Advent Pioneer Library
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Biographical Profile

Otis Nichols

Boston Lithographer, Dorchester Host & Publisher of the 1850 Prophetic Chart
1811 — 1897 Age at death: 85
Born: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Died: Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA

Otis Nichols (1811–1897): Lithographer of the 1850 Prophetic Chart

Otis Nichols was a skilled Boston lithographer, engraver, and noble Sabbatarian pioneer. Along with his wife, Mary Bird Nichols, Otis provided shelter, encouragement, and financial backing for Elder James White and Ellen G. White during the critical formative years of 1848–1850.

The Dorchester Publishing Vision & The 1850 Chart

In November 1848, while staying at the Nichols home in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Ellen White received her famous vision concerning the publishing work:

"I have a message for you. You must begin to print a little paper and send it out to the people... From this small beginning it was shown to me to be like streams of light that went clear round the world."

In 1850, Otis Nichols applied his artistic engraving talents to publish the 1850 Advent Prophetic Chart. Printed on cloth in Boston, it presented the Three Angels' Messages, the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14, and the Seventh-day Sabbath seal. Ellen G. White recorded in Early Writings (p. 74) that this 1850 chart was “directed by the hand of the Lord.”

The 1843 and 1850 Charts: Make the Vision Plain

Historical quotation image connected with the study of the 1850 prophetic chart
Open the featured image for a larger view, then examine the original charts and their keys of explanation below.

“Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie.”

— Habakkuk 2:2-3 (KJV)

The 1843 Prophetic Chart brought Daniel's time prophecies and the first angel's judgment-hour message into a shared visual testimony. Its Chart Key of Explanation (PDF) guides readers through Daniel 2, 7, 8, and 9, the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14, and Revelation 14. The 1850 Sanctuary and Prophetic Chart continued that study with the heavenly sanctuary, the seventh-day Sabbath, the seal of God, and the warning concerning the mark of the beast; open its Chart Explanation (PDF) and Key of Explanation (PDF).

“I was shown that the 1843 chart was directed by the hand of the Lord... Then I was shown that the 1850 chart was directed by His hand, and that the figures were correct.”

— Ellen G. White, Early Writings, p. 74.

The 1850 chart sets Revelation 13-14 before the reader: worship, the commandments of God, the faith of Jesus, and the warning against the beast and his image. The site’s April 15, 1904 Incorporation Record and History of the Seventh-day Adventist Name collect the legal and organizational documents that readers may compare with this chart study and the pioneer platform.

“The message of the fall of Babylon, as given by the second angel, is repeated, with the additional mention of the corruptions which have been entering the churches since 1844. The work of this angel comes in at the right time to join in the last great work of the third angel's message as it swells to a loud cry.”

— Ellen G. White, Early Writings, p. 277.1.

“Those who have betrayed sacred trusts will be unmasked before the world, whatever may be their position, height, or reputation.”

— Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 81.

The invitation of the charts is active and personal: read the records, test every claim by Scripture, and stand on the eternal truths made plain in the 1843 and 1850 witness. In Brother Miller's Dream, the first casket of Advent treasure is gathered into a larger casket and shines with greater glory; study that picture with New Jerusalem, The Present Truth feature, and the 1872 Fundamental Principles. For the legal question raised by the later record, read the 501(c)(3) church-state study alongside the 1904 documents.

James White: Trinity and Sunday

“Here we might mention the Trinity, which does away the personality of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ, and of sprinkling or pouring instead of being ‘buried with Christ in baptism,’ ‘planted in the likeness of his death:’ but we pass from these fables to notice one that is held sacred by nearly all professed Christians, both Catholic and Protestant. It is, The change of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment from the seventh to the first day of the week.”

— James White, “Preach the Word,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, December 11, 1855, vol. 7, no. 11, p. 85. Read the archival PDF.

James White: The Reformers Stopped Reforming

“The ‘mystery of iniquity’ began to work in the church in Paul’s day. It finally crowded out the simplicity of the gospel, and corrupted the doctrine of Christ, and the church went into the wilderness. Martin Luther, and other reformers, arose in the strength of God, and with the Word and Spirit, made mighty strides in the Reformation. The greatest fault we can find in the Reformation is, the Reformers stopped reforming. Had they gone on, and onward, till they had left the last vestige of Papacy behind, such as natural immortality, sprinkling, the trinity, and Sunday-keeping, the church would now be free from her unscriptural errors.”

— James White, “The Word,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, February 7, 1856, vol. 7, no. 19, p. 148. Read the archival PDF.


Pioneer & Study Resource Connections

Why These Rules Changed Everything

Before William Miller, most Christian teachers relied on church tradition, denominational commentary, and the interpretations of educated clergy. Miller did something radical: he went directly to Scripture and applied systematic, logical principles to understand what it plainly said.

The Impact: Using these fourteen rules, William Miller followed the KJV text from Daniel 8:14 to the sanctuary message and the 1844 waymark. The 1843 chart made the sequence visible: prophecy, judgment, the sanctuary, the commandments, the Sabbath, and the soon return of Christ.

Daniel 8:14 — the sanctuary

“And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”

Daniel 8:14, KJV

The Sabbath — God’s command

“The seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.”

Exodus 20:10, KJV

Christ’s return — the hope

“This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

Acts 1:11, KJV

The judgment — the message

“Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.”

Revelation 14:7, KJV
1843 Millerite Adventist Prophecy Chart showing the prophetic waymarks
Open the full 1843 chart study
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The 2300-year calculation

Daniel gives the period: 2300 days. Miller’s rules apply the Bible’s day-for-a-year principle (Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6) and connect the starting point with Daniel 9:25, the command to restore Jerusalem.

1. Start where Daniel 9:25 starts457 BC is the decree to restore and build Jerusalem.
2. Convert prophetic days to years2300 days becomes 2300 years by the Bible year-day rule.
3. Count across the BC/AD line correctlyThere is no year zero. The count goes from 1 BC straight to AD 1, so one year must be subtracted.

457 BC + 2300 years - 1 year for crossing from BC into AD = 1844 AD

Easy count: 457 years reach AD 1, then 1843 more years reach AD 1844. Together, 457 + 1843 = 2300 years.
Daniel 8:14 2300-day prophecy explained from 457 BC to October 22, 1844 with the 1843 and 1850 prophecy charts
Daniel 8:14 made plain: the 2300-day prophecy from 457 BC to October 22, 1844, witnessed through the 1843 and 1850 prophecy charts.

“The intellect should be cultivated, the memory taxed. All intellectual laziness is sin, and spiritual lethargy is death.”

— Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, p. 399.1

“I have been shown that many who profess to have a knowledge of present truth know not what they believe. They do not understand the evidences of their faith. They have no just appreciation of the work for the present time. When the time of trial shall come, there are men now preaching to others who will find, upon examining the positions they hold, that there are many things for which they can give no satisfactory reason. Until thus tested they knew not their great ignorance. And there are many in the church who take it for granted that they understand what they believe; but, until controversy arises, they do not know their own weakness. When separated from those of like faith and compelled to stand singly and alone to explain their belief, they will be surprised to see how confused are their ideas of what they had accepted as truth. Certain it is that there has been among us a departure from the living God and a turning to men, putting human in place of divine wisdom.”

— Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 707.2

The Millerite chart then placed the expected cleansing of the sanctuary at the tenth day of the seventh month, corresponding to October 22, 1844. The date is the chart’s historical result; Daniel 8:14 supplies the prophecy and the KJV gives the anchor text.

Miller’s method was a disciplined chain: read the words, compare the passages, follow the symbols through Scripture, and test the historical fulfillment against every prophetic detail. The 1843 chart gave ordinary believers a visual map of that chain. Read the full 1843 chart study and the William Miller biography for the story of the doctor who called Miller a “monomaniac” before discovering how completely his method rested on Scripture.

These rules keep Bible study anchored in the written Word. They lead the reader back to the sanctuary, the law, the Sabbath, the judgment-hour message, and the literal return of Jesus Christ.

Books by Otis Nichols

Published writings and theological contributions

1850 chart

The 1850 Adventist Prophetic Chart

The visual summary of the Three Angels' Messages printed by Otis Nichols in Boston.

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Foundation Jewels of the Holy City

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Foundation jewels of the Holy City, New Jerusalem
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