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  HomePort S.S. Neptune which was first Captained by Hon. Edward White
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The surname White is listed as the most common name in Newfoundland, according to Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland by Lynch and Seary. Our White family connections in Newfoundland were first recorded in the Bonavista Bay area, with a marriage in 1786 between Edward White and Elizabeth Greenan. This family had four children - William, Thomas, Edward, and Mary. It would be a member of this family William White (1790-1862) who was immortalized in song. Tickle Cove Pond was written by Mark Walker, a Tickle Cove boatbuilder and songwriter.

You can always rely on the Oldfords and Whites,
To render assistance in all your bad plights.
To help a poor neighbour is part of their lives.
The same I can say for their children and wives. . .

. . . William White for a shanty song made a request.
There was no time for thinking, no time for delay.
Straight from his head came this song right away.

CHORUS :

Lay hold William Oldford, lay Hold William White,
Lay hold of the cordage and pull all your might,
Lay hold of the bowline and pull all you can,
And give me a lift with poor Kit on the pond.
William White and his wife Mary moved from Catalina around 1810, to Tickle Cove, Bonavista Bay. The family is recorded as having six children.
The Journal of Walter Edward White a great grandson of William and Mary, (of Tickle Cove) covers a three year period from 1903 to 1906. It was started by Walter at the age of 23, and tells of his life in the capital of Newfoundland.  Born the grandson of prominent politician and master mariner, the Hon. Edward White and his wife Anne Weir, young Walter enjoys a shared family interest in experimental agriculture at a family summer retreat in Brookfield near St. John's (now part of Bowring Park). He lived with his parents in a Victorian double house, The New House, on the South Side of St. John's harbour next door to his cousins,  and had begun work among the Water Street merchants, in the Hardware Department at Bowring Bros. & Co.  During these years he showed his lifelong involvement with Methodism and  direct Christian service to others, and courts his future wife, Edith Knight.
Eventually he established his own wholesale firm on Water Street, and continued his leadership role in George Street Church. With Edith he raised six children and enjoyed gardening, fishing and hunting all interests that are shown in the formative years within his journal. Living in a politically active family, he documented, political events in Newfoundland amid his daily activities and interests.  Learn more about Walter, or read his Journals.

"Taken about 1898. Standing left to right - Daisy, Walter, May.
Bottom - Mother [Emma Jane (Bemister) White], Alice, Minnie,
Father [Capt. Edward White Jr.]" - identified by Walter E. White (1879-1969) St. John's NFLD


Ships associated with Hon. Edward White, tells of the Newfoundland ship owner and captain who sailed brigs, schooners and brigantines built in the Atlantic Provinces, from Brazil to Labrador.  He later served as captain of three large wooden steamers constructed in Scotland for Job Brothers & Co.  After he retired from the sea at 71, several of his ships continued to have illustrious careers not only in Newfoundland but also in establishing Canadian arctic sovereignty and in international Antarctic exploration carrying Sir. Ernest Shackleton on his voyage of 1907-1909. Edward was the son of William & Mary of Tickle Cove.


Dr. George M. Story, a Rhodes Scholar who taught for 40 years at Memorial University of Newfoundland was a descendant of Hon. Edward White.  His article, Building a St. John's Victorian House describes the process by which Hon. Edward White built The New House, a house long associated with Story who grew up in one side of the two family house and upon his return to Newfoundland from Oxford purchased the other side (which had briefly been sold outside the family) making his home there and raising a family, next door to his sister Janet Story. The restoration brought full occupancy of the building to the fifth generation of the same family. George M. Story was one of the three authors of the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. A biography of Hon. Edward White, by Dr. George Story, is part of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
The Canadian Virtual War Memorial contains family pictures of Ronald E.J. White who served and died in WW II.
Also there are pictures from White family gatherings.
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