James Edson White, born Rocky Hill, Connecticut, 28 July 1849; died in Otsego, Michigan, 3 June 1928; married (1) Emma L. MacDearman, who died in 1916; (2) Rebecca Burrill.

William Clarence White, born Rochester, New York, 29 August 1854; died in St. Helena, California, 31 August 1937; married (1) Mary Kelsey, who died in 1890; (2) Ethel May Lacey; seven children.

Herbert White, born Battle Creek, Michigan, 20 September 1860; died there 14 December 1860.

The recording of vital events—births, marriages, and deaths—in New England slacked off considerably from about the time of the Revolutionary War until about the mid-1800s, so it is no surprise that the birth of Ellen Gould Harmon was not recorded in the town of her birth—Gorham, Maine. Her date and place of birth are known from various sketches written about her, including one provided here (Enclosure 1-1), in one published about her husband, Elder James White (Enclosure 1-2), and particularly in one by Ellen White herself (Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church [1885], 9, copy supplied by Ellen G. White Estate from previously copied genealogical records). Ellen’s dates of birth and death and place of death are also given in Artemas Harmon’s Harmon Genealogy, page 80 (copy supplied by Ellen G. White Estate from previously copied genealogical records). Additionally, her birth is given as Maine, 26 November 1827, on her California death certificate, which also documents her death; Ellen’s son William C. provided this information for the death certificate (copy supplied by Ellen G. White Estate from previously copied genealogical records). According to a transcription of inscriptions of Oak Hill Cemetery in Battle Creek, Michigan, Ellen’s grave marker incorrectly shows her date of death as 22 and not 16 July 1915, as given on her death certificate, and her year of birth on the marker may be incorrectly shown as 1828 ^{11According to information provided by The Ellen G. White Estate, Ellen’s life dates are correct on her grave marker, in which case the transcriber of the information for the cited source misread or mistyped the dates.} (Enclosure 1-3).GEGW 8.1

Ellen’s age and state of birth are given in Federal Census records found for her. She and her family were not found in Maine, Connecticut, or New York in 1850—the first census to list everyone in a household, with their age and state (or country) of birth. In the 1860 and 1870 censuses, the Whites were enumerated in Battle Creek, Michigan; Ellen was 31 in 1860 and 42 in 1870, the latter being accurate for a birth in November 1827, since “census day” for these censuses was 1 June (Enclosures 1-4 and 1-5). Ellen G. White, “Lecturer,” was living with son W. C. White and his wife, Mary K., in Oakland, California, in 1880. Her husband, James White, however, was not in the household, as he was then in the family residence near church head-quarters in Battle Creek, while Ellen was meeting speaking appointments on the West Coast with her son and daughter-in-law. ^{12James White’s location in Battle Creek, Mich., at the time of the 1880 Federal Census is from information provided by The Ellen G. White Estate.} At 54, Ellen would have been born about 1825—1826. Note her parents are shown in this 1880 Census entry to have been born in Maine (Enclosure 1-6).GEGW 8.2

Ellen might have been listed in the Federal censuses of 1900 ^{13In a letter of 16 April 1913 (copy provided by Ellen G. White Estate), Ellen’s son William C. White wrote that the family was in Australia from 1892 to 1900, in which case they may not have been enumerated in the 1900 U.S. Census.} and 1910, although these records were not examined for this report (practically all of the 1890 Census was destroyed by fire in the 1920s).GEGW 8.3

A copy of the marriage certificate of Mr. James S. White and Miss Ellen G. Harmon of Portland, signed by Justice of the Peace Charles Harding and given to the couple, was provided by The Ellen G. White Estate. Also, in a letter written by either Ellen or James, reference was made to their marriage intentions being “published” (information in e-mail from Tim Poirier, 7 March 2002). The place of Ellen and James’s marriage was Portland, Maine, as indicated in the above-mentioned certificate, but it is not found in the Portland marriage records (Enclosure 1-7). Perhaps the marriage was noted in a local newspaper.GEGW 8.4

One secondary source for Ellen and James’s date of marriage is Artemas C. Harmon’s The Harmon Genealogy, page 80 (mentioned above). Ellen, her husband, James, and their sons Henry N., James E., and John Herbert, as well as James’s wife, Emma L., are all buried together in Battle Creek (Enclosure 1-3).GEGW 8.5

More important genealogically is proof of Ellen’s parentage. No record was found for this report that provided primary evidence of her parents. As already noted, Ellen’s birth was not recorded, and she was not enumerated with her parents in 1850 (see below), the first year in which she would have been listed in the census by name. So far as could be determined, her parents’ estates were not settled in probate courts, with documents naming Ellen as a daughter, and she was not a party to real estate transactions of her parents, at least not in Cumberland County, Maine (research notes on Robert Harmon by James R. Nix, revised 24 October 1991, copy provided by Ellen G. White Estate).GEGW 8.6

Nevertheless, there are sources of Ellen’s parentage that are genealogically sufficient. Ellen herself identified her parents as Robert and Eunice Harmon in her biographical sketch in Testimonies for the Church (1885), page 9, and her husband, James White, did likewise in his Life Sketches (1880), page 130. Ellen’s sister Sarah B. Belden wrote an obituary for their mother published in The Review and Herald, January 26, 1864, page 71, in which she is identified as Eunice Harmon (copy supplied by Ellen G. White Estate from previously copied genealogical records).GEGW 8.7

Somewhat removed in time from the actual events, a typed letter of 16 April 1913, by Ellen White’s son William C., then in Sanitarium, California, to Mrs. Hattie E. Potts of Rocksburg, Massachusetts, provides further evidence: “When I was a little boy, living in Battle Creek, Michigan, I knew grandpa and grandma Harmon, and I have often heard Mother speak of Aunt Gould.” William also mentioned his “Aunt Harriet McCann,” “Aunt Elizabeth Bangs,” “cousin Clarence Bangs in Portland, Me.,” “Mother’s oldest sister, Mrs. Clough at her home in Kansas,” “Aunt Mary at the New England Sanitarium in Melrose, Mass.,” and other relatives (copy of letter provided by Ellen G. White Estate). William would have known his grandparents as a young boy: He was born in 1854, his grandmother Eunice Harmon died probably in 1864 and his grandfather Robert Harmon in 1866.GEGW 9.1

Two years later, in 1915, William was the informant for his mother’s death certificate, on which her father is identified as Robert Harmon, born in Maine, but for her mother and mother’s place of birth there are question marks (copy of death certificate supplied by Ellen G. White Estate from previously copied genealogical records).GEGW 9.2

Ellen Gould, born 26 November 1827, and married 30 August 1846 to James White, is listed as a daughter of Robert and Eunice (Gould) Harmon in The Harmon Genealogy compiled and edited by Artemas C. Harmon (Washington, D.C.: the compiler, 1920), 41 (copy supplied by Ellen G. White Estate from previously copied genealogical records). Although the work is not documented, Artemas Harmon presumably acquired much of the information for this genealogy from family members. Among Robert and Eunice’s children shown in this work are Caroline T. who married the Rev. Mace R. Clough, Harriet who married [the Rev. Samuel] McCann, Mary P. who married Samuel H. Foss, Sarah B. who married Stephen Belden, and Elizabeth M. (twin of Ellen G.) who married Reuben Bangs, all mentioned in William C. White’s letter.GEGW 9.3

Ellen Gould Harmon

Parents