Ellen G. White® Estate: Pathways of the Pioneers Stories

William Miller, 1782 - 1849

Miller was a farmer, justice of the peace, sheriff, and Baptist preacher, who, from 1831 to 1844, preached the immanent return of Christ. He was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His mother was a deeply religious person, and his father a soldier. Probably as a result, there was tension in his early life between patriotism and religious belief. He was largely self-educated, attending school only for three months each winter between ages 9 and 14.

James White, 1821 - 1881

James White was co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church along with his wife Ellen and Joseph Bates. He was the fifth of nine children, and in early years had such poor eyesight that he could not attend school. At age 19, with his eyes improved, he went to school, studying 18 hours a day, and in 12 weeks had a certificate to teach. He later attended school another 17 weeks, making his total school time, 29 weeks.

Ellen G. White, 1827-1915

Ellen G. White was a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church along with her husband James and close friend Joseph Bates. Mrs. White is also known as a messenger from God. She was born Ellen Gould Harmon in Gorham, Maine, November 26, 1827, to Robert and Eunice Harmon. She and her twin sister Elizabeth were the youngest of eight children. When Ellen was in her early teens she and her family accepted the Bible interpretations of the Baptist farmer-turned-preacher, William Miller. Along with Miller and 50,000 other Ad-ventists, she suffered bitter disappointment when Christ did not return on October 22, 1844, the date marking the end of the 2300-day prophecy of Daniel 8.

Joseph Bates, 1792 - 1872

Joseph Bates was a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church along with James and Ellen White. Perhaps there was no more unlikely Seventh-day Adventist preacher than Joseph Bates. When he was young his family moved from Rochester, Massachusetts, to the port city of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, where he became fascinated with the sea. He set out from Fairhaven at the age of 15 as a cabin boy. He experienced shipwreck, capture, and forced service in the British Navy, and for two-and-a-half years was a prisoner of war in England, being released in 1815. Bates eventually served as captain of his own ship, beginning in 1820. In 1821 he gave up smoking and chewing tobacco as well as the use of profane language. He later quit using tea and coffee and in 1843 became a vegetarian.

John N. Andrews, 1829 - 1883

John Nevin Andrews is most notably know in the Seventh-day Adventist Church as our first missionary overseas. J. N. Andrews was born July 22, 1829, in Poland, Maine. He quit school at age 11 and was largely self-taught. It is reported that he was fluent in seven languages and could recite the New Testament by memory. His uncle Charles, a member of the U.S. Congress, offered to pay for his training as a lawyer so he could follow a political career. However, early in 1845, at age 15, John accepted the Sabbath from a tract written by T. M. Preble. It changed the direction of his life.

John H. Kellogg, 1852 - 1943

John Kellogg was a multi-talented man: surgeon, inventor of surgical instruments, exercise device inventor, pioneer in physiotherapy and nutrition, and a prodigious writer. At age ten, he worked in his father’s broom factory in Battle Creek, Michigan. By the age of 16 he was a public school teacher. The next year he attended high school and graduated the same year. In 1873 James and Ellen White encouraged him to take the medical course, and they assisted in his tuition expenses.

Uriah Smith, 1832-1903

Uriah Smith was a gifted church leader—a teacher, writer, editor, poet, hymn writer, inventor, and engraver. His family were Millerite Adventists, so at age 12 he experienced the 1844 disappointment. Around that time, his infected left leg had to be amputated above the knee. In later life he invented an artificial leg with flexible knee and ankle joints. Late in 1852 he became a Sabbath-keeping Adventist. Early the next year he joined James and Ellen White in Rochester, New York, in publishing work.

Goodloe H. Bell, 1832 - 1899

Goodloe Harper Bell, the eldest of 12 children, taught his first school at age 19. Overwork placed him in the Western Health Reform Institute in Battle Creek, in 1866, shortly after it opened. There he accepted the Seventh-day Adventist faith. Soon after his recovery in 1867, Bell started a private school for SDA children in Battle Creek. His students included William and Edson White, sons of James and Ellen White, and the Kellogg brothers, Will K. and John Harvey.