Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/White, Edward Douglas

WHITE, Edward Douglas, statesman, b. in Tennessee in March, 1795; d. in New Orleans, La., 18 April, 1847. He removed with his father, James, who was subsequently appointed judge of western Louisiana, to Attakapas parish, La., in 1799. He was educated at the University of Tennessee, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began to practise at Donaldsonville, but, on being appointed to a judgeship in New Orleans, he removed thither. He was elected to congress for three consecutive terms, and served from 7 Dec., 1829, till 15 Nov., 1834, when, having been elected governor, he resigned. He was governor of Louisiana in 1834-'8, afterward removed to a sugar-plantation near Thibodeaux, and was again elected as a Whig to congress, serving from 2 Dec., 1839, till 3 March, 1843. He was on the steamer “Lioness” when she was set on fire by an explosion of gunpowder, 19 May, 1833, and narrowly escaped death. — His son, Edward Douglas, jurist, b. in Lafourche parish, La., 3 Nov., 1845, was educated at Mt. St. Mary's college, Emmitsburg, Md., and the Jesuit's college in New Orleans. During the civil war he served in the Confederate army. He then studied and practised law, was a state senator in 1874-'8, and judge of the Louisiana supreme court in 1878-'80, and on 29 May, 1888, was elected U. S. senator for the term beginning on 4 March, 1889.