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S. Harrison White
S. Harrison White
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives; from Colorado's 1st district
	In office; November 15, 1927 – March 3, 1929
Preceded by	William Vaile
Succeeded by	William R. Eaton
Justice of the State Supreme Court
	In office; 1909–1919
Chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court
	In office; 1917–1918
Personal details
Born	Sebastian Harrison White; December 24, 1864; near Maries County, Missouri, US
Died	December 21, 1945 (aged 80); Colorado Springs, Colorado, US
Resting place	Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colorado
Political party	Democratic
Occupation	Attorney, Colorado Supreme Court Justice and Chief justice, Congressman

Sebastian Harrison White (December 24, 1864 – December 21, 1945) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served part of one term as a U.S. Representative from Colorado, and also as a justice of the Colorado Supreme Court.

Early life and education

Born on a farm near Maries County, Missouri, his parents were Jonah William and Cloa Ann (Reeder) White. His father was from Tennessee and his mother was from Virginia.^[1] White attended the rural schools in Dallas County, Missouri^[2] and private schools.^[3] At the age of ten, White set out on his own,^[4] having been "thrown upon his own resources."^[3] When he was 16 years of age, he worked as a laborer and was living at the home of a physician and his wife in Lincoln County in Dallas County.^[5] He attended the Marionville Collegiate Institute in Missouri (later the Ozark Wesleyan College) at Carthage, Missouri).^[2]

Career

He taught school for several years. At 19 years of age, White was elected president of the Hickory County Teachers Institute in 1886.^[1] He was elected superintendent of schools of Hickory County, Missouri in 1887 at 23 years of age.^[2]^[1]

Legal career

He studied law while he was a teacher and he was admitted to the bar in Colorado and Missouri in 1889^[6] and practiced law in Pueblo, Colorado.^[2] He was a partner with Charles P. Dunbaugh in the White & Dunbaugh law firm.^[7]

Early political career

He served as delegate to the Democratic State convention in 1892. He served as chairman of the Pueblo County Democratic central committee in 1892. He served as city attorney of Pueblo from 1897 to 1899. He was a public trustee of Pueblo County from 1900 to 1903 and from 1905 to 1909. He served as district attorney of the tenth judicial district from 1904 to 1908.^[2]

White was elected justice of the Colorado Supreme Court in 1908 for a term of ten years 1909 to 1919, and served as chief justice from 1917 until 1918, when he retired. He engaged in the practice of law in Denver, Colorado in 1919.^[2]

Congress

White was elected as a Democrat to the 70th Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William N. Vaile and served from November 15, 1927 to March 3, 1929. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1928 to the 71st Congress.

Later career

He resumed the practice of law in Denver, Colorado.^[2]

He was the author of the minority report that precipitated the fight over the fusion with the Populists that resulted in a split in the convention. He was elected secretary of that division of the party which was denominated “The White Wings”, and which nominated a straight Democratic ticket.^[1]

He was a member of the American Bar Association, Elks, Knights of Pythias, and the Denver Athletic Club.^[6] He was a lecturer across the United States when he was a member of the League to Enforce Peace.^[1] His office was in the Equitable Building in Denver.^[4]

Personal life

He married Eva Dunbaugh of Pueblo, Colorado in December 1893.^[6] Her father was Charles P. Dunbaugh, a hotelier in Pueblo.^[8] They had two children: Adrian Dunbaugh White and Gertrude Gloria White.^[1]

White was admitted into a hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1942, where he remained until his death on December 21, 1945.^[9] He remains were cremated in Fairmount Cemetery (Denver, Colorado), and the ashes scattered over the cemetery.^[2]

Electoral history

1927 United States House of Representatives special election, Colorado's 1st district
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	S. Harrison White	32,171	51.52%
	Republican	Francis J. Knauss	27,456	43.97%
	Independent	George John Kindel	2,556	4.09%
	Farmer–Labor	Huston Hugh Marrs	261	0.42%
Majority			4,715	7.55%
Total votes			62,444	100%
	Democratic gain from Republican

1928 United States House of Representatives elections, Colorado's 1st district^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	William R. Eaton	63,258	58.08%
	Democratic	S. Harrison White (incumbent)	44,713	41.05%
	Workers	William R. Dietrich	949	0.87%
Majority			18,545	17.03%
Total votes			108,920	100%
	Republican gain from Democratic

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f United States Congress (1928). Official Congressional Directory. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 12.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h
This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- United States Congress. "S. Harrison White (id: W000393)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
^ ^a ^b Leonard, John William; Marquis, Albert Nelson (1914). Who's who in America. A.N. Marquis. p. 2526.
^ ^a ^b State Historical and Natural History Society of Colorado (1927). History of Colorado. Linderman Co., Inc. pp. 342–345.
^ Harrison White, Lincoln, Dallas, Missouri. Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lewis, George E.; Stackelbeck, D. F. (1917). Bench and bar of Colorado. Denver: Bench and Bar Publishing Co. p. 86.
^ Hubbell's Legal Directory for Lawyers and Businessmen. J.H. Hubbell & Company. 1896. p. 22.
^ White, James Terry (1967). The National cyclopaedia of American biography. J.T. White. p. 98.
^ "Obituary for S. Harrison White (Aged 80)". Casper Star-Tribune. December 23, 1945. p. 8. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
^ "Statistics of the Congressional and Presidential Election of November 6, 1928" (PDF). Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives. Compiled from official sources by William Tyler Page. March 25, 1929. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 5, 2007. Retrieved January 28, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by William Vaile	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Colorado's 1st congressional district 1927–1929	Succeeded by William R. Eaton