San
Joaquin County
Biographies
CORWIN DOUGLASS WHITE
A highly esteemed resident of San
Joaquin County, whose story is as instructive as it is absorbingly interesting,
is Corwin Douglass White, who was born near Alma, Gratiot County, Michigan, on
October 25, 1858, the son of Amos and Sarah Elizabeth (Rosetter)
White, natives respectively of New York and Pennsylvania. They had nine children, but only two are
living today: Charles, who is in
Nebraska, and Corwin Douglass.
Corwin Douglass White was educated
in the public schools of Michigan, and when seventeen years of age went to work
for himself, and learned the carpenter’s trade. In 1884 he came out to California, and
settled in Stockton. He was engaged as a
stationary engineer for the Williams & Moore soap factory for four years,
and then he embarked in various kinds of work for several years; trying his
hand in the bakery trade, and traveling for two years for the Stockton Paint
Company. After that he came to Lodi and
resumed carpentering, working first as a journeyman and then engaging in
building as a contractor and investor.
He bought lots, and built and sold no less than twelve different homes,
among the most attractive in Lodi. Then
he purchased eighty acres of land two and one-half miles east of Clements, a grain
ranch, formerly the Isaac Miller place, where he conducts a small dairy.
At San Francisco, on March 26, 1902,
Mr. White was married to Miss Effie Posey, a native of Hillsboro, Texas, and
the daughter of G. Jack Posey, who had married Miss Isabelle Staton. Her father
was born in San Joaquin County, his parents having crossed the plains from Ohio
in pioneer days. They were farmers near
Thornton, where the father was reared and educated. There he married Miss Staton,
who was born on Staton Island, this county. Her parents were pioneers of California and
the first settlers on Staton Island. Isabelle Staton was
a teacher up till the time of her marriage to Mr. Posey. They then removed to Hillsboro, Texas, where
their three children were born. The wife
and mother passed away in 1884, and the baby boy, Jack, died a month
later. Mr. Posey then brought his two
remaining children, Clara and Effie, back with him to Lodi, where he followed
farming until his death. Clara is now
Mrs. S. A. Gillingham, and Effie is Mrs. White, of
whom we write. When Effie Posey was
three years old her father returned to California. He retired and made his home in Stockton, and
there she was sent to grammar school, afterward attending the high school. Mr. Posey’s health failed, and the family
moved to San Andreas, in Calaveras County.
Here she finished her high school course, and then fitted herself for
teaching, completing her course at the Summer Normal School held at the
University of California in Berkeley.
The last fifteen years she has been teaching for the most part in San
Joaquin County, although she taught a year at Calaveritas and two years at
Burson, in Calaveras County. She taught
at Live Oak, Mt. Carmel, and Alpine, and was principal of Athearn School at
Clements; she is now principal of the Lockeford School, where she is giving
entire satisfaction. To her experience
is added real enthusiasm for her work, in which she is most conscientious and
painstaking. She is a member of the
County Teachers’ Association, and the California Teachers’ Association.
Three children have been granted Mr.
and Mrs. White: Emily Evelyn, now in
Lodi High School; George Henry; and Howard Corwin. Mrs. White is an active member of the Lodi
Women’s Improvement Club. Mr. White is a
member and past master of Lodi Lodge No. 256, F & A. M.; a member and past
grand of Charity Lodge No. 6, I. O. O. F., of Stockton; a member and past chief
patriarch of Parker Encampment; and a member of Ridgely
Canton, Stockton. Mrs. White is a member
of Lodi Chapter, Eastern Star, and also a member of the Rebekah Lodge at Lodi,
of which she is a past noble grand. Both
husband and wife are Republicans; and both are members of the Christian Science
Church in Lodi, in which they serve as readers.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1228-1231. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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