My Genealogy Hound

HON. CHILTON A. WHITE, of White, McKnight & White, Georgetown, was born in Georgetown February 6, 1826. He was named after Chilton Allen, who represented a Kentucky district in Congress, for thirteen years. Mr. White is a son of John D. White, a native of Virginia, and a school teacher and surveyor by occupation. He removed from Virginia to North Carolina; thence to Kentucky, and in 1825 located at Georgetown, Brown Co., Ohio. He was Surveyor of Brown County thirteen years and County Treasurer eight years. He died at Georgetown, in May, 1855. He married Margaret R. Baker, also a native of the Old Dominion. Our subject is the third child and son of a family of nine children — four daughters and five sons — two of whom are living. He grew to manhood in Georgetown, receiving a good education in the public schools of the village. In early life, he taught school for three years, during this time studying law with Thomas L. Hamer. When the Mexican war commenced, Mr. Hamer was made Major of a regiment, and Mr. White accompanied him to the field, being subsequently made Orderly Sergeant of Company G, First Regiment Mexican Volunteers, from Ohio, his brother, Carr B., being Captain of the company. During the early part of the war, Gen. Hamer died, and after a year’s service, Mr. White returned to Georgetown, finishing his law studies with Sanders W. Johnson, Gen. Hamer’s son-in-law. He was admitted to practice in November, 1848, and soon after formed a partnership with his brother, Grafton B. White, of Wilmington, Clinton Co., Ohio, remaining with him two years, He then returned to Georgetown and opened an office. He was a law partner of Col. John G. Marshall for five or six years, and subsequently practiced with Col. D. W. C. Loudon. In 1876, he became senior member of the firm of White, McKnight & White. In his legal practice, Mr. White has been uniformly successful. He owns a good residence, located on fifty-two acres of land, all within the corporate limits of Georgetown, and also a farm of 160 acres in Pleasant Township, two and a half miles north of Georgetown. Mr. White was united in marriage, April 13, 1852, to Fannie Boyles, a native of Brown County. Three children were born to them — Edward B., John D. (junior member of White, McKnight & White), and Mary I. Mrs. White was a member of the Catholic Church, and died in that faith, August 2, 1881. Mary I. is also a member of the Catholic Church, and received a fine education at Ursuline Convent, at St. Martin’s, in Perry Township, this county. Mr. White’s father was a Democrat, and our subject was reared in the political faith of that party. In 1852, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Brown County, and was the Democratic nominee for Probate Judge in 1854. In 1859, he was nominated and subsequently elected to the Ohio Senate from Brown and Clermont Counties, and during his term of service was elected to Congress, commencing this term of service during the extra session of June, 1861. He was re-elected in 1862, and served till March 4, 1865. Mr. White was a candidate for the third term. He carried the district on the home vote by 880 majority, but was defeated in the entire district by the large Republican vote of the soldiers. Since that period, Mr. White has taken no active part in politics. While a member of the Ohio Senate, he was an honored member of the Judiciary Committee. In 1873, he was a delegate to the Ohio Constitutional Convention, and was appointed on the Judiciary Committee, serving with the following-named gentlemen: Sherlock J. Andrews, Thomas Ewing, John W. Herron, D. D. T. Cowen, Rufus King, Thomas F. Thompson, Thomas Beer, Thomas J. Godfrey, Charles H. Scribner, John C. Hale, Mills Gardner, William Sample, Barnabas Burns, Henry S. Neal, Charles H. Mitchener, Joseph D. Horton and James W. Riley. Mr. White is probably the oldest living resident of Georgetown, having resided there nearly fifty-seven years, He is a man of good judgment, unassuming manners, frank and open hearted, and respected and honored by all.