Fountain County IN Archives Biographies.....White, William 1776 - 1873
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com November 19, 2006, 2:54 am

Author: H. W. Beckwith (1881)

   Captain William White (deceased) was one of the first settlers of Fountain
county. He was a native of Washington county, Virginia, and born March 27, 1776.
The same year his parents moved to what is now Roan county, Tennessee. He first
visited Indiana in 1811, with an exploring expedition seeking for a location,
and camped upon Helt's prairie, Vermilion county, Indiana, where he afterward,
in 1816, bought some 1,200 or 1,500 acres of land, now owned by his son, James
White. Returning to Tennessee, he enlisted under Gen. Jackson in the war of
1812, commanded a company of men under Gen. Coffee through the Creek and
Seminole war, and fought in the battles of Talladega, Ennukfaw, and the
sanguinary conflict of Horse Shoe Bend. In 1822 he emigrated with his family to
Fountain county, settling on Coal creek, at what is now Van Dorn's mill, here
erecting the first mill in the county, a rude log structure, not designed for
much else than grinding corn. The mill-stones, which can be seen at Covington,
were found upon the farm of Cyrus Rush. These he dressed and put in running
order without the aid of anyone else. Many of the gray-haired men, then boys,
well remember going to Capt. White's mill for their regular supply of corn meal.
At that time his mill was the most important place in the county, and he one of
the most prominent men. Capt. White's mill was the place of the early musters,
one of the first regular preaching places in the county. Here it was the belated
traveler, the unfortunate emigrant, was sure of generous treatment and friendly
assistance. In 1835 he removed to his farm in Vermilion county, where he resided
till 1872, when he came to live with his son-in-law, Judge Coats, where he died
in 1873. He came to Indiana when the council fires of the savage were scarcely
extinguished, when the greater part of her territory was a wilderness. He lived
to see the state rich and prosperous, checkered with railroads and telegraph
lines. He was a man of great force of character, firm and determined, generous
and kind hearted, always ready to assist the needy, and anxious for the welfare
of his neighbors. He exerted a controlling influence in the politics of the
county in an early day. He was a great admirer of Jackson, and voted with the
democratic party till the Kansas troubles, when, old as he was, he went to the
scene of the trouble, that he might ascertain for himself whether what he had
heard was true; the result was that he returned a republican of the first rank,
and made speeches, telling what he saw in Kansas, against the democracy, from
his own county down the Wabash some distance south of Terre Haute. His retentive
faculties were great; there were few events respecting the political history of
our government with which he was not familiar. His remains were laid to rest on
the old place at Van Dorn's mill, where his wife and two of his children are
buried. He raised a family of three sons and four daughters. He left five
children to mourn his departure. The image of few faces will be borne longer in
the memories of the citizens of Fountain county than that of Capt. William White.

Additional Comments:
Van Buren Township

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY,

TOGETHER WITH
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE WABASH VALLEY,

GLEANED FROM EARLY AUTHORS, OLD MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS
PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC, THOUGH, FOR THE MOST
PART, OUT-OF-THE-WAY SOURCES.

BY H. W. BECKWITH,
OF THE DANVILLE BAR; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF
WISCONSIN AND CHICAGO.

WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

CHICAGO: H. H. HILL AND N. IDDINGS, PUBLISHERS.
1881.

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