Manie Payne Ferguson

Manie Payne Ferguson (1850 – 8 June 1932) was a pioneer leader in the American Holiness Movement, a Christian evangelist and social worker who co-founded the Peniel Mission, and the author of several hymns, most notably "Blessed Quietness".

Ferguson was born Manie Payne in 1850 in the town of Carlow in County Carlow, 84 km from Dublin, in the south-east of Ireland. On 7 June 1883, she married Theodore Pollock Ferguson (born January 10, 1853 in Mansfield, Ohio in Richland County, Ohio; died July 12, 1920 in Los Angeles), a former minister in the United Presbyterian Church (Jones, Guide 628; Hunt 285), who had been converted in 1875 in Oberlin, Ohio through the preaching of evangelist Charles Finney(Clark 1949:79). After relocating to Santa Barbara, California in 1879, he was entirely sanctified in a holiness revival meeting in 1880 in California. (Frankiel 106). Initially TP became an itinerant preacher, before moving with Manie to Los Angeles during the boom of 1885-1886. (Frankiel in Holland, 22]

Ferguson, along with her husband, Theodore, founded the Los Angeles Mission on November 11, 1886. This was eventually renamed the Peniel Mission. According to Piepkorn, "The name Peniel was chosen from Genesis 32: 24-30, and is meant to connote spiritual triumph." (Piepkorn 27) According to Frankiel, Peniel means "Face of God". (107) From the outset, the Peniel Mission was undenominational and nonsectarian. In 1894, the Fergusons received a significant anonymous financial donation (from former English cricketer George Studd). With this funding the Fergusons were able to plan to expand the ministry of the Peniel Mission. They invited former Methodist presiding elder Dr Phineas Bresee to join them in their endeavour, and constructed a 900-seat auditorium and ministry centre at 227 South Main Street, Los Angeles. It was decided that there would be four superintendents: Theodore and Manie Ferguson, George Studd and Phineas F. Bresee.

...
Wikipedia