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Emily Catherine Clemons was an educator, author, poet, and from 1844 to 1845 a Millerite “laborer” exhorting people to be ready for Christ’s impending return.
Erik and Ida Pilquist were pioneer missionaries to China. Erik worked for several Bible societies as an independent missionary. At one point he played a pivotal role in the development of Adventist missions in China. Ida was a steadfast advocate on behalf of the women of China, training “Bible women” and starting girls’ schools.
Chinese Union Mission China Biography Groundbreakers Missionaries Couples
Lorena Florence Plummer (née Fait) was a church administration, a teacher, an author, and a Sabbath School director at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
Thomas Preble was the first American Adventist preacher to accept the seventh-day Sabbath. His writings about the seventh-day Sabbath played a crucial role in the acceptance of the Sabbath doctrine by Joseph Bates, J. B. Cook, J. N. Andrews, and other early Sabbatarians. He subsequently abandoned his belief in the seventh-day Sabbath but remained an adherent to the Second Advent message.
May Priest was an early Millerite convert who was among the earliest Sabbatarian believers. She is best remembered in the annals of Adventist history as one of four women who, with S. N. Haskell, founded the Vigilant Missionary Society and served as the secretary of that organization from its inception until her death.
Arthur Reinke was a pioneer of colporteur ministry in Mexico.
North American Division Biography Groundbreakers Died/Imprisoned for Faith
Otto E. Reinke gave leadership to Adventist mission work in the United States, Switzerland, Germany, and Russia. During World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917, he persisted in leading the church forward in the face of severe hardship, violent upheaval, and repression, until exhaustion and illness led to his death at age 46.
North American Division Biography Missionaries Died/Imprisoned for Faith
Rest Haven Sanitarium (also Rest Haven Hospital) was an Adventist health institution located in Sidney, British Columbia, off the Saanich Peninsula, from 1921 to 1978. The sanitarium was situated on its own island, in Shoal Bay on the Straits of Georgia.
Jane Richards was a former spiritualist medium and later an early Review worker who served as a compositor, copyist, proofreader, editor, and poet.
Loretta Farnsworth is credited with being the first Seventh-day Adventist Bible worker. She served as a pioneer city mission worker, evangelist, pioneer missionary to South Africa and Australia, chaplain, and religion teacher.
North American Division Biography Groundbreakers Missionaries Women
Margaret Rowen claimed to have the prophetic gift soon after the death of Ellen G. White (1827-1915) and led a breakaway group that took the name “Reformed Seventh-day Adventists.” She was discredited by failed predictions, exposure of fraudulent claims, and imprisonment for an attempted murder of a former follower, and her movement virtually disappeared after about a decade.
Don Carl Schneider was an Adventist pastor, evangelist, and administrator; he served as the president of the North American Division (NAD) from 2000 to 2010. During his tenure, the NAD surpassed the one-million member mark. Schneider was known for his personable and practical ways for encouraging people to share Jesus throughout his life and ministry.
Loron Allen Scott was a pioneer Adventist colporteur with Abram La Rue (1822-1903) to the Hawaiian Islands, then also called the Sandwich Islands.
Early Adventist physicians served as medical missionaries to China. They also contributed as evangelists, teachers, administrators, and each wrote copiously for church publications or edited various publications. Arthur’s Chinese name was 施列民 (Pinyin shī liè mín), and Bertha’s Chinese name was 和施淑德 (Pinyin hé shī shū dé).
Mary Belle Shryock was a Bible worker, nurse, teacher, missionary to India, and early Voice of Prophecy worker.
North American Division Biography Missionaries Educators Women Medical Workers
Charlotte Simpson was a missionary nurse to China in the early 1900’s. Her Chinese name was 和辛普生 (Pinyin hé xīn pǔ sheng).
Cyrenius and Mary Smith were early Sabbatarian Adventists converted by Joseph Bates. Cyrenius was a farmer and, later, worked as a carpenter.
Francis Eugene Stafford and Ellen Marie “Nellie” Jessen Stafford were Seventh-day Adventist missionaries to China. Francis served as a printer, and later as a pastor and administrator; Nellie worked as a book binder. Together they were among the earliest Adventist missionaries to serve in Shanghai, China. Francis’ Chinese name is 施塔福 (pinyin Shī Tǎfú).
Chinese Union Mission Biography Groundbreakers Missionaries Couples
Ana Stahl was a nurse, an educator, and a pioneer missionary with her husband, Fernando (1874-1950), to South America for three decades. Ana Stahl was remembered as the “Florence Nightingale of the Peruvian jungle.”
Lucy Maria (Hersey) Stoddard was a Millerite woman preacher recognized for her successful revivals.