Rev. John Jasper Methvin was born in Georgia and formally educated in the practice of law and was admitted to the bar before becoming licensed to preach in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1870. He served as the president of both Gainesville College in Georgia (1880-1883) and Butler Female College (1883-1885), and resigned the position to come to Skullyville, Indian Territory, as Superintendent of New Hope Seminary in the Choctaw Nation in 1885. He held the same position with the Seminole Academy, but was so concerned at the lack of teachers and preachers in the territory that the Bishop and Mission Board assigned him as a missionary to the area in 1887. He centralized his work among the Kiowas, Comanches, and Apaches, and a school, Methvin Institute, opened with fifteen students. Rev. Methvin was also an active participant in the affairs of the Indian Mission Conference and retired from active service in 1908.