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Ambrose Jessup (A.J.) Tomlinson (September 22, 1865 – October 2, 1943), a former Quaker, united with the Holiness Church at Camp Creek in 1903. With his drive, vision, and organizational skills, he was elected the first general overseer of the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) in 1903. He also served as the first president of the church's Lee College, later known as Lee University (1918–1922). In 1923, Tomlinson was impeached, causing a division which led to the creation, by followers of Tomlinson, of what would become the Church of God of Prophecy. ==Early life== A.J. Tomlinson was born to a prominent Quaker family near Westfield, Indiana. His grandparents, Robert and Lydia Tomlinson, left the Society of Friends in 1843 over the issue of abolition, and joined a separatist anti-slavery Society of Friends. A year later, in 1844, A.J. Tomlinson's parents, Milton and Delilah (Hiatt) Tomlinson, were disowned from the Society of Friends for not having their marriage sanctioned by the Friends, and for neglecting church attendance. Milton and Delilah Tomlinson never regularly attended Quaker services after that, hence their children including A.J. Tomlinson were not raised attending church. Milton Tomlinson, together with his brother Noah, was a successful businessman in a variety of ventures spanning farming, road-building, saw-mills, and bridge building. Milton Tomlinson was also active in Republican Party politics. A.J. Tomlinson was the only son born to Milton and Delilah Tomlinson. He had eight sisters, three of whom died in childhood, and one half-sister, named Abigail, from his father Milton's first marriage. (Milton's first wife, Hannah, had died giving birth to Abigail). Five of his sisters were older than A.J. Tomlinson, to whom he looked up to as a child. A.J. Tomlinson was born significantly under-weight, so small that as an infant he was carried on a pillow. His mother, concerned over his small size and the care he would require is said to have prayed "If this child is never going to amount to anything let him die. He is such a care. If Thou hast something special for him to do, heal him up and let him live.". A.J. Tomlinson survived but was never as tall or physically robust as his father. In 1880 A.J. Tomlinson suffered a bout with cholera, an illness which claimed the life of his sister Emily one year later. A.J. Tomlinson's own illness was severe enough to cause him to miss a third of a school year. Nevertheless as a child A.J. Tomlinson enjoyed athletics and was particularly successful at footraces. He was also gifted academically and was encouraged to practice writing at home by his father. A.J. Tomlinson graduated grammar school at the age of seventeen and immediately enrolled in the local Quaker academy, Union High School, in Westfield, Indiana, a town known for its religious and racial diversity. His first year at Union, during the winter of 1882-1883, the Quaker evangelist William Wooton held an extended meeting at a local church, during which some 100 of Tomlinson's classmates were converted. Tomlinson, while experiencing deep conviction, was not himself converted. As a teenager Tomlinson began engaging in Republican Party politics (although later, at the age of 27 in 1892, Tomlinson ran unsuccessfully for county auditor under the banner of the Populist Party (a political movement closely tied to the ideals of holiness Christianity), after which he quit politics altogether). As a teenager Tomlinson also belonged to a local literary society, and performed briefly in a drama troupe, besides continuing to work on the family farm. At the age of 23, in 1889, A.J. Tomlinson married Mary Jane Taylor, herself an active Quaker and member of the Walnut Ridge Monthly Meeting, where a significant holiness revival (the "Great Walnut Ridge Revival") had occurred in 1867. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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