Knapp, Susan Trevor

(Aug. 10, 1862-Nov. 21, 1941). A key architect of the deaconess movement in the United States, she graduated from the New York Training School for Deaconesses in 1894, worked for a year in Christian education, and then returned to the school to teach courses in NT and church history. She was set apart as a deaconess in 1899. Knapp traveled to England and met many of the founders of the English deaconess movement, including Randall Davidson who later became Archbishop of Canterbury. Their friendship forged an important link between the Episcopal Church and the Church of England. Knapp was appointed dean of the Training School for Deaconesses in 1903. She oversaw the development of curriculum as well as the transfer of the school from its original site at Grace Church to its new building on the grounds of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. She visited deaconesses at work in the Far East in 1916 and returned to create better training programs for missionaries. She abruptly resigned her position as dean because the board of the school was suggesting an administrative reorganization. Knapp retired to Japan where she tutored students in Bible and English at St. Paul's University in Tokyo. She died in Los Angeles, California.