Elijah Embree Hoss

Elijah Embree Hoss, Sr (April 14, 1849 – April 23, 1919) was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, elected in 1902. He also distinguished himself as a Methodist pastor, as a college professor and administrator, and as an editor.

Born on Cherokee Creek, four miles from Jonesboro in Washington County, Tennessee, U.S.A., he was a son of Henry and Anna Maria (née Sevier) Hoss. His mother was a granddaughter of General John Sevier. The family moved to Jonesboro before Elijah was two years old. He was the second child and the first son of a family of eight children. He professed faith in Jesus Christ and joined the M.E. Church, South, at Jonesboro when he was ten years old.

Elijah married Miss Abigail Belle "Abbie" Clark of Knoxville, Tennessee, 19 November 1872 in Knox County, Tennessee, daughter of Edwin Reuben and Mary Ann (Sessler) Clark. Elijah and Abbie had three children: Mary Sevier "Minnie" (Headman), E.E. Jr., and Dr. Henry Sessler, M.D. Mrs. Hoss died 15 June 1918 in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Hoss was educated in the schools of Jonesboro, Tennessee. He entered Ohio Wesleyan University in 1866, studying there two years. He then entered Emory & Henry College, earning his B.A. degree in 1869. He had acquired the habit of reading widely in early life. He was known in college for the range of his studies and the accuracy of his scholarship. His memory was prodigious, so that accurate and wide information was at his ready command.

...
Wikipedia