"Fletcher D. White.
"Conspicuous among the good citizens of Porter county, Indiana, stands Fletcher D. White.... Mr. White is an agriculturalist ...recently retired, his home... at present in Valparaiso..... The subject was born near Pagetown, Morrow county, Ohio, January 5, 1842, the son of William H. and Adaline (Morton) White...natives of the Buckeye state. ... his great-grandfathers, Stewart and White, both of Ireland, ...immigrated to America and became Revolutionary soldiers...both ...taken...prisoners on a British of man-of-war...released, settled in Virginia...and later moved to Ohio. James White, son ..., [was] a soldier in the War of 1812. ...His son, William, married and...in October, 1846, migrated to Indiana...with members of the White family,...The family of William White…consisted if eleven children, young Fletcher at that time being about five years of age.

"In that day the lowlands,...lying between Indiana and Ohio,...necessitated a detour through Michigan.... On a bright morning in the fall of 1846 the company started forth in prairie schooners and made the long journey through White Pigeon, Hillsdale, and other Michigan towns. Many things witnessed by the observing little five year old boy made an indelible impression.... seeing his first steam engine at Hillsdale...he was filled with awe and delight by the monster machine, puffing its volumes of black smoke.

"The company came on through South Bend and LaPorte and located five miles south of Valparaiso, where, hearing of a vacant, two room log house a mile of east of Valparaiso,...the entire company [four families] wintered there. The women prepared the meals on cranes hung in the fireplace, which was ten feet wide. The question of sleeping room was a difficult one....the five year old boy...was happily settled [in] a little box.... When spring arrived all the families rented land and established different households.... Their locality was known as the White Settlement.

"William White, Sr....passed away in 1861....and no small part of the responsibility of rearing the family fell upon...the eldest son, Fletcher.... On December 31, 1864, Fletcher White [married] Viola Marine...born in Porter county, December 17, 1846, the daughter of Asa and Mary (Crane) Marine. ...[They] began their married life on a rented farm near his mother's place, consisting of eighty acres, and he still was a great help to his mother.... The young couple...in 1868...were able to purchase one hundred and sixty acres....and ultimately over five hundred acres.... In time three children were born...William, Lula and Lilly, the latter of whom died at the age of ten months.

"In April, 1904, Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher White [retired and] removed from the beautiful country home to...a commodious residence at 604 East Main street..... Mr. White...is one of the directors and stockholders in the Valparaiso First National Bank and he was one of the builders of Altrurea Hall, one of the finest erections gracing College Hill,.... Mr. and Mrs. White are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church of this city.... He is a Republican.

"Mr, and Mrs. White have reared in their home a niece, Grace Hubbell,...a graduate of Valparaiso University in the scientific and normal departments. She has taught for three years in the Bundy school near this city and has recently been engaged to teach in the schools of Gary."
—History of Porter County, Indiana, Vol. II, (1912), p. 564-569.

Fletcher and his wife Viola, out for a Sunday drive, were killed at a rural railroad crossing. The article published in the Valparaiso Daily Vidette dated October 26, 1914, listed their survivors: "Will White, with his wife, [of Valparaiso}….The only other surviving child is Mrs. Lula Kirk of Chisholm, Minn. Miss Grace Hubbell, who has lived with Mr. and Mrs. White since her childhood."

Parents:
William H. White (1819-1861)
Adaline (Morton) White (1822-1894)