U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: --------------------------------------------------------------------- White, Israel C. (b. 1848) --------------------------------------------------------------------- West Virginia Blue Book West Virginia Legislative Hand Book and Manual and Official Register, 1918 Compiled and edited by John T. Harris, Clerk of the Senate The Tribune Printing Company, Charleston, West Virginia Pages 742-745, State Geologist. DR. I. C. WHITE, (Republican). Michael White, the father of I. C. White, married Mary Anne Russell (probably Rischel, originally since her ancestors were all from Holland) and settled on a farm of two hundred acres in western Monongalia county, about three miles below the head of the Pennsylvania Fork of Dunkard, and the same distance above the village of Jollytown, Pennsylvania. Six children were born of this union; viz., Henry Solomon, William Thomas, Lydia Anne, Catherine, Israel C. and John, two of whom (John and Catherine), died during childhood, and the mother herself died in 1852. Israel C. White, the subject of this sketch, was born at the old homestead in Battelle district in the western portion of Monongalia county, November 1, 1848, and grew to manhood (nineteen) on the farm, with only such educational advantages as the "subscription schools" of the time, previous to 1865, afforded. His father had a high appreciation of the value of education, however, and made many sacrifices to give to his children the advantage of the best "subscription schools" available. Michael White was a strong, virile citizen, a born leader of men, and one of the five persons selected to divide the county of Monongalia into districts, and give names to the same after the formation of West Virginia. He gave the name "Battelle" to the most western district, in which he also resided, naming it after Rev. Gordon Battelle, a talented Methodist Episcopal minister of Wheeling, who, through a series of newspaper articles, accomplished more than any other one man in crystalizing the public sentiment of West Virginia in favor of separation from the mother State. It was while attending one of these "subscription schools", taught by George Fletcher, a graduate of Alleghany College, at Meadville, Pennsylvania, that the subject of this sketch conceived the idea of securing a college education. Hence, when the West Virginia Agricultural College was established at Morgantown and opened its doors for the higher education of the young men of the State, in September, 1867, Israel C. White became one of the matriculates at the opening, through the encouragement of his intelligent and appreciative father. This father, however, although one of the strongest men physically the county ever produced—never having been outdone in wood chopping, rail making or lifting contests—sickened and died at the end of 1868, during the middle of the son’s second college year. Thrown upon his own resources at the age of twenty, the son determined to carry out his father's wishes and graduate from the State's highest institution of learning. He taught school, worked on the farm during vacations, sold his small contingent interest in the farm, and graduated with honor in the class of 1872, not owing any one a dollar, but with only about $10 in cash ahead for future capital. Soon after graduation in June, 1872, he married Emma Shay, a talented teacher of the Morgantown public schools. Both taught school for the first and second years of their married life, and in 1874 Mr. White was elected principal of a private school at Hunterdon, New Jersey, where they went to reside. Soon after the birth of his oldest daughter (now Mrs. Joseph H. Mills), Mrs. White died, November 24, 1874, and Mr. White relinquished the profession of teaching to take up the study of geology, having secured an appointment as aid to his old teacher in geology, Dr. John J. Stevenson, on the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, beginning work thereon in May, 1875. He was made full assistant in 1876, and remained in connection therewith until that survey came to a close in 1884, being the author of eight volumes of the Reports of that survey; was professor of Geology in the West Virginia University from 1877 to 1892, and one of the assistant geologists on the United States Geological Survey from 1884 to 1888, during which time he prepared and published Bulletin 65 on the "Stratigraphy of the Appalachian Coal Field." In 1892 he resigned his position in the University to take charge of a large petroleum business which he had developed for himself and associates, through scientific discoveries made in connection with his studies of the occurrence of petroleum, natural gas and coal, in all of which he is an expert specialist, being the author of the anticlinal or structural theory for the occurrence of oil and gas. Dr. White was treasurer of the Geological Society of America from 1892 to 1907, Vice-President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Section E (Geology) 1896-7; delegate to the International Geological Congress held in St. Petersburg, 1897, and in Paris, 1900. Dr. White has been State Geologist of West Virginia since 1897, and has prepared and published five of the volumes of the reports; viz., Vols. I and I (A) on "Petroleum and Natural Gas," and Vols. II an II (A) on "Coal," and Bulletin Two on "Levels and Coal Analysis." He has also supervised and edited the publication of nineteen other volumes published by the West Virginia Geological Survey which were prepared by his Assistants. In 1904-5 Dr. White visited Brazil at the request of the Brazilian government to make studies and an official report on the coal fields of South Brazil. His report—a large quarto volume with numerous illustrations on the "Brazilian Coal Fields"-—was published in both English and Portuguese in 1908. He was invited by President Roosevelt to be the second speaker on the program at the White House Conference of Governors in May, 1908, where he delivered an address on "The Waste of Our Fuel Resources" and this in connection with an address before the American Mining Congress, at Pittsburgh, December 6, 1908, on "The Barren Zone of the Appalachian Coal Field," has greatly aided the conservation movement inaugurated by President Roosevelt. Dr. White, although a very busy man, finds time to take an active interest in civic affairs, having been the Vice-President for West Virginia of the International League for Highway Improvement, President of the West Virginia State Board of Trade, and President of the Morgantown Board of Trade, and is also a member of the Federal Trade Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. Dr. White was married a second time, in December, 1878, to Miss Mary Moorhead, of New Castle, Pennsylvania, who has borne him five children: Nell, wife of C. W. Maxwell, Attorney at Law, Elkins, West Virginia; Fannie, wife of H. P. Brightwell, Cashier, Union Trust Company, Charleston, West Virginia; Edith, wife of Karl L. Kithil, Technologist, United States Bureau of Mines, Denver, Colorado; Charles, purchasing Agent for the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railway, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Gertrude, wife of E. R. Wise, Architect, Cleveland, Ohio. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Monongalia County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/monongalia/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------