GEORGE EDWIN WHITE.
George Edwin White, leading physician, of Effingham, Kan., was born at Savanna, Andrew county, Missouri, April 18, 1867, a son of Willis and Rachel (Hall) White, natives of Indiana. Willis was the son of Drury White, who was born and reared in Virginia, and was a pioneer settler in Grant county, Indiana, where he hewed a farm and home from the virgin timber at a time when it required men of hardihood and the greatest endurance to withstand the rigors of a life in the unbroken wilderness of the Hoosier State. Willis White was born August 12, 1840, and when he attained young manhood, hearkened to the call of President Lincoln for troops to quell the rebellion of the Southern States, and enlisted at the first call for “thirty thousand.” He served for ninety days in the Tenth regiment, Indiana infantry. He migrated to Missouri in 1866 and plied his trade of blacksmith in the town of Savanna until 1880, when he moved to Greenleaf, Kan., and conducted a blacksmith shop, in addition to cultivating his farm, which he purchased near Greenleaf. In the fall of 1907 he moved to Effingham, Kan., and is living a retired life. Mrs. White died in 1885, at the age of forty-three years. Twelve children were born to Willis White and wife, four of whom are deceased: John, Henry, and Mary, deceased; Frank, for several years a practicing physician of note in Effingham, and who died in October, 1912, as a result of an accident; Charles, of Kansas City; Dr. George Edwin, with whom this narrative is directly concerned; Albert H., a farmer, in Dickinson county; Mrs. Dora Hill, of Kansas City; William, living in California; Mrs. Laura Shields, of California; Elmer, a farmer, of Jackson county; Leroy, a farmer, of Effingham. Willis White was twice married, his second wife being Elizabeth Heavenridge, of Indiana, who bore him six children: Julia, employed in the Soldier’s Home at Leavenworth, Kan.; Herman, a farmer in western Kansas; Earl, of Effingham; Edith, at home; Ralph, also at home, and a child who died in infancy.
George Edward White received his elementary education in the public schools, studied three years in the Kansas Medical College at Topeka, and graduated from the Medical University at Kansas City in 1905. For a period of five and one-half years he practiced medicine in Dickinson county, Kansas; practiced for two years in Brown county, Kansas, and located in Effingham in the fall of 1912.
Dr. White was married in 1895 to Sadie A. Phillippi, who died in 1911, leaving five children, namely: Willis, George, Lester, Birdie, and Harold, all of whom are at home and attending the public and high schools. One child, Ralph, died in infancy. Dr. White again married in 1912, to Ada M. Elliot, a capable and talented woman, who is a good and kind mother to the doctor’s children.
Dr. White has achieved a reputation as a well read and capable practitioner, and his practice in Effingham and the surrounding country is constantly growing. He keeps abreast of the times and the latest discoveries in the science of healing, and is associated with various important medical societies, among them being the county, State, and National societies, the Golden Belt, and the Northeast Kansas Medical association, the Aesculapian Society, and the University Medical College of Kansas City Alumni. He is a member of the Church of the Brethren, and is fraternally connected with the Knights of Pythias, the Knights and Ladies of Security, and the Mystic Workers. He is a Republican, but has very little time for political affairs. Dr. White is a genial, whole-souled gentleman, who loves his profession and his fellowmen.