet had. It has never seen his like; it will be years before it finds his equal.”

Edwards’ family came to America when he was five years old, lived two years in Baltimore, and in 1823 moved into Ohio. He was converted at age 18 in a United Brethren meeting, and a year later, in 1835, he was licensed to preach. They didn’t dilly dally back then.

Edwards was assigned to the Brush Creek circuit, which included 28 appointments spread over five counties; he traveled 360 miles making one round. For the next several years, he was assigned to a different circuit each year. In 1839 he married Lucretia Hibbard, whose father was both a lawyer and a United Brethren minister; her brother was also a UB minister, and a sister married a UB minister.

Like many ministers back then, Edwards had very little formal education but was an avid self-learner, constantly reading on horseback and wherever he found to stop for the night. He began to be noticed as a young preacher of tremendous potential, described as studious, a powerful preacher, prudent, methodical, and fearless.

The 1845 General Conference elected him as editor of The Religious Telescope, the denominational publication. During the next four years, he put the Telescope on solid financial footing, and took it from semi-monthly to weekly. As editor, he strongly defended the church’s stands against slavery, alcohol, and Freemasonry.

Edwards was also a zealous advocate of entire sanctification; holiness of heart and life became a central theme throughout the rest of his ministry. Wrote biographer Henry Adams Thompson doubted that anyone else could explain entire sanctification “more clearly, more profoundly, and in a way less liable to objection.” He said many other “best minds in the church” embraced the doctrine.

Historian John Lawrence said Edwards tended to come across as “unnecessarily rigid” because of his stern adherence to his convictions, and that the “set of his teeth” seemed to say, “You can neither coax nor drive me from what I believe to be right.”

In 1849, at age 33, Edwards was elected bishop, and continued in that role until age 60. During his last term, he suffered much from illness–cancer, probably, which advanced quickly and painfully. He died June 6, 1876, with one year left in his seventh term.

Thompson wrote, “However much good men may have differed with him in their views, none doubted the purity of his motives or the uprightness of his character. As a preacher he had few, if any, superiors in the church….He knew how to live and walk by faith….He would not only urge the ministry to try to do more and better work for the Master, but he led them by precept and example in the doing of it.”

04 May On This Day in UB History: May 4 (Old Otterbein Church)

Old Otterbein Church in Baltimore, Md.

On May 4, 1774, William Otterbein became pastor of the Howard’s Hill church in Baltimore, Md. He remained there for 39 years, until his death in 1813. All that time, he also provided leadership to the United Brethren movement he and Martin Boehm had launched in 1767.

Otterbein was coming into a messy situation, and he knew it. The German Reformed church in Baltimore had gone through a nasty split, with various accusations flying around. The church’s more evangelical element split off, bought property, and built their own church, which became known as Howard’s Hill.

In 1773, Otterbein was asked, at least twice, to come pastor the church. The first time, he said no. The second time, he said he would go IF the German Reformed synod approved; they didn’t.

Francis Asbury, a young Methodist leader who had been in America for three years, was asked to write a letter to Otterbein, asking him to come pastor Howard’s Hill. Asbury hadn’t yet met Otterbein, but had heard a lot about him. How much the letter helped, we don’t know. But three months later, Otterbein became the pastor (despite the synod’s continuing disapproval). And he and Asbury became close friends.

Howard’s Hill was essentially a independent church which maintained nominal ties to the German Reformed denomination (which had little or no authority). Otterbein himself kept his German Reformed credentials, but was not considered a minister in good standing. He had other things on his agenda. Most ministers were assigned from the United Brethren ranks.

In 1949, the church united with the Pennsylvania Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren Church. That denomination, in 1968, merged into today’s United Methodist Church.

Today, that church is called Old Otterbein Church. Their website says, “Old Otterbein Church is the mother church of the United Brethren in Christ and the oldest church edifice in continuous use in the city of Baltimore.” Otterbein is buried in the church yard.

03 May On This Day in UB History: May 3 (Turmoil in Sierra Leone)

Mary Mullen (upper left) and the five missionaries murdered at Rotufunk. Top: Isaac and Mary Cain. Bottom (l-r): Dr. Henrietta Hatfield, Dr. Mary Archer, and Ella Schenk.

May 3–two days, 94 years apart, both set amidst national upheaval in Sierra Leone. A day of tragedy for missionaries, and a day of rescue.

On May 3, 1898, five missionaries with the “liberal” United Brethren church were massacred in Sierra Leone. Two more were soon murdered elsewhere. Just like that, seven of the eight missionaries supported by the Women’s Missionary Association were dead. Killed in the Hut Tax War, which was sparked by grievances against the British government.

Although our denominations had split nine years earlier, the ties ran deep, and our goal was the same–to evangelize the people of Sierra Leone.

None of our own missionaries perished. Mary Mullen, who had arrived six months before, served by herself at Momaligi. She found herself at the hands of five young men brandishing blood-stained clubs and swords, which they had used to massacre people in another village. As she sat in her house awaiting her fate, a boat carrying five well-armed policemen pulled up to the wharf. She ran to the boat, and they quickly pushed off. Before long, Mullen was on a ship to England.

UB missionaries Daniel and Elizabeth Wilberforce, along with their four children, fled into the bush as a war party approached Gbangbaia. They hid for several days as warriors passed closely by. The mission buildings at both Momaligi and Gbangbaia were destroyed.

The five Americans at Rotufunk fled into the bush, but were caught. As the rebels surrounded them, Rev. Isaac Cain, standing next to his wife, reportedly held a revolver in his hand. He threw it aside and stated, “I will not have any man’s blood on my hands.”

(more…)