Biography of James Garfield White - Mercer Co. WV The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 547 JAMES GARFIELD WHITE, of Princeton, judicial center of Mercer County, is a successful contractor in. railroad con- struction and is a progressive member of the County Court. He was born at Oakvale, this county, June 7, 1880, and is a son of James A. and Derinzia H. (McKinzie) White, both likewise natives of Mercer County, where the former was born at Oakvale and the latter at Ingleside. The father was shot and killed in 1899, while making an arrest in his official capacity as sheriff of his native county, and he was forty-five years of age at the time of his death. His widow passed away in 1907, at the age of forty-five years. James A. White was elected sheriff of Mercer County in 1888, and was the first republican to be elected to this office, of which he continued the incumbent four years. Thereafter he was for two years representative of Mercer County in the House of Delegates of the West Virginia Legislature, and in 1891 he was again elected county sheriff, in which position he served until his tragic death. His father, James A. White, Sr., was a loyal soldier of the Union in the Civil war. Both the White and McKinzie families were estab- lished in Mercer County in the pioneer days, and John A. McKinzie, maternal grandfather of the subject of this re- view, was a prominent and influential citizen of this county. James Garfield White, a member of a fine family of thir- teen children, attended the public schools and the Con- cord Normal School at Athens, and thereafter he was ac- tively identified with farm enterprise until he turned his attention to lumber manufacturing as operator of a saw mill at Oakvale. Later he became associated with the Gibson-Tolliver Company in heavy construction work on the Norfolk & Western Railroad at Narrows, Virginia. Later he became junior member of the firm of Lipscomb & White, which built six miles of the Virginian Railroad, from Matoaka to Clark's Gap. Since that time he has held many heavy contracts for construction work for the Virginian Railroad, the Norfolk & Western Railroad, and the Louis- ville & Nashville Railroad, in West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina and other states. He is now senior member of the contracting firm of White & Wood, in which his coadjutor is L. S. Wood of Gaffney, South Car- olina. Mr. White was elected a member of the County Court in 1918, and his broad experience in heavy construc- tion work made him specially eligible for this office, in which lie became authoritatively concerned in carrying forward the construction of modern highways and other good roads in his home county. Mr. White is a stalwart in the ranks of the republican party, his Masonic affiliations are with the Blue Lodge at Narrows, Virginia, the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons at Athens, West Virginia, the Commandery of Knights Tem- plars at Bluefleld, Mercer County, and the Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston. His wife is an active mem- ber of the Missionary Baptist Church. January 1, 1918, recorded the marriage of Mr. White and Miss Myrtle Spangler, daughter of L. P. Spangler, of Glen Lyn, Virginia, and the two children of this union are Lawrence and Flora M. Submitted by Valerie Crook **************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. ****************************************************************