The Ellen G. White Letters and Manuscripts: Volume 1

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FINCH, Truman P. (1822-1890) and Mary Sophrona (1824-1913)

Church members from New York, later living in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Kansas. Mary Finch came from a Millerite background and had begun to keep the Sabbath as early as 1845, according to her obituary. Truman Finch, a carpenter, apparently became a Sabbatarian Adventist in the late 1840s, about the same time as his marriage to Mary. A number of enthusiastic letters and reports from the Finches to the Review witness to their active participation in church work in the various places they settled. There are also reports of Truman's involvement in the Kansas Tract Society and Mary's colporteur work in her late 70s and beyond. Ellen White's only mentions of Truman Finch are in reference to the internal conflict at the church in Roosevelt, New York, in the late 1850s. His name is mentioned, among several other members, as causing problems by his “faultfinding spirit.” 1EGWLM 826.6

See: Obituary: “Truman P. Finch,” Review, Sept. 9, 1890, p. 559; obituary: “Mary Saphrona [sic] Wells,” Review, Feb. 20, 1913, p. 189; search term “Truman” in Review and Herald online collection, www.adventistarchives.org; 1880 U.S. Federal Census, “Truman Finch,” Minnesota, Mower County, Rose Creek, p. 29; Ellen G. White, Lt 8, 1857 (July 19); Lt 2, 1858 (c. 1858); Lt 17, 1859 (Oct. 28). 1EGWLM 827.1