My Genealogy Hound

JAMES P. WHITE was born June 29, 1826, in the little village of Clonoloy, County Meath, Ireland, about fifteen miles from the city of Dublin. He was the son of James and Elizabeth (Langdon) White, and was one of a family of five sons and two daughters. His father was a farmer in very moderate circumstances, and the only advantages of education the children received were at the village school. James P. White, longing for a more active life than the quiet and monotonous one of the farm, decided, when about sixteen years of age, to go to the neighboring city of Dublin and learn the trade of tailoring. This accomplished, he next looked about him for the best field in which to commence the battle of life, and, like so many of his countrymen, he turned to the great republic of the west as the fairest field for talent, and the country most likely to reward honest endeavor with success. Accordingly, in 1846, when about twenty years of age, he bade farewell to his relatives and to his well-loved Erin, and set sail for America. Landing in Philadelphia, he worked in that city for some time as a journeyman tailor, and then west as far as Pittsburgh, where he again worked at his trade; but, the cholera breaking out in that city in 1848 or 1849, he moved up the Monongahela river, with the intention of locating in Morgantown, but, stopping off at McKeesport (then a very small town), he decided to locate there. Having by this time accumulated a little money, he decided to go in business for himself, and opened the first merchant-tailoring establishment in the town. By dint of unceasing perseverance and constant attention to business, he prospered beyond his fondest hopes, and in 1852, when he had become sufficiently established in business, he returned to Philadelphia, and there was married, in St. Paul’s R. C. Church, to Miss Annie Dunlevey.

Returning to McKeesport with his young wife, in a few years his business prospered sufficiently to enable him to buy the lot at the corner of Third and Market streets, upon which he erected a large and commodious brick building, being storeroom and dwelling combined. There he carried on successfully the merchant-tailoring business up almost to the time of his death; though some few years before he died he purchased and moved his family into a more elegant residence farther up-town. From the many natural advantages of location and mineral resources possessed by the dull and sleepy town he found it, he foresaw the busy, thriving city of today, and, as his constantly increasing means permitted, he invested largely in real estate. His foresight in this respect was remarkable, and, as the town grew in size and importance, his purchases were always found to be the most desirable, and met with easy sale at largely advanced prices. The returns from these sales were invariably invested either in improving property already acquired or in making larger purchases of real estate, so that at the time of his death he was the largest individual real-estate owner in McKeesport. His prosperity was closely interwoven with the commercial history of the city, and he held many positions of honor and trust in the business world, being at one time president of the People’s Bank of McKeesport, and at the time of his death was a director of the First National Bank of McKeesport. The work with which his name will probably be the longest associated was the building of the large and handsome opera-house, costing in the neighborhood of $75,000, and which he scarcely lived to see completed. Mr. White was fond of travel, and when time permitted he traveled considerably through his adopted country, as well as making several trips to his native land to visit his relatives, none of whom had ever emigrated. The last time he revisited his native country was in 1873, when he also made quite an extensive tour of the continent, attending the great exposition at Vienna. He became ill during the spring of 1883, from over exertion and a cold contracted while superintending the erection of the opera-house, and, while no serious result was at first apprehended, his ailment gradually developed into enlargement of the liver, and in spite of the best medical attention he breathed his last about midnight, Aug. 19, 1883.

Mrs. James P. White, his widow, is the daughter of James and Annie (Green) Dunlevey, both natives of the County Cavan, Ireland, and was born April 11, 1826, in the city of New York. The marriage was a most happy one, and was blessed with six children: Thomas L., Ella, Annie, Katie, James E. and Millie, of whom Thomas L. and James E. survive their father. Thomas L. White was born Oct. 27, 1853, graduated with the degree of A. B. at Villanova College, near Philadelphia, in 1871, and after reading medicine with the late Dr. John Dickson, of Pittsburgh, graduated from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in March, 1875. He commenced the practice of his chosen profession in Pittsburgh, where he remained about a year. Since then he has practiced in McKeesport with the exception of a year passed in the hospitals of Vienna and London. The other son, James E. White, was born March 18, 1863, passed through a commercial course of studies at Villanova College, was latterly a student at the Pittsburgh College of Pharmacy, and is now engaged in the retail drug business in McKeesport.

James P. White was of a singularly happy disposition, and it was said of him that he had the heartiest laugh of anyone in the city. He was a great favorite with the children, and loved nothing better than a romp with the little ones. He was an upright, honorable man, and enjoyed the utmost confidence of the business world, so that it could be truly said of him that his “word was as good as his bond.” He was a strict and consistent member of the Roman Catholic Church, and the congregation of McKeesport is indebted to him for his good counsel and financial aid during his lifetime, and several munificent bequests in his will showed how well he loved the church of his choice.