# James Edson White

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**James Edson White** (28 July 1849 – 3 June 1928), frequently known as **Edson White**, was an American author, publisher and the second son of two of the pioneers of the [Seventh-day Adventist Church](/source/Seventh-day_Adventist_Church), [James S. White](/source/James_S._White) and [Ellen G. White](/source/Ellen_G._White).[1]

In 1870 he married Emma McDearmon, but did not have any children. After being detached from his parents and their church for a couple of decades he had a spiritual change of heart when he was 44 years old, at the time he lived in [Chicago](/source/Chicago).

## Mission to African Americans

He found a booklet written by his mother titled *Our Duty to the Colored People*.[when?] This encouraged him to set up a mission to spread the Adventist message to African American people in the southern United States.[2] He set up mission schools for black people along the [Mississippi River](/source/Mississippi_River). The first school set up was on a boat called the *Morning Star*. This boat had a library, a chapel, a photography lab, a print shop, and accommodation for staff. Schools were created at [Vicksburg](/source/Vicksburg,_Mississippi), Mississippi, [Yazoo City](/source/Yazoo_City), Lintonia, and [Nashville, Tennessee](/source/Nashville,_Tennessee).[3] The mission built up to 50 schools, building an organization called Southern Missionary Society. This became part of the Adventist [Southern Union Conference](/source/Southern_Union_Conference_of_Seventh-day_Adventists).

The publishing organization that Edson established was originally known as the "Gospel Herald Publishing Company". It was taken over by the church[2] and renamed to "Southern Publishing Association" in 1901, which subsequently merged with the [Review and Herald Publishing Association](/source/Review_and_Herald_Publishing_Association) in 1980.[4]

He started the "J. E. White Publishing Company."

## Books written

- *Gospel Primer #01* – used to raise money for the mission
- *The coming King* (1898, 1909, 1933)
- *The New Testament primer* (1906)
- *Best stories from the best book*
- *The man that rum made: With temperance lessons and stories*
- *Past, Present and Future*, (1909)

## References

1. ["JAMES EDSON WHITE"](http://www.iamaonline.com/Bio/JAMES_EDSON_WHITE.htm). *www.iamaonline.com*

1. *A Brief History of Seventh-Day Adventists* by [George R. Knight](/source/George_R._Knight), [Review and Herald Publishing Association](/source/Review_and_Herald_Publishing_Association), 1999

1. [James Edson White](http://www.oakwood.edu/forms/history/learning/StudentRe/white%20je.htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20090611081909/http://www.oakwood.edu/forms/history/learning/StudentRe/white%20je.htm) 2009-06-11 at the Wayback Machine by Janelle Phillips

1. "[History: A Short History of the Review and Herald](http://www.rhpa.org/index.php/general/our_history.rhpa) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20100920192731/http://www.rhpa.org/index.php/general/our_history.rhpa) 2010-09-20 at the Wayback Machine". Review and Herald website, accessed 2009-05-01

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [James Edson White](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Edson_White) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Edson_White?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.