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 '^BRIEF HISTORY 
 
 OF THE I 'll I 
 
 WOMAN’S 
 BOARD OF 
 MISSIONS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CUMBERLAND 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN 
 
 CHURCH 
 
 1880-1924 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. JOHNIE MASSEY CLAY 
 
A BRIEF HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 WOMAN’S BOARD OF 
 MISSIONS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN 
 CHURCH 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. JOHNIE MASSEY CLAY 
 
 The Woman’s Board of Missions of the Cum¬ 
 berland Presbyterian Church was organized at 
 Evansville, Ind., in 1880. Up to that time the 
 Assembly’s Board of Missions was the only Board 
 of the Church sending out foreign missionaries. 
 Under that Board Rev. and Mrs. A. D. Hail were 
 sent as missionaries to Japan. Struggling against 
 inadequate funds—alas, how strange, there has 
 always been inadequate funds for this great work 
 —and learning through other missionaries on the 
 field that the women of their denominations back 
 home were organized to raise funds and pray for 
 missions. Rev. Hail wrote to those at the head 
 of our Assembly at that time and pled that our 
 women be also organized in behalf of the great 
 cause of missions so that our Church could do a 
 larger missionary work. 
 
 The letters were received. Our leaders must 
 have felt the just claim, and Divine, in that Mace¬ 
 donian call, for they sent out a call for Cumber- 
 
land Women to assemble at Evansville, Ind., 
 May 25, 1880, in conjunction with the Assembly’s 
 Board of Missions. About seventy-five women 
 came, and the Woman’s Board of Missions of the 
 Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized. 
 
 One can well imagine there was rejoicing in 
 heaven that day, for the angels knew that the 
 work that day put in motion would record the 
 birth of thousands of souls into the kindgom of 
 Christ as the years went by. 
 
 And one can well imagine, also, with what a 
 feeling of awe, and with what trembling fear 
 these early women thrust their shoulders under 
 this sacred load they were so unaccustomed to 
 carrying, and how, in their fear and inexperience, 
 they must have called mightily on God to lead 
 them every step of the way they must go. 
 
 And one can imagine how loyally those noble 
 men, who were the human instruments in God’s 
 hands in bringing into being this young organiza¬ 
 tion, stood back of them in prayer and co-opera¬ 
 tion, making the way as easy as possible for their 
 untried feet as they went out over the Church, 
 through its unopened paths, to introduce to unin¬ 
 formed, timid women the great need and worth¬ 
 whileness of this work of which they knew so 
 little. 
 
 The first officers were as follows: 
 
 Mrs. R. B. Ruston, President. 
 
 Mrs. W. F. Nisbet, Vice-President. 
 
 Mrs. W. J. Darby, Recording Secretary. 
 
 Mrs. D. S. Ragon, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 Mrs. N. A. Lyon, Treasurer. 
 
 Mr. Alvah Johnson, Auditor. 
 
 This new Board, during the whole of the first 
 year, held two all-day sessions each month for 
 prayer and planning, but chiefly for prayer, 
 “that the Lord would lay His hand on at least 
 two young women who would answer the call to 
 the foreign field.” 
 
 It is with no feeling of surprise that we re¬ 
 cord that God answered those prayers—God al¬ 
 ways does when we lay hold of Him like that. 
 
At the end of the year a Miss Orr and a Miss 
 Leavitt offered themselves and were accepted for 
 foreiem service, and it was found that the new 
 Board had gathered unto itself NINETY-NINE 
 CONTRIBUTING AUXILIARIES, and an offer¬ 
 ing of $2,013.68. How wonderfully, above all they 
 asked or expected, had God answered their pray¬ 
 ers! 
 
 The years passed. God laid His hand on these 
 women and blessed them and the labors of their 
 hands. Whatever else has happened we would 
 not rob them of the glory of His leadership ^d 
 blessing during the years of humble, prayerful 
 service which followed, nor fail to record our 
 gratitude. Many Auxiliaries were formed, and 
 many Children’s Bands. All over the Church 
 they sprang up from nothing into splendid, fruit¬ 
 bearing vines. A number of missionaries were 
 sent to the field. Many souls were saved. Offer¬ 
 ing's gradually increased, until in 1906 the total 
 annual receipts amounted to $52,006.18. In the 
 mean time our Mrs. Mattie Ashbum and Mrs. 
 Mary M. Graf, of the present Woman’s Board, 
 had been made members of the then acting 
 Board. 
 
 But in May, 1906, all our leaders, save the 
 two mentioned above, went out from us i^t® 
 fields that seemed larger, and the Woman s Mis¬ 
 sionary Organization of the Cumberland Presby¬ 
 terian Church stood shattered and broken, the 
 result of certain experiences in our Church his¬ 
 tory too well known to need reviewing. We had 
 no Woman’s Board—no treasury, no Board books, 
 no plans, no literature, and only one active mis¬ 
 sionary, Rev. Gam Sing Quah, and one mission¬ 
 ary in training. Miss Sallie Herbert, left to us. 
 There were but few organized or officered byn¬ 
 ods or Presb 3 d;eries remaining, and no known 
 membership. Indeed all seemed hopeless chaos. 
 Reference is made to this, not to stir up old 
 memories or arouse old feelings, but only as a 
 starting point from which we arrive at the pro¬ 
 gress made since then. 
 
 In the fall of 1906 steps were tafen toward 
 the reorganization of the Womaii s Board. In 
 
December a temporary Board was appointed as 
 follows, to serve till the meeting of the Woman’s 
 Convention in May following: Mrs. Mattie Ash- 
 buiTi, President, Mrs. Sarah L. Jordan, Vice- 
 President; Mrs. Tillie M. Stone, Eecording Sec¬ 
 retary; Mrs. Mary M. Graf, Corresponding Sec¬ 
 retary-Treasurer; Mrs. Anna M. Conn, Mrs. 
 Frances Varner, Mrs. Lydia E. Tupman. On the 
 following May at the Woman’s Convention at 
 Dickson, Tenn., these members, together with Mrs. 
 Ella H. Goodnight and Mrs. Johnie Massey Clay, 
 were made the permanent Board for that Con¬ 
 vention Year. 
 
 Since that time there have been a number of 
 changes in the personnel of the Board, occasioned 
 by death or resignation. But four of the mem¬ 
 bers elected in that first meeting at Dickson, Ten¬ 
 nessee, are still serving in that capacity, these 
 being, Mrs. Mattie Ashburn, Mrs. Mary M. Graf, 
 Mrs. Tillie M. Stone, Mrs. Johnie Massey Clay. 
 
 The present membership of the Board is as 
 follows: 
 
 Mrs. Mattie Ashburn, President Emeritus. 
 
 Mrs. Johnie Massey Clay, President. 
 
 Mrs. Frances C. Langley, First Vice-President. 
 
 Mrs. Gertrude Schulz, Second Vice-President. 
 
 Mrs. Tillie M. Stone, Eecording Secretary. 
 
 Mrs. Mary M. Graf, Corresponding Secretary- 
 Treasurer. 
 
 Mrs. Daisy Bray Freeman, Tithing Secretary. 
 
 Miss Mattie Huber, Seci'etary of Literature and 
 Extension. 
 
 Miss Helen Bradford. 
 
 Today the work of the Woman’s Board of Mis¬ 
 sions, now one of the active Boards of the Church, 
 fully officered, with splendid offices that would 
 be a credit to most any organization or denom¬ 
 ination, established in Evansville, Ind., is func¬ 
 tioning, more or less, in every Synod of the 
 Church and most of the Presbyteries. Alabama, 
 Illinois, Indianola, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississip¬ 
 pi, Tennessee, West Tennessee, and Texas Syn¬ 
 ods are fully organized and officered, and ac¬ 
 tive. In the other Synods, more or less of the 
 
Presbyteries are organized and officered, serving 
 as a nucleus around which to build. 
 
 When we came together in our Woman’s Con¬ 
 vention in Dickson, Tenn., in 1907, it was found the 
 total sum contributed to our Woman’s Work since 
 the exodus was only $569.00. Our books show 
 a total offering amounting to $55,500.43 contrib¬ 
 uted during Convention Year 1920-21, $36,274.36 
 of it toward the building fund for our two new 
 Missions. Our total offerings in 1922-23 amount¬ 
 ed to $29,734.98. Our Treasurer’s annual state¬ 
 ment made May 23, 1923, shows that since 1906 
 the Woman’s Board has accumulated in cash, 
 bills receivable and properties, a net cash worth 
 of $108,532.92, which does not include certain 
 properties in China for which we have not the 
 deeds in our possession, and which have been 
 acquired largely by the Chinese themselves. 
 
 That first year at Dickson we were an organ¬ 
 ization without a specific work. At that Conven¬ 
 tion the Woman’s Board was asked to share with 
 the Assembly’s Board of Missions in the expense 
 of maintaining the San Francisco Chinese Mis¬ 
 sion, Even this was a large task for us with 
 only $569.00 in the treasury, and Convention ex¬ 
 penses to be taken out of this. But we thank¬ 
 fully accepted the responsibility. The next year 
 the Woman’s Board assumed the full responsibil¬ 
 ity of that Mission, then a very small struggling 
 institution. 
 
 Today the Woman’s Missionary Work is sus¬ 
 taining the San Francisco Mission, now large, 
 vigorous, inspiring, requiring the services of four 
 workers and pleading for more; with a Chinese 
 church membership of 110, and an enrollment of 
 98 in the Sunday School; also eight Missions in 
 China as follows: Canton, Sha Kai, Honam, Ti 
 Won, Shekki, Tong Gaw, Rickisha and Shek Won. 
 Our reports show 1,824 baptized Church members 
 brought to Christ through the instrumentality of 
 these Missions in China, and an enrollment of 
 1,024 in the Sunday Schools. Oh, how we rejoice 
 and thank God for this harvest of souls, and 
 these hundreds under Christian influence in the 
 Sunday Schools! The total number of workers 
 
now sustained by the Woman’s Board is 30. This 
 includes missionaries and office force. Besides 
 these there are seven self-supporting workers giv¬ 
 ing of time and self freely on our China field. 
 
 Aside from the maintenance of the work above 
 mentioned, the Woman’s Work of the Church has 
 experienced another great privilege and service. 
 During these years, a total of $13,377.74 has 
 been contributed to Home Mission Work and 
 Church Extension. Though this sum is not large, 
 every Synod in the Church has shared in its 
 benefits, this sum having been contributed toward 
 church buildings, pastors’ salaries in weak 
 churches, Presbyterial and Synodic field men, and 
 other such purposes, which stood for the rebuild¬ 
 ing and strengthening of our own beloved Church. 
 
 We have established an Educational Fund for 
 the education of missionary candidates, which 
 seeks to provide for splendid and trained equip¬ 
 ment for service with a view to placing our Mis¬ 
 sions on a standard second to none. And from 
 now on it is the purpose and plan of the work 
 to require as nearly as possible, that every Amer¬ 
 ican worker shall be equipped by special train¬ 
 ing for his or her task. 
 
 We have launched a special effort and plan of 
 teaching Missions in the Sunday School, the 
 prayer and purpose of which is that we grow 
 into a great Missionary Church by planting mis¬ 
 sions in the heart of the young. 
 
 Through this effort missions is now, more or 
 less, systematically taught in 239 Sunday Schools, 
 and last year brought in an offering of $1,974.59 
 for missions, which would never have reached 
 this great Cause save for this specific effort in 
 the Sunday Schools, nor would these thousands of 
 young people have had the joy of giving, nor the 
 enlarged vision this effort has produced. 
 
 We have launched a Mother’s Memorial Move¬ 
 ment, in honor of and to the memory of Cumber¬ 
 land Presb 3 rterian Mothers. This Movement pro¬ 
 duces a fund with which we educate our young 
 ministers in China; also Chinese women for 
 
Presbyteries are organized and officered, serving 
 as a nucleus around which to build. 
 
 When we came together in our Woman’s Con¬ 
 vention in Dickson, Tenn., in 1907, it was found the 
 total sum contributed to our Woman’s Work since 
 the exodus was only $569.00. Our books show 
 a total offering amounting to $55,500.43 contrib¬ 
 uted during Convention Year 1920-21, $36,274.36 
 of. it. toward the building fund for our two new 
 Missions. Our total offerings in 1922-23 amount¬ 
 ed to $29,734.98. Our Treasurer’s annual state¬ 
 ment made May 23, 1923, shows that since 1906 
 the Woman’s Board has accumulated in cash, 
 bills receivable and properties, a net cash worth 
 of $108,532.92, which does not include certain 
 properties in China for which we have not the 
 deeds in our possession, and which have been 
 acquired largely by the Chinese themselves. 
 
 That first year at Dickson we were an organ¬ 
 ization without a specific work. At that Conven¬ 
 tion the Woman’s Board was asked to share with 
 the Assembly’s Board of Missions in the expense 
 of maintaining the San Francisco Chinese Mis¬ 
 sion. Even this was a large task for us with 
 only $569.00 in the treasury, and Convention ex¬ 
 penses to be taken out of this. But we thank¬ 
 fully accepted the responsibility. The next year 
 the Woman’s Board assumed the full responsibil¬ 
 ity of that Mission, then a very small struggling 
 institution. 
 
 Today the Woman’s Missionary Work is sus¬ 
 taining the San Francisco Mission, now large, 
 vigorous, inspiring, requiring the services of four 
 workers and pleading for more; with a Chinese 
 church membership of 110, and an enrollment of 
 98 in the Sunday School; also eight Missions in 
 China as follows: Canton, Sha Kai, Honam, Ti 
 Won, Shekki, Tong Gaw, Rickisha and Shek Won. 
 Our reports show 1,824 baptized Church members 
 brought to Christ through the instrumentality of 
 these Missions in China, and an enrollment of 
 1,024 in the Sunday Schools. Oh, how we rejoice 
 and thank God for this harvest of souls, and 
 these hundreds under Christian influence in the 
 Sunday Schools! The total number of workers 
 
now sustained by the Woman’s Board is 30. This 
 includes missionaries and office force. Besides 
 these there are seven self-supporting workers giv¬ 
 ing of time and self freely on our China field. 
 
 Aside from the maintenance of the work above 
 mentioned, the Woman’s Work of the Church has 
 experienced another great privilege and service. 
 During these years, a total of $13,877.74 has 
 been contributed to Home Mission Work and 
 Church Extension. Though this sum is not large, 
 every Synod in the Church has shared in its 
 benefits, this sum having been contributed toward 
 church buildings, pastors’ salaries in weak 
 churches, Presb^erial and Synodic field men, and 
 other such purposes, which stood for the rebuild¬ 
 ing and strengthening of our own beloved Church. 
 
 We have established an Educational Fund for 
 the education of missionary candidates, which 
 seeks to provide for splendid and trained equip¬ 
 ment for service with a view to placing our Mis¬ 
 sions on a standard second to none. And from 
 now on it is the purpose and plan of the work 
 to require as nearly as possible, that every Amer¬ 
 ican worker shall be equipped by special train¬ 
 ing for his or her task. 
 
 We have launched a special effort and plan of 
 teaching Missions in the Sunday School, the 
 prayer and purpose of which is that we grow 
 into a great Missionary Church by planting mis¬ 
 sions in the heart of the young. 
 
 Through this effort missions is now, more or 
 less, systematically taught in 239 Sunday Schools, 
 and last year brought in an offering of $1,974.59 
 for missions, which would never have reached 
 this great Cause save for this specific effort in 
 the Sunday Schools, nor would these thousands of 
 young people have had the joy of giving, nor the 
 enlarged vision this effort has produced. 
 
 We have launched a Mother’s Memorial Move¬ 
 ment, in honor of and to the memory of Cumber¬ 
 land Presbyterian Mothers. This Movement pro¬ 
 duces a fund with which we educate our young- 
 ministers in China; also Chinese women for 
 
teachers and leaders in our China Missions, as a 
 monument to our mothers. 
 
 But the greatest achievement is yet to be re¬ 
 lated. In 1919-20 our Woman’s Board felt the 
 pressure of the Lord’s hand upon us, moving us 
 to undertake in one year, a task we had felt 
 inclined to believe it would take us years to do— 
 the building of our two Missions, one in San- 
 Francisco, the other in Canton, China. Oppor¬ 
 tunities for a wonderful work awaited us in both 
 these great cities, but we were so handicapped 
 for lack of room and suitable buildings it was 
 impossible for us to avail ourselves of them. It 
 was a bold undertaking, but a great and glor¬ 
 ious task. God warmed our hearts to it. He 
 gave us courage to dare and do, and to sacrifice. 
 And today, our new Mission building in San 
 Francisco, a beautiful, substantial, three-story 
 structure, (or two-story and a basement), buift 
 at a cost of about $31,000, stands as a monument 
 to our faith in God and to His leadership. Also, 
 two beautiful buildings in China, one at Canton, 
 the other at Honam, built at a cost, including cer¬ 
 tain lots, of $22,500 gold. Words fail us when we 
 would express our praise and thanksgiving to our 
 Lord for His goodness to us! 
 
 And not only this: With money contributed by 
 the Memphis, Tenn., church, to which the Chi¬ 
 nese added considerable more, we now have a 
 new Mission building at Shekki. Also another 
 at Sha Kai, to which a Chinese merchant contrib¬ 
 uted $1,000.00. The corner stone for this build¬ 
 ing was laid November 11, 1922. At Ti Won we 
 have a splendid building with a seating capacity 
 of 400, erected mostly by the Chinese themselves, 
 at a cost of $4,700.00, Mexican, and dedicated 
 January, 1915. And at Tong Gaw, we have a 
 good Mission building, formerly a heathen tem¬ 
 ple of worship, erected at an enormous cost, and 
 purchased by our Chinese Christians a few years 
 ago and dedicated as a Cumberland Presbyterian 
 Mission. 
 
 And during the time these things have been 
 added unto us through the goodness and the 
 ever-present leadership of our Lord, we have at- 
 
tained a growth in membership and Societies 
 which, though not what it should be, is, neverthe¬ 
 less, a growth for which we rejoice, and would 
 not fail to give thanks in this day when the 
 hands and hearts and lives of women are drawn 
 upon by such a multiplicity of calls. Our Or¬ 
 ganization now enrolls 492 Women’s and Young 
 Women’s Societies, and 71 Children’s Bands, with 
 an active membership of 6,065 and 1,165 honor¬ 
 ary members. And none but the Heavenly Fath¬ 
 er can ever know the burden of prayer, the agon¬ 
 izing effort, the anxiety, the persevering faith 
 represented in this growth. 
 
 We tell of these achievements and these great 
 blessings which God is heaping upon us, not in 
 a spirit of pride and vain glory—far from it— 
 but in a spirit of humble thanksgiving that our 
 Lord has used our weak hands and short arms, 
 and counted us worthy to be used as His instru¬ 
 ments in bringing about suck results for His 
 Kingdom. And we tell it that you, dear reader, 
 may know what we are doing, and that God 
 seems to be stamping our efforts with His ap¬ 
 proval. And we tell it, also, that you may know 
 that the Woman’s Work of the Cumberland Pres¬ 
 byterian Church is rapidly growing out of its day 
 of small things. Indeed we will soon be a large 
 work, for, just in proportion as our facilities for 
 taking care of our opportunities are increased by 
 our new buildings and better equipments, just in 
 like proportion will our work become larger and 
 greater by reaching more people, touching more 
 hearts, and lifting more souls Christward. 
 
 Indeed, it has always been a great work. It 
 was great even while it was very small—great, 
 because its purpose is great, and ennobling, and 
 uplifting; great, because it represents a labor 
 of love and unselfish Christian service—asking 
 nothing, giving all; great, because God is in it 
 and because it is an expression of His will toward 
 all mankind, that the whole world shall have a 
 knowledge of Christ and be saved. 
 
 And now, dear Cumberland Presb 3 d;erians, this 
 little leaflet is placed in your hand, not alone to 
 tell you what our Woman’s Work has accom- 
 
plished, and is, but to tell you that we need YOU 
 and we need YOUR CONTINUED HELP. We 
 stand at the door of your heart and cry to YOU. 
 HELP, OH, HELP US TAKE CARE OF THIS 
 GREAT AND GROWING WORK-this won¬ 
 
 derful, far-reaching opportunity God has given 
 the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of teaching 
 the great principles of our faith, and of lifting 
 hungry souls out of their heathen darkness into 
 the ennobling presence of our Christ. 
 
 We call on you for YOUR HELP, not alone 
 because the work is so worthy, and because it 
 is really yours, also, since you are a Christian 
 and a Cumberland Presbyterian, but because it 
 is rapidly and surely outgrowing our present 
 membership. 
 
 Our new and larger Mission in San Francisco 
 has opened our doors to many new opportunities 
 there. This calls for more workers and larger 
 expenditures. We have opened a new Primary 
 Department in this Mission, which necessitated 
 another full-time worker, and even so, our mis¬ 
 sionaries there have their hands, as well as their 
 hearts, full. We therefore anticipate the neces¬ 
 sity of another worker added to the San Francis¬ 
 co force by the opening of our next school year. 
 
 We face the same situation in China. Better 
 buildings and equipment mean enlarged oppor¬ 
 tunities and growth. We would not have it 
 otherwise. It was for this we wanted our new 
 buildings. But growth calls for more laborers. 
 More laborers call for more salaries. 
 
 And there are other fields we should enter. 
 Other phases of missionary work we should un¬ 
 dertake, and all the enterprises of our work are 
 calling for expansion, and our present member¬ 
 ship, though they long to do so, cannot provide 
 for all of this. 
 
 And the non-Christian world, dissatisfied, and 
 torn from their old beliefs and former faith in 
 their false religions as in no other time, are 
 restlessly watching for some other faith— or re¬ 
 ligion—to take the place of that in which they 
 have at last lost confidence. It is the pivotal 
 hour. They were never so ready as now, never 
 
so eager for Western knowledge, nor so ready 
 to accept America’s God. We tremble when we 
 think that the Cumberland Presbyterian Church 
 may not reach her share in time, or that some 
 of those may come to her doors in vain. 
 
 We ask YOUR HELP—not only that you join 
 our ranks as a contributing member. We need 
 your offerings, but we need, even more, YOUR 
 wisdom, YOUR prayers, YOUR presence, YOUR 
 encouragement. We plead with you to become 
 REALLY enlisted and in harness with those of 
 your denomination who are humbly, and prayer¬ 
 fully, and, yes, imperfectly, but honestly, and 
 lovingly bound together to lift up Christ as Lord 
 and Saviour before the eyes of non-Christian 
 lands as well as our own. 
 
 We ask that you join us in our plans, striv¬ 
 ing with us to carry them forward to success; 
 that our plans become your plans; that you study 
 them, and put them into execution; that you join 
 us in our purpose to attain to certain standards 
 and to reach certain aims; that you join us in 
 our growing need and purpose to increase our 
 membership and offerings; and above all, that you 
 join us in our prayer that God will continue to 
 hold us worthy to serve Him in this beautiful 
 way, and continue to hold us by the hand and 
 lead us. 
 
 Do this in the name of and for the sake of the 
 Church you love. 
 
 Do this in the name of and for the sake of 
 humanity of which you were once an unsaved 
 part. 
 
 But, most of all. do this for the Christ Who 
 was sacrificed for THESE, even as for YOU. “Go 
 teach them”, said Jesus, “all things whatsoever 
 I have taught you, and lo, I go with you all the 
 way.” “If you love me, you will keep my com¬ 
 mandments.” “And I will that not one of 
 THESE shall perish.” 
 
 There will come a day when we shall meet 
 Him face to face and He will say: “If ye did it 
 even unto the least of THESE”—THESE whom 
 our work is now seeking to uplift—“ye did it 
 
unto me.” “But if ye did it not unto THESE, 
 ye did it not unto me.” 
 
 What shall the answer be? 
 
 Behold the door of opportunity is THIS DAY 
 opened unto you! 
 
 WOMAN’S BOARD OF MISSIONS 
 CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 EVANSVILLE, INDIANA 
 
 PRICE 6 CENTS 
 
 January, 1924.