ORTON, Jonathan T. (c. 1811-1866) and Caroline (c. 1813-1873)

Jonathan Orton was a prominent layperson from Rochester, New York, a hackman by trade. John N. Loughborough, an early friend, credited Orton with introducing him to public meetings held by Sabbathkeeping Adventists in Rochester in 1852.1EGWLM 874.3

James and Ellen White became well acquainted with the Ortons during the period 1852-1855 when the Review was published in Rochester. During this time the Ortons, together with some other families in the area, became disaffected with the leadership of James White and the testimonies of Ellen White. They “would not receive reproof and counsel … and they determined to separate themselves from us.”1EGWLM 874.4

In 1856 the Ortons moved west to Waukon, Iowa, which for a few years became somewhat of a center of anti-White sentiment. Their attitude to the Whites, however, appears to have changed fairly soon after that, probably as a result of the important visit of the Whites to Waukon in December 1856. Within a year Jonathan and Caroline Orton had moved back to Rochester and seem to have been fully supportive of Ellen and James White in the years that followed. In December 1865, for example, the Ortons joined other Rochester members in several prayer sessions daily for three weeks for the recovery of James White from the major stroke he had suffered some months earlier.1EGWLM 874.5

In March 1866 Jonathan Orton was brutally murdered. The perpetrator was never found. In later memoirs J. N. Loughborough connected Orton's death with a vision shown Ellen White on December 25, 1865, in which Satan was “angry with this company who have continued for three weeks praying earnestly” for James White, and “is now determined to make a powerful attack upon them.” It is likely that this is the same vision that Ellen White described and commented on in Manuscript 6, 1865. More recently, on the basis of newspaper and other sources, it has been proposed that Orton's murder was likely a revenge killing.1EGWLM 874.6

See: Obituary: “Bro. Orton,” Review, Mar. 27, 1866, p. 135; obituary: “Caroline Orton,” Review, May 13, 1873, p. 175; 1850 U.S. Federal Census, “Jonathan Orton,” New York, Monroe County, Rochester, Ward 7, p. 317; J. T. Orton, “From Bro. Orton,” Review, Feb. 12, 1857, p. 118; Ronald D. Graybill, “The Murder of Jonathan Orton,” Insight, Dec. 5, 1978, pp. 8-12; William F. Peck, History of the Police Department of Rochester, N.Y., From the Earliest Time to May 1, 1903 (Rochester, N.Y.: Rochester Police Benevolent Association, 1903), p. 116; J. N. Loughborough, Rise and Progress, pp. 270, 271; idem, “Recollections of the Past—No. 3,” Review, Feb. 12, 1884, p. 107; search term “Orton” in Review and Herald online collection, www.adventistarchives.org; Ellen G. White, Testimony to the Church at Battle Creek (PH123) (Battle Creek, Mich.: Steam Press, 1872), p. 75; Spiritual Gifts [vol. 2], pp. 217-222; Ms 6, 1865 (Apr. 9).1EGWLM 874.7