Ellen G White is one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which was officially created in 1863. Although raised as a Methodist, the Adventist movement of New England in the 1840s influenced Ellen Harmon greatly. Led by William Miller, a Baptist preacher, Adventists believed that Jesus would return to earth in either 1843 or 1844 (some pinned it down to 22 October 1844).
In 1846 Harmon married a minister, James White, and together they devoted themselves to preaching religious principles based on visions she believed to be revelations from God. White was a prolific writer (she was accused of plagiarism by her critics) and considered a prophet of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Her book, Steps to Christ, has sold in excess of 50 million copies worldwide.
