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Reuben White
Born 1765? SC
Died by 1835 Catahoula Parish LA

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Father
SPOUSE CHILDREN
Elizabeth ?Stone

m. 1791?
?Natchez District
b. 1770?
Fluvanna Co. VA
d. by 1850?
Houston TX
Nancy Matilda

b. 1791?
?Natchez District
d. Feb 24, 1856
Hemphill, Sabine Co. TX
William A.

b. 1797?
Rapides Parish
d. 1862?
Martin Davenport

b. Aug 17, 1795
Rapides Parish
d. Mar 11, 1851
Trinity Co. TX
James Taylor

b. 1798?
Rapides Parish
d. 1843?
?TX
daughter

b. 1800?
Rapides Parish
d. after 1810
son

b. 1800-02
Rapides Parish
d. 1849?
son

b. 1809
Rapides Parish LA
d. 1864?
Benjamin L.

b. 1814
LA
d. 1864?
Trinity Co. TX
Grandfather James Taylor White was most likely named for James Taylor (1635-1698), a wealthy and powerful leader of King & Queen County VA, who owned land next to Thomas White. On Oct 20, 1689 Taylor was involved in a land patent of 209 acres in St. Stephen's Parish, "on the North side of Mattapony River, beginning below James Taylor's plantation, ... to Thomas White's."
Dedication of Memorial Tablet to James Taylor, June 6, 1933 at the King and Queen County courthouse.
King and Queen County Virginia was formed in 1691 from New Kent County. Map of Virginia about 1676 shows the location of New Kent County between the York and James Rivers.
There are court records that survived from King & Queen County Virginia that show that the Poe and White families lived in the part that became Caroline County in 1758. In 1732 and 1733, a John Pickett was involved in trespass suits with James and Benjamin Poe, probably Elizabeth's sister and the son of Samuel Poe. Caroline County Virginia was formed in 1727 (see present day map for location), from northern and western parts of King and Queen, King William and Essex counties, about the same time James and Elizabeth Poe were married.
Father James and his brother William each married daughters of Thomas Davenport (1711-1809), and uncle John White's wife Sarah Gambill was the daughter of Mary Davenport. William married Sophia Davenport about 1752, and James married Jerushka Davenport by 1765.
There is a record of uncle Reuben White being in Globe NC in 1772. He entered Captain McDowell's SC Militia in 1776 and was killed at Pleasant Gardens in Rowan Co. NC in October of that year. He left his land in SC to sister-in-law Sophia, wife of his brother William, in a deed of gift dated Dec 13, 1773 that was filed in SC in 1777.
North Carolina Counties at beginning of 1775 and at beginning of 1780 showing creation of Burke Co. in 1777.
Reuben and his mother, Mrs. [James] White, said John White, during the "latter part of 1781", were living in Washington Co. NC (now middle TN). This deposition, regarding a document entered in Burke Co. NC between Catherine White Dewitt and husband William Dewitt, was made in Jan 31, 1785 and noted that father James White was deceased [Natchez Court Records, Book E, p. 38].
When Reuben was about 16, parents James and Jerusha White left Washington Co. NC (now TN) by May 1782 for Ohio on a flatboat up the Cumberland and Tennessee (Cherokee) Rivers. When they reached the mouth of the Ohio River, they could not go up it and went instead down to Spanish-held Natchez on the Mississippi River in a party of 11 individuals and 1 slave under the entry "Tiago White, wife and children" according to Spanish Records, arriving by May 17. A total of 13 families were recorded by Spanish authorities as arriving including families of uncle John White, and of William Dewitt and his wife Catherine White, the daughter of uncle William White.
On Jun 9 1786, Reuben owned land 10 miles from the Fort of Natchez. On that date, the neighbor John Ferguson living on the adjoining 200 acres, mortgaged his land, because he was indebted to John Vauchere, John Stillee's partner in a country store. [McBee, Natchez Court Records, p. 34].
In the mid-1790's, Reuben White and his family, along with his brother James, and John and James Holloway, sons of their aunt Elizabeth White Holloway, moved into the Louisiana Territory and settled in Northeastern Rapides Parish, which became known as Holloway Prairie, where they obtained Spanish land grants and engaged in the cattle business. The brothers signed a petition as "American Inhabitants of Rapides Post" to leave Rapides Post to "over the Catahoulah Lake" dated Aug 10, 1794. By Jul 19, 1795, they were listed as "Americans who have persisted in establishing themselves over the Catahula" [Geneal. Reg., Sep 1961]. Many of the Anglo families of the Deville area came there from Natchez.
Reuben moved to Rapides Parish LA and showed up in land claims there. He moved to Catahoula Parish by the 1820 census. James Taylor White, his brother born about 1770, married Mary Paul and also showed up in early Rapides Parish land claims.
Reuben was listed in the 1810 Rapides Parish Census as "Reubon" along with James White, his brother, and was the head of a household of 8 family members:
2 males under age 10,
3 males aged 10 to 16 (William, Martin, James),
1 male aged 26 to 45(Reuben),
1 female under age 10,
1 female aged 26-45 (wife Elizabeth),
and 2 others and 4 slaves.
Daughter Nancy married Matthew Martin Earl (1783-1850) by 1810, and moved to Sabine Co. TX after 1820, when their family of seven white persons and 5 slaves were counted in the Catahoula Parish LA census.
Son Martin married Sarah Dollarhide and had a daughter named Syrena by 1814. He and brother Benjamin are in the Houston Co. TX census in 1850. Trinity Co. TX is just southeast of Houston and was formed in 1850.
Catahoula Parish was formed in 1808 and originally bordered Rapides Parish. (see present day map for location). In 1910 a western part of the parish became La Salle Parish.
Reuben was listed on line 21 of page 15 in the 1820 Catahoula Parish Census next to sons James T. and Martin D., and was the head of a household of 5 family members:
1 males under age 10 (Benjamin),
1 males under age 10 to 16 (son b. 1809),
1 males aged 18 to 26 (William),
1 male aged 45 or over (Reuben),
1 female aged 45 or over (wife Elizabeth),
and 4 slaves.
.
Son James T. married Nancy and adopted Amanda Snody as their "lawful heir' by an 1841 Act of the Texas Congress [TX Republic, 6th Congress, Dec 20, 1841, archive.org, p. 11]. She was born about 1830 and became their heir, indicating they had no surviving children of their own.
SOURCES:
Clark, Walter, State Records of North Carolina Vol XVII 1781-1785, Broadfoot Publishing, Wilmington NC, 1994, pp. 287-8, 294.
Genealogical Register, vol. VIII, no. 3, Sep 1961, p. 36.
John Stillee Bible, recording birth of Eliz.
Genealogy Trails, 1790 Census, Burke Co. NC, website, transcribed by Linda Natale, 2020.
Houton, Erica, "John White, Sarah White", Geni, website, trans. from Spanish, St. Martin of Tours Church, St, Martinville LA, record no. 263, image uploaded Jan 19, 2019.
Imbert, J. Leopold, map maker, Carte des Possessions Angloises... 1777, reprinted by the Museum of the American Revolution from map image at the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public Library.
McBee, Mary Wilson, Natchez Court Records 1767-1805, Abstract of Early Records, Greenwood MS, 1953, pp. 34, 163, 360, 377.
Poe, Allan, "The Records, From Virginia to Old Burke Co. N.C.", publ. in Wm Wiseman & the Davenports, Pioneers Of Old Burke County, North Carolina, v.2, by M.L.Vineyard & E.M.Wiseman, Franklin NC, 1997, pp. 107-109.
Pre-Revolutionary Plat Books, SC Archives Dept., vol. 21, pp 424-433.
U. S. Census, Rapides Parish LA, 1830, S-K Publ., 2003, p. 91-92.
U. S. Census, Catahoula Parish LA, 1820, S-K Publ., 2003, p. 15-22.
White, Gifford, "James White and John White", Wm Wiseman & the Davenports, Pioneers Of Old Burke County, North Carolina, v.2, by M.L.Vineyard & E.M.Wiseman, Franklin NC, 1997, pp. 86-96, 107-112.
White, Gifford, James Taylor White of Virginia and some of his descendants into Texas, Austin, TX, April 1982.