James Caleb Jackson

James Caleb Jackson (March 28, 1811 – July 11, 1895) was the inventor of the first dry, whole grain breakfast cereal which he called granula.[1] His views influenced the health reforms of Ellen G. White, a founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.[2]

James Caleb Jackson
Born(1811-03-28)March 28, 1811
Onondaga County, New York
DiedJuly 11, 1895(1895-07-11) (aged 84)
Dansville, New York
OccupationNutritionist
Known forGranula
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Biography

Jackson was born in Manlius, Onondaga County, New York.[1] After completing his education at Chittenango Polytechnic Institute, he worked as a farmer until 1838. In his early life, Jackson was active as an abolitionist. He lectured for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, becoming the society's secretary in 1840. From 1844, he moved into journalism, buying the abolitionist newspaper the Albany Patriot with Abel Brown. Jackson managed and wrote for the paper until 1847, when his failing health forced him to retire.

Jackson had been troubled with poor health throughout his life but saw a remarkable recovery after taking a 'water cure' at a spa. As a result, he spent the second half of his life as an advocate for hydropathy, training to become a physician and opening a hydropathic institute on Skaneateles Lake in Cortland County, New York in 1847.

In 1858, he took over the 'Our Home Hygienic Institute' at Dansville, Livingston County, New York. The spa had been founded by Nathaniel Bingham on the site of a mineral water spring some four years earlier. Under Jackson's management, the spa grew to be one of the largest in the world, catering for around 20,000 patients, and was renamed 'Our Home on the Hillside'.[1]

Along with water cures, Jackson believed that diet was fundamental in improving health. Over time, he removed red meat from the menu at the spa and ruled out tea, coffee, alcohol, and tobacco. Jackson was a vegetarian[3] and promoted a vegetarian diet with emphasis on fruits, vegetables, and unprocessed grains. Jackson believed his diet could cure intemperance and masturbation.[3][4] Although accepting the use of surgery, he opposed drugs.[4] Jackson was opposed to abortion in any circumstance, describing it as "among the greatest crimes".[5]

In 1863, he developed the first breakfast cereal and named it Granula.[6]

Jackson died on July 11, 1895 in Dansville, Livingston County, New York.

Publications

See also

References
  1. William Lloyd Garrison (June 1, 1971). A House Dividing Against Itself 1836–1840. Harvard University Press. pp. 577–. ISBN 978-0-674-52661-7. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
  2. Ronald Numbers (1992). Prophetess of Health: Ellen G. White and the Origins of Seventh-Day Adventist Health Reform. University of Tennessee Press.
  3. Forward, Charles W. (1898). Fifty Years of Food Reform: A History of the Vegetarian Movement in England. London: The Ideal Publishing Union. p. 66
  4. Mrozek, Donald J. (1987). The Scientific Quest for Physical Culture and the Persistent Appeal of Quackery. Journal of Sport History 14 (1): 76-86.
  5. Mohr, James C. (1978). Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy. Oxford University Press. p. 172. ISBN 0-19-502249-1
  6. "Who Made That Granola?". New York Times. March 23, 2012. Retrieved December 23, 2013. In 1863, Dr. James Caleb Jackson, a health reformer who believed illness was rooted in the stomach, began experimenting with cold cereal to augment the mineral-spring treatments at his sanitarium in upstate New York. ...
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