Anne “Eliza” Elizabeth (Randall) Gurney (1831–1921)
Anne “Eliza” Elizabeth Randall Gurney was an early Advent believer and the wife of Heman Stetson Gurney. The Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists biography preserves their shared story as a couple: Millerite believers, early Sabbath keepers, friends of Captain Joseph Bates, and supporters of James White and Ellen White.
Advent Faith and Family
Eliza was born in Rochester, Massachusetts, to William and Mary Gifford, early Advent believers in Fairhaven who accepted the seventh-day Sabbath soon after Captain Joseph Bates returned from Washington, New Hampshire. She heard William Miller preach and embraced the Advent message. Her first husband, Jeremiah Randall Jr., was lost at sea in 1850.
On May 15, 1853, she married Heman Stetson Gurney. Together they raised a family, supported the growing Sabbatarian Advent movement, and moved with the work from Massachusetts to Michigan. Her daughter, Louisa Bessie Randall (born October 6, 1849), joined the household; Louisa died of typhoid at fifteen. Eliza and Heman had three children together: Lydia (1854–1950), Charles Herbert (1856–1945), and Carrie L. (1864–1934).
Their household belonged to the network of believers through which the Sabbath, sanctuary, sealing, and Three Angels' Messages were preserved and carried forward. Heman traveled, wrote, sang, preached, and supported the printing work; Eliza sustained the family and encouraged the believers through her own faithful witness.
The Gurney biographies belong together: Heman's account tells how he became an eyewitness to Ellen White's vision during a carriage journey to encourage scattered believers, how he helped print her broadside, To the Little Remnant Scattered Abroad, and how he and his son Charles were arrested for working in the field on Sunday. Heman was also remembered as the “singing blacksmith,” a working pioneer whose hymns carried the Advent hope. Read these stories beside the biographies of James White and Captain Joseph Bates, whose early labors helped shape the world in which the Gurney household served.
A Pioneer Household in the Sealing Movement
Eliza's husband, Heman, was among Captain Bates's early Sabbath converts and became connected with the first generation of believers who received and shared the Sabbath-and-sealing message. The primary Bates source is A Seal of the Living God, available as the full local PDF.
The Gurney home and family story belongs beside the early witnesses who helped sustain the movement materially, spiritually, and socially while the Advent message was still small and under opposition. Eliza's contribution was not separate from the public work; it was part of the faithful household network that gave the pioneers places to meet, families to strengthen, and a message to carry.
Her Published Witness
In 1871, Eliza sent her published report, “From Sr. Gurney,” to the Review and Herald. She described her enjoyment of reading and encouraged fellow believers to remain faithful. Her public voice was brief, but it stands within a larger life of Advent faith, family service, hospitality, and support for the pioneer message.
That quiet witness matters. The early Advent movement was carried not only by public preachers but by women who welcomed believers, raised families under pressure, read the papers, encouraged the faithful, and kept the light burning while their husbands traveled. Eliza's story is a story of the household behind the herald.
“From Sr. Gurney” — Verbatim Primary Source
Local publication file: Open the local Review and Herald PDF
Original issue: View the Adventist Archives scan
From Sr. Gurney.
THERE remaineth a rest to the people of God. But the hour for this rest has not yet come. The benefits of trial must first be gathered. The heart must be disciplined; faith must be cultivated; the power of the soul’s endurance must be tested. It is not the design of God that the Christian should
“Be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease.”
He must “strive to enter in at the strait gate.” He must run with patience the race set before him. All the expressions of Scripture on this point imply the necessity of earnest effort. The battle must be fought before the triumph is celebrated. A great work must be accomplished in self-discipline, in the development and growth of holy principles, ere we are prepared to wear the victor’s crown. In all the afflictions and temptations of life, the design of the Creator is discernible, and it is only when the Christian lives near the throne that he can enjoy serenity that perfect peace; he can experience the fullness of a Saviour’s love which “passeth all understanding.” That far-distant hight storms can never reach. Clouds that cast shadows upon the earth float beneath it. The strifes of wicked men do not ascend to it. There is infinite wisdom in making the throne of God the seat of perfect peace; for had we satisfying enjoyments here, we should be more attached to this world. Amid all our trials and disappointments, its charms continue to fascinate us, and its cares absorb too much of our attention. How much more becoming to “lay aside every weight,” lighten ourselves of burdens that are taken on and do not profit, and seek earnestly for the “rest that remaineth to the people of God.”
For five weeks I have not seen the REVIEW, and I have felt much disappointment when daily the mail came and no paper for me. Many times I thought of the lonely ones scattered through the country with no other preacher but the REVIEW, and how they must miss it if from any cause it failed to come at the appointed time. But yesterday five papers were brought me from the office, and I was glad to get to my room and, so nervously did I look over the papers I could hardly wait to look one article through, I was in such haste to read the next. What a feast I am enjoying; it is meat in due season, like pure, sparkling water to the thirsty, every piece is good and filled with interest to those who love the pure, strait testimony, who want their true state discovered to them that they may put away their sins and errors. I want to be among this people. Let their God be my God, let their hope be my hope. Let me share in their sorrows, help bear their burdens, that by-and-by I may enter into the rest the weary are to enjoy forever in the presence of their Saviour. Oh! what a rest remains to the people of God! It is but a little while and the struggle will be over, the victory won; and every child of God will long enjoy the blessed rest, the heavenly and eternal rest, in the kingdom of our Father.
Your sister striving for victory,
A. E. GURNEY.
West Wareham, July 24, 1871.
—Anne Eliza Gurney, “From Sr. Gurney,” Advent Review and Herald of the Sabbath, August 8, 1871, pp. 62–63.
Sources and Related Biographies
- ESDA biography: Heman Stetson Gurney and Anne Eliza Gurney
- Heman Stetson Gurney biography
- Captain Joseph Bates biography
- A Seal of the Living God
- A Seal of the Living God PDF
- Read Anne Eliza Gurney’s “From Sr. Gurney” locally — Review and Herald, August 8, 1871, pp. 62–63
- View the original Adventist Archives issue
- Heman Gurney biography