On October 14, 1861, George Edward White was born in Marash, Ottoman Empire where his Christian missionary parents had arrived in 1856.

Deciding upon a pastoral career, White then attended the Hartford Theological Seminary during the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) and continued his education at Oxford University in England.

[2] For three years, George E. White served as pastor of a local Congregational church in Waverly, Iowa.

[7] White stated that the "Armenians have furnished the larger part of the students hitherto and the constituency is not merely local.

"[8] Armenian Christians had been an oppressed minority in the Ottoman Empire, often turning to Protestant missionaries as well as Eastern Orthodox Russia for protection.

Armenian nationalists rioted in Constantinople and in the provinces shortly after White's arrival in Merzifon, and were brutally suppressed in the Hamidian Massacres of 1894-1896.

Ottoman military officers, including Mustafa Kemal Atatürk seized power from Sultan Abdülhamid II and attempted to establish a constitutional monarchy in the Young Turk Revolution of 1908.

As White's college presidency began, at least half a million Muslim Ottomans from the Empire's former Balkan possessions sought refuge in Turkey,[9] some seeking revenge against Christians.

[11][12] White considered the demographic situation as an "internal breach that would come to surface as a deadly wound.

"[13] He predicted that since many Christians lived in the area, conflict would be inevitable, merely awaiting an opportune time and conditions.

[13] When the Turkish government began deporting Armenians in 1915, White remained in Merzifon (which Armernians called Marsovan).

[14] [15][16] On August 19, Turkish authorities visited the Anatolian colleges and demanded deportation of all Armenian students and teachers.

"[1] White later described the events in a New York Times article: On the pretext of searching for deserting soldiers, concealing bombs, weapons, seditious literature or revolutionists, the Turkish officers arrested about 1,200 Armenian men at Marsovan, accompanying their investigations by horrible brutalities.

In this way all the Armenian houses, stores, shops, fields, gardens, vineyards, merchandise, household goods, rugs, were taken.

Real estate was put up for rent at auction and was most of it bid in at prices ridiculously low by persons who were on the inside.

"[20] On 16 May 1916, Turkish authorities closed the college, displacing White and the remaining staff in order to establish a military hospital.

I heard of one of our Marsovan girls, married to an Arab, who might come back now; but her face had been tattooed in such a way that she was ashamed to show it among people who had known her.

[2] After a total of forty-three years of missionary service, White retired in 1934 and returned to the United States.