The Ellen G. White Letters and Manuscripts: Volume 1

BYINGTON, John (1798-1887) and (first wife) Mary Priscilla (c. 1803-1830) and (second wife) Catherine (1803-1885)

Self-supporting minister and first president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. John was born in Vermont and in the early 1830s moved to Buck's Bridge, New York. An active lay member and licensed “exhorter” in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Byington was also an abolitionist and joined the breakaway Methodist Wesleyan Church when it seceded over the slavery issue in 1843. In 1852 Byington became a Sabbatarian Adventist, and in 1855 built one of the earliest Sabbatarian churches on his property. 1EGWLM 802.3

Having already served as minister in the Methodist Wesleyan Church for a few years prior to becoming an Adventist, Byington conducted services in Buck's Bridge and, from about 1856, was called upon to preach farther afield, including a Michigan itinerary in 1857. In 1858, following a request from James White, Byington relocated to Michigan, buying a farm in Newton township, just a few miles south of Battle Creek. Until within a few months of his death in 1887, Byington traveled widely among the Michigan churches, supporting his ministry from the proceeds of his farm. His administrative talents were also recognized: he was often given committee responsibilities and served as the first president of the General Conference from 1863 to 1865. 1EGWLM 803.1

The only two extant letters from Ellen White to John Byington both date from 1859 and deal with a major crisis in his life. Having heeded James White's call to move to Michigan in October 1858, Byington became despondent when the move entailed serious financial loss. He became particularly unhappy with James White when he heard that White had raised funds to buy a house for Joseph Bates. Byington felt he was being treated unfairly, descended into depression, and for about a year—judging from the absence of reports in the Review—appears to have stopped his ministerial travels. Ellen White's letters, written in the summer of 1859, were both stern and entreating, and within weeks Byington was back on his preaching itineraries. 1EGWLM 803.2

See: Obituary: “John Byington,” Review, Jan. 25, 1887, pp. 57, 58; obituary: “Catherine Byington,” Review, Mar. 17, 1885, p. 175; Ellen G. White, Lt 2, 1859 (June 21); Lt 28, 1859 (June/July); Herbert Cornelius Andrews, Sanford Charles Hinsdale, and Alfred L. Holman, Hinsdale Genealogy: Descendants of Robert Hinsdale of Dedham, Medfield, Hadley, and Deerfield, With an Account of the French Family of De Hinnisdal (Lombard, Ill.: A. H. Andrews, 1906), pp. 150, 151; Grace Amadon, “The First President of the General Conference,” Review, June 22, 1944, pp. 6, 7; John O. Waller, “John Byington of Bucks Bridge,” Adventist Heritage, July 1974, pp. 5-13, 65-67. 1EGWLM 803.3