The Times of Ellen Gould Harmon White, the Prophetess

Many historic events took place during the early days of Ellen Gould Harmon White. She was born in 1827 in the midst of a Social Revolution. Fourteen years later in 1841, her cousin, Benjamin F. Lee, Jr., the son of Benjamin F. and Sarah (Gould) Lee of Gouldtown, New Jersey was born. He became the third president of Wilberforce University. One’s ethnicity, a carry-over from the Haitian Revolution, was foremost in those days.

Settlers (the tired, poor, the hungry masses yearning to breathe free) were coming to the New World in large numbers; thus, driving Native Americans further West to reservations. Fierce battles were fought between the settlers and the Olentangy Indians in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan when the settlers sought to expand their frontiers into these areas. Chinese were discouraged from entering the New World by a limitation law which placed them under a quota system. Africans were still enslaved because of their labor which was needed in boosting the economy of the new nation; however, there were many with roots of African soil who were free-born but were looked upon as being trouble makers because they helped their enslaved brothers escape the bondage under which they found themselves.

Another challenge that the nation faced was what to do with the mulatto infusion of free-borns, the highly educated, intellectual and spiritual mulattoes with leadership skills, craftsmanship skills, skills in medicine, and politics who knew revolutionary strategies and had become politically assertive. They had made tremendous contributions in helping to build the nation; many of their fathers, sons and brothers had fought and died for the nation’s independence during America’s Revolution against England.

During this period, the leaders of the Thirteen Colonies passed laws requiring mulattoes to settle in the Northwest Colony (Ohio). These laws forced large numbers of them to move from the Eastern Shores of the continent and settle in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. It was under these conditions that Ellen Gould Harmon was born. This book speaks of this period in her life which had a great bearing in the development of the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church world-wide and also the history of the United States of America and the world.