James Bain White Explained

James Bain White
State:Indiana
Term Start:March 4, 1887
Term End:March 3, 1889
Predecessor:Robert Lowry
Successor:James B. White
Birth Date:26 June 1835
Birth Place:Denny, Stirlingshire, Scotland
Death Place:Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.
Resting Place:Lindenwood Cemetery.

James Bain White (June 26, 1835 – October 9, 1897) was an American Civil War veteran who served one term as a United States Representative from Indiana from 1887 to 1889.

Biography

White was born in Denny, Stirlingshire, Scotland, where he grew up and attended school. He immigrated to the United States as a young man in 1854 and settled in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he worked as a calico printer and tailor.

Civil War

Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War, he volunteered for service in the Union Army and was elected captain of Company I, 30th Regiment Indiana Infantry. He was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh on April 7, 1862, and resigned from the Army eight months later, in December.

White returned to Fort Wayne and was elected a member of the city's Common Council in 1874. He also owned a department store, ran a wheel manufacturing business, and worked as a banker.

Congress

White was elected as a Republican to the 50th United States Congress (March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1889). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the 51st Congress in 1888.

Later career and death

White was a delegate at the 1892 Republican National Convention and a commissioner for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. He died on October 9, 1897, in Fort Wayne and was interred there in Lindenwood Cemetery.