Thomas White

Thomas White was born in 1839 in Ireland, the son of Maurice (b. 1804).

Thomas immigrated to America with his family, possibly passing through Canada along the way, and eventually settled in western Michigan. By 1860 Thomas was working as a laborer and living with two older brothers and a younger sister in Croton, Newaygo County. (Nearby lived his father and two other brothers on one side, and on the other side lived the Carpenter brothers, Benjamin, John and Henry, all three of whom would enlist in Company K.)

Thomas was 22 years old and possibly in Muskegon, Muskegon County when he enlisted in Company H on May 6, 1861. (Company H, formerly the “Muskegon Rangers,” was made up largely of men from the vicinity of Muskegon and Newaygo counties.) He was promoted to Corporal on November 1, 1862, and reported missing in action on May 2, 1863, at Chancellorsville, Virginia. Thomas was returned to the Regiment on November 4, 1863, at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia, and was mustered out on June 20, 1864, at Detroit.

After his discharge from the army Thomas returned to Muskegon County, and was living in Muskegon when he married Rose or Rosey Connelly (b. 1845) on October 17, 1864, in Muskegon, and they had six children: Frank (b. 1865), John (b. 1869), William (b. 1871), James (b. 1873), Edward (b. 1875) and Mary (b. 1878).

By 1880 Thomas was working on the river and living with his wife and children on Muskegon Avenue in Muskegon’s First Ward. For a while he lived in Dalton, Muskegon County, working as a laborer, and was living in Muskegon in December of 1887 when he became a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association.

In 1880 Thomas applied for and received a pension (no. 422633).

He died in Muskegon or Newaygo County in 1889, or possibly in Alpena, Alpena County, on February 27, 1901, and may have been buried in Evergreen cemetery, Alpena: block 14, lot no. 35. (In 1890 there was one Thomas White listed as living in Alpena, next door to one Lewis White. Unfortunately no unit was identified.)

His widow applied for and received a pension (no., 649502).