Ezra Burkholder Steiner (1877-1955), a Mennonite (General Conference Mennonite Church) missionary, was born in Richland Township, Allen County, Ohio, on 8 June 1877, the oldest of the seven children (five sons and two daughters) of Sem and Barbara (Burkholder) Steiner. He married Elizabeth Geiger on 26 August 1913. He attended Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, and Taylor Col­lege, Upland, Indiana. He and his wife entered mis­sion service under the General Conference Men­nonite Mission Board in India in 1914. They left this mission in 1924 to work in a higher altitude in India which was more suited to his health. They built an independent mission at Dharchula, Almora District, U.P., India, near the Nepal and Tibet borders, supported by friends as well as the church­es of their home community, and later by the Evan­gelical Missionary Association. They appealed especially to the Tibetan and Nepalese traders and residents of the area and built a thriving Christian church. Mrs. Steiner died in 1954 and he died 4 November 1955. Their two children are now missionaries in India; Dr. Bradford Ezra Steiner is the superin­tendent of the Landour Community Hospital at Landour, and Anita Elizabeth (Mrs. Charles War­ren), born 1921, and her husband carry on the work at Dharchula.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p.626. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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