Introduction

Biography

Winnie was the daugh­ter of min­is­ter John A. Ga­bri­el­son and Char­lot­ta Burke.

A gra­du­ate of Ne­bras­ka Wes­ley­an Uni­ver­si­ty and the Chi­ca­go train­ing school, she was liv­ing in Chau­tau­qua, New York, as of 1900.

During her long ca­reer in church work, she spent time in Fin­land, Swe­den, Nor­way and Den­mark. On an ear­ly trip to Swe­den, she or­gan­ized 29 mis­sion­ary so­cie­ties, with­in a few weeks.

In 1908, she sailed for In­dia un­der the Woman’s For­eign Mis­sion­ary Society of the Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church, and was a re­gu­lar mis­sion­ary in the Del­hi Con­fer­ence (in­clud­ing work at Mee­rut) un­til 1948.

In the Unit­ed States, she or­gan­ized the wo­men in Swed­ish speak­ing church­es for mis­sion­ary ser­vic­es, and or­gan­ized the Wo­man’s For­eign Mis­sion­ary So­ci­ety in Swe­den in 1908. She was said to have tra­veled wide­ly, and spok­en in 21 Am­er­ican states.

She suc­ceeded her fa­ther as pas­tor of the Wes­ley Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church, 18th & J Streets, Lin­coln, Ne­bras­ka, serv­ing in that ca­pa­ci­ty 1930–34, then for a while af­ter re­turn­ing from In­dia.