The Ellen G. White Letters and Manuscripts: Volume 1

BELOW, Elsie Philomela (1811-1889) and (first husband) John Gregg (? -1839) and (second husband) John C. Below (c. 1786-1855)

Close friend and, for some years while living in Battle Creek, neighbor to Ellen and James White. Elsie Below began to keep the Sabbath in 1842 through the influence of a Seventh-Day Baptist contact. She joined the Sabbatarian Adventists in 1851, being baptized by Joseph Bates. While living in Mill Grove, New York, Elsie traveled to Rochester, New York, to assist Ellen White after the birth of her third son, William Clarence, in 1854. After the death of Elsie's second husband in 1855, the Whites encouraged her to move to Battle Creek, which she did in 1857. “We want you near us,” James White urged. Ellen White spoke at Elsie's funeral in 1889. 1EGWLM 792.1

See: Obituary: “Elsie P. Below,” Review, Dec. 10, 1889, p. 782; obituary: “John C. Below,” Review, May 29, 1855, p. 239; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, “Elsa P. Below,” “James White,” Michigan, Calhoun County, Battle Creek, p. 6; James White to “Dear Sister,” Nov. 4, 1856; Ellen G. White, Ms 23, 1889 (Nov. 12 entry). 1EGWLM 792.2