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Overview
Biographical Note
Scope and Content
Arrangement
Preferred Citation
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| Record Creator: | Obee, Ernest Isaac |
| Title: | Obee Methodist Protestant Japan Mission Photographs |
| Date Span: | 1910-1925 |
| Abstract: | Ernest Isaac Obee (1874-1952), Methodist Protestant Church missionary and minister, along with his wife, Lotta Shields Obee, served twenty-four years as missionaries in Japan during the early 20th Century. Obee would later serve as a clergy in various local churches in Ohio. There are five matted photographs illustrating both Obee's and Methodist Protestant Church work in the central region of Japan. |
| Extent: | 0.64 cubic feet |
| Identification: | gcah.ms.gcah5955 |
Ernest Isaac Obee (1874-1952), Methodist Protestant Church missionary and minister, was born at Whitehouse, Ohio on October 15, 1874. Obee attended Adrian College and upon graduation in 1904 was quickly accepted as a missionary to Japan with support by the Christian Endeavor Society. Just before his missionary appointment he married Lotta Shields in August. Eventually they gave birth to five children. Together they spent twenty-four years in Japan before returning to the Ohio Annual Conference to pastor various local churches.
While in Japan Obee's duties included President of the Nagoya Boys Middle School, Mission Treasurer and District Missionary. Under his administration the Boy's School would eventually enroll over one-thousand students. Upon returning to the United States in 1928 he would become the pastor of the following Methodist Protestant congregations: Lewistown, Arlington, Rush Creek and Mount Cory. By 1940, the annual conference granted him superannuated status (retirement) but Obee continued to be a short-term supple pastor to various local churches when needed. Many of these churches were considered to be home mission charges.
Unfortunately, Ernest and Lotta were not able to enjoy their retirement together because of her untimely death in 1940. Two years later Obee married Paula Smelser who would outlive him. Obee died in Lima, Ohio, on March 20, 1952. His funeral took place at the Allentown Church on April 2 and subsequent burial was at the Whitehouse cemetery.
There are five matted photographs illustrating both Obee's and Methodist Protestant Church work in the central region of Japan. There are three photographs documenting the Yokkaichi church, one of First Church in Nagoya and a group photograph of teachers and graduates from the Tokyo School for the Blind. The photographs approximately measure 10.75 x 8.5 inches sans matting.
Materials have been arranged in the following manner.
Arrangement is by record type.
When citing material from this collection please use the following format: Direct reference to the item or its file folder, Obee Methodist Protestant Japan Mission Photographs, United Methodist Church Archives - GCAH, Madison, New Jersey. Do not make use of the item's call number as that is not a stable descriptor.
There are no restrictions regarding this collection.
Detailed use restrictions relating to our collections can be requested from the office of the archivist at the General Commission on Archives and History. Photocopying is handled by the staff and may be limited in certain instances. Before using any material for publication from this collection a formal request for permission to publish is expected and required.
Microfilm Edition of the Mission Biographical Reference Files.
| Call Number | Folder Title | Date(s) |
| 1607-3-4: 1 | Teachers and Graduates of Tokyo School for the Blind - March 29 | 1925 |
| 1607-3-4: 2 | Conference at First Church, Nagoya, Japan | Undated |
| 1607-3-4: 3 | Yokkaichi Church | 1910 |
| 1607-3-4: 4 | Yokkaichi Church - Built in 1921 | Undated |
| 1607-3-4: 5 | Interior of Yokkaichi Church | 1921 |
