D. M. Canright

Dudley Marvin Canright (September 22, 1840 – May 12, 1919) was a pastor in the Seventh-day Adventist Church for 22 years, who later left the church and became one of its severest critics. He joined the church in 1859, at the age of 19, and rose through the ministry to a position of prominence on the General Conference, a committee of Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders.

Dudley Marvin Canright was born in a farmhouse near Kinderhook, Michigan, on September 22, 1840, to Hiram and Loretta Canright. In 1859, at the age of 19, Dudley journeyed eastwards to attend the Albion Academy, in Albion, New York. To support himself, he worked as a farmhand for Elder Roswell F. Cottrell, a Seventh-day Adventist minister. In the summer of 1859, he attended a camp meeting, held by Elder James White, near Albion. There, he accepted the doctrine of the Advent Message, and was soon baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Dudley briefly served as secretary to Elder White, who encouraged him to enter the ministry. For 5 years, after converting his entire family to Adventism, Dudley served as an evangelist for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, traveling and preaching across the midwestern U.S. In 1865, at the age of 24, Dudley Canright was ordained by James White and J. N. Loughborough, in a service held at Battle Creek.

Dudley continued his evangelistic career, preaching throughout New England. In 1867, he married Lucretia Cranson, a 19-year-old orphan, partially brought up by Ellen G. White. Mr. and Mrs. Canright had 3 children, 2 of whom survived infancy.

The life of a traveling minister's wife was harsh for Mrs. Canright, and in 1879, she succumbed to tuberculosis. Two years later, Dudley was remarried, to a Miss Lucy Hadden. Their union produced 4 children, 3 of whom survived infancy.

For 20 years, Canright was a minister and evangelist for the Seventh-day Adventist Church across the United States. He was also a notable contributor to the Adventist periodical, the Review and Herald (now the Adventist Review). During a vacation in Colorado with James and Ellen White in 1873, Canright and his wife had a falling out with them. Canright and James White reconciled later that year. At the 1876 General Conference Session he was 1 of 3 men elected to the General Conference Executive Committee, the most prestigious committee in the denomination. In 1878, Canright was elected President of the Sabbath School Association of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

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