Adventist
The Adventist family grew out of William Miller's movement of 1831 to 1844 and the Great Disappointment of October 22, 1844. Six denominations arose from three Millerite branches by 1866. The largest is the Seventh-day Adventist Church, organized between 1861 and 1863.
On the tree
Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2.
Bodies in this family
- Millerite movement1831–1844 · dissolved
William Miller's reading of Daniel 8:14 fixed Christ's return for 1843–44; between 50,000 and 100,000 embraced the expectation, and its failure on October 22, 1844 — the Great Disappointment — scattered the movement into the branches from which the Adventist denominations formed.
Formed in 1860 from the Albany branch of Millerism, holding Miller wrong on the time but right on the imminence of Christ's coming, with conditionalist teaching on the intermediate state.
- Seventh-day Adventist Church1861–1863
The Sabbatarian Adventists — holding that October 22, 1844 marked Christ's entry into the heavenly sanctuary rather than His return, and keeping the seventh-day Sabbath — organized as the Seventh-day Adventist Church by 1863; now a large worldwide denomination with extensive medical and educational institutions.
Sabbatarian Adventists who did not join the 1863 SDA organization, organized separately in 1866; the line from which, much later, Armstrongism derived (a later-pass item).
Claimed lineage
What this tradition says about its own origin · restoration
Official FB13 text: 'The universal church is composed of all who truly believe in Christ, but in the last days, a time of widespread apostasy, a remnant has been called out to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus… symbolized by the three angels of Revelation 14.' (Rev 12:17; 14:6–12; 18:1–4). FB18 names the gift of prophecy (E. G. White) 'an identifying mark of the remnant church.'
Its own sources: SDA Fundamental Beliefs no. 13 (to cite).
The documented record: Documented origins in the Millerite movement of 1831 to 1844 and the Sabbatarian branch organized in 1861 to 1863.
In the explorer's claimed view this renders as a dashed line, labeled "pattern claimed, not descent".
Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-10.