SAMUEL ALLEN WHITE. A prominent position not only among the business men of Batchtown, but also among the leading citizens of Calhoun County, is held by this gentleman who is successfully engaged as a merchant. He erected in Batchtown a two-story structure, forty-five feet front and seventy-five feet deep, divided into two rooms and filled with a complete stock of groceries, dry-goods, fancy articles, boots and shoes, hardware, etc. He is an extensive dealer in farm machinery, wagons, and in fact, his store contains almost any article that may be desired. A view of this store building, warehouse, the family residence, and also the flouring mill which Mr. White erected in 1868, may be found on another page of this volume. The flouring mill has been recently remodeled and fitted out with new machinery for the making of first-class brands of flour, meal and feed.
He of whom this biographical notice is written was born in Clarksville, Mo., March 16, 1845, and is a son of Joseph White. So far as information can be obtained it is supposed that the father was reared in the Territory of Wisconsin where he was born. He removed to Missouri, being one of the pioneers of Pike County, and purchasing a tract of land three and one-half miles from Clarksville, there spent the remaining years of his life. His death occurred in 1846; he was three times married and the father of eighteen children. Our subject's mother, whose maiden name was Julia Ann Tyler, was a native of Virginia and of the same family as President Tyler. After her husband's death she married Daniel T. Simpson. In 1851 she came to Calhoun County where she died in the year 1868.
Mr. White had one own sister, who is now dead. He was the youngest of his father's eighteen children and was in his sixth year when he came to Calhoun County with his mother. His educational training was begun in the district schools and completed at McKendree College, Lebanon, Ill., and at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College at St. Louis, Mo. When twenty-one years of age he sold the real estate he had inherited from his father and invested $2,500 in goods, with which he stocked a store in Gilead. He remained there two years and then moved to Batchtown, where he bought a small store. His business his increased rapidly and he is at present one of the most successful merchants in Calhoun County.
Mr. White was married in 1869 to Miss Azubah V. Nairn, daughter of John and Luna (Squier) Nairn. Her birth occurred in Calhoun County, and she is a niece of Charles C. Squier, whose sketch appears elsewhere in our Album. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. White has been blessed with eight children, viz: Ida, Nettie, Dottie, Howard, Lillian, Curtis, Walter and one who died in infancy. Mrs. White is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while Mr. White in politics is a stanch Democrat. Both are highly esteemed by all who have the pleasure of their acquaintance, and are actively interested in the prosperity of the township where they reside. As a merchant Mr. White is popular with his customers, whose respect he has won by genial manners, unfailing courtesy and fair dealing. Upright in principles, clear in perception and prompt in decision, with a competence acquired by unceasing industry in the community of which he is an honored member, he is now, and has been for many years, identified witii the best interests of Calhoun County.
Extracted 16 Mar 2017 by Norma Hass from Portrait and Biographical Album of Pike and Calhoun Counties, Illinois, published in 1891, pages 436-439
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