William S. Sadler - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Sadler was born June 24, 1875, in Spencer, Indiana, to Samuel Cavins Sadler and Sarah Isabelle Wilson. Of English and Irish descent, he was raised in Wabash, Indiana. Samuel did not enroll his son in public schools. Despite his lack of formal education, Sadler read many books about history as a child and became a skilled public speaker at a young age. Samuel was a convert to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and William was baptized into the denomination in 1888 and became devoutly religious.

In 1889, William Sadler moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, to work at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where he served as a bellhop and helped in the kitchen. He also attended Battle Creek College. Both institutions had strong ties to his church and Sadler was mentored by local Adventist businessman John Harvey Kellogg, who heavily influenced Sadler's views. Sadler's early writings about health are similar to ideas advanced by John Kellogg, including the concept of autointoxication, and the idea that caffeine has negative health effects. He similarly condemned the consumption of tobacco, meat, and alcohol.

Sadler graduated from Battle Creek College in 1894 and subsequently worked for John Kellogg's brother, William K. Kellogg as a health-food salesman. Sadler, a skilled salesman, persuaded William Kellogg to market his products through demonstrations in retail stores, dramatically increasing sales. During the same period, Sadler earned income at part-time detective work with a society that sought to enforce the Comstock anti-obscenity laws. A federal law enforcement agency offered him an executive position, but he rejected the offer. In 1894, he oversaw the establishment of Life Boat Mission, a mission that Kellogg founded on State Street in Chicago. Sadler operated the mission and published Life Boat Magazine; its sales were intended to provide funds for Kellogg's Chicago Medical Mission. Sadler also contributed articles to other Adventist publications, including the Review and Herald. Around 1895, Sadler attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois, where he trained to be an evangelist, ultimately becoming an ordained minister in 1901.

In 1897, Sadler married John Kellogg's niece, Lena Celestia Kellogg, a nurse whom he had met four years previously. Their first child, born in 1899, died a short time later. Their second child, William S. Sadler Jr., was born in 1907. They later adopted a daughter, Emma Christensen. The couple had been interested in medicine for several years, but the loss of their child inspired them to pursue medical careers. In 1901, they moved to San Francisco to attend medical school at Cooper Medical College. While attending medical school, Sadler worked as a chemistry tutor and became an elder in the Adventist church. In San Francisco, he served as the "superintendent of young people's work" for the church's California conference and the president of a local Medical Missionary society. The couple also operated a home for Christian medical students. In 1904, they returned to the Midwest, where they attended medical school, each earning a Doctor of Medicine degree two years later. In 1910, they traveled to Europe to study psychiatry under Sigmund Freud in Vienna; Sadler was an early adopter of Freudian psychoanalysis, and believed that experiences individuals have as infants play a key role in their minds as adults, although he did not accept many of Freud's ideas about sexuality or religion.

Although Sadler was a committed Adventist for much of his early life, he stayed less involved after John Kellogg was excommunicated in 1907 in the wake of a conflict with Ellen G. White, the church's founder. The Sadlers became disenchanted with the church and subsequently criticized it. Sadler rejected some Adventist teachings, such as White's status as a prophetess and the importance of Saturday as Sabbath. He retained a positive view of White and rejected allegations that she was a charlatan.