Methodist missionaries in Korea

Alice Rebecca Appenzeller (9 November 1885 – 20 February 1950) was the first American and first Caucasian born in Korea. Daughter of the Methodist missionary Rev. Henry Appenzeller who was among the first to introduce Protestantism to Korea, she spent her early years in Seoul until returning to the United States in 1902. There she pursued her education, first at the Shippen School for Girls (what is now Lancaster Country Day School). She later Graduated from Wellesley College after which she returned to the Shippen School to teach. She was appointed by the Methodist Church as a missionary teacher at Ewha College in Seoul in 1915 and became president of the college in October 1922.

Robert Samuel Maclay, D.D. (simplified Chinese: 麦利和; traditional Chinese: 麥利和; Pinyin: Mài Lìhé; Foochow Romanized: Măh Lé-huò; February 7, 1824 - August 18, 1907) was an American missionary who made pioneer contributions to the Methodist Episcopal missions in China, Japan and Korea.

Albin Garfield Anderson (born April 13, 1882) was an American medical missionary who served as a physician in Korea for 30 years and in Southern Rhodesia for 5 years. He founded the Swedish Methodist Hospital in 1913 in Wonju, Korea which is now the emergency room of Wonju Severance Christian Hospital. Anderson began his missionary work in 1911 serving with the United Methodist Church. During his time in Korea he served as physician, professor, and interim pastor to the people of Wonju and Pyongyang. After Korea was facing pressure from the Japanese empire, Anderson moved his services to Southern Rhodesia where he served as a physician at a community healthcare center and leprosy hospital.

William James Hall (January 16, 1860 – November 24, 1894) was a medical and religious missionary in Korea, primarily in the capital city of Pyongyang during the 1890s. Upon graduation from medical school, he continued working in New York and was appointed as "Medical Superintendent at the Madison Street Medical Mission[New York City] under the supervision of the Methodist Episcopal Church." As a result of his work with the M.E. Church in New York City, Hall met his future wife, Rosetta Sherwood, who also applied to serve in the mission alongside Hall. Both Sherwood and Hall dedicated their professional life to mission work, serving in Korea starting on October 10, 1890, for Rosetta, and December 15, 1891, for William James. During his three year stay in Korea, Hall greatly expanded the Methodist Mission, providing medical, emotional and spiritual care for Korean soldiers and Pyongyang residents during the First Sino-Japanese War. Hall was a victim of political transgressions, and ultimately died of typhus on November 24, 1894, while tending to wounded men on the banks of the Taedong River.

Oliver R. Avison (June 30, 1860 – August 29, 1959) was a Canadian doctor, physician, humanitarian, missionary and professor, who spent over four decades spreading Western medical knowledge in Korea during the Kaehwagi or Enlightenment Period. Avison was recognized for founding and opening the Severance Hospital and the Severance Medical College in Seoul in 1904, two interlinked institutions that sought to treat the sick and expose the Korean natives to the practical teachings of Western medicinal sciences. Through fundraising efforts across North America prior to the opening, Avison received a series of donations from American philanthropist Louis H. Severance, the namesake for the teaching hospital.

Robert Alexander Hardie (Korean: 하리영; Hanja: 谮翠薇; RR: Ha Riyeong; June 11, 1865 – June 30, 1949) was a Canadian physician and Methodist evangelist who for 45 years served as a missionary in Korea. He is recognized as the catalyst for the Wŏnsan Revival (1903) and also inspired the Great Pyongyang Revival (1907) in what is now North Korea.

Mary F. Scranton (born December 9, 1832 in Belchertown, Massachusetts - October 8, 1909) was a Methodist Episcopal Church missionary. She was the first Woman's Foreign Missionary Society representative to Korea and the founder of the Ewha Girls School (Pear Blossom Academy) under Emperor Gojong. Today, the Ewha Girls School is the Ewha Womans University, one of the most prestigious women's schools in Asia. Scranton also founded the Tal Syeng Day School for Women in Seoul and the Training School for Bible Women.

George Heber Jones (14 August 1867 – 11 May 1919) was an American Christian missionary in Korea. Jones, who grew up in Utica, New York, is notable as the first Protestant missionary in Korea who took an academic approach to the research of Korean religions. He arrived in Korea in 1887 as a Methodist minister; while there, he not only made major contributions to the spread of Christianity in Korea, but also founded three academic journals: The Korean Repository, The Korean Review, and Shinhak Wolbo (Theology Monthly). He also played a significant role in encouraging Korean immigration to Hawaii; of the first ship of Korean migrant laborers bound for Hawaii to work on sugar plantations there, which departed on 22 December 1902, more than half came from his church in Incheon. In July 1907, he was the subject of a murder attempt; Yale University professor George Trumbull Ladd attributed the attack to opinions Jones had expressed in an article he wrote about the suppression of a Korean riot, in which he praised the Japanese police. In general, Jones had a high opinion of Koreans but not of the conditions in Korean society; in particular, he wrote high praise for Korean migrants in Hawaii, attributing their success in their adopted land to their liberation from "the oppressive weight of past tradition, language, [and] association". He died in Miami, Florida on 11 May 1919 after a long illness; his funeral was held in Leonia, New Jersey four days later.

William Arthur Noble (born September 13, 1866 in Springville, PA; died January 6, 1945 in Stockton, CA), who published under the name W. Arthur Noble, was an American missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Pyongyang, Korea and Seoul, Korea from 1892 to 1934. He was married to Mattie Wilcox Noble; their children included Ruth Noble Appenzeller Knight, Harold Joyce Noble, born January 19, 1903, who went on to become a Japanese language officer with the United States Marine Corps during World War II and later a United States diplomat in South Korea, Marine Biology professor at University of the Pacific and director of the Marine Research Laboratory at Dillon's Beach, CA, Alden Earl Noble, (1899-1961), and identical twins, Glenn Arthur Noble and Elmer Ray Noble, born January 16, 1909.

Rev. Henry Gerhard Appenzeller (February 6, 1858 – June 11, 1902) was a Methodist missionary. He and four other missionaries, including Horace N. Allen, Horace G. Underwood, William B. Scranton, and Mary F. Scranton introduced Protestant Christianity to Korea from 1885 to 1902. He was known for his three major contributions to Korea: the Paichai College Hall, the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Seoul, and the translated New Testament.