Reuben White (c. 1779January 6, 1858) was a farmer, businessman and political figure in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

. He was likely born in

Schoharie County, New York Schoharie County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 29,714, making it the state's fifth-least populous county. The county seat is Schoharie. "Schoharie" comes from a Mohawk word meaning "f ...

, in 1779, the son of William White and Hannah Tompkins. The family moved to Upper Canada and settled in Sidney Township, Hastings County, Ontario about 1800. His father and some siblings became Quakers in

but it is clear that Reuben did not. He was not a

United Empire Loyalist United Empire Loyalists (or simply Loyalists) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the Governor of Quebec, and Governor General of The Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North America duri ...

though he married Esther Marsh who was a daughter of Loyalist, Matthias Marsh. Early on he was a farmer along the shore of the

Bay of Quinte The Bay of Quinte () is a long, narrow bay shaped like the letter "Z" on the northern shore of Lake Ontario in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is just west of the head of the Saint Lawrence River that drains the Great Lakes into the Gulf of ...

. In 1820, White was elected to the 8th

Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada The Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada was the elected part of the legislature for the province of Upper Canada, functioning as the lower house in the Parliament of Upper Canada. Its legislative power was subject to veto by the appointed Lis ...

session for

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

. He was reelected in the 9th and 11th Legislative Assemblies. In 1833 he was one of the Commissioners who received tenders for the construction of a long

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

spanning the mouth of the Trent River at

Trenton, Ontario Trenton (2001 population 16,770) is a large unincorporated community in Central Ontario in the municipality of Quinte West, Ontario, Canada. Located on the Bay of Quinte, it is the starting point for the Trent-Severn Waterway, which continues no ...

, called Port Trent at the time. He was a tavern owner as evidenced by the fact that he paid a tavern licence fee in 1837. In 1841 he sold of land from his farm for the construction of a large frame Methodist church known as “White’s Church” and capable of holding 500 people. An 1855 copy of a map indicates a saw mill on his land. His son-in-law, Henry W Yager followed him by being elected to the 12th

. Following the 1837 Rebellion he was arrested in December of that year on a charge of insurrection or treason but released in early January and the trial never occurred. He is buried in White’s Cemetery, near his farm, and has a tall column headstone demonstrating his prominence in the community.

References

*''Becoming Prominent: Leadership in Upper Canada, 1791-1841'', J.K. Johnson, McGill-Queen's Univ Press, (1989) *''The Rebels of Hastings'', Betsy Dewar Boyce, University of Toronto Press, (1992)

External links

“Reuben White of Sidney Tp, Hastings County”
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Reuben Members of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada 1770s births 1858 deaths Drinking establishment owners Year of birth uncertain