White, W. R., 1829-1921.

W. R. White of Prescott, Nevada County, Ark., dry goods merchant and Nevada County clerk.

From the description of W. R. White papers, 1812-1922 [manuscript]. WorldCat record id: 25453275

William R. White was born 8 March 1829 in Russellville, Ala., the son of Rev. Samuel B. White, an itinerant Methodist minister. In early manhood, W. R. White moved to Shreveport, La., where he became a merchant, apparently dealing in dry goods. Later, he moved to Marshall, Tex., where he continued in business until around 1853, when he returned to Alabama.

In 1854, he married Mary Jane Clarke, with whom he had eight children. His daughter Amelia married Thomas C. McRae, who was governor of Arkansas in the 1920s.

In 1857, the Whites moved from Alabama to Pine Bluff, Ark., where W. R. again established himself as a merchant. He continued in business until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he sold his stock of goods to the Confederate government and enlisted as a private in the Confederate army. The $10,000 in Confederate money that he received from this sale was still in his possession at the time of his death in 1921. W. R. soon was promoted to captain and assigned to duty as commissary of his brigade. He was captured in 1863 and spent some 15 months as a prisoner of war.

At the close of the war, W. R. and his family located in Falcon, Ark., where he taught school until 1874, when he was elected county and circuit clerk of newly created Nevada County. After six years in this position, he was appointed by President Cleveland as postmaster at Prescott, Ark.

Mary Jane White died in 1884, and W. R. married Mary C. Love of Huntsville, Ala., in 1889. After four years as postmaster, W. R. again engaged in the mercantile business until increasing infirmities caused him to retire.

W. R. White was a lifetime member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a Mason. He died in 1921.

From the guide to the W. R. White Papers, 1812-1922, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)