Maud Sisley Boyd
was the first woman missionary
sent by the Seventh-day Adventist
Church’s Foreign Mission Board.
Maud Sisley was born in 1851,
in Kent, England.
After her father died,
her family went to the United States
where they learned about
the Adventist message.
A visit by James and Ellen White
convinced them
to relocate to church headquarters
at Battle Creek, Michigan.
Maud was an Adventist member
for 10 years
when she was called to serve
as a missionary.
In 1877, she left for Europe
where she eventually served
in Switzerland and England.
After several years in Europe,
Maud returned to the United States
in time to attend
the second annual session
of the General Sabbath School Association
held in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Here she met another participant,
the widower Charles L. Boyd.
The couple wed in 1879
and had two daughters.
The Boyds went as part of the first group
of Adventist missionaries
to Cape Town, South Africa.
Tragically, their youngest daughter, Ethel,
died at age three and a half in Africa.
The family remained in Africa
for about four years
before returning to the United States.
They reached Battle Creek
in time to attend
the 1891 General Conference Session.
At this General Conference Session,
Charles was asked to become president
of the Tennessee River Conference,
located in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Boyds were early workers
in the American South,
striving to break down racial barriers
in response to Ellen White’s call
to do so.
They created a church that allowed
both black and white members
to worship together.
In 1898 she and Charles were in Asheville,
North Carolina, when Charles died.
After his death, Ellen White invited
Maud and her family to Australia
to assist with the newly formed
Avondale School.
Maud was “highly respected as a teacher.”
She spent nine years there.
Her daughter, Ella,
went as a missionary to Tonga.
When her sister fell ill,
Maud returned to Massachusetts
to be closer to her
while continuing to conduct Bible work.
During the last 17 years of her life,
she served as a Bible teacher
at the Loma Linda and Glendale Sanitariums
in California.
She spent one school year teaching
at Oakwood Junior College in Alabama.
After her sister died,
she returned to Australia
to live with her daughter, Ella.
Here she died in 1937
and was buried next to her mother
in the Avondale Adventist Cemetery
in Cooranbong, New South Wales.
Maud Sisley Boyd spent her life
in service to others,
and her legacy lives on to this day.
For more stories about
pioneer missionaries,
visit: encyclopedia.adventist.org.