Capt. Daniel White's Grandfather Clock
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Surname/tag: White
Capt. Daniel White's Grandfather Clock
As a young boy, I loved visiting my grandfather Erskine Norman White's old farmhouse in Center Sandwich, New Hampshire. In the main hallway of the house stood an old grandfather clock, studded with nameplates, the oldest of which read: "Capt. Daniel White - 1732." I had always assumed that Capt. Daniel White was a ship captain. However, more recent ancestry research has proven that he was instead a soldier in the American Revolutionary War.
The nameplates on the clock are, in fact, a history of our family. As the clock was passed down from father to eldest son in each generation, a new nameplate was added. The clock is still in the possession of a White family member. The nameplates currently (in 2020) are seven in number. The dates generally reflect the year the clock was inherited, that being the death date of the father. Some plates are difficult to make out, but appear to read in order:
| Nameplate |
|---|
| Capt. Daniel White 1772. |
| Daniel White, Esq 1816 |
| Norman White 1847. |
| Erskine Norman White 1870. |
| Stanley White, D.D. 1911 |
| Erskine Norman White 1930 |
| Erskine Norman White 1980 |
The clock is mentioned in Rev. Erskine Norman White's genealogy book, Norman White - His Ancestors And His Descendants. A grandson of Martin Kellogg, then a resident of California, wrote an article for Overland Monthly magazine entitled "My Grandfather's Farm," in which he described the boyhood home of Norman White. The article which is reproduced in full in White's book, includes this reference to what must be our clock:[1]
"The dining room had two fire places, and a stately, solemn clock, full of mysteries."[2]
Sources
See also:
- White, Erskine Norman. Norman White - His Ancestors And His Descendants. Printed For Private Distribution. New York, 1905.
- Chip White. Recollections.
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