Alva Asbury White was born October 16, 1866, in Iowa, and died April 29, 1947, in Mountain Home, Idaho. He was the second of seven children of Margaret Ann Mahon and Samuel French White.
He was the second of seven children of Margaret Ann Mahon and Samuel French White.
He married Almeda Amanda Ambrosier on March 28, 1892, in Norton, Kansas. They had three children:
•French George White, born December 31, 1892, in Lenora, Kansas, died 1928, in Shelly, Idaho;
•Le Roy Dale White, born August 10, 1894, in Lenora, Kansas, died 1944 in Portland, Oregon;
•Alpha Mabel White, born June 7, 1897 in Lenora, Kansas, died July 14, 1981, in Nampa, Idaho.
From William Alva Schwartz, his grandson:
When he was born he was named Michael Earlocker White, but he didn't like the name and when he became of age he had it legally changed to Alva Asbury White.
As a young man he once went on a cattle drive from somewhere near Junction City, Kansas, to Wyoming.
He was a partner in a farm machinery business in Lenora, Kansas, but he sold his share and moved to Payette, Idaho, where his father and two brothers were homesteading. He was a real estate salesman there for one year and then went to Minidoka, Idaho, as agent for the Union Pacific Railroad. He then transferred to Mountain Home, Idaho, where he lived the rest of his life.
After working for the railroad he became postmaster in Mountain Home for thirteen years.He farmed at least part time most of his life. He was clearing some more ground to farm when he had a fatal heart attack
First row, left to right, Alva White's daughter Alpha White and her mother Almeda Ambrosier White; second row, son French George White, Alva Asbury White, and son Le Roy Dale White.
Alva Asbury White and Almeda Ambrosier White.
Four generations: from left, Alva White holding great-grandson Earl; Alpha White Schwartz, William Schwartz.
Oregon Short Line Railroad system in southwestern Idaho in 1922 showing towns where Alva White lived and worked. From east to west along the main line, they are Minidoka (incidentally, where a Japanese internment camp was set up during World War II), Mountain Home, and Payette (where I went to school in the seventh and eighth grades).
Detail from 1895 map of Kansas showing Norton, where Alva Asbury White and Almeda Amanda Ambrosier were married in 1992 and, to the south, Lenora, where he was a partner in a farm equipment business, and where his daughter Alpha Mabel White was born in 1897.
Location of Norton County in northwestern Kansas.