Thomas L. White Biography This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography, including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 726-729 Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm THOMAS L. WHITE, the present efficient and popular county treasurer of Jerauld county, South Dakota, has resided here since the spring of 1883, and his name is inseparably connected with its agricultural and political interests. As a public spirited and progressive citizen, he has given his support to those enterprises that tend to public development and, with hardly an exception, he has been connected with every interest that has promoted general welfare. Mr. White was born in Marshall county, West Virginia, March 4, 1861, and is of English descent. His parents, Christian C. and Henrietta (McMillan) White, were natives of Washington county, Pennsylvania, and Maryland respectively. In their family were eight children, of whom our subject is the second in order of birth. He was reared on a farm in his native state, and after attending the common schools for some time, was a student in the West Virginia University for three years. At the age of twenty-two, he left home and came to Jerauld county, South Dakota, arriving here on the 17th of May, 1883. He located on section 5, Chery township, where he put up a claim shanty, 10 x 12 feet, and a sod barn, his cash capital at that time consisting of but two hundred dollars. The county was covered with the primitive homes of the pioneers, but few other improvements had been made. For three years he lived alone in true frontier style, and was engaged principally in raising flax, but has since given his attention to mixed farming. During the memorable blizzard of 1888, he was teaching school, and remained in the school house with his scholars all night. He is now the owner of a well- improved farm of three hundred and twenty acres, one hundred and fifty of which he has placed under cultivation. In 1891, Mr. White was united in marriage with Miss Jessie Small, a native of Wisconsin, who was engaged in teaching at the time of her marriage, and who died in May, 1894, leaving two sons: Malcolm C. and Ray L. Her parents are old settlers of this state. On another page of this volume will be found portraits of Mr. and Mrs. White. Mr. White uses his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Populist party, and has ever taken an active and prominent part in political affairs, serving as a delegate to county and state conventions of his party. He has been called upon to fill nearly all of the township offices, was elected county superintendent of schools in 1892, re-elected to the same office in the fall of 1896, and in 1898 was elected county treasurer: which office he is now most creditably and satisfactorily filling. He spent the year of 1895 in Oregon, but the spring of 1896 again found him a resident of Jerauld county. Socially Mr. White holds membership in the Masonic fraternity and the Modern Woodmen of America.