Copyright holder: Tyndale University, 3377 Bayview Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M2M 3S4 Att.: Library Director, J. William Horsey Library Copyright: This Work has been made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws of Canada without the written authority from the copyright owner. Copyright license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License Citation: Robinson, J. Heather. “Under the Microscope: Dr. Lilian Yeomans Under a Historical and Gendered Lens.” April 26, 2022, Toronto, Ontario: MPEG-4, 26:45 min. ***** Begin Content ****** My presentation today serves as an exploration of 1 particular woman who seemed to transcend the traditional norms of society in both medical and Pentecostal fields in the early 1900s. Doctor Lilian Yeomans. I think doctor Ambrose's question was really neat. Some nice little segue. Doctor Lilian Yeomans was the first female licensed physician. In Winnipeg, significant to our conference theme, her story is set between both Holiness and Pentecostal worlds. So I'm Heather Robinson. I'm a student here at Tyndale and the Masters of Theology program specializing in Pentecostal studies under the brilliant direction of Doctor Van Johnson. I think it is such a privilege to be here today, and I am so honored that you have come to hear my presentation. Let me start by saying how stretched I feel to write a paper like this. I don't really consider myself a feminist. Through my studies of Pentecostalism, I have become familiar with its female pioneers. It's theological basis for gender equality in Acts 2, where Joel two is quoted as declaring the spirit has been poured out on all flesh. Despite my discomfort, I think there is value in how looking at how the power structures developed in the 1st 25 years of Pentecostalism through various lenses, historical, Pentecostal and gendered. This study has implications for us today as we continue to work through gender equality issues in our churches. In the words of Linda Ambrose are one of our keynote speakers today in a co-authored article with Leah Payne. Says quote gender history can give women leaders specific ideas about how to thrive, and at the same time serves as a cautionary tale that women and ministry have always faced particular gender challenges, UN quote. Doctor Ambrose also suggests that through a gender historical studies we can discover forgotten Pentecostal foremothers. And this is important because women of today need to see role models and celebrate their heroes. Adding such women not only allows us to consider the experiences of these early heroines of faith in their own right, but. As one recovers and analyzes these experiences of these lesser known women, the ways in which they defied the prescribed gender roles are unmistakable, UN quote, and I think it's brilliant all of the ways we have seen today. So today's presentation is going to focus on 3 aspects of Doctor Lilian Yeomans life. Her calling, her credentials in Canada through the Holiness Association and her credentials in the United States through the Assemblies of God. My background in the sciences has led me to extensive microscope work. The microscopes I traditionally used had three lenses, and through each lens you would see a different detail. Kind of like the specimens I stuck up there. Getting closer and closer. Today I'm going to use the same metaphor to organize this presentation. The historical lens allows us to look at the first source documents, the calling and credentials. The Pentecostal lens allows us to examine the spiritual component of why she was considered a Pentecostal pioneer. And as most of the literature ends there, this presentation is going to focus through the gendered lens. This lens allows us to look past the spirit rhetoric and look closer at the relationships of power between men and women. Which are often the perceived differences between the sex. It also allows us to identify how these women transcended or defied their gender roles, along with giving us the ability to explain why they were unable or unwilling to do so. Through these lenses, we will examine how Doctor Lilian Yeomans was able to succeed when particular roles were considered inappropriate for women, according to the times. So you need a little bit of background if you don't know Doctor Lilian Yeomans. Her father was a surgeon. After her father died in 1880, Lilian decided to go to the medical school in Michigan, as Canadian schools were not accepting women. Upon graduation, she became the first licensed physician in Winnipeg. Her mother, Amelia Yeomans, entered and graduated at the Michigan Medical School a year later and joined her at her practice. Lilly and Sister Amy joined them as a nurse a few years later. There are practice focused on prostitutes, homeless prisoners, foreign born immigrants who didn't speak English. This led her mother to align with the Women's Christian Temperance Union and eventually started the Dominion Equal franchise to fight against white slavery, or what she called white slavery, which was prostitution, prohibition and suffrage, leading to her becoming a popular public speaker. And was often absent from the practice. I get the practice. Lilian started taking morphine and chloral to help with her nerves and her sleep. It was in nine or 1894 that she realized that she was hopelessly addicted. Nurses would start to describe her as the devil inside of a skeleton, attempting to quit trying. Various cures eventually left her bedridden. This is when she diligently started reading her Bible. She felt the spirit speaking through Jeremiah 30 and Panika, coastal historian Desiree Rogers describes. Quote The Lord began to show her that to free herself from addiction to get the victory was not her job, but God's. When Lilian received divine healing, she was determined that she was going to go into ministry. In her book healing from Heaven, she writes quote. I was in Chicago immediately after my healing. And went one day to the Women's Temple to a noon prayer meeting. When I walked in, I found a preacher talking about the awful snares in which people who trifle with narcotic drugs, including tobacco, get entangled. He warned them to give them up entirely if they were tampering with them, and then he sat down. I knew from experience they couldn't give them up unless they took Jesus. So prompted by the Holy Spirit, I rose up and asked if I may say a word. It was not parliamentary for me to do this, but God was in it and I got leave. And then I said I am glad for the good advice our brother has given us and I want to tell you how to do it. And I am speaking from the depths of my experience and I told my story. I think many of them didn't believe in divine healing before I told it, but I don't believe there was one who didn't believe it once I had finished UN quote. Soon after this, Lilian and Annie returned to Canada, shutting down the medical practice. Lilian's mother went into full-time speaking and activism on the suffrage movement and women's rights, and Lilian went to serve as an evangelist. So looking at this through a Pentecostal lens, this was her account of the first time she told her testimony she had not yet received spirit baptism. However, in the time of writing this book in 1930, she had been teaching in many Pentecostal settings. So I think it is safe to say that she is recalling these lens through Pentecost or recalling these events through a Pentecostal lens, which I think is why we see language like prompted by. The spirit. And it's apparent from her testimony that if God was in it, she would be allowed to speak her testimony, her testimony was so powerful that others in the other audience stood and erupted into song how great thou art, and began speaking their own testimonies, encouraged that healing was for witness. Through a gendered lens, we see Lilian is very aware that it was not parliamentary for her to rise and speak in a church, even at a woman's temple. It also appears that there was risk in being afforded the opportunity, almost that, as if she didn't expect it to be granted. However, the opportunity was granted and it was effective. Her testimony possibly functioned as what Leah Payne describes as a way around traditional avenues to the pulpit, such as seminary, education or denominal orientation, similar to other women who claim to have received an intense calling experience, which she and her followers consider to be sufficient for her to be considered a minister. Paint suggests we see success marked through the response it recognized. Authoritative leader is defined through the submission of followers to do what is asked of significance. Lilian reports that an affluent male stood up and told about his healing of drunkenness, and a male Doctor Who was so impressed by the story eventually closed his practice and went into ministry. Lilian and her sister Amy, became ordained in the Canadian Holiness Association to do missionary work among the Cree people of North Winnipeg. Although the Canadian Holiness Association disbanded soon after, by 1900 Lilian was referring to herself as an evangelist. In 1907, Lilian moved to Calgary, where she received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which was noted in the Apostolic Messenger, a Pentecostal newsletter out of Winnipeg. Lilian started hosting Pentecostal services in her home in Calgary. Her mother and sister were present. Spirit baptism added new fervor to loveland's evangelistic efforts, traveling extensively in Alberta and other parts of Canada, doctor Lilian writes. Just before leaving California, which was about 1920, my sister and I received an urgent call to host meetings in a rural part of Alberta. We were soon hard at work hosting meetings. In schoolhouses and homes, visiting the sick and tarrying with seekers for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and we have the joy of seeing God move in this blessed way. From a Pentecostal lens, the meetings that Lilian and Amy held in Alberta were effective because of the undeniable charismatic quality of science following, such as spirit baptisms and divine healing. She describes people struck with heavenly lightning. Their meetings were exemplars of the full gospel. Rather than seeing persecution, we see them invited. I would suggest that Liliana's journey gaining entry into the medical system made her firmly aware of how to navigate the patriarchal system and prevencial licensing. We see that although Lilian gave up her practice, she did not give up her medical license. I would suggest under a gendered lens that gaining entry into the medical school system made her firmly aware. Oh. I already read that. Sorry. Um. Oh, yes. So Lilian wrote at least six books on divine healing, and she never took away the MD after her name. James off, in a presentation by the Canadian Historical Society of Church History, makes the observation that Lilian's books and a plethora of articles. Um. And she kept her MD on all of them. He suggested that her attachment to the status reveals the importance. Of professionalism and at the turn of the century it clearly gave her indispensable authority in discussing matters of health. I think that the other I also think, as a side note, that Pentecostal preachers wouldn't have minded having a doctor around to confirm divine healings that were taking place. There are not many details about her credentialing through the Canadian Holiness Association. Regardless, I think it's important to highlight that she must have thought that they were necessary to give them credibility as a missionary, likely aiding to her authority to speak in church settings, similar to the way her medical practice gave her the authority to speak on healing and health. Further, according to her ministry application with the Assemblies of God, there was a question. How long have you been in ministry? She answered. Since my healing of my morphine habit in 1898, I have preached steadily since, and though I have been engaged in work under the Dominion of Canada most of the time. Recall the Dominion of Canada was created by her mother who, speaking on suffrage and women's rights, were in high demand. Historian Carla Hacker describes her mother as a very witty speaker, making points clearly and often amusingly. You didn't fall asleep when Amelia Amelia Yeomans was giving a lecture, and you weren't allowed to sleep afterwards either. Doctor Emilia's speeches were often given to stir you into action, and she saw that to it, that there was action. Whatever the case, she was a tireless agitator. I bet you kind of wish I got speaking advice from her before starting. Lilian describes her book in the Bomba Gillian. That having an infamous mother opened the doors to the opportunities for her to speak. I can always get a hearing in Canada for people think I am my own mother and come to my meetings. T his is what breaks the traditional gendered culture that we expect in the Pentecostal movement. It is not a father or husband or a man that opened the door. Instead, it was her mother's influence that opened the doors. However, it appears that Lilian realizes that there is an expectation that she comes with her mother's messaging. Well, Lilian realizes. Probably alliance with the topics of refraining from addictive substances. Her writings and articles that I'm aware of do not speak of women's rights, voting, or feminism, but rather emphasized salvation, spirit, baptism, and healing. Now we're going to move on to credentialing in the United States. So in 1922, Lilian and her sister Amy both applied for Egypt Angeles credentials through the Assemblies of God. Why not the newly formed POC that established in 1919? Well, there was a brief period where Western Canada decided to join the Assemblies of God. Before they announced national unity in 1925, so this process would have happened during this transition point. It is also possible that since Lilian had been writing for Carrie Judd Montgomery's newsletter since 1917, there might have been a motivation to move to California and help out at her healing school. Or, sorry, healing home. Speculation aside, what we do know is indicated in her credential file that in the first two years of holding credentials, Lilian and Amy listed an address in California and in Canada. What is notable in this correspondence is Lilian writes on behalf of her sister and herself to the Assemblies of God, and there was a concern about receiving clergy rates on the railroads. A following letter concerns the receipt of credentials along with acknowledgement of a circular sorry circular letter to women workers that they agree to be governed by those instructions. When I read this, I had to know what did they agree to? It is here that I have to acknowledge the excellent work of Alice Harris Harris, the archive specialist from the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Centre, because she thinks that this is the correct letter. It was written to address the particular issue where credentialed women were being denied access to clergy rates on the railroads because, quote, clergy bureaus have thought our women preachers were not fully ordained and were not eligible for clergy rates. UN quote. And if that it was true that women were fully ordained, then quote, their ordination paper ought to show it UN quote. This letter explains that while not encouraging women to be pastors quote, the executive Presbytery took it out and authorized the Credential Committee to issue new credentials to all of our ordained women who are actually preaching the word the same way as ordained men do. And these new credentials should state these women are authorized to do so when these things are necessary. So note in your credentials this limiting phrase when so such acts are necessary. It is not intended to encourage the women to do these things in the future anymore than they did in the past. They would be expected to do these things only when an ordained man was not present to do them, or when such real emergency makes it necessary for them to do so. UN quote. The leather sorry. The letter further gives advice for when the Bureau asks if they are authorized to always give the answer yes. Further, they are only putting the unwritten custom into black and white so that there cannot be or will be no misunderstanding. Their final note of the advice is be careful not to boast about having this authority or do anything. To stir up opposition in places where they opposed women doing these things. If through lack of wisdom you should let trouble arise, this might compel the executive Presbytery to recall all the new forms ending in a prayer of wisdom and peace and unity. Then it looks almost like an afterthought, which we'll see on the next slide. There we go. The participants were instructed not to let the letter out of their personal possession. Through a Pentecostal lens, Edith Bloom Hoffer points out, the scriptural justification for women in ministry is defined differently than Canadian Pentecostalism. Quote. The Assemblies of God. So is course in the statement in 1914 through Galatians 328. In Christ, there is no male nor female. A passage that is often used to support ministering women meant rather in the matter of salvation. The lines of sex are blotted out. Citing first Timothy 2, it is affirm that women were to be in subject. Subjection to men, but also acknowledge their call to prophecy and be helpers in the gospel. So, looking at this through gendered lens, the historian Edith Blumenau o ffer points out that the ideal parameters for a woman written in their newsletters was one issue of the Evangel instructed the Brethren to submit applications for railroad discounts. It urged women to simply trust in God for the price of their full fare. UN quote. However, Lilian and Amy were able to transcend the expectation as we find the unspoken rules put into black and white, and the sisters acknowledged and agreed to abide by them in order to receive their credentials and their clergy train rates. Perhaps they were unwilling to transcend these gendered structures because it would have put all women's credentials into jeopardy. Further tensions with the denomination were high, as Lilian and Amy Yeomans were receiving their credentials. Amy Semple McPherson was, in contrast, returning hers. There are a slew of reasons given for the tensions between the AG and McPherson, such as her disappearance, her divorce, possible affairs and what the AG viewed as elaborate spending. However relevant to our discussion, bloom however suggests that the women's views on women that led her to returning credentials. Quote lurking in the background was an uneasiness about ministering women, amys success for some to confront their reservations about women. By 1922, however, the dimensions of Mcpherson's work and the long held views of some, especially in the Southern California district. About appropriate rules for women combined to accelerate her withdrawal from the Assemblies of God. Angelus Temple A5000 seat auditorium opened the following year, with McPherson setting, settling down to become the pastor. Although Lilian held evangelica. Sorry. Evangelical put credentials until her death in 1942. In that time of holding credentials, I found no indication that she ever passed her to church. Rather, she took out teaching positions in various Bible colleges, teaching on divine healing, as well as traveling to both AG and independent churches where she was invited. I think teaching rather than pastoring both satisfied and suited her calling, giving her flexibility to travel, and it also kept her inside the rules of the expected gender roles that the denomination had laid out in black and white. So to summarize this presentation. From a historical lens, we see that Doctor, Lilian Yeomans not only was noticeably notable in becoming the first female doctor in Winnipeg, but also noticeable in receiving credentials not once, but twice through the Canadian Holiness Association and the Assemblies of God. From a Panama Costa lens, we see that Liliana's testimony of divine healing opened the doors to her preaching engagements. Spirit baptism renews her fervor as she held her Pentecostal meetings in her home and was invited across Canada to speak and hold meetings on Salvation, Spirit baptism, divine healing with signs and wonders following. Well, lesser known Doctor Lilian is recorded and celebrated as a female Pentecostal pioneer in Alberta. From a gendered lens, I suggest that her credentials were important to Lilian Administry, perhaps just as important as her medical credentials. They gave her the authority not only to navigate the railways, but also to speak and teach on matters of health and divine healing. In Canada, it appears that it was her mother, rather than a man, that opens the door to authority of her speaking engagements. In speaking, we observed that her mother focused on suffrage and women's rights, contrasting with Lilian, who instead focuses on salvation, spirit, baptism, and divine healing. After being credentialed by the AG, I suggest that it appears Doctor Lilian Yeomans was perhaps unwilling to transcend the prescribed gender roles in her denomination, laid out in black and white. She agreed to submit to male leaders when present and not upset the status quo. And by choosing to teach in various AG and independent churches all across the United States and Canada, it likely served to satisfy her goal and her calling. In the end, Dr. Lilian Yeomans is a remarkable individual under the three lenses and is promising for future research and study. As we have only had time to scratch the surface of what we can learn through a gendered lens. ***** This is the end of the e-text. This e-text was brought to you by Tyndale University, J. William Horsey Library - Tyndale Digital Collections *****