Merritt Gardner Kellogg (Part 1):
First to Preach in California By Jim Wibberding
A good find “Did you say his initials were M. G. K.?” Lonnie’s question quickened my pulse. Could three years of sorting time-stained documents have just paid off? He bit his lip, hesitant, but a tremor of hope rolled through his words: “What was his birth year?” The tiny white headstone read, “M. G. K. 1833 – 1921.” That was almost right; he was born in 1832. My brother and 13-year-old daughter, Kara, were searching with me for the long-lost grave of Merritt Gardner Kellogg—the first person to preach the Adventist message in California.1 We had found it! A dusty old cemetery file for that grave number confirmed it. Why does Merritt Kellogg matter? Let me tell you his story.
The Kelloggs dripped with creativity and lacked the usual dose of risk aversion.
Westward journey It is time to go west, Merritt resolved. His stack of libertyhead pennies was woefully short.2 To weather the financial Panic of 1857,3 either his farm would have to adapt to long-distance domestic trade4 or he would need a new job. Merritt chose the greater gamble. This was not surprising, given his family culture. The Kelloggs dripped with creativity and lacked the usual dose of risk aversion. Merritt’s father, John Preston Kellogg, led a station on the Underground Railroad, smuggling escaped slaves to freedom5—and later pioneered westward from Massachusetts to Michigan.6 Merritt’s stepmother, Ann (née Stanley), proved equally fearless in domestic ventures—such as step-mothering
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