Disciples Historical Society

Explore the history of the Stone-Campbell Movement

Date of birth: February 16, 1842
Date of death: October 13, 1899 (57 years old)
Education: Abingdon College
Organization(s): National Benevolent Association
Known for:
  • Mathilda Sarah “Mattie” Hart Younkin established the Benevolent Association of the Christian Church in 1887.

Mathilda Sarah “Mattie” Hart Younkin established the Benevolent Association of the Christian Church in 1887. This vital ministry exhorted Disciples men and women to care for the poor by providing financial and material support to dedicated homes for orphans and the elderly. Through her leadership, Younkin transformed individual charity into a structured institutional movement within the Disciples of Christ.

Early Life, Education, and Family

Mattie Hart Younkin was born on February 16, 1843, in Eaton, Ohio, to Robert Chapman Hart and Elizabeth Sarah (Larsh) Hart. Raised as a Disciple, she was the second eldest of seven children. Following the premature death of her father in 1853, her widowed mother became the sole provider for the family.

Younkin attended Abingdon College, where she met her husband, Edwin Younkin; they married in 1861 and raised two daughters. After obtaining a teaching certificate in 1862, she supported her husband’s medical pursuits. In 1866, Edwin earned his medical degree in Cincinnati, Ohio. The family later moved to Abingdon, Illinois, and Leavenworth, Kansas, for Edwin’s medical practice before settling in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1873, where Edwin served as the chair of surgery for the American Medical College.

The Foundation of the Benevolent Association of the Christian Church

In 1886, Mattie Hart Younkin gathered a small group of women in St. Louis to prayerfully consider methods for alleviating the suffering of the urban poor. By 1887, these women formed the Benevolent Association of the Christian Church, a chartered organization designed to mobilize the Disciples of Christ toward organized social welfare.Under Younkin’s guidance, the Association raised funds to open and operate the Christian Orphans’ Home. Four years after their first application was denied in 1895, they were formally recognized by the General Convention of the Disciples of Christ in 1899 . The organization was officially renamed the National Benevolent Association (NBA) in 1902.

Pioneering Women’s Ministry and Social Reform

In addition to her leadership of the Benevolent Association, Mattie Hart Younkin was a prominent figure in the Christian Women’s Temperance Union, where she organized and lectured frequently. In 1895 when she was granted a preaching license, she became the first ordained woman minister in Missouri. She gained significant notoriety beyond Disciples circles for presiding over marriage ceremonies shortly after her ordination.

Declining Health and Historical Significance

A few years after her ordination, Mattie Hart Younkin’s health began to decline. Historical accounts vary regarding her medical condition, attributing her illness to influenza, pernicious anemia, or breast cancer. She died on October 13, 1899, leaving a lasting institutional legacy of compassion and organized benevolence.