Researching David White

David Patillo White was born in October, 1828, in South Carolina, and moved with his family to Harris County, Georgia in 1842. In 1844, B. F. White and Elisha J. King published The Sacred Harp, using the four-shape shape note system of notation.

David Patillo White married Celeste V. Brown, the daughter of Reuben E. and Elizabeth Brown, in Barbour County, Alabama on December 16, 1852. They had ten children, including John T., Omer, Alice, Ella, James, Lena, Lula, Thomas L. and Minnie). The family lived in Henry County, Alabama (1860 Census), before moving to Polk County, Texas (1870 Census), and later to Cherokee County, Texas (1880 Census).

David Patillo White was a music teacher, teaching singing schools in The Sacred Harp. He is so listed in the 1850 Harris County, Georgia census, but afterwards lists his primary occupation as farmer. He composed five songs that appeared in the 1850 edition of the Sacred Harp, including Columbiana and Norwich. Song to the Lamb was added in 1869. The fourth edition of The Sacred Harp was prepared in 1869 by B. F. White and a committee selected by the Southern Musical Convention. It bears an 1869 introduction and an 1870 copyright by B. F. White and D. P. White, clarifying ownership by the White family rather than the Convention.

D. P.'s primary occupation was that of a farmer, but he was active in both music and public service in Texas, serving as President of the Central Texas Musical Convention, music teacher, notary public, and justice of the peace. D. P. White died October 23, 1903, and is buried in an unknown location, probably in Cherokee County. His wife Celeste died in 1904. David and Celeste White were members of Mt. Selman Baptist Church (org. 1890) in Cherokee County at their times of death.

He graduated from Cornell University in 1886, and in 1889 became a member of the United States Geological Survey. Eventually, he rose to be chief geologist.

In 1903 he became an associate curator of paleobotany at the Smithsonian Institution. He wrote numerous papers on geological and paleontological subjects.

The David White House, his home for 15 years, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

He made one of the most comprehensive studies on the Glossopteris Flora, the main component of the fossil deposits of mineral coal in Brazil.

David White won the Thompson Medal in 1931 and the Walcott Medal in 1934. He was president of the Geological Society of America in 1923. He "himself considered that his structure-carbon ratio for the occurrence of oil and gas was his greatest scientific achievement."

He was born in Melbourne to Cecil Ambrose White, a clerk and draper, and Phyllis Eileen. He attended state schools and received a Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration from Melbourne University. He joined the Labor Party in 1961, and was secretary of its North Melbourne branch in 1964. From 1966 to 1969 he was an audit clerk with Price Waterhouse & Company, and from 1971 to 1976 a research officer to the Victorian opposition leader. He was also a Melbourne City Councillor from 1974 to 1977.

In 1976 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council as a member for Doutta Galla. He was appointed Minister of Water Supply, Mines and Minerals and Energy in 1982, moving to Health in 1985 and Industry, Technology and Resources in 1989. From 1983 he was the party's deputy leader in the upper house, becoming leader from 1990 to 1993. He was Shadow Minister for Finance and Major Projects from 1992 to 1993 and Shadow Minister for Energy and Minerals from 1993 to 1996. In 1996 he resigned from the Council to run for the Legislative Assembly seat of Tullamarine, but he was defeated. From 1996 to 1999 he was electorate officer for Senator Stephen Conroy, and from 2000 he was a director of Hawker Britton and chairman of Yarra Trams.