Sarah E. Dickson
{{Short description|Presbyterian Elder}}
{{Infobox_Person
| name = Sarah Ellen Dickson
| image = Sarah Ellen Dickson.png
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birthdate|1880|8|31}}
| birth_place = Elwood, Illinois
| death_date = {{dda|1965|11|21|1880|8|31}}
| death_place = New York City
| occupation = Presbyterian church elder
| known =
| years_active = 1904-1965
}}
Sarah Ellen Dickson (August 31, 1880 – November 21, 1965) was the first woman elder in the Presbyterian Church in 1930.{{sfn|Krugler|Weinberg-Kinsey|1990|p=245}}{{r|ARDA}} She was a "pioneer in the daily vacation bible school movement,"{{r|obit}} She was active in church work for over 60 years and was known as "the chief".{{r|obit}}
Biography
She was born in 1880 in Elwood, Illinois, a small suburb of Chicago.{{r|Downs}} She was the daughter of John Richard Dickson and Grace Ellwood Dickson, her father was a merchant.{{r|Downs}} Her parents both died while she was a child, and she was taken in by her grandparents at age fifteen.{{r|Downs}} She was educated in the Chicago Public Schools.{{r|Downs}}
She became active in church work. She was appointed secretary of Second Presbyterian Church in 1904,{{r|Downs}} and organized and was first president of the Young Women's Presbyterian Union.{{r|Downs}}
In 1906 she became secretary, treasurer and editor of the Federated Religious Press.{{r|Downs}} In 1911 and 1912, as executive secretary of the Layman's Evangelistic Council she directed evangelistic campaigns across the country including for Billy Sunday, John Wilbur Chapman, and others.{{r|Downs}}
In the early 1920s, Dickson took under her wing a "motherless boy" named Richard E. Evans, and effectively (but not legally) became his foster mother. She guided his religious education and encouraged him to become a minister.{{sfn|Krugler|Weinberg-Kinsey|1990|p=246}}
In 1924 she moved to Edgewater Presbyterian Church and in 1925 was appointed one of the first deaconesses in Chicago, at that time the highest position a woman could hold in the church.{{r|Downs}}
In the fall of 1927, while still a seminary student, Evans preached at the newly established Presbyterian church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin and made a strong impression. After just a few Sundays preaching, the congregation asked Evans to be their pastor.{{sfn|Krugler|Weinberg-Kinsey|1990|p=247}} Dickson moved to Wauwatosa as well and became director of religious education at the church.{{r|Downs}}
Presbyterians had considered, but rejected, women as elders in 1920{{sfn|Krugler|Weinberg-Kinsey|1990|p=247}} and again in 1929.{{r|ARDA}} At the 1930 General Assembly in Cincinnati, the idea was approved by a vote of 158-118{{r|ARDA}} on May 31, 1930.{{sfn|Krugler|Weinberg-Kinsey|1990|p=247}} Pastor Richard Evans was present as an observer, and telephoned home to set up a congregational meeting upon his return.{{sfn|Krugler|Weinberg-Kinsey|1990|p=248}} At that meeting on June 2, 1930,{{r|ARDA}} Dickson was unanimously elected an elder of the Wauwatosa church.{{r|Downs}}{{sfn|Krugler|Weinberg-Kinsey|1990|p=248}} One member remarked that this happened because "she deserved it."{{sfn|Krugler|Weinberg-Kinsey|1990|p=248}}
Evans left Wauwatosa in 1933, and Dickson moved with him to another church.{{sfn|Krugler|Weinberg-Kinsey|1990|p=248}} The pair moved to Florida in 1937 to work with a publishing company.{{sfn|Krugler|Weinberg-Kinsey|1990|p=248}}
Dickson was active in her career in promoting interfaith activities.{{r|obit}} During the 1950s she travelled to the Holy Land four times, each time in a wheelchair.{{r|obit}}
Dickson moved to New York City in 1960 and was an elder at the Church of the Crossroads on 14th Street.{{r|obit}} She died at St. Barnabas Hospital on November 21, 1965.{{r|obit}}
A Presbyterian retirement home in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin is named Dickson Hollow in honor of Sarah Dickson.{{r|PHS}}
See also
References
{{reflist|30em|refs=
{{cite book | editor-last=Downs |editor-first=Winfield Scott |title=Encyclopedia of American Biography: New Series |volume=6 | publisher=American Historical Society |year=1936 | pages=202–203 | oclc=649569887 | url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015059775554&view=1up&seq=394 | via=HathiTrust}}
{{cite web|title=Sarah Dickson Becomes First Female Presbyterian Elder | website=Association of Religion Data Archives |url=http://www.thearda.com/timeline/events/event_254.asp | access-date=August 27, 2020 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114181544/http://thearda.com/timeline/events/event_254.asp |archive-date=January 14, 2020 }}
Further reading
- {{cite journal |last1=Krugler |first1=John D. |last2=Weinberg-Kinsey |first2=David | date=Winter 1990 |title=Equality Of Leadership: The Ordinations of Sarah E. Dickson and Margaret E. Towner in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. |journal=American Presbyterians |publisher=Presbyterian Historical Society |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=245–257 |jstor=23333078 }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickson, Sarah Ellen}}