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Volume 6 Relation of U.B/EUB Virginia Conferences to Shenandoah University Dec. 26, 2013
I. BEGINNINGS OF SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY
As noted, this abbreviated history of Shenandoah University focuses primarily on Shenandoah’s
relationship to the U.B. (1875-1946) and the EUB Church (1947-1968), after which time the EUBs
merged with The Methodist Church to form The United Methodist Church. Throughout its history,
Shenandoah University has been a religiously-affiliated educational institution, with varying degrees of
direct financial support from the Church.
This chapter is formed of three parts, taken from sources not widely distributed beyond
Shenandoah University and Winchester, Va. The first is from an unpublished typescript of the master’s
thesis of a theology student, Robert J. Miller, written in 1950 while at Bonebrake Theological Seminary.
The research completed by Miller has been extended by the Editor based on various sources identified
below. The second is from The Impossible Task by James R. Wilkins, written c. 1985, who led the lay
effort to preserve Shenandoah by moving that institution to Winchester from Dayton, Va. The third is
by the longest-serving president of Shenandoah, Dr. James A. Davis, written in 2012.
Chapter II identifies presidents, faculty, administrators, trustees, and students associated with the
U.B.-EUB denominations, primarily as ordained ministers. Chapter III provides excerpts from U.B.-
EUB Annual Conference Minutes, 1875-1969, as well as excerpts from national church publications that
relate to Shenandoah. Separate sections are arranged for each conference year. In June 2013 access was
given to the Shenandoah University Archives, specifically to the college catalogs, from which excerpts
are provided in Chapter 3.
This volume ends with two indexes, one for U.B.-EUB pastors and one for the churches and
charge-appointments mentioned in this document. Detailed information about each of the U.B.-EUB
pastors is provided in Volume 9 and about the churches and charges in Volumes 1-5. Much, but not all
of the information extracted from Conference Minutes is provided, with context, in Volume 7 (for the
U.B. period) and Volume 8 (for the EUB period).
A. ROBERT J. MILLER, ET AL.: SHENANDOAH AT DAYTON, VIRGINIA, 1875-19501
1. Dayton High School, 1875-77
Many sources give 1876 as the date on which Shenandoah Institute (as Shenandoah Seminary)
was established. These sources include the School itself (as recorded in the U.B. Yearbooks of the
1890s), and the histories by Drury [Drury 1931] and Berger. However, the History of A. P. Funkhouser
[Funkhouser 1921, p. 220], the first principal of Shenandoah Seminary, asserts 1875 as the correct date
for its establishment as Shenandoah Seminary.
1 Much of the material of this section comes from the B.Div. thesis of a student at what is now Union Seminary: [Miller
1950] Robert J. Miller, “A History of Shenandoah College,” A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. Dayton, Ohio: The Bonebrake Theological Seminary, 1950 (Revised and
Extended by Robert P. McDonald-Walker, 2012-13, based in part on the centennial history found in the 1975 issue of
Zynodoa, the College-Conservatory yearbook). [Zynodoa 1975, p. 3-16]
Miller, et al., on History of S.C., 1875-1950 1
I. BEGINNINGS OF SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY
As noted, this abbreviated history of Shenandoah University focuses primarily on Shenandoah’s
relationship to the U.B. (1875-1946) and the EUB Church (1947-1968), after which time the EUBs
merged with The Methodist Church to form The United Methodist Church. Throughout its history,
Shenandoah University has been a religiously-affiliated educational institution, with varying degrees of
direct financial support from the Church.
This chapter is formed of three parts, taken from sources not widely distributed beyond
Shenandoah University and Winchester, Va. The first is from an unpublished typescript of the master’s
thesis of a theology student, Robert J. Miller, written in 1950 while at Bonebrake Theological Seminary.
The research completed by Miller has been extended by the Editor based on various sources identified
below. The second is from The Impossible Task by James R. Wilkins, written c. 1985, who led the lay
effort to preserve Shenandoah by moving that institution to Winchester from Dayton, Va. The third is
by the longest-serving president of Shenandoah, Dr. James A. Davis, written in 2012.
Chapter II identifies presidents, faculty, administrators, trustees, and students associated with the
U.B.-EUB denominations, primarily as ordained ministers. Chapter III provides excerpts from U.B.-
EUB Annual Conference Minutes, 1875-1969, as well as excerpts from national church publications that
relate to Shenandoah. Separate sections are arranged for each conference year. In June 2013 access was
given to the Shenandoah University Archives, specifically to the college catalogs, from which excerpts
are provided in Chapter 3.
This volume ends with two indexes, one for U.B.-EUB pastors and one for the churches and
charge-appointments mentioned in this document. Detailed information about each of the U.B.-EUB
pastors is provided in Volume 9 and about the churches and charges in Volumes 1-5. Much, but not all
of the information extracted from Conference Minutes is provided, with context, in Volume 7 (for the
U.B. period) and Volume 8 (for the EUB period).
A. ROBERT J. MILLER, ET AL.: SHENANDOAH AT DAYTON, VIRGINIA, 1875-19501
1. Dayton High School, 1875-77
Many sources give 1876 as the date on which Shenandoah Institute (as Shenandoah Seminary)
was established. These sources include the School itself (as recorded in the U.B. Yearbooks of the
1890s), and the histories by Drury [Drury 1931] and Berger. However, the History of A. P. Funkhouser
[Funkhouser 1921, p. 220], the first principal of Shenandoah Seminary, asserts 1875 as the correct date
for its establishment as Shenandoah Seminary.
1 Much of the material of this section comes from the B.Div. thesis of a student at what is now Union Seminary: [Miller
1950] Robert J. Miller, “A History of Shenandoah College,” A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. Dayton, Ohio: The Bonebrake Theological Seminary, 1950 (Revised and
Extended by Robert P. McDonald-Walker, 2012-13, based in part on the centennial history found in the 1975 issue of
Zynodoa, the College-Conservatory yearbook). [Zynodoa 1975, p. 3-16]
Miller, et al., on History of S.C., 1875-1950 1
