John Morgan Walden

John Morgan Walden (February 11, 1831 – January 21, 1914) was an American

John married Martha Young of Cheviot, Ohio July 3, 1859. They had five children.

Education and early life

Walden attended a local school in Cincinnati until 1844, when he went to work. Becoming a wandering laborer, he found employment as a

John returned again to Ohio, where on September 8, 1858, he was admitted on trial to the Cincinnati Annual Conference of the M.E. Church. His first two years of ministry were spent on various circuits. In 1860 he was admitted to the Conference in full connection and sent to the York Street Church in Cincinnati.

While he was there the American Civil War began. Rev. Walden became very active in the war effort, raising two regiments to defend the city against threatening attacks. He joined the Union Army, where he achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Rev. Walden served with the Ladies' Home Mission in Cincinnati (1862–64). In the post-war years, he helped many African Americans through his work as corresponding secretary of the Western Freedman's Aid Commission and also with the Methodist Freedman's Aid Society.

In 1867 Walden was appointed Presiding Elder of the East Cincinnati District. In 1868 he was elected Publishing Agent of the Western Methodist Book Concern, also in Cincinnati. His penchant for statistics and organization, his business ability, and his sympathetic cooperation with the preachers made the Concern a financial success under his stewardship.

Episcopal ministry

John Morgan Walden was elected a Bishop by the 1884 General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. During his service he presided at some time or other over every Conference in the U.S.A. He also inspected missions in Mexico, South America, Europe, China and Japan. He did much to shape the missionary policy of his Church.

Walden was a delegate to the Ecumenical Conferences in London in 1881, in Washington in 1891 and in Toronto in 1911. With respect to church organization, he insisted on strict adherence to the written law of the church. Otherwise, he was more liberal in his views.

Legacy and honors

• In recognition of his work for
  Central Tennessee College in Nashville was renamed in his honor as Walden University (Tennessee)
  .

• List of bishops of the United Methodist Church

Notes

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References

• Methodism: Ohio Area (1812–1962), edited by John M. Versteeg, Litt.D., D.D. (Ohio Area Sesquicentennial Committee, 1962).
• Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1889). "Walden, John Morgan" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.

External links

• Works by or about John Morgan Walden at Internet Archive
• Guide to the John Morgan Walden Papers 1820-1914 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center