The Ellen G. White Letters and Manuscripts: Volume 1

HOLLAND, Robert (c. 1834-1876) and Elizabeth (c. 1837-after 1880)

Originally from New York, Robert Holland was known mainly as an early teacher in the first church school in Battle Creek, Michigan. Receipts in the Review suggest that Robert Holland joined the Sabbathkeeping Adventists about 1854. In 1856 or 1857 (sources disagree on the date and on some other points), Holland taught at the small Adventist school in Battle Creek, which had been started in 1855. His tenure at the school was brief, because of, according to some accounts, parent dissatisfaction with his lax discipline. Subsequently Holland continued his teaching career in Caledonia, Michigan, but by 1870 the census listed him as a “pedlar” in Napoleon, Michigan. Ellen White's only mention of Robert Holland was a diary notation from 1859, written in Battle Creek: “Had a conversation with Robert Holland in the evening.” 1EGWLM 846.3

For a careful examination of the sometimes conflicting sources on Robert Holland's time as teacher in Battle Creek, see Wilbur Arthur Burton, “A History of the Mission of Seventh-day Adventist Education, 1844-1900” (Ph.D. diss., Kansas State University, 1987), pp. 41-43. See also 1860 U.S. Federal Census, “Robert Holland,” Michigan, Kent County, Caledonia, p. 157; 1870 U.S. Federal Census, “Robert Holland,” Michigan, Jackson County, Napoleon, p. 22; 1880 U.S. Federal Census, “Elizabeth How,” Michigan, Jackson County, Napoleon, p. 14; search term “Holland” in Review and Herald online collection, www.adventistarchives.org; photo: Gravestone of Robert L. Holland, Oak Grove Cemetery, Napoleon, Jackson County, Michigan, www.findagrave.com (Dec. 3, 2008); Ellen G. White, Ms 5, 1859 (Feb. 7 entry). 1EGWLM 846.4