Will County IL Archives Biographies.....White, Thomas ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 3, 2007, 1:43 am Author: Genealogical/Biographical Publishing Co THOMAS WHITE. Those who best knew Mr. White most fully appreciated his worth of character and his breadth of intelligence. His success in life indicates that he possessed business qualifications of a high order. Though he began without means, and had little to assist him in getting a start, he nevertheless became well-to-do, acquiring the ownership of valuable property both in this county and in Nebraska. At the time of his death he owned three hundred and twenty acres here and six hundred and forty acres in Nebraska, and he also owned a good home in Joliet. Mr. White was born in Lincolnshire, England, September 23, 1830, a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Veasey) White, natives respectively of England and Scotland. His father, who crossed the ocean to Canada, settled in the United States about 1850 and spent his last days with a son in Ohio, but died in Lake County, Ill., at sixty years of age. Of his ten children only one survives. The subject of this article learned the miller's trade in England and came to the United States in 1852, settling near Cleveland, Ohio. About 1855 he proceeded to Dupage County, Ill., where he began to till rented land. In 1863 he came to Will County and soon bought a farm in the town of Peotone, where he remained for four years. After residing in Naperville one year, he removed to a farm in Manhattan Township in 1869, buying two hundred and forty acres and at once beginning its improvement. A few years later he bought an eighty-acre tract adjoining. For seventeen years he made his home on that place, but in 1886 rented the farm and removed to Gage County, Neb., where he purchased a section of land and carried on farming and stock-raising on an extensive scale. In 1889 he retired from active labors, returned to this county and built a residence in Joliet, where his last days were spent. In England, in July, 1851, Mr. White married Miss Kitty Reason, who survives him, making her home in Joliet. They became the parents of six children, but three are deceased. The older of the surviving sons, William, was born in Dupage County, Ill., in 1859, and grew to manhood in this county, but since 1882 he has resided in Nebraska. He is now proprietor of a general mercantile store at Table Rock, Neb., and is a leading business man of his town. He married Jennie, daughter of George Andrews, of Joliet, and they have three children: Leroy, Earl and Mildred. The other children of Mr. and Mrs. White are Fannie, who resides with her mother, and John Thomas, an attorney of Joliet. Additional Comments: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present Biographical Publishing Company; Chicago 1900 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/white1627nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 3.3 Kb