The Ellen G. White Letters and Manuscripts: Volume 1

BOURDEAU, Daniel T. (1835-1905) and Marion Elizabeth (1842-1929)

A pioneer bilingual evangelist, Daniel Bourdeau was brought up in a French-speaking Baptist community in northern Vermont and converted to Sabbatarian Adventism in 1856 through the agency of his brother, Augustin C. Bourdeau, who had converted shortly before. For almost five decades Daniel Bourdeau preached from Massachusetts to California in the United States, and also in Canada and Europe. Of particular note were his pioneering work in Quebec (together with his brother), groundbreaking work in California with John N. Loughborough (1868-1870), and two missionary journeys to Europe (1876-1878 and 1883-1887). 1EGWLM 795.1

James White said of the Bourdeau brothers in 1857 that they “love and obey the present truth, and they most ardently desire to teach it to the French people.” However, for a variety of reasons, for many years the Bourdeau brothers worked mainly with English-speaking communities and only sporadically with French speakers in the United States and Canada. For Daniel Bourdeau the turning point came in December 1872 with the publication of Testimony for the Church, No. 22, in which Ellen White called for greater efforts to reach foreign language groups and specifically chided the Bourdeau brothers for their poor response to the need for French books and tracts. Publicly acknowledging these “reproofs and instructions” in a letter to the Review, Daniel Bourdeau immediately set about writing and translating, and a few months later, in September 1873, embarked on a challenging mission to reach French-speaking communities in Wisconsin and Illinois. In 1875 Ellen White affirmed his pioneering efforts: “Brother Bourdeau stood nobly amid opposition such as our brethren have no knowledge of.” With this encouragement, Daniel Bourdeau's course was set. For the remainder of his life his focus was on evangelism among French-speaking populations in Europe, Canada, and the United States. There were gaps when, for a while, he worked mainly with English speakers, but, as he put it, at such times he felt “like a fish out of water.” 1EGWLM 795.2

Daniel and Marion Bourdeau (née Saxby) had a good personal relationship with Ellen and James White. Daniel later recalled the occasion when, about 1860, on meeting the Whites, “Bro. White flung his arms around me, saying, ‘Look unto us as with your father and mother.’” Although Ellen White on many occasions reproved Daniel Bourdeau for specific weaknesses, he still remained to her a “much-respected fellow laborer”—as she addressed him in an 1885 letter. She also had high regard for Marion, who often traveled with Daniel and supported him in his work. “Sister Bourdeau has been a laborer of no little influence … a treasure of greater value than finest gold,” Ellen exclaimed in 1875 after learning of Marion's work with Daniel in Illinois and Wisconsin. “Would to God,” she continued, “we had one hundred women consecrated to the work, going forth as missionaries.” 1EGWLM 795.3

See: Obituary: “Daniel T. Bourdeau,” Review, July 13, 1905, p. 17; obituary: “Marion Elizabeth Saxby,” Review, Nov. 14, 1929, p. 29; James White, “The Present Truth in French,” Review, Dec. 24, 1857, p. 56; Denis Fortin, Adventism in Quebec, pp. 101-103; Ellen G. White, Testimony for the Church, No. 22 (Battle Creek, Mich.: Steam Press of the Seventh-day Adventist Pub. Assn., 1872), pp. 130, 131; D. T. Bourdeau, “Report From Eld. D. T. Bourdeau,” Review, Mar. 4, 1873, p. 94; Ellen G. White, Lt 49, 1875 (c. 1875); Lt 7, 1885 (Feb. 10); D. T. Bourdeau to Bro. and Sr. White, Sept. 17, 1879; D. T. Bourdeau to Sr. White, Jan. 12, 1883; search terms “D. T. Bourdeau” and “D. T. Bourdeaux” in Review and Herald online collection, www.adventistarchives.org. 1EGWLM 795.4