The 1860s saw Ellen White and her husband in the forefront of the struggle to organize the Seventh-day Adventist Church into a stable institution. The decade was also crucial in that it encompassed the beginnings of Adventist health emphasis. Responding to Mrs. White's appeal, the church as a body began to see the importance of healthful living in the Christian life. In response to her “Christmas Vision” of 1865, our first health institution, the Western Health Reform Institute, was opened in 1866. The institute later grew into the Battle Creek Sanitarium. FH 7.1
| 1860, October 1 | Name Seventh-day Adventist chosen. |
| 1861, October 8 | Michigan Conference organized. |
| 1863, May | Organization of General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. |
| 1863, June 6 | Health reform vision at Otsego, Michigan. |
| 1863, December 8 | Death of eldest son, Henry Nichols, at Topsham, Maine. |
| 1864, Summer | Publication of Spiritual Gifts, volume 4, with 30-page article on health. |
| 1864, August-September | Visit to James C. Jackson's medical institution, Our Home on the Hillside, Dansville, New York, en route to Boston, Massachusetts. |
| 1865 | Publication of six pamphlets, Health: or How to Live. |
| 1865, August 16 | James White stricken with paralysis. |
| 1865, December 25 | Vision calling for a medical institution. |
| 1865, December | Mrs. White takes James White to northern Michigan as an aid to his recovery. |
| 1866, September 5 | Opening of Western Health Reform Institute, forerunner of Battle Creek Sanitarium. |
| 1867 | Purchased a farm at Greenville, Michigan, and built a home and engaged in farming and writing. |