Person:Robert White (90)

Information on Robert White

From Rootsweb post:

From: "Howard Bigham" <[email protected]> Subject: [BIGHAM-L] Robert White Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 17:20:35 -0600

Robert Macklin/Maclin White

December 3, 1786 to September 9, 1866

Since we have been discussing the Different Williams Bighams ad as J Kemmel sent his research oh the Rock Creek Church in Missouri, I have drug out a History of Robert Maclin/Macklin White written by his great grandson and great great granddaughter. His great grandson was Henry Ward Collier, Sr. His gg granddaughter was Mrs. Mary Jane Collier Shaw, the daughter of Robert Maclin White, Jr. Both of these people lived in Ellis County. She gives the date that these people came to Ellis County, Texas.

As I review the history of these people, I am more and more convinced that Our Rebecca, wife of Nathaniel Bigham, was a Vance and not a White. In doing genealogy it is hard to change one’s mind. We get set in our thoughts and comfortable with the decision we have arrived at or what someone has set forth. I will give some reasons for this later.

Taking some from the history written by Mr. Collier: Robert Meclin White was born Dec. 3, 1786 in South Carolina. He would brag that he was from the F. F. V.’s –The First Families of Virginia. This name may have come about because many of the Presidents came from Virginia. Robert M. White was a warm and personal friend of Andrew Jackson and a supporter of him in politics. ( I will leave out much of what Mr. Collier wrote. If any one wants the complete history I will gladly send it)

Robert moved to Lincoln County Tennessee when he was 20 0r 21 years of age. (This would have been about 1800-1801) He was married there but his first wife’s name is unknown. ( I think that there were two children born to this union. I do know that Elizabeth and I think the first child was Jane White)

Robert moved to Lauderdale County, Missouri and lived there for about 15 years. While living there, for a time he served as the County Judge. While living in Missouri, Robert married Jane Gregg, September 2, 1814. Jane was born 1794 in Roane County, Tennessee, or Kane County, Tennessee. (It would seem that he was not married to first wife very long, She probably died in child birth). Now here is a connection to the Bigham family. William Bigham had married Lydia Gregg in Roane County, Tennessee. December 1807. I notice that Lydia was born in Augusta County, Virginia. Lydia and Jane were sisters, thus the connection to the Bigham family. John Gregg, the bother of Lydia and Jane, will later Mary Sara Vance Bigham, the daughter of Samuel Bigham of Lawrence County, Alabama. This marriage ti Jane Gregg, to my thinking is the first connection of the White and Bigham families. I had thought that the wife of Nathaniel Bigham was a White. This has not been proven and now ! I doubt that she was.. Another connection to the Bigham fame came whem Robert Maclin”s daughter, Elizabeth, Married Samuel Gregg Bigham, the son of William and Lydia Gregg Bigham, September 20, 1830 in Lawrence County, Alabama. This was just before both families moved to Missouri.

About 1830 Robert moved his family to Lafayette County Missouri. He moved to Johnson County, Missouri* and served for a time in the State Legislature and serve as the County Judge of Johnson County. ( I will need Jay and Teresa’s expert knowledge about Missouri, but I think that Lafayette County was one of the first counties formed in Missouri and covered a great portion of the state and was later divided into other counties. Just from memory, I think Johnson was formed from what was once Lafsyette County. So Robert may not have moved when he became a resident of Johnson County)

In Jay’s post on Rock Creek church, it lists that Robert M. White, Jane White (Robert’s Wife), William and Lydia Bigham, S. G. (Samuel Gregg) Band Elizabeth Bigham were members. Samuel Gregg was son of William and Lydia Gregg Bigham and Elizabeth Bigham, Samuel’s wife was daughter of Robert M White and his first wife, As far as I can find of any connection of the Bigham and White families is that of the marriage of William Bigham to Lydia Gregg and that of Robert Maclin White to Jane Gregg. Since Lydia and Jane were sisters that made William Bigham and Robert M. white brothers-in-law. Thus, the tie and closeness.

In 1852 Robert moved to Ellis County< Texas. At that time and listed in the 1860 census of Ellis County, Texas were two of the sons of William and Lydia Bigham. These two son were William McCreay and Henry Payton. Did uncle bring his nephews with him.\? Another strange thing I find is that of N. W. (Nathaniel Waddle) Bigham who was living next door to Henry Payton Bigham. Nathaniel Waddle was a son of Vance Bigham. Oh my; could Rebecca been a White and Robert brought another nephew with him? Nathaniel Waddle was living with his aunt Jane Davidson in 1850 according to the 1860 census One finds a lots of strange things in the censuses that are hard to figure out. In the 1860 census of Ellis County, living with Nathaniel Waddle and Wife Mary Craig was an eight month baby girl named M. Gilkey. Next door to them was a yung Gilkey couple. There were several Gilkey families living there. The Gilkey family was connected to the Bigham family by the marriage! if the daughter of William and Jane..? Bigham to James Gilkey 1858 in Missouri. So what is a baby Gilkey girl doing living with William and Jane’s nephew in Ellis county.

Robert M. White died September 9, 1866 in Ovilla, Ellis County, Texas. He was buried in what is now called the Old Shiloh Cemetery in Ellis County

Source: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/BIGHAM/2004-01/1073517573