Author: White, John J.
Biography:
WHITE, John J. (fl 1829)
A presentation copy of Moron, a Tale of the Alhambra inscribed by the author, currently held at Brown University Library, is probably the source of the attribution of this anonymously-published title to White. (The attribution was made by Richard H. Shoemaker in his Checklist of American Imprints, 1820-1829 in 1948; interestingly, there was a Shoemaker in the White family.) No other work is recorded with White as the author. He was most probably John Josiah White (1808-79), the son of Rebeccah Schooley (Smith) and Joseph White, who was born in Philadelphia on 10 Dec. 1808. His father died after an accident in 1827. White at first studied medicine but gave it up and qualified as a lawyer instead. He had an interest in theatre and performed as an actor himself about 1832 despite the disapproval of his family. On 2 Oct. 1834 he married Mary Kirkbride Shoemaker in Abington PA; they had four children. After her death from typhoid in 1853 he married Abigail Weaver on 24 Jan 1856, and with her had two children. He died in Philadelphia from "paralysis of the heart" on 16 Apr. 1879 and was buried at the Fair Hill burial ground on 21 Apr. (ancestry.com 7 Oct. 2025; wikitree.com 7 Oct. 2025) HJ