They Kept the Lower Lights Burning: The Story of the Seaman's Bethel at Martha's: and its Chaplains (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781621710202)

George William Wiseman (1902-1985) was born in Little Bay Islands, Newfoundland, and immigrated with his family to Boston, Massachusetts when he was seven years old. His family became involved in the work of Dr. J. Edgar Helms of the Church of All Nations, Morgan Memorial in Boston. This Methodist minister and his church were the founding ministry of today's Goodwill Industries and established this work to help immigrant families like the Wisemans. Under the influence of Dr. Helms, George Wiseman went on to Boston University and obtained his Bachelor of Religious Education, Bachelor of Sacred Theology, and a Master of Sacred Theology. George Wiseman served as a Methodist pastor for forty-four years, serving churches in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, before a severe case of pneumonia led him to transfer to the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, where he served several additional churches. He published numerous poems, sermon outlines, and devotions in a wide variety of religious periodicals, as well as four books. George Wiseman's first wife, Elsie Coggshall died at a young age and he then married Miriam Tower, the daughter and granddaughter of missionaries to sailors on Martha's Vineyard. George and Elsie had one daughter, Joanne Wiseman of Girard, Kansas, and George and Miriam had two daughters, Donna Chapman of Davisburg, Michigan, and Dianne Danielson of Fort Fairfield, Maine. George Wiseman's works cover a variety of genres from religious poetry, sermons, and devotional reading to a history of the Seaman's Bethel of Martha's Vineyard and its mission work. First Fruits is proud to have the opportunity to bring these out-of-print books from a Methodist pastor of a previous generation to a brand new audience.