When James and Ellen White left Battle Creek for California on December 18, 1873, he was president of the Publishing Association, editor of the Review and Herald, and nominally pastor of the Battle Creek church--and in his heart inseparably linked with the institutions there. He had a very special interest in the developing denominational school that was meeting temporarily in rooms in the newly constructed Review and Herald third building. He was able to sit in with just one class of the new term before leaving the city. Uriah Smith had been restored to the editorial staff of the Review and actually was managing the paper.
Across the continent at Santa Rosa in northern California, Lucinda Hall had set up housekeeping for the White family in a commodious rented home. The two nieces, Addie and May Walling, were with her. She was expecting James and Ellen White to come in late November. They finally arrived in San Francisco on Sunday evening, December 28, and were met the next day by J. N. Loughborough, president of the California Conference, now living at Woodland. Loughborough accompanied them to Santa Rosa, where he had called the officers of the California Conference to meet for a two-day council.
Isaac and Adelia Van Horn had traveled west with the Whites, and they joined the worker-group meeting in Santa Rosa. Everyone rejoiced in the reports of the victories won in Battle Creek. The whole experience brought great relief and freedom to James. Then the group broke up, the workers returning to their fields of labor. Van Horn accompanied Loughborough to Napa, where the evangelistic work carried on largely by Canright was being bound off. James and Ellen set about getting settled. Then Sabbath came, the first of the new year; Ellen spoke to the believers in Santa Rosa, and again Sunday afternoon (Manuscript 2, 1874).
A matter of early concern was transportation. For $220 James purchased a team of small, sound horses--a mare 4 years old, and her mother, 8. They purchased a used but "nice looking" covered carriage for $150 (Letter 4, 1874). Writing to Willie on Tuesday, January 13, Ellen reported that they were at work on "our Reformer articles and I have my article about ready for the Instructor" (ibid.).
Ten days later she wrote again to Willie, a letter that she addressed "My Dear Son Clarence." Apparently in respect to Willie's approaching manhood, the parents decided to use his middle name, thinking it would add a bit of dignity. Most of the letters addressed to him through February and March were written to "Clarence." But as the pressure of work increased, Ellen dropped back to the familiar "Willie," and Willie it was for the rest of his life.
In her letter of January 23, Ellen reported some inflammation in her eyes that made it impossible for her to read by candlelight. By being very careful she was able to get off her articles for the Reformer, Instructor, and the True Missionary. She added:
Yesterday I brought out from my boxes the article upon the temptation of Christ, and looked it over. I set Brother and Sister Van Horn to copying it for publication, so you see we have made a little progress in the direction of my next volume.--Letter 5, 1874.
Edited and enlarged, the manuscript made eleven articles, published in the Signs and then in the Review in 1874 and 1875.
M. E. Cornell, since arriving in California in late 1871, pursued a hobby of gathering rock specimens. He spent a few days in the White home getting them ready to send to the Health Institute in Battle Creek. His report to the Review gives us another glimpse of the White home in Santa Rosa:
I spent three days very pleasantly and profitably at the home of Brother and Sister White. I was greatly encouraged by their courage, and I rejoiced to find them in such good health and spirits. I was glad also to meet Sister Van Horn and Sister Hall. It seemed almost like being back in old Michigan, to see so many of the old hands in the cause.
They all seemed to do what they could do to make this lone pilgrim feel at home with them, and they succeeded well.
I noticed that all these were workers! There is not a drone in that hive. The very height of their ambition and pleasure seemed to be in doing what they could to advance the cause of present truth. Their zeal for God made me feel that I could do a little more in the good cause. From this on, I want to feel at the close of each day that I have done what I could.--The Review and Herald, March 10, 1874.
A month earlier Loughborough, in a report to the Review, had written of what James and Ellen White were doing:
We esteem it a great privilege to have in our midst Brother and Sister White, who during the rainy season are vigorously prosecuting their writings, and are even now giving us good counsel and aid in the work here; and when spring opens, and they have the opportunity of speaking to our people in different places, as the providence of God may indicate, they are prepared to greatly help our people.--Ibid., February 24, 1874
Loughborough described well the situation in Santa Rosa for the first quarter of 1874. The Whites were but little in the field, and they concentrated on their writing. When the quarterly meeting [A gathering of believers from a given area for worship, exhortation, and the advancement of the cause, usually opening on a friday afternoon and extending through sunday, and convened once in three months.] was held in Santa Rosa over the weekend of February 6 to 8, James White threw himself heartily into the work. Writing to Willie, who was staying in the Brownsberger home in Battle Creek and attending classes, Ellen explained:
Our quarterly meeting has closed. I was unable to attend the meeting, but there was little need. Brethren Canright, Loughborough, Van Horn, and your father were present and as the brethren had not heard Canright and Van Horn, we were anxious that they should take the time. Your father spoke twice. We had thirty at dinner, lodged eighteen and fed them straight through. The meeting passed off very pleasantly. Many things were discussed and settled. Brethren Van Horn and Canright go together to Oregon, week after next.
Brethren Loughborough and Cornell will work together here on this coast this season, and your father and I will strike in here and there, following up the labor in new places.
I do not think we will attend the eastern camp meetings this coming season. It is of no use to make child's play of coming to California and running back again.--Letter 10, 1874.
In the White Home in Santa Rosa
During those months in Santa Rosa, Ellen White wrote frequently to the children in Michigan--Edson and Emma, and Willie. Of paramount concern was James's health, now greatly improved but not what it once was. Concerning this, Ellen wrote on February 7:
Your father is much stronger than he was one year ago. He is of excellent courage. He does considerable writing, takes care of two horses, harnesses and unharnesses them. He takes care of one cow, all but the milking. That Lucinda does.--Letter 8, 1874.
The mail, of course, was a very important matter. The post office in Santa Rosa was located about a mile from where they lived (Letter 13, 1874). "Your father," she wrote, "gets up in the morning before breakfast and walks down to the post office with his mail." She added:
I accompany him, but he walks so fast I have to exert myself considerably to keep up with him. It has generally been otherwise. He could not walk with me....
Your father does much writing night after night. He sits up until midnight writing. I do not think this is a good plan.--Letter 9, 1874.
"We have plenty of house room," she wrote, "and all the furniture we need. We are comfortably situated."--Letter 8, 1874. "The continuous rains have hindered us from riding out and going about as we need, to mix in with our writing."--Letter 9, 1874. Not yet acquainted with the winter months on the coast in northern California, with their rain and fog, her judgment was that Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Woodland, and San Francisco were not places for invalids. "But," she wrote, "there are locations within thirty miles that have the reputation of being very healthy, the atmosphere light and pure.--Letter 8, 1874.
James and Ellen White had become responsible for Addie and May Walling, and found some very judicious training necessary. "The little girls are doing well," she wrote on January 23; "May is rather delicate."--Letter 5, 1874. Four days later she wrote that she saw in them a temper and disposition of the mother, which needed to be carefully handled and corrected lest it grow upon them. She added: "We do not have much trouble with them."--Letter 7, 1874. On February 7 she reported:
Our children are both well. We think they try to do right. We tell them that if they are naughty they cannot ride out with Uncle James. May does not fret now at being crossed. She seems to be under good control.--Letter 9, 1874.
Later she noted, "Addie and May are chattering like blackbirds and I can hardly keep my mind on my writing."--Ibid.
In mid-February she mentioned in a letter to Willie:
You cannot live too plainly when you are studying so constantly. Your father and I have dropped milk, cream, butter, sugar, and meat entirely since we came to California. We are far clearer in mind and far better in body. We live very plainly. We cannot write unless we do live simply.
Your father bought meat once for May while she was sick, but not a penny have we expended in meat since. We have the most excellent fruit of all kinds.--Letter 12, 1874.
It would be well to mention that caution should be exercised in observing the particular articles of diet that appeared on the White table at different times and under greatly varying circumstances. While they were in the Rocky Mountains a few months earlier, where fruit was very scarce and vegetables limited and costly, fish from the snow-fed brooks and lakes constituted an important part of their diet. By and large James and Ellen White worked on the principle of making use of the best foods available, prepared in the best manner, all within the economic structure in which they operated.
In the days of which we write, James and Ellen White, having accepted health reform, were vegetarians. But this did not preclude the occasional use of some meat, especially when nonmeat articles were not easily available. Ellen White took a positive stand in Australia in 1896, and from that time onward no meat appeared on her table; this soon included fish and fowl. When considering precisely what Ellen White ate and checking to see if this accorded with the main body of her teachings, the time, place, circumstances, and foods available to her should be taken into account. The reader must keep in mind that there was no easy nor simple refrigeration. Nor were there the cereal breakfast foods or vegetable protein foods we know so well, in existence.
What Shall We Do?
Heretofore the Whites had been very active, deeply involved in the workings of the cause. In Santa Rosa the winter rains dragged on, confining them largely to the house. James and Ellen White questioned whether they were following the right course.
This thinking surfaced occasionally in letters to the children, as in a letter to Willie written February 15:
Father thinks sometimes that he had not ought to have come to California, but remained in Battle Creek. Do you think so? You know what fears we have had in regard to his stay in Battle Creek. If all was well with Father, I would rather be in Battle Creek than in any other place, but the multiplicity of cares and burdens that devolve upon him there I think would soon use him up.--Ibid.
This same restlessness showed up in her letter to Willie five weeks later:
Father has been sick for several days with a bilious attack. Father talks sometimes of going to Colorado mountains. He thinks that Johnny [not further identified.] and you would like to come out and spend a few months. What do you think of this? ...
Sometimes Father talks of going to our place in Iowa ...and we make that our home and have you and Johnny come and spend some months with us. What do you think of this proposition? Sometimes Father talks of taking treatments at the institute at Battle Creek. What do you think of this? ...I think Father ought to be where he can work out of doors and occupy his mind.--Letter 17, 1874.
She then expressed what was on her heart:
I want very much to go to the camp meetings the coming season. Oh, how unreconciled I feel to be doing nothing of any account, when I know I have a testimony for the people! I long to be at work and say or do something that will advance the cause of God.--Ibid.
Developments that Brought Changes
Soon circumstances brought about major changes. They made a visit to the church in San Francisco over the weekend of February 21 and 22 and received a hearty welcome. Both spoke Sabbath morning and Sabbath afternoon. Sunday morning they were taken in the Chittenden sailboat seven miles across the Bay to Oakland, where, with a team of horses, they were shown the city. "It is indeed," wrote Ellen White, "the most beautiful place I have seen in California." Enthusiastically she added:
The shade trees by the sidewalks are many of them a variety of evergreens, trimmed as nicely as those in the yards in San Francisco. The fragrance of these evergreen cedars, fir trees, the trees of great beauty made the air fragrant with their perfume, as the rose-scented geraniums when we pluck the leaves. Flowers were in full bloom.
We thought that this might be a very excellent place for the Health Institute and the branch offices [printing] on this coast. We think we may visit this place again soon. There is an excellent little company of Sabbathkeepers, about six in number, in this place....
We are now having the most beautiful weather.--Letter 16, 1874.
The visit to Oakland planted some seeds in the minds of James and Ellen White.
As the weather improved they were able to get out to other churches; they made a two-week visit to Napa, where James White dedicated the newly erected house of worship.
Ellen White's Dream of April 1, 1874
Cornell and Canright, who were studying plans for an evangelistic thrust with the California tent, were inclined to work the smaller towns.
On the night of April 1 a dream was given to Ellen White. She wrote:
I was given an impressive dream, in which was represented the instrumentality of the press in the work of giving the third angel's message to the world.
I dreamed that several of the brethren in California were in council, considering the best plan for labor during the coming season. Some thought it wise to shun the large cities, and work in smaller places. My husband was earnestly urging that broader plans be laid, and more extended efforts be made, which would better compare with the character of our message.
Then a young man whom I had frequently seen in my dreams came into the council. He listened with deep interest to the words that were spoken, and then, speaking with deliberation and authoritative confidence, said:
"The cities and villages constitute a part of the Lord's vineyard. They must hear the messages of warning.... You are entertaining too limited ideas of the work for this time. You are trying to plan the work so that you can embrace it in your arms. You must take broader views. Your light must not be put under a bushel or under a bed, but on a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house. Your house is the world.--3Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 208, 209.
Limited Evangelistic Plans
Some three weeks later, James and Ellen White were in San Francisco, where they met Canright. They learned that he and Cornell were planning to conduct an evangelistic effort in Cloverdale, a town of two hundred inhabitants fifteen miles north of Healdsburg. James and Ellen White had Oakland in mind as the place for the summer evangelistic meetings. "Our people in Oakland," wrote Ellen White, "were very earnest for the tent to come there, and this seemed to be altogether a better place than Cloverdale."--Letter 20, 1874. Arrangements were made for Canright and White to meet at Healdsburg to consider plans.
When James and Ellen arrived at Healdsburg, they learned that Canright and Cornell had assembled their equipment at the Bond home near Healdsburg and had gone on to Cloverdale. Now it was up to James and Ellen White to head off the dispatching of the tent waiting at the Bond farm. Ellen described the next few hours:
We thought best to push ahead, although it was already seven o'clock at night, and go on eight miles to see Brother Bond. We rode on until we came to the Russian River. Your cautious father dared not drive the team into the water until he thought it was perfectly safe. You can imagine our situation upon a road we were unacquainted with, and a deep, rapidly running river to ford.
Your father had no thought of backing out. He unhitched the horses from the wagon, separated them, and rode Kitty through the river while I held Bill upon the shore. We had heard (and this was, we found, correct) that this river had deep holes, over the horses' back. We thought we could cross safely, hitched the horses to the carriage, drove over the stream, and were just feeling very much gratified that we were over, then lo, stretching to the right and left before us was still a rapid running, deep, broad river.
We were in a quandary what to do. Your father and I unhitched the horses again. He mounted Kit's back while I had all that I could do to keep restless Bill from breaking away from me and following his mate. Your father crossed and recrossed the river twice to make sure the way of safety for the carriage. The water came above his boots. We marked the course he took by a mountain on the opposite side. We hitched our horses to the wagon the second time at nine o'clock at night, and passed over to the other side. The water came up to the body of the wagon. We felt to thank God and to take courage.--Ibid.
The next morning, Wednesday, April 22, at the Bond home they found the goods to be taken to Cloverdale, ordered that they be detained, and then with fresh horses went on to confer with the ministers who had gone ahead. When they reached Cloverdale, all could see that it was the wrong place for the tent. Then they went back to Santa Rosa to counsel together to determine what the next move should be. The next weekend the quarterly meeting was to be held at Bloomfield. Leading workers would be there, and this gave promise of settling some matters.
The Bloomfield Quarterly Meeting
Friday morning, April 24, James and Ellen drove over to Bloomfield to be present at the quarterly meeting that was to open that evening. Writing to Edson and Emma early the next week, she laid out the situation:
The conference committee upon this coast was expressly notified to be here, for there was important business to be considered. There were decisions to be made, whether the people professing the truth would cooperate with us in widening and extending the work on this coast this present year. We wished to know whether they would hug the shore or launch out into the deep and let down their nets for a draught of fish in the deep waters.
The ideas of our brethren have been too narrow and the work too limited. We told them if they were not calculating to do more the present tent season than heretofore, we wished to return east and attend the camp meetings. They should not pitch their tents in the smallest places, but imitate the example of Christ. He placed Himself in the great thoroughfares of travel where people were going to and from all nations of the world, and here in a most impressive manner did He give His lessons upon important truth.--Letter 23, 1874.
Coming more directly to the point, she declared:
San Francisco and Oakland, Santa Clara, San Jose (which is pronounced Sanas A), are large, influential cities. If we have the truth we have a great and important work before us. The world is to be tested. The world is to be warned, and the message of warning will be to them the savor of life unto life or of death unto death....
We are bearing the most solemn message that was ever given to the world. I have a part to act according to the light and ability God has given me. You have a part to act in letting your light shine forth to others. If you live only for yourselves, no "Well done" will await you. If I live for my own interest, no "Well done" will be spoken to me.
We intend to put the armor on, moving forward in faith, and start a paper upon this coast. We must bring up the cause and work of God before we leave the Pacific Coast. God will work for us and through us and by us. If we have the truth, as we believe without a doubt we have, there is no time to be lost. We must work to get the message before all we possibly can.--Ibid.
In another letter written the same day, Monday, April 27, she stated, "I entreated of our brethren to do something, to do it now.... Ministers have a work to do. Laymen cannot meet the accountability and be idle."--Letter 19b, 1874.
At the Bloomfield meeting, where these matters were earnestly discussed, the theme of "doing something and doing it now" seemed to dominate.
She wrote:
We have had many seasons of earnest prayer to God for wisdom to move in God's order. After much prayer your father expressed it as his opinion that now was the best time to start a paper on this coast, in accordance with the light the Lord had given in reference to it. We will move out cautiously. Your father's plans are these: to start a weekly paper; to have the type set and the printing done at some city on this coast. Oakland looks to us to be the most favorable point to commence the work....
This is the work of God. We take hold of it in the name of the Lord. He will give us strength. By faith we claim His power to help us. We feel that we cannot rest until we see the work moving forward more surely, earnestly, and upon a more elevated, broader platform than it has hitherto done on this coast.--Ibid.
The Precipitous Move to Oakland
Ellen White had called for something to be done "now." These words were written from Bloomfield on Monday morning, April 27, following the quarterly meeting. The rapid movements in the days that followed indicated that her appeal had set the workers on fire for God. Several of the ministers hastened to Oakland to spy out the land. Tuesday, James and Ellen White were at their Santa Rosa home, awaiting a dispatch "to call us to Oakland, where our tent will be pitched." She added, "Local option is now in strong agitation there. We will do our part by voice and vote to close the liquor saloons in that beautiful city."--Letter 22, 1874.
Wednesday, James and Ellen White were on their way to Oakland, prepared to set up headquarters there. Thursday the tent was up in the heart of the city, and that night Cornell preached on spiritualism. There was a keen interest in the subject because of spirit manifestations in the city. James White had already set to work arranging for the publication of a paper. The Whites had rented the "Fountain Farm" four miles from the city, and Ellen White and two young men were giving the eight-room house (Letter 19h, 1874) a thorough cleaning. Friday afternoon, May 1, they moved in. Lucinda Hall and the Walling children were with them (Letter 19f, 1874).
The Fountain Farm--The Oakland Residence
A few days later Ellen White, in a letter to Willie, described their rented residence:
We are now getting settled in our new home four miles from the city. It is rural here. There was once a very good "water cure" upon this place. The large three-story house is standing desolate, shattered and dilapidated. We live in a neat square house a few rods from this building. We have not got settled as yet, but we shall soon. This is a very pleasant place to live. There are trees and flowers; no fruit, but our neighbors have fruit in abundance, so we can purchase of them.
The Chinese have a house not far off. We buy peas of them for 3 cents a pound. Strawberries are plentiful, and there is every kind of vegetable in abundance; new potatoes for 3 cents per pound. We have the use of a new milk cow for pasturing her and giving the owner three pints of milk each day.
We have a good house and barn. Our horses were brought to us from Brother Judson's yesterday. We shall now have a spry team to take us to and from the city.--Letter 26, 1874.
In an earlier letter, the first written from the Fountain Farm, she declared that she could "stand upon the piazza and look out upon the Golden Gate" (Letter 19f, 1874).
The Tent Meetings in Oakland
On Wednesday, May 6, in a letter to Uriah Smith, Ellen White described the evangelistic meetings:
The large tent is pitched and meetings have been held in it since last Thursday.... We felt that the time had come for something to be done in California.... We have seen and felt that the idea of our ministering brethren was altogether too contracted. They were for pitching the tent in small places, but shunning the large cities. I had dreams that in thus doing, they were not doing the work God would have them do....
The tent has started in Oakland. Our meetings have been excellent. Elder Cornell preached the first two nights upon spiritualism, taking advantage of an excitement in Oakland created by the work of the spirits. Chairs were moved, trunks thrown about, and night after night shrill screams were heard. In this manifestation Satan seemed to overdo himself and really hurt his own cause. Elder Cornell's discourses took well. The tent was crowded both nights. There have been meetings every night and all day Sunday. Brother Canright has spoken several times with acceptance.--Letter 25, 1874.
Ellen White was drawn into the speaking on Sunday afternoon, and addressed a good audience for an hour.
She was glad to see the work in the West gathering momentum.