Bio-White, ArthurEarskin

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Arthur Earskin White
(1884-1935)

Arthur Earskin White was born in 1884 in or near Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA, the son of George H. and Helen "Ella" (Daugherty) White. He is one of a tragic many cousins to lose their lives in the coal, coke and steel workplace.

He also labored on the railroad and as an electrician as a young man. He is seen at left, posed with a favorite gun and the deer he shot with it. After leaving home, he found work in the coal fields of Western Pennsylvania as a master mechanic, superintendent and assistant superintendent. He played on and managed a baseball team in Hopwood, and later managed a team at the Clyde Mine. He is said to have been president of the United Mine Workers of America local union No. 688, the second person to hold that office.

Arthur married Roberta "Berdie" Estlick (or "Estlech") (1894- ? ) and had 11 children -- Leona White, Alfaretta Hackney, Florence Fullem, Arthur H. "Pete" White, Donald H. White, Gwendolyn F. Price Crossland, Holbert J. White, Eileen B. Hess, Dorothy Bergamasco Jackson, Harold H. White and George White. Circa 1920, they lived at the Revere Coke Works near Uniontown, Fayette County, where Arthur was a machinist in the coke plant. The 1930 census shows the family in Luzerne Township, Fayette County, with Arthur continuing his skill as a coal mine machinist.

Arthur Earskin White washes his grimy hands in a bucket at the Clyde Mine near Fredericktown, shortly before he was killed there.

Tragically, on Thanksgiving Day 1935, Arthur was found badly injured, with a fractured skull, after falling into a coal barge while working at W.J. Rainey Inc.'s Clyde Mine in Fredericktown, Washington County, PA. He died a day later at Brownsville General Hospital, at the age of 57. A newspaper article claimed that just prior to his death, Earskin had drawn his first pay in more than a year due to debts he owed to the company store. His remains were laid to rest in the Hopwood Cemetery, near the final resting place as his grandparents and great grandparents.

~ Daughter Leona Beatrice White ~

Daughter Leona Beatrice White (1910-1937) moved to Fairmont, Marion County, WV, making her home on Jefferson Street. She suffered from a perforated gastric ulcer, and died following surgery in Fairmont at the age of 27 on Nov. 1, 1937. Her remains were returned to Hopwood for burial.

~ Daughter Florence (White) Fullem ~

Daughter Florence White ( ? -1995) married Albert Fullem. They resided in the Uniontown area.

~ Alfretta (White) Hackney ~

Daughter Alfretta White ( ? -1978) married Clark Hackney and lived in Uniontown.

~ Daughter Gwendolyn (White) Price Crossland~

Daughter Gwendolyn White ( ? -1990s) married Ed Price and Morris Crossland. She had three children, and also collected vintage Mustang automobiles.

~ Daughter Eileen (White) Lewis Hess ~

Daughter Eileen White ( ? -1983) married Spike Lewis and William Hess. She had 11 grandchildren and died in 1983.

Grandson William Hess Jr. served in Vietnam, and great-grandson James Rohrer served in Grenada with the 82nd Airborne.

Granddaughter Janice (Hess) Manen is a volunteer with the Daughters of the American Revolution and a docent at its Memorial Constitution Hall, providing tours for holiday open houses.

~ Son Arthur "Pete" White ~

Son Arthur "Pete" White ( ? -2002) married Helen. He served in the US Army 77th Infantry and saw heavy battle action on Okinawa, and many years later, in 1996, received a Distinguished Service Cross for heroism. He retired from the Clyde Mine in Fredericktown, and spent his final years in Clarksville. He passed away on July 12, 2002 and is interred in the mausoleum at the Greene County Cemetery.

~ Son Donald White ~

Son Donald White ( ? -1998) married Lillian and had four children. He retired from the Clyde Mine and died in 1998.

~ Son Holbert White ~

Son Holbert White married Elaine Castana and had three children. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II, and his ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during the battle of Leyte Gulf. When he was a boy, he visited with his great-aunts Annie Hopwood and Mollie Daugherty in the town of Hopwood. They showed him Civil War memorabilia and took him around town to meet other relatives still living there. Holbert and Elaine made their home in Clarksville, Greene County and had three sons -- Lee White, Holbert "Buck" White Jr. and Gary White. Son Lee delivered newspapers to the home of famed Clarksville resident Joseph "Jock" Yablonski, a high profile candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America. When Yablonski and his wife and daughter were murdered at home in 1969, by killers hired by A.W. "Tony" Boyle, their bodies were undiscovered while newspapers were delivered to their door by Lee White.

Son Holbert "Buck" White Jr. is a longtime educator. He taught special education and coached wrestling at University High School in Morgantown, Monongalia County, WV from 1972 to 1976. He left teaching in the mid-1970s to work on the Alaska Oil Pipeline, and then returned to work for several years as an administrator in the Central Greene School District. He later was employed at the Clyde Mine in Fredericktown (1981 to 1983) and owned the Sears Catalog Store in Waynesburg from 1985 to 1998. He current owns the Subway Restaurant and plaza in Waynesburg, which he opened in 1990. He runs a 1,000-acre beef cattle farm near the Greene County Airport. For three decades, he was a wrestling official with the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) and has been very active as a high school referee.

Son Gary White began teaching at Carmichaels High School in 1971 and was head wrestling coach there for two decades. He taught advanced placement history courses at Carmichaels and other Greene County schools via "distance learning." He retired in 2007. Gary's daughter Stacey Elaine White and her husband Matthew T. Welker are lawyers who have their own patent law boutique practice -- White-Welker & Welker Law Firm -- in Clear Spring, MD.

Son Lee White married Ronita and they live in Waynesburg. Lee has worked as an engineer for Sperry Rand and Unisys Corporation in Philadelphia, and more recently in software development for Highmark, Giant Eagle, Weirton Steel, Bayer USA and West Virginia University. For the past 13 years he has served as lead engineer in product development for Pittsburgh software company Ventyx Corporation. Lee was head wrestling coach at Carmichaels Junior High School for three years. Ronita taught school in Philadelphia at Towmencin Head Start. Upon returning to Greene County, she owned the "My Friends House" pre-school in Waynesburg and was director of the Warrior Trail pre-school and kindergarten at Waynesburg College. She currently is a software engineer at Digicom Inc. in Southpointe, near Canonsburg, Washington County, PA. Their son James White is a champion golfer at Greene County Country Club.

~ Son Harold "Jack" White ~

Son Harold White ( ? - ? ) married Genevie Carr (1933-2011), the daughter of William and Agnes Carr. The Whites were married for 60 years and had two children, Kenneth White and Jackie Harper.

During his working career, Harold labored at the Clyde Mine and also worked for Ford Motor Company in Ohio. During World War II, he served with the military police in Italy, and following the war was on duty during the Nazi war crime trials in Nuremburg, Germany. (Another cousin, David Olson, was at Nuremburg as a military guard of the prison cell of Nazi war criminal Herman Goering.)

Genevie "worked as a nursing assistant at Akron General Medical Center for more than 20 years," reported the Washington (PA) Observer Reporter. "Upon returning to Clarksville in 1994, she served as a clerk for elections for Jefferson Township."

Genevie passed away at the age of 78 on Feb. 26, 2011, "surrounded by family" at Washington Hospital. She was laid to rest in Greene County Memorial Park.

~ Son George Melvin White ~

Son George Melvin White (1930-1982) married Julia (Blasko) Yelenik and had three children -- Cynthia Yelenik (from Julia's first marriage), Lisa Skoglund and George Melvin White Jr. He served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. They resided in Crucible, PA. George died on Sept. 20, 1982, of pneumonia having suffered from Lou Gehrig's Disease -- "Amiotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)." He rests for eternity in the Greene County Cemetery.

Son George Melvin White Jr. (1963-2004) married Karen Leonard and had two children. They resided at Rices Landing, PA. George was a cook for the prison system at Greene County Correctional Institution and at the Pennsylvania Correctional Institution Fayette in Fayette County. He died of melanoma on Sept. 24, 2004, at the age of 41, with burial at St. Mary's Church in Crucible.

Daughter Lisa White married John W. Skoglund. They have two children and reside in Fairfax, VA. John and Lisa are employed the U.S. State Department and from 1999 to 2006 lived in Manila, Philippines; Warsaw, Poland; and Bangkok, Thailand.

Stepdaughter Cynthia Yelenik (1949-1987) married Galen Maurice "Jake" Lehman and had two children. Cynthia was employed as an educator most of her life, teaching high school English literature in the Redland School District in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, PA. She also helped counsel abused women. Tragically, she was murdered in her home during a burglary on Jan. 19, 1987.