Wood County, West Virginia Biography of Albert Blakeslee WHITE ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Sandra Reed , May 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. Albert Blakeslee White, who was Governor of West Virginia from 1901 to 1905, exercised his first occupational choice in the newspaper business, and conferred distinction both on himself and his vacation during his long arduous devotion to that calling. It was as a newspaper man that he came to West Virginia, locating in Parkersburg forty years ago, and virtually creating the State Journal as a newspaper of wide influence and a successful business institution. Governor White has the gift of versatility, and has succeeded in several fields to a degree that would satisfy the ambitions of most man who concentrate their energies along one particular line. Governor White has behind him an American ancestry dating back nearly three centuries, and there have been many man of great distinction in the various branches. Governor White stands in the ninth generation of the American family. The first American of the family was Thomas White, who was born in Ireland in 1599, was a lawyer by profession, settled at Weymouth, Massachusetts, in 1632, was prominent in the affairs of that colony, and died in 1679. Joseph White was born at Weymouth in 1635, was known as Captain Joseph, and died at Mendon, Massachusetts, in 1706. Thomas White was born in Mendon in 1665. Deacon Samuel White was born at Uxbridge, Massachusetts, in 1700. Captain Paul White was born at Uxbridge, in 1744, and died at Douglass, Massachusetts, in 1796. Calvin White was born August 30, 1771, and died August 31, 1838, and about 1800 moved to Ware, Massachusetts. Jonas White, born November 18, 1795, founded this branch of the family in the West, being an early settler of the Ohio Western Reserve, where he followed farming. He died in Portage County, Ohio August 29, 1876. In 1819 he married Sarah McGregory, and they were the grandparents of Governor A. B. White. Emerson Elbridge White, son of Jonas and Sarah White, gave his life to the cause of Education, and his name and achievements are permanently associated with the history of educational development in Ohio and in fact in the nation. He was born January 10, 1829, at Mantua, Portage County, and died at Columbus, Ohio, October 21, 1902. He was educated in common schools and academics, and for several years was a student of Cleveland University. He was a teacher and principal in the Cleveland public schools, was superintendent of schools at Portsmouth, Ohio, and in 1861 moved to Columbus and for fifteen years conducted the Ohio Educational Monthly, which he made one of the foremost educationally journals in the country. In connection he also published the National Teacher for several years. He was appointed State Commissioner of the common schools of Ohio in 1863, and during his three years in that office was instrumental in securing the laws establishing a teachers institutute system in Ohio, also created a State Board of Examiners and required more adequate qualifications for teachers. In 1876 Doctor White was called to the presidency of Purdue University at Lafayette, Indiana. He was President for seven years, increase the attendance of more than sevenfold, and laid the foundation for the board educational program of Purdue, which for many years has ranked as one of the foremost technical and professional universities in the country. In 1886 Doctor White was appointed Superintendent of schools for Cincinnati, and served two terms. In 1891 he returned to Columbus, where he continued his literary labors. An entire generation of school children recall his name in connection with the textbook White's Arithmetic, and was the author of a number of other works on pedagogy and school management. To quote a paragraph from his biography, "He was often styled ' the grand old man' of the educational profession. Scholarly, accurate in speech and writing, a man of philosophical force, professional devotion and experience, he reaped well deserved honors. In 1863 he was President of the Ohio Teachers Association, in 1868 of the National Superintendents Association, and of the National Educational Association in 1872, also of the National Council of Education in 1884 and 1885. He was the mover, in 1866, in a paper read before the National Superintendents Association in Washington, for the formation of a National Bureau of Education, and he framed the bill which created it. In the study of educational work and in lecturing Doctor White traveled extensively. He was lecturing at Asbury Park, New Jersey, when he was taken with his last sickness. In the Presbyterian Church he was for nearly fifty years a ruling elder, and for many years he was President of the Board of Trustees of Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati. He was an earnest church worker, and sometimes lectured on moral and religious subjects, these lectures being, like his educational works, of unusual excellence. " July 26, 1853, at Hudson, Ohio, Emerson E. White married Mary Ann Sabin, who was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio October 15, 1827, and died July 19, 1901. She was a daughter of Henry W. and Clarissa (Church) Sabin, and was in the eighth generation from William Sabin, a French Huguenot who went to England and settled at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, in 1643. Albert Blakeslee White, son of Dr. Emerson Elbridge and Mary Ann (Sabin) White, was born at Cleveland, Ohio, September 22, 1856. His journalistic experiences began at the age of fourteen, while he was private secretary to his father, then publishing of the Ohio Educational Monthly and the National Teacher. Governor White graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1878 from Marietta College, Ohio. He then returned to the home of his father at Lafayette, Indiana, and became a third owner of the Daily Journal of Lafayette. For three years he was managing editor. Largely on account of the adverse influence of the climate on his health Mr. White gave up a promising career in Indiana, and in December, 1881, purchased the State Journal of Parkersburg, West Virginia. This was then a weekly, printed on hand press, and in making a real newspaper Mr. White showed to good advantage his abilities as a journalist as well as a business executive, though in the light of his subsequent career it ranks as one of his minor achievements. In July, 1883, with Mr. S.B. Baker as his partner, he began publishing the State Journal as a daily, and thus broadened the power and influence of a paper that for many years ranked as one of the first in West Virginia. It was a Republican paper, and through its columns Mr. White first exercised a potent influence in West Virginia politics and in developing the majority party in the state. Governor White was identified with the fortunes of the State Journal nearly twenty years, selling his interests in June, 1899. He served at one time as President of the West Virginia Press Association, and in 1887 was elected President of the National Editorial Association. For many years Governor White has been prominent in banking and manufacturing at Parkersburg. After he left the office of Governor he helped organize and became Vice President and Agency Director of the Southern States Mutual Life Insurance Company of Charleston, now the George Washington Life Insurance Company. He is still Vice President of the present company. He resigned as Agency Director of the Life Insurance Company in the spring of 1907, and in April of that year he entered upon his duties as State Tax Commissioner, serving and until December 31, 1908. In July, 1909, he was elected President and Cashier of the Parkersburg Banking & Trust Company, now known as the Commercial Bank & Trust Company. He resigned his presidency in 1914 in order to give his entire time and attention to the Parkersburg Ice and Coal Company. He has also been President of the Briar Mountain Coal Company, Vice President of the Ohio Valley Bending Company, a Parkersburg Corporation, President of the Parkersburg Chair Company, and interested in many other industrial and banking corporations. In the opinion of his friends and associates few man have so great a capacity for work as Governor White. To express his talents in some form of useful service is undoubtedly his chief ambition, since the accumulation of wealth has apparently not been one of his chief incentives. A man of such initiative, tremendous energy, actuated by a public spirited disinterestedness, is the class of citizen best fitted to adorn a public office and perform its functions. His first important public office was as Collector of Internal Revenue for the District of West Virginia. On the walls of his office at Parkersburg, Governor White has three framed certificates, one signed by Benjamin Harrison, the second by William McKinley and the third by Warren G. Harding, each document being an appointment as Internal Revenue Collector of West Virginia. His first four year term began in July, 1889, the second in July, 1897, and in May, 1921, he was nominated by President Harding and commissioned Internal Revenue Collector for the District of West Virginia. In July, 1900, Mr. White was unanimously nominated by the Republican Party for Governor, and in the following November he was given the largest majority ever given a candidate for the governorship up to this time, approximately twenty thousand. He was Governor of West Virginia from March 4, to 1901, to March 4, 1905. He was businesslike, systematic and efficient administration but its outstanding feature was the remedying of long standing abuses and inequalities of the state tax laws. The first substantial reform in these old laws was made by the Legislature of 1901, followed in 1904 by the enactment of a system of tax laws and the creation of the Office of State Tax Commissioner. As noted above, Governor White, two years after leaving the office of governor accepted appointment as state tax commissioner, serving about eighteen months. In 1916 Governor White was a candidate in the primary for United State Senator, but the honor went by a small margin to the present Senator, Howard Sutherland. Governor White in 1918 was accepted upon physical examination as a Y. M. C. A. war worker overseas, and in the fall of 1918 sailed for France, where he was in service about six months. While overseas he supervised the construction of a rest area at Annecy, one of the largest and best equipped Y. M. C. A. rest areas in France. He held the position of division secretary. Governor White is as deeply interested in political problems and in politics today as at any time in his busy career. He has probably made more political addresses on behalf of his party than any other individual in West Virginia. For thirty-eight years he has been exceptionally active in every biennial campaign. Governor White is prominent in Masonry, and in 1912 was one of the organizers of Nemesis Temple of the Mystic Shrine and was the third potentate of that Temple. He has attended the Imperial Council for ten years and in 1921, at Des Moines, was elected a life member of the Imperial Council, entitled to all the rights and privileges thereof. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church at Parkersburg. At Marietta, Ohio, October 2, 1879, he married at Agnes Ward, daughter of William Skinner and Catherine (Clark) Ward, of Marietta. She is a descendant of the eighth generation from William Ward, who was on record as a freemen of the Sudbury, Massachusetts, and 1643. Mrs. White is a member of the Colonial Dames and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her Revolutionary ancestor was General Artemas Ward. Her grandfather, Nahum Ward, settled at Marietta, Ohio, in 1811. Governor and Mrs. wife have five children, Katherine Vaughan, Ethel Sabin, Grace Rolston, Ward Emerson and Albert Blakeslee, Jr. , all of whom are living.