*Russell Neville White
born 5 June 1893 Rudolf, Wood County, Ohio
died
6 December 1982 Paxton, Illinois
buried St. Augustine, Florida
father:
*Adrian
Russell White
born 22 May 1870 Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York
or
16 May 1871 Allentown, Allegany County, New York according to death certificate
died
23 April 1954 Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas
buried Eldorado, Butler County,
Kansas
mother:
*Laura Jamison Lardin
born
15 February 1868 Trenton (correct spelling Trem, Schuykill County, Pennsylvania
died
17 February 1943 Eldorado, Kansas
married 25 December 1889
siblings:
Carl
Bertram White born 3 June 1895 died 24 May 1962
spouse:
*Ella
Florence Vore
born 3 August 1896 Dilmar,Wells County, Indiana
died
24 December 1970 Doctor's Inlet, Florida
buried St. Augustine, Florida
married
2 April 1914 (4 February 1914 in Russell's bible) Vincennes, Indiana
children:
son
White born 1914 died in infancy
Ella Katherine
White born 16 January 1916 Port Arthur, Texas
died December 1997 Chardon,
Ohio buried Chardon, Ohio
Laura Alberta White born November 15, 1918
Mary
Adrian White born September 9, 1920, d.
Ethel Irene White born September
8, 1924
Thelma White born 1926 died in infancy
*Melba
Louise White born 27 April 1928 Madison, Kansas
Russell Calvin White
born 12 January 1930 died 1995 Liberty, Kansas
son White died in infancy
son
White died in infancy
background:
Russell Neville White was
a driller of oil. He started out in Ohio,
made his way to Louisiana and Texas,
did his greatest amount of work in Kansas
and finally moved to Illinois where
he retired age 77.
He lost a leg at the knee in 1917 in a railroad crossing accident.
From
then on he could never work for the oil majors again
because he wasn't a whole
man.
He would go to a job and they would turn him away.
He would then demonstrate
to them what a man was.
He would pull himself all the way up the oil derrick using
only his arms.
Sometimes they'd hire him but often not.
His family lived in
tents sometimes in Kansas during the Depresson.
He found alucrative niche as a
tool-fisher.
Whenever the drilling tools were lost down the hole,
Russell White
would be sent for to fish them out with a grapple.
It was known that from sheer
stubborness he would persevere twenty hours
if necessary until he snagged the
tool head and the drilling could proceed.
He became well-paid overnight.
He
would receive sometime $600 in a month during the depths of the depression.
When
the war kicked in, he was fully employed as oil was vital to the war effort.