His father, William Ward Ninde, was a well-known Methodist preacher in New York State.

He served as pastor of churches in New York and Ohio, visited Europe and the orient in 1868-69, and in 1870 was transferred to the Detroit conference.

In 1873 he was appointed professor of practical theology at the Garrett Biblical Institute (Evanston, Illinois), where he served as president from 1879 to 1884.

[4] His daughter, Mary Ninde Gamewell, was a writer and served as a missionary in China; she wrote her father's biography.

[5] His brother Henry S Ninde wrote the hymn Thou Didst Teach the Thronging People.