John Harvey Kellogg
1852 – 1943
Photo Source: Adventist News Network
A Brief Biography of John Harvey Kellogg
Mirroring
a clear trend among his fellow health reformers, John Harvey Kellogg was
a devout Christian, a believer in the Seventh Day Adventist faith
founded in part by Ellen G. White, a one-time patient of
James C. Jackson. Battle Creek was the
original home of the church, and the populous Kellogg family counted
itself among the original congregation. Kellogg studied medicine at
what is now New York University, earning his degree in 1875. His
medical training strengthened his deep interest in diet, and provided
him with new ideas and techniques by which his patients could achieve
total health. Soon after receiving his degree, he returned home to
Michigan and took over the Western Health Institute, renaming it the
Battle Creek Sanitarium.
Like
James C. Jackson’s contemporary retreat in upstate New York, the
Sanitarium was a place for invigoration of the spirit and for reclaiming
the body from the ills of modern life. A simple, vegetarian diet and
regular exercise were Kellogg’s keys to health, and the doctor, like
Graham and Jackson before him, emphasized the importance of whole
grains. Kellogg is also remarkable for his enthusiasm for enemas as
a means to attain digestive—and therefore spiritual—health. Although Jackson had
created his own cold cereal, Granula, in 1863,
Kellogg must have seen room for improvement, and he developed his own
modification in 1877. Interestingly enough, Kellogg's first health
cereal was also called Granula. It was a mixture of wheat,
oatmeal, and cornmeal (whereas Jackson’s was solely made of wheat) baked
in sheets and coarsely ground. The similarity in name to Jackson’s
earlier product did not impress his attorneys; Kellogg was forced to
change his cereal’s name following litigation in 1881. The name he
selected will be instantly recognizable to present day reader:
“Granola.”
Kellogg would continue to experiment with ready-to-eat cereal products in ensuing decades with his younger brother, W. K. In 1895, the two developed an important innovation in cereal production with the first flaked breakfast cereal, a wheat product they called “Granose.” This product was created by placing boiled wheat berries under rollers and toasting the flattened grains. The brothers would later use this technique to create their famous corn flakes, which became the staple product of W. K.’s Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, later re-named “Kellogg’s.” W. K. Kellogg had a greater capacity for marketing and innovation—and less patience for austerity of diet—than his older brother. While Dr. Kellogg refused to contaminate his curative health products with such unwholesome gimmicks as sugar and salt, Will saw the phenomenal potential for expansion of the industry and, freely experimenting with ways to make his products more appealing to taste, went on to create one of America’s most successful food companies. Insisting on the promotion of health rather than industry, J. H. Kellogg would not be involved with his younger brother's cereal franchise.
The Kellogg's story is not complete without brief mention of Henry D. Perky, who, being more inventor and innovator than health reformer, falls outside the topic of this website. Perky, an Ohio farmer who moved west to Denver in 1880, experimented on his own with cures for his nagging stomach problems. Being wise to the current dietary consensus on fiber and interested in a natural, healthy diet, he looked into ways to manipulate the wheat berry into more inter-esting and digestible forms. Around 1890, he and a machinist friend developed a roller that took boiled wheat berries and shaped them into a long, fine thread. The thread was then dropped onto a belt that layered the material into one large biscuit. His ready-to-eat cereal product, called shredded wheat, and the machine that would make the biscuits, made a popular debut at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Perky's intent was to sell the machines and not the biscuits themselves, but with the whole appeal of cold breakfast cereal being the lack of preparation required, America was not interested in making their own cereal at home. The Shredded Wheat Company, as it was called, remained a success and made Perky a fortune. In 1928, the company was sold to the National Biscuit Company -- Nabisco. Perky's story is integral to Kellogg's because it was using one of Perky's machines that John and Will Kellogg first rolled their first Granose wheat berry.
Click here to see a photograph of Henry Perky.
1852 – born in Tyrone, New York, one of 16 children of a broom maker
1860 – family moves to Battle Creek, Michigan; John Harvey’s brother, Will Keith, also born that year
1863 – Seventh Day Adventist Church is officially founded in Battle Creek, with an initial congregation of 3,500
1866 – Western Health Institute opens in Battle Creek
1874 – publishes The Natural Diet of Man while enrolled at Bellevue Hospital Medical College (now part of NYU)
1875 – earns medical degree
1876 – returns to Battle Creek and takes over the Western Health Institute, later renamed the Battle Creek Sanitarium
1877 – develops his first cold cereal, calling it Granula
1881 – After being sued by the company making James C. Jackson’s Granula, Kellogg renames his product “Granola”
1895 – With brother Will, creates the first flaked cereal, a wheat product called Granose
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The Natural Diet of Man. [reprinting: Brachfeld, Aaron and Choate, Mary: eds] Arvada, Co: Coastalfields Press, 2006.
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“Dietetic Importance of Florida Fruits.” The Herald (July 1, 1934).
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Autointoxication; or, Intestinal Toxemia. Battle Creek, Mich.: The Modern Medicine Publishing Co., 1918.
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Colon Hygiene, Comprising New and Important Facts Concerning the Physiology of the Colon and an Account of Practical and Successful Methods of Combating intestinal inactivity and Toxemia. Battle Creek, Mich.: The Modern Medicine Publishing Co., 1923.
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Diphtheria: Its Causes, Prevention, and Proper Treatment. Battle Creek, Mich.: Good Health Publishing Co., 1879.
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Dr. Kellogg's Lectures on Practical Health Topics. Battle Creek, Mich: Good Health Pub. Co., 1913.
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First Book in Physiology and Hygiene. Brushton, NY: Teach Services, 1998.
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Harmony of Science and the Bible on the Nature of the Soul and the Doctrine of the Resurrection. Battle Creek, Mich.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1879.
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How to Have Good Health: Through Biologic Living. Battle Creek, Mich.: Modern Medicine Pub. Co., 1932.
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Ideas. Battle Creek, Mich.: Good Health Pub. Co., 1916.
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Itinerary of a Breakfast: A Popular Account of the Travels of A Breakfast Through the Food Tube and of the Ten Gates and Several Stations Through Which It Passes, Also of the Obstacles Which It Sometimes Meets. New York: Teach Services, Inc., 2005.
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Neurasthenia, or Nervous Exhaustion. Battle Creek, Mich.: Good Health Publishing Co., 1914.
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Plain Facts About Sexual Life: Plain Facts for Old and Young; Embracing the Natural History and Hygiene of Organic Life. Burlington, Iowa: I. F. Segner, 1890.
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Plain Facts for Old and Young. Burlington, Iowa: I. F. Segner, 1882.
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Plain Facts for Old and Young; or, The Science of Human Life, from Infancy to Old Age; A Cyclopedia of Special Knowledge for All Classes on the Hygiene of Sex. Battle Creek, Mich.: Health Library Association, 1901.
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Rational Hydrotherapy: A Manual of the Physiological and Therapeutic Effects of Hydriatic Procedures, and the Technique of Their Application in the Treatment of Disease. Philadelphia: The F. A. Davis Company, 1901.
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Rules for “Right Living”. Battle Creek, Mich.: Battle Creek Sanitarium, Health Extension Dept., 1947.
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The Art of Massage. Brushton, NY: Teach Services, 1997.
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The Battle Creek Sanitarium System: History, Organization, Methods. Battle Creek, Mich.: Gage Printing Co., Printer, 1908.
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The Crippled Colon; Battle Creek, Mich.: The Modern Medicine Publishing Co., 1931.
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The Evils of Fashionable Dress, & How to Dress Healthfully. Battle Creek, Mich.: Office of the Health Reformer, 1876.
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The Health Question Box: or, A Thousand and One Health Questions Answered. Battle Creek, Mich.: Modern Medicine Pub. Co, 1920.
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The Home Book of Modern Medicine: A Family Guide in Health and Disease. Battle Creek, Mich.: Modern Medicine Pub. Co., Ltd., C1907.
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The Home Hand-Book of Domestic Hygiene and Rational Medicine. Battle Creek, Mich.: Good Health Publishing Co., 1880.
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The Household Monitor of Health. Battle Creek, Mich.: Good Health Publishing Company, 1891.
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The Natural Diet of Man. Arvada, Col: Coastalfields Press, 2006.
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The New Dietetics, What To Eat and How; A Guide To Scientific Feeding in Health and Disease. Battle Creek, Mich.: The Modern Medicine Publishing Co., 1921.
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The New Method in Diabetes: The Practical Treatment of Diabetes as Conducted at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, Adapted to Home Use, Based Upon the Treatment of More Than Eleven Hundred Cases. Battle Creek, Mich.: The Modern Medicine Publishing Co., 1924.
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The Sinusoidal Current as a Curative Agent; Its History, Technique and Therapeutic Applications. Battle Creek, Mich.: The Good Health Publishing Co., 1913.
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The Stomach: Its Disorders, and How to Cure Them. Battle Creek, Mich: Modern Medicine Pub. Co., 1896.
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The Uses of Water in Health and Disease. A Practical Treatise on the Bath, Its History and Uses. Battle Creek, Mich.: The Office of the Health Reformer, 1876.
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The Body in Health. [with O'shea, Michael Vincent] New York: MacMillan, 1915.