Elon Galusha was a lawyer and Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

 preacher

Preacher

Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...

 who was active in reform activities of the early 19th century in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. He was the son of Jonas Galusha

Jonas Galusha

Jonas Galusha was the sixth and eighth Governor of Vermont for two terms in the early 19th century.Galusha was born in Norwich, Connecticut, and migrated to Shaftsbury, Vermont, in 1775. He had a distinguished record in the American Revolution, fighting in the Battle of Bennington in 1777...

, the 6th and 8th governor of Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

. He also adopted and promoted the teachings of William Miller

William Miller (preacher)

William Miller was an American Baptist preacher who is credited with beginning the mid-nineteenth century North American religious movement now known as Adventism. Among his direct spiritual heirs are several major religious denominations, including Seventh-day Adventists and Advent Christians...

.

Biography

Galusha was born June 18, 1790 in Shaftsbury, Vermont

Shaftsbury, Vermont

Shaftsbury is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 3,767 at the 2000 census. The town was chartered on August 20, 1761...

. His father was Jonas Galusha

Jonas Galusha

Jonas Galusha was the sixth and eighth Governor of Vermont for two terms in the early 19th century.Galusha was born in Norwich, Connecticut, and migrated to Shaftsbury, Vermont, in 1775. He had a distinguished record in the American Revolution, fighting in the Battle of Bennington in 1777...

, the governor of Vermont. Galusha received an M. A.

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 from the University of Vermont

University of Vermont

The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...

 in 1816, and an M. A. from Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

 in 1820, though he never took a college course.

Galusha died January 6, 1856 in Lockport, New York

Lockport (city), New York

Lockport is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 21,165 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from a set of Erie canal locks within the city. Lockport is the county seat of Niagara County and is surrounded by the town of Lockport...

.

Abolitionist activities

Galusha took a firm stance against slavery. He served as the first president of the Baptist Anti-Slavery Society. He promoted the Liberty Party

Liberty Party (1840s)

The Liberty Party was a minor political party in the United States in the 1840s . The party was an early advocate of the abolitionist cause...

 and preached about the evils of slavery. Following His withdrawal from the Baptist denomination, he hosted abolitionist

Abolitionism

Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...

 meetings at his church in Lockport.

Millerite connection

Galusha leaned toward a premillennial

Premillennialism

Premillennialism in Christian end-times theology is the belief that Jesus will literally and physically be on the earth for his millennial reign, at his second coming. The doctrine is called premillennialism because it holds that Jesus’ physical return to earth will occur prior to the inauguration...

 understanding of Bible prophecy

Bible prophecy

Bible prophecy or biblical prophecy is the prediction of future events based on the action, function, or faculty of a prophet. Such passages are widely distributed throughout the Bible, but those most often cited are from Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew 24, Matthew 25, and Revelation.Believers in biblical...

. After personal deliberation, and having read William Miller's Lectures, Galusha joined the Millerite movement wholeheartedly under the influence of a fellow preacher, Nathaniel N. Whiting

Nathaniel N. Whiting

Nathaniel N. Whiting was a Baptist Preacher in New York. He was a professor of Biblical Languages at Lexington College and worked on Bible translation. He supported the work of William Miller, but shied away from fixing a particular date for Christ's return...

.

Galusha served as president of the Albany Conference on April 29, 1845, following the Great Disappointment

Great Disappointment

The Great Disappointment was a major event in the history of the Millerite movement, a 19th-century American Christian sect that formed out of the Second Great Awakening. Based on his interpretations of the prophecies in the book of Daniel The Great Disappointment was a major event in the history...

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External links

Grosvenor, Cyrus Pitt, Richard Fuller, and Elon Galusha. Baptist Anti-Slavery Correspondent. Worcester, Mass: Executive Committee of the American Baptist Anti-Slavery Convention, 1841. http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=mayantislavery;cc=mayantislavery;rgn=full%20text;idno=05836534;didno=05836534;view=image;seq=1;node=05836534%3A1

Elon Galusha, Address, of Elder Elon Galusha, with Reasons for Believing Christ’s Second Coming, at Hand. Rochester: Erastus Shepard, 1844. http://books.google.com/books?id=bgQZAAAAYAAJ&dq=Second%20Advent%20Library&pg=RA2-PA37#v=onepage&q=Galusha&f=false