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A Chronological History
of the Life of
Benjamin Franklin White
compiled by
Donald Stephen Clarke
1784 South Deshon Road
Lithonia, GA 30058
BORN: September 20, 1800
DIED: December 5,
1879
FATHER: Robert White
MOTHER: Mildred Whitehead
MARRIED: Thurza Melvina Golightly December 30, 1825
BORN: October 13,
1805
DIED: September 2,
1878
(1)
September 20, 1800: Benjamin Franklin
White was born near Cross Keys in Union
County, South Carolina.
(2)
November 30, 1807: Ben's mother dies.
(3) c.1805
- 1815:
Ben had little formal education; only three sessions of school after the laying
by of the crops.
(4) c.1812
- 1814:
Ben served as a fifer in the War of 1812.
(5) 1824: Ben began teaching
music.
(6) Ben
was a member of the Missionary Baptist denomination, but attended services of
the various denominations in the areas in which he lived.
(7)
December 30, 1825: Ben married Thurza
Melvina Golightly the daughter of David Golightly and Nancy Ogburn.
(8) 1826: William Decatur
White born to Thurza and Ben.
(8')
October 1828:
David Patillo White born to Thurza and Ben.
(9) April
14, 1831: Robert H. and Mary
Caroline (Carrie) White were born to Thurza and Ben.
(10) 1835: Ben White's
brother-in-law, William Walker (by his marriage to Amey Golightly, Thurza's
sister), published the "Southern Harmony" fasola songbook. Ben White
helped William Walker with this book but wasn't given any credit in the book
for his work resulting in that the two men never again spoke to each other.
(11)
November 22, 1835: Nancy Ogburn White
was born to Thurza and Ben.
(12) May
1842:
Ben White and his family moved to Harris
County, Georgia, by covered wagon.
(13) 1843: Thurza Melvina
White was born to Thurza and Ben.
(14)
February 23, 1843: Ben takes a
mortgage on 95
acres of land in land lot 324
in the 21st
district of Harris county, Georgia, near Whitesville.
(15)
November 21, 1843: Ben's father dies.
[He was 100 years
old --CW]
(16) 1840's: Ben taught music
and the Hamilton Female Institute in Harris
County along with other
pursuits.
(17) 1843-1844: Ben edited a weekly newspaper
in Hamilton, Harris County
which had a music section in which fasola songs were printed. The songs became
so popular that in 1844
the songs from 13
issues of the newspaper were clipped out and pinned together to make the first
"Sacred Harp" songbook by Ben White and Elisha J. King.
(18) c.
April, 1844:
The "Sacred Harp" was sent to T. K. and P. G. Collins in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
to be printed in book form for Benjamin F. White and Elisha J. King.
(19)
August 31, 1844: Ben White's
co-author of the "Sacred Harp", Elisha J. King, died at age 23.
(20)
October 23, 1844: Columbus (Georgia)
Enquirer announces the publication of the "Sacred Harp".
(21)
January 1, 1845: Benjamin Franklin
White, Jr., was born to Thurza and Ben.
(22) 1845: The first
"Sacred Harp" singing conventionwas held at Long Cane in Troup County, Georgia. Benjamin Hill, later U. S. Senator from Georgia
and for whom Ben Hill County,
Georgia, was
named, gave a speech at this convention and stated that it was his opinion that
the "Sacred Harp" would be around for a long time.
(23) 1845: The Southern
Musical Convention, was formed at Huntersville in Upson County, Georgia, with Ben White as
President.
(24)
January 22, 1847: James Landrum
White was born to Thurza and Ben.
(25)
November 10, 1848: Martha America
White was born to Thurza and Ben.
(26) 1850: First revision of
the "Sacred Harp" by a committee of the Southern Musical Convention
consisting of B. F. White, Joel King, Leonard P. Breedlove, A. Ogletree, S. R.
Pennick, J. R. Turner, R. F. M. Mann and E. L. King.
(27)
January 1852:
The weekly newspaper, The Organ, was started in Hamilton, Georgia
by the authority of the Southern Musical Convention with B. F. White as
Superintendent.
(28) 1852: The Chattahoochee
Musical Convention was formed at Macedonia
Church in Coweta County, Georgia
in part to protest the Southern Musical Convention's use of fasola books other
than the "Sacred Harp". B. F. White was also a member of this
convention.
(29) 1855: The Alabama and the East Texas
musical conventions were formed.
(30)
March 22, 1856: Ben White joined
the Mountain Creek Baptist
Church. (Changed name to
Whitesville Baptist, now Midway Baptist).
(31) 1858: Ben White, Clerk
of the Inferior Court of Harris County.
(32) 1859: Second revision of
the "Sacred Harp" by a committee consisting of B. F. White, E. T.
Pound, J. P Reese, R. F. BAll, A. Ogletree, J. T. Edmonds and A. S. Webster.
(33) 1861-65: Too old to serve, B. F. White
helped raise several companies of soldiers from Harris County.
(The title Major B. F. White had come from militia service before the war.)
(34)
April 18, 1865: Union troops
attacked and burned the buildings on the south side of the town sqaure in Hamilton, Georgia.
(Ben White for a while lived in the old Dr. Gibbs house on the northeast corner
of the square.)
(35) 1865: Ben White was the
mayor of Hamilton, Georgia.
(36) 1869: Third revision of
the "Sacred Harp" by a committee consisting of B. F. White, E. T.
Pound, J. P. Reese, R. F. Ball, A. Ogletree, J. T. Edmonds, T. Waller and A. S.
Webster.
(37) c.1865-1870: Ben White moved to DeKalb County, Georgia, near what is now Bouldercrest
Road and Interstate 285 with Thurza and their younger children
and their daughter Nancy and her husband Theodore H. Byrd and their children.
(38) c. 1872: Ben and Thurza
were living near Covington Highway
(US 278) and Miller Road near
their daughter Martha who had recently married a widower, E. H. Clarke.
(39)
September 2, 1878: Thurza Melvina
Golightly White dies. SHe was buried in Oakland
Cemetery in Atlanta.
(40)
November 28, 1879: Ben White is
injured from a fall on Spring Street in Atlanta,
apparently near No. 6
Spring Street where his taughter Mary "Carrie" Adair, widow of
William Adair, lived.
(41)
December 5, 1879: Ben White dies
from the injuries he received in the fall on November 28, 1879. In his last days Ben reflected on his life and
summed it up in this statement: "The end has come and I am ready".
Near the end Ben sang his last "Sacred Harp" song "Sounding
Joy". Those who witnessed it said he sang the song "plainly and
distinctly". Ben was also buried at Oakland
Cemetery in Atlanta.
(42) 1979: Ben White's
descendants and the "Sacred Harp" singers erected a memorial
tombstone on his grave. The stone is topped with an opened book with the words
"Sacred Harp" incised upon it.
Sources
B. F. White tombstone 1, 41.
Isaac Murphy letters 1,
2, 15
"White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands" by Jackson 1, 3,
4, 6, 7, 10,
23, 27, 28, 29,
33, 35, 39, 40,
41, 42
1859 U. S. Census, Harris
County, Georgia 8, 9,
11, 13, 21, 24,
25
"The Sacred Harp" 5,
18, 40
Harris County history by Barfield 5, 16, 20,
27, 30, 31, 34,
35
Robert H. White tombstone and obituary 9
Nancy O. White (Byrd) tombstone 11
Nancy O. White (Byrd) Confederate Widows Pension 12
Mrs. T. H. Tennent letter (Nancy's
granddaughter) 12, 16
Harris County deeds 14
Robert White Sr. tombstone and obituary 15
J. L. White interview in July 11,
1920 Atlanta
Journal Magazine 16,
17, 22
"The Sacred Harp. A Tradition and its
Music" by Buell Cobb 19,
20, 26, 27, 28,
29 32, 36, 39
B. F. White, Jr., tombstone 21
J. L. White tombstone 24
Martha A. White (Clarke) tombstone 25
Pearl Clarke Fortune, Bible 25
1870 U. S. Census, DeKalb County, Georgia
37
DeKalb County deeds 38
Thurza M. G. White tombstone 39
B. F. White obituary 40,
41
Elizabeth Bobo, Bible (Robert's daughter) 15
"Story of the Sacred Harp" by Jackson, 23, 28
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