Samuel Gann of Winchester Va Family

From Sue Price Ikerd, R 1, B 574, Conway, MO 56532 (417)589-3981 11/29/96

The following is from an old newspaper clipping: Mrs. Eliza White. Perhaps the oldest person in north Texas is the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Eliza White was born in 1802 in the hill country of East Tenn., where she had meager opportunities for obtaining an education, but at that time there was little importance attached to an education. Her maiden name was Eliza Gann. Her father, Thomas Gann, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was of a sturdy Scotch family, of powerful physique and great longevity, consequently Mrs. White inherited an indomitable disposition. She was married to R. B. White and in 1842 they decided to move to a country where there was more game and greater outlet. To this end he struck westward and finding Southwest Missouri his ideal country he and his little family located there. In 1855 Mr. White died leaving his wife with eight children, most of them girls. With unconquerable courage she went on developing the plans she and her husband had laid. Her dream was disturbed by the Civil war, she was in the tract of vacillating armies who had no regard for her property or the fact that she was a widow. The region where she lived was a regular playground for Quantrell's guerilla band and the Jayhawkers from Kansas. One by one her children married and left the maternal home. Her youngest daughter, Mrs. A. H. Rose, had moved to Texas and insisted that her mother come and live with her. This Mrs. White declined to do until she became feeble with the weight of years when she finally came to spend her last days with her baby child who is grandmother of several children. Mrs. White is now closing her 102 year and, while she is almost helpless, she has fair control of her mind. One worthy characteristic of this aged woman is her piety and religious reverence. She is ready at all times to give God the praise for her long life, even it has been beset with many trials. Her children, in the language of Solomon, cann call her blessed. W.A.D.

Also from a newspaper clipping: Grandma White, who lived with her daughter, Mrs. A. H. Rose, south of town died at an early hour Tuesday morning. She was perhaps the oldest person in this part of the country, being 106. She came to Texas from Missouri in 1900 and picked cotton after she was 100 years old. She was always very healthy, never having had a doctor in her life, she just wore out. Burial took place in Savoy cemetery Tuesday evening.

Dorretta Moore suggests that the marriage date of 1842 may be a typo and should be 1832 since their first child was born in 1833. They were only married to each other with no other spouses.