HILLIARD, Aaron Henderson (c. 1820-1875) and Lydia Ann (c. 1819-1883)

Formerly a “class leader” in the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Aaron Hilliard and his wife, Lydia, became Sabbatarian Adventists about 1852 while living in Buck's Bridge, New York. Aaron's uncle John Byington, who was also living in Buck's Bridge at the time, later became the first General Conference president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.1EGWLM 845.1

In 1853 the first Sabbatarian Adventist elementary school was opened in the Hilliard home, taught by John Byington's daughter Martha D. Byington. In 1859 the Hilliards moved to a farm near Otsego, Michigan, where they became charter members of the Otsego church when it was organized in 1861, and where Aaron served as church elder. The Hilliards’ home in Otsego is best remembered by Seventh-day Adventist historians as the place where Ellen White received her comprehensive vision on health reform in 1863.1EGWLM 845.2

See: Obituary: “Aaron H. Hilliard,” Review, Sept. 2, 1875, p. 71; obituary: “Lydia Ann Hilliard,” Review, Sept. 25, 1883, p. 622; obituary: “Edward Hilliard,” Review, Dec. 24, 1936, p. 21; History of Allegan and Barry Counties, Michigan, p. 305; “Extracts From Records of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Morley, New York,” Ellen G. White Estate, DF 1030-d; Ellen G. White, “Questions and Answers,” Review, Oct. 8, 1867, p. 260; search term “Hilliard” in Review and Herald online collection, www.adventistarchives.org.1EGWLM 845.3