Richards, Jane (“Jennie” or “Jenny”) Rebecca (Trembley) (1841–1880)

Jane Richards was a former spiritualist medium and later an early Review worker who served as a compositor, copyist, proofreader, editor, and poet.

Early Life

Richards, known as Jennie to her friends, was born in Bath, Michigan, in 1841 to Isaac Rice (1804-1860) and Maria Cory Trembley (1810-1870).¹ In her early life, she was a spiritualist medium. Her first contact with Adventism, she later recounted, was through the periodical The Signs of the Times. She recalled that as a spirit medium, the spirit would not answer her questions while she read this publication.² This initial contact caused her to seek relief from an illness at the fledgling denomination’s Health Reform Institute. The exact nature of her illness is unclear, but three of her brothers and twin sister had died from “inflammation of the lungs” and doctors considered her case hopeless.³ She arrived at the Health Reform Institute in 1867 believing she had nothing to lose, and she did recover.

Work at the Review

Richards afterward went to work in the Review Office. In the 1870 U.S. Census, she is listed as a “compositor.”⁴ Her mother, Maria, and sibling, Orvin (age 11), were also living with her. Beginning with the February 15, 1871, issue of The Youth’s Instructor, she became editor (with Elmira R. Fairfield as assistant), taking over from Goodloe Harper Bell.⁵ For his part, Bell expressed his “utmost confidence” in her “as an able writer, and an earnest, devoted Christian.”⁶ She believed that the “intellect must be fed” while “the heart must be touched.”⁷

In February 1871, despite James White’s failing health, delegates asked White to take on the editorship of the Review and Herald and Health Reformer. Richards was asked to assist White with the Health Reformer serving effectively as the managing editor. The same year she was elected secretary of the Michigan Conference (who with Addie Merriam as treasurer meant that for that year two of the three officers of this state conference were women). During this time, Uriah Smith noted that 20 of the 32 employees at the publishing house were women. The shortage in labor, observed James White, meant that “women will have to do many things which men have done.”⁸ Under her editorial guidance, G. W. Amadon remembered that these publications “prospered” until “poor health” compelled her to retire.⁹ Her name remained on the masthead of the Youth’s Instructor until the April 1873 issue.¹⁰

In the Spring of 1873, Richards was part of a group of recruits that included Edson White, Willie White, and J. H. Kellogg who went with Merritt G. Kellogg to attend R. T. Trall’s Hygio-Therapeutic College.¹¹ The school was noted for its progressive stance allowing both men and women to obtain a medical degree, and Richards would become the second Adventist woman to earn a medical degree (the first was Phebe M. Lamson).¹² She was a tireless advocate on behalf of healthful living, continuing to contribute regular articles to the Health Reformer. By 1876, she owned $25 worth of Health Reform Institute stocks and owned two shares in the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association.¹³

Marriage

On July 20, 1874, Richards married Dr. David B. Richards (1841-1910). According to Ellen White, she met him while at Trall’s Institute, and kept the attachment a secret, presumably because he was not an Adventist.¹⁴ Soon after the marriage he left her. She remained in Battle Creek where she continued to work at the Review Office. In a letter, Ellen White hoped that her friends—Marian Davis and Adelia Patten—would draw close to her during this difficult time. She urged her son Edson to be compassionate after this embarrassment and assured them that she believed that Richards was “a sincere Christian, but not perfect.”¹⁵

Demise

In December 1879, she was taken sick from a chill, which they soon realized was typhoid. James and Ellen White visited her several times during her final illness. She died on January 26, 1880, and is buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Battle Creek, Michigan.¹⁶ James White conducted her funeral.¹⁷

Sources

Amadon, G. W. “A Sketch of the Editorship of the Youth’s Instructor.” The Youth’s Instructor, August 7, 1902.

Obituary. ARH, March 11, 1880.

Schwarz, Richard W. and Floyd Greenleaf. Light Bearers: A History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press, 2000.

Trembley, J. R. “Experience in Health Reform.” Health Reformer, January 1871.

Trembley, J. R. “To Our Friends.” The Youth’s Instructor, March 1, 1871.

White, James. An Appealing to the Working Men and Women in the Ranks of Seventh-day Adventists. Battle Creek, MI: Steam Press of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, 1872.

White, James. “She Sleeps in Jesus.” ARH, March 11, 1880.

White, James. “Woman and Her Work.” ARH, March 7, 1871.

Notes

1. For detailed genealogical information, see: http://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tools/tree/184901349/invitees/accept?inviteId=22fd070c-5cf2-4dac-b6e4-0896fbf280e8 [accessed 11/7/22].↩

2. James White, “She Sleeps in Jesus,” ARH, March 11, 1880, 169.↩

3. J. R. Trembley, “Experience in Health Reform,” Health Reformer, January 1871, 140.↩

4. 1870 United States Federal Census, Year: 1870, Census Place: Battle Creek Ward 3, Calhoun, Michigan; Roll: M593_666, page: 452A [accessed from Ancestry.com 11/7/22].↩

5. See voted action: “Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association. Eleventh Annual Session,” ARH, February 14, 1871, 68.↩

6. G. H. Bell, “A Parting Word,” Youth Instructor, February 15, 1871, 14.↩

7. J. R. Trembley, “To Our Friends,” Youth Instructor, March 1, 1871, 18.↩

8. James White, “Woman and Her Work,” ARH, March 7, 1871, 96, cited by Gilbert M. Valentine, J. N. Andrews; Mission Pioneer, Evangelist, and Thought Leader (Pacific Press, 2019), 463-465. Valentine discusses these transitions in detail.↩

9. G. W. Amadon, “A Sketch of the Editorship of the Youth’s Instructor,” Youth Instructor, August 7, 1902, 2.↩

10. C.C.L., “Sketches of Sabbath-School History—No. 2,” ARH, February 17, 1885, 103.↩

11. Richard W. Schwarz and Floyd Greenleaf, Light Bearers: A History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (Nampa, ID: Pacific Press, 2000), 114-115.↩

12. Phebe M. Lamson was the first Adventist woman physician. She joined the Health Reform Institute staff after working for Dr. James C. Jackson. She converted to Adventism in 1859. See Ellen G. White Encyclopedia, s.v. “Phoebe M. Lamson” (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2013): 446.↩

13. James White, An Appealing to the Working Men and Women in the Ranks of Seventh-day Adventists (Battle Creek, MI: Steam Press of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, 1872), 35.↩

14. See 2LtMs, Letter 47, 1874, par. 6.↩

15. Ellen G. White to J. Edson & Emma White, August 22, 1872, Letter 13a, 1872, par. 5.↩

16. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15333574/jennie-r-richards [accessed 9/6/22].↩

17. Obituary, ARH, March 11, 1880, 174.↩