Quick Facts
Biography
William Xavier Ninde (born June 21, 1832, Cortland, New York – died January 3, 1901, Detroit, Michigan) was a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church (now the United Methodist Church).
Biography
His father, William Ward Ninde, was a well-known Methodist preacher in New York State. The son graduated from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, in 1855, and after teaching in Rome Academy (Rome, New York), entered the Methodist ministry in 1856. He served as pastor of churches in New York and Ohio, visited Europe and the orient in 1868-69, and in 1870 was transferred to the Detroit conference.
In 1873 he was appointed professor of practical theology at the Garrett Biblical Institute (Evanston, Illinois), where he served as president from 1879 to 1884. He served from 1876 until 1879 as pastor of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church (now the Central United Methodist Church) in Detroit. He was a delegate to the Methodist ecumenical conference in London in 1881, and on May 15, 1884 was elected bishop. He earned his D.D. from Wesleyan University in 1874 and an LL.D. from Northwestern University in 1892. He was an organizer of the Epworth League, and served as its second president (1896–1900).
Family
He married Elizabeth S. Falley in 1857; the couple had four children.