Clotilda Lyon McDowell

Clotilda Lyon McDowell
McDowell, from a 1919 publication
Born
Clotilda Lyon

(1858-03-14)March 14, 1858
Galion, Ohio, U.S.
DiedDecember 27, 1930(1930-12-27) (aged 72)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
OccupationChurch worker
Known forPresident of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society
SpouseWilliam Fraser McDowell

Clotilda Lyon McDowell (March 14, 1858 – December 27, 1930) was an American Methodist leader. She was president of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church (WFMS) from 1909 to 1921.

Early life and education

Lyon was born in Galion, Ohio, the daughter of Aaron Jackson Lyon and Olive A. Weatherby Lyon.[1] Her father was a Methodist Episcopal pastor. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1880.[2] She received an honorary master's degree from Ohio Wesleyan in 1911.[3]

Career

McDowell taught school after college and before she married. She was a charter member of the Women's Club of Denver, while her husband was a college chancellor there.[4][5] She was president of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church beginning in 1909.[6][5] In 1910 and 1911 she visited church missions in the Philippines, Japan, Korea, China, India and Europe, and was a delegate to the 1910 World Missionary Conference.[5] She wrote and edited church publications.[1]

McDowell retired as president of the WFMS in 1921, but remained active in the society's work.[5][7] The WFMS set up a fellowship fun named for her, after her retirement; it funded hundreds of women mission school graduates to attend colleges or receive other advanced training in the United States.[8][9]

Publications

  • "Forward from the Jubilee" (1919)[10]
  • "Good Hopes and Precious Memories"[11]

Personal life and legacy

Lyon married Methodist Episcopal clergyman William Fraser McDowell in 1882. Their daughter Olive died in 1907, while she was a college student.[4] McDowell died in 1930, at the age of 72, at her home in Washington, D.C.[12][13] Frederick Brown Harris conducted her funeral service in Washington.[14] In 1939, a chapel was built at Isabella Thoburn College in Lucknow, and named in memory Clotilda Lyon McDowell.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 Leonard, John William; Leonard, John W.; American Commonwealth Company (1914). Woman's who's who of America: a biographical dictionary of contemporary women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915. New York: American Commonwealth Co. p. 518.
  2. ↑ "The Half-Century Class". Ohio Wesleyan Magazine. 8 (1): 14. September 1930.
  3. ↑ "Degrees Are Awarded". The Cincinnati Enquirer. 1911-06-15. p. 2. Retrieved 2026-04-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 Muller, Amelia (1923-03-11). "Mrs. M'Dowell Embodiment of Mother Heart". The Baltimore Sun. p. 64. Retrieved 2026-04-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Welch, Herbert (1937). Men of the Outposts: The Romance of the Modern Christian Movement. The Abingdon Press. pp. 230–244 – via Internet Archive.
  6. ↑ "General Officers of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society". Woman's Missionary Friend. 51 (1): 2. January 1919.
  7. ↑ Curtis, Mary Carr (February 1923). "Sisters Under the Skin". The Trident of Delta Delta Delta. 32 (2): 212–213.
  8. ↑ "The Clotilde Lyon McDowell Fellowship Fund". Year Book of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church: 102. 1924 – via Internet Archive.
  9. ↑ "The Clotilda Lyon McDowell Fellowship Fund". Year Book of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church: 91. 1928 – via Internet Archive.
  10. ↑ McDowell, Clotilda Lyon (December 1919). "Forward from the Jubilee". Woman's Missionary Friend. 51 (12): 421–422.
  11. ↑ McDowell, Clotilda Lyon (March 1920). "'Good Hopes and Precious Memories'". Woman's Missionary Friend. 52 (3): 94–95.
  12. ↑ "Bishop's Wife Dies; Ill for Months; Mrs. McDowell Had Notable Career in Foreign Mission Work". Evening star. 1930-12-28. p. 7. Retrieved 2026-04-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Bishop McDowell Extended Sympathy in Death of Wife". The Baltimore Sun. 1930-12-29. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-04-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ Hughes, Bishop Edwin H. "Clotilda Lyon McDowell: Her far-Reaching Influence Has Touched Many Lives in Many Lands" Ohio Wesleyan Magazine (February 1931): 111, 126.
  15. ↑ "About Us". Isabella Thoburn Intermediate College, Lucknow. Retrieved 2026-04-22.
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