The Ellen G. White Letters and Manuscripts: Volume 1

HUNGERFORD, Sealey (Seley) P. (1811-1868) and (first wife) Mary Ann (1816-1857) and (second wife) Cynthia (1822-1875)

Church members from Bedford, later Ross, Michigan. Born in Massachusetts and New York, respectively, Sealey Hungerford and Mary Ann Gilbert married in 1832 and migrated to Michigan at some point before 1840 and engaged in farming. After Mary Ann's death in 1857, Sealey married her sister Cynthia. 1EGWLM 850.2

Judging from receipts appearing in the Review and from Mary Ann's obituary, the Hungerfords became Sabbathkeepers by 1853 or early 1854 while living in Bedford. Some months later, in the summer of 1854, Ellen White gave serious counsel to Sealey Hungerford. His life “did not show the fruits of a Christian” and “brought a reproach upon the cause.” Little is known about Sealey after this except that he continued his Review subscription to within a few years of his death in 1868. 1EGWLM 850.3

See: Geoffrey Gilbert, Gilberts of New England: Part I. Descendants of John Gilbert of Dorchester (Victoria, British Columbia: 1959), pp. 202, 204; obituary: “Mary Hungerford,” Review, Aug. 13, 1857, p. 119; 1850 U.S. Federal Census, “Seley [sic] P. Hungerford,” Michigan, Calhoun County, Bedford, p. 99; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, “Seely [sic] Hungerford,” Michigan, Kalamazoo County, Ross, p. 23; search term “Hungerford” in Review and Herald online collection, www.adventistarchives.org; Ellen G. White, Lt 8, 1854 (July). 1EGWLM 850.4