Edward was the son of William White and Hannah Russell. He was a well known pioneer Methodist in British Columbia.

Arrival Notice: New York Times, June 2, 1872

Arrived June 1, Steam-ship Columbia (British) and there in the list of arriving passengers on various ships. Rev. E. White; as [first class] passenger on the Columbia.

Obit: Montreal Gazette, June 17, 1872

"DEATH OF THE REV. EDWARD WHITE

We have the painful duty of chronicling this morning the melancholy death of the Rev. Edward White, who was taken ill while attending the Wesleyan Conference in this city. Mr. White went to British Columbia about the year 1858, and laboured in connection with the Wesleyan Church in that colony.

His health failing, he returned to Canada, and went to England for the purpose of recruiting about four months ago; and the Hon. Mr. McKellar, learning of his mission, induced him to undertake the delivery of some lectures on Canada, while in Great Britain, which he did with much effect. Returning, he reached New York the last week in May, and in a letter dated in that city on the 1st June, and published in the Guardian of last week, he spoke hopefully of his restoration to health and of the prospect of his meeting his ministerial brethren in Montreal.

He arrived in this city on the 5th inst., and was taken ill on the 7th with small-pox, the disease being fully developed. He was taken to hospital where he died yesterday morning at two o'clock. From these circumstances, it is evident that he acquired the disease either on board of ship, coming out, or in New York, its development within two or three days after his arrival in Montreal, making it impossible that he could have caught it here. Feeling reference was made to his death by the Rev. John Potts from the pulpit of St. James Stree Church last evening.

Mr. White, we regret to learn, leaves a wife and children to mourn his death. We understand that already a subscription has been started, of which Mr. Jas. A. Mathewson is the treasurer, for their assistance."

Thanks to Janet White!!!∼

Edward came to St. Thomas, Ontario, from the US, age 3, with his family, and two years later homesteaded in Charing Cross, near Chatham, ON. He was a teacher, then missionary to British Columbia in 1959. In 1871, he returned to Ontario for health reasons, and on behalf of the Ontario government toured Great Britain and Paris , promoting Canada. On return, he caught smallpox ministering to a sick sailor and after attending several days at a national Methodist Conference in Montreal, died and was buried, with a tall marker in the Methodist Ministers'Plot in Montreal, age 49.