Melvin E. (Melvin Earnest) Trotter

Born in Illinois in 1870, Melvin Earnest Trotter is remembered as an American evangelist and rescue-mission worker whose life changed dramatically after years of alcoholism. Accounts of his life describe a powerful religious conversion that led him away from addiction and into ministry among people who were poor, homeless, or struggling with drink.

He became superintendent of the Grand Rapids Rescue Mission in 1900 and remained identified with that work for decades. Sources about his ministry say he also helped launch many other rescue missions around the United States, making him an important figure in the early rescue-mission movement.

Trotter died in 1940, but his name remained especially connected with mission work in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is often remembered less as a conventional author than as a preacher and organizer whose personal story of hardship and recovery gave unusual force to his public speaking and religious work.