Lake, Daniel Delos (1869–1923)

Daniel Delos Lake was a missionary to Samoa.

Daniel Delos Lake was born in Handy Township east of Lansing, Michigan, on September 3, 1869, to Henry and Mary (Dean) Lake. His birth record has him as Devila D. Lake. Various census records list him as Deville Lake, Devillon Lake and D. De Los Lake. His marriage certificate has him as D. Delos Lake. Cemetery records state he was Daniel D. Lake. His denominational obituary agrees with his marriage certificate and therefore Delos is assumed to be his preferred name. His father was a farmer. He had two younger siblings: Clara May (b. 1873) and Henry Clifford (b. 1884).¹

When Delos was eleven years old the Lake family were farming at Big River in Mendocino County, California,² but moved on to Kansas where, as a teenager, Delos was converted and joined the Baptist faith. Soon after the family returned to California and in 1887 they became Seventh-day Adventists. In that same year Delos began studies at Healdsburg College. He demonstrated academic qualities at the institution, graduating from the scientific and ministerial courses.³

Denominational Service

At the 1893 General Conference Session Delos was granted a ministerial licence.⁴ He was appointed to teach Bible and history at South Lancaster Academy, Massachusetts, a role he fulfilled until 1899.⁵

Delos returned briefly to California in order to marry fellow Healdsburg College student, Helen Good, who was born in England. The ceremony, performed by Elder William Grainger, took place at Sonoma, California, on August 22, 1894.⁶

In 1898 Delos and Helen were appointed to mission service in Samoa.⁷ The goal was to initiate some educational work to compliment the medical work begun by Dr Frederick Braucht at the Samoan Sanitarium. On arrival by commercial steamer Delos found that Braucht needed some practical assistance because his medical work was overwhelmed with clients. Delos assisted with general work at the institution⁸ and on one occasion trekked across the mountain range with Braucht from Apia to the southern shores of Upolu Island. They made evangelistic visits to the villages of Si’umu, Saleilua, Matatufu, Aufaga and Saleapaga, among others, and then found boat passage back to Apia. Everywhere they went they encountered a friendly reception because of the good name of the sanitarium.⁹ Delos was left to carry on mission activities when Braucht transferred from Samoa.¹⁰ It was then opportune to develop an industrial school on a large coconut plantation that he hired for that purpose. The government would not allow formal instruction in the English language so Delos invited young people to attend as hired labourers as he sought to influence them with worship services and informal instruction. All went well until Delos contracted the parasitic disease filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis. In 1903 he returned to California for specialist treatment, having to abandon his project until a replacement missionary arrived four years later.¹¹

Treatment for his disease proved to be successful and he was appointed to teach Bible and history at Healdsburg College.¹² The first time he was listed as an ordained minister was in 1906.¹³ He began pastoral ministry in the remote north of the California Conference at Petrolia where the first oil well in the State was drilled. He remained in this idyllic temperate nature land for two years before transferring south to the hot Imperial Valley at Brawley, residing next door to his elderly parents.¹⁴ For a decade he ministered there in what was called “that trying field” because of its climate. On special occasions he was called away to lecture on education. For example, he featured at a 1918 Teachers’ Institute held at Santa Ana where he spoke about the teaching of Bible subjects.¹⁵

Following his time in the Imperial Valley Delos moved to Glendora, suburban Los Angeles to minister in the area,¹⁶ before accepting the role of principal at Lodi Academy in 1920. Near the close of the school year in 1922 his health began to fail and it soon became evident his condition was critical. He passed away in the St. Helena Sanitarium on January 24, 1923. His parents together with Helen and their son and his sister and brother all survived him.¹⁷ The funeral services were indicative of the high esteem in which Delos was held, over twelve hundred people attending. Elder James McElhany, president of the Pacific Union Conference, and Elder Clarence Santee, president of the Northern California Conference, conducted proceedings. Six faculty members of Lodi Academy acted as pallbearers. Delos was laid to rest in the Lodi Memorial Park and Cemetery. Despite previous references to his first given name his headstone reads “Daniel D. Lake 1869-1923.”¹⁸

Sources

Cady, M[arion] E[rnest]. “Teachers’ Institute at Lodi and Santa Ana.” Pacific Union Recorder, September 28, 1918.

“Daniel D. Lake.” Find A Grave Memorial.com, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/127854607/daniel-d-lake.

“D. De Los Lake.” FamilySearch.org, Intellectual Reserve, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MV2J-5NG.

“D. Delos Lake.” FamilySearch.org, Intellectual Reserve, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903.1:1:KZ3T-Y7W.

“Devillon D. Lake.” FamilySearch.org, Intellectual Reserve, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/9D6Z-MBD.

“General Conference Proceedings.” General Conference Bulletin, March 6, 1893.

Lake, D. D[elos]. “A Missionary Trip in Samoa.” The Missionary Magazine, April 1902.

Lake, D. D[elos]. “Samoa.” The Missionary Magazine, November 1899.

Lake, D. D[elos]. “Samoa.” The Missionary Magazine, April 1900.

McElhany, J[ames] L. “D. Delos Lake.” Pacific Union Recorder, February 22, 1923.

Parker, C[alvin] H. “Samoa.” Union Conference Record, September 7, 1908.

Place, A[lbert] E. “Academy Board Meeting.” The Indicator, June 8, 1898.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbooks. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1904-1923.

Notes

1. “Devillon D. Lake,” FamilySearch.org, Intellectual Reserve, 2020, accessed August 1, 2020, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/9D6Z-MBD.↩

2. Ibid.↩

3. J[ames] L. McElhany, “D. Delos Lake,” Pacific Union Recorder, February 22, 1923, 6.↩

4. “General Conference Proceedings,” General Conference Bulletin, March 6, 1893, [483]-484.↩

5. McElhany, 6.↩

6. “D. Delos Lake,” FamilySearch.org.↩

7. A[lbert] E. Place, “Academy Board Meeting,” The Indicator, June 8, 1898, 2-3.↩

8. D. D[elos] Lake, “Samoa,” The Missionary Magazine, November 1899, 503-504.↩

9. D. D[elos] Lake, “A Missionary Trip in Samoa,” The Missionary Magazine, April 1902, 170-171.↩

10. D. D[elos] Lake, “Samoa,” The Missionary Magazine, April 1900, 180.↩

11. C[alvin] H. Parker, “Samoa,” Union Conference Record, September 7, 1908, 20.↩

12. E.g., “Healdsburg College,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1906), 94.↩

13. “California-Nevada Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1906), 58-59.↩

14. “D. De Los Lake,” FamilySearch.org.↩

15. M[arion] E[rnest] Cady, “Teachers’ Institute at Lodi and Santa Ana,” Pacific Union Recorder, September 26, 1918, [1]-2.↩

16. “Ministerial Directory,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1920), 330.↩

17. McElhany, 6.↩

18. “Daniel D. Lake,” Find A Grave Memorial.com, 2020, accessed August 1, 2020, httpsa://www.findagrave.com/memorial/127854607/daniel-d-lake.↩