A Biographical Summary of Ellen G. White's Life Up to the Times of This Volume

Tim Poirier^{*Tim Poirier, M.T.S., is vice director and archivist of the Ellen G. White Estate.}1EGWLM 13

Within the 15 years spanned by the papers in this volume, an unlettered and unmarried teenager from Maine became a 32-year-old mother of three, a published author, and the unlikely cofounder of what would become an international religious movement that was still, in 1859, without a name.^{1This article presents only an introductory overview of Ellen White's earliest years—up to 1859. For broader biographical accounts, the reader is referred to the selected works described at the end of this article and in this volume's general bibliography.}1EGWLM 13.1

According to her autobiography, Ellen Gould Harmon was born on November 26, 1827, in Gorham, Maine, she and her twin sister Elizabeth being the last of eight children born to Robert (a hatmaker) and Eunice Harmon (a former schoolteacher). John Quincy Adams was president of the United States, and only 50 years had passed since the 13 American colonies had declared their independence from King George III and the British Empire. Ellen's grandfather had served as a corporal in the Revolutionary War.1EGWLM 13.2