John was born about 1800-1801, and he probably passed away before 1850. He and his wife were born in Ohio according to their son Philip White in the 1880 Census and 1910 Census. Philip White's 1917 death record gives his father's name as John White.
John was a teenager during the time (1816) of the "year without a summer" due to the cold summer weather caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora volcano the previous year. "On June 25, 1816, The Franklin Repository in Pennsylvania reported that snow blanketed the area. Around the same time, The Evening Post in New York described freezing temperatures and nearly a foot of snow. Farm animals in Vermont succumbed to the freezing temperatures as long-time residents said they’d never seen anything like it!" "As fall approached, the Hartford Courant noted that 1816 would go down in history because there had been frost every month of the year. European papers complained that constant rains had ruined crops and created a famine."
He is presumably John White who appears in the 1830 Census of Fountain County, Indiana (where his son Philip was born in 1828). There is not only a male child under age 5 yrs., but also a female child 10-14 years old (which matches the age of Sarah Ann White).
John and his wife were apparently about 29 years old in the 1830 Census. The other males in the household in the 1830 Census are probably brothers of John White (or brothers of his wife?). The older female (age 50-59) would probably be John White's mother or mother-in-law.
From another source (https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/pitzer/326/): "There was nothing but a kind of track, I did not cross Mud Creek, kept this side until I got to Crabapple Grove. There were three families there, the old man Williamson and two sons, Phillip White lived with the old gentleman. I knew of them. John William's wife was a daughter of the old folks, (on second thought I think John William's wife was a sister of Fill White), I knew them. I camped there, tied my horses to the wagon and Fill White, a boy of about my age then, and still lives, slept in the wagon with me. I don't know whether he remembers it or not. I never spoke of it to him. He afterwards married Riller Williams, we have gone to school together."
The only known source which shows that his name was John is the death record of his son Philip White (which states that his father's name was John White): "Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N32Q-8JV : 27 December 2014), John White in entry for Philip White, 26 Mar 1917; Public Board of Health, Archives, Springfield; FHL microfilm 1,543,603.
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John is 26 degrees from Herbert Adair, 19 degrees from Richard Adams, 18 degrees from Mel Blanc, 26 degrees from Dick Bruna, 21 degrees from Bunny DeBarge, 35 degrees from Peter Dinklage, 20 degrees from Sam Edwards, 17 degrees from Ginnifer Goodwin, 22 degrees from Marty Krofft, 16 degrees from Junius Matthews, 17 degrees from Rachel Mellon and 20 degrees from Harold Warstler on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
If so, perhaps the John White who married in Fountain County in November 1832 to Catharine Shoemaker (as his second wife?): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JCJ5-6MW
edited by Kenneth Kinman