Mary Hay Ferguson was born in McKinney, Texas in 1884, the daughter of Mary Phillips Ferguson and John Hay Ferguson. As a young adult, Mary Ferguson held leadership positions in the North Texas Conference Epworth League. Her work on behalf of the League included founding the Ruby Kendrick Council of Missions. The Council of Missions promoted missionary vocations and raised money in support of Methodist missions in memory of Ruby Rachel Kendrick (1883-1908). Ruby Kendrick was a young woman from Plano, Texas who died in Korea after serving less than one year in the mission field.
In 1920 Mary Hay Ferguson married banker Horace P. Eller (1878-1965) of McKinney. The Ellers moved to Dallas and joined Grace Methodist Church. Mary Eller served as an officer in the Daughters of the American Revolution, Dallas Patriotic Association, Dallas Federation of Women’s Clubs, Dallas Woman’s Forum, and Women’s Chamber of Commerce. In Dallas, H. P. Eller became a successful banker, attorney, and real estate broker.
Sources:
“Deaths and Funerals.”
“Dallas Social Affairs.”
Through publications, correspondence, minutes, photographs, record books, and a scrapbook this collection documents Mary Hay Ferguson Eller’s participation in Methodist Episcopal Church, South-related organizations between 1900 and 1930. Items of special significance include early records of the McKinney District Epworth League and documents from the formation and work of the Ruby Kendrick Council of Missions.
The collection has been arranged into four series:
For additional material pertaining to missionary work in Korea, see:
Alfred W. Wasson papers (BridArch 105.18), Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.
For additional material pertaining to Epworth Leagues, see:
Collection on the North Texas Epworth League (BridArch 302.23), Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.
Mrs. W. B. Wright scrapbook on Epworth League, 1888-1932 (A2006.0019c), DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
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This collection is indexed under the following terms in the Southern Methodist University Libraries' online catalog. Researchers desiring related materials may search the catalog using these terms.
[Identification of item], Mary Hay Ferguson Eller papers, Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.
Acquired prior to 1994.
This collection was arranged and described in 2010 by Allison Osborn as the “Ruby Kendrick Council of Missions records.” The collection was reprocessed and renamed in 2012 by Timothy Binkley.
Lara Corazalla, 2011 and Ada Negraru, 2012.
The first series consists of thirteen folders of publications, correspondence, photographs, newspaper and magazine articles, and record books produced by local, state, regional, and national chapters of the Epworth League.
The second series contains seventeen folders and a scrapbook focusing on the life of Ruby Rachel Kendrick and the ministries carried on in her memory by the North Texas Conference Epworth League.
The third series includes two folders. The first holds an event ribbon from the North Texas Conference Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society meeting of 1904. The second contains a program and group photograph of the North Texas Conference Woman’s Missionary Society annual meeting of 1914. Both events were held in McKinney, Texas, Mary Hay Ferguson Eller’s home town.
During processing, framed items were scanned and then removed from their frames. The four wooden frames in this series were retained for future exhibition purposes due to their aesthetic appeal.