The Ellen G. White Letters and Manuscripts: Volume 1

LAY, Horatio S. (1828-1900) and Julia M. (1831-1893)

Horatio Lay served as medical director of the Western Health Reform Institute in Battle Creek, Michigan, from the time of its opening in 1866 to 1870. He also edited the first Seventh-day Adventist health journal, the Health Reformer, from 1866 to 1868. Lay was listed as a medical student in the Catalogue of the Officers and Students in the Western Reserve College 1848-9. From 1850 to 1864 he practiced medicine in Allegan, Michigan, and then spent two years on the staff of “Our Home Hygienic Institute” in Dansville, New York, which emphasized features of health reform such as vegetarianism and hydrotherapy. 1EGWLM 860.4

Some of the reasons for Lay's dismissal from the health institute in 1870 are suggested in a February 13 letter from Ellen White to “Brother and Sister Lay.” There is no mention of medical incompetence, but rather, among other things, of Horatio's domestic problems, which had diverted his time and attention from the work of the institute. Lay felt he had been unfairly treated, and several years of spiritual decline followed after he returned to his former practice in Allegan. “Brother Lay, you were shown me enshrouded in darkness,” Ellen White wrote in 1872. “The love of the world has taken control of your entire being.” Even more gloomy was her assessment in 1874: “In regard to Dr. Lay, the testimonies have spoken plainly in his case. He must answer to God for his course. … I do not think we can do him or George [his brother, George T. Lay] any good.” 1EGWLM 860.5

H. S. Lay gained a medical degree from Detroit Medical College in 1877, and in 1880 the Lays moved to the more salubrious climate of Petoskey in northern Michigan. Positive reports started to come to the Review of Dr. Lay's missionary work in that area. “He has felt much cast down in the past. The Lord has now revealed His Spirit to him, and he is greatly blessed,” G. I. Butler testified in 1884. The following year Lay was given ministerial credentials, and for the next decade and more, until ill-health slowed him down, he was active in ministry and evangelism in northern Michigan. “Dr. Lay has made great improvements. He is a good man,” Ellen White enthused during an extended summer visit to Petoskey in 1890. 1EGWLM 861.1

See: Obituary: “Julia M. B. Lay,” Review, Sept. 12, 1893, p. 591; obituary: “Horatio S. Lay,” Review, Mar. 13, 1900, p. 176; Catalogue of the Officers and Students in the Western Reserve College 1848-9 (Hudson, Ohio: Western Reserve College, 1848), p. 8; History of Allegan and Barry Counties, Michigan, pp. 158, 159; G. I. B. [George I. Butler], “Camp-Meeting Notes,” Review, Sept. 9, 1884, p. 584; search term “H. S. Lay” in Review and Herald online collection, www.adventistarchives.org; Ellen G. White, Lt 30, 1870 (Feb. 13); Lt 1a, 1872 (Jan. 11); Lt 61, 1874 (Nov. 11); Lt 100, 1890 (Aug. 11). 1EGWLM 861.2