My Genealogy Hound

Robert White was born in Southampton, Mass., in 1845. His father, William White, was a native of Roxbury (now a part of Boston), and was of English descent. His mother was Anna Dady, a native of Southampton, Mass., who was of Scotch descent. William White was by trade a tanner and currier, but spent most of his life on a farm. In 1847 he emigrated from Southampton, Mass., to Knox County, Mo., when Robert was ten years old. Here the subject of this sketch spent his early years with his father on the farm. He taught school one year, and attended school at La Grange one winter, and at Jacksonville, Ill., two years, graduating in the scientific course of Illinois College in the class of 1869. He next engaged in the study and profession of a civil engineer, but after about five years spent in map and railroad work he abandoned this profession, and engaged in the grain and lumber business at Knox City, Mo., where he has since resided. In 1880 he was married to Julia Musgrove, a native of Scotland County, and daughter of Ludwill Musgrove, an enterprising farmer of that county. They have one child— Sumner. In politics Mr. White has been a Republican, of the Charles Sumner stripe, but of late years he has been an Independent or “Mugwump,” voting for St. John in 1884.