John Allen Burden (1862–1942) was an American

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbat ...

minister,

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, and medical missionary instrumental in founding sanitariums, restaurants, and health food factories. At the age of 9, John attended Adventist meetings for the first time and was introduced to the writings of

Ellen G. White Ellen Gould White (née Harmon; November 26, 1827 – July 16, 1915) was an American author, and was both the prophet and a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Along with other Adventist leaders, such as Joseph Bates and her husb ...

, which left a lifelong impression upon him. Five years later he was baptized, and at the age of 18 (1880) moved with his family to

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. John met Eleanor A. Baxter (1865–1933) as a student at Healdsburg College (now

Pacific Union College Pacific Union College (PUC) is a private university, private Seventh-day Adventist Church, Seventh-day Adventist liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Angwin, California. It is the only four-year college in Napa Cou ...

). They were married in 1888 while working for the Rural Health Retreat (later St. Helena Sanitarium), of which John became manager in 1891. In 1901 the Burdens went to

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where they helped Merritt G. Kellogg who was founding the Wahroonga Sanitarium in

Wahroonga Wahroonga is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of Ku-ring-gai Council and Hornsby Shire. ...

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. By March 1904 the Burdens returned to the United States.

encouraged them not to unite with

John Harvey Kellogg John Harvey Kellogg (February 26, 1852 – December 14, 1943) was an American businessman, Invention, inventor, physician, and advocate of the Progressive Era, Progressive Movement. He was the director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Cr ...

Battle Creek Battle Creek is a city in northwestern Calhoun County, Michigan, United States, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo River, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek River, Battle Creek rivers. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a tota ...

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. Instead, John sought to establish a sanitarium near

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. Eight miles from the city he discovered the Glendale Hotel that had cost $60,000 to build in 1886. However, because of local business failures, property value had declined so that he was able to purchase it for $12,500. When it opened in 1905, Burden was the manager of the sanitarium, and Eleanor the bookkeeper. The sanitarium prospered under Burden's careful management. In 1904

urged for the establishment of another sanitarium in

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. A resort hotel at

Loma Linda Loma Linda (Spanish language, Spanish for "Beautiful Hill") is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States, that was incorporated in 1970. The population was 24,791 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, up from 23,261 a ...

was found that was available for $110,000, a price too high. On May 4, 1905 she met with the Burdens and others at the railroad station in Los Angeles on her way to the

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Burden told her of the property, and she expressed definite interest in it, asking him to write her about it after his next visit to the property. When Burden's letter arrived in Washington, she urged him by telegram to

secure the property by all means. . . . This is the very property we ought to have. Do not delay; for it is just what is needed.

Borrowing the down payment, Burden succeeded in purchasing the property for $40,000 and was put in charge of the new sanitarium. The final price, with discounts for early payment, came to $38,900. After Ellen White found out that the property was secured she wrote in her diary:

I am surprised more and more that the Lord has in His abundant mercy wrought in our behalf.Ellen G. White, Manuscript 176, 1905, Aug. 25, 1905

Founded as the College of Medical Evangelists, the institution exists today as

Loma Linda University Loma Linda University (LLU) is a private Seventh-day Adventist health sciences university in Loma Linda, California. , the university comprises eight schools and a Faculty of Graduate Studies. It is a part of the Seventh-day Adventist educatio ...

. A building on campus, Burden Hall, remains named for John Burden. At one time, it was home to the Loma Linda University Church of

Seventh-day Adventists The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabba ...

until the congregation outgrew it. Burden Hall now houses the Office of University Relations, is used for classes during the week, and is home to a Sabbath School class each Saturday. Burden continued to manage the facilities at Loma Linda until 1915 when he became manager, and Eleanor the matron, of Paradise Valley Sanitarium (1916–1924; 1925–1934). After Eleanor's death in 1933, John retired, but in 1939 he returned to Loma Linda to serve as chaplain, counseling young medical missionaries and the staff of the College of Medical Evangelists. Burden died as the result of a car accident on his return from a Bible study in Redlands, California. Burden's personal collection of some 650 pages of Ellen White's letters (half of them addressed to him) was published as ''Loma Linda Messages'' (Loma Linda, CA: College of Medical Evangelists, 1934).

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