Emery, Julia Chester

(Sept. 26, 1846-Jan. 9, 1922). Leader of women's ministry. She came to New York in 1874 to edit The Young Christian Soldier. In 1876 she was appointed secretary of the Woman's Auxiliary to the Board of Missions (WA). Emery held that position for the next forty years, resigning in 1916. She directed the expansion of the WA into every domestic and missionary diocese of the Episcopal Church and was key to the founding and growth of the United Offering (now the United Thank Offering). To promote the Auxiliary, she visited churches and missionaries throughout the United States. In 1897 she addressed the woman's missionary congress held in London in conjunction with the Lambeth Conference. In 1908 she represented the Diocese of New York at the Pan-Anglican Congress in London. She then continued around the world, visiting mission stations in Europe and Asia. She was the author of A Century of Endeavor (1921), the centennial history of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, and biographies of John Henry Hobart and Alexander Viets Griswold. Emery is commemorated in the Episcopal calendar of the church year on Jan. 9. Mary Abbot Emery, Susan Lavinia Emery, and Margaret Theresa Emery were her sisters.