Foreword

An Explanation the Author Would Like to Have You Read

The development of this biography of Ellen G. White, parts of which are still in preparation, has been to the author a confidence-confirming experience. It is a large task but a pleasurable one. At or near the outset a number of decisions were called for:5BIO 9.1

What kind of biography would it be?5BIO 9.2

For whom were we writing?5BIO 9.3

How many pages would be devoted to treating the more than 25,000 days of Ellen White's active ministry in the united states, europe, and australia?5BIO 9.4

Where would we begin the account?5BIO 9.5

Aside from articles in encyclopedias and works presenting the lives of notable women, the only available published accounts presenting Ellen White's life are Spiritual Gifts, volume II, published in 1860 and titled “My Christian Experience, Views and Labors in Connection with the Rise and Progress of the Third Angel's Message”; an introductory “Biographical Sketch of Ellen G. White,” filling the first 112 pages of Testimonies for the Church, volume 1, published in 1885; and Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, issued just after her death in 1915. The first two, of course, could carry her life only up to publication dates, 1860 and 1885, respectively. The latter treats her early life quite fully, but leaves us with years hardly mentioned in her mid-life and relatively little about her later years.5BIO 9.6

In planning this biography I saw Ellen White's life divided rather naturally into six eras:5BIO 9.7

The Early Years—1827-18625BIO 9.8

The Progressive Years—1863-1875

The Lonely Years—1876-1891

The Australian Years—1891-1900

The Early Elmshaven Years—1900-1905

The Later Elmshaven Years—1905-1915

I chose to begin my work with “The Elmshaven Years,” for they are closer in time to us, and there are some persons living who knew Ellen White and who could be interviewed. Further, it seemed that the issues that followed quickly on the turn of the century have a particular relevance to the church at present.5BIO 10.1

The sources for this period are very full, almost overwhelming. In accordance with the procedures elected for the purpose of this writing “The Elmshaven Years” yields two volumes, of which this is the first. The White estate staff and the board of trustees of the Ellen G. White Estate, in concurrence with the Review and Herald publishing association, have decided that it will be well to release this part of the biography now and not keep the public waiting until the task is completed. Experiences and sources for the preceding years, 1827 to 1900, while profuse, are more limited, and it is the aim of the author to contain that part of the account in four volumes.5BIO 10.2