Washington NH Church, Birthplace of Seventh-day Adventist Church

In January, 1862, the Sabbath keepers here in Washington, after meeting for years as a loosely knit company, organized into a Seventh-day Adventist Church, with William and Cyrus Farnsworth as charter members. In the decade that followed, the majority of the Christian Society Group accepted the seventh day Sabbath, and as a consequence the church property passed to Seventh-day Adventist control. This church is considered the birthplace of the first Sabbath keeping Adventist Congregation. Pioneer church leaders including Joseph Bates, James and Ellen White, and J.N. The worldwide work of Seventh-day Adventists has been enriched by the youth of this church who in dedicated service have filled positions as ministers, teachers, and publishing leaders. The Washington, New Hampshire, church was not the first organized SDA church, nor was the building the first SDA house of worship; for by 1862 there were other SDA churches already fully organized, and as early as the autumn of 1855 there was an SDA church building in Buck's Bridge, New York, and one either built or under construction in Battle Creek, Michigan. (Review and Herald, 61:60 footnote, Jan. 22, 1884; 78:765, Nov. 26, 1901)

However, the Washington church may be considered the birthplace of the first Sabbath keeping Adventist congregation. James White described it as "the place where Sabbath keeping was first practiced among Adventists" (ibid., 31:104, Jan. 28, 1868).