A follower of William Miller in the early 1840s, living in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Melora Ashley married Josiah Leonard in 1841 but became a widow in 1845. As early as 1845 or 1846 she became acquainted with Ellen and James White. According to her obituary the Whites “became her intimate friends.” Census information indicates that Melora Ashley and her family were neighbors to or lived near Philip and Nancy Collins, also close friends of the Whites. In 1849 Melora Ashley appears to have been present when the Whites were called to the bed of 13-year-old Gilbert Collins, close to death with whooping cough, and to have witnessed his remarkable healing. In 1864, on the advice of the Whites, Mrs. Ashley moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, where she lived her remaining years. 1EGWLM 784.1
See: Obituary: “Melora A. Ashley,” Review, Mar. 24, 1904, p. 23; Frederick Adams Virkus and Albert Nelson Marquis, The Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy: First Families of America. A Genealogical Encyclopedia of the United States (Chicago: F. A. Virkus & Co., 1926), vol. 2, p. 258; John Nevins Andrews et al., Defense of Elder James White and Wife, p. 40; 1850 U.S. Federal Census, “Malora [sic] Ashley,” Massachusetts, Bristol County, Dartmouth, p. 443; Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts [vol. 2], pp. 108, 109, 303. 1EGWLM 784.2