Short Biography of Henry S. White

REV. HENRY SUMNER WHITE, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Milford, to which charge he was sent in the fall of 1890, has been engaged in the ministry for several decades and has done efficient service for the cause of Christianity. He has been useful in his day and generation in other ways as well, and is a fit subject for representation in a biographical album. His portrait is also presented to our readers. Without laying claim to perfection it can be said of hima that his character and his life can be taken as models worthy of imitation and that they are good examples of strength and usefulness. Mr. White is descended from old New England families, being in the maternal line connected with Gen. Stark, of Revolutionary fame, and in the paternal line descended from the White family, of Puritan origin.

Newman Sumner White, father of our subject, was born in Rhode Island and in his manhood located at North Hoosick, N. Y., at the period of its early development. He was a mechanic and carriage-builder and manufactured wagons and sleighs for years. He died in North Hoosick in 1843. The mother of the Rev. Mr. White was born in Pawlet, Vt., and bore the maiden name Abigail Stark; her father's name was Samuel. Her grandfather, Capt. John Stark, was a cousin of the renowned General and fought with that hero at Bennington. When the centennial of the battle was celebrated, Mrs. White, who was then almost fourscore, was sent for, she being the only living relative of Gen. Stark present. She was drawn to the grounds by four white horses and there met Gens. Grant, Sherman and other heroes, to whom she was introduced with considerable ceremony and enthusiasm. She survived several years longer and died in Flint when eighty-nine years old. She reared her children carefully and took the place of the father they had lost, as well as she was able. She made a second marriage, wedding a Mr. Prentiss, and for some time her home was at Bennington, but the last few years of her life were spent with the family of our subject.

The Rev. Mr. White is the first-born of six children comprising his father's family. He was born at North Hoosick, n the old Bennington battlefield, April 7, 1828, and lived there until he was sixteen. He lost his father when he was fifteen years old and some months later went to White Creek, where he finished his apprenticeship as a carriagesmith—a trade he had already worked at somewhat. After a sojourn of two years he went to Troy, where he worked at his trade until 1848, when he removed to Concord, N. H. He had but $15, with which re rigged up an old shop he had rented, and began ironing carriages. He had been converted when sixteen years old and had led an active Christian life and shaped his course to study for the ministry. He took a four years' course of study at the Methodist Biblical Institute, since removed to Boston, and now the theological department of Boston University. At Concord he hired help and put in two hours each day and all of Saturday in the shop and so made money to pay his expenses through school. His four years' course of study with the attendant expenses cost nearly $1, 500, but he had plenty of means, being very successful in managing the shop. He was graduated from the College of Theology in Concord in 1852 with the honors of his class.

After completing his theological studies Mr. White supplied the Danielsonville, Conn., Methodist Episcopal Church for six months and in 1853 joined the Providence Conference and was stationed at South Manchester, Conn., a year. During the time he brought to completion a new house of worship. THe next year he was sent to East Hartford, and he spent two years in charge of the Matthewson Street Church, Providence, R. I. His next station was at New Bedford, Mass., where he built the large County Street Church, and the ensuing two years were spent over the Marlboro Street Church at Newport, R. I. THe next charge of the Rev. Mr. White was the Broadway Church at Providence, and just before the expiration of the two years which he was allowed there he became Chaplain of the Fifth Rhode Island Heavy Artillery. This was in January,1863, and the following summer while home on a furlough he procured one hundred tons of ice and $4,000 worth of stores and took them by Government ship to Newbern, N. C., for the benefit of the soldiers of his regiment. Mr. White served the army two years and was mustered out December 24, 1864, on account of the depletion of the regiment, which reduced the regimental staff.

May 4, 1864, Chaplain White was helping the boys with a twelve-pound Napoleon gun, on the railroad near Croton, N. C., when he was captured by the rebels. They could not understand how he used that machine for praying, which his Chaplain's epaulets showed was his special work, and so he was sent with his comrades to Andersonville. He saw all the horrors of the notorious prison pen and did what he could to cheer the captives, even though he could not relieve their physical sufferings. Thence he was sent to Macon, Ga., where an attempt was made to prevent him from praying for the President and the army and navy. A cannon was trained on him but he insisted that his captors had no right to interfere with acts of worship. Capt. Tabb approached him with a guard and Mr. White drew that gentleman into an argument by propounding the proposition that he was interfering with religious liberty, and finally won him over. The party with which Mr. White messed was subsequently taken to Savannah, thence to Charleston, where he was under fire of the "Swamp Angel" and nineteen other guns for twenty days. On September 23, 1864, he was put on the steamer "Delaware" near Ft. Sumter and taken to Hilton Head. He was sent home on a furlough, but soon rejoined his regiment, although he was not in good health and was emaciated by the privations he had endured.

After his discharge from the army Mr. White was transferred to the Detroit Conference and his first charge was at Ann Arbor. He remained there three years and during that period a fine church was built by the congregation. Thence he was sent to Summerfield Church, Milwaukee, Wis., and after a year of pastoral work there became Presiding Elder for the Fond du Lac District of the Wisconsin Conference. He labored in that capacity four years, then returned to this State and was a Aplena, Marquette and Port Huron in succession. At Port Huron the church blew down during a storm and he rebuilt it. Mr. White was next sent to Romeo, then to Vassar and next to Flint, where he had the Garland Street Church for five years, the limit of service having been changed by the General Conference. Here again a church was put up under his guidance and the congregation established in a beautiful home. The next removal of our subject was to Milford.

The wife of the Rev. Mr. White bore the maiden name of Nancy Holmes Hutchison and their marriage rites were solemnized in Francestown, N. H., August 4, 1852. The bride was the third child of Stearns and Nancy (Huston) Hutchison and was bron in Francestown, N. H., March 10, 1830. She was educated in the New Hampshire Conference Seminary at Sanbornton Bridge, where her active mind and desire for knowledge, together with her amiable character, endeared her to teachers and pupils. She has bee a great help to her husband in his pastoral work, and as a hostess has made welcome the many to whom the dwelling of a minister is always open. She is very active in mission work, both home and foreign, and her name is often to be seen in religious papers where the work of the Boards is recorded. She is now serving her second year as Department Chaplain of the Woman's Relief Corps, auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic of Michigan. Her father was born in Wilton, N. H., where her grandfather had located on coming from England. The latter entered a large tract of land in the two townships—Milford and Wilton—in Hillsborough County. Stearns Hutchison was a farmer at Francestown and died there aged sixty-two. The mother of Mrs. White was a daughter of Caleb and Nancy (Holmes) Huston and in both lines was descended from old New England families; she died in New Hampshire.

Our subject and his wife have had seven children; two died in infancy, Charles Henry when sixteen years old, and Alida Electa when eight. The living are Dr. Frank Newman White, a graduate of the University of Michigan in the medical department, and now in the employ of the Rumford Chemical Works of Providence, R. I.; George Sumner, first mate on one of the large lake steamers; William Stearns, a graduate of Albion College and now Principal of the High School at Mt. Clemens.

The Rev. Mr. White is a very prominent Grand Army man and takes active part in all movements for the good of the order. At the State Encampment at Bay City in 1888 he was elected Chaplain for the Department of Michigan and re-elected in Adrian in 1880. At Muskegon in 1890 he was again re-elected by acclamation. That year he was Aid-de-camp on Gen. Alger's staff at the National Encampment at Boston. Politically Mr. White is a stanch Republican and he is an earnest worker for temperance. His best monument when he shall have entered into rest, will be found in the lives of those whom he has influenced for good and his best epitaph written in the hearts of his Christian and patriotic friends.

Source: "Portrait and BIographical Album of Oakland County, Michigan" ⁶⁹³⁴