Otis Nichols
1798-1876


Otis Nichols was one of the first Millerites to accept Joseph Bates's teachings of the seventh-day Sabbath. This photograph (the only one known to exist) was taken when Nichols was in his seventies. A lithographer (engraver) by trade, in 1850 Nichols published the first illustrated prophetic chart to be brought out after the 1844 disappointment.

For much of her first three years of traveling (1845-1848), Ellen G. White was welcomed into the home of Otis and his wife, Mary. She wrote of their hospitality and friendship in an early autobiographical account: "They were ever ready with words of encouragement to comfort me when in trial, and often their prayers 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 took a stand in favor of my visions, and on account of this they were obliged to be in almost constant conflict, for many were anxious to turn them against me. A faithful record is kept of their acts of love and benevolence. They will not lose their reward. He that seeth in secret is acquainted with every kind and generous act, and will reward them openly."--Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, pp. 68, 69. Apparently in honor of such friendship, service, and loyalty, the Whites named their first child Henry Nichols White.

Otis Nichols was an eye-witness to several of Ellen White's visions. You can read his account of these remarkable experiences in this month’s From the Vault section. It was also in his home, in November 1848, that she received the vision that led to the beginning of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's publishing work.






 
John Nevins Andrews
Joseph Bates
John Norton Loughborough
Fredrick Wheeler
George Ide Butler
Marian Davis
Otis Nichols
Stephen N. Haskell
Eugene Farnsworth
S. M. I. Henry
Uriah Smith
W. W. Prescott