In the winter of 1843 the family went three miles every night for six weeks to attend the lectures on Christ's advent. The grandfather would drive out the cattle, put the fence in place, and pray for his enemies.ĭuring the proclamation of Christ's Second Coming in 18, the family accepted Miller's teaching. Sometimes they lowered the fence, allowing loose cattle to feed on and tramp down the grain while the family was away at meeting. More than once as they returned from meeting, the boy heard unfriendly people exclaim after the wagon had passed by, 'Old Methodist,' or perhaps more slurring expressions. Some of the neighbors were bitter in their opposition to the grandfather's religion. In the thirties in New York the Methodists were not a popular group. Often Johnnie, as he was called, heard his name mentioned in prayer, and his early religious impressions were deepened by the faithfulness of this man of God. Again at night he retired to his secret place to seek power from on high. The grandfather rose early in the morning and spent an hour in prayer. Threshers, harvest hands, and other workmen sat in the family circle while the earnest head of the house read a chapter from the Bible and offered a prayer which often changed the carefree, irreverent laborers into sober, thoughtful men. The devoted life of this grandsire made a profound impression on the youth, for forty-five years later he recalled that on numerous occasions he had seen the older man rise from prayer, his face bathed with tears, under a sense of God's presence. No matter how busy the season of the year, this godly man always took time morning and evening for family worship. When John was seven years of age his father died, leaving the family of five children in poverty, and his mother placed the future Adventist leader in the care of his grandfather. His parents were Methodists, and h is father was a local preacher of that denomination. This lad, john Norton Loughborough, was born in Victor, New York, January 26, 1832.

Himes met William Miller, an orphan boy lived with his grandfather in western New York, and early became acquainted with God through his devout grandsire, who was a class leader and steward in the local Methodist church. Loughborough, Chronicler of Pioneer DaysĪbout the time Joshua V.

J. n. loughborough