Louisa Woosley
Louisa Mariah Layman Woosley was the first woman ordained as a minister in any Presbyterian denomination. She was ordained by the Cumberland [Presbyterian Church] on November 5, 1889.
Ordained ministry
Woosley, a Cumberland Presbyterian from Kentucky, was ordained by Nolin Presbytery in that denomination on Tuesday, November 5, 1889. Although the constitution of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church did not exclude women from ordination, neither did it include them. A great controversy developed in various church judicatories over the legality of her ordination. Eventually, Kentucky Synod of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church instructed Nolin Presbytery to remove Louisa Woosley from their rolls. This the presbytery did by granting her the status of minister in transitu to another presbytery. Clearly, although Nolin Presbytery complied with the instructions of the superior judicatory, they had denied their intent.In 1891, Woosley published her only book, '' which explained and justified her position.
Louisa Woosley, with the aid of various Kentucky presbyteries sympathetic to her cause, outlasted the synodic objection to her ordination. In 1906, the partial reunion of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church with the Presbyterian Church USA removed some of the most vocal opposition to the ordination of women. Although the official position of the denomination remained unchanged, clergy women were able to participate in all levels of polity without a great deal of opposition. In 1920, the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination ruled that the word "man" as used in its constitution was to be considered as a gender neutral reference to a human being. More recently gender inclusive language came into broader use in the denomination.
Almost a hundred years after Woosley's ordination, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church elected their first female General Assembly moderator, Beverly St. John, in 1988.