Haynes, Carlyle Boynton (1882–1958)

Carlyle B. Haynes was an Adventist minister, evangelist, author, and administrator. Haynes’ evangelistic efforts focused on the larger metropolitan areas of the East Coast of the United States. As the first War Service Commission secretary, he forged a working relationship between the United States Army and the Seventh-day Adventist Church that opened the way for drafted church members to serve in the Army Medical Corps and helped those who were court-martialed achieve favorable outcomes. In both roles, Haynes broadened his reach through a prolific number of publications that were widely reprinted, revised, and translated.

Early Life

The son of Canadian-born Samson Miles Scribner Haynes (1844-1924) and his American wife, Lauretta Bazell Holman (1858-1935), Carlyle Boynton Haynes was born in Bristol, Connecticut, on May 24, 1882. Samson worked as a compositor and printer. Carlyle was raised in Trenton, New Jersey, along with three brothers, Frederick Ellsworth (1880-1958), Shirley Rochester (1886-1964), and Robert Griffith (1891-1972),¹ and a sister, Theresa K. (1887-1905), who died of dysentery at the age of 17.² Another brother died in infancy.³

Haynes was a member of the First Baptist Church in Trenton and working in the office of the Trenton Iron Company when, in the summer of 1901, E. E. Franke held tent meetings in that city attended by members of the Haynes family. Following these meetings, Carlyle and other members of his family were baptized in September 1901. Shirley also served the Adventist Church as a minister.⁴

Education and Marriage

Haynes’ early education was obtained in Trenton’s public schools. Although baptized in 1901, his family apparently had some earlier connection with Seventh-day Adventists as he attended South Lancaster Academy in Massachusetts sporadically from 1892 to 1904, between times returning to Trenton where he studied at Hewitt Training School and a local business college. He rounded out his education with one year at Washington Missionary College, 1904-1905; however, he never completed a degree.⁵

Haynes married his first wife, Alfreda Louise Caroline Weber (1883-1942), on April 21, 1906. She was also a native of Trenton, New Jersey, who had been a member of the First Baptist Church and converted to Adventism during Franke’s meetings. She studied nursing at the New England Sanitarium and worked at the Melrose (Massachusetts) Sanitarium before her marriage. The couple had one child, Donald Frederick (1907-1975), who also became an Adventist pastor.⁶

In 1952, Haynes married Elsie M. Argent (1899-1993), a secretary at the General Conference who had immigrated from Great Britain in 1939.⁷

Evangelist, Innovator, and Author (1902-1918)

Haynes’ early career was spent in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, working first as a tent master for evangelistic meetings in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1902 and 1903, and Washington, District of Columbia, in 1904. He received his first ministerial license in 1905 from the New Jersey Conference, after which he conducted evangelistic meetings in Cape May Courthouse, Atlantic City, and Bridgeton, all in New Jersey, and Wilmington, Delaware. After ordination on July 4, 1908, at the Chesapeake Conference camp meeting, Haynes conducted evangelism in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1909 to 1911.

It was while in Baltimore that Haynes, concerned about the time it would take canvassers to reach every home in the city during his evangelistic campaign, conceived the idea of using newspapers to share sermon content. Seeking the advice of Baltimore church member, Walter L. Burgan, who was also on the editorial staff of the Baltimore American newspaper, Haynes was “encouraged” to prepare reports of his sermons for publication in all of Baltimore’s five newspapers. With Burgan coaching him on how to write for the press, Haynes submitted eighty-eight articles of which eighty-four were printed—seventy-two in the American, twenty-three in the Sun, nine in the News, four in the Star, and one in the Evening Sun. The combined circulation of these papers in 1911 was 8,645,000.⁸ Burgan’s role in this successful evangelistic effort led to his appointment as the first General Conference press bureau secretary in 1912.⁹

Between 1912 and 1918, Haynes became a highly successful evangelist for the Southeastern Union. Evangelistic efforts in the South encompassed Chattanooga, Tennessee; Charleston, South Carolina; Wilmington, North Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; Asheville, North Carolina; Knoxville, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia (twice); Spartanburg, South Carolina; and Greenville, South Carolina.¹⁰

It was during his time in the Southeastern Union that Haynes began his career as a prolific author, one that would eventually include over forty-five books (many of which were translated into twenty languages)¹¹ and numerous magazine articles. His books on the Adventist interpretation of apocalyptic prophecy, The Return of Jesus¹² in particular, brought him (along with the Southern Publishing Association) under the scrutiny of the United States’ Bureau of Investigation (now the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation) in July 1918 for alleged violation of the Espionage Act. Haynes’ discussion of the United States in prophecy related to Revelation 13 was considered subversive to a war-time government. While Haynes successfully navigated this treacherous situation, it shaped his patriotic attitude toward the United States government and its military for the rest of his life, making him particularly sensitive to Adventists being seen as cooperating, loyal citizens.¹³

When the General Conference created the War Service Commission in 1918, Haynes was made its first secretary. He held this position into 1919, but with the war’s end on November 11, 1918, he did not then accomplish anything significant. Haynes used his time at the General Conference to conduct evangelism in Washington, District of Columbia.

Pastor and Administrator (1919-1940)

No longer needed at the General Conference, Haynes was called to New York before the end of 1919, where he, along with C. T. Everson, conducted evangelism in New York City until 1923. Haynes also pastored the City Temple church in Manhatten. In 1923, he became president of the Greater New York Conference,¹⁴ serving until he was called to South America in 1926.

As Greater New York Conference president, Haynes continued to conduct evangelism alongside other ministers in the conference. Together, they directed their work toward inner city ethnic groups, organizing congregations of Swedes, Germans, Norwegians, Danes, African Americans, and attempting outreach to Jewish New Yorkers.¹⁵

Haynes was appointed president of the South American Division toward the end of 1926, arriving with his wife in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December.¹⁶ As South American Division president, Haynes continued to promote evangelism, but he also had the goal of making the division financially independent of General Conference subsidies.¹⁷ Poor health seems to have cut his tenure short, and in 1931 he returned to the United States permanently.

Initially appointed General Conference evangelist in 1931, Haynes and his family soon relocated to Battle Creek, Michigan, where he pastored the Battle Creek Tabernacle from 1931 to 1934. As usual, his ministry featured a substantial amount of evangelism.¹⁸

Haynes served the Michigan Conference as president from 1934 to 1940. In the twentieth century, the Michigan Conference boasted one of the largest annual camp meetings at its grounds in Grand Ledge, Michigan. By the time of Haynes’ tenure as president, it had outgrown the main tent, which seated 2,500 people. In 1936, the conference session voted to approve the construction of a permanent auditorium that seated 6,000 people.¹⁹

War Service Commission Secretary (1940-1954)

Following the institution of the United States’ first peace-time military draft on September 16, 1940, Haynes was appointed secretary of the General Conference’s National Service Commission, which was soon renamed the War Service Commission. In this role, which he held until after the Korean War, Haynes served as an intermediary between the Adventist Church, individual church members, and the United States military. He maintained a voluminous correspondence with church members, camp pastors, and union conference War Service Commission secretaries who reported to him. Their questions and his responses covered everything from how one should register with Selective Service as a conscientious objector to intervening in more serious matters such as courts martial. Haynes regularly met face-to-face with government officials in Washington, District of Columbia. The results of these meetings were communicated in both his letters and his numerous publications.

Haynes zealously preached the official Adventist position on military service—noncombatant humanitarian service—and vigorously supported the Seventh-day Adventist Medical Cadet Corps. He wrote the first General Conference-sponsored textbook for use in the Seventh-day Adventist Medical Cadet Corps training.²⁰ Haynes popularized the term “conscientious cooperator,”²¹ to describe the denomination’s attitude towards the draft. As he put it: “Seventh-day Adventists are not conscientious objectors, not pacifists, not war resisters, not antimilitarists; they are noncombatants.”²² Haynes's forceable voice probably represented the ethos then prevailing in the American church. Some Adventists, though, believed he went too far in emphasizing cooperation with the military. They saw the church’s noncombatant position as expressing a conscientious objection to military combat, based on the Ten Commandments and teachings of Jesus, that extended back to the denomination’s founding during the American Civil War.²³

At the same time that Haynes maintained a voluminous correspondence with draftees, soldiers, and their concerned family members and employers, he also monitored legislation in Congress for changes that would affect Adventist servicemen, and he kept up to date with the National Service Board for Religious Objectors. He also attended the General Commission on Chaplains²⁴ along with William H. Bergherm, and served on the General Conference’s Army chaplaincy advisory committee.²⁵

Over the entirety of his career, Haynes was called upon to serve on various advisory boards for other departments of denominational work. He was a regular member of the General Conference’s book committee. On occasion, he was also asked to fill ad hoc roles.

Council on Industrial Relations (1945-1954)

Following the end of World War II in 1945, Haynes’ work was expanded to include “industrial relations.” For a short time, the War Service Commission was renamed the War Service Commission and Council on Industrial Relations. As executive secretary of the Council on Industrial Relations, Haynes carried on correspondence similar to that of the War Service Commission, this time advising church members in situations where they were under pressure to join labor unions. While sympathetic to the goals of improving wages and working conditions, Haynes deplored the “coercion that is employed to obtain” them.²⁶

North American Commission on Rural Living (1946-1950)

Haynes was made assistant secretary of the North American Commission on Rural Living in 1946. The work of this commission was “to foster and develop self-supporting missionary work and institutions,” and “to encourage our church members in cities to study the instruction in the Spirit of prophecy about country living and to develop plans whereby they can fulfill this instruction; to provide counsel and information to those who are considering moving to the country.” ²⁷ The specific counsel in question were statements made by Ellen White regarding benefits of life in rural locations.²⁸ In this role, Haynes promoted and solicited opportunities for Adventists to live and work in rural locations.

At the same time that the North American Division was encouraging the development of self-supporting ministries, the General Conference was growing concerned with how these independent organizations might reflect on the denomination. The General Conference’s solution was to create the Association of Seventh-day Adventist Self-Supporting Institutions (ASI) in 1947. At the time only educational and health institutions were members.²⁹ While Haynes’ association with the Commission on Rural Living (briefly known as the Commission for Self-Supporting Missionary Enterprises in 1951) ended in 1950, his work was among the influences that led to the establishment of ASI. In 1951 the Commission for Self-Supporting Missionary Enterprises merged with ASI.³⁰

Later Life

Even as Haynes carried out so many other duties for the General Conference, he was still called upon to travel, preach, and even hold evangelistic meetings from time to time, as he did in Southern California in the autumn of 1951.³¹ It was after a speaking engagement in Atlanta, Georgia, in the spring of 1948 that Hayne’s views on racial segregation in the United States were called into question in a very public manner. The Atlanta Constitution reported that

Doctrines of the universal fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man have no place in the Christian church and are “altogether untrue,” Carlyle B. Haynes of Washington, D. C., told a congregation here Friday at the Beverly Road Seventh-Day Adventist church.

Haynes upheld racial segregation, maintaining it was “originated by God and set forth in the Bible as the divine way for nations and races to get on together.”³²

Reaction was swift and widespread, putting Haynes on the defensive.

You ask me whether this report represents an official pronouncement of the General Conference brethren or simply my personal opinion and belief. The answer is . . .it represents neither an official General Conference pronouncement, and certainly not my personal opinion or belief.

He goes on to explain:

I was making the point that instead of their [sic] being one great family on earth, there are two. The one is the family of God, the other is the family of the devil. . .that was what I was endeavoring to make plain when this unfortunate and untrue interpretation was put upon it.³³

Although he claimed that he had been misquoted, anecdotal evidence reports other instances in which Haynes seemed to support segregation. Whatever the truth, it is certain that Haynes never advocated for desegregation, something for which he had a ready platform through his influence, public speaking, and publications if he so desired.

Haynes retired on July 1, 1954,³⁴ but remained in Takoma Park, Maryland. He was diagnosed with cancer and died on March 11, 1958, in the Washington Sanitarium.³⁵

Contribution / Legacy

Haynes’ intervention during World War II and the Korean War resulted in the Army camp Sabbath rulings which enabled Adventist soldiers to observe a Sabbath rest and kept many out of military prisons. His effective communication led to the general acceptance of the Medical Cadet Corps by Adventist church members and the United States Army’s routine assignment of Adventist soldiers to the Army Medical Corps. The legacy of Haynes’ accomplishments as War Service Commission secretary and his support of Adventists in the military is continued by the work of the Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries. His influence is also evident in the Adventist-Laymen’s Services and Industries (ASI), formerly the Association of Self-supporting Institutions, which was organized while he was assistant secretary of the North American Commission on Rural Living.³⁶ To a lesser extent, the employment of communication and public relations professionals by the Adventist Church may also be attributed to Haynes.

Sources

“Adventist Upholds Racial Segregation.” Atlanta Constitution, April 3, 1938. Accessed June 11, 2023, Newspapers.com.

ASI: Adventist-Laymen’s Services & Industries, 2023. Accessed May 10, 2023. https://asiministries.org/about-asi/.

Burton, Kevin. “Enemies, Aliens, Socialists, Spies: The Bureau of Investigation’s Surveillance of Seventh-day Adventism during World War I.” Paper presented at the Association of Seventh-day Adventist Historians Ninth Triennial Conference, Southwestern Adventist University, Keene, TX, May 17, 2019.

“Carlyle Boynton Haynes obituary.” ARH, April 24, 1958.

“Carlyle B. Haynes obituary.” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), March 12, 1958. Accessed May 10, 2023. Newspapers.com.

“Carlyle B. Haynes obituary.” Newsday (Suffolk Edition, Melville, New York), March 13, 1958. Accessed March 13, 2023. Newspapers.com.

"Church Leader Takes Bride.” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), January 22, 1952. Accessed May 10, 2023, Newspapers.com.

"Elsie Haynes obituary." British Union Messenger, December 3, 1993.

General Conference Committee. General Conference Archives. Accessed April 25, 2023.

“Greater New York.” Atlantic Union Gleaner, February 6, 1924.

“Greater New York: Notes.” Atlantic Union Gleaner, June 10, 1925.

Haynes, Carlyle B. “Conscientious Objection or Conscientious Cooperation.” ARH, February 13, 1941.

Haynes, Carlyle B. “A Considerate Government.” ARH, October 24, 1918.

Haynes, Carlyle B. “The New Auditorium.” Lake Union Herald, September 8, 1936.

Haynes, Carlyle B. “Our Men in Camp and Field.” ARH, June 4, 1942.

Haynes, Carlyle B. “Report of Work Done in Baltimore During Summer of 1911.” ARH, September 21, 1911.

Haynes, Carlyle Boynton. The Return of Jesus. Atlanta, GA: Southern Publishing Association, 1917.

Haynes, Carlyle B., to Owen A. Troy. April 19, 1948. Private letter. General Conference Archives. Box 10513.

Haynes, Carlyle B., to Paul C. Philips. August 22, 1949. Private letter. General Conferences Archives. Box 10511.

Haynes, Carlyle B. and General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists. Studies in Denominational Principles of Noncombatancy and Governmental Relationships. Washington DC: Seventh-day Adventist War Service Commission, n. d.

Haynes, S. R. “Lauretta Bazell Haynes obituary.” ARH, March 14, 1935.

Keslake, C. H. “Theresa K. Haynes obituary.” ARH, October 19, 1905.

“Lauretta B. Haynes obituary.” The Morning Post (Camden, NJ), February 11, 1935.

North American Division Committee. General Conference Archives. Accessed May 9, 2023. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/NAD.

Pastor C. B. Haynes and his wife…” South American Bulletin, January 1927.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1912-1954.

“Shirley Rochester Haynes.” ARH, August 6, 1964.

Votaw, H. H. “Walter Lee Burgan obituary,” ARH, August 29, 1940.

Watson, G. F. “S. M. S. Haynes obituary.” ARH, December 25, 1924.

Who Was Who in America. Vol. 3. Chicago: Marquis-Who's Who, 1960.

Wilcox, F. M., to J. L. McElhany. April 2, 1943. Private letter. General Conference Archives.

Notes

1. G. F. Watson, “S. M. S. Haynes obituary,” ARH, December 25, 1924, 23; S. R. Haynes, “Lauretta Bazell Haynes obituary,” ARH, March 14, 1935, 23; “Lauretta B. Haynes obituary,” The Morning Post (Camden, NJ), February 11, 1935, 2.↩

2. C. H. Keslake, “Theresa K. Haynes obituary,” ARH, October 19, 1905, 23.↩

3. Report of Physician’s Examination, September 2, 1926, General Conference Archives.↩

4. “Carlyle Boynton Haynes,” Biographical Information Blank, General Conference Archives; C. H. Keslake, “Theresa K. Haynes obituary,” ARH, October 19, 1905, 23; “Shirley Rochester Haynes,” ARH, August 6, 1964, 25.↩

5. “Carlyle Boynton Haynes,” Biographical Information Blank, General Conference Archives.↩

6. Ibid.↩

7. “Church Leader Takes Bride,” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), January 22, 1952, 24, accessed May 10, 2023, Newspapers.com; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957, Microfilm Serial T715, 1897-1957, “Elsie M. Argent,” accessed May 10, 2023, https://ancestry.com; "Elsie Haynes obituary," British Union Messenger, December 3, 1993, 7.↩

8. Carlyle B. Haynes, “Report of Work Done in Baltimore During Summer of 1911,” ARH, September 21, 1911, 18.↩

9. H. H. Votaw, “Walter Lee Burgan obituary,” ARH, August 29, 1940, 25; “Press Bureau of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1912), 11.↩

10. “Carlyle Boynton Haynes,” Biographical Information Blank, General Conference Archives.↩

11. “Carlyle Boynton Haynes obituary,” ARH, April 24, 1958, 27.↩

12. Carlyle Boynton Haynes, The Return of Jesus: An Earnest Review of the Scriptural Evidences Which Establish the Great Christian Doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ, Together With a Close Study of the Prophecies Relating to this Glorious Event and the Fulfillment of these Prophecies in the Present Generation (Nashville: Southern Publishing Association, 1917).↩

13. Kevin Burton, “Enemies, Aliens, Socialists, Spies: The Bureau of Investigation’s Surveillance of Seventh-day Adventism during World War I,” Paper presented at the Association of Seventh-day Adventist Historians Ninth Triennial Conference, Southwestern Adventist University, Keene, TX, May 17, 2019. See also Carlyle B. Haynes (Collection 46), Center for Adventist Research, James White Library, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI.↩

14. General Conference Committee, September 27, 1922, 158, accessed April 24, 2023, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1922.pdf.↩

15. See for example: “Greater New York,” Atlantic Union Gleaner, February 6, 1924, 12; “Greater New York: Notes,” Atlantic Union Gleaner, June 10, 1925, 4.↩

16. “Pastor C. B. Haynes and his wife…,” South American Bulletin, January 1927, 8.↩

17. General Conference Committee, January 9, 1928, 474, General Conference Archives, accessed April 24, 2023, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1928.pdf.↩

18. General Conference Committee, May 2, 1932, 663, General Conference Archives, accessed April 24, 2023, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1932-05.pdf.↩

19. Carlyle B. Haynes, “The New Auditorium,” Lake Union Herald, September 8, 1936, 5.↩

20. Carlyle B. Haynes and General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, Studies in Denominational Principles of Noncombatancy and Governmental Relationships (Washington D.C.: Seventh-day Adventist War Service Commission, n. d.). Likely published in 1941 given Haynes’ appointment in 1940 and the publication of the second edition in 1942. It continued to be revised into the 1950s.↩

21. A journalist from Fort Worth, Texas, coined this term after covering a Medical Cadet Corps camp at Southwestern Junior College in Keene, Texas. Carlyle B. Haynes, “Conscientious Objection or Conscientious Cooperation,” ARH, February 13, 1941, 18. See also “Conscientious Co-operation,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, January 13, 1941, 6.↩

22. Carlyle B. Haynes, “Our Men in Camp and Field,” ARH, June 4, 1942, 16 and 20.↩

23. F. M. Wilcox to J. L. McElhany, April 2, 1943, private letter, General Conference Archives.↩

24. The General Commission on Chaplains was a council that served as a liaison between Protestant denominations and the United States Federal Government on matters related to chaplains in the Armed Forces and later the Veterans’ Administration. Thirty-four denominations were members, but the commission also retained relationships with non-member denominations and the National Council of Churches.↩

25. General Conference Committee, May 29, 1951, 432, accessed April 25, 2023, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1951-05.pdf.↩

26. Carlyle B. Haynes to Paul C. Philips, August 22, 1949, private letter, General Conferences Archives, Box 10511.↩

27. General Conference Committee, August 22, 1946, 140, accessed April 25, 2023, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1946-08.pdf.↩

28. For example, see Ellen G. White, Country Living: An Aid to Moral and Social Security (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1946).↩

29. General Conference Committee, March 20, 1947, 444-445, accessed June 11, 2023, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1947-03.pdf.↩

30. North American Division Committee, April 11-13, 1951, 35-39, accessed May 10, 2023, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/NAD/NAD1951-04.pdf; North American Division Committee, October 24, 1951, 96-101, accessed May 10, 2023, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/NAD/NAD1951-10.pdf.↩

31. General Conference Committee, May 24, 1951, 431, accessed April 25, 2023, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1951-05.pdf.↩

32. “Adventist Upholds Racial Segregation,” Atlanta Constitution, April 3, 1938, 9, accessed June 11, 2023, Newspapers.com. For a longer discussion regarding Haynes and the Atlanta Constitution article, see Calvin B. Rock,↩

33. Carlyle B. Haynes to Owen A. Troy, April 19, 1948, private letter, General Conference Archives, Box 10513.↩

34. General Conference Committee, June 24, 1954, 19, accessed April 25, 2023, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1954-06.pdf.↩

35. “Carlyle B. Haynes obituary,” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), March 12, 1958, 34, accessed May 10, 2023, Newspapers.com; “Carlyle B. Haynes obituary,” Newsday (Suffolk Edition, Melville, New York), March 13, 1958, 99, accessed March 13, 2023, Newspapers.com.↩

36. “About ASI,” ASI: Adventist-Laymen’s Services & Industries, 2023, accessed May 10, 2023, https://asiministries.org/about-asi/.↩