1827-1915
Cofounder of Seventh-Day Adventists

Visions.

Ellen Gould Harmon White's childhood is remarkable not for any particular accomplishment or intimation of her future but instead for the fact of her survival. She was born Ellen Gould Harmon in Gorham, Maine, in 1827. At age nine she was seriously injured when a classmate threw a stone at her, hitting her in the head and knocking her to the ground. Ellen lay unconscious for three weeks, and afterward, her face somewhat disfigured and her constitution weakened, she was unable to obtain a formal education. Her life changed when at age fourteen she dreamed of Christ and consulted Elder Stockman, Portland Adventist, who told her that she had been chosen as a messenger for God. She found her faith and expression for it in the then-popular evangelist William Miller, who taught his followers that Christ would return on...