Daniel Appleton White

Daniel Appleton White (7 June 1776 – 30 March 1861) was an American statesman, lawyer, and Judge of Probate in Essex County, Massachusetts during the nineteenth century. He was elected as a member of the Massachusetts Senate and later elected to Congress but he resigned from the position to become the Judge of Probate for Essex County—a position he held for 38 years. As well as making a successful political and legal career in his own right, Daniel White is a descendant of William White, who settled in Massachusetts in 1635 and would who was a founding father of Newport, Massachusetts in 1640.

Birth

Daniel White was born on 7 June 1776 in Methuen, Massachusetts to John and Elizabeth (Haynes) White.

Education

He graduated with a law degree in Harvard University in 1797. In 1837, some 40 years after he first graduated from Harvard, the university awarded him the Honorary Doctorate of LLD in recognition of his achievements in the field.

Family

White married three times altogether. He married his first wife, Mary van Schalkwyck (the daughter of Dr Josiah Wilder), on 24 May 1807 and had two daughters with him. Some years after van Schalkwyck's death on 29 June 1811, White would marry Eliza Wetmore (the daughter of William Orne) on 1 August 1819 in Salem.

Like his White's first wife, Wetmore would die very soon after marrying him. White would be made a widower for the second time after Eliza's death on 27 March 1821. Before her death, though, White and Wetmore would have a son together named Henry. White's third and final wife was Ruth Rogers whom he married on 24 January 1824. White and Rogers would remain married until White's death in March 1861.

Massachusetts Senate

White was a member of the Massachusetts Senate from 1810 to 1815.

Congress

In November 1814, he was elected to Congress as the Federalist Party's nomination for the District of Essex North. Being offered the position as Judge of Probate for the County of Essex in 1815, he decided to resign from his position with Congress to take up the role despite protests from some of his friends.

Judge of Probate

As well as making strides in legal and political spheres, he was influential in the founding of the Essex Institute in Salem which, in turn, played a significant role in establishing the Essex Historical and Natural-Historical Societies. Appointed by Governor Strong in November 1815, White would go on to remain the County's Judge of Probate until 1 July 1853 after 38 years on the bench—longer than any of his predecessors. He ultimately played a significant role in the Probate Court, and legal society generally, throughout his career.

White was a founding member of the Essex County Lyceum, 'the pioneer in the system of public lectures and... [promised] to be potent among the educational and moral influences of the time.' Although not its founder, he was the president of the Essex Institute from its formation in 1848 until his death.

Having moved from Newburyport on 3 January 1817, Daniel would eventually die in Salem on 30 March 1861. He is probably buried in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem.