The White Family

The White family was a prominent family in Syracuse, New York. A brief genealogy is below. Hamilton White (1807-1865) was an investor. His brother, Horace White (1802-1860), was the father of Andrew Dickson White (first president of Cornell) and Horace K. White.

Hamilton S. White (1853-1899) played an important role in the development of the Syracuse Fire Department (SFD) and died fighting a fire in 1899. A public outdoor monument, paid for by private subscriptions, was erected in his memory. He graduated from Cornell in 1877 and invested in real estate and stocks. His wife, the former Adelaide Whitbread, was a singer and an inventor.

Hamilton Howard White (1885-1959) was an insurance agent, collected stamps, and graduated from Cornell in 1908. The Hamilton White building housed his insurance company. His wife, the former Katharine Cook, hosted a radio program, The Social Shopper, in the 1930s.

His son, Hamilton Salisbury White (1919-1983), was a lawyer. His sister-in-law, Lila Stanley (b. 1927), was mentally retarded; his mother-in-law (Dorothy S. Stanley) and his wife (the former Dorothy Stanley) were both in nursing homes. He attended Pebble Hill School, Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Cornell, Harvard Law School, and Cornell Law School. His law school notes are extensive.

Other people prominent in the collection are various Cooks and Carharts, who were related to Katharine Cook White; Gail Sherman, the sculptor of the Hamilton S. White Monument; Mary Amanda Outwater White (1836-1887), wife of Andrew Dickson White; Fred Sutton, who was married to Elizabeth Cook (Katharine White’s sister); also, Lila Stanley was sometimes referred to as Leila Jane Stanley or Lyla Jean Stanley.

Hamilton White 1807-1865 business investor - married (1841) Sarah Randolph Rich 1820-1867 father of: Mrs. Antoinette W. Sherman (b. 1842); Mrs. Clara (Robert) Hall (b. 1844); Barrett Rich White (1848-1877); Hamilton S. White (1853-1899); Howard Ganson White (b. 1856); Sarah Aphia White (1860-1863)

Hamilton Salisbury White 1853-1899 firefighter - married to (1880) Adelaide J. Whitbread (d. 1945) father of: Margery Rich (m. Wilfred L. Wright); Hamilton Howard (1885-1959)

Hamilton Howard White (1885-1959) insurance agent - married to Katharine Cook (b. 1896) father of: Joan (b. 1927) (m. John Wright); Hamilton Salisbury (1919-1983)

Hamilton Salisbury White (1919-1983) lawyer - married to Dorothy (Didi) Stanley father of: Hamilton Salisbury Jr.; Mrs. Laura C. McSweeney; Mrs. Sarah P. Chadwick

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The collection includes personal and business correspondence; school and medical records; photographs; financial and legal records; diaries; books; reports; scrapbooks; newspaper clippings; and ephemera such as engraving plates. Some of the materials relate to fire fighting; H. S. White's death (1899) and public monument; Lila Stanley's education and medical care; elder care; investments; embezzlement of Hamilton White Inc. (insurance agency, 1958); local history; the genealogy of the White, Holyoke, Rich, Cook, Whitcomb, McDonald families; and a radio program (1930s).

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Series I (Correspondence) includes manuscript and typewritten letters; postcards; greeting cards; and transcriptions. Topics include the genealogies of the White, Holyoke, Rich, and Cook families; stamp collecting; personal and family matters; family loans; H. S. White’s 1899 death, memorial, and medal; an advertised rheumatism cure; birthday and other greetings. The transcriptions are of the letters from George Lincoln Burr relating to genealogy. The personal correspondence includes letters between George W. Eaton, a soldier, and his cousin, George R. Cook, written during the Civil War. Many of the letters concern the daily lives of the authors. Other correspondents include Andrew Dickson White concerning H. S. White's monument and S. F. Pryor, Jr. of the Republican National Committee (1940).

Series II (Records) includes stock certificates; real property deeds; cemetery plot deeds; wills; school reports & financial statements; medical reports and bills; radio program script & advertisements; life insurance policies & estates; bank books; cancelled checks; tax receipts & returns; court papers; real property tax reassessment; non-real property appraisals; nursing home statements; business & personal receipts; school certificates & diplomas; military orders (1943-1945); manuscript agreements of assignment; bills of sales; licenses; CPA business audit; family account book; baptism & confirmation cards; political petition; and a photograph. Topics include the "pinless single ballbearing door hinge" invention of Adelee White (1917); "White Private Fire Alarm Telegraph" invention of Hamilton S. White (1887); bar admittance (1943); embezzlement of Hamilton White Inc., 1958); real estate investments and related court decisions; elder care (1954-1983); Nehemiah Thompson’s Revolutionary War military career (1895); medical history and schooling of Lila Stanley, who was mentally retarded (1929-1982); "The Social Shopper" radio program (1934-1940); and H. S. White’s run for mayor (1884). It also includes the records of, among others, Charles & J. W. Truesdell and Lillian Thompson.

Series III (Visual Materials) includes amateur photographs; professional photographs; photograph albums; negatives; glass plates; artwork; architectural drawing; land survey; a print; and a map. The subjects of the photographs include members of the White, Cook, and Carhart families; Cornell Kappa Alpha Society house and members; campers at Keewaydin Camp Lake Dunmore in Salisbury, VT (1930); Anti-Sour Puss Club members; a chemical fire-fighting engine (1885); the White Building; house on East Genesee St. The artwork is a black and white drawing of a fire fighting scene; the architectural drawing is of a fireplace and mantel details by C. S. Congdon; the survey is of 310 Catherine Street (1946); the print is of four White men (Andrew, Hamilton S, Horace, Hamilton).

Series IV (Written/ Printed Materials) includes books; programs; newsletters; reports; Court of Appeal decisions; directories; newspapers; yearbooks; songbooks; law school reviews; catalogs; booklets; pamphlets; school notes & tests; diaries; datebooks; memorandum books; inventory books; and notes. The law school notebooks and related material (1940-1943) of H. S. White (1919-1983) make up the bulk of this series. Some of the other items are of local interest and relate to Oakwood Cemetery (1887); St. Paul’s Church; Syracuse Fire Department (1899); Mary Amanda Outwater White (1877); H. S. White Memorial; Hamilton White House; the daily lives of the Katharine White (1922-1926; 1932-1936) and Hamilton S. White (1962-1982); the White family’s household goods (ca. 1895); wedding gifts (1916); and the 376 page, bound Court of Appeals decision for the case of City of Syracuse against Florence W. Cook (1915) (this decision includes maps from 1822-1842 and blueprints).

Other topics include the Kappa Alpha Society; Cornell class of 1908; stamp collecting; shooting; genealogies of the Rich, Whitcomb, Thompson, and McDonald families; and the Court of Appeals decision for Raymond Concrete Pile Company against Federation Bank and Trust Company (1942). Newspapers are The Cornell Daily Sun (1905 & 1908); The Crane (1933-1935) (student newspaper of Cranbrook School); and The Fireman’s Herald (1892). Also included are The Bible (1829); Rule Book for Junior Marksmen (NRA, 1930); and The Brook (Cranbrook's yearbook, 1934 & 1935).

Series V (Scrapbooks) consists of fourteen scrapbooks and one folder of loose scrapbook pages. The scrapbooks include newspaper clippings; telegrams; photographs; correspondence; greeting cards; postcards; pamphlets; flyers; brochures; programs; sketches; invitations; menus; manuscript notes; society notes; newspapers; contracts; military discharge notice; a building permit; an in memoriam ribbon; and Treasury Department permission to visit redemption division and vaults. Many of the scrapbooks contain loose items. Seven of the scrapbooks are chiefly concerned with fire-related news in the Syracuse area; three with the death and memorial of H. S. White (1853-1899); and four with other interests. Other topics include St. Paul’s Church; Mrs. Hamilton S. White as a vocalist; music; Mrs. Adelaide White’s inventions of Blue Book covers and hose supporters; gubernatorial inaugurations of Nathan L. Miller (1921) and Seymour Whitman (1915); Hamilton and Dorothy’s wedding; Joan and John’s wedding; law cases; Cornell; Sea Island, Georgia; the new City Hall; blizzard of 1892; U. S. Grant’s death; the steamship Werra's voyage on which the White family were passengers and which got delayed at sea. Also includes a newspaper photograph of Mayor Jay B. Kline; The Fireman’s Standard; Bibliographical Notes II (Hand list of the Petrarch editions in the Florentine Public Libraries).

Series VI (Clippings) consists of loose newspaper clippings relating to the blizzard of 1966; H. S. White’s 1899 death and its anniversaries (1931, 1934); school activities ([1930]-1943) of H. S. White (1919-1983); Katharine White’s radio program (1934 & 1935); prohibition (1931); also includes clippings of photographs of the White family (ca. 1935); a clipping of photographs of dresses from the 1860s modeled in 1942; a clipping of a short biography of Horace White (1900); and a magazine photograph of an Onondaga Interchange.

Series VII (Ephemera) includes stamps; coins; business and name cards; blank postcards; blank greeting cards; brochures; ads; menus; membership cards and buttons; ID cards; form letters; pocketknives; rubber stamps; engraving plates and stamps; badges; stationary; correspondence; flyers; ticket stub; eyeglasses; fishing lure case with lures; nesting thimbles; locket; two rocks; pen nibs and pencil leads; also includes Fire Alarm Telegraph listing (1890); an invitation to the launching of the USS Skipjack (1937). One of the engraving stamps is for H.S. White's SFD Medal of Honor.