Family History
The White Family History
How did we get to Kentucky?
Researched by Steve Reeder
Researched by Steve Reeder
_I have not, as of this writing (May 2001), been able to find a great deal in the way of stories about the White family and how we came to be in Henderson, KY. The farthest I have been able to trace back is to my 2great-grandfather, Martin White. Much of the information I have found was pulled together by Lavina (White) Walker. Lavina currently lives in Henderson and is 61 years of age. Before I discovered her on the internet, I had never heard of her. She has been working on the White family tree for many years. Lavina's father James "Jay" Arnett White is the half brother of my mother Gwen Reeder. James's mother died, approximately one week after giving birth to James. James was the son of Leonard Marshall White. Leonard was the father of my mother Gwen. I will get back to Leonard a little later. I say all of this to give credit to Lavina for her work on the White family history and genealogy. She has include much more of the tree in her work than I have included in this work.
Martin White was born in Smith County, TN. around 1812. It is from this point I will start and share some of the things I have discovered. Martin's occupation was that of a wagon maker. He married a girl from Tennessee in around 1831 and at some point after 1846 he moved to Kentucky. He died in Logan County, KY in 1881.
On July 22, 1844 while still living in Tennessee, Martin and Elizabeth (Frederick) White had a son by the name of Archibald White. Archibald is my ggrandfather. Archibald followed in his father's footsteps and he also became a wagon maker. Several stories surround Martin. The first is that Martin was a Indian. I have never been able to find anything that would indicate that this was true. In fact in the 1870 census, Gordonsville, Logan County, KY district, the Martin White family are listed as white. I also want to share the following emails with you that includes another interesting story
Dear Lavina,
My name is Steve Reeder, I am a descendant of Martin White. Martin was my Great Great Grandfather on my mothers side. I have much of the information that you have submitted, however, what I am trying to find is the name of Martin's father. I am guessing that you do not have it or you would have listed it. My question is, do you have any clues?
To tell you the truth, I had been given some information that said Martin's father was a full blood Cherokee Indian named White Fox. I was further told that White Fox was the son of Cherokee Chief White Path. This information supposedly came from the White family Bible that is, again supposedly in the Civil War file of Archibald. White Path died on the Trail of Tears and was buried in Hopkinsville, Ky. Much is found on him in history and on the internet.
After reading what you submitted I now believe the information I had to be false. I did not have Martin's date of birth. White Path did not come to Kentucky on the Trail of Tears until 1838. The story I had was that his son White Fox escaped and settled in TN. The story went on to say that he gave his children English names and kept White as the last name. With Martins birth date, this story is now blown out of the water.
Of course I am writing this not knowing if you are still at this email address, I hope you are and would love to hear from you.
Thanks,
Steve
Hi Steve,
Are you Gwen's son?
You are right . I have nothing on Martin's father and I don't believe that story about White Path either.
Linda Hicks, one of our cousins, told me this story about White Path and Two Feathers and a lot of other things. But the first thing she said in our first conversation was" Do you realize if we can prove we our part Indian we can get some money". She told me that she got part of her information from Ray Whitepath of McMinnville, Tennessee. I wrote to this man, he wrote back that he did not tell her this story. I telephoned her, ask where she got part of her story, she said in Hopkinsville, I asked if she would please tell me where so I could get a copy for my records. She hung up on me. Linda with help from Gertrude Miller went to the Bennett Cemetery and had a new stone put up for Archibald, with a new date on it. She had people from the Logan County paper there. I don't believe a word of the story they printed. I have a copy. After they replaced the stone, they took the old stone to LaVernge, Tennessee and placed it on Gertrude's front porch. I was told by Elvis White that he and one of the Cowherd family were bringing a law suit against Linda and Gertrude, to make them correct the dates on the stone. The next thing I heard was from my Father, who lived in the same mobile home park as Gertrude. He said she got scared, and ask that he hide the stone in his storage shed. He refused and said he never knew what she did with it.
I have a copy of Archibald's Civil War Record sand his marriage bond. No mention of his being Indian.
When I was just a child, I was told by an older cousin, Roy Gibbs, that Anna Manora was part Indian. Roy lived with our family for awhile.
I have never heard about a family bible in the story from Linda, but did get a message from Rhonda Delph, a cousin of ours, just last week. She had gotten information from Shelia Whalen saying that Martin and Lizzie had a son named Bud Newton White born 22 July 1844. ??? This was in her Great Aunt Belle's bible.
Lavina White Walker , Henderson, Kentucky
The second story that I have heard is that Archibald's wife, Anna Manora Sad Caroline View Owen, was either full blood or half Indian. This may or may not have been the case. On a "Family Group" form that appears to be a military record of sorts, it shows -Archibald White (Cherokee Indian name is "Oreyhnan")-. Archibald served in Company F - 11th Kentucky Infantry during the Civil War. My suspicions is that, with a name like Anna Manora Sad Caroline View Owen, Archibald's wife very well could have had some Indian in her. If in fact she did, Archibald could have been given an Indian name by her family.
Two other notes of interest on Archibald. First, he must have gone closely by the nick name of Arch as this name appears on several documents that was found. Second, he could not write, as witnessed by the signature on his wedding certificate. He signed by using an X.
One other note of interest relative to Archibald is that he had nine daughters and one son. That son was Leonard Marshall White, my grandfather. While Archibald was not able to do much in the way of keeping the family going, Leonard did all he could. Leonard had 16 children of which nine were boys. While Leonard was born in Todd County, KY, he died in Henderson County, KY. I am not sure when he came to Henderson, however, he married his third wife on December 16, 1922 in Elkton, KY. He married my grandmother, "Moma Madie" in 1924. His occupation was listed as "jack of all trades". It is said that he peddled merchandise in Todd County, from a two horse wagon.
Steve Reeder May 24, 2001
Martin White was born in Smith County, TN. around 1812. It is from this point I will start and share some of the things I have discovered. Martin's occupation was that of a wagon maker. He married a girl from Tennessee in around 1831 and at some point after 1846 he moved to Kentucky. He died in Logan County, KY in 1881.
On July 22, 1844 while still living in Tennessee, Martin and Elizabeth (Frederick) White had a son by the name of Archibald White. Archibald is my ggrandfather. Archibald followed in his father's footsteps and he also became a wagon maker. Several stories surround Martin. The first is that Martin was a Indian. I have never been able to find anything that would indicate that this was true. In fact in the 1870 census, Gordonsville, Logan County, KY district, the Martin White family are listed as white. I also want to share the following emails with you that includes another interesting story
Dear Lavina,
My name is Steve Reeder, I am a descendant of Martin White. Martin was my Great Great Grandfather on my mothers side. I have much of the information that you have submitted, however, what I am trying to find is the name of Martin's father. I am guessing that you do not have it or you would have listed it. My question is, do you have any clues?
To tell you the truth, I had been given some information that said Martin's father was a full blood Cherokee Indian named White Fox. I was further told that White Fox was the son of Cherokee Chief White Path. This information supposedly came from the White family Bible that is, again supposedly in the Civil War file of Archibald. White Path died on the Trail of Tears and was buried in Hopkinsville, Ky. Much is found on him in history and on the internet.
After reading what you submitted I now believe the information I had to be false. I did not have Martin's date of birth. White Path did not come to Kentucky on the Trail of Tears until 1838. The story I had was that his son White Fox escaped and settled in TN. The story went on to say that he gave his children English names and kept White as the last name. With Martins birth date, this story is now blown out of the water.
Of course I am writing this not knowing if you are still at this email address, I hope you are and would love to hear from you.
Thanks,
Steve
Hi Steve,
Are you Gwen's son?
You are right . I have nothing on Martin's father and I don't believe that story about White Path either.
Linda Hicks, one of our cousins, told me this story about White Path and Two Feathers and a lot of other things. But the first thing she said in our first conversation was" Do you realize if we can prove we our part Indian we can get some money". She told me that she got part of her information from Ray Whitepath of McMinnville, Tennessee. I wrote to this man, he wrote back that he did not tell her this story. I telephoned her, ask where she got part of her story, she said in Hopkinsville, I asked if she would please tell me where so I could get a copy for my records. She hung up on me. Linda with help from Gertrude Miller went to the Bennett Cemetery and had a new stone put up for Archibald, with a new date on it. She had people from the Logan County paper there. I don't believe a word of the story they printed. I have a copy. After they replaced the stone, they took the old stone to LaVernge, Tennessee and placed it on Gertrude's front porch. I was told by Elvis White that he and one of the Cowherd family were bringing a law suit against Linda and Gertrude, to make them correct the dates on the stone. The next thing I heard was from my Father, who lived in the same mobile home park as Gertrude. He said she got scared, and ask that he hide the stone in his storage shed. He refused and said he never knew what she did with it.
I have a copy of Archibald's Civil War Record sand his marriage bond. No mention of his being Indian.
When I was just a child, I was told by an older cousin, Roy Gibbs, that Anna Manora was part Indian. Roy lived with our family for awhile.
I have never heard about a family bible in the story from Linda, but did get a message from Rhonda Delph, a cousin of ours, just last week. She had gotten information from Shelia Whalen saying that Martin and Lizzie had a son named Bud Newton White born 22 July 1844. ??? This was in her Great Aunt Belle's bible.
Lavina White Walker , Henderson, Kentucky
The second story that I have heard is that Archibald's wife, Anna Manora Sad Caroline View Owen, was either full blood or half Indian. This may or may not have been the case. On a "Family Group" form that appears to be a military record of sorts, it shows -Archibald White (Cherokee Indian name is "Oreyhnan")-. Archibald served in Company F - 11th Kentucky Infantry during the Civil War. My suspicions is that, with a name like Anna Manora Sad Caroline View Owen, Archibald's wife very well could have had some Indian in her. If in fact she did, Archibald could have been given an Indian name by her family.
Two other notes of interest on Archibald. First, he must have gone closely by the nick name of Arch as this name appears on several documents that was found. Second, he could not write, as witnessed by the signature on his wedding certificate. He signed by using an X.
One other note of interest relative to Archibald is that he had nine daughters and one son. That son was Leonard Marshall White, my grandfather. While Archibald was not able to do much in the way of keeping the family going, Leonard did all he could. Leonard had 16 children of which nine were boys. While Leonard was born in Todd County, KY, he died in Henderson County, KY. I am not sure when he came to Henderson, however, he married his third wife on December 16, 1922 in Elkton, KY. He married my grandmother, "Moma Madie" in 1924. His occupation was listed as "jack of all trades". It is said that he peddled merchandise in Todd County, from a two horse wagon.
Steve Reeder May 24, 2001