Ellen G. White: The Lonely Years: 1876-1891 (vol. 3)

At the McDearmon Home

Of their arrival in Texas, James White reported to the readers of the Review: 3BIO 99.2

Wednesday [November 6] we reached Dallas, dusty and weary, but glad that our journey of about one thousand miles from Battle Creek, Michigan, to Dallas, Texas, was at an end. We tarried the night at the home of Brother Cole and family, and Thursday came to the good and comfortable home of Brother McDearmon [at Grand Prairie, west of Dallas]. Here our daughter met her parents, brother, and sister, who have all been brought near the door of death by the fever which has prevailed in this State during the past season. Our coming was timely. They have a large house and warm hearts, but as they move about they look more like walking corpses than living men and women.—Ibid. 3BIO 99.3

At another time White declared that it would “take two of them to make a shadow” (Letter 54, 1878). Twenty years earlier the Whites had made the acquaintance of the McDearmons, who were then living in Michigan. They were in feeble health, but with the acceptance of the health reform principles they rallied. In time, Edson White married one of the daughters, Emma. Seeking to avoid the cold winters of Michigan, the McDearmons moved to northern Texas, and settled in Grand Prairie (Manuscript 3, 1878). 3BIO 99.4

On this 1878 visit the Whites found the McDearmons destitute and ill. “We tried to help them,” wrote Ellen White. 3BIO 100.1

I gave Sister McDearmon $40 from my own purse to use for the necessities of life. Father bought bags of flour, a barrel of apples, nuts, sugar, et cetera. He bought one cotton mattress and one husk [mattress] overlaid with cotton. It is seldom I have seen such destitution. I have bought several things for their comfort. Father left McDearmon his fur coat to use, for his blood is so low he cannot bear the least chilliness of the air. We have done what we could for them.—Letter 54, 1878. 3BIO 100.2