Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/503

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
WHITE
WHITE

tiraore, and then in St. John's college, Annapolis, Md., in 1871-'2. In the same year he was science lecturer in the Peabody institute, Baltimore, and in the latter year he was appointed professor of chem- istry in the University of Georgia, which post he still holds. Since 1880 he has been state chemist of Georgia. In 1881-'2 he was president of the Asso- ciation of official chemists of the United States, and in 1888 he became chief chemist of the Georgia state experimental station. He received the degree of Ph. D. from the University of Virginia in 1877, and is a fellow of the American association for the advancement of science. Dr. White has published scientific addresses, reports on the chemistry of the cotton-plant and on commercial fertilizers, "The Complete Chemistry of the Cotton- Plant" (Macon, 1873), and, with William Gibbs McAdoo, "Elementary Geology of Tennessee" (Nashville, 1874).


WHITE, Horace, journalist, b. in Colebrook, N. H., 10 Aug., 1834. He was graduated at Beloit college, Wisconsin, in 1853. In 1837 his father, who was a physician, removed to Beloit with his family. After his graduation he engaged in journalism. He was for many years connected with the Chicago “Tribune,” and from 1864 till 1874 was its editor and one of its chief proprietors. Conjointly with Edwin L. Godkin he has since 1883 edited the New York “Evening Post.” Mr. White has edited Frederic Bastiat's “Sophismes économiques” (Chicago, 1869), and Luigi Cossa's “Scienza delle finanze” (New York, 1888).


WHITE, Hugh, soldier, b. in Dauphin county, Pa., in 1737; d. in 1822. He was a captain in the Pennsylvania line from 19 April, 1775, till 1778, when he was promoted to a colonelcy. He was one of the first commissioners of Lycoming county, and a member of the Pennsylvania assembly in 1795, 1796, and 1803. He served as colonel of Pennsylvania troops in 1812. — His son, Robert Gray, jurist, b. in Selinsgrove, Pa., 21 Jan, 1807 ; d. in Millsboro', Pa., 6 Sept., 1875. was graduated at Jefferson college in 1826, studied law, and prac- tised in Tioga county. Pa. He was a member of the State constitutional convention of 1838, treasurer of Tioga county in 1841 and 1843, and elected president-judge of the 4th judicial district of Penn- sylvania in 1851 and 1861. retiring in 1871.


WHITE, Israel Charles, geologist, b. in Mo- nongalia county, W. Va., 1 Nov., 1848. He was graduated at West Virginia university in 1872, and took a graduate course in geology and chemistry in 1875-'6 in Columbia school of mines. In 1875 he was appointed assistant on the second geological survey of Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1884, and since that year he has been connected with the U. S. geological survev. He was called to the chair of geology in the West Virginia uni- versity in 1877, and still retains that appointment. Prof. White was the first geologist to harmonize the Pennsylvania and Ohio coal-measures, and in 1882 he recognized as belonging to the Salina for- mation rocks in Montour and Columbia counties that had previously been classified either with the Clinton or Lower Helderberg groups. He was also the first to apply the anticlinal idea to the success- ful location of natural gas and oil wells, and an- nounced his theory in 1885. Prof. White is a member of the American philosophical society and a fellow oi the American association for the advancement of science, and has published papers in their transactions and in the " American Jour- nal of Science." He is also the author of nine volumes of the reports of the geological survey of Pennsylvania.


WHITE, James, pioneer, b. in Iredell county, N. C, in 1737 ; d. in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1815. He served as a soldier during the Revolution, and re- ceiving his pay from North Carolina in a land-war- rant, located it, in the summer of 1787, on the northern bank of the Holston river about four miles below the mouth of the French Broad. Here he erected a fort, built a grist-mill, and began a settlement. The place was then on the extreme frontier, and a treaty with the Cherokees being held there in 1791, it attracted the attention of Gov. William Blount, who at once decided to make it the capital of the southwest territory. It was laid out into lots, named Knoxville, and soon at- tracted to itself a population, whose purchase of his property made White a wealthy man. In Sep- tember, 1793, the fort, which contained 300 stand of U. S. muskets, and a large amount of ammuni- tion, was threatened with attack from a body of 1,500 Cherokees. In the absence of Gov. Blount and Gen. Sevier, White assumed command of the forty settlers, and prepared for a desperate resist- ance. The Indians came within eight miles of the fort, and then, alarmed by the near approach of Sevier and his riflemen, suddenly retreated. Mr. White was a member of the territorial legislature, one of those that founded the state of " Franklin " (see Sevier, John), served as territorial delegate in congress in 1794-'5, and, on the admission of Ten- nessee into the Union in 1796, was elected to the state senate, and soon afterward chosen the speaker of that body. He held this position till December, 1797, when he resigned to make place for ex-Gov. William Blount, who, for alleged treason, had been expelled from the U. S. senate. In November, 1813. as brigadier-general of Tennessee volunteers, he led a successful attack on the Creek Indians at Hillabee Town. — His son, Hugh Lawson, b. in Iredell county, N. C, 30 Oct., 1773 ; d. in Knox- ville, Tenn.. 10 April, 1840, had meagre facilities for education. At the age of fourteen he accompanied his family to the remote backwoods, and there soon after- ward began the study of law in a small log office. A war with the Chero- kees breaking out when he was seven- teen years old, he volunteered as a pri- vate under Gen. Se- vier, and was with him when he gave that nation its last crushing defeat at the battle of Eto- wah. Young White

doubtless decided

that battle, for in the crisis of the fight he levelled his rifle upon their leading chief. King Fisher, and mortally wounded him. whereupon the savages scattered in all directions. At the close of the war he went to Philadelphia to study the classics and mathematics, and read law in the office of James Hopkins in Lancaster, Pa. Then he re- turned to Knoxville and began practice. For a short time he was private secretary to Gov. Blount. At the age of twenty-eight he was appointed a justice of the supreme court of Tennessee, which office he held for six years, and until he received the appointment of U. S. district attorney. In