JAMES K. P. WHITE

FROM: The History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin, and Williamson Counties, Illinois (Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1887).  P. 752-753.

          James K. P. White, farmer, was born in Coles County, Ill., in 1845 the son of Thomas J. and Amy (Jones) White.  The father, of Irish descent. was born in 1807 in Baron County, Ky. Soon after be married, in 1828 he went to Coles County. Ill., where he lived until 1858, after which he located in Beaver Creek Township, Hamilton County. The mother, born in Jackson County, Tenn., November 7, died in Coles County, in 1851.  In 1853, he married Amy Canteberry, born in Kentucky in 1818.  She died in 1881, since when he has lived with his children. He is one of the oldest men in the county and a courteous gentleman. Our subject, the eighth of nine children, was thirteen when lie came to this county, and left home in August, 1862, to enlist in Company 1, One Hundred and Thirty-first Illinois infantry for three years or for the war. He was made corporal, and fought at Arkansas Post, Blakely, Spanish Fort, Vicksburg and many skirmishes. November 6, 1865, he was honorably discharged at Hamstead, Tex.  April 22, 1866, he married Sarah J. Springer, born in Hamilton County, March 15, 1848. Albert M., Tabitha A. (deceased), John M., Mary E., Sarah J., Lora D., Maudie M. and James W. are their children. He began with eighty acres after his marriage and now has 279 acres slowly acquired. In 1882 he erected an $800 two-story dwelling. Politically he is a Democrat, first voting for McClellan. April 5, 1886, he was made highway commissioner and re-elected in 1887. He and his wife are members of the Christian Church.