Before You Begin

When Ella White Robinson was well along in years, she finally had time to look back over her shoulder, so to speak, and describe for us the panorama of her life. Her earliest memories take us back to the year 1885, when she was 3 years old and living with her parents, William C. and Mary Kelsey White, in Oakland, California. Her father divided his time between assisting his mother in her travels and the publishing of her books. He was also involved in the publishing and educational interests of the church on the West Coast. Her grandmother, Ellen G. White, 57 years of age and a widow, was residing in Healdsburg, about seventy-five miles to the north.OMS 10.6

Then came an urgent request for Ellen White to visit and work in Europe, and also for her son William, then 30 years of age, to accompany her. His counsel was needed by the workers in Basel, Switzerland, who were just completing and furnishing a new publishing house in that country.OMS 10.7

On August 7, 1885, the group sailed for Europe, returning to America two years later.OMS 10.8

So now, let us begin to trace with Ella her memories, which will carry us back nearly a century to the years of her earliest childhood.OMS 10.9