James H. White
El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Feb. 15, 1847 - Aug. 19, 1907) Virginia native James Harrison White came to El Paso in 1869 after serving with the Confederacy in the Civil War. In the 1870s he saw service in the Mexican army, the U. S. Army, and as U. S. Marshal of Las Cruces, New Mexico. As a civic leader and law official, he played a role in El Paso's growth from a small border town to a modern city. Offices held included sheriff and tax collector, chief of police and vice president of the El Paso Street Railway Company. A Mason, Shriner and Knight Templar, white married Barbara Dupper, and they were the parents of one child. (1967, 2001) ORIGINAL (1967) TEXT: (Feb. 15, 1847 - Aug. 23, 1907) Soldier, frontiersman, public official, civic leader. Born in Portsmouth, VA.; came to Texas in 1866; in 1861-1872, fought for three nations: the Confederacy, the United States, and Mexico. U.S. Marshal, 1879; inspector of customs, 1881; sheriff, El Paso County, 1883-1892; El Paso chief of police, 1901-1903. Worked in mining and for railways. A Mason, Shriner, and Knight Templar. Married Barbara Dupper. Had one child, James C. White. Recorded 1967
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in Virginia in 1847, James Harrison White served with the Confederacy before coming to El Paso around 1869, then spent the following decades in an extraordinary run of frontier service — in the Mexican and U.S. armies and as a U.S. Marshal at Las Cruces. As sheriff, tax collector, police chief, and railway official, he helped steer El Paso through its transformation from a rough border settlement into a modern city before his death in 1907. His life traced the closing of one frontier era and the rise of the Southwestern metropolis that followed.
Why it matters
White embodies the borderland lawmen whose careers bridged the Civil War and the settling of the far Southwest, and whose work turned frontier outposts into lasting cities.
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Related people
- · James H. White
- · Barbara Dupper
Themes & tags
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