Edward Douglass White Sr.

Infobox Governor


order = 10th
office = Governor of Louisiana
term_start = 1835
term_end = 1839
lieutenant = none
predecessor = Andre B. Roman
successor = Andre B. Roman
birth_date = 1795
birth_place = Maury County, Tennessee
death_date = death date|1847|4|18|mf=y
death_place = New Orleans, Louisiana
party = Whig
spouse = Catherine Ringgold
religion = Catholic

Edward Douglass White, Sr. (March, 1795 – April 18, 1847) was Governor of Louisiana and a member of the United States House of Representatives. He served five nonconsecutive terms in Congress as an adherent of Henry Clay of Kentucky and the Whig Party.

White was born in Maury County, Tennessee, the illegitimate son of James White. (Although his parents apparently never married, his father acknowledged him, and the circumstances of his birth did not impede his education or future success.) While a young boy, he moved to Louisiana with his father.

In 1815, he graduated from the former University of Nashville, afterward beginning a law practice in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, the seat of Ascension Parish south of Baton Rouge.

He was appointed by Governor Henry S. Johnson, also of Donaldsonville, as an Associate Judge of the New Orleans Municipal Court in 1825.

Elected to the 21st United States Congress, White served three terms from 1829 until his resignation in 1834. He then served a single term as governor (1835-1839) and was elected to Congress again and served two more terms from 1839 until 1843. He died in New Orleans and was buried at St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery in Thibodaux, Louisiana.

White's son Edward Douglass White, Jr., would become a United States senator from Louisiana and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, later appointed Chief Justice by U.S. President William Howard Taft. White's father, James White, was a delegate to the Continental Congress.

References

* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000365 Congressional Biography]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/white3.html| Political Graveyard]

External links

* [http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/368/Default.aspx State of Louisiana - Biography]
* [http://www.la-cemeteries.com/Governors/White,%20Edward%20Douglas/White,%20Edward%20Douglas.shtml Cemetery Memorial] by La-Cemeteries