Captain Emma Churchill (1862 – 16 May 1957) was the founder of

The Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. She was born in Portugal Cove, Newfoundland but moved to

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

with her parents in 1882. Churchill was in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

when two converts from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

introduced

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

William Booth William Booth (10 April 182920 August 1912) was an English Methodist preacher who, along with his wife, Catherine, founded the Salvation Army and became its first "General" (1878–1912). His 1890 book In Darkest England and The Way Out outli ...

's ideas there. In 1883 she joined The Salvation Army, becoming the 11th of the first 25

Officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

s to be commissioned in the Army's new Canadian territory. She was the founder of

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

Salvation Army Corps,
Artefacts Canada website having arrived there in 1884 by railway, accompanied by Staff Captain Lt. Ida Russell. When she married Captain Charles Dawson (1864–1942) in 1885, she changed her name to Emma Churchill Dawson.The Westminster Handbook To Women In American Religious History by Susan Hill Lindley and Eleanor J. Stebner Published by Westminster John Knox Press (2008) In 1885, Emma and Charles went to Newfoundland on their

honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds immediately after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase ...

. On September 3, 1885, at the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

in Portugal Cove, they held the first Salvation Army meeting ever to take place in Newfoundland. Because of the success of this meeting, the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

in St. John's asked the Dawsons to hold similar meetings there. This engagement extended their Newfoundland visit to five months. The Dawsons then contacted Canadian Headquarters in January 1886 requesting that officers be assigned to continue conducting the meetings. That same month, four female officers arrived in St. John's. The Dawsons later returned to Ontario where they established a series of prison ministries through the Toronto's Prison Gate Home, which opened in 1890, and at the Guelph Reformatory. Emma Dawson died on 16 May 1957 in Guelph, Ontario, and was buried on 18 May 1957 in Woodlawn Cemetery in Guelph.

References

External links

Churchill on the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage websiteChurchill on the Salvationist Canada websiteChurchill on SAWiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Churchill, Emma 1862 births 1957 deaths Canadian Salvationists Salvation Army officers People from Portugal Cove-St. Philip's