Nichols, Otis (1798–1876) and Mary (Bird) (1800–1868)

Otis and Mary were former Millerites and Sabbatarian Adventists from Dorchester, Massachusetts. Census records list his occupation as a farmer. Together they were two of the earliest and most stalwart supporters of James and Ellen White. They provided early financial, logistical, and moral support at a crucial stage in the formation of the Sabbatarian Adventist cause.

Background and Stalwart Support of the Whites

Otis was born on May 2, 1798, to Samuel (1774-1808) and Molley (1777-1870) Nichols in Sherborn, Massachusetts.¹ Otis first married Sally Orne Barber (b. 1803) on June 11, 1823. She tragically died on March 22, 1824.² They had one daughter, Sarah (1824-1907). He afterward wed Mary Bird, on May 14, 1826, in Medway, Massachusetts. Mary was born February 20, 1800, in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

Otis and Mary were part of the Congregational Church until they “dissolved” their “connection” due to their support of “the Advent movement in 1843-44.”³ During the heyday of the Millerite revival, Otis actively shared his faith in Christ’s soon return. After the Disappointment, they continued to believe in the validity of the prophetic period of the “10^th [day] of the 7^th month.” Afterward they experienced “a time more perilous to the souls of the little remnant.” Otis wrote of the time:

I thank God the Bible is our guide, Isa. 8:19, 20, John 4:1-3. I do love the whole truth, and especially at this time, present Bible truth, for through that, with obedience, we are sanctified. Our work is done for the world, and it is only the household that will now be benefited by any truth pertaining to the kingdom of God. The 10^th of the 7^th month is a landmark and a glorious light for us now to look back upon, for then we believe the bridegroom, the messenger of the (new) covenant suddenly came to his temple . . . and if we cast not away our confidence in that light we have passed, and continue to look upward, and walk forward on the present truth, we shall soon see, I believe in a few days, a light far more glorious, and which will be truly manifest to all who are the true Israel of God.⁴

Ellen White recalled that the Nichols “were among the first to embrace the Sabbath, and liberally hand out their means to sustain the cause in its infancy.”⁵ She added: “For several years nearly all the means necessary to bear our expenses came from his purse.”⁶ They were credited as “among the earliest Adventists to accept the seventh-day Sabbath as well as the genuineness of Ellen White’s visions.⁷

Ellen White made two significant visits to the Nichols. The first was in August 1845 with James White and her older sister.⁸ Then in late 1845 or early 1846⁹, Otis went to Portland Maine, and “proposed that James White remain there, while Ellen and her sister Sarah should return with him to Massachusetts to visit the companies near Boston who had been told that she was wholly under the influence of Mr. White.”¹⁰ While Ellen was visiting them, she confronted two men, Sargent and Robbins, who claimed her visions were the result of mesmerism.¹¹ They disingenuously told Ellen that they would be at a different place, but Ellen was shown in vision of their duplicitous plans. Instead, she showed up to meet with the Advent believers in the Thayer home, in Randolph, thereby, thwarting their plans. Otis described what happened:

Then Sister White commenced praying and was soon afterward taken off in vision with extraordinary manifestations and continued talking in vision with a shrill voice which could be distinctly understood by all present, until about sundown. S. [Sargent] R. [Robbins], and F. [French] were much exasperated as well as excited to hear Sister White talk in vision, which they declared was of the devil. They exhausted all their influence and bodily strength to destroy the effect of the vision. They would unite in singing very loud, and then alternately would talk and read from the Bible in a loud voice in order that Ellen might not be heard, until their strength was exhausted and their hands would shake, so they could not read from the Bible. But amidst all this confusion and noise, Ellen's clear and shrill voice as she talked in vision, was distinctly heard by all present. The opposition of these men continued as long as they could talk and sing, not withstanding some of their own friends rebuked them and requested them to stop.¹²

During the vision she held up a “heavy, larger quarto family Bible.”¹³ Her consistent witness about the primacy of the Bible, along with her supernatural knowledge of her opponents’ plans, and the fruits of her life, further confirmed for the Nichols the divine authenticity of her prophetic calling.¹⁴

On April 20, 1846, Otis sent William Miller a copy of Ellen Harmon’s broadside, “To the Little Remnant Scattered Abroad,” on the back of which was a handwritten letter explaining to Miller his newfound hope in the Sanctuary and confidence in Ellen’s visions.¹⁵ He wrote:

Within is a part of the vision of E. G. H. [Harmon] of Portland. I fully believe them to be from heaven. The manner and circumstances attending is unlike any thing I have seen or read of since the days of the Apostles. I would ask you to lay aside prejudice and suspend judgment untill [sic] you have read and compared them with the scripture and present truth. And if they speak not according to this word (and present truth) it is because there is no light in them Isa. 8:20.¹⁶

Such strong support from the Nichols meant that between 1845 through 1850 James and Ellen White often stayed in their home.¹⁷ At one portentous moment, Mary handed Ellen $5 to pay for their fare to Middletown, Connecticut.¹⁸ In their home, Ellen also received at least two visions during the Sabbath hours of November 17-18, 1848, during a conference.¹⁹ At the conclusion, November 18, 1848,²⁰ Ellen received her vision about the need for the movement to start publishing work:

You must begin to print a little paper and send it out to the people. Let it be small at first; but as the people read, they will send you means with which to print, and it will be a success from the first. From this small beginning it was shown to me to be like streams of light that went clear round the world.²¹

The Nichols were key supporters of James and Ellen White and the fledgling denomination. Ellen White described with appreciation their crucial role:

They were ever ready with words of encouragement to comfort me when in trial, and their prayers often ascended to heaven in my behalf, until, the clouds were dispersed, and the light of heaven again cheered me. Nor did their kindness end here. They were attentive to my wants, and generously supplied me with means to travel. They were reproached because they believed me to be a child of God, chosen to bear a special testimony to his people and on account of this they were obliged to be in almost constant conflict, for many left no means untried to turn them against me.²²

Otis served on the initial publishing committee of the Advent Review. After the first issue which affirmed the validity of the prophetic periods and the Millerite movement, he believed this periodical “is at this time, the best thing that can be published.”²³ On February 27, 1852, Otis Nichols participated in a conference in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, at which a “Committee to take into consideration the state of the cause” approved “the course pursued by Bro. White in the management of the paper” against criticism and to relieve him “from pecuniary difficulties.”²⁴

Otis was a contributor to Sabbatarian Adventist periodicals from the 1840s up through the early 1860s. In 1851, Otis defended against criticisms that the law “was done away” with or “abolished” in 2 Corinthians 3:6-18 by differentiating between the two covenants.²⁵ In 1852, he wrote a seminal article that defined Babylon as those “false witnesses” or “teachers” contrasting Babylon with those “that have the testimony of Jesus Christ, and the commandments of God” (Revelation 12:17). Thus, the “Mouth of the beast” is “the head of the Papal power, as it now exists in Europe.”²⁶ Such concern about the papal power led him to identify England, in Daniel 11, as the “king of the north,” and France as the “king of the south.”²⁷ The Nichols were consistent supporters, both financially and theologically, to the fledgling Sabbatarian Adventist movement.

Distinctive Sabbatarian Adventist Chart

Perhaps the most significant contribution by Otis Nichols was the production beginning in late 1850s²⁸ of the first Sabbatarian Adventist prophetic chart²⁹ following the tradition of Fitch and Hales’ earlier 1843 prophetic chart.³⁰ Ellen White was shown in vision the importance of this endeavor. “On our return to Brothers Nichols’,” she wrote, “the Lord gave me a vision and shewed me that the truth must be made plain upon tables and it would cause many to decide for the truth by the three angels’ messages with the two former being made plain upon tables.”³¹ Ellen White saw in a broad sense the development of both the 1843 and 1850-51 charts as a fulfillment of Hab. 2:2-3. In January 1851, James White announced that 200 copies of the chart were produced at a cost of $400 of which Nichols contributed $75.³² Ultimately, 300 copies were made that were “well prepared on rollers” for $2 or could be purchased “just as it comes from the Lithographer” for $1.25. Every Adventist evangelist should have a copy to help them “teach the present truth” and every “band of brethren” should “have one” at their “places of meeting.”³³ James White added: “THE NEW CHART, published by Bro. Otis Nichols . . . has been found to be a great help in examining the evidences of our position, and in teaching them to others. We esteem it a TREASURE. It is valuable because it beautifully illustrates the most sublime and important truths of Revelation, which are particularly applicable to the present time.”³⁴

Continued Family Influence

James and Ellen deeply admired the Nichols’ family. Otis and Mary had three children: Mary E. Nichols (1828-1900), Henry Otis Nichols (1828-1917), and Anna Nichols (1830-1926). At one point, Henry visited the Whites while they were living in Maine. Ellen became gravely ill, and some thought she might die. The Nichols sent some supplies “for their comfort” through their son Henry. They gathered together in prayer:

Brother Henry Nichols began to pray most fervently: and with the power of God upon him, he arose from his knees, came across the room, and laid his hands upon my head, saying, “Sister Ellen, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole,” and fell back, prostrated by the power of God. I believed that the work was of God, and the pain left me. My soul was filled with gratitude and peace.³⁵

Henry Nichols made a deep impression upon the Whites, who named their oldest son after him.³⁶ About 1859, Otis wrote an account of his early experiences with the Whites.³⁷ In 1860, Otis Nichols, as the local elder of a company of Sabbatarian Adventists in Dorchester, organized the company into a church. In response to criticism that such a move was tantamount to Babylon, he responded: “We think not.”³⁸ Otis, and his son Henry, each both proudly owned shares in the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association.³⁹

Death and Legacy

Mary died on January 15, 1868, ten days after she had been stricken with paralysis.⁴⁰ After his wife’s death, according to the 1870 census, Otis lived with his daughters Mary and Anna. The last documented writing by Otis was a letter he wrote to the editors of the Review in Sept. 1874. In this letter he testified as to the “moral character” and “tendency of her visions” since he had been “intimately acquainted” with her ministry from when he first met her in August 1845. He added that between 1845 and 1848 she frequented stayed with them and had “many visions” at their home. “During the whole period of acquaintance with her, she has always led a devoted, godly life, in strict obedience to the moral law and the testimony of Christ and His apostles.” Otis recalled that Ellen Harmon’s strong stand against fanaticism during this formative period had unfortunately “produced a hatred for her testimonies.”⁴¹ Otis died July 13, 1876, in Boston, Massachusetts, and is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.⁴² He was a “stalwart laymen” whose crucial support enabled James and Ellen White and the fledgling Sabbatarian Adventist movement to take shape.⁴³

In 1963, the Nichols home on Croftland Street was still extant (it has since been demolished).⁴⁴ Several years before Clifton L. Taylor and L. A. Pomeroy visited the great-grandson living near Boston who gave them several pictures that are now in the possession of the Ellen G. White Estate.⁴⁵ At times, the significant contributions of the Nichols have been exaggerated. For example, the work by Otis on the 1850-1851 chart, albeit significant, conflated him into an actual lithographer. There is no contemporary evidence that he was anything other than a prosperous farmer.⁴⁶ Similarly, others have posited that he was a Millerite evangelist or minister, but once again no evidence exists beyond his active efforts in support of the Advent cause as a layman. A tradition also developed that Ellen White held up the “heavy family [Teal] Bible in her outstretched hand” when she confronted Sargent and Robbins.⁴⁷ While Ellen White upheld a Bible in vision on a number of occasions, the reference to a “quarto” Bible means that it could not have been the large Harmon family Bible.⁴⁸ More likely she held up a Bible owned by the Thayer family in whose home she had the vision. Denominational histories have overlooked the fact that Mary, not Otis, gave $5 to the Whites just when they needed it most, thereby, minimizing the significant financial contribution of an early Adventist woman. Both James and Ellen White specifically recognized this gift as being specifically placed from her hand into theirs. Such elaborations and mistakes are not unusual in popular histories, but they should not in any way diminish the important contributions of Otis and Mary Nichols who played a valuable role at a crucial formative stage of the Sabbatarian Adventist movement.

Sources

“Adventist Art: Designed for a Purpose.” Adventist Heritage, vol. 9, no. 2 (Fall 1984).

Bates, Joseph. A Seal of the Living God: A Hundred Forty-Four Thousand, of the Servants of God Sealed in 1849. New Bedford, MA: Benjamin Lindsey, 1849.

Ellen White Encyclopedia. Eds. Denis Fortin and Jerry Moon. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2013. S.v. “Nichols, Otis and Mary.”

“The Fairhaven Conference.” ARH, March 23, 1852.

Levterov, Theodore N. “The Development of the Seventh-day Adventist Understanding of Ellen G. White’s Prophetic Gift, 1844-1889.” Ph.D. diss., Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, U.S.A., 2011.

Loughborough, J. N. The Great Second Advent Movement: Its Rise and Progress. Nashville, TN: Southern Publishing Association, 1905.

Loughborough, J. N. Rise and Progress of the Seventh-day Adventists with Tokens of God’s Hand in the Movement and a Brief Sketch of the Advent Cause from 1831 to 1844. Battle Creek, MI: General Conference Association of the Seventh-day Adventists, 1892.

Loughborough, J. N. “Sketches from the Past—No. 113.” Pacific Union Recorder, April 13, 1911.

Nichols, H. O. “The Sabbath.” ARH, February 3, 1852.

Nichols, Otis. “Account of Experiences by Otis Nichols.” Handwritten manuscript, ca. 1859, Ellen G. White Estate.

Nichols, Otis. “Extracts of Letters.” ARH, September 1850.

Nichols, Otis. “Letter from Bro. Nichols.” The Day-Star, September 27, 1845.

Nichols, Otis. “Letter from Bro. Nichols.” The Present Truth, May 1850.

Nichols, Otis. “Letters.” ARH, September 2, 1851.

Nichols, O[tis]. “The Dragon, The Beast, and the False Prophet.” ARH, March 2, 1852.

Nichols, O[tis]. “Organization.” ARH, August 28, 1860.

Nichols, Otis. “Papacy and France.” ARH, January 20, 1853.

Nichols, Otis. “Remarks on 2 Cor. Iii. 6-18.” ARH, April 7, 1851.

Nichols, Otis to William Miller, April 20, 1846. Orrin Roe Jenks Memorial Collection of Adventual Materials, Aurora University.

Obituary. ARH, February 11, 1868.

Rhodes, Samuel W. A Pictorial Illustration of the Visions of Daniel & John and Their Chronology. Lithograph and paint on cloth. 30.5” by 43.5”. Published by Otis Nichols, ca. 1850-51.

Russell, C. A. “Mrs. Ellen G. White.” The Church Officers’ Gazette, December 1944.

Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia. Second revised edition. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1996. S.v. “Nichols, Otis.”

Spalding, Arthur W. Origin and History of Seventh-day Adventists. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1961.

Spalding, Arthur W. “A York Shilling and Nine Cents.” ARH, February 2, 1950.

Taylor, Clifton L. “The Robert Morris of the Advent Movement.” ARH, June 13, 1963.

Youngberg, Norma. The Spirit of Prophecy Emphasis Stories, volume 1. Ellen G. White Estate and the General Conference Department of Education, 1979.

White, Ellen G. Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White. Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1922.

White, Ellen G. Life Sketches: Being a Narrative of Her Experience to 1881 as Written by Herself; with a Sketch of Her Subsequent Labors and of her Last Sickness. Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1915.

White, Ellen G. “They Sleep in Jesus.” ARH, April 21, 1868.

White, James. An Appeal 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]. “The Chart.” ARH, January 1851.

W[hite], [James]. “The Design of the Chart.” ARH, February 1851.

W[hite], J[ames]. “Life Sketches: Chapter VI—Continued. Trials and Victories.” The Signs of the Times, June 6, 1878.

White, William C. “Sketches and Memories of James and Ellen G. White. IV. Meeting Fanaticism.” ARH, March 21, 1935.

Notes

1. With the exception of the 1870 census, Otis Nichols appears to have gone by his first and last name only, including on his tombstone. There may be some confusion on the 1870 census because it was taken at the end of his life and his grandson’s name was Otis R. Nichols. For an extensive collation of primary sources, see: http://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tools/tree/183070703/invitees/accept?inviteId=d2d7410b-2a0a-4284-9786-6f27aa2b29f8 [accessed 5/25/22].There are conflicting dates in genealogical sources on these dates. According to notes from a family tapestry made by Mary L. Nichols in 1821, Samuel Nichols was born September 22, 1774, and “Polly” Nichols was born April 3, 1777. Some genealogists have conflated various versions of Otis Nichols’ mother’s name as “Molley Polly Mary Lealand” with primary sources that identify her alternately as “Molly,” “Molley,” or “Polly.” It is unclear if she used both names or came to prefer one name over the other as “Molly” appears in earlier sources and “Polly” in later sources.↩

2. As there is no known death certificate, the timing of the birth of the daughter and her death suggest that she died as a result of complications related to childbirth.↩

3. Obituary, ARH, February 11, 1868, 142.↩

4. Otis Nichols, “Letter from Bro. Nichols,” The Day-Star, September 27, 1845, 34.↩

5. Ellen G. White, “They Sleep in Jesus,” ARH, April 21, 1868, 297.↩

6. Ibid.↩

7. Ellen White Encyclopedia, eds. Denis Fortin and Jerry Moon (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2013), s.v. “Nichols, Otis and Mary,” 476-477.↩

8. Otis Nichols, “Account of Experiences,” handwritten document, Ellen G. White Estate, ca. 1859. https://ellenwhite.org/media/document/10346 [accessed 5/25/22]↩

9. J. N. Loughborough dates this second trip to the summer of 1845, but based upon Otis Nichols’ earliest dating, the first visit was in August 1845. It seems much more likely that this second visit to Massachusetts occurred in the summer of 1846. Extant sources mean that it had to have happened in late 1845 and no later than the summer of 1846. See J. N. Loughborough, The Great Second Advent Movement: Its Rise and Progress (Nashville, TN: Southern Publishing Association, 1905), 240-41.↩

10. William C. White, “Sketches and Memories of James and Ellen G. White. IV. Meeting Fanaticism,” ARH, March 21, 1935, 5.↩

11. Arthur W. Spalding, Origin and History of Seventh-day Adventists (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1961), 1:140-141. See also J. N. Loughborough, Rise and Progress of the Seventh-day Adventists with Tokens of God’s Hand in the Movement and a Brief Sketch of the Advent Cause from 1831 to 1844 (Battle Creek, MI: General Conference Association of the Seventh-day Adventists, 1892), 116-19.↩

12. Otis Nichols, “Account of Experiences,” handwritten document, Ellen G. White Estate, ca. 1859. https://ellenwhite.org/media/document/10346 [accessed 5/25/22]↩

13. C. A. Russell, “Mrs. Ellen G. White,” The Church Officers’ Gazette, Dec. 1944, 11; This is based on description as found in Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts: My Christian Experience, Views and Labors in Connection with the Rise and Progress of the Third Angel’s Message, vol. 2 (Battle Creek, MI: James White, 1860), 78.↩

14. Theodore N. Levterov analyzes the development of acceptance. See Levterov, “The Development of the Seventh-day Adventist Understanding of Ellen G. White’s Prophetic Gift, 1844-1889,” (Ph.D. diss., Andrews University, 2011), 75-9.↩

15. Otis Nichols to William Miller, April 20, 1846. This original document is located at the Orrin Roe Jenks Memorial Collection of Adventual Materials, Aurora University. A scanned version of the letter is accessible at: https://ellenwhite.org/correspondence/269221 [accessed 5/26/22]↩

16. Ibid.↩

17. Cf. Ellen G. White, Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1922), 122.↩

18. Ibid., 116. Note that later accounts attribute this to the Nichols, or to Otis, but in the earliest account by Ellen White herself, she specifically states that it was “It was money from her hand that bore our expenses from their door, in 1844, [sic] to the first Conference of believers in the third message, held at Rocky Hill, Conn.” See White, “They Sleep in Jesus,” ARH, April 21, 1868, 297. James White confirms that Mary donated the $5, too. See James White, “Life Sketches. Chapter VII. Marriage and United Labors,” ST, Aug. 22, 1878, 250.↩

19. These visions can be found in Manuscript 1, 1848; also found in The Ellen G. White Letters and Manuscripts, vol. 1, 134-137.↩

20. Although variously dated, it seems most likely that this vision was held over the weekend of November 17-19, 1848, at the Nichols home. Joseph Bates dates a vision to the Sabbath of Nov. 18, 1848, but does not connect it specifically to the publishing work. See Joseph Bates, A Seal of the Living God: A Hundred Forty-Four Thousand, of the Servants of God Sealed in 1849 (New Bedford, MA: Benjamin Lindsey, 1849), 32. Merlin Burt utilizes this date. See Burt, “The Gift of Guidance: Establishing Publishing, Health, and Education Ministries,” Adventist World, July 2012, 24.↩

21. Ellen G. White, Life Sketches: Being a Narrative of Her Experience to 1881 as Written by Herself; with a Sketch of Her Subsequent Labors and of her Last Sickness (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1915), 125.↩

22. Ellen G. White as quoted by J[ames] W[hite], “Life Sketches: Chapter VI—Continued. Trials and Victories,” The Signs of the Times, June 6, 1878, 170. A slightly adapted version also appears in 2SG 68, 69.↩

23. Otis Nichols, “Extracts of Letters,” ARH, September 1850, 47-48.↩

24. “The Fairhaven Conference,” ARH, March 23, 1852, 108.↩

25. Otis Nichols, “Remarks on 2 Cor. Iii. 6-18,” ARH, April 7, 1851, 63.↩

26. O[tis] Nichols, “The Dragon, The Beast, and the False Prophet,” ARH, March 2, 1852, 99.↩

27. Otis Nichols, “Papacy and France,” ARH, January 20, 1853, 142.↩

28. James White refers to the chart “now being lithographed” in the November 1850 issue of The Present Truth (see pg. 88). It appears to have been ready for distribution in early 1851.↩

29. A high resolution scan of this chart can be obtained at: https://adventistdigitallibrary.org/adl-421839/pictorial-illustration-visions-daniel-and-john-and-their-chronology?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=af71bef5d7d54c23e531&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=1 [accessed 5/25/22]↩

30. “Adventist Art: Designed for a Purpose,” Adventist Heritage, vol. 9, no. 2 (Fall 1984): 20.↩

31. Ellen G. White, Letter 28, 1850, dated November [27], 1850.↩

32. [James White], “The Chart,” ARH, January 1851, 38.↩

33. [James] W[hite], “The Design of the Chart,” ARH, February 1851, 46.↩

34. See note in ARH, December 9, 1851, 64.↩

35. Ellen G. White, Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1922), 89.↩

36. Cf. Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2 (Battle Creek, MI: Steam Press), 68-69.↩

37. Otis Nichols, “Account of Experiences by Otis Nichols,” handwritten manuscript, ca. 1859, Ellen G. White Estate, accessible from: https://ellenwhite.org/media/document/10346 [accessed 5/24/22]↩

38. O. Nichols, “Organization,” ARH, Aug. 28, 1860, 116.↩

39. See list of shares. James White, An Appeal 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), 25.↩

40. Obituary, ARH, February 11, 1868, 142. See also “Deaths,” Boston Evening Transcript, January 16, 1868, 3.↩

41. O. Nichols to “Editors of ‘Review,’” September 1874, Ellen G. White Estate, Document File, with a note at the end of the letter by Uriah Smith: “I hereby certify that the foregoing is a correct copy of the original.”↩

42. See: “Died,” New England Farmer, July 22, 1876, 3; ARH, July 27, 1876, 40; See also: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/179910047/otis-nichols?_gl=1*1hpplma*_ga*NTMwNjAyMTY5LjE2NTMzMzUzNTU.*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*MTY1MzM3NTAzMS4xMi4xLjE2NTMzNzUwMzMuMA.. [accessed 5/23/22]↩

43. Clifton L. Taylor, “The Robert Morris of the Advent Movement,” ARH, June 13, 1963, 7-8.↩

44. See note by Tim Poirier, 2014. https://ellenwhite.org/correspondence/300890 [accessed 5/25/22]↩

45. Clifton L. Taylor, “The Robert Morris of the Advent Movement,” ARH, June 13, 1963, 7-8. It is quite possible that this grandson was the Otis R. Nichols (1908-1993) by which some more recent historians have added the middle initial to the original Otis Nichol’s name.↩

46. Cf. Arthur W. Spalding, “A York Shilling and Nine Cents,” ARH, February 2, 1950, 12.↩

47. W. L. Emmerson, “In the Footprints of the Pioneers,” ARH, September 18, 1958, 12-13, 19.↩

48. The eye-witness account by Nichols states that it was a “heavy, large, quarto family Bible,” see Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, 78.↩