History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

Recording Secretary; Mrs. H. B. O'Neil, Treasurer; and two ladies from each church in the vicinity
elected to the Board of Managers. A constitution and bylaws were adopted, pledging the society to
work in harmony with the Church's Board of Missions, at the same time reserving the privilege of
controlling its own fund. On the treasurer's books the following four named persons have the honor
of being the first contributors to the society: Mrs. M. A. Miller, Mrs. Bambil, Mrs. A. Aughenbaugh,
and Miss. W. K. Gillespie. The society was advertised through a column in the Methodist Recorder;
and as the work advanced it was found that the local constitution and by-laws were not adapted to
a wider reach so as to include the entire denomination, and amendments were made accordingly. The
annual conferences were districted into branches, each branch to include auxiliaries. The
administration of the affairs of the Society was committed to an executive committee, or board.
Miss Guthrie having expressed a wish to go to Japan as a missionary of the Society, her
application was considered November 20, 1879, but as the Society was young and its funds within
$300 the undertaking seemed too great. Efforts were made to increase the interest, but it grew
slowly; so that at the first annual meeting only one auxiliary outside of Pittsburgh had reported, and
that was at Franklin, Mich. The Corresponding Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions, being
in the city, was invited to attend the anniversary meeting. A conference was had as to the
employment of Miss Guthrie, and, as a finality, it was agreed that the Foreign Board and the
Woman's Society would undertake it; and soon she was on her way to Japan. Reaching San
Francisco, en route, she was stricken with pneumonia and died. This dispensation of Providence fell
like a pall on the Church. Soon, however, Miss Brittain, a friend of Miss Guthrie's and a missionary
of twenty years' experience in India, offered her services. She was invited to Pittsburgh, at which
place the Board of Missions and the General Conference were in session, May, 1888. She was
employed, and went to Japan, and in October of the same year a school was opened in Yokohama
with four children, which increased to fifty. Assistance was greatly needed, and ere long it came in
the person of Gel Nedzer (Martha Collier), one of the first fruits of the seed-sowing of our Church
in foreign lands.
At the General Conference of May, 1880, the Society was recognized as one of the permanent
agencies of the Church. In the following year it was incorporated under the laws of the state of
Pennsylvania. Miss Brittain sent encouraging accounts of her work from time to time, and branches
were organized in the annual conferences; so that at the second annual meeting the Pittsburgh,
Michigan, Ohio, Muskingum, Illinois, Iowa, and Genesee were represented. From Maryland and
other conferences contributions of money were sent, and St. John's church of Baltimore became
responsible for $200 annually. The following year the Maryland Branch was organized, with eight
auxiliaries.
The receipts of the Society gradually increased from 8318.10 the first year to $1380.10 the second.
At the third annual meeting, in Cambridge, O., the amount was $1838.48. The "Brick" fund was set
on foot with Mrs. John Scott as treasurer, the money to be appropriated for the purchase of property
in Yokohama for a Woman's Home. In a little more than a year this fund amounted to $1303.53. In
about ten years it amounted to $7930, in sums from ten cents to fifty dollars. In 1889-90 the whole
amount was expended for the property on the Bluff in Yokohama, which is at present occupied by
the missionaries of the Society and the mission school. In 1882 the time for holding the annual
meeting was changed from February to May, and the next meeting was held in Baltimore. At the