Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson was born to a Quaker family in Westfield, Indiana on September 22, 1865. After marying Mary Jane Taylor in Fayette, Indiana in 1889, he worked as a Bible salesman and home missionary which brought him to Appalachia in the mountains of southwestern North Carolina. He operated a children's home, school, and farm in Culberson, North Carolina. In 1903, he joined with the Holiness Church at Camp Creek, North Carolina alongside R. G. Spurling and W. F. Bryant. He quickly ascended to leadership in the group and in 1909 was selected as the first general overseer of the group that had been renamed the Church of God. He served in that office until 1923 when he became the leader of the group now known as the Church of God of Prophecy.
Tomlinson was instrumental in moving the Church of God from the mountains into a growing city of the New South, Cleveland, Tennessee, which enabled the movement to utilize tools of modernity to spread the Full Gospel. He was a prolific publisher having steered the publication of the periodicals, Samson's Foxes, The Way, Church of God Evangel, The Faithful Standard, and later the White Wing Messenger. He also wrote The Last Great Conflict and other stand-alone works. He was an orphanage director, pastor, Bible college superintendent, and denominational leader.
Tomlinson passed away on October 2, 1943 after serving as a church leader for four decades. He and Mary Jane had four children, Homer, Milton, Halcy, and Iris.
Scope and ContentsFrom the Collection:
The Samuel C. Perry collection is derived from a donation of his daughter, Grace Anderson. The most significant part of the collection is 41 original issues of Perry's self-published newspaper, A Call To Prayer dating from 1940 through 1965, his ministerial credientials with the General Council of the Assemblies of God, correspondence with early leaders in the Pentecostal movement, and photocopies of Perry and his family. The collection also consists of a...
Scope and ContentsFrom the Collection:
This collection consists of business and personal items belonging to members of the Tomlinson family spanning the years 1900 to 2015. The items have been divided into series according to family members, and organized chronologically within each series. The first series contains photographs, papers, books, and artifacts relating to the patriarch of the family, Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson. These items trace Tomlinson’s early work in the Church of God and the birth of the Church of...
Scope and ContentsFrom the Collection:
This collection consists of business and personal items belonging to members of the Tomlinson family spanning the years 1900 to 2015. The items have been divided into series according to family members, and organized chronologically within each series. The first series contains photographs, papers, books, and artifacts relating to the patriarch of the family, Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson. These items trace Tomlinson’s early work in the Church of God and the birth of the Church of...
Scope and ContentsFrom the Collection:
This collection consists of business and personal items belonging to members of the Tomlinson family spanning the years 1900 to 2015. The items have been divided into series according to family members, and organized chronologically within each series. The first series contains photographs, papers, books, and artifacts relating to the patriarch of the family, Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson. These items trace Tomlinson’s early work in the Church of God and the birth of the Church of...
Scope and ContentsFrom the Collection:
This collection consists of business and personal items belonging to members of the Tomlinson family spanning the years 1900 to 2015. The items have been divided into series according to family members, and organized chronologically within each series. The first series contains photographs, papers, books, and artifacts relating to the patriarch of the family, Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson. These items trace Tomlinson’s early work in the Church of God and the birth of the Church of...
