
Loron A. Scott
Photo courtesy of the Hawaii Conference. Shared by Michael W. Campbell.
Scott, Loron Allen (1836–1910)
By Michael W. Campbell
Michael W. Campbell, Ph.D., is North American Division Archives, Statistics, and Research director. Previously, he was professor of church history and systematic theology at Southwestern Adventist University. An ordained minister, he pastored in Colorado and Kansas. He is assistant editor of The Ellen G. White Encyclopedia (Review and Herald, 2013) and currently is co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Seventh-day Adventism. He also taught at the Adventist International Institute for Advanced Studies (2013-18) and recently wrote the Pocket Dictionary for Understanding Adventism (Pacific Press, 2020).
First Published: February 15, 2023
Loron Allen Scott was a pioneer Adventist colporteur with Abram La Rue (1822-1903) to the Hawaiian Islands, then also called the Sandwich Islands.
Scott was born on November 12, 1836, in Massachusetts to Luman (1808-1893) and Tebatha M. Sheldon (1813-1899) Scott. He was the third oldest of twelve children. His two older sisters, Minerva (1834-1838) and Polly (1832-1855), died young. While not much is known about Loron’s early life, presumably he moved west with his family in the mid-1840s to Wisconsin. His parents had nine more children, including his youngest brother, Henry H. Scott (1857-1908). Loron’s contributions have often been misattributed to his brother Henry. In 1870 Loron went west where he filed a claim for a plot of land at Carson City, Nevada and subsequently is listed in city directories as living in San Francisco, California (1875-1876) and then in Fresno (1876).1
Loron is first mentioned in Adventist periodicals as one of the donors to the Dime Tabernacle (20 cents) in 1878 and then as a correspondent to The Signs of the Times in 1879.2 Loron joined the newly organized Lemoore Seventh-day Adventist Church where he was elected leader of a forty-member temperance club.3 By May 1881 he along with E. A. Briggs assisted evangelist M. C. Israel with meetings in Red Bluff, California.4 That October he stayed with N. C. and F. L. McClure to follow-up on interests in Bible studies after the Sacramento Camp Meeting.5 That same month he was granted a colporteur license from the California Conference.6 By 1882 Scott was assisting J. D. Rice and E. A. Briggs holding meetings in Ukiah and Willits, California.7 Their meetings resulted in 19 individuals who covenanted to start a church in Ukiah.8
At the 1883 California Camp Meeting, church leaders requested “Brother L. A. Scott and A. La Rue” “to prepare to go to the Sandwich Islands [Hawaii].” They would begin by getting “experience in holding Bible-readings” and doing “ship work” at the San Francisco Mission.9 William Ings reported that Scott and La Rue were part of a “training class” to prepare them for “usefulness in the great harvest-field” at the church headquarters in Oakland. They expected the two older men to leave soon for the Sandwich Islands.10 They departed from San Francisco on the ship W. H. Dimond on August 13, 1884, arriving in Honolulu on August 28. Loron was 48 years old, and Abram La Rue was 60. Later that year, on September 26, 1884, Loron was granted a ministerial license.11 They soon established a “reading-room and depository” at 189 Nuuanu Avenue in Honolulu. Loron is listed as laboring in Hawaii in the 1885 and 1886 denominational Year Books. The 1887 Year Book lists Loron as working for the denomination in Pasadena.12 From 1888 to 1891, he worked at Pacific Press but by 1893 is listed in the Year Book as working in San Bernardino.13
Loron died on March 16, 1910, in Redlands, California. His remains were cremated.14
Sources
“California Conference Proceedings.” ARH, November 15, 1881.
Haskell, S. N. “Sacramento Camp-Meeting.” The Signs of the Times, November 3, 1881.
Ings, W[illia]m. “The Work in San Francisco.” The Signs of the Times, June 5, 1884.
“Plans for the Future.” The Signs of the Times, September 27, 1883.
Notes
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See “Patents for Land,” The Carson Daily Appeal, February 15, 1870, 2.↩
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See “California,” ARH, August 15, 1878, Supplement, 2; The Signs of the Times (ST), December 5, 1878, 368; ST, February 20, 1879, 64. See also ST, February 13, 1879, 56.↩
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M. C. Israel, “Lenmoore,” ST, February 19, 1880, 80.↩
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M. C. Israel, “Chico and Red Bluff,” ST, June 9, 1881, 260.↩
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S. N. Haskell, “Sacramento Camp-Meeting,” ST, November 3, 1881, 487, 488.↩
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“California Conference Proceedings,” ARH, November 15, 1881, 315.↩
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“Ukiah and Willits,” ARH, August 8, 1882, 509; J. D. Rice, E. A. Briggs, L. A. Scott, “Ukiah, California,” ST, June 29, 1882, 297.↩
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J. D. Rice, E. A. Briggs, L. A. Scott, “Ukiah and Willits, Cal.,” ST, July 27, 1882, 332.↩
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“Plans for the Future,” ST, September 27, 1883, 429.↩
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W[illia]m Ings, “The Work in San Francisco,” ST, June 5, 1884, 346.↩
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“California Conference Proceedings,” ST, October 9, 1884, 601.↩
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The Seventh-day Adventist Year Book 1887 Containing Statistics of the General Conference and Other Organizations of the Denomination, with the Business Proceedings of the Anniversary Meetings Held at Battle Creek, Michigan, Nov. 18 to Dec. 6, 1886 (Battle Creek, MI: Review & Herald Publishing House, 1887), 5.↩
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Seventh-day Adventist Year Book, 1888 Containing Statistics of the General Conference and Other Organizations, with Business Proceedings, etc., of Anniversary Meetings Held at Oakland, California, November 13 to December 3, 1887 (Battle Creek, MI: Review & Herald Publishing House, 1888), 3; Seventh-day Adventist Year Book of Statistics for 1889, Comprising the Classified Business Proceedings of the General Conference, the International Tract Society, the International Sabbath-school Association, the American Health and Temperance Association, Denominational Publishing Houses, Colleges, Etc., Supplemented with a Department of General Information Interspersed with Practical Comments on the Proposed Religious Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (Battle Creek, MI: Review & Herald Publishing Co., 1889), 19; Seventh-day Adventist Year Book for 1890 Comprising a Workers’ Directory of the Denomination; Officers of the General and State Organizations; Proceedings of the General Conference, the International Tract Society, the International Sabbath-School Association, and the International Health and Temperance Association; Together with Brief Statements of the Principal Publishing Houses, Constitutions of the Different Organizations, Postal Guide, and Three Annual Addresses, Delivered Before the Late General Conference (Battle Creek, MI: Review and Herald Publishing Company, 1890), 22, 23; Seventh-day Adventist Year Book for 1891, Including a Workers’ Directory; General Conference Directory; State Conference, Tract Society, Sabbath-school Association, and Health and Temperance Association Directories; Address by the President of the General Conference; Reports from the Foreign Mission Secretary, the Educational Secretary, the District Superintendents, and the General Canvassing Agent; Reports of the Publishing Work, Health Institutions, Schools, etc., etc. Also, the Proceedings of the General Conference Committee, and the Executive Board of the International Tract Society, Since the Last Annual Meetings (Battle Creek, MI: Review and Herald Publishing Company, 1891), 14; Seventh-day Adventist Year Book for 1893, Comprising a Complete Workers’ Directory; Committees and Officers of the Various General and State Organizations, Foreign Conferences and Missions, Publishing Houses, and Educational and Health Institutions; Proceedings of the General Conference, International Tract Society, International Sabbath-School Association, and International Religious Liberty Association. Together with Statistical Reports, Constitutions of the Different Organizations, General and State; and a Postal Guide (Battle Creek, MI: General Conference Association of Seventh-day Adventists, 1893), 15.↩
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https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/168042695/l-a-scott [accessed 1/29/23].↩