Forget the image of Adventist pioneers singing hymns on every carriage ride. Ellen G. White and James White had their frosty moments. As Gilbert M. Valentine notes in Reclaiming the Prophet, their marriage was a study in “elbowed living.”

James could be controlling; Ellen was stubborn and fiercely independent. When tensions flared, Ellen sometimes used the ultimate weapon: the silent treatment. They might ride all day in the same carriage, side by side, with Ellen not uttering a word. Picture a 90-mile journey through a Michigan snowstorm, horse hooves clattering, and nothing but a prophetic cold shoulder.

Sometimes the silence lingered at home too—Ellen stayed away from church, sad and dispirited, until the frost thawed. She admitted to apologizing for her own harsh words—but James usually had to go first.

Even the founders of a worldwide movement needed time to cool off, proving that the path to history is often paved with very human moments.

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BarelyAdventist: Because even prophets sometimes needed to cool off.