1. Early life

2. Career

3. References

Early life

Mayte Pearl Richardson was born on February 8, 1889 in Richland County, Wisconsin. She taught school in Richland and Grant counties in Wisconsin until she entered Bonebrake Theological Seminary in Dayton Ohio at the age of thirty-four in 1923.^[1][2]

Career

Mayte Richardson graduated from Bonebrake Theological Seminary in 1926. In seminary she met Sara Mouer where they made a plan “for sharing their ministerial careers”.^[3] Mayte was ordained on September 12, 1926 at Turtle Lake, Wisconsin. After ordination she joined Rev. Sara Mouer for their first assignment at the United Brethren church at Ontario, Wisconsin where they served from 1926-1932.^[1] In December 1932 they were assigned as pastors to the United Brethren church in Monroe Wisconsin. Upon their assignment, the local newspaper stated that “a permanent woman pastor is an innovation in Monroe.”^[4]

Rev. Mayte Richardson served together with Rev. Sara Mouer in Ontario, Monroe, Loyd-Ithaca, Lime Ridge-Sandusky and Beloit all in Wisconsin from 1926 to 1959. As well, she served with Reverend Mouer for five years as an evangelist for the United Brethren Church, from 1936 to 1941, fulfilling calls across the United States.^[1] Reverends Richardson and Mouer were known for the musical aspects of their ministry which “included duet signing with Miss Richardson playing the accompaniment”.^[2] This partnership continued until Sara Mouer’s death on April 27, 1959.^[1][5] Rychie Breidenstein states in How Shall We Be Known that “these were two women whose way of life and ministry would, today, be subject to all kinds of scrutiny, yet they seemed to have found a way to make ‘all things work together for good’ in God’s service” (58).^[6] After Rev. Mouer's death, Rev. Richardson moved back to Richland Center Wisconsin where she continued to serve as a substitute pastor and conducted special services until her death in December 1963.^[2]

Rev. Mayte Richardson spent the larger part of her career as an ordained minister in a denomination that denied ordination to women. She was ordained under the auspices of the United Brethren Church which had permitted the ordination of women from 1889 to 1946. However following the merger of the United Brethren Church with the Evangelical Association in 1946, the ordination of women was no longer permitted. It was only in 1968, five years after Mayte Richardson’s death in 1963, that Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) members through their merger with the Methodist Church accepted women for ordination as members of the United Methodist Church.^[1] While women ministers were an innovation for the rural communities of Wisconsin that Rev. Richardson served with her partner Rev. Mouer, the ministerial pair were beloved by their communities.^[7]

References

• Krzczonów-Skałka
• Krzczonów Trzeci
• Krzczonów, Łódź Voivodeship
• Krzczonów, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship
• KRZE
• Krze
• Krzecin
• Krzecin Commune
• Krzecin, Lesser Poland Voivodeship
• Krzecin, West Pomeranian Voivodeship
• Krzecko
• Krzeczanowo
• Krzecze
• Krzeczewo
• Krzeczkowa
• Krzeczkowice
• Krzeczkowo
• Krzeczkowo-Gromadzyn
• Krzeczkowo-Mianowskie
• Krzeczkowo-Nowe Bienki
• Krzeczkowo-Nowe Bieńki
• Krzeczkowo-Stare Bienki
• Krzeczkowo-Stare Bieńki
• Krzeczkowo-Szepielaki
• Krzeczow