To judge from the numerous obituaries in denominational magazines, and commemorations written after the deaths of some stalwarts, PM followers were as humble as they were devout. Yet several individuals who clearly did not fit that mould have appeared already, and another example demonstrates the impact of discourse, both old and new: the story of Hannah Yeomans. Described as the wife of an agricultural labourer, resident in Rodsley, Derbyshire, she was a lowly heroine of great but simple piety who first appeared in Bourne's diaries on 29 June 1810, at which time she was thirty-four years of age. She again featured in the diaries later, but her most lasting legacy was her appearance in a sentimental magazine article of 1900 fondly remembering an earlier era, written by an elderly itinerant named Charles Boden. This in turn was cited by Deborah Valenze as an example of how cottage religion survived in PM, affording opportunities to pious ‘Mothers in Israel’ otherwise denied by chapel-dominated denominations. This term of approbation was, according to her, an honorific that had no male counterpart, underlining the PMC's remarkably untypical view of women, in comparison with contemporary churches. Yet Clowes used it in tandem with ‘Fathers in Christ’, to denote outstanding men.

Hannah is not known to have held any office as local preacher, exhorter or Sunday School teacher; had the domestic prayers been led by her husband, she would not have been seen as an example of the persistence of cottage religion. Hannah's home was not a worship venue for others beyond the family, and by examination of the original story, the events described can be dated to 1846 or 1847. The story hinged on Boden's visit to the home; from his circuit assignments he was engaged in a cross-country journey, and the early PM practice was to use willing stalwarts’ homes as way-stations where itinerants could be fed and accommodated free of charge. Many of these hosts were prosperous individuals – as in the case of Bourne's whereabouts on 24 December 1842, when he described his host family's situation as follows: ‘I found Mr and Mrs Schofield and family all well. He deals extensively in glass, china and earthenware.’