Hampshire County, West Virginia Biography of ROBERT WHITE This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: ********************************************** ***The submitter does not have a connection*** ********to the subject of this sketch.******** ********************************************** This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. 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 WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 635 Hampshire ROBERT WHITE, who bears the name of honorable dis- tinction in Hampshire County, has been a successful mem- ber of the Romney bar for over twenty years, and is serv- ing his third consecutive term as prosecuting attorney. His great-grandfather was named Robert White. This Robert White was a grandson of a Scotchman, who was a surgeon in the British Navy, and on leaving the service settled in New Jersey, where he married a Miss Hogue. Their son John subsequently became a pioneer in the Valley of Virginia. Robert White, representing the third generation of the family, served as an officer in the American Army during the Revolution, lived at Winchester, Virginia, and was judge of the Circuit Court of that dis- trict. Judge Robert White married Miss Baker. Their son John Baker White was a citizen of prominence in this section of Old Virginia, and he served as clerk of the County Court of Hampshire County before the war. At the beginning of hostilities he identified himself with the Confederate Government at Richmond, and died there before the close of the war. His second wife was a daughter of Christian Strite, a Lutheran minister of Winchester. The children of this marriage were: Robert White, who served West Virginia as attorney general; Frances, who became the wife of S. L. Flournoy, of Charleston, West Virginia; Alexander, a farmer, who died near Wardensville in Hardy County; Christian S.; Lucy, who married Robert Ferguson; Mrs. Susan Armstrong; and Henry, who spent his life at Romney. Christian S. White, father of the prosecuting attorney, was born in Hampshire County in 1840, and was a volun- teer in the Confederate Army, at first in the infantry and subsequently was commissioned a captain of Company I of the Twenty-third Virginia Cavalry. He was never dis- charged, since his company left the army about the time of the final surrender, started down through the Carolinas but finally came back to Virginia and disbanded. Captain White participated in many battles, was struck with bullets several times, and was twice severely injured and felt the effects of his wounds all through life. After the recon- struction of the state he was elected clerk of the County Court of Hampshire County, and served in that capacity a long period of years, until 1903. He was a lawyer by training, and after leaving public office he was associated in practice with his son, Robert, at Romney until his death on January 21, 1917, at the age of seventy-seven. He was a past master of the Masonic Lodge and was affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, the church of his ancestors. Capt. C. S. White married Catherine Steele, whose father, Thomas Steele, was the first secretary of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows of West Virginia and served the order in that capacity until his death. Thomas Steele was a native of Dublin, Ireland, and died in the early '80s and is buried at Grafton, West Virginia. His daughter Catherine was also born in Dublin, was seven years of age when her parents came to the United States, and she grew up at Fairmont and was married there. She died in 1914, at the age of seventy-two. Her children were: Louisa A., of Romney; Robert; Christian S., Jr., superintendent of mines in South west West Virginia; Bessie, wife of B. C. Howard of Baltimore. The first wife of Capt. C. S. White was Bessie Shultz, and their only child was John Baker White, who became a member of the Charleston bar. Robert White, the prosecuting attorney, was born at Romney, May 28, 1876. He attended the public schools at his native town, and at the age of sixteen began ac- quiring his first experience in public affairs as deputy clerk of the County Court under his father. At the age of eighteen he graduated from the old Potomac Academy, and two years later began the study of law in West Vir- ginia University. He was graduated in 1899 and, return- ing to Romney, soon had a promising practice. From 1903 he was associated with his father until 1912, when he was elected for his first term as prosecuting attorney, succeed- ing J. S. Zimmennan. He has since been twice reelected to the same office. During his term of office the good roads movement has received a great impetus in Hampshire County, and the first concrete bridge was built by the County Court after he became prosecuting attorney. Mr. White comes of a family devoted to democratic principles, and he cast his first vote for president for Mr. Bryan in 1900. He is a past master of the Masonic Lodge and is also affiliated with the Odd Fellows. January 7, 1903, at Washington D. C., Mr. White married Miss Mabel Glasscock Fitch, a native of Vaneeburg, Ken- tucky, and daughter and only child of E. H. and Laura (Glasscock) Fitch. She attended Marshall College at Huntington while her family resided there, and finished her education in Washington. Mr. and Mrs. White had five children: John Baker, Mabel Glasgow, Elizabeth Steele, Roberta Huston and Robert, Jr. Mrs. White, the mother of these children, died July 5, 1915. She was an active mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church.