John Heyl Vincent was born on February 23, 1832, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the brother of Bethuel Thomas Vincent (1834-1920), a Methodist clergyman.

He was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and author. He was educated at Lewisburg Academy, Pennsylvania, and Wesleyan Institute, Newark, New Jersey. He entered the New Jersey Conference in 1853 and was transferred to the Rock River Conference in 1857. He became pastor of Trinity Church in Chicago in 1865 and established and edited the journals Northwest Sunday-School Quarterly (1865) and the Sunday-School Teacher (1866). He was reassigned to New York as general agent of the Methodist Sunday School Union in 1866. For the next twenty years, he was a leader of the American Sunday School movement. In 1874, Rev. Vincent created the Chautauqua Institute, a training center for Sunday school teachers based on Lake Chautauqua, New York. In 1881, the Chautauqua School of Theology was chartered, and in 1883, the Chautauqua University, with Rev. Vincent as chancellor, was created. In 1888, Rev. Vincent was elected Bishop and was appointed Resident Bishop in Europe in 1900, stationed at Zurich, Switzerland. He retired from the active episcopate in 1904. He was also an early advocate of women's rights in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 1858, he married Sarah Elizabeth Dusenbury (1832-1909). He died on May 9, 1920, in Chicago, Illinois, and is buried in Portville, New York.

Rev. Bethuel Thomas Vincent was born on August 9, 1834, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the brother of John Heyl Vincent (1832-1920), an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

He was a clergyman. He graduated from the Garrett Biblical Institute in Evanston, Illinois. Rev. Vincent was a member of the Rock River Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Illinois. He transferred to the Rocky Mountain Conference in 1863 and was assigned to Central City's St. James Church. In 1864, the Rocky Mountain Conference became the Colorado Conference. Rev. Vincent began editing and publishing a Sunday School magazine The Rocky Mountain Sunday School Casket. He served as pastor at Golden's Methodist Church twice, 1868-1869 and 1904-1908, and he also pastored churches in Central City, Denver, and Colorado Springs. Rev. Vincent is credited with starting Golden's first public library. About 1875, he moved to Philadelphia, returning to Colorado in 1889, where he continued to serve several pastorates until his retirement in 1904. He served as the head of the Colorado Seminary, which would eventually become the University of Denver.

In 1867, he married Minerva Ella Masters (1835–1920). He died on July 30, 1920, in Denver, Colorado.