Family Tree

A resourceful farmer and hatmaker, Ellen’s father, Robert F. Harmon, Sr., (1786-1866) was disfellowshipped in 1843 from Portland’s Methodist Episcopal church for embracing the Millerite message. ^{27Bio., vol. 1, pp. 43, 44.}MOL 48.1

Eunice Gould Harmon (1787-1863) mothered two sons and six daughters, of whom Ellen and her twin, Elizabeth, were the last. The record notes that she was a school teacher prior to her marriage; afterwards she was an industrious homemaker at the time of whale-oil lamps and wood-burning stoves—and unpredictable family income. Her parents descended from resourceful ancestors. They fought in the earlier wars, beginning with King Philips’s War (1675). Some were entrepreneurs. Ellen’s great-great-grandfather built a mill on the river at Scarboro, Maine, known as “Harmon’s Mill.” ^{28See Ellen Harmon’s family tree in Bio., vol. 1, p. 487.}MOL 48.2

Four of the eight Harmon children became Sabbath keepers—Ellen and her sisters Mary and Sarah (six and five years older, respectively, than Ellen) and Robert. Caroline’s (1811-1883) daughter Mary worked briefly as Ellen’s literary assistant (1876-77). Robert, Jr. died at 27 of consumption in 1853. Both of Ellen White’s parents became Sabbath keeping Adventists in later life.MOL 48.3

Shortly before their father died (and after Ellen had visited her sisters once more) she wrote: “Although we were not practically agreed on all points of religious duty, yet our hearts were one.” ^{29The Review and Herald, April 21, 1868.}MOL 48.4

Ellen’s marriage to James White, August 30, 1846, produced four children, only two of whom survived to adulthood.MOL 48.5

Their first born, Henry Nichols (1847-1863), a happy young man, died of pneumonia at 16. ^{30Bio., vol. 2, pp. 70-72.} James Edson (1849-1928) learned the printer’s trade from his father at 14. He became a popular Adventist writer and composer. His tenacious work for Blacks in the southern States was unparalleled. His printing establishment became the foundation of the former Southern Publishing Association. ^{31SDAE, vol. 11, p. 888.}MOL 48.6

Early in life the managerial skills of William Clarence (1854-1937) were recognized; he was elected to a variety of heavy responsibilities in church leadership. After his father died, he became a traveling companion and trusted counselor to his mother. Soon after his mother died in 1915, he was appointed secretary of the Ellen G. White Estate, supervising its work for more than two decades.MOL 48.7

John Herbert, born in 1860, died after three months, from erysipelas. ^{32Bio., vol. 1, p. 430.}MOL 48.8