Biographical Notes
Ellen G. White, 1827-1915

The Early Years, 1827-1860

Born on a late fall day in a farmhouse near Gorham, Maine, Ellen Harmon spent her childhood and youth in nearby Portland. She married James White in 1846, and the struggling young couple lived in a variety of New England locations as they sought to encourage and instruct fellow Advent believers by their preaching, visiting, and publishing. After eleven irregular issues of The Present Truth, they launched the Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald^{*Now known as the Adventist Review, it is one of the oldest continuously published religious journals in the, United States.} in Paris, Maine, in 1850. Thereafter they followed a steadily westward course—to Saratoga Springs, New York, and then Rochester, New York, in the early 1850s, and finally, in 1855, to Battle Creek, Michigan, where they resided for the next twenty years.LHU 8.1

1827, November 26 Born at Gorham, Maine. 1836 (c.) Broken nose and concussion at Portland, Maine. 1840, March First heard William Miller present the Advent message. 1842, June 26 Baptized and accepted into Methodist Church. 1844, October 22 Disappointed when Christ did not come. 1844, December First vision. 1845, Spring Trip to eastern Maine to visit believers; met James White. 1846, August 30 Married James White. 1846, Autumn Accepted seventh-day Sabbath. 1847-1848 Set up housekeeping at Topsham, Maine. 1847, August 26 Birth of first son, Henry Nichols. 1848, April 20-24 Attended first conference of Sabbathkeeping Adventists at Rocky Hill, Connecticut. 1848, November 18 Vision to begin publishing work—“Streams of Light.” 1849, July First of eleven numbers of The Present Truth, published as a result of the vision of November, 1848. 1849, July 28 Birth of James Edson, second son. 1849-1852 Moved from place to place with her publisher-husband. 1851, July First book published, A Sketch of Experience and Views. 1852-1855 In Rochester, New York, where husband published Review and Herald and Youth's Instructor. 1854, August 29 Third son, William Clarence, born. 1855, November Moved with the publishing plant to Battle Creek, Michigan. 1855, December “Testimony for the Church,” number I, a sixteen-page pamphlet, published.

1856, Spring Moved into their own cottage on Wood Street. 1858, March 14 “Great Controversy” vision at Lovett's Grove, Ohio. 1860, September 20 Fourth son, John Herbert, born. 1860, December 14 Death of John Herbert at three months.