Stephen Nelson Haskell (April 22, 1833 – October 9, 1922) was an evangelist, missionary and editor in the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

who became one of the pioneers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific.

Personal life

He was born in

Oakham Oakham is the county town of Rutland in the East Midlands of England, east of Leicester, south-east of Nottingham and west of Peterborough. It had a population of 10,922 in the 2011 census, estimated at 11,191 in 2019. Oakham is to the west o ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

on April 22, 1833. He was converted to Christianism at the age of 15 when he joined the

Congregational church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

. When he was 17 years old, while working in a farm, the owner on his deathbed, asked him before he died to take care of his 38-year-old sister who was paraplegic due to illness. After thinking about this, he accepted and he thought that the best way to look after her was marrying her. By this time, he and Mary were Methodists. Eventually, a couple of years later, Mary Haskell's health improved and was able to walk again. He had been married for two years when he heard about the imminent second coming of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

according to

Millerite Millerite is a nickel sulfide mineral, Ni S. It is brassy in colour and has an acicular habit, often forming radiating masses and furry aggregates. It can be distinguished from pentlandite by crystal habit, its duller colour, and general l ...

preachings and soon embraced this hope. Haskell started telling everyone about the Adventist message and even a friend of him invited to preach. As a soap manufacturer and dealer, he had to travel a lot, which gave him the chance of meeting people and making new friends wherever he went. After the death of Mary Haskell in 1894 at the age of 81, Stephen spent the next five years as a missionary in Africa and Australia. Intensely lonely and often depressed after Mary's death, he drew much encouragement from the letters of Ellen White. He received more letters from her than any other person outside her immediate family. Eventually he proposed marriage to her s she was widowedbut she declined, suggesting instead that Hetty Hurd would make a good companion for him.

Involvement in the church

While president of the New England Conference, he served three times president of the California Conference (1879–1887, 1891–1894, 1908–1911) and also of the Maine Conference (1884–1886). He and Mary founded the first Tract and Missionary Society (forerunner of the General Conference Personal Ministries Department), and from 1870 to 1889 Stephen promoted and organized that work from local societies to the General Conference. Haskell popularized the Bible reading method of religious discourse among Seventh-day Adventists. In November 1883 the General Conference session endorsed this question-and-answer method and authorized a monthly magazine, ''Bible Reading Gazette'', forerunner of the book ''Bible Readings for the Home Circle''. For Haskell, the Bible reading method became his favorite mode of presentation, which he taught to others through the ''Bible Training School'' and later ''Bible Handbook''.

Mission work

In 1885, Haskell was in charge of the first group of Seventh-day Adventist missionaries who went to open the work in Australia. Together with two other Adventist preachers, John Corliss and Mendel Israel, he helped start the Signs Publishing Company first began as the Echo Publishing Company, in

North Fitzroy Fitzroy North is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cites of Merri-bek and Yarra local government areas. Fitzroy North recorded a population of 12,7 ...

, a suburb of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, which by 1889, was the third largest Seventh-day Adventist publishing house in the world. He also founded South Lancaster Academy (now Atlantic Union College) in 1882. From 1889 to 1890 he traveled to many parts of the world on behalf of Adventist missionary work. His wife died in 1894, and in 1897 he remarried to Hetty Hurd and with her did evangelistic and Bible work in Australia and the United States. He also authored several books including: ''The Story of Daniel the Prophet'', ''The Story of the Seer of Patmos'', and ''The Cross and its Shadow''. Haskell died in

National City, California National City is a city located in the South Bay (San Diego County), South Bay region of the San Diego metropolitan area, in southwestern San Diego County, California, San Diego County, California. The population was 58,582 at the 2010 United ...

on October 9, 1922.

Vegetarianism

Haskell was a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

, and abstained from alcohol and tobacco.Amey, Catherine. (2014). ''The Compassionate Contrarians: A History of Vegetarians in Aotearoa New Zealand''. Rebel Press. pp. 31-33. He argued that the food God intended for humankind were "fruits, grains, and nuts". Haskell believed that God, health and compassion for animals were interconnected and that God would punish those who abused animals. Haskell visited

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

in 1885 and attempted to convert those around him to vegetarianism. However, on one occasion Haskell admitted to eating corned beef on his way to England aboard the ''Majestic'' as he was alleged to have starved on bread, cheese, and butter."A History of Adventist Lifestyles"
spectrummagazine.org. Retrieved 8 November 2023.

References

External links