Ellen White: Woman of Vision

Tasmania

The time for the wedding was chosen to coincide with a convention to be held in Hobart, Tasmania. The convention, according to an announcement in the Bible Echo, would be the first meeting of its kind to be conducted in that colony. It would be held in Hobart April 26 to May 6, 1895, and would include instruction on the duties of church officers and members, evening discourses on religious liberty, lessons on various lines of missionary work, and practical instruction given by Mrs. White. WV 318.8

May Lacey, accompanied by Ellen White and some of her staff, traveled by train from Norfolk Villa near Sydney to Melbourne, and then by ship, arriving at Launceston, Tasmania, on Wednesday morning, April 17. The travelers were taken to the Rogers home for lunch, and in midafternoon took the train south 125 miles (200 kilometers) to Hobart. It was 9:00 in the evening when they arrived. They were met by May's father, David Lacey, and several members of the family, and were taken to the comfortable and hospitable Lacey home in Glenorchy, just north of the city. WV 319.1

In his younger years David Lacey had filled the post of British police commissioner at Cuttack, in India, near Calcutta. Here May was born. She attended school in London, and on the retirement of her father joined the family in Tasmania. When colporteurs came to Hobart with Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation, the family gained their introduction to Seventh-day Adventists. The careful follow-up work of evangelists Israel and Starr gathered the entire family into the church—Father and Mother Lacey and the four children, Herbert Camden, Ethel May, Lenora, and Marguerite. The mother died in 1890, and the father had by now married a widow, Mrs. Hawkins, who had four lively daughters and two sons. It was a loving and close-knit family that welcomed the daughter May and Ellen White that Wednesday. WV 319.2

A few days later the workers from New Zealand arrived by ship, among them W. C. White. It had been three months since he had parted from his fiancée and his mother at Granville in New South Wales, and this was a happy reunion. As the convention would not open until the next weekend, meetings were planned for the little country Adventist church built at Bismark in 1889. WV 319.3

Although the wedding was planned to follow W. C. White's three-month trip to New Zealand, there could be little detailed planning, since he and May were separated so widely. In fact, when W. C. White arrived in Tasmania on April 20, he did not know whether the marriage would take place in Tasmania or on the mainland of Australia. In a letter to his daughter Ella he told what took place: WV 319.4

When we found that her father and sisters wished it to be there, at their home, and that Sister Lacey and her daughters all united in wishing us to have the wedding in Glenorchy, we decided to comply with their invitation and so arranged to be married on Thursday afternoon, May 9, 1895 (7 WCW, p. 273). WV 319.5

In writing to Ella about the happy event, the groom told how the service was performed by a Methodist minister, Mr. Palfreyman, an old friend of the Lacey family. There was no Seventh-day Adventist minister in that area qualified according to the laws of Tasmania. All went off well. The rooms in the Lacey home were nicely decorated with ferns and flowers. There were 10 members of the family present, and 11 friends of the bride who were invited guests. As they were in a British country, they were married with the wedding ring. Willie was 40 years old, and May, 21. WV 320.1

After the wedding service everyone was ushered into the dining room, where an attractive wedding supper was waiting for them. By 6:00 most of the friends were gone, and the bride and groom changed from their wedding garments. The bride finished packing, and her husband attended a committee meeting. At 8:30, with Ellen White, the couple took the train north to Launceston en route home (Ibid., 274). A profitable weekend was spent in Launceston, the traveling workers meeting with the 17 newly baptized Sabbathkeepers there. With the children, there were about 40 at the Sabbath service who listened to Ellen White speak with freedom from the first chapter of 2 Peter. She also spoke to the group on Sunday (Letter 59, 1895). WV 320.2

Good weather attended the traveling group as they left Launceston, but in the open ocean they encountered rough seas, and they arrived at Melbourne two and a half hours late. Ellen White was entertained in the Israel home and the newlyweds at the Faulkhead home. Mail from Granville told of the arrival from America on May 5 of W. C. White's two daughters, Ella and Mabel. The fond grandmother wrote: “Both are pronounced pretty, but Mabel is, they say, very pretty. We have not seen them for three years and a half, so they must have changed greatly. I wish to see them very much” (Letter 120, 1895). But the reunion with the girls had to wait until committee work in Melbourne was completed, and speaking appointments were quickly made for Ellen White in Melbourne and its suburbs. WV 320.3

On Wednesday, May 29, the committee work was finished, and the three Whites—Ellen, W. C., and May—were on the train bound for Sydney and home in Granville. What a happy reunion it was that Thursday when, after more than three years, Ella and Mabel embraced Father, Grandmother, and their new mother, May Lacey-White! Exclaimed Ellen White a few days later: WV 320.4

You cannot think how pleasant it is to have my family once more reunited. I have not seen more capable, ready, willing, obedient children than Ella May and Mabel.... They seem to have excellent qualities of character. W. C. White is more and better pleased with his May. She is a treasure (Letter 124, 1895). WV 320.5