William C. White

William Clarence "Willie" White (1854–1937) was a son of Ellen G. White and James Springer White, two of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He became a well known Seventh-day Adventist minister and church leader.

William Clarence White was born in Rochester, New York, August 29, 1854. He died at Battle Creek, Michigan, September 1, 1937. He was the third son of James and Ellen White and was better known as WC (and the intimate, Willie). His father James Springer White was editor of the Review and Herald and the Youth's Instructor.

Willie grew up in Battle Creek and Greenville, Michigan. He attended public schools and for some time a school run by GH Bell in Battle Creek. He grew up in a home that was the center of the growth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He listened to discussions about the advancement of the church with growing interest and understanding. He was baptized in Greenville, Michigan, at the age of 12 years.

His first recommendation for denominational work came when he was only 20 years old in Oakland, where his father had begun to publish the Signs of the Times magazine. Willie's task was to move with a wheelbarrow paper, printing types, printed sheets and the final product because the print was made several blocks away from the office. His expedient was filled with other activities in the office, all providing a thorough training in the field of publications.

He was associated with his father in establishing the publisher Pacific Press Publishing Association. At the age of 21 years he reluctantly accepted the invitation to be chairman of the committee responsible for the project and at the end of one year presented a balance of $2000.00 U.S. dollars profit.

William married Mary Kelsey on February 11, 1876.

The leaders decided that William and Mary White should study German and French at Battle Creek College to go to Europe assist John N. Andrews in establishing the third denominational publisher. However, due to a shortage of leaders with administrative ability, William was appointed as a student member of the school committee and was called to the publisher in Battle Creek as deputy director and also director of the Western Health Reform Institute (Western Institute for Reform health).

William remained in Battle Creek until 1880, devoting his time to the interests of publishing, educational and medical, and taking active part in the development of the work of the Sabbath School. Thereafter, until the summer of 1885, he was involved in activities on the Pacific coast, especially in publishing. The establishment of Healdsburg College, the second Adventist educational institution, in the spring of 1882, was one of the highlights of his work. During part of this time, he also worked as director of the General Conference Sabbath Schools. He was ordained to the ministry by the General Conference in 1883 and was chosen a member of the General Conference Committee, a position he held most of his life.

In 1883 he was called to Europe to establish publishing houses in Switzerland and Norway and to advise and assist in all lines of work in Europe. His mother, Ellen G. White, was also invited to spend some time visiting the countries of Europe, and arrived in Switzerland in September 1885, in time to attend the European Missionary Council, and spent two years fulfilling the mission for which they were called.

After the death of his father in August 1881, certain responsibilities to assist his mother in her travels and in the publication of her books fell on his shoulders. In 1888, when Ole A. Olsen was elected General Conference president, William served as president until the return of Olsen from Europe, six months later. His wife, Mary White, contracted tuberculosis while serving their editorial activities in Switzerland and died in 1890, at the age of 33 years.

During the 1890s, then up until the end of his mother's life in 1915, he was especially prominent as an influential minister in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

William and his mother, Ellen G. White were called to Australia in 1891. Leaving his two daughters in Battle Creek, he crossed the Pacific with his mother at the end of that year. Once there, William divided his time between helping his mother and establishing the work in the new country. In 1894, he was named to lead the Australian Union. He exercised this responsibility until 1897, when in order to do justice to the literary work of his mother, he asked to be released from executive responsibilities and not be re-elected to the General Conference Committee. Meanwhile, William led a search of a rural land for a school in Australia. The property in Cooranbong was chosen in 1894 and, until he left the country, he was closely linked to the interests of the school.

In 1895, William married Ethel May Lacey, Tasmania. In September 1900, when Ellen G. White returned to the United States and acquired Elmshaven near Sanitarium Sta. Helena, he also returned and resided nearby.

Along with his mother, White attended the General Conference April 1901 in Battle Creek, Michigan, and was secretary of the reorganization committee of the General Conference. William spent most of his time and skills helping his mother in her travels and publications. He, along with 4 other men, was placed in charge of his mother's estate at her death in 1915 and he served as the secretary/director of the Ellen G. White Estate until his own death in 1937.

As secretary of the Committee, he was responsible for the publication of several posthumous works compiled in accordance with the provisions of the will of Mrs. White, and preparing an index to works published at the time (1926).

Although William lived and worked in California until his death in 1937, he participated in the establishment of plans for the transfer of the White Estate offices to Washington, DC, which was made shortly after his death.

There was no branch of the work that William was not interested in. His advice was often sought. He actively worked until his death at the age of 83 years. At the time, besides being secretary of Trustees of the Writings of Ellen G. White and member of the General Conference Committee, he served on the Committees of the Sanitarium St. Helena and Pacific Union College.

Of the four sons and three daughters of William, served three non-US one, Arthur, was secretary of the White Estate until his death. William died on September 1, 1937 The funeral was made in California and the Battle Creek Tabernacle. He was buried with his family in Oak Hill Cemetery, Battle Creek, Michigan.

The definitive biography of W. C. White is a doctoral dissertation by Jerry Moon, chair of the Church History Department of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary. His dissertation was published as: W. C. White and Ellen G. White: The Relationship Between the Prophet and Her Son (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 1993) (publisher's page).

In the years following his mother's death in 1915, W. C. White wrote a series of articles reviewing his mother's life. These articles appeared in the official journal of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Review and Herald.