Tulare County Biographies

CAPT. HARRISON WHITE

Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


     The name of White has long been associated with affairs in the United 
States, dating in fact from the historic Mayflower, when Peregrine White came to 
these shore and endured the hardships and trials which are woven in the 
history-making of the Atlantic coast. From this intrepid pioneer have descended 
men of valor in war and painstaking industry in times of peace. During the 
Revolutionary war Silas White, a native of New York state, enlisted in a company 
from that state, and as captain of the company, led his men into the thickest of 
many a struggle with the opposing Tory forces. No less valiant was a son and 
namesake of this Revolutionary captain, who left his native state, New York, and 
in 1842 settled on the Fox river in Illinois, becoming a pioneer farmer of La 
Salle county. He did not long survive his immigration to the then frontier, for 
he passed away six years after locating upon his farm. He was a man whose life 
had been uniformly upright with character unstained, and it was this heritage 
that he left his widow, who long survived him. In maidenhood she was Maria 
MacClave. The MacClave family came from Scotland to America in an early day and 
settled in New York, and it was in Albany, that state, that Maria MacClave was 
born. She lived to attain the venerable age of ninety-eight years, dying in 
Illinois. Of the ten children who attained mature years three are now living, 
one of whom, Selem, is a resident of Coal City, Grundy county, Ill. He served 
throughout the entire period of the Civil war, holding the rank of captain of a 
company in the Fifty-third Illinois Infantry. Mrs. Cyrus W. Cook, a daughter, is 
residing at Sandwich, Illinois. 
     Harrison White was born in Syracuse, N. Y., June 28, 1836. At the age of 
six years he accompanied his parents to Illinois, there obtaining a primary 
education in the public schools, after which he alternated teaching school with 
attendance at Wheaton College. The breaking out of the Civil war at this time 
was destined to add an important chapter to his interesting life. He responded 
to the call of President Lincoln for three-month men and in April, 1861, he 
became a member of Company F, Eleventh Illinois Infantry. When his three-month 
term had expired and he was honorably discharged from the service, he determined 
to enlist in the cavalry branch of the army, and accordingly he assisted in the 
organization of Company B, Fourth Illinois Cavalry, which was mustered into 
service at Ottawa in August of 1861, and from there made its way to Cairo. Among 
the engagements in which he participated were those at Forts Henry and Donelson, 
Shiloh, Corinth and Vicksburg. It was in the siege of the last mentioned city 
that his company was detailed as an escort to General Grant, continuing as such 
until the latter was ordered east as commander-in- chief. Soon afterwards 
Captain White was placed on detached service and for a short time was assistant 
quartermaster at Vicksburg, after which he joined his regiment and aided General 
Custer in Louisiana, during the reconstruction period. In Memphis, Tenn., 
January 26, 1866, he was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain, having 
been promoted to that office as a reward for meritorious service at Vicksburg. 
Previous to this he had served as an orderly sergeant. Notwithstanding the fact 
that he was often in the midst of fierce struggle, and witnessed the wounding 
and death of comrades on every hand, he escaped without injury until the battle 
of Shiloh, where a piece of shell killed his horse and knocked him senseless. 
Soon recovering, however, he joined his comrades.
     Following his retirement from the army Captain White made his home on a 
rented plantation at Yazoo Pass, Miss., but both climate and occupation proved 
unsuited to his health and it was on this account that he returned to Illinois. 
For several months he conducted a mercantile establishment at Sandwich, Ill., 
but in the fall of 1868 he sold the business and left Illinois. Traveling up the 
Missouri he reached Fort Benton, and from there went to Helena, Mont., where he 
engaged in merchandising, and subsequently he carried on a store in a mining 
camp. The fall of 1869 found him in Illinois on a visit to friends and 
relatives, and in the spring of the following year he came to California, 
settlement being made in Porterville, Tulare county. For the first two years of 
his residence there he was interested in the sheep business, having also 
purchased a ranch, but five years later he again became interested in the 
mercantile business, conducting a general store in connection with Porter 
Putnam. His identification with Visalia dates from the year 1877. Three years 
after making this city his home he was appointed deputy to the internal revenue 
collector, William Higby, whose district embraced Kern, Tulare, Fresno, Merced 
and Stanislaus counties, with headquarters in Visalia. Captain White retained 
the office of deputy until 1889, during which time he also continued his ranch 
and sheep interests and still owns a ranch of two hundred and forty acres on the 
Tule river, the property now being leased to a tenant. The land is partially 
under irrigation, water being provided by means of a pumping plant connected 
with wells. His holdings also include grazing lands. It was during 1891 that 
Captain White was appointed under-sheriff to Sheriff Overall, an office which he 
held for eighteen months. Subsequently from 1893 to 1895, he served by 
appointment as United States gauger. It was in 1898 that he was appointed to the 
position which he held until retiring in 1911,--that of supervisor of the 
southern district of the Sierra Forest reserve, comprising more than two million 
acres in Kern, Fresno, Tulare and Inyo counties, with headquarters in Visalia. 
It goes without saying that the position entailed many responsibilities, but he 
has proved amply qualified to discharge every duty with a master hand, his long 
experience in many avenue of activity having equipped him with a breadth of 
knowledge and extent of information both rare and valuable. 
     It was after coming to Visalia that Captain White formed domestic ties by 
his marriage to Miss Hattie Pauline Anthony, native of Watertown, N. Y. By the 
right of his service in the Civil war Captain White is associated with the Grand 
Army of the Republic, twice serving as commander of Gen. George Wright Post No. 
111. Under appointment by Governor Waterman he held the position of major and 
quartermaster on the staff of General Budd, of the California National Guard. A 
leader in the ranks of the Republican party, for twelve years or more he was 
secretary of the Republican county central committee and for two years 
officiated as its chairman. He took an active part in the councils of that body, 
as he did subsequently as a member of the congressional committee. It is 
unnecessary to state that a man of his breadth of character should be loved and 
respected by all, irrespective of party affiliation, for the position which he 
holds represents the possession of ability of high order, sterling qualities and 
a breadth of patriotism that knows no party distinction.       
 
SOURCE:  History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical 
Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913 Pp 301, 302, 303, 
304