Background
Alexander White, the son of David and Margaret (Gowe) White, was born at Elgin, Morayshire, Scotland. His father was killed in the battle of Waterloo when Alexander was but a year old. In 1836 White emigrated to America.
Alexander White, the son of David and Margaret (Gowe) White, was born at Elgin, Morayshire, Scotland. His father was killed in the battle of Waterloo when Alexander was but a year old. In 1836 White emigrated to America.
He unsuccessfully sought a foothold in the South and after various vicissitudes - including shipwreck on the Illinois River, in which several fellow-passengers were drowned - reached Chicago in the spring of 1837. After painting wagons for a time by the day, he established himself independently, building a small frame structure and opening a store with a stock of paints and oils. He prospered, extended his stock to include glass and dyestuffs, and enlarged his plant until it included two retail houses and a large wholesale establishment. In the meantime he steadily invested his surplus accumulations in Chicago real estate. In 1857, after twenty years of prosperous merchandising, he sold that business and confined himself to real-estate investments. Continuing to prosper, he found time to gratify his taste for art. In three trips to Europe (1857, 1866, 1870), he bought many notable paintings, chiefly by European contemporaries, which he supplemented by works of American artists, bought in America. This collection, installed in his residence and opened to the public, was the first private art gallery in Chicago. After his return from Europe in 1867, White and his family resided in New York but returned to Chicago in 1869. Retiring then from active business, White bought an extensive country place in Lake Forest, about twenty-five miles north of Chicago, and opened in his new residence an art gallery containing about a hundred and sixty of the works of the leading contemporary American and foreign artists. Shortly after he returned from his third European art trip, the Chicago fire of October 1871 occurred, and White, holder of much real estate, lost heavily. To provide a rebuilding fund, he sold his art collection at auction in New York (December 12, 13, 1871), critics and connoisseurs pronouncing it the best in America at that time. White entered energetically into ambitious plans for a resuscitation of art in Chicago and for the reëstablishment of other civic enterprises, but his death within six months after the fire transferred that work to other shoulders. For many years he was closely associated with Chicago improvements and public institutions.
He was married at Chicago, December 12, 1837, to Ann Reid (1818 - 1890), daughter of John Keith and Anne (Johnston) Reid of Grange, Banff Parish, Scotland. Eight children were born to them.