The Autobiography of Elder Joseph Bates

Joseph Bates was born in 1792 in Rochester Massachusetts. At the age of fifteen he accepted a job as a cabin boy aboard the Fanny sailing from New York City to London. Thus began his career on the high seas which culminated in Joseph becoming a respected ship captain.During one of his trips Joseph read the Bible his wife had packed in his trunk and was converted. Thus set in motion his most important quest-developing a deeper understanding of Scripture and a deeper love for his Lord and Savior.In 1839 Bates accepted the teachings of William Miller. Then months after the Great Disappointment in the spring of 1845 Joseph accepted the seventh-day Sabbath truth. Consequently he shared this good news with James and Ellen White which resulted in his second career as a speaker writer and founding pioneer of the Seventh-day Adventist Church which was formed in 1863.The Autobiography of Elder Joseph Bates provides an in-depth look into his childhood his adventures traversing the ocean his conversion and the reform movements he supported and his study of Scripture and the biblical truths he discovered.