Ellen White: Woman of Vision

Funeral Services In Topsham And Battle Creek

During the three months Henry and his brothers had been in Topsham he had made a number of acquaintances. At their request a funeral service was held in the Baptist church just across the street from the Howland home. M. E. Cornell, at that time working in Maine, was asked to officiate. Then the family took Henry's body, in a “metallic burial casket,” back to Battle Creek. There Uriah Smith presided at the funeral, which was attended by many friends of the family. Henry's former schoolmates were there; in the closing exercises they sang a hymn and then accompanied the family and friends to Oak Hill Cemetery. Looking back at the experience, Ellen White wrote: WV 115.2

When our noble Henry died, at the age of 16—when our sweet singer was borne to the grave, and we no more heard his early song—ours was a lonely home. Both parents and the two remaining sons felt the blow most keenly. But God comforted us in our bereavements, and with faith and courage we pressed forward in the work He had given us, in bright hope of meeting our children who had been torn from us by death, in that world where sickness and death will never come (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 165, 166). WV 115.3