1
00:00:00,577 --> 00:00:03,395
Maud Sisley Boyd
was the first woman missionary

2
00:00:03,395 --> 00:00:06,526
sent by the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s
Foreign Mission Board.

3
00:00:07,201 --> 00:00:10,366
Maud Sisley was born in 1851,
in Kent, England.

4
00:00:11,043 --> 00:00:12,371
After her father died,

5
00:00:12,371 --> 00:00:14,131
her family went to the United States

6
00:00:14,131 --> 00:00:16,510
where they learned about
the Adventist message.

7
00:00:17,955 --> 00:00:20,668
A visit by James and Ellen White
convinced them

8
00:00:20,668 --> 00:00:23,973
to relocate to church headquarters
at Battle Creek, Michigan.

9
00:00:24,736 --> 00:00:26,954
Maud was an Adventist member
for 10 years

10
00:00:26,954 --> 00:00:29,475
when she was called to serve
as a missionary.

11
00:00:30,311 --> 00:00:32,864
In 1877, she left for Europe

12
00:00:33,249 --> 00:00:35,672
where she eventually served
in Switzerland and England.

13
00:00:36,590 --> 00:00:38,025
After several years in Europe,

14
00:00:38,365 --> 00:00:40,262
Maud returned to the United States

15
00:00:40,262 --> 00:00:41,262
in time to attend

16
00:00:41,262 --> 00:00:44,715
the second annual session
of the General Sabbath School Association

17
00:00:44,715 --> 00:00:46,075
held in Battle Creek, Michigan.

18
00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:51,093
Here she met another participant,
the widower Charles L. Boyd.

19
00:00:51,753 --> 00:00:54,983
The couple wed in 1879
and had two daughters.

20
00:00:55,755 --> 00:00:58,841
The Boyds went as part of the first group
of Adventist missionaries

21
00:00:58,841 --> 00:01:00,401
to Cape Town, South Africa.

22
00:01:00,869 --> 00:01:02,492
Tragically, their youngest daughter,
Ethel,

23
00:01:02,492 --> 00:01:04,666
died at age three and a half in Africa.

24
00:01:05,492 --> 00:01:07,832
The family remained in Africa
for about four years

25
00:01:07,832 --> 00:01:09,735
before returning to the United States.

26
00:01:10,208 --> 00:01:12,157
They reached Battle Creek
in time to attend

27
00:01:12,157 --> 00:01:14,468
the 1891 General Conference Session.

28
00:01:15,356 --> 00:01:17,706
At this General Conference Session,

29
00:01:17,706 --> 00:01:21,333
Charles was asked to become president
of the Tennessee River Conference,

30
00:01:21,333 --> 00:01:22,873
located in Nashville, Tennessee.

31
00:01:23,540 --> 00:01:25,981
The Boyds were early workers
in the American South,

32
00:01:26,216 --> 00:01:28,035
striving to break down racial barriers

33
00:01:28,035 --> 00:01:30,343
in response to Ellen White’s call
to do so.

34
00:01:30,737 --> 00:01:33,892
They created a church that allowed
both black and white members

35
00:01:33,892 --> 00:01:34,945
to worship together.

36
00:01:35,597 --> 00:01:40,024
In 1898, she and Charles were in Asheville,
North Carolina, when Charles died.

37
00:01:40,709 --> 00:01:44,529
After his death, Ellen White invited
Maud and her family to Australia

38
00:01:44,529 --> 00:01:46,847
to assist with the newly formed
Avondale School.

39
00:01:47,730 --> 00:01:50,582
Maud was “highly respected as a teacher.”

40
00:01:50,582 --> 00:01:52,175
She spent nine years there.

41
00:01:52,511 --> 00:01:55,130
Her daughter, Ella,
went as a missionary to Tonga.

42
00:01:56,059 --> 00:01:59,279
When her sister fell ill,
Maud returned to Massachusetts

43
00:01:59,279 --> 00:02:02,089
to be closer to her
while continuing to conduct Bible work.

44
00:02:03,372 --> 00:02:05,490
During the last 17 years of her life,

45
00:02:05,490 --> 00:02:08,272
she served as a Bible teacher
at the Loma Linda

46
00:02:08,272 --> 00:02:10,509
and Glendale Sanitariums in California.

47
00:02:11,390 --> 00:02:14,925
She spent one school year teaching
at Oakwood Junior College in Alabama.

48
00:02:15,663 --> 00:02:18,150
After her sister died,
she returned to Australia

49
00:02:18,150 --> 00:02:19,674
to live with her daughter, Ella.

50
00:02:20,084 --> 00:02:22,157
Here she died in 1937

51
00:02:22,507 --> 00:02:24,104
and was buried next to her mother

52
00:02:24,104 --> 00:02:27,740
in the Avondale Adventist Cemetery
in Cooranbong, New South Wales.

53
00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:31,074
Maud Sisley Boyd spent her life
in service to others,

54
00:02:31,495 --> 00:02:33,569
and her legacy lives on to this day.

55
00:02:34,275 --> 00:02:36,325
For more stories about
pioneer missionaries,

56
00:02:36,747 --> 00:02:39,622
visit: <i>encyclopedia.adventist.org</i>