White County ArArchives Biographies.....White, Foster O. 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 June 12, 2009, 5:11 pm

Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

JUDGE FOSTER O. WHITE.
    Judge Foster O. White, now occupying the bench of the county court of White
county and making his home at Searcy, was born in Bald Knob township, this
county, July 5, 1882. He is a son of H. C. and Cassie (Guthrie) White and a
grandson of James White, who was a native of Alabama and there also owned and
operated an extensive plantation, having a number of slaves. He lost everything,
however, during the Civil war. He had two sons in the service, Bud and Perry,
and the latter died of measles while held a captive. Bud was wounded in the leg
and body and this rendered him a cripple for life. James White bought six
hundred and forty acres of land near Judsonia, White county, Arkansas, which he
had to clear, as it was then covered with timber. The place is now known as the
Jim White farm and is mostly devoted to the cultivation of strawberries. He died
in 18S7 at the age of sixty-five years. The maternal grandfather was Samuel
Guthrie, who was born in White county and became a farmer and prominent stock
raiser, devoting his entire time to that business. One of the great-grandfathers
of Judge White was Samuel White, who was born in Georgia and became the first
county judge of White county, Arkansas, settling here among the pioneers. He
held four sessions of court per year and received a salary of but fifty dollars
per year. While he held court at Searcy he made his home at Clearwater and in
addition to serving in public office he engaged extensively in farming,
remaining in White county to the time of his death.

    The father of Judge White of this review was born in Alabama, October 7,
1851, and removed from that state to White county, Arkansas, in 1871, when a
young man of twenty years. He followed farming and also engaged in construction
work on the Iron Mountain Railroad from Newport to Texarkana, Arkansas,
assisting in building all of the bridges. He, too, became actively interested in
agricultural pursuits, purchasing land which he had to clear the timber from. In
those days turkey, deer and wild game of other kinds were plentiful and he has
lived to witness many changes wrought by time and man as the work of development
and transformation has been carried steadily forward. He has devoted his life to
general farming and stock raising and he now lives with his son, Judge White.
His wife, who was born in White county, died at the comparatively early age of
thirty-eight years. They were the parents of ten children, nine of whom are
living: William H., of Little Rock, who is a train conductor on the Iron
Mountain Railroad, having been in the service since 1900; Foster O., of this
review; M. S., a bridge foreman on the Memphis division of the Iron Mountain
Railroad; K. H., a locomotive engineer on the Missouri Pacific road; Eurah, who
is the wife of Walter McLaughlin, a farmer of Bald Knob township; Samuel, a
conductor on the Iron Mountain Railroad, serving on the Memphis division; Rose,
a bookkeeper with the Arkansas Electric Appliance Company of Little Rock; Dock,
a brakeman on the Memphis division of the Iron Mountain Railroad; Mamie, the
wife of Earn Cholendt, a brakeman on the Arkansas division of the Missouri
Pacific; and one child who died in infancy. The mother was a member of the
Baptist church, while Mr. White belongs to the Christian church and in politics
has always been a democrat.

    His son, Judge White, was educated in the public schools of his native
county and remained on the home farm to the age of eighteen years, when he, too,
began railroading, entering upon an apprenticeship in the bridge and building
department of the Iron Mountain Railroad. He served in this way for six years
and was connected with railroading altogether for about ten years. He then
returned to Bald Knob township, where he began contracting on his own account,
carrying on a general contracting business in White and adjoining counties. He
was thus active until 1918, when he was elected county judge, taking the office
in January, 1919. So creditable has been his record on the bench that he was
reelected for a second term without opposition. His decisions are strictly fair
and impartial and his course has been a highly creditable one.

    Judge White was married to Miss Elva L. Baker, who was born in White county,
Arkansas, a daughter of Joseph Baker, who was one of the builders of the Iron
Mountain Railroad and afterward ran trains over that line until 1892. He then
turned his attention to farming and is now living with Judge and Mrs. White.
This worthy couple have become the parents of six children: Lillian, Willie
Maude, Foster 0., Lorraine. H. C. and Opal, all at home. The parents are members
of the reorganized church of the Latter-Day Saints, in which Judge White has
served as elder and as president of the Bald Knob branch, also filling the
office of branch elder. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic lodge, with
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with the Ancient Order of United Workmen
and also with the Railroad Bridgemen, being one of the pioneers in the
Brotherhood of Railroad Car Men. His has been an active and useful life and the
sterling worth of his character has placed him high in the regard of his fellow
townsmen.



Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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