Lost Revolutionary War veteran to be honored in Jasper County cemetery

May 24—Revolutionary War Shadrach White, who died in 1833, is one of several Revolutionary War veterans buried in Southwest Missouri. Others are: Moses Duncan, who died in 1843 and was buried in the Cave Springs Cemetery in southeastern Jasper County William Lumley, who died in 1843 and is buried in a cemetery in Lawrence County near Miller. Thomas Ferrel, who died in 1841, is buried in Macedonia Cemetery in Newton County.

CARTHAGE, Mo. — A Revolutionary War veteran whose burial site in Jasper County washed away in a flood about 150 years ago will be honored in a ceremony Saturday at a rural Carthage cemetery.

Clyde Hood, vice president of the Jasper County Cemetery Preservation Society, said Shadrach White, who fought against Native American tribes aligned with the British in western Virginia in 1779, died in Jasper County in 1833.

"The cemetery he was buried in became known as old Gibson Cemetery, and it sat probably on the bank of Center Creek near where Precious Moments is located now and was washed away in a huge flood in 1875," Hood said. "This Gray Cemetery, he has several descendants buried in it, so it seemed like an appropriate place to place a memorial marker."

Gray Cemetery is at 10499 Ironwood Lane about a mile east of Carthage, and the ceremony there will be held at noon Saturday.

Rikki Smith, president of the Jasper County Cemetery Preservation Society, said the ceremony will include the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter, descendants of Shadrach White, the Preservation Society and other organizations. The public is invited.

Deep history dive

Hood said family members approached him a couple of years ago to do some research and find out if White was truly a veteran of the Revolutionary War.

Hood said White was the son of Peter White of Fairfax County, Virginia, and he had a brother named Abednego White.

"It would appear through Fairfax County court records that, by the time that Shadrach and Abednego were still boys, their parents were indigent and were unable to properly support them," Hood said. "In colonial America, there was a system called pauper apprenticeship in which children like Shadrach and Abednego were placed into homes where they were expected to work, while also being provided education and basic living needs. They often were taught a trade in which they could support themselves after their apprenticeship ended, which typically was the age of 21."

Hood said there was some question over Shadrach White's actual age.

A descendant, John Onstott, who was a Jasper County judge, told The Carthage Press newspaper that Shadrach White was 112 at the time of his death in 1833, but that would have made him too old to have served in the Revolutionary War.

"If he had been 112, like his grandson had said, he would have had to be the oldest person in the United States," Hood said. "And judging from the militia and the regular American Army in the Revolutionary War, they didn't take men over 50 years of age. He would have been about 60 years old at the time of the war, so I think they were off on the age a little bit. In 1755, the Fairfax County court ordered that Shadrach and Abednego be placed into separate homes. Knowing the range of years that an apprenticeship can take place, it can be estimated that Shadrach's birth year would be in the range of 1738-1745."

Hood said White moved with his family to Tazewell County in Virginia in 1777 and enlisted in Capt. Thomas Mastin's militia, likely in 1779.

Coming to Jasper County

Hood said records show Shadrach White's family lived in Virginia until 1810, then moved to the Indiana, a territory at the time.

White, his children and other family members then moved to Pike County, Missouri, north of St. Louis. One of White's family members, Abraham Onstott, came to Southwest Missouri on a prospecting tour in 1832. Most of the family moved to Southwest Missouri in 1833, but they left Shadrach White behind in Pike County with other family members because he was considered too frail to travel. Shadrach White desired to be with his family, and in the spring of 1833, Onstott returned to Pike County and brought him to his family.

John Onstott told The Carthage Press that Abraham Onstott returned to Pike County a second time to get more family members and on the way back to Jasper County he learned that Shadrach White had died shortly after he arrived.

"The trip coming out had been too much for his feeble body, and he died from the effects of it," John Onstott told the Press in 1901, according to Hood. "He was buried in what became Gibson Cemetery, now obliterated."

Modern descendants

Mark Seela, a descendant of Shadrach White and a Webb City resident, now works at Wood Ford in Carthage. He said he is looking forward to Saturday's ceremony and is proud of his family's Revolutionary War history.

He also said his grandfather's cousin, Eddie Seela, from Grand Junction, Colorado, kept track of the family lineage and would visit his Jasper County relatives often, telling family stories when he visited.

"Eddie passed away in January, otherwise I guarantee you Eddie would be here for this," Seela said. "I don't think there's any way he'd miss this. He was in his 80s and still making trips out here from Colorado to see my family and some of his family in Texas."

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Memorial Day remembrance The Carthage Veterans Alliance, consisting of the Carthage VFW, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans and other groups, will be hosting its annual Memorial Day remembrance at 10:30 a.m. Monday, May 27, at the Veterans Memorial in Park Cemetery in Carthage. The public is invited to attend.