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CHAPTER XXIX.

SOME FORMER RESIDENTS OF SHELBY COUNTY AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. (CONT'D)

BISHOP JOHN W. ROBINSON.


Bishop John Wesley Robinson is a son of Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Robinson, early pioneers of Harlan and Shelby county. He was born January 6, 1866, at Moulton, Iowa; attended the public schools of Harlan; later became interested in journalism, entering the printing establishment of the Shelby County Republican, where he became exceedingly skillful and useful in the mechanical department, holding the position of foreman for a number of years and earning for himself the reputation of being a very careful, earnest and industrious workman. At eighteen years of age, he was converted, and at the age of twenty-one, being firmly convinced that he was called to preach, he attended Garrett Biblical Institute. In 1890 he was admitted to the Des Moines conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1890 he preached as a student supply at Chapman, Nebraska, and in 1891-2 at Cass, Illinois. Three years later he went to India, having in the meanwhile obtained his divinity diploma at Northwestern University. Evanston, Illinois. Bishop Thoburn found work for him in north India, and he set sail for India from New York, July 16, 1892. Eor eight years he preached in the English-speaking church at Lucknow, at first assisting Bishop Parker in the work of the press, for which his experiences at Harlan stood him in good stead, and later doing evangelistic work in the vernacular and editing the religious journal, The Star of India. He was also agent for the Methodist Publishing House at Lucknow, 1893-5, 1905-6, 1907-8 and 1911. In 1900-02 he was the treasurer of the Mission's India Famine Relief Fund; secretary of the India Epworth League, 1900-4; secretary of the Bishop Thoburn special fund, 1906-7, 1908-12; editor of Kaubab-i-Hind, 1896- 1898-99, 1902-4, 1905-12; superintendent of the Oudh district, 1900-12; delegate to the general conference, 1904, 1908, 1912. At the general conference held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May, 1912, he was elected missionary bishop for southern Asia, the nominating speech for him being made by Dr. Adna B. Leonard. The nomination was seconded by M. K. Muskerjee, of the North India conference, in the following address, which well indicates the regard in which Bishop Robinson is held by the people of India, who know him.

"I want to take the floor this afternoon to second the motion of Doctor Leonard. I want to second the name of John Wesley Robinson, district superintendent of one of the largest districts in Indian Methodism. I want to speak concerning the work he has done in India. When he went from America to India he was made the pastor of one of our largest English-speaking churches in India--Lucknow. The membership had diminished very greatly and Doctor Robinson was put in that position in that difficult place and he built up the church wonderfully. It was so filled that at the time of the second hymn you could not get a seat. He remained pastor eight years, was made a district superintendent, and has done that work very satisfactorily. He was the agent of one of our biggest plants in India, the publishing house in Lucknow. He has been for more than twenty years, if I am not mistaken, the editor of our church publishing interests, and you must bear in mind that he knows the vernacular very well indeed. He is truly a fluent speaker, and may I say that I voice the feelings of the ministerial and lay members of the North India and Northwest India conferences when I stand here and say that almost all the lav and clerical members wish that John Wesley Robinson be returned to India as a missionary bishop. And I wish to emphasize that point. I do not wish to make any comparisons, but I know how the men feel in India, and understand that if you send out a man he wants our confidence and love in every sense of the word. And I wish to make this further statement that John Wesley Robinson in India is looked upon not as an American, but as an Indian. (Laughter and much applause.) We are asking of you for a bishop who is to us as good as an Indian. ( Laughter continued.) And I beseech you in the name of the North India and Northwest India conference to give us John Wesley Robinson." (Applause.)

The total number of votes cast was seven hundred and thirty-nine, of which John Wesley Robinson received six hundred ami eighty-six.

The territory over which Doctor Robinson has jurisdiction as a missionary bishop includes a large section of India, including the large city of Bombay, the city of Calcutta, the city of Lucknow, and the city of Rangoon. It also includes the Malay peninsula, the islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Philippines, the Celebes and other islands.


Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, October, 2023 from the Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, by Edward S. White, P.A., LL. B.,Volume 1, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co., 1915, pg. 562-564.


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