Jeremiah White was the eldest child of Jesse White and Charity Whitneck. The Rev. Jesse White was born March 6, 1804 in Fredricton, New Brunswick and died Nov. 13, 1875 in Minnesota. For more than forty years he was a Baptist minister. He married Charity Whitneck June 16, 1824. She was born on August 13, 1808. Charity passed away on November 15, 1881 in Dunn County, Wisconsin. She is believed to be buried between Boyceville and Greytown, Dunn County, Wisconsin.
Rev. Jesse and Charity (Whitneck)
White
Jeremiah was born in
Vermont November 25, 1825. He was the oldest brother of the
Rev.
Alvin M. White. He married Harriet
Jellison (Gellerson) from Bangor, Maine on
March 12, 1847. Harriet was 
born
March 2, 1831. The photo to the right
is of Jeremiah at a young age.
Jeremiah and Harriet left Vermont to Wisconsin in 1863. They left Wisconsin in 1864 for Minnesota to be where the rest of the White’s settled. They lived there for eight years before returning to Wisconsin and settled in Barron County. Following is the list of children born to Jeremiah and Harriet.
Alfred White was born August26, 1848 in New Brunswick or Maine and died in infancy. George White was born August 31, 1850 in New Brunswick or Maine and also died in infancy.
Wesley Randel White was born February 24, 1854 at Weston, Maine. Wesley had a bad heart. He married Flora Miller on December 2, 1876 in Maple Grove, Barron County, Wisconsin. They had four children, all born in Barron County - Bertha, Blanche, Hattie, and Charles. Flora became unfaithful and he divorced her and married Mary Jane Connor in November of 1888. After leaving Barron County, Wesley had a small acreage near Wheeler, Dunn County, Wisconsin. He also ran a Rawleigh route for years.
Adelaide White was born August 12, 1858 in New Brunswick or Maine. She married Zenas Mitts the son of Azariah Mitts and Almira Harrington. Not much is know about her except that her and Zenas had a farm in Barron County and it is assumed she passed away before 1910 or 1911.
Left to right: Wellington,
Harley and Wesley White.
Seated in front, their respective
wives: Annie, Annie and Mary
Wellington Ellsworth White was born June 11, 1862 in Maine. The greater part of his life was spent in Wisconsin. This is where he met and married a widow, Alice Owens Sharp in 1889. Besides the one son from her previous marriage, Willie Sharp, they had three daughters, Loretta May (Retta) and Laura were both born in Chetek and Alice was born in Hillsdale. Alice and Wellington drifted apart around 1904 when the family moved west to Oregon. After Wellington returned to Wisconsin he married his brother Wesley’s sister-in-law Anna Hayes in 1925.
Wellington worked most in woodcutting and other minor jobs as far as the family learned. Willington and Anna made their home in the Spooner area where Annie died around 1947. Wellington was put into a nursing home but did not like it so he went to live with his cousin, Minnard (Alvin’s son). He was with Minnard for a time and was taken to the Rice Lake Hospital where he passed away on August 7, 1948. He is buried in the Prairie Farm Cemetery.
Frank White was born after Wellington and before Harley. The exact date is unknown. He died at six months - scalded. He is buried at the Evergreen Cemetery in Barron County, Wisconsin. It is assume he was born around 1863 when the family lived in Wisconsin.
Harley Anson White was born in February 22, 1865 in Minnesota. He is the youngest son of Jeremiah and Harriet White. He married Annie Lien in 1895 at Prairie Farm, Barron County. He was a woodsman and head sawyer for the Maiden Rock mill. They had three children - Otis Jeremiah, Hazel Generva, and Roy Anson who were all born in Wisconsin. They left Wisconsin for the west in 1917. For a while he had a store in Oregon. He sold it and went to work at the University of Oregon where he was fireman for the university heating plant.
Harley and Annie celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary on December 27, 1945 in Eugene, Oregon. Wesley passed away of cancer on December 22, 1947. Annie died April 12, 1961. They are both buried in the Evergreen Cemetery at Eugene, Oregon.
Loretta
May White was born December 18, 1869 in Minnesota.
She had red hair, as did her brother Harley. She married Albert
Weismiller about 1884. They had three
children - Jesse
who died in infancy,
Carrie Adelaide Weismiller
who married
Merle A. Johnson,
and Loretta May
who was born February 8, 1888 at the time of her mother’s death.
Loretta passed away on February 13, 1888 at the age of 19 years, 1 month
and 26 days The photo to the left
is of Loretta May (White) Weismiller and was taken in about 1885.
Almary Elnora White was the youngest child of Jeremiah and Harriet. She was bon July 8, 1874 in Barron County, Wisconsin. Almary lived to be nine months old.
It was a difficult childbirth for Harriet. She died on October 20, 1874. A family named Logan’s took Almary and Harley after her death. Harley stayed there until he was 14. Harriet was buried near Hillsdale. No date is given but at some point Wesley and Harley White drove by team to Hillsdale for the body of Harriet Jellison White. They found only a few bone, but did find her hair. They moved her body to the Evergreen Cemetery in Prairie Farm. At the cemetery are two small stones and one large stone the two small stones. They read F.W. (for Frank White), Mother, (Large stone reads) Harriet, wife of J.M. White died Oct. 20, 1874 (also on this stone reads Elnora, daughter of J.M. and Harriet White, born July 8, 1874, Aged 9 months.), and then Father, and last stone reads Wesley. Also on the large stone reads, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, That they may rest from their labors and their Works do follow them.
After the death of Harriet Jeremiah didn’t maintain a home for the children except briefly. He stayed with different family members so the children could go to school. In the 1880 census of Barron County he is listed as living with his brother Alvin M. White. His daughter Loretta May was also with him. He is again found in the 1900 census of Barron County. This time he is living with his son Wellington. At this time Jeremiah was 74 years old.
A story by Otis Jeremiah White, Jeremiah’s grandson.
“Around the spring of 1904 Jeremiah tapped maple trees and made a considerable amount of syrup. Sugar maple trees have a sweet sap that runs during the late part of February or the first part of March depending upon the severity of the winter. Jeremiah cut basswood logs about 30” longs and 10” in diameter and hollowed them out for troughs to catch the say as it dripped down from the spiles. He would take the sap to be boiled down to thicken it. After he had it completed, and stored it in stone jugs in our milk house, the shelf on which it was sitting broke and most of the jugs were broken. This was a major calamity for our family.
Jeremiah was a self-made Baptist preacher. He loved to preach the gospel. Jeremiah stayed with Wellington until they moved to Oregon and he went to live with Wesley. After 1910 when Wellington came back to Wisconsin Jeremiah tried staying with them but was not happy and returned to live with Wesley in Wheeler, Dunn County. By this time he was getting quite feeble. 85 years, and spend most of his time sitting in a chair. His eyesight was very poor since he was already blind in one eye. He was confined to his bed for a long period of time. The family thinks his final illness was tuberculosis.
He was a white-haired man with a long beard. He was slightly stopped and walked with a cane for as long as I can remember. He was about 5’ 9” and weight near 160 pounds.” The photo (above right) is of Jeremiah and was taken in 1910.
In February 1913
Wellington received word that his father was nearing the end of his life
and he went down to Wheeler to be with Wesley and Jane. Jeremiah
died on February 24, 1913 at the age of 87
A team and sleigh was brought to Wheeler to bring the body to Prairie Farm
for burial. Harley and Wesley dug the grave.
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