George White

mm

tiuttfl

inlnffl

H

Hi

ni

?{HMMltnHH>

ill

KnHlMHKnnnH]

■■■■■•■'■■.:■

■'. •■'■..'■'' ■

BtitHtnuttniKftRM

tiwlwlt&fiBtKRH

PIIMIIIIIII

1." :■;■:■.■■■•■ .■■■

IntmtlnlauiHHHKXSG

ISKKKKm

E

05

8

SOLDIER and SERVANT

GEORGE WHITE

By
EDGAR LEGARE PENNINGTON, S.T.D.

No. 212 Quarterly August - October, 1943
Price, 50 cents

CHURCH MISSIONS PUBLISHING COMPANY
31-45 Church Street, Hartford, Connecticut

UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS

LIEUT. COMDR. E. L. PENNINGTON, CHAPLAINS' CORPS, U.S.N. R.

The Reverend Edgar Legare Pennington, S. T. D. [Doctor
of Sacred Theology] , formerly Rector of The Church of the Holy
Cross, Miami, Florida, which was founded by Fr. J. O. S. Hunt-
ington and Brother Bernard, in 1897, is, it is believed, with the
Allied Forces somewhere below the Southern Cross. He has
written:

"I wish I could tell you something about myself, my work
and my locale; but all I can say is that I am very, very far away
from you geographically; that I am getting accustomed to a
new set of stars ; that I am getting used to reverse seasons —
having preached two harvest day sermons in local churches
yesterday [the letter was dated April 5, 1943] ; that I am in
a garden spot of the world, among most charming and lovable
people; and that I am somewhere in which splendid missionary
exertions have ripened into a wondrous culture, a degree of
refinement which puts us often to shame, and a high standard of
Church and morality.

"I have not had much time for study, and, of course, did not
carry my notes on American Church history with me: but I am
going to familiarize myself with local Church history."

In another letter he writes:

"I have most delightful and refreshing experiences with
these clergymen here. They are wonderful, and they are the soul
of hospitality. Several of them are Oxford and Cambridge men,
and they excel in solid things."

Previously to his transfer to his present (to us unknown)
field, Dr. Pennington had been stationed, as Chaplain, at the
U. S. Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida.

For a number of years past Dr. Pennington has been con-
tributing valuable historical numbers to the Church Missions
Publishing Company, as From Canterbury to Connecticut,
a complete list of all the Bishops through whom the Apostolic
Succession brought by St. Augustine to Canterbury in 597
passed to Bishop Seabury.

The present number is a good example of his thoroughness
in bringing to light the worthies of the past.

Church Missions Publishing Company.

Copyright, 1943, by the

CHURCH MISSIONS PUBLISHING COMPANY

Hartford, Connecticut

Printed in the United States of America
at the Service Press, Hartford, Connecticut

Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of Oct. 3, 1917
Authorized January 12, 1924. Entered as Second Class Matter, Hartford, Connecticut

GEORGE WHITE

Teacher, Historian and Priest

By
EDGAR LEGARE PENNINGTON, S. T. D.

The subject of this study was born in Charleston, South
Carolina, March 12, 1802, "of poor, but industrious parents."1
They were honest, straightforward, and "truly pious people";
and their son "early showed that piety which marked his whole
life." When he expressed a desire to enter the ministry, his
parents, who were Methodists, offered no objection; and at the
age of eighteen, he was licensed to preach the gospel.'2 He soon
became known as the "beardless preacher."3 His early education
seems to have been acquired principally through his own efforts.4

In 1823, young Mr. White moved to Savannah, Georgia,
where he continued to reside for the next quarter of a century.
It was there that he did a most remarkable work as a teacher of
the youth and exerted an influence which long lingered as a
tradition; in Savannah also he began the historical, geographi-
cal, and statistical investigations for which he is famous. White's
interest in the Episcopal Church probably antedated his removal
to Georgia, and may have been aroused by the saintly Bishop
of South Carolina, Theodore Dehon (1776-1817). One of his
sons was named in honour of that bishop.5

As a teacher, Mr. White was known as a man of learning
and a rigid but kindly disciplinarian. In 1824 — his second year
in Savannah — he offered "a complete academy course" at his
school, with no advance of terms.15 His school was then located
in the lower rooms of the Solomon Lodge Hall. In 1826, he was
elected principal of the Chatham Academy.7 On many occasions,
he refused to teach girls, lest he be compelled to adopt a milder
discipline and relax his requirements of scholarship. s Notwith-

JE. M. Coulter: article George White, in Dictionary of American Bi-
ography, XX. 99.

2Tallulah G. White: article George White, in Northen, W. J.: Men of
Mark in Georgia, II. 416.

3E. M. Coulter: op. cit.

"Ibid.

5Tallulah G. White: op. cit.

6H. S. Bowden: Two Hundred Years of Education . . . Savannah,
Chatham county, Georgia, p. 156.

"'Ibid., p. 157.

*Ibid., p. 159; E. M. Coulter: op. cit.

standing his firmness, he won "the affection of his pupils and
the permanent esteem of their parents and guardians."9 He
stressed reading and elocution. He did not permit his assistants
to chastise the pupils; and later in life, he is said to have doubted
the wisdom of corporal punishment.10

On the 3rd of May, 1827, the Reverend Lot Jones was chosen
successor of Mr. White as superintendent of the public-controlled
Chatham Academy.11 Mr. White returned to his own academy,
which he conducted under different names for several years.

The following announcement appeared in the Daily Geor-
gian, October 29, 1830:

"Chatham Academy, George White, Principal. The
subscriber announces to the public that recent arrangements
enable him to say confidently that the pupils committed
to his care will be properly instructed in all the branches of a
complete Classical and English Education. In addition to
his present number of assistants, he has employed Mr. W. H.
Hunt, a graduate of Franklin College and one of the four to
whom first honor was awarded at its last commencement.

"The course of instruction will embrace the Latin,
Greek and French languages, the Mathematics in all its
branches, Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, English
Grammar, etc. If sufficient encouragement is offered, an
apparatus for practical illustration will be purchased. A well
selected library has been obtained to which pupils have
access without any extra charge. To facilitate the develop-
ment of the intellectual and improve the reasoning powers
of the students, a society has been organized in which are
discussed such questions as are most likely to effect the
important objects.

"Terms of tuition: Latin and Greek languages, $12;
Mathematics, $10; Arithmetic, Grammar, etc., $10;
French, $10. The amount of the first quarter's tuition pay-
able in advance. George White.

"N. B. Mr. White would receive four or five boys in his
family who will be furnished board and educated at the rate
of $150 per annum."12

Commenting on the above, Professor Haygood Samuel
Bowden says:

^Georgian, May 12, 1843, quoted by E. M. Coulter: op. cit.

10Tallulah G. White: op. cit., p. 417.

"H. S. Bowden: op. cit., p. 160.

'^Quoted by H. S. Bowden: op. cit., p. 165.

"It can be readily seen that Mr. White was a school-
master who knew what he wanted to do. That he was not to
be handicapped by a Board of Trustees. That he proposed to
be boss of his own school. For the next two years Chatham
Academy made history for Savannah."13

At a celebration of the opening of the Savannah and Ogee-
chee River canal, pupils from Mr. White's room of the Academy,
accompanied by their preceptor, entertained with recitations
and selected poetry the large number of stockholders on the
barge that went the entire length of the canal and returned by
moonlight.14

The Georgian, May 16, 1831, described one of the public
parades of Mr. White's pupils:

"The annual examination of the pupils of Chatham
Academy took place last week, and its accompanying ex-
hibition on Friday evening, on which day the scholars
marched in procession, accompanied by a band of music to
the Exchange, on reaching which the boys formed a line and
gallantly saluted their female companions in the pursuit of
knowledge, as they passed down the front. The boys wore
uniform dress of grey jackets, white pantaloons and leathern
caps, and the girls, who were tastefully dressed, looked
remarkably well."15

The report of the Board of Examiners of Chatham Academy,
as printed in the Georgian of May 24, 1832, shows the regard in
which Mr. White was held:

"The Board of Examiners who attended the examina-
tions at the Academy, deem it an act of justice to the Prin-
cipal, the Rev. Mr. White, to express their opinion of the
merits of the system of instruction pursued in his school,
and the scholars instructed. They speak with all sincerity
when they declare that the examination just gone through
has given them the unqualified satisfaction. There have
been exhibited by the scholars generally, a promptness and
correctness of answering questions, concise in explanation
of the rationale of their answers, such as to leave on the
mind of the Board the impression that the questions were
answered because they were understood and not by rote.
When they thus speak favorably of the attainment of the

13H. W. Bowden: op. cit., p. 165.

uIbid., p. 166.

15Quoted by H. S. Bowden: op. cit., pp. 167-8.

scholars, the conclusion is unavoidable that the system which
produces such results must be a good one, and when they
refer to the most excellent manner in which classes in Natural
Philosophy acquitted themselves, they do not hesitate to
assert that the superior philosophical apparatus which Mr.
White, with a most praiseworthy liberality, has supplied
his school, has been mainly instrumental in producing the
happy result. By means of the apparatus, the fundamental
truths of Natural Philosophy, which serve as a basis for the
whole superstructure, are brought home to the pupil, with
force and directness which renders them almost indelible.
If a boy be told that in mechanics, a weight of two pounds
can be made to balance one of eight pounds, he may believe
it or he may not, and the chances are great that he will
forget it as soon as told. But if a weight of two ounces be
shown to him actually balancing one of eight ounces by
means of pulleys, an indelible conviction is produced on his
mind of the truth of the assertion."16

It is seen that Mr. White used laboratory methods in pre-
senting scientific truths. Just why he severed his relations with
the Chatham Academy is not known. Bowden surmises that
"evidently Mr. White was a schoolmaster and not a school
administrator; he was a teacher and not a politician." At any
rate, on September 18, 1832, the secretary of Chatham Academy
announced that the institution would open on November 5 with
new superintendents. Mr. White re-established his own academy,
and for fifteen years it was recognized as one of the best in the
South.17 The population of Savannah was then 14,130. There
were 7,303 white people in the city limits, and some four hundred
children in the schools.18

In 1835, Mr. White enlarged his academy, and called it the
Savannah Academy. Under his guidance, the school took first
rank as one of the best in the South. Alfred Rogers, a French
schoolmaster, was employed to conduct the department of
French, Spanish, and Drawing for the young ladies.19

The report of the Board of Examiners of the Savannah
Academy, May 1, 1837, commended Mr. White and his work:

"This examination in most cases was rigid, and in all was
creditable to instructor and pupils. While we state our entire

16Quoted by H. S. Bowden: op. cit., p. 174.
17H. W. Bowden: op. cit., p. 176.
™Ibid.
™Ibid., p. 190.

satisfaction at the result, we doubt not that we express the
feelings of all who were spectators. Mr. White has been
laboring for fifteen years in this community as an instructor
of youth and while we tender to him our congratulations for
his success with which he prosecuted his labors and the
present prosperous state of his institution, we must cheer-
fully unite in urging its claim upon the continued patronage
of its friends, and the confidence of the public. . . . We
learn that there are from 140 to 150 pupils of both sexes."20

Mr. White was active in civic affairs and by no means con-
fined his energies to teaching. When the Marquis de Lafayette
visited America in 1824-1825, he was tendered a grand reception
in Savannah; and on that occasion George White officiated as
chaplain. The Georgia Historical Society was organized on
Tuesday, June 4, 1839. It was incorporated and received the
approval of Governor Charles J. McDonald, December 19 of
that year. Its object was "collecting, preserving, and diffusing
information relating to the history of the State of Georgia in
particular and of American history generally." Mr. White
was one of the charter-members. Another charter-member —
the first recording secretary and historiographer of the Society —
was William Bacon Stevens, M. D. (1815-1887), who later
became Bishop of Pennsylvania.

Having grown to prefer the Episcopal Church, Mr. White
gave up his association with the Methodists. On December 13,
1833, he was ordained Deacon by Bishop Nathaniel Bowen
of South Carolina (1779-1839). On August 31, 1836, he was
ordained Priest at St. Michael's Church, Charleston, by the
same Bishop.21 During the last five years of his residence in
Savannah, he engaged in mission work along the Georgia coasts,
visiting the islands; he also preached to seamen.22

More and more his interest induced him to the production
of his first authoritative work on his adopted state. "Through
long and tedious investigations in Georgia and as far north as
New York City," he was able to bring out his Statistics of
Georgia, "a work of great merit."23 The complete title-page is as
follows :

"Statistics of the state of Georgia: including an account
of its Natural, Civil, and Ecclesiastical History; together

20Georgian, quoted by H. S. Bowden: op. cit., pp. 200-201.
21Tallulah G. White: op. cit., p. 417.
22E. M. Coulter: op. cit.
Mlbid.

with a particular description of each county, notices of the
manners and customs of its aboriginal tribes, and a correct
map of the state. By George White. Savannah: W. Thorne
Williams. 1849."

[ pp. 624, 77; folding map; 223^ cm. ]

"Catalogue of the fauna and flora of the state of Georgia.
Prepared for this work by eminent naturalists. Comprising
mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, Crustacea, shells,
and plants."

[ pp. 77 at the end ]

At that time, the state of Georgia contained ninety-three
counties. A separate division was given to each county; and Mr.
White gave the boundaries and the extent of the counties, the
rivers and creeks, the post-offices, the population, the amount of
taxes paid, the allotted representation; he described all towns,
mineral springs, mountains and other physical features, ores,
natural resources; he dealt with climatic conditions, rainfall, and
the nature of the soil; he listed the roads and bridges; he dis-
cussed the religious sects, introducing the names and locations of
the first churches in each county and the early members, and
telling when the churches were founded and built; he described
education, industry, manufacturing, and mills; he named the
early settlers; he gave examples of longevity; and he always
accounted for the origin of the name of the county and told
something of its history.

There were introductory chapters, such as a sketch on the
geology of Georgia, an account of the Indians, a treatise on soil
and productions, and a description of the rivers. In 1840, Georgia
consisted of 691,492 inhabitants:

210,634 white males.
197,161 white females.

1,374 free coloured males.

1,379 free coloured females.
139,335 slave males.
141,609 slave females.

A comparative view of the population for fifty-five years (1790-
1845) showed an advance from 82,548 to 774,325.

Mr. White included a chapter on the early settlement of
Georgia, narrating the arrival of the first settlers and printing
some historical documents. The Yazoo Fraud, a gigantic and dis-
graceful land-transaction of the close of the Eighteenth Century,

8

was described. There were biographies of all the Georgia gover-
nors inserted. The judiciary, the penal code, the militia system,
the militia and troops in the Revolutionary War, the officers of the
Continental Line, and education — all received detailed treat-
ment in that valuable compendium. Institutions — the colleges
of the state, the lunatic asylum, the Georgia Asylum for the Deaf
and Dumb — were accorded historical and statistical attention.
Banks, railroads, and canals were described. The historical and
statistical information regarding the religious bodies showed:

Protestant Episcopal: 26 clergy, 16 parishes, 800 communi-
cants.

Lutheran: 9 ministers, 10 churches, 600 communicants,
2000 members.

Baptist: 1105 churches, 583 ministers, 67,068 members.

Methodist Episcopal: 139 travelling preachers, 43,736 white
members, 16,635 coloured members.

Presbyterian: 68 ministers, 107 churches, 5059 communicants.

Jews: (numbers not given).

Disciples of Christ: numerous congregations.

Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church: (numbers not
given.)

Roman Catholic: 7 churches.

Protestant Methodists: 25 ministers, 30 congregations.

Mormons: church in Fayette county.

In his preface to the Statistics, Mr. White said:

"The difficulties which the author has had to encounter
in collecting materials for this work, have far exceeded his
expectations; but he must frankly acknowledge, that his
labours have been greatly lightened by the assistance of
valued friends in Georgia and other States. . . .

"It cannot be expected that a volume containing so
many facts, and gathered from so many sources, should be
entirely free from errors. All that the compiler hopes for is,
that its contents, drawn from the most reliable sources, will
be entitled to that credit which is usually awarded to public
documents, private family archives and the faithful memo-
ries of disinterested living witnesses and contributors.

"While the author does not shrink from just criticism,
he respectfully asks the public to remember, that a Pioneer
in any enterprise has many obstacles to overcome, and is
therefore entitled to charitable judgment."24

24G. White: Statistics of the State of Georgia, pp. 5, 6.

9

In 1849, Mr. White moved to Marietta. This small city,
located in the foothills of the Georgia mountains and offering a
cooler climate and a higher altitude than Savannah, afforded
favourable conditions for the continuance of Mr. White's schol-
arly pursuits. There in 1852 he published his authoritative
account of Georgia's great land-scandal.

"An accurate account of the Yazoo Fraud compiled
from official documents. By George White. Marietta,
Georgia: printed at the 'Advocate' job printing office. 1852."
[ cover-title; pp. 64, 22 cm. ]

Two years later, he published his Historical Collection of
Georgia — justly described as "a classic in Georgia bibliog-
raphy."-' This work followed the same general plan as the
Statistics, but it was more elaborate and it availed itself of in-
formation and figures of more recent date. It was enhanced by
numerous illustrations.

"Historical collections of Georgia: containing the most
interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes,
etc. relating to its history and antiquities, from its first settle-
ment to the present time. Compiled from original records
and official documents. Illustrated by nearly one hundred
engravings of public buildings, relics of antiquity, historic
localities, natural scenery, portraits of distinguished men,
etc., etc. [Seal of the state of Georgia] . By the Rev. George
White, M. A., author of the 'Statistics of Georgia.' New
York: Pudney & Russell, publishers, No. 79 John-street.
1854."
[ pp. xiv., 688; illustrations; 6 pi., 16 port.; 24 cm. ]

In his Historical Collections, Mr. White included many
important documents, among them —

The charter of the colony of Georgia.

Extracts from the minutes of the Trustees.

An account of Mary Musgrove, an Indian woman, and the

Reverend Thomas Bosomworth, a clergyman.
Names of persons to whom lands were allotted (1741-1754).
The Georgia roll, testifying allegiance to King George III.
Revolutionary documents.
Proceedings of the First Provincial Congress of Georgia

(1775).
Proceedings of the Council of Safety (1775-1776).

25E. M. Coulter: op. cit.

10

Names of officers and soldiers who applied for land for their

services in the Revolution; of those who went to Mexico.
Treaties with the Indians (1733, 1739, 1773, 1783, 1785,

1786, 1790, 1791, 1795, 1796, 1802, 1804, 1805, 1814,

1818, 1821, 1825, 1826, 1828, 1835).
Accounts of difficulties with the Creek and Cherokee Indians.
Biographical sketches of distinguished Indians.
Biographical sketches of the governors of Georgia (1733-

1854).

Then followed data regarding the different counties of the
state — descriptive, historical, statistical, genealogical — more
in detail than the corresponding data in the Statistics.

In his preface, the author said:

"The flattering reception given by my fellow -citizens
to 'The Statistics of Georgia,' naturally encouraged me
to venture still further in that field, which must ever be a
favourite with the patriotic Georgian.

"Ten years of incessant labour, expense, and travel
throughout the State, have been cheerfully bestowed, and
the 'Historical Collections of Georgia' are the result.

"No source of knowledge has been neglected or despised.
The Libraries of Charleston, Savannah, Milledgeville, and
New York have been diligently searched.

"The Colonial Documents kindly furnished me by the
Legislature of Georgia, to aid in the compilation of this
work, have been freely used. A large amount of infor-
mation has been gleaned, moreover, from aged persons —
'the oldest inhabitants' of many of our towns and villages —
whose memories are proverbially tenacious in regard to
events, which made their vivid impressions in early youth.
This oral tradition, indeed, often furnishes the warm flesh
and blood of the body of History, while documentary evi-
dence can be relied on for the putting together of the dry
skeleton alone.

"Correctness rather than elegance has been the end
chiefly sought, and the pains unsparingly taken give me a
right to claim general reliability for all facts stated.

"This work does not assume to be a consecutive His-
tory. It is but a collection of materials for the use of the
future historian. It is enough for me, if, by the tough toil
of the literary pioneer, I succeed in breaking and gathering

11

out the stone from the quarry, and in hewing the heavy
timber from the mountains, wherewith, hereafter, some
accomplished architect, in its full proportion and finished
beauty, may rear the fair fabric of the History of Georgia."26
The year of the publication of his Historical Collections,
Mr. White definitely gave up historical work, and entered whole-
heartedly into the service of the Church, first as a missionary
to Lagrange and West Point, Georgia. In 1856, he became
rector of Trinity Church, Florence, Alabama.-7 Bishop Nicholas
Hamner Cobbs (1796-1861), in his address to the Twenty-sixth
Annual Convention of the Diocese of Alabama, stated that he
had visited Florence, and had "found the Missionary, the Rev.
Mr. White, earnest in his work, and evidently giving an impulse
to the work."28

In 1858, Mr. White moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he
became assistant rector of Calvary Church, under the Right
Reverend James Hervey Otey (1800-1863), Bishop of Tennessee.
In 1859, Mr. White became rector, and held this position till
1885, when he retired as rector emeritus. 29

Just before his arrival, Calvary Church, Memphis, had been
much enlarged and handsomely furnished. The sale of about
thirty pews had been advertised.30 During his ministry at Mem-
phis, the city passed through the crisis of the War Between the
States and the subsequent Reconstruction Period; it weathered
three epidemics of that dreaded scourge, yellow fever. Through
all the trying times, Mr. White was faithful to his post, rendering
heroic service. He had an important parish and occupied a posi-
tion of prominence, but he never sought the lime-light and de-
voted himself to earnest service. For twenty-five years he was
prelate of Memphis Consistory No. 4 of the Knights Templar.31
He was active in the counsels of the Diocese of Tennessee, serv-
ing as President of the Standing Committee, Historiographer,
and Deputy to the General Convention.

In August, 1866, cholera appeared in Memphis. Several
physicians were appointed to constitute a Board of Health, which
should meet daily and co-operate with the Health Officer, in
presenting the necessary advice and suggestions as to the best
means of preventing the ravages of the disease.32 The city was

2GG. White: Historical Collections of Georgia, pp. v-vi.

27E. M. Coulter: op. cit.

^Diocese of Alabama: Convention Journal, 1857, p. 20.

29E. M. Coulter: op. cit.

30Memphis Daily Appeal, Jan. 6, 1858.

31Tallulah G. White: op. cit., p. 419.

s2Memphis Public Ledger, June 3, 1873.

12

made as clean as it was possible to make it, with the means at
disposal ; Memphis was impoverished as a result of the war, and
there were no waterworks, no system of sewerage, and no paved
streets.

In June, 1873, Memphis was visited again by cholera. Sev-
eral thousand people left the city. The highest mortality in a
single day was eighteen. By the last of the month, the pestilence
had decidedly abated.33

But the cholera epidemic was merely a prelude to the yellow
fever which broke out less than two months later. It was re-
ported, September 7, 1873, that a disease of a high bilious type
had appeared in the plague spot of Memphis known as "Happy
Hollow." It was pronounced yellow fever. The doctors hoped
that it would soon disappear without spreading to other locali-
ties.34 Soon other cases developed, in various parts of the city.
On September 18, it was announced that sixteen had died in the
last twenty-four hours. Deaths occurred daily, the contagion was
spreading. On October 7, sixty-one deaths were reported. The
fever reached its maximum during the week of October 5-11,
when 309 deaths were recorded. By the first part of November,
the scourge was abating. By November 11, a total of 1166 had
died.35

At the Forty-second Annual Convention of the Diocese of
Tennessee, 1874, Mr. White was appointed on a committee to
employ one or more coloured ministers to serve among the
negroes of the Diocese. The report of Calvary Church for that
year showed 51 baptisms, 37 confirmations, 13 marriages, 62
burials, and a communicant-roll of from three hundred and
fifty to four hundred.36 Mr. White stated that a church for col-
oured people had been organized, with a fair prospect of success.37

The following year, Doctor White stated that he had held
services in surrounding places. The committee on the work

among the coloured people reported "a growing interest

Prejudices are daily diminishing, and we think there are few dis-
posed to call in question our obligations to introduce among the
coloured people a knowledge of the principles, forms, and usages
of this branch of the Holy Catholic Church. It gives us much
pleasure to report that in the city of Memphis a Parish has been

^Memphis Public Ledger, June 21, 1873; June 24, 1873.

34Memphis Public Ledger, Sept. 15, 1873.

35Memphis Public Ledger, Nov. 11, 1873.

36Diocese of Tennessee: Convention Journal, 1874, p. 60.

slIbid., p. 85.

13

organized and delegates admitted into this Convention. An
educated clergyman, Rev. Mr. Jackson, has been called to the
Rectorship, and his support is received from the Board of Domes-
tic Missions. This Parish has been organized about fourteen
months, and yet numbers twenty-five communicants. There
are also two candidates for Holy Orders in this Parish." Calvary
Church had received a new organ; and had contributed very
liberally toward the support of the Church Home and other
objects.38

At the same Convention, White was appointed Histori-
ographer of the Diocese. He collected various papers pertaining
to the Church and the parishes of Tennessee, and made appeals
to the clergy for co-operating in furnishing him with information
regarding their churches; but he never completed the history.
He was already past the allotted threescore years and ten, and
he was rector of a growing parish.

The year 1878 is recalled as the year of perhaps the worst
yellow fever epidemic ever known to America. During that
critical period, Dr. White and his wife went from house to house,
ministering to the sick and burying the dead. Their son, Dehon
White, died of the disease.39

It is interesting to trace the progress of that grave disaster.
On July 24, 1878, the Memphis Public Ledger voiced its plea,
"Let us have quarantine." Six deaths had occurred in New Or-
leans. Memphis, being north of the Louisiana port on the Missis-
sippi river, derived a considerable part of its commerce from that
city. Steamers appeared daily. Hence it was recommended that
all ships from New Orleans be quarantined. The proposition,
however, was condemned by thirty-four Memphis doctors, "some
of whom never saw and never treated a case of yellow fever."
Next day, the Public Ledger reported that both the Health
Officer and the Secretary of the Board of Health had opposed
the quarantine. "Steamers from New Orleans almost daily
reach this port," the paper contended; "and yet there is no
inquiry about an examination made of any boat." Fourteen
cases had been reported in New Orleans; seven had proved fatal.

On July 27 three members of the crew of the "John Porter,"
bound from New Orleans to Pittsburgh, had died of yellow fever
at Vicksburg and had been buried there. Still some of the physi-
cians urged that alarm was unnecessary. Still it was resolved to

^Diocese of Tennessee: Convention Journal, 1875, pp. 25, 52-53, 69.
39Tallulah G. White: op. cit., pp. 418-9.

14

establish a quarantine at the foot of President's Island, twelve
miles below Memphis; and all vessels from Vicksburg and New
Orleans were to be subjected to rigid examination.4" Two days
afterwards, the Board of Health met. A quarantine officer was
elected. It was decided that all New Orleans freight destined for
Memphis should be unloaded and inspected. Sick persons enter-
ing the city were to be examined, and all strangers from New
Orleans should be sent to the quarantine -station. The mayor
issued a proclamation establishing the quarantine.41 Next day,
the Public Ledger recommended that the quarantine be ex-
tended to railroads as well as steamers. On the 31st of July, a
large number of citizens, the members of the Chamber of Com-
merce and of the Cotton Exchange, met to take action for pre-
venting the visitation of yellow fever. Sanitary measures were
outlined by the President of the Board of Health. Front yards,
cellars, gutters, and premises were to be cleaned; from a hundred
to two hundred men were required; a thousand dollars would
be needed. Still it was predicted that there would be no yellow
fever in Memphis.4'2

August 1st rigid measures were taken. All New Orleans
freight was ordered stopped. Reports from that city showed
that the yellow fever there was "of a violent type and different
from any that had hitherto prevailed there. ... It baffles
the skill of the physicians and is exceptionally fatal to children."
The people were rapidly leaving the stricken city.43

A boy of seventeen died at the quarantine -station at Presi-
dent's Island, August 6. As yet there was no yellow fever in
Memphis; and it was announced that "the city is in a better
sanitary condition than it has ever been. For this the Board of
Health and Dr. [J. H. ] Erskine [ Health Officer ] merit the
thanks of the entire community. The streets are cleansed, as are
also the premises of private parties, and the good work con-
tinues." The sentry force now embraced nearly three hundred
men. There had been bad faith, however, on the part of the
captain of the steamer "Golden Crown" and his clerk; they had
reported, when their ship passed Memphis, that there was no
yellow fever on board. From that boat, however, five persons
from New Orleans had been found and had been removed from
the city by the Health Officer, and there was a woman on the
vessel sick with yellow fever. The New Orleans epidemic was

40Memphis Public Ledger, July 27, 1878.
41 Memphis Public Ledger, July 28, 1878.
42Memphis Public Ledger, July 31, 1878.
43Memphis Public Ledger, Aug. 1, 1878.

15

much worse than reported: "it exercises a general depression of
all business and much alarm exists among the people, who are
getting away as fast as possible." Next day, over three hundred
deaths were said to have occurred in New Orleans. Small boats
of refugees were endeavoring to run the gauntlet of the quaran-
tine and to land near Memphis.45

There was rumour of a case of yellow fever in Memphis
August 9; but the statement was denied. The Mississippi &
Tennessee Railroad Company was enjoined from unloading
sugar, coffee, and hardware in Memphis. It was protested that
such a boycott would prove a hardship, and that the precaution
was unnecessary.46

The oncoming menace could not be blocked. The com-
forting assurances of the medical authorities were not weapons
powerful enough to cope with deadly reality, and science was
yet to ascertain the cause and method of preventing the spread
of that fearful disease. On August 13, the first case in Memphis
was officially announced. Mrs. Kate Bionda, who kept an eating-
house largely frequented by river-men, died. New Orleans
recorded 519 cases up to date, and a considerable epidemic
existed at Grenada, Mississippi — more than a hundred cases.47

Ten yellow fever cases were reported in Memphis by the
Board of Health, August 14. The panic was general; there was
a great rush for the trains and for suburban residences. "At
no time within the history of our city has there been such a
sudden or effective panic among the people of Memphis."

"Every hack in the city last night was in demand, and
the way that great trunks, small satchels, bundles, lunches,
baskets, etc., were piled up on the depot platforms was
enough to create a panic among the most fearless who went
to bid their friends good -bye. ... At the Louisville
depot there were over five hundred people. These were
there to 'take the first,' and of course the cars were crowded.
The train numbered six passenger cars and two sleepers.
Every seat was occupied, and there was hardly standing
room on the train. The baggage and express cars were also
crowded by people who were willing to do anything in order
to get out of town. . . . There was a similar scene at
the Charleston depot, where hundreds of people had flocked

44Memphis Public Ledger, Aug. 6, 1878.
45Memphis Public Ledger, Aug. 7, 1878.
■^Memphis Public Ledger, Aug. 9, 1878.
"Memphis Public Ledger, Aug. 13, 1878.

16.

in order to take the train. . . . About four hundred
persons left on this train. This morning the outgoing train
on the Louisville road was crowded, 1000 or more persons
having left by this road since yesterday."

Towns were quarantining against Memphis. Some of the
stores closed; and funeral processions were prohibited.48

August 15, thirty -four new cases were announced and six
deaths. The railroad offices were crowded with people making
arrangements to leave the city; all persons able to get away were
going. The trains were "jammed with panic-stricken men,
women, and children. Many go far north, but many have no
idea where they will land, for all towns around the country have
already quarantined or are about to quarantine against Mem-
phis. . . . The demoralization of the people is most lament-
able, but it is useless to attempt to calm them." The evidence of
suffering, want, and distress among the poorer people, unable to
leave, was terrible. A telegram was sent to the Secretary of War
asking for a thousand tents into which to remove the poor; an
appeal for rations was dispatched to the government. It was
proposed to send the helpless and impoverished people out of the
city and provide encampments for them.49

Every day new cases developed. The Memphis papers re-
ported forty -three deaths on August 27, seventy-three deaths on
August 29, 102 deaths on September 2. On September 5, there
were 116 deaths recorded; and for the next two weeks the aver-
age daily toll numbered more than a hundred. From August 15
to November 13, some 3773 deaths from yellow fever occurred in
Memphis. For three months, the scourge raged with fury; for
at least a month longer there was a state of awful anxiety. The
grief and bereavement, the sorrow over lost loved ones, and the
general depression — all are beyond imagination.

The Bishop of Tennessee, Doctor Charles Todd Quintard
(1824-1898), was on his way to New York, to attend a meeting
of the House of Bishops when, on August 14, he found on the
train a number of the citizens of Memphis, fleeing from the
yellow fever, which had just been declared epidemic. When he
reached his destination, he made an appeal for money. Two
Sisters of St. Mary left New York for Memphis, August 23, in
order to assist in the epidemic. They had just arrived in the
metropolis two weeks before for rest and refreshment. "News

^Memphis Public Ledger, Aug. 14, 1878.
49Memphis Public Ledger, Aug. 15, 1878.

17

came of the breaking out of the yellow fever," said Bishop
Quintard. "Without delay or trepidation they went back to the
post of duty and of danger." Doctor Houghton, the rector of
the Church of the Transfiguration, gave them his blessing on
their departure. He said: "I have had a varied experience, and
have witnessed much, but I have seen no braver sight than that
which I saw in Varick street, in front of the Trinity Infirmary,
when just at evening I blessed those sisters sitting alone in the
carriage which was to take them to the train for the journey
to Memphis."

Some thirty clergymen in New York volunteered their
services to Bishop Quintard; but he told them that the clergy of
Memphis did not desire any unacclimated priests. The regular
Memphis clergymen were Doctor George C. Harris, dean of
St. Mary's Cathedral, Doctor George White, rector of Cal-
vary Church, and the Reverend Charles Carroll Parsons, rec-
tor of Grace Church. Those who were permitted to aid them
in their work in the plague -stricken area of Tennessee were the
Reverend W. T. Dickinson Dalzell, D. D., of Shreveport, Louisi-
ana, and the Reverend Louis Sandford Schuyler, of the Diocese
of Northern New Jersey. Mr. Schuyler died in Memphis of the
yellow fever, September 17, in his twenty-eighth year; Mr.
Parsons, of Grace Church, died September 6, in his fortieth year,
likewise a victim of the epidemic. The Reverend John Miller
Schwrar, rector of St. Thomas's Church, Somerville, and Im-
manuel Church, Lagrange, died October 11, in his forty-third
year — a third victim. Four sisters of the Order of St. Mary
died during September and October of the yellow fever — Sisters
Constance, Thecla, Ruth and Frances.

There were the "most generous outpourings of gifts and
contributions of money, food, clothing, and medicines to our
stricken people," said Bishop Quintard in his address to the
Forty-seventh Annual Convention of the Diocese. "The liberal-
ity of the people of the North was so ample, prompt, free, and so
beneficent, that no words can do it justice. From Maine to
California, and from the Lakes to the Gulf, all aided in the kind
work. Not less than $500,000 came from the cities, towns and
states of the North, and $200,000 from the southern portion of
the Union, to Memphis alone. Besides this enormous sum of
money, hundreds of carloads of provisions, clothing and medi-
cines were contributed, and were carried to Memphis by the
railways and express companies without charge. Contributions
were sent from Canada, England, Germany and France."

18

During the epidemic, Doctor White lost his son Dehon.
Several times the Memphis papers noted his own sickness (pre-
sumably from yellow fever). For example, on September 30, it is
stated that "Rev. Dr. Geo. E. White, rector of Calvary church,
is doing tolerably well."

Although nearly eighty, the good doctor was active at his
post of duty. Nor were his interests confined to his parish. At
the General Convention of 1880, he introduced a resolution con-
demning the support of churches by means of raffling, fairs,
lotteries, and other such devices, maintaining that the gift should
come directly from the churchman or the rector .J

At the Forty-ninth Annual Convention of the Diocese of
Tennessee, Bishop Quintard stated that Doctor White had asked
him to announce that he had collected "a large amount of mate-
rial, throwing light upon the history of the Church in Tennessee;
but that the omission of some of the clergy and laity to respond
to his repeated applications for sketches of the history of their
Parishes has been and still is a serious impediment in the way."
"The venerable Doctor earnestly requests that the clergy and
laity of the several Parishes will furnish him such items of paro-
chial history as may be of interest in completing the history of
the Church in this Diocese."51 It is to be regretted that Doctor
White was unable to compile such a history. No scholar in the
American Church was better fitted to produce a more pains-
taking, systematic, and comprehensive account of the Church
and its work in the various parishes and missions.

The Reverend Davis Sessums, who later became Bishop of
Louisiana, began his services as assistant at Calvary Church,
Memphis, April 1, 1883. At first, his salary was $1000 a year;
but after the first year, it was raised to $1800.52 Two years later,
Doctor White retired from active duty and became rector emeri-
tus of the parish. He was venerated and beloved, and it was
recognized that he had made a considerable contribution to the
city as well as to the Church. A letter, signed by James B. Cook,
architect, appeared in the Memphis Daily Appeal, January 7,
1887, crediting Doctor White with the beauty and present status
of Calvary Church, as restored. The writer said that he had
known Doctor White for thirty years.

"For thirty long years, the day in and the day out, in
the seed time, in war times, in pestilence and in famine, as

50Memphis Daily Avalanche, May 1, 1887.
51Diocese of Tennessee: Convention Journal, 1881.
52Memphis Daily Appeal, Jan. 7, 1887.

19

the faithful shepherd he watched from the sanctuary of the
church over his flock. At the christening he was there, at
the bedside of the sick and dying he was there, and at the
burial of the dead to administer the last sad rites he was
there again. . . . His aim . . . was to build up
for his flock a sacred edifice with a sermon in every stone.
With a faith that never wearied, he was steady at the helm.
. Hardly a month passed but he consulted me on
the work — plans were made and remade and as constantly
laid away, for his vestry would say not yet, but with an iron
will and a strong determination to still push on, and but a
few years since his faith was rewarded, for the time had
then come in the remodeling of the old church and its com-
pletion as it now stands. To him alone all the credit is due.
I, as the architect, was simply the instrument in his hands
to carry out his ideas. The internal arrangements, the
chancel, sanctuary, and nave were all his. He symbolized
the whole. . . . For thirty years many and many has
been the time, from his own scanty means, has he paid for
repairs and alterations rather than burden others or let the
old building want for the same. In the restoration and
remodeling he was more than liberal, for among other items
he had placed at the chancel the rood rail — a symbolic
feature — dividing the nave from the choir. This he paid
for himself. ... I can bear further witness that not a
stone was placed except through him. The organ, windows,
altar, lectern, fonts are there, directly or indirectly, through
him."

On the 30th of April, Bishop Quintard was called to Doctor
White's dying bed. The Reverend George Patterson, D. D., of
Grace Church, Memphis, and the Reverend Charles F. Collins,
of the Church of the Holy Innocents, Trenton, Tennessee, ac-
companied him. Prayers were said at the bedside, and the
Bishop pronounced the parting benediction. The faithful pastor
entered into eternal life at half -past two o'clock in the afternoon.
His last three years had been years of great physical weakness,
and practically of disability; "but his mind was clear to the
last and his cheerful spirit enabled him to bear all his sufferings
with Christian resignation."53 He lived at 268 Vance Street.
His daughters, Mrs. James T. Leach of Memphis and Miss
Tallulah Georgia White, had cared for their father during the
eighteen months that preceded his death. "No word of com-

:,3Tallulah G. White: op. cit., p. 419.

20

plaint or unkind criticism has fallen from the lips of this beautiful
old man in these long days of sickness."54

The day after his death, the Memphis Daily Advocate
contained the following tribute :

"The most marked attribute of his character was his
childlike simplicity. The voice of hunger or want or suffer-
ing never went away unheard by him. Another marked
characteristic which distinguished him from almost all
men was this, that he never was known to say an unkind
word about any human being. As a rector, his rendition of
his part of the service, by its simplicity, its earnestness and
cleanness of elocution, he almost stood without a rival;
and this morning, if the question were asked of the citizen-
ship of Memphis, Jew and Gentile, Protestant and Catholic,
what human being in the past quarter of a century had been
most conspicuous for its humility, for its kindness of heart
and sympathy with men, with one accord the voice of the
great city would name the name of this venerable old man,
who loved Memphis, who loved her people, and who had a
heart full of sympathy for all her children."

The morning after Doctor White's death, May 1, 1887 —
the Third Sunday after Easter and the feast of St. Philip and
St. James — Bishop Quintard preached and celebrated the Holy
Communion in Calvary Church. In announcing the beloved
rector's death to the congregation, he said:

"All hearts in this congregation are bowed this morn-
ing in a common sorrow. There is one thrill of sympathy
that vibrates in every soul. The venerable pastor who for
nine and twenty years has fed this flock has entered upon
that rest which remaineth for the people of God, has been
called to the reward that awaits the faithful priest. Could
we be left to our own hearts we would sit with our present
grief in silence; but I must speak a few words to-day of him
that is gone. You know full well what his life has been. You
know how he called forth from those who knew him best,
the salute, 'Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.'
You know how he moved about among all men, simply and
unpretendingly, and as free from self-consciousness as a
child. You know how spontaneous was his tenderness of
heart, and how he manifested towards all that tact of love,
which is so much better than the most consummate art.

54Memphis Daily Advocate, May 1, 1887.

21

It was the steadfast heart surcharged with love, and the loyal
soul that ever looked to God, in which were the springs of
your pastor's power.

"His life closed with a long illness, so patiently endured,
and so unmurmuringly borne that they who watched by his
bedside found it the very school of Christ, in which they
learned lessons of entire submission to the will of God, and
of hope in all its richness and fullness.

"Think, good people, what the close of such a life
teaches; a life devoted to the moral elevation of his fellow-
men; a life altogether unselfish, and spent in doing good to
man; a life that has been a living epistle, known and read
of all men; a life devoted to God and the service of the
altar; a life abounding in the ministrations of grace and
the consolations of the gospel, a life conspicuous for its
simplicity and holiness. Surely such a life, crowned with a
peaceful death, is well worth living. It is more glorious than
that of the hero who wins his laurels in fields of blood, or of
the statesman who achieves his triumphs on the Senate floor.
Great are the rewards of such a life."55

The vestry of Calvary Church, at a meeting after Doctor
White's death, prepared and presented to his surviving family a
beautiful testimony, speaking of their late rector as "a simple-
minded, humble and lowly rector, who left behind him noble
works, a life of beautiful simplicity, entire devotion to his flock,
a godly, sober and righteous life."56

On All Saints' Day, 1887, there was consecrated in Calvary
Church an exquisite brass memorial pulpit, "the loving gift of a
large number of persons, young and old, who wished to testify
their affection and perpetuate the memory of the Rev. George
White, D. D." There was also dedicated "a jewelled sanctuary
lamp," given by the daughters of Doctor and Mrs. White.57

Doctor White married young. His wife was Miss Elizabeth
Miller of Savannah, Georgia; and she walked beside him for more
than sixty years. She passed away only a short time before her
husband's death. There were eight children, of whom three
survived their father: George T. G. White, for thirty years
southern manager of the Equitable Assurance Company of New
York; Mrs. Laura Leach; and Miss Tallulah Georgia White.55

35Diocese of Tennessee: Convention Journal, 1887, pp. 30-31.
5fiTallulah G. White: op. cit., p. 419.
57Diocese of Tennessee: Convention Journal, 1888, p. 77.
58Tallulah G. White: op. cit., p. 419.

22

The affection with which his children regarded him is reflected in
the words of his daughter:

"Dr. White came as near being a natural Christian as
it is possible for a human. Born with a kindly spirit, he
acquired profound faith in the goodness, mercy and justice
of God, and his cwn work in life added year by year Christian
graces, until his latter years became a constant benediction
to all with whom he was brought in touch."0

The Fifty-fifth Annual Convention of the Diocese of Ten-
nessee, resolved by rising vote "that the Church in the Diocese
of Tennessee holding in highest esteem the labors of this child-
like man of God — who like his Master went about doing good —
in loving memory of his beautiful life, ask each member to hold
in lasting remembrance the golden example of this his faithful
servant, who has passed from the scene of his earthly labors
unto the Paradise of the Blessed."60

™Ibid.

60Diocese of Tennessee: Convention Journal, 1888, p. 49.

23