Mrs. White's Health Visions:
Was it God? Or Dr. Jackson?

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Dr. James Caleb Jackson was born in 1811. Early in his life he worked as a lecturer and publisher of abolitionist newspapers; but he was hampered by extremely poor health. In fact, he was at death's door when he visited a water cure, and his near-miraculous recovery made Jackson a life-long advocate of hydropathy. Later, he obtained a medical degree, and in October of 1858 he moved to Dansville, New York, to open a water-cure clinic.¹

Our Home on the Hillside, ca. 1870

The clinic became known as Our Home on the Hillside, and attained a national reputation. In addition to the water treatments, Dr. Jackson also encouraged his patients to eat properly. No red meat, sugar, coffee, tea, alcohol, or tobacco were permitted at Our Home on the Hillside; instead, the emphasis was on fruits, vegetables, and unprocessed grain. Jackson also promoted a two-meal-a-day diet. Jackson is credited with the invention of the first cold breakfast cereal, a graham-flour-derived recipe he named Granula.²

Striking Similarities

As the Whites traveled in the mid and late 1860s sharing the health reforms God had supposedly given her by vision, those listeners who happened to be familiar with Dr. Jackson's writings were taken aback by the marked similarities between what Mrs. White claimed to have seen in vision and the teachings of Dr. Jackson. Even Mrs. White acknowledged these striking similarities in a letter to her sons:

"We have here met with a lady who was at Our Home at Dansville when we were there. She introduced me to her husband. They attended our meetings. Your father gave a temperance discourse Sunday morning. She sat with her husband in their carriage just outside the curtains of the tent. They are intelligent people and the first in the place. They invited us to visit them, and today we comply with their request. She made the remark in regard to your father's discourse that it seemed to her she was listening to Dr. Jackson again. She spoke especially of my speaking at the convention, said she had never forgotten it; that it had been a great help to her since that time; that it had especially benefited her."³

"Question on the Vision .--Did you receive your views upon health reform before visiting the Health Institute at Dansville, New York, or before you had read works on the subject?

"I did not visit Dansville till August, 1864, fourteen months after I had the view. I did not read any works upon health until I had written Spiritual Gifts, volumes 3 and 4, Appeal to Mothers, and had sketched out most of my six articles in the six numbers of How to Live .

"I did not know that such a paper existed as The Laws of Life, published at Dansville, N.Y. I had not heard of the several works upon health, written by Dr. J. C. Jackson, and other publications at Dansville, at the time I had the view named above. I did not know that such works existed until September, 1863, when in Boston, Mass., my husband saw them advertised in a periodical called the Voice of the Prophets, published by Eld. J. V. Himes. My husband ordered the works from Dansville and received them at Topsham, Maine. His business gave him no time to peruse them, and as I determined not to read them until I had written out my views, the books remained in their wrappers.

"As I introduced the subject of health to friends where I labored in Michigan, New England, and in the State of New York, and spoke against drugs and flesh meats, and in favor of water, pure air, and a proper diet, the reply was often made, 'You speak very nearly the opinions taught in the Laws of Life, and other publications, by Drs. Trall, Jackson, and others. Have you read that paper and those works?'

"My reply was that I had not, neither should I read them till I had fully written out my views, lest it should be said that I have received my light upon the subject of health from physicians, and not from the Lord.

"And after I had written my six articles for How to Live, I then searched the various works on hygiene and was surprised to find them so nearly in harmony with what the Lord had revealed to me. And to show this harmony, and to set before my brethren and sisters the subject as brought out by able writers, I determined to publish How to Live, in which I largely extracted from the works referred to."⁴

Thus, we have two versions of events:

1. The skeptics version: Mrs. White secretly read Dr. Jackson's books, adopted his health reforms, then decided to bring those same reforms to the entire church, but instead of giving Dr. Jackson credit, she pretended God gave her a health reform vision and went around telling everyone the info came straight from Heaven.

2. Mrs. White's version: Mrs. White was given a vision of health reform by God. Later, she happened to come across some writings by Dr. Jackson, and by sheer coincidence they were nearly exactly what she was shown in vision.

The Reform Dress

The Reform Dress incident provides a dramatic illustration of how Mrs. White acquired her "reforms" and passed these along to the Church with a "Thus saith the Lord." Prior to her visit to the Dansville Institution in 1864, Ellen White had shown little interest in the "reform dress." In fact, a couple of years earlier she had told the sisters in the Church that God was not interested in the reform dress either:

"God would not have his people adopt the so-called reform dress."⁵

Mrs. White was sold on the concept of the reform dress, and quickly penned out a testimony indicating God had suddenly changed His mind on the subject:

"God would now have his people adopt the Reform Dress..."⁶

The Whites Visit Dansville

When their son Willie contracted pneumonia in February, 1864, the Whites became seriously interested in health reform. After his recovery, Arthur White explains the Whites' new-found interest in health:

"Now, more than ever, they knew that they must dig deep and learn how to combat disease, and about sound dietetic principles. They determined then and there that at the earliest possible time they must visit the medical institution operated by Dr. Jackson and his associates at Dansville, New York, and gain all they could in practical lines."⁷

"In the month of September, 1864, Mrs. White and self spent three weeks at the health institution at Dansville, Livingston County, New York, called 'Our Home.' Our object in this visit was not to take treatment, as we were enjoying better health than usual, but to see what we could see and hear what we could hear, so as to be able to give to many inquiring friends a somewhat definite report."⁸

"Many years ago, while at Dr. Jackson's, I undertook to leave it [salt] off entirely, because he advocated this in his lectures."⁹

Not only did Dr. Jackson shape the Whites' thinking on health reform, he also seemed to change their thinking on phrenology. Just a couple years earlier Mrs. White denounced it as a tool of Satan.¹¹ However, while at the Dansville clinic, the good doctor read the heads of both the White boys. Mrs. White reports in a private letter:

"I think Dr. Jackson gave an accurate account of the disposition and organization of our children. He pronounces Willie's head to be one of the best that has ever come under his observation. He gave a good description of Edson's character and peculiarities."¹²

The Whites Study Jackson's books and Articles

In spite of her three-week fact-finding mission to the Dansville Clinic, Mrs. White assured her followers that others had no influence on her health writings:

"That which I have written in regard to health was not taken from books or papers. As I related the things which I had been shown to others, the question was asked, 'Have you seen the paper, The Laws of Life or the Water Cure Journal?' I told them No, I had not seen either of the papers. Said they, 'What you have seen agrees very much with much of their teachings.' I talked freely with Dr. Lay and many others upon the things which had been shown me in reference to health. I had never seen a paper treating upon health. After the vision was given me, my husband was aroused upon the health question. He obtained books, upon our eastern journey, but I would not read them. My view was clear, and I did not want to read anything until I had fully completed my books. My views were written independent of books or of the opinions of others.¹³

1. People noticed the similarity between Mrs. White's writings and Dr. Jackson's writings.
2. Mrs. White admitted James had obtained a set of books on health before her views were written.
3. Mrs. White denies reading "anything" until after she had completed her books.

Despite Mrs. White's bold denial, there is evidence that Mrs. White, an avid reader, had plenty of opportunity to read the writings of Dr. Jackson prior to the publication of her own health writings.

The Whites did not visit Dr. Jackson's health institute until August of 1864. This was 14 months after Mrs. White was said to have received her June, 1863 vision on health reform.¹⁴ She claimed to be unfamiliar with the writings of Dr. Jackson prior to September, 1863. However, the White boys had become ill with Diphtheria in January of 1863, and at that time, the Whites were first familiarized with the writings of Dr. Jackson. Grandson Arthur White tells of their good fortune:

"Fortunately--in the providence of God, no doubt--there had come into their hands, probably through an 'exchange' of papers at the Review office, either the Yates County Chronicle, of Penn Yan, New York, or some journal quoting from it, an extended article entitled 'Diphtheria, Its Causes, Treatment and Cure.' It was written by Dr. James C. Jackson, of Dansville, New York."¹⁵

On August 13, 1863, one month before James supposedly had any knowledge of Dansville, Dr. Jackson wrote him apologizing for his long delay in replying to White's request for information about his books. It appears that James had written Jackson sometime in June, for in December of 1864 he stated that eighteen months earlier (June 1863) he had sent off to Dansville for some of their books.

When the books arrived Mrs. White claimed they remained in the wrappers, but on December 12, 1863, James was mailing Jackson's Consumption from Topsham to a friend, Ira Abbey, in Brookfield, New York. It appears those wrappers came off those books at least nine months prior to Mrs. White writing out her vision! Furthermore, it is likely Ellen White read the article James White printed from Jackson's Laws of Life in the October 27 issue of the Review and Herald.¹⁶ Thus we can see that Mrs. White had plenty of opportunity to read the writings of Dr. Jackson prior to the publication of her own articles on health.

The Doctor's Prognosis

Although Dr. Jackson was quite familiar with Mrs. White, he never accepted her as a prophet. After his medical examination of her he attributed her unusual medical problems to hysteria. Mrs. White reported Jackson's findings to the attendees of a conference, an eyewitness of which later wrote: "When giving to a Conference at Pilot Grove an account of her visit at Dr. Jackson's Health Institute, she stated that the Doctor, upon a medical examination, pronounced her a subject of Hysteria."17

You decide: Was it God or Dr. Jackson?