Martin White

Elder Martin White (1802-1862) = Circuit Rider for the Regular Primitive Baptists. Sawmill Owner. Illinois State Legislator & Kansas Territorial Legislator.  Justice of the Peace. Born on December 15, in Mt. Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky to James & Sally (Allen) White. In 1820, he married Kiturah "Kitty" Ann Fletcher (1805-1867), daughter of James & Rhoda Ann (Griffin) Fletcher. They had twelve children: James Fletcher, Sally, John Wesley, Griffin*, William George, Guilford, Robert, Rhoda Jane, Martha Custis, Sarah Dulcina, Louisa Vashti and Jilson Gallatin.

In 1829, Martin, his father-in-law, and their families immigrated to Sangamon County, Illinois. Ten years later, Christian and Logan Counties were formed from Sangamon County. Martin was elected to the State's General Assembly as the first representative of Christian & Logan Counties in 1840, serving two years. At the same time, Abraham Lincoln was serving his final two years of four consecutive two-year terms (1834 to 1842) as a state legislator.

In August of 1855, Martin and his family moved to Kansas and bought a large tract of land north of the present-day defunct town of Stanton, KS (twelve miles SW of Paola) on the Miami County/Franklin County border. On September 21, he was sworn in as the Justice of the Peace in Osawatomie. Life was hard on the frontier and his family became involved in the troubles of the border between the states. They moved to 7 miles east of Butler, MO. in late 1856, then to Henry County, following Order # 11 in 1863.

Martin had a pulpit made of walnut and he preached in the Liberty on the Mosquito Creek Primitive Baptist church in Christian County, IL,  the Elk Fork & Pleasant Gap, Bates County, MO churches. He attended the Deep Water Association held in Cedar County, MO. Macedonia Church on September 15-17, 1860. Two years later, on April 21, he passed away. His wife, Kitty, was laid to rest next to him after her death in 1867.

Historical Legal Facts: In 1833, Kentucky Law Prohibited Imported Slave Sales and in 1848, Illinois became a Free State.

More to Read:

1.) White's Family & Their Kin. Gladys Esther White O'Neal & Elma Leota White Stoops. 1983.

2.) US Census and Montgomery County, KY Roots Web
Montgomery County, KY USGenweb
Christian County, IL US Genweb
Miami County, KS US Genweb
Bates County, MO US Genweb

3.) Primitive Baptist Library at Carthage, Illinois. Click here for a video that explains Old School Primitive Baptists Beliefs.

4.) Christian County, IL. and  Logan County, IL.
5.) Journal of the House of Representatives of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Illinois

Original Christian County Courthouse (look at bottom of page)  

6.) History of Christian County, Illinois with Illustrations Descriptive of Its Scenery and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers: 1763-1880. By Calvin Goudy. Edwardsville, IL; Brink, McDonough & Co.; 1880. P. 254.  Repository: Illinois State Library, 300 S. Second Street, Springfield, MO
7.) Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area
8.) John Brown and the Legend of '56. By James Claude Malin. America Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1942.
9.) Journal of the House of Representatives of the Territory of Kansas. Lecompton, R. H. Bennett, Public Printers; 1857. p. 130.
10.) Major Thomas J. Goforth, Justice of the Peace of Westport (present-day, Kansas City, MO.)

11.) History of Kansas. By Noble L. Prentis. E.P.Greer, Winfield, KS; 1899. p.64

12.) Findagrave   #50298335


Places to see in Kentucky and Illinois:
1.) Conjunction of Slate and Bull Fork creeks (Hwy 461), Means, Menifee county, KY. 
2.) Lulbegrud Baptist cemetery, Prewitt Pike, Klondike, Montgomery Co, KY. (near this spot is where the original Lulbegrud Primitive Baptist church stood.  This church was the James Fletcher family's  home church in Kentucky and it was pastored by both Elder David Barrows, an abolitionist, and by Elder Thomas Boone.)
3.) Conjunction of Sangamon River & Mosquito Creek, Mosquito Twp., Christian Co., IL.
4.) Hwy 28 Trail markers between Mt. Auburn & Decatur, Christian County, IL (Lincoln's 8th Judicial Circuit Trail between  1847-1857)  
5.) Stafford Cemetery, 1800 E & 2975 N, near Osbernville, IL
6.) Trail of Death markers in Springfield & Decatur,  Sangamon River (Hwy 36), IL
7.) Christian County Historical & Genealogical Society, Taylorville, IL (see the first courthouse in Christian County)
8.) Logan County Historical & Genealogical Society, Lincoln, IL
9.) Illinois State Military Museum, Springfield, IL (see Santa Anna's cork leg brought back from the Battle of Cerro Gordo by John Wesley's 4th regiment in the Mexican War).
10.) Old State Capitol, Springfield, IL
11.) Presidential Lincoln Library, Springfield, IL (payroll document that both Lincoln & Martin signed)
12.) Mississippi River.

Places to see in KS. & MO.
1.) Westport Landing River Park on the Missouri River, near the end of Grand Ave, north of the Sprint Center and the Power & Light District, Kansas City, MO

2.) Miami County Historical Museum, 12 E. Peoria, Paola, Ks 
3.) Stanton, Kansas Cemetery- Whiteheads 

4.) Pottawatomie Massacre Marker. Lane, Franklin Co., KS.

5.) John Brown Museum State Historic Site. Osawatomie, KS.
6.) Old Depot Museum, 135 West Tecumseh, Ottawa, KS
7.) Lecompton's Constitution Hall, Lecompton, KS.

8.) Burnt District Museum, Cass County Historical Society, 400 E. Mechanic St, Harrisonville, MO

9.) Bates County Museum, 802 Elks Drive, Butler, MO

10.)  Order No. 11 Marker Memorial, Bates County Courthouse Lawn, 1 North Delaware, Butler, MO.

11.) Papinville Historical Museum, Market Street,  Papinville, Bates County, MO. and the Marais des Cygnes River Steamboat Landing.

12.) Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, 6424 West Farm Road 182, Republic, MO.  (see Gibson’s Mill)

13.) White Cemetery, Bates County, MO

Quote:

Leavenworth Weekly Herald, 1/3/1857

“In every relation of life he (Col. Martin White) sustained an unimpeachable character for truth, justice and unswerving integrity.”

Biography written by his 3rd great-grand-daughter, Dolores J. Rush. Updated: 10/7/2019. 

Elizabeth "Bess" Virginia Wallace Truman

By Dolores J. Rush.

Elizabeth "Bess" Virginia Wallace Truman (1885-1982) = Former First Lady. Favorite colors: Plum, Blue. Born in Independence, MO on February 13 to David Willock, a banker, and Margaret "Madge" Gates Wallace . She was the eldest and only daughter of four children. With blue-eyes and golden curls, Bess, in her future husband Harry S. Truman's estimation, was the "sweetest, prettiest girl" he had ever seen when he saw her for the first time in Sunday School at the age of six. She was very popular and she graduated from the Independence High School in 1901. She also attended the Barstow School for Girls in Kansas City, for a year.

When Harry moved to Grandview, MO. to help his father with the farm and while he was away at war, they wrote letters regularly.

They were married on June 28, 1919, at an Episcopal Church and lived in her widowed mother's home. In 1924, Mary Margaret, their first and only child, was born there.

When Harry became active in politics, first in Kansas City, then in Washington D.C., she traveled with him and fulfilled the social obligations of her position as a Judge's wife, a US Senator's wife, and First Lady after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During Harry's second term, they were denied the pleasure of living in the White House until early 1952, while the century-old Executive Mansion underwent a major renovation. During this time, they lived in Blair House instead. In  late 1952, she welcomed Mrs. Mamie Eisenhower as the new First Lady to the White House. She was looking forward to going home to Independence. Her chief enjoyments there were reading books from her library and devoting time to friends and family such as her daughter, Margaret, and Margaret's husband, Clifton Daniel, and Bess & Harry's four grandsons.

More to Read:

1. Our First Ladies: Martha Washington to Pat Ryan Nixon. By Jane & Burt McConnell. 1969.

2. The First Ladies. By Margaret Brown Klapthor. White House Historical Association, Washington, D.C., 1979.

3. American Inaugurals: The Speeches, the Presidents, and Their Times. By Kristen Woronoff. Blackbirch Press, New York, 2002.

4. The Presidents In American History. By Dr. Charles A. & Wm. Beard, PhD. Julian Messner, New York, 1935; re-printed 1977.

5. Presidents of the United States. Jane & Burt McConnell.

6. Childhoods of the American Presidents. By William O. Foss. McFarland & Co, 2005.

7. Homes and Libraries of the Presidents. By William G. Clotworthy. McDonald & Woodward, 2008.

8. Hospital Hill: an Illustrated Account of Public Healthcare Institutions in Kansas City, Missouri. James L. Soward, Kansas City: Truman Medical Center Charitable Foundation, 1995

9. University Health/Truman Hospital History

10. Harry Truman and Solomon Young's Farm home. Read here. 
11. Sister-in-law, Miss Mary Jane Truman's biography.

12. Findagrave # 19671

Places to Visit:

1. Bess Truman's Birthplace (private residence with marker, near Bingham-Wagner's home), 117 Ruby Ave, Independence, MO.

2. National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame (Harry's plow), 630 Hall of Fame Drive, Bonner Springs, KS.

3. Bess Truman Clinic, Truman Medical Hospital Lakewood, 7900 Lee's Summit Road, Kansas City, MO.

4. Truman Heritage Festival - Harry's Hay Days, Grandview, Mo.
5. Historical Marker at the Truman Marketplace Shopping Center. 71/39 Hwy, Grandview

6. Truman Home, 219 North Delaware, Independence, MO.

7. Truman Library, 500 West US Highway 24, Independence, MO. (Bess and Harry are buried on the site of the Truman Library.)

8. Third Street Social restaurant, 123 SE 3rd Street, Lee's Summit, MO (click on "About;" historic building along w/ photos of Harry). 

Bess Truman was born here!

Updated: 12 Nov 2022.