THOMAS P. WHITE has one of the best ordered and one of the finest managed farms in Island Grove Township, where he is quite extensively engaged as a stock raiser and dealer. He was born February 8, 1830, in Vigo County, Ind., to Thomas M. and Nancy A. White, who were natives of North Carolina. His father went to Indiana in 1829 and made a good record as a pioneer farmer of the State, owning at this death some three hundred acres of fine land which were under good cultivation and substantial improvement. His last days were passed in peace and comfort in his adopted State, where his lie was brought to a close at a ripe age.
Thomas White was the fifth child in a family of six children and he was well trained by his parents in the duties of life. He remained an inmate of the parental household till he was thirty-seven years old, when he met a lady who changed the current of his life, Amanda Miles, to whom he was wedded in Terre Haute, ind., on the 19th of December 1867. Their marriage had been one of happiness and has been blessed to them by the birth of eight children, of whom five are now living.
Our subject took an important step in life when he left his old home in Indiana and took up his residence in this county in 1858. He then located in Island Grove township, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 15, which is still in his possession, and which is worth $70 per acre. Under his skillful management it has become highly productive and its improvements are of a high order. He devotes much of it to stock raising and deals extensively in cattle and hogs. He is a shrewd man of business, is endowed with practical judgment and with many fine traits of character which go to make him one of the most reliable and trustworthy citizens of the township. He is a stalwart among the Democrats. He is much interested in educational matters and for eleven years has done good work in that regard in this township, as School Director.