Frances E. Townsley

Frances E. Townsley
Portrait photo of a middle-aged woman wearing glasses with an up-do hairstyle parted in the center.
Photo from "A Woman of the Century"
Personal
Born
Frances ("Fannie") Eleanor Townsley

September 13, 1850
Albany, New York, U.S.
Died1909
ReligionNorthern Baptist
Alma materWheaton College
Profession
  • minister
  • evangelical preacher
  • lecturer
  • writer
Signature
Senior posting
Literary works
  • A Pilgrim Maid
  • The Sabbath Training of the Child for Eternity
OrdinationApril 1885
Profession
  • minister
  • evangelical preacher
  • lecturer
  • writer

Frances E. Townsley (September 13, 1850 – 1909) was an American Baptist minister and evangelical preacher,[1] as well as a lecturer and a writer in prose and verse.[2] She was the second-known woman to be ordained in the Baptist faith,[3] and the first then-Northern Baptist woman minister to be thus credentialed.[4] After ordination, she endured criticism and resistance.[5]

  1. ^ Larsen, Timothy (31 August 2017). "Evangelicalism's Strong History of Women in Ministry". Reformed Journal. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  2. ^ Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). "TOWNSLEY, Miss Frances Eleanor". A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life. Charles Wells Moulton. p. 721. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ "A conversation about women, 160 years in the making". The Wheaton Record. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  4. ^ Piela, Anna (2 March 2023). "Challenges for Baptist women in ministry today". The Christian Citizen. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  5. ^ Malone, David (29 September 2009). ""Three Lady Students in Ministry" – Sesquicentennial Snapshot | ReCollections". wheaton.edu. Retrieved 5 July 2023.