INMAN, Eldad (c. 1814-after 1880) and (first wife) Catharine (1813-1864) and (second wife) Rebecca (1819-after 1880)

Farmers from Cass County, Michigan, Eldad and Catharine Inman started keeping the Sabbath in 1858. Ellen White met Eldad Inman, apparently for the first time, in Monterey, Michigan, in January 1859. “It seems to me,” she noted in her diary, that “he has too much of the minister about him, … prays lengthy, and exhorts lengthy.” It is possible that Inman questioned the visions, because in the same diary entry Ellen White mentioned that “Father Fisher read to him [Inman] a long piece he had written against the visions.” Little is known of Inman's subsequent course, but receipts and subscriptions to the Review in his name continued into the late 1870s, indicating his continuing relationship with the church.1EGWLM 851.3

See: 1860 U.S. Federal Census, “Eldad Inman,” Michigan, Cass County, La Grange, p. 13; 1870 U.S. Federal Census, “Eldad Inman,” Michigan, Berrien County, Benton, p. 43; 1880 U.S. Federal Census, “Eldad Innman [sic],” Michigan, Allegan County, Manlius, p. 20; obituary: “Catharine Inman,” Review, Apr. 26, 1864, p. 175; E. Inman to “Bro. Smith,” Review, July 15, 1858, p. 71; Ellen G. White, Ms 5, 1859 (Jan. 17 entry); search term “Inman” in Review and Herald online collection, www.adventistarchives.org.1EGWLM 851.4