Addie & Robert White

Adella “Addie” McMillan (1860-1939), the Missouri-born daughter of enslaved parents, married widower Robert “Bob” White (ca. 1843-1922) in 1884.¹ In the 1890s, the couple became active members and officers in both the local and state First Grand Independent Benevolent (F.G.I.B.) Society. The purpose of this society was to care for sick members and to bury deceased members honorably with death benefits.

Having served as treasurer of the Sunday School board at St. Luke AME Church in 1892, Addie was elected F.G.I.B. State treasurer for two terms (1896-97) and Grand Vice-President in 1914.² Previously, as president of Lawrence’s Benevolent Society (1890-95), she had arranged an excursion train for local members to attend the Emancipation Day celebration in Leavenworth on August 1, 1892. At the end of her presidential term in 1895, 35 women members gifted her “a handsome set of dishes” for her valuable services.³

In 1896, over 30 members and friends of the local Benevolent Society, including Addie, provided Mrs. Irwin (Caroline) Thomas with groceries and money to assist her during her husband’s illness.⁴ Later that summer, Mr. and Mrs. Robert White attended the annual F.G.I.B. assembly with several Lawrence members held in Leavenworth. In September, local members of Benevolent Lodge No. 2 elected Robert White president with 14 other officers, including Isaac Miller, chair of the membership committee. Mr. and Mrs. White also attended a wedding reception for Isaac B. Miller Jr. and his bride Adella Harper, the daughter of Robert’s half-brother William Harper.⁵

Robert’s Earlier Life

Before his marriage to Addie, Robert had married Elmira Martin (1851-1881) on November 26, 1868. She had been brought to Lawrence from Harrisonville, Missouri with her enslaved mother Maria Martin and two siblings by James Lane’s “Jayhawkers” in 1862.⁶ Elmira gave birth to their son Oliver (ca. 1870-19??) who attended school at age 8.⁷ Sadly, Mrs. White died young on January 23, 1881.⁸

During his marriage to Elmira, Robert was arrested “on suspicion” of sexually assaulting Mary Duncan, an 18-year-old white woman in 1875. He reportedly “confessed all and attempted to implicate two [unnamed] white boys, who belong[ed] to respectable families.” At his first court appearance, he waived a preliminary examination and was sent to jail for not being able to pay $800. The two white boys were discharged for lack of evidence.⁹ While awaiting trial, Robert’s half-brother Will Harper (1839-1932) visited him in jail. They overheard two burglars reveal where they had hidden a pair of pantaloons and other items they had stolen. With the burglars’ permission, Will retrieved the pantaloons and turned them over to the sheriff.¹⁰

Unfortunately, newspapers did not report any testimony by witnesses or details about White’s trial the following year. Instead, reporters focused on the jurors who deliberated from late afternoon through 5 a.m. the next morning, got breakfast, and returned to court. White’s defense attorney (a white man) demanded that each juror be polled individually for their verdicts. Each man answered “guilty”—except for the sole Black juror, a man named [James?] Simpson, who disagreed and declared White not guilty of the alleged rape. The jury retired for another one-hour closed-door discussion and came back with the same verdicts, forcing the judge to declare a mistrial.¹¹

At the second trial in October 1876, White was declared guilty and sentenced to prison for an unreported number of years. Weeks later, a jailer found White “hanging by the neck, with [his] life nearly extinct. He was cut down, and by the use of strong restoratives, his life was saved. In fact, so much whiskey was poured down his neck that he became boisterously drunk and created considerable trouble on the train.”¹² “On the train” to where, perhaps a hospital, is unclear but apparently White spent more years at the state penitentiary.

In 1878, William Harper announced that he would ask Gov. George T. Anthony to pardon his brother for his crime. In his address to a Lawrence audience, Gov. Anthony indicated that although he could not resist appeals for pardons from women with several children, he wanted a “Court of Pardon” with three district judges to make such decisions with fixed sentences for particular crimes.¹³ Ultimately, newspapers did not report on whether White was pardoned or when he returned home but he was back in Lawrence by May 1883.¹⁴

Caring for Family and Community

One can only imagine how Robert fared back in Lawrence, especially after his 1884 marriage to Addie who likely offered him benevolent care. Yet two census records taken in two different wards in March 1885 not only raise questions but also suggest interesting family arrangements and community influences. One census in the 1st Ward recorded Robert as “widowed” living with his 14-year-old son Oliver, Rev. Dudley Lee and his wife Mary Ann, and Blanche Ketene Bruce, an accomplished KU orator. The location appeared to be near the Second (9th Street) Baptist Church on Ohio street, where Rev. Lee preached, and next door to Henry and Libbie Copeland, a highly respected Black couple and their children. In addition to spiritual and moral guidance, Robert and Oliver would have also learned about Bruce’s educational experiences as the first Black graduate at KU that June.¹⁵

The other census in the 4th Ward recorded “Ada White” as “single” living with “French Berry White,” and a four-month-old infant named William Henderson. The infant belonged to Addie’s sister Parthena and her husband John C. Henderson who lived next door. Two doors down lived Addie’s parents, Alfred and Minerva McMillan and her brother Jesse, suggesting this location may have been in the 700 block of New York street.¹⁶

French (Frances) Berry, born on September 29, 1876, was listed as the McMillan’s “grandson” in the 1880 census and as Addie and Robert White’s “stepson” in the 1900 census.¹⁷ As a young man, he faced two arrests for fighting a white boy and disturbing the peace.¹⁸ After working as a janitor at the Commercial Club, he died young from typhoid fever at age 26 in 1902, and his funeral was held at St. Luke AME Church.¹⁹ Addie paid $28.50 to have him buried in Section 4, Lot 10 of Addition A at Oak Hill Cemetery with her beloved parents.²⁰

Meanwhile, Robert engaged in local politics as a delegate for Republican primaries and supported Baptist minister Rev. E.N. Cohron for the school board.²¹ In 1889, he partnered with J.H. Holmes cleaning homes and laying carpeting and also attended parties for friends.²² At some point, his son Oliver moved to Chicago, and they visited one another over the years.²³

Engaging with Clubs and St. Luke AME Church

In the fall of 1891, the Eureka Club was founded as an opportunity to make triumphant discoveries, such as discussing the “History of the Negro.” Thirty members initially included Jesse and Frances Dillard, and Charles and Mary Langston, among many other highly esteemed couples and individuals.²⁴ Beginning in 1895, Robert and Addie hosted six meetings at their residence (808 Vermont). Some attendees involved known F.G.I.B. members such as Edward T. and Eliza Bradford, Adam Sr. and Harriet Carter, Adam Jr. and Lillie Carter, and Mattie Bryant.²⁵

Addie was also an active member of the Sierra Leone Club, another educational club exclusively for married women founded in 1892. This club also included members of Lawrence’s Benevolent Society such as Belle Jeans, Mrs. Isaac (Adella) Miller Jr., and Harriet Carter. Addie served as president in 1901 and also hosted a meeting that discussed the history of Kansas.²⁶

Addie’s educational pursuits also comprised the Inter-State Literary Association, founded in 1891 in Topeka with annual meetings held in December at various cities. When this organization met in Lawrence in 1898, Addie served on the reception committee. For the 1907 meeting also held in Lawrence, Addie offered her home at 810 Maine to lodge a few attendees. Together with president Dr. F.D.G. Harvey and three others, she attended the annual meeting in Hutchinson in 1915.²⁷

The Whites’ involvement with St. Luke AME Church remained steadfast throughout their lives. For example, the 1899 entertainment at a well-attended meeting of the Ladies Social Circle held at their 808 Vermont home with president Libbie Copeland was deemed “a pronounced success from a financial standpoint.” A good amount of money ($235) was also raised from the church’s rally in 1903, while Robert, a trustee, served as treasurer. In 1912 and 1929, Addie also attended AME conferences in Kansas City and Wichita.²⁸

Post Office Employee

Beginning in May 1894, Robert’s long-term employment at the post office provided a good, stable income as a janitor and a special police officer to preserve order and also as a special delivery messenger through 1917. ²⁹ In 1898, Will Harper worked his janitorial job briefly while Robert visited Topeka. In October, Lawrence’s staff were entertained by Topeka’s post office employees with a banquet, parade, and a ball. ³⁰ Although the state Republican Party threatened to have Black employees fired for supporting Democratic tickets, Lawrence police officers and janitors apparently kept their jobs. ³¹

When special delivery letters increased in 1904, Robert was given an assistant, as well as a younger horse (named Mercury) from the Postal Telegraph Company in lieu of his slower steed. However, his additional assistants lost their jobs when the Postmaster General decided this job was not “fair work” for [white?] men. ³² In 1906, a new post office was erected at 645 New Hampshire, and crowds thronged to see its larger, well-lit lobby with marble floors and other areas during an evening reception. ³³ As a conscientious and thrifty janitor, Robert often found lost items in the lobby that could be picked up at the post office by proven owners if they paid for his ad expenses. ³⁴

Robert White was praised as “a faithful, hard-working and efficient man [who] never for a moment [tried] to evade his duties.” Even so, when his position as a delivery messenger was abolished in 1917, he was forced to leave government service after 23 years. ³⁵ With his advancing age, a new janitorial position at the Peoples State Bank proved dangerous. Early one morning, three men (two Black, one white) knocked him out while he was checking the basement furnace. They stole $4 from him and his bunch of keys. Thankfully, a passer-by heard his groans and helped him. ³⁶

Concluding Lives

Over the years, this benevolent couple demonstrated their educational, social, civic, and church engagements by welcoming innumerable community members into their multiple (rented) homes. ³⁷ (Unfortunately, while they were away, their home at 810 Maine was “ransacked from top to bottom, but fortunately nothing was taken” in 1900. ³⁸) When Mae Strode graduated from Lawrence High School in 1913, the couple honored her and a few friends with a three-course luncheon at 744 Missouri. ³⁹ In 1919, Addie cared for an elderly woman who died at 1015 New York. ⁴⁰

On August 20, 1922, Robert White passed away at their 721 Alabama home. After his funeral at St. Luke AME church, he was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Section 4, Lot 10 with their stepson and Addie’s parents. His stone marker notes his death date at age 79 years. In their card of thanks, Mrs. Addie White, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver White, and William Harper thanked their friends, neighbors, and especially the Benevolent Society and Rev. T.W. Green, “for their kindness during the illness and death of Robert White, our husband, father, and brother, for the beautiful floral offerings.” ⁴¹

Seventeen years later, on November 13, 1939, Addie White passed away also at age 79 at her 820 New York home. Her funeral at St. Luke AME Church was conducted by the Ladies Benevolent Society, the Household of Ruth and the Daughters of Tabor. ⁴² Her survivors comprised her stepson Oliver White, her sister Parthena Henderson, six nieces, a nephew, and a grandniece. She rests in peace next to her husband and family members in Section 4, Lot 11 at Oak Hill Cemetery, marked by her formal name Adella and her birth and death dates.