Ellen G. White: The Progressive Years: 1862-1876 (vol. 2)

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, now working in Maine, was called 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, attended by Henry's and the parents’ many friends. His former schoolmates were there; in the closing exercises they sang a hymn and then accompanied the family and friends to the Oak Hill Cemetery. Looking back at the experience, Ellen White wrote: 2BIO 72.4

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.—3Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 165, 166. 2BIO 72.5