WHITE Family*
in South Carolina
Back to Keefe lineage
My genealogical study about the White surname has not been that comprehensive, but the family is of interest to me since one of my great grandmothers was Irene M. White.
The first of this surname in Americas were a William and Susanna White, passengers
aboard the Mayflower and indeed in 1620 while the Mayflower was in Provincetown Harbor
and the Pilgrims were looking for a place to settle, Susana White gave birth to a
son who was named Peregrine (the name means "one who journeys to foreign lands").
As much as some might prefer their South Carolina White family to be from the Mayflower,
I don't believe this is so.
There are good records to support the arrival of the Progenitor for the Whites of
Chester/Fairfield counties of SC which I will mention here only in passing since
I don't believe they are related to the Whites that settled along the Pee Dee.
In 1767, there arrived at Charleston, South Carolina from Ireland(?) a ship called "Earl of Donegal" On board this ship were two hundred and sixty-five souls including the family of John White age 47, his wife Ann Garner White age 40, and children: William, Margaret, Helen, Isabel, Jannet, and Victoria.
The Whites were prominent settlers in Virginia as soon as the early
18th century. A John White in Virginia (from Leonardo Andreas files) is said to be
the progenitor for a line that migrated to North Carolina and some descendants may
have moved to the Marion District.
From another researcher, I was informed that a William White, born in England, moved
from Virginia to the Pee Dee area of South Carolina in the first decade of the 1700s.
He died about 1716 in Craven County, SC. His sons included: John, Joseph, Anthony
and a William. One son, John, appears to have moved further south into Berkley county
and had a large family there. Joseph and William apparently stayed along the Pee
Dee and became the progenitors for the many White family members in the area. A Joseph,
Reuben and William White all had land grants along the Pee Dee river in the 1770s,
and these three were probably grandsons or even great grandsons to the aforementioned
William White who came from Virginia.
An unconfirmed source I found states that some of the Whites and McWhites of northeastern
South Carolina are from the same progenitors: a Thomas and Mary Musselwhite of Robeson
County area of North Carolina, however, this researcher has not yet found any definite
connections between Whites and the McWhites who lived along the Pee Dee river.
Individuals of this surname in the Marion District, SC for which I have a particular
interest include:
Joseph White (c1747-c1817) appears to have been an adjacent landowner to William Keeffe in 1780s. He married Judith Gainey whose father may have been Nathan Gainey. Joseph White and Judith Gainey's children included:
Matthew White
Stephen White
Benjamin White
Elizabeth White
Silas White who was married three or four times: 1) Elizabeth Avant, 2?) Eleanor Avant (this wife questionable), 3) Eliza Rowell, 4) Jane Ann? Sweet (a widow of two previous marriages).
A Darling White (1768-1832) may have been either a brother or another son of Joseph White (above). Darling married an Elizabeth (1778-1860) and had these children:Catherine White
Mary White
Jane White who marrued Elias Wiggins
Wesley White, who had children: Ann, Elizabeth, Martha,William, Greewood, and James.
Daniel White married an Elizabeth (Unknown Maiden). They had several children including:Richard White (c1788-1845) who married Ruth (Unknown Maiden) and had these children: Caleb F, James, Ann, Sarah, and Rebecca S.White who married Daniel J. Keeffe.
I am especially interested in a Sylvester White (c1828-?) who married an Elizabeth
Cain (c1834-?), had children including my great great grandmother, Irene M.White,
who became the second wife of James Willis Haynes (see Haynes family section).
I believe Sylvester White was a descendant of one of the Whites
listed above, but I do not know who his parents were. Do you?
Note: If you would like to exchange or share information on the Keefe family or a
related SC surname, please use my email on the Main Page.