From Proud Heritage, Volume I by DCPA, currently out of print.
Mary Jane Crenshaw White brought her three young children from Sumter County, Alabama to Dallas County, Texas in 1871, settling near the Locust Grove community She was a Confederate Civil War widow, her husband, William Patton White, having died on 11 December 1863 of wounds received at the Battle of Missionary Ridge.
Mary Jane Crenshaw was born 17 June 1837 in Giles County, Tennessee, the daughter of James R. Crenshaw and Elizabeth Chambers. James was the son of Charles and Elizabeth Crenshaw, who lived in Stokes County, North Carolina, before coming to Giles County. James R. Crenshaw apparently died before 1850, as his wife, Elizabeth lived in Sumter County, Alabama, then, with only her two children Charles and Mary Jane. Elizabeth Chambers was a sister of Divine Chambers and Dr. William Chambers of Sumter County. They were all members of the Sumterville Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mary Jane Crenshaw married William Patton White on 15 December 1854 in Sumter County. Their children were James Andrew born 18 April 1856; Nannie Adline born 10 September 1858; and William Patton Jr. born 27 September 1861.
William Patton White was born 15 February 1830, the son of Andrew T. White (born 23 October 1802, South Carolina, died 15 September 1856, Greene County, Alabama, buried at Hebron Cemetery near Mantua), who married on 12 January 1827, in Greene County, Malinda Jane Patton (born 2 November 1804, Union County, South Carolina, died 29 July 1881, Smith County, Mississippi; buried at New Prospect Methodist Church Cemetery). Malinda’s parents were William Patton, Jr. and his wife Martha. The Patton family was Scotch-Irish, having arrived in Pennsylvania in the early 1700’s. They came to the Landsford area of Chester County, South Carolina, in the 1750’s, and then our branch went into the Fairforest community of Union County, South Carolina about 1790. William Patton, Jr.’s father, William Patton, Sr., was an elder in the Fairforest Presbyterian Church and died in Fairforest in May, 1796.
Around 1880, James Andrew White, called Jim, returned to Alabama and brought his grandmother Elizabeth Chambers Crenshaw and her sister Divine Chambers back to Dallas County to live with his family. They both lived to be nearly 90, dying in 1900 and 1904.
Jim White married Obitha Hampton Anderson, daughter of William Lair Anderson and Eliza Morris, on 8 June 1879. Within a period of less than two months, Jim_ lost his sister Nannie on 14 December 1882, his wife Obitha on 25 December 1882, his daughter Nannie Florence on 18 January 1883, and his son George Willie on 6 February 1883.
Nannie White had married George W. Denton on 23 May 1874, and they had two children: Annie Mary, born 1875, who married Sam Anderson; and Charles.
William Patton White, Jr., called Will, married Annie E. Crumpley on 21 January 1886. Their children were: Erna Lee, who died as an infant; Pearle born 1891, died 1969, married Sam Pitts; Earle born 1900, died 1967, married E. L. Ellis; and Edgar oorn 1887. Will died on 21 February 1934 and Annie on 25 September 1934.
Mary Jane Crenshaw White taught school from the time she arrived in Texas until her death of a heart attack on 14 June 1888, at the age of 50. On 12 February 1891, Jim married Sarah Elizabeth (Lizzie) Wilson, one of Mary Jane’s former students. Lizzie was the daughter of Orville H. Wilson and his wife Rachel Ann Sanders, also early settlers of Dallas County. Lizzie was born 10 July 1873 in the Locust Grove community.
Jim and Lizzie were the parents of nine children: Rufus Clarence, (1892-1967), married (1) Ina Belle Weeks, (2) May Coyle Howard; Walter Wilson, (1893-1963), married (1) Lucy Lee Hall, (2) Selena Luper Hawkins; Annie Mary, (1895-1985), married Andrew Griffin Byrum; James Fletcher, (1896-1974), married Leonora Lucille Anderson; Ruby Rachel, (1898-1984), married Hugh Henry Anderson; Charles Harrison, (1900-1977), married Inez B. Futrell; Ralph Douglass, (1902-1985), married Mary E. Dupree Freeman; Nora Elizabeth, born 1905, married Samuel Guy Barton; and Clara Lucille, born 1908, married Clifton Emerson Parish.
On 23 March 1909, Lizzie Wilson White died leaving Jim a widower with nine children ranging in age from 14 months to 16 years. He moved his family from his farm at Locust Grove to the town of Garland in 1919, where he died on 1 October 1925.
Most members of this family are buried at the Pleasant Ridge Cemetery.
By Mrs. Nat Harris (Sue Byrum), great-grand daughter, Dallas
