Ellen G. White: The Early Years: 1827-1862 (vol. 1)

Harbingers of the Advent Awakening

Just two weeks before Ellen's sixth birthday the local Portland Advertiser reported: 1BIO 19.2

We are told by the early risers ... that the sky yesterday morning [November 13], before sunrise, was full of meteors and luminous traces, shooting athwart the heavens in all directions. The sky, some say, seemed to be on fire—others add that the stars appeared to be falling.—November 15, 1833. 1BIO 19.3

A few hundred miles away in Low Hampton, New York, a farmer and former Army officer named William Miller was just beginning a new career as a preacher. He was telling the world what he had discovered in the prophecies—that Christ was coming soon, yes, within ten years. Miller's first published work, a sixty-four-page pamphlet, appeared in 1833. That was the year he received his license to preach, and his traveling, preaching, and correspondence were increasing rapidly (F. D. Nichol, The Midnight Cry, pp. 52-57). 1BIO 19.4

But in nearby Gorham little Ellen slept soundly through the night when the stars fell. She knew nothing yet of William Miller and his message, and in November, 1833, she was probably just starting to attend school. It is logical to assume that like any healthy youngster she must have used the carefree moments of her childhood to learn more about the things around her. 1BIO 19.5