The Publication of Her First Vision—January, 1846

Shortly after her eighteenth birthday Ellen Harmon observed that Enoch Jacobs was wavering in his confidence in the fulfillment of prophecy on October 22. She wrote to him from Portland on December 20, 1845, recounting the highlights of her first vision. Although she stated that the letter was not written for publication, Jacobs printed it in the Day-Star issue of January 24, 1846. Through the next few years it was republished in various forms until it was carried into her first little book, Christian Experience and Views, published in 1851, and from there into Early Writings.1BIO 107.1

In his letter to William Miller, written on April 20, 1846, Otis Nichols stated that Ellen Harmon had been “a resident in my family much of the time for about eight months” (DF 105). It was while there that Ellen discovered that the editor of the Day-Star had published her letter, including her statement that it was not written for publication.1BIO 107.2