When James and Ellen White first moved to Rochester, New York, they lived at 124 Mt. Hope Avenue. Their rent was $175 per year. As the number of people living in the house increased, the printing press was eventually moved to South St. Paul’s Street, Stone’s Block, No. 21, Third Floor. The October 14, 1852, issue of The Review and Herald was the first to carry the new address.PPP 70.2

On May 6, 1852, the first number ofVolume III of the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald was published in Rochester, N. Y., and was printed on a press and with type owned by Seventh-day Adventists. Hiram Edson had advanced means to purchase a Washington hand-press, with type and material for fitting up the office. He was to receive his pay as donations should come in from the friends of the truth. That hand-press now stands in the office of the Review and Herald at Battle Creek, Mich.,^{37The original Washington hand press was destroyed when the Review and Herald Publishing Company building in Battle Creek, Michigan, burned to the ground on the night of December 30, 1902.} and is regarded as the best proof-press in the office. In No. 12, Vol. III, Oct. 14, 1852, an announcement was made that the cost of fitting up the office with this press and material was $652.93, and the receipts for that purpose up to that date were $655.84. Of those twelve numbers of the paper, 2000 copies of each number had been issued and circulated gratuitously. In the business notes on the publisher’s page of that number, we read:PPP 70.3

“The office is not in debt, however, for this reason: Brethren [Stephen] Belden and [Oswald] Stowell, who have worked in the office the past six months, have received but a trifle more than their board. Others engaged in the same work, have received no more than they have. It will certainly be a pleasure for all the friends of present truth to help to make up the deficiency in the receipts, that those who have labored hard, especially in our absence, in the midst of sickness, in publishing the Review and Herald, may have comfortable support.” —J. N. Loughborough, Rise and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists, p. 167.PPP 71.1

Humble beginningsPPP 71.2

Those who have labored in connection with the office, have been willing to sacrifice their time and ease. That the expenses of the REVIEW might not exceed its receipts, they have been willing to labor for a trifle more than their food and clothing, and this too, when their services elsewhere, or in other kinds of business, would command good wages. Some of them in coming to labor in this office, have, for that very purpose, left businesses that would command twice or thrice what they had offered them here. Beside this, they have been willing, not only to labor hard, but also to toil early and late, frequently till midnight, and on some occasions all night. And this they have cheerfully done that the truth might be published before the world. In addition to the above, that the expense of life in the city might be as small as consistent, those engaged in the office, with one exception have formed but one family. This has made the expense of publication less, but it has been attended with many inconveniences to all concerned.—Affairs Connected with the [Publishing] Office, Review and Herald, December 20, 1854, p. 150.PPP 71.3

In April, 1852, we moved to Rochester, N.Y., under most discouraging circumstances. At every step we were obliged to advance by faith. We were still crippled by poverty, and compelled to exercise the most rigid economy and self-denial. I will give a brief extract from a letter to Brother Howland’s family, dated April 16, 1852:PPP 72.1

“We are just getting settled in Rochester. We have rented an old house for one hundred and seventy-five dollars a year. We have the press in the house. Were it not for this, we should have to pay fifty dollars a year for office room. You would smile could you look in upon us and see our furniture. We have bought two old bedsteads for twenty-five cents each. My husband brought me home six old chairs, no two of them alike, for which he paid one dollar, and soon he presented me with four more old chairs without any seating, for which he paid sixty-two cents. The frames are strong, and I have been seating them with drilling. Butter is so high that we do not purchase it, neither can we afford potatoes. We use sauce in place of butter, and turnips for potatoes. Our first meals were taken on a fire board placed upon two empty flour barrels. We are willing to endure privations if the work of God can be advanced. We believe the Lord’s hand was in our coming to this place. There is a large field for labor, and but few laborers. Last Sabbath our meeting was excellent. The Lord refreshed us with His presence.” —E. G. White, Life Sketches, p. 142.PPP 72.2

Sacrifice and sense of humor neededPPP 72.3

Janie Fraser was young, buoyant, and energetic, but she was not what one would call a trained cook. Though she did not understand the desirable balance of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates necessary to be maintained, yet she fully understood the value of inexpensive foods, and especially of porridge and beans. She was a steadfast economist, and knew that a dollar’s worth of beans would go farther in the feeding of a family of fifteen or more persons, seven of whom were hearty men and boys, than a dollar’s worth of any other food.PPP 72.4

After Uriah Smith had been in the family for a few weeks, he remarked to a comrade, that though he had no objection to eating beans 365 times in succession, yet when it came to making them a regular diet, he should protest!—William C. White, “Sketches and Memories of James and Ellen G. White,” No. XIV, Beginnings in Rochester, Review and Herald, June 13,1935, p. 10.PPP 73.1

Straight doctrines though not straight page marginsPPP 73.2

I often think of the time when Elder [J. N. ] Loughborough, myself, and a few others, in Rochester, N.Y., under the direction of Brother [James] White, were preparing the first tracts to be sent out to the people. The instruments we had to use were a brad-awl, a straight edge, and a pen knife. Brother Loughborough, with the awl, would perforate the backs for stitching; the sisters would stitch them; and then I with the straight-edge and pen-knife, would trim the rough edges on the top, front, and bottom. We blistered our hands in the operation, and often the tracts in form were not half so true and square as the doctrines they taught.—Uriah Smith, “History and Future Work of Seventh-day Adventists,” General Conference Daily Bulletin, October 29, 1889, vol. 3, no. 9, p. 105.PPP 73.3

The laborers in the office of publication in those “pioneer days” had a very different prospect before them than the workers have at this time. No tithing system had as yet come to us. There was no fund from which salaries could be assured for services rendered. The facilities with which the work was to be performed, including hand-press, type, etc., had been purchased (new) for less than seven hundred dollars. Well do I remember when the first pamphlet was printed in the Rochester office, in the winter of 1853-4. It was a book of about eighty pages, on the sanctuary and twenty-three hundred days, written by Elder J. N. Andrews. The sheets were printed on the hand-press. A number of the believers in the Rochester company united with the office workers in folding, stitching, covering, and trimming these books. The office had no folding machine, no stabbing machine, no stitching machine, no paper cutter. The sisters folded and gathered the signatures, the writer stabbed the books with a shoemaker’s pegging awl. After they were stitched with needle and thread, Sister Mary Patten (afterward Mead-Sawyer) pasted on the covers, and Brother Uriah Smith trimmed the edges with his pocket-knife, while Brother and Sister James White wrapped and directed advance copies to our people in other places. It was a happy day indeed, and why should it not have been? “The office of the Seventh-day Adventists was issuing its first pamphlet, printed on its own press.” —J. N. Loughborough, “Reminiscences of the Life of Uriah Smith,” Review and Herald, April 7, 1903, p. 8.PPP 73.4

Three-cent silver coinPPP 74.1

For three and one-half years I had preached more or less among the First-day Adventists, but supporting myself principally by my own hand labor, as they had no direct system of ministerial support. I was convicted of duty to preach the third angel’s message, but reasoned that it was so sacred a work that it might be better for me to labor for the support of myself and wife, and earn means with which to help others to preach the truth.PPP 74.2

I had when I accepted the truth [in 1852] . . . about thirty-five dollars in hand. I still made earnest efforts to push the window-lock business in which I had previously been quite successful. As I went from place to place with the business, the conviction was constantly pressing upon me to make known to others the truths I had learned. With all the earnestness that I put forth, my business would not prosper. I could not succeed in making sales to builders who admitted that the locks which I was handling they would finally put into their buildings. In some instances my sales for a week (five days) in such places as Lockport, Medina, and Middleport,^{38All three of these are in western New York State.} would only give enough profit to pay my hotel bill and fare to and from Rochester [New York].PPP 74.3

This state of things soon consumed what money I had saved, leaving me in a situation where I had not money enough to pay the fare out of Rochester. All this time, which covered the rest of October, November, and the first of December, 1852, the conviction fastened itself upon me more and more deeply that I must give myself wholly to the preaching of this truth. Finally, about the middle of December, my money was reduced to a silver three-cent piece^{39Silver three-cent coins were minted in the United States from 1851 to 1873.}. As I attended the next Sabbath meeting, a cloud seemed to hang over the meeting. As prayer was offered for the removal of the cloud, Sister White was taken off in vision. Then she had a message for me. On relating the vision she said: “The reason this cloud hung over the meeting, is that Brother Loughborough is resisting the conviction of duty. God wants him to give himself wholly to the preaching of the message.” I did not then take my stand to do it, for I could not see how I could be supported in so doing. On reaching my home, it was with a heavy load resting upon me. I said to myself, “This thing has got to be settled.” I retired to my chamber and there told the Lord if He would open the way I would go out; but that did not settle it. Finally, on the strength of the Testimony, I said, “I will obey, Lord, and Thou wilt open the way.” At once all these harrowing and perplexing doubts passed from my mind, and I was happy in the thought that the Lord would provide, notwithstanding I had but three cents, and knew not where another cent would come from. I arose from my knees with the full assurance that the Lord would open the way as I should move in the direction of duty.PPP 74.4

On the Monday morning following, my wife,^{40 Mary Loughborough (1832-1867).} who did not know how low my funds were reduced, came to ask me for money with which to get matches and some thread. I said, taking the money from my pocket, “Mary, there is a three-cent piece. It is all the money I have in the world. Only get one cent’s worth of matches. Spend only one of the other cents, and bring me one cent, so that we shall not be entirely out of money.” Said I, “Mary, I have tried hard, every way in my power, to make this business succeed, but I can not.” With tears she said, “John, what in the world are we going to do?” I replied, “I have been powerfully convicted for weeks that the reason my business does not succeed is because the Lord’s hand is against it for neglect of duty. It is my duty to give myself wholly to the preaching of the truth.” “But,” she said, “if you go to preaching, how are we to be supported?” “Well,” said I, “as soon as I decided to obey the call of duty, there came to me the assurance that the Lord is going to open the way; I don’t know how it will be done, but the way will open.” She retired to her room to weep, and per-haps to pray. At least I saw no more of her for an hour. Then she went out to make her little purchases. In our next article we shall see how this came out, and how the tide turned.—|ohn N. Loughborough, “Sketches of the Past.-No. 74,” Pacific Union Recorder, July 29, 1909, p. 1.PPP 75.1

In our last article we left our narrative with my wife out making her purchases of matches and thread, spending two cents of my last three cents. At the same time I was studying the message, happy in the Lord with the assurance that He would open my way to speak the truth. I of course pitied the poor wife’s humble necessity of making, with so sad a heart, such small purchases. Not more than thirty minutes from the time she left the door suddenly there was a loud rap. On going to the door there stood a gentleman, who inquired, “Does Mr. Loughborough live here?” I assured him that I was the man, and invited him to come in.PPP 76.1

Seating himself, he said, “I am Mr. ____, from Middleport. ^{41New York.} I am not in very good health, and am going to the state of Ohio for my health. I wished to take along some small business with which to meet expenses. I was recommended to you by Mr. Thomas Garbutt (Mr. G_____ was a First-day Adventist minister) to purchase some of Mr. Arnold’s patent sash-locks. I am going out to Penfield, ^{42New York.} some seven miles^{4311.2 km.} in the country, and will be back to-morrow noon. I want eighty dollars’ worth of locks, and will leave you to pick out an assortment, as you have retailed the locks. I will take the locks to-morrow and pay you the money.” All I would have to do would be to walk half a mile^{44.8 km..} to the factory and leave the order. They would bring the locks, with a little model window with which to illustrate their use, to my door. My commission on such a sale was one third of the gross receipts. So here would come into my hands twenty-six dollars. This sum would go as far in making purchases for the family and table in that time as three times that amount would purchase now.PPP 76.2

Very soon after the man left, my sad wife returned with her purchases and my one cent, but she found me . . . singing. She said, “You seem to be very happy,” “O yes,” I said, “I have had some company since you left, and the Lord has opened the way for me to go out and preach the third angel’s message.” With this I told her what had happened, and in a flood of different tears, again she retired to her room to weep and seek the Lord. She came back soon, as happy as I, and ready to do what she could to prepare me for my labors. On receiving my money, I very soon purchased wood, provisions, and what was necessary for home comforts as I should enter the field.—Loughborough, “Sketches of the Past- No. 75,” Pacific Union Recorder, August 12, 1909, p. 1.PPP 76.3

What follows is an account ofJ. N. Loughborough’s ministerial “training”.PPP 77.1

The above-related experience brought us to the third Sabbath in December (1852), the next Sabbath after I decided to give myself to preaching the message. On that Sabbath there was a general gathering at 124 Mt. Hope Avenue, of the Sabbath-keepers of western New York. In the opening prayer of that meeting Sister White was again taken off in vision. Among other things presented to her, she said to me, “You are correct in your decision to give yourself to the work of the ministry. It is now your duty to go on, and tarry no longer.” In that meeting prayer was offered for me that the Lord would further open the way before me to go.PPP 77.2

Brother Hiram Edson, who lived some forty miles^{4564 km.} east of Rochester, had decided not to attend that meeting; but his wife had been so impressed that he was going [to] be called away that she had all his clothing in shape for any emergency. On the said Sabbath morning, while engaged in family worship, the impression came upon him as strong as though spoken with an audible voice, “Go to Rochester, you are wanted there.” He said to his wife, ^{46Esther Edson (1816-1893).} “What does that mean? I do not know why I should go to Rochester.” All the day the impression came stronger and stronger. Several times in the day he retired to his barn to pray, and every time the impression would come, “Go to Rochester.”PPP 77.3

Finally he said to Sister Edson, “Is my clothing in a condition to leave? It is my impression that I am to be gone several weeks.” She assured him that all was ready, for she had been impressed that he would be called somewhere. After the close of the Sabbath he took the cars^47Train. for Rochester. On arriving at Mt. Hope Avenue about nine o’clock at night, he said to Brother White, “I did not expect to come to this meeting, but I have been impressed so strongly to-day that I should come here that here I am. What do you want of me?” “Well,” said Brother [James] White, “we want you to take old Charlie horse and the carriage and take Brother Loughborough around on your six-weeks’ circuit in southwestern New York and Pennsylvania, and get him started in preaching the third angel’s message.” —Loughborough, “Sketches of the Past-No. 75,” Pacific Union Recorder, August 12, 1909, p. 1.PPP 77.4

14. Commitment of Early Pioneers

16. The Battle Creek Years